Welcome to the Codex! Every Friday, we will focus on one topic from one of the upcoming books, or one of the books that have been published. The Codex will review what is commonly known about that topic in the world, even if just at a scholarly level. There will still be mysteries, but if you are interested in learning more about something you read in the book or in another blog post, the Codex is the way to go.
Today we try something different. This is the first of a trilogy of posts on a series of foundational elements for the Twin Worlds setting; the second and third posts will appear in the Codex over the next two weeks.
In the Twin Worlds, various cultures have their own pantheons of gods, godlings and demigods. Some may be real, others may be imposters, and others may be entirely fake. The Trienorn were one of the most powerful pantheons in history, and arguably had the greatest, most catastrophic impact on the cosmos as a whole.
Memory of the Trienorn was deliberately erased throughout the Fourth Age by their erstwhile servants, the Ledhrorn, in an effort to establish themselves as the legitimate rulers of the Worlds. It was only during the War of Saints, and subsequently during the Fifth Age, that the history of which the Trienorn were a part has slowly been uncovered. Even now, only fragments are known, but the basics are well established.
The Trienorn were once mortals, a large group of powerful sorcerers and magic-wielders who broke into the cosmos from Outside, the mysterious not-place that lies outside of known reality. Back then, there were no Twin Worlds, no Otherworlds. There was only one, single primal world. The mortal Trienorn chased a dream, the dream of divinity itself, and believed they could find it in the primal world's fabric.
However, they knew the world wasn't unprotected. The Lady was awake and could effortlessly stop them if she became aware of their presence and intentions. So the Trienorn went to great lengths to avoid drawing her attention. Their studies on the nature of divinity gave them the skill needed to subtly deflect the Lady's gaze, and they built for themselves a sanctuary in a place where no one would think of looking: Ayazin, the Void Between. There, in that otherworldly sanctuary, close to both Outside and to the connecting tissue of the cosmos, they studied and, over centuries, developed a ritual meant to draw the very power of creation from the cosmos, and funnel it into their beings, elevating them to divinity.
One Trienorn, Synnus Starspeaker, realized the ghastly cost this would entail, but it was too late: the ritual's details were all but fleshed out, and none of the others would listen to him or believe him. When he sensed the hostility of his peers growing, Synnus left the sanctuary, finding refuge elsewhere across the Planes. If he had only sought out the Lady, perhaps everything else would have been avoidable; but he didn't, either out of guilt or shame, or perhaps out of the last shreds of loyalty to his erstwhile allies.
Without Synnus's interference, the other Trienorn perfected the Ritual, and eventually cast it. Where it was cast is unknown, and possibly unimportant: wherever it was performed, it would draw power from the cosmos nonetheless. And it worked: the divine power that suffused the cosmos was drained, poured into the Trienorn, who ascended to godhood.
Alas, Synnus had been right. There was an essential instability in the cosmos, a "flickering" of realities, so to speak, as if the cosmos itself had been weakened in the past - almost split in twain - by some subtle, unknown event. The violent theft of divine power suffusing the cosmos led this instability to a breaking point, and the cosmos shattered.
The Lady realized what was happening when it was too late to stop the theft, but she was at least able to collect what was left of reality, and coalesce it back. But the worlds that reformed were two, rather than one - nearly identical images of each other. Many died in this cataclysm, but the primal world - now sundered into the Twin Worlds - survived.
The Trienorn, either frightened by what they had done, or simply wishing to exploit the surprise, immediately attacked the Lady for dominance over the newly reshaped cosmos. But the Lady endured the attack, and they realized to their dismay that their battle wouldn't be decided by a single stroke. Furthermore, a sustained battle would potentially unravel what was left of the cosmos. Thus began the Divine Wars, fought across the cosmos by proxy, each side seeking to defeat the other while keeping the cosmos safe.
Unbeknownst to the Trienorn, their theft of divine energy was the catalyst for the Reflection's appearance, although their continued existence - and the Lady's - kept this phenomenon unconsciously at bay. It was only when both Trienorn and the Lady became inactive that the Reflection fully asserted itself.
The story of the Usurper Gods, as the Trienorn were known among the Lady's followers, is long. The entire Third Age was an Age of war, sometimes covert, sometimes in the open. The events that led to the end of the Trienorn's reign - and, one Age later, to their alleged deaths - are not entirely known. What is known is that, at the end of the Third Age, the Trienorn felt they were losing the battle. They developed another ritual, one meant to force the Lady into slumber. This would require the entirety of their remaining power, forcing them to fall into a trance as well. They charged their children and creations, the Ledhrorn, with awakening them once the Lady was asleep.
Alas, betrayal ran in the family, and after both Trienorn and the Lady went into their slumber, the Ledhrorn chose not to awaken their creators, and to claim reality for themselves. Over the course of the Interregnum, they systematically erased any knowledge of the Trienorn or of the past. The Fourth Age became an Age of stagnation, but eventually the Lady began to stir, and this precipitated the events of the War of Saints, which spelled the end for most of the Trienorn and Ledhrorn.
Thank you for joining us on this brief recap of the Trienorn's history. We will soon discuss the Ledhrorn and the War of Saints - and we look forward to seeing you then!
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