Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

So it’s been a bit since I last posted “House of Night.” It is one of my best works, but after writing it and seeing everything behind me, I started really considering all the details and all that. I have a few regrets and wants that I want to correct, and they are mostly overarching things that I wasn’t thinking about before, when I was writing more intensely.

The first thing is that I always wrote scenes with music in mind, but I never really added the music to the scenes. I wish I did that while live so that I could wind everything together more seamlessly. I was at least able to come back in post and add everything in a way that sort of works, but it’s patchwork compared to writing it knowing that you are fitting the music to the vibe and the words to the music. 

The second thing is the spatial and chronological awareness that I afford the reader. I am someone who cares a lot about the details, and reading things like locations and dates really makes my tail wag and shit. I hadn’t done that before, but I did have a sort of map to work with, starting with the expansion. However, that map has outgrown its usefulness as well, and now I want to get so exact that you could put a GPS on the map and pinpoint where my characters are at a given point in time. I want you to be able to take a map and trace your finger along with the character’s movements.

The last thing is the blackness and queerness of my writing. Casual Collection was very casual, but at the same time, it served as my outlet for growth and everything. I regret having Lao be white-passing for Season 2 (I tried to do a “whitesona” thing, but at the same time had no other black characters, so how does that make sense), and Virto being trans is very much a story arc that grew into fruition as I grew in real life. Now I can start out new shit with that in mind, and create characters with more variety. 

That being said, House of Night was brilliant though. Post-Rome Viris is a top 5 character, which brings me to the new set of lore I’m making. 

I want to create a world that does all three at once, but in addition, adds more folklore to the limited world of MGE while maintaining the general map organization I used for the Casual Expansion. There is so much more out there than the Greeks and Romans, the Chinese, the Japanese, and the Russians. To be honest, not all that could be used there is used. That would mean, though, that I would be divesting from MGE in lore and forgoing adherence to it. 

In short, I need a bridge, and I’m going to abuse Lady Astarte’s lore for it with her permission. I’m not going to say what I’m using, though, if you know you know.

Chapter Text

A normal Earth that is connected to comparatively magic worlds. Certain events in the last 500 years have created bridges between Earth and similarly located planets in other dimensions. There are other stories and people that interact with the worlds, but those protagonists don’t necessarily know each other.

The first bridges were created during the 1500s and continued to be created until the 1800s, when activity began to settle down. Earth’s primary relations with Asasefu would start at the turn of the 21st century and be expanded in the late 2010s, when a certain scientist began experimenting with portal technology under the funding of the United States government. For a multi-year stretch, numerous portals to certain location in Asasefu began to appear around the world, sometimes staying open for a full day or night, sometimes disappearing quickly. Eventually, beings from the other world start to affect the Earth, and the world is never the same after.

Plessville

Plessville is a fictional township near the eastern coast of New Jersey, meant to emulate the mixture of suburbia and dense city life that I grew up around. In Plessville the high school to state college pipeline is real, an unusually large percentage of the population works in some sort of public service job, and everything happens in the downtown area where you have to drive there from HOA-guarded cul-de-sac template houses. No one here has opps, but a lot of them act like they do. Almost everyone immigrated from out of state or country, but some of them act like they didn’t. Notable locations include: 

Plessville Manor, Plessville, New Jersey

This location is the prime place of the events beyond the Asasefu portals. This neighborhood is where the current big three reside (Virto/Kiris/Isuka are the OG big three, Virto/Lalu/Leana are the current big three), scattered throughout by winding roads and random ends. Other locations around Plessville Manor include the Plessville Manor Playground, where the events of “I need a break” from Tales of a Knight's Reunion take place. 

Plessville Mall, Plessville, New Jersey

This location is the premier mall available to the Plessville suburbia. If you’re wondering why it’s a separate location, it’s because everyone has to get there by car (although the town is gracious enough to have a barebones bus system). A few episodes take place here, from Leana and Mortoii fucking in a dressing room to Seian tearing apart black-owned businesses. I’m telling you, the nerve of these HOA people…

Other locations around Plessville Mall include the Cafe Èzili Haitian Grill (I finally named the restaurant with the good food).

Downtown Plessville, Plessville, New Jersey

This location is where all the fun stuff is! Once you leave the neighborhoods, you get to the vibrant community with plenty of amenities, and where there are plenty of amenities, there are plenty of set pieces for great chapters. Notable locations include the Black Trims Auto Repair Shop (remember when Mizuki cracked the floor? Good times), the Plessville Fairgrounds (remember when Issia got poisoned by a cult? Great times), Plessville High School, Plessville Bluehound Station (remember when Leana had a breakdown? You know, hearing these back to back…), and Plessville City Waterpack (You know, maybe we shouldn’t remember that one).

University of New Jersey Plessville, New Jersey

This location is where they all go to college at one point or another. You know, because they are adults in college. Frankly, I’m surprised that no one’s GPA is impacted that badly by all of this.

The naming of the university follows in line with states with multiple state colleges, like UCLA or UMBC. This does imply that there is another UNJ like UNJP, but that is outside the scope of this series…for now.

Other New Jersey Locations

There are some other locations that exist outside of Plessville. 

The first is Glendale Estates, where some of the gang’s high school friends live. It is implied as being wealthy, with large houses that border on being mansions and alot of golf paths. It’s the type of place that may or may not be gated, or at the very least has an ADT pole stuck somewhere on the lawn. Them government jobs be payingggg.

The second is Somerset Hills Psychology, a few hours of driving away from Plessville. Somerset residents are the type of wealth that Glendale Estates thinks they have. That is highlighted by the high quality of SHP, secluded by uninhabited forestry and hosting a helicopter pad on its roof. Becky goes here for therapy sessions.

Other US Locations

There are some other locations that exist outside of New Jersey, although they aren’t really described yet. The persistent ones are Hesstown Forest, Pennsylvania where Kaiden’s family lives and Becky’s Beach House in Virginia. Di currently lives in some forest in Tennessee, but that location isn’t specified.

Chapter Text

An other-dimensional world that is spatially located in a similar place to Earth, but exists in a different plane in a higher level dimension. This dimension has the addition of magical properties to things found on Earth, allowing for new concepts to develop throughout the world. In addition, the world lacks some of the world-defining events that created Earth, such as the asteroids that hit near modern-day Mexico. This means that a much larger set of creatures walked the world at the same time, and additional tiers of natural predators lasted into the era of civilized society.

The union of Earth and Asasefu would create a forced synchronization that diffuses Earthly concepts into Asasefu, but until then, Asasefu’s history would remain its own.

Asasefian Channel

You ever wondered how you’re able to understand anything in science fiction or fantasy? Not even that, why is it that in movies that take place outside your country, or movies that are shot by other countries that take place in your country, they speak a language that should not be spoken there?

For me, the obvious answer is the suspension of disbelief. I grew up in America, so there is a very American/British lens through which the movies of Hollywood show things. But that means that I’m going to walk around thinking I can go to other places and expect to be talked to as if I’m home. And that’s on top of the fact that the obvious answer doesn’t do it for me.

What if there was a canonical reason that I can tell you information about Asasefu, which is clearly going to have its own set of languages completely disconnected from English and the Germanic/Romantic languages that English is descended from? A way that I can say “yes, it is reasonable for you to read this book explaining Asasefian lore and the subsequent stories from that in complete English.”

My answer to that is the Asasefian Channel. It will be explained later, but for now, just know it is a background force that was created thousands of years ago. 

Just imagine how you feel when listening to a human or animal talk to you or another person. You can’t translate the cat’s meows, and you may not speak the language, but the accents, the little movements in parts of or the whole body, the ways the eyes and eyebrows shift, all of your senses contribute to your understanding of the meaning and semantics of what is getting across. Now imagine that understanding on steroids, where you don’t just get a sense of the semantics, but can fully understand them without needing to interact with the physical world beyond the recognition that someone is talking to you.

That is the Asasefian Channel. It relies on the qualities of intent and location, where intent is the recognition that something is communicating to you (hearing someone call your name, seeing someone wave, or even expecting that a conversation is about to happen), and location is where that intent is coming from. From there, you simply listen to that location of intent, like tuning your car’s radio to listen to a specific channel. Only you are the car radio, and the radio tower sending out signals is the location of intent. That leaves the filter to be that abstract 6th sense you train to improve your understanding. 

Note that when defining it, I said “something” and not “someone,” and for good reason. The definition means that yes, this can be abused to do some creative stuff, like explaining how you, the reader, are able to understand what takes place in another world. 

Sure, it says it’s written in English, but in a totally different world, who’s to say they speak English there? How can I, as a fantasy author, say to you that everything that takes place, everyone you meet in my writing, can somehow speak a language of a world they are not even from? As if characters based on Japanese, Chinese, and Greek folklore are just speaking English?

Easy. The author of the texts you read imbues the semantics into this text in a way that leaves it very easy to translate by the time it gets to your world. You are canonically participating in this lore.

This may not be a satisfying answer for you, and I completely understand this. But I hope that is preferable to having to suspend your disbelief for this language gripe. If you have any suggestions, leave them as a comment, and we can workshop a better canonical strategy. 

Like, I am 100% sure I am not the only one who has had this thought before. You’re telling me Star Wars characters communicate in English? Yeah right.

Asasefian Map

Earth doesn’t need a map drawn, but Asasefu does. I ended up creating over a hundred different regions across 7 continents and 6 oceans, but I wanted to build it in a way that was less determined by my artistic pen and more determined by how livable worlds develop from the formation of Earth’s crust. Politics and folklore are determined by your environment and how it interacts with you and the people around you, and the best worlds can follow the same logic to ease the burden off the creator.

Fault Line Map

This map is the first map of Asasefu that I created. I just let the forces take the wheel and draw out the continent outline. A slightly more creative hand drew the fault lines after. I could have not made it a supercontinent but…yaaaawwwwnnn-

Nature Map

With this outline, I was able to then draw some prominent features as they may naturally come. Major bodies of water, hills, valleys, mountains, and canyons were drawn using Earth's physics of how plates interact at fault lines and their proximity to the oceans. The ocean has its fair share of these formations as well. 

Climate Map

Then off of the natural landmarks, I could sketch out the climates. Climates ultimately decide what kind of plant life can grow, and plant life can influence what animals can exist. With the landmasses and rivers and land formations, I created these climates using the key below. Each biome has its own reason for being what it is, but I can explore more on that in the actual writing.

My only regret is not having an ocean climate because that could be a big player, but that could just be like, temperature, right? 

Sees a bunch of marine-based deities and gods look at me with narrow eyes

…uhhh so before I get jumped-

Continent Map

We finally have the political continents and ocean names! This was really satisfying because I could finally get into the meat of what I wanted to do and create distinct regions with their own flavor of civilizations. Originally, I was going to recreate the old map, but better, but I realized that I had way too much space to do that, so instead, I decided to expand out. I also decided to forgo MGE names for something more original.

Onogoro is going to be what Zipangu used to be in my old continent. The name comes from the island that Izanagi and Izanami from Japanese folklore landed on and started doing god shit. Feels like a more respectful name than ‘Zipangu,’ which was the medieval name for Japan given by Marco Polo back in the olden days. According to online accounts, it translates to Land of Gold. 

Now…I’m not going to dig deep into the parallels between Western European shit and Hentai…yeah, yall right I’m lying, I just think it’s crazy the whole hentai genre, at large, strip-mines folklore to adorn women with additional features. I mean, if we’re going to do it, the folklore gotta come first, we do some good lore shit with it, and then it starts being hot. It’s like sex and books and songs you have on repeat. Sure, that one part is REALLY good and it’s heaven to loop it back to back, but it’s only made that great because you appreciated the entire thing from start to back. It has a place in a grander scheme, and your appreciation of it is built off of that scheme, not the other way around. 

If it weren’t true, post-Rome Viris wouldn’t be a top 5 character.

Anyways, I’m keeping Romena because that’s pretty generic and I used it already, and I like it for mostly orderite/human civilization. In a cruel twist of fate, I’m putting Babel right next to Romena. If you are confused why I said “cruel,” notice that Babel is the same color as the demon time light strips in college. 

Mist is being renamed to Ferlias. Again, crazy that the China comp is just called Mist, but that’s just me. Ferlias is going to include more than Chinese folklore, though. Columnar is moved to the northeast, a new continent, Damballa, is added to the northwest, and a new continent, Adwene, is added to the middle of it all. Damballa is named after a Haitian voodoo serpent spirit, so alot of communities here are going to be serpentine or amphibious.

The oceans are also getting some love. There are six, named Atlantia, Muntu, Kaouso, Heiwa, Gulfarin, and Nu. Kaouso is split into east and west Kaouso because of biome differences. Atlantia is basic; more on that later. Muntu is related to Mami Wata, a water spirit with variations between West African cultures. I made Gulfarin up lmao. Heiwa translates to peace or tranquility in Japanese. Now, as for Kaouso and Nu, as of writing, I may have forgotten…

Update: Kaosuo, I still don’t know, but Nu is an Egyptian god of water. For Kaouso I’m going off the Japanese translations of “Kao” and “Uso.”

Political Map

Lastly, were the countries themselves! Some are big and some are small by comparison, and ocean regions are larger on average than land regions. I hope that makes sense, like you can travel through water a lot faster than you can on foot.

There are a few standouts here and there that correlate to MGE, such as Royal Makai, Lescatie, Wonderland, the Alfian Islands, and Dragonia. However, most of everything is pretty much new and original, with names based on folklore from many different regions and time periods. There’s a level of self-importance on each continent and country of name alone, such as Omen and Fu in Adwene, Babylon, Uruk, and Royal Makai in Babel, Rome in Romena, and Ubar and Al-Lat in Ferlias. One thing I notice in a lot of places is that there is an argument for any given location to be the center of the world, so why not have multiple places that feel like that for the most chaos? There can be valid reasons to. For example, a lot of trade routes feel like they would have to go through Adwene at some point, but the folklore in Babel is some of the oldest there is, so there is an old-money vibe to the continent. And don’t even get me started on the dick measuring that can take place in the oceans…

There is a lot more information I have, but going too in-depth would spoil a lot of the fun. The point is that I now have a great launching point for going in-depth on many things. I will leave y'all with the mappings of the existing locations to the map, though.

Chapter Text

Any similarities between Asasefu and Earth are because I use inspiration from Earth cultures to name things. Magic is in quotes because while the use of Asasefian properties can be seen as magic to us, Magic is a word applied to things that tend not to be understood. Similar words such as “witchcraft,” “arcane,” “spells,” “sorcery,” and “alchemy” do not represent the totality of what could be done with Asasefian properties. I will refer to it as magic because I think that captures the semantics of what I want to get across to you, the Earthly reader. 

The name “Asasefu” comes from the two fundamental forces of “Asa” and “Sefu.” Asa (pronounced “Ah-sha”) is the force that is used to assemble all life and material into complex forms. From a meta-perspective, its namesake comes from the force of “Ase” from Yoruba folklore. Sefu (pronounced “Sheh-foo”) is the balancing force that is used to disassemble all life and material and, by pure coincidence mind you, shares its name with a name in Swahili that translates to “sword.” The names mainly come from an amalgamation of different names in and around the Adwene supercontinent, and as the world continued to globalize through trade, alliances, and conflict, those were the names that eventually won out to describe the fundamental properties of the world and the world itself. 

The combination of Asa and Sefu represents a constantly shifting realm where nothing ever sits still, but the combined construction and deconstruction that takes place cancel each other out. When one looks out at the lands, they will never be able to see the same image again, but they can come back to something close enough. 

In relation to what Earthlings understand as classical and quantum physics, Asa and Sefu can be seen as an additional property of matter. It can affect matter smaller than the smallest quantum particles, and its usage is only limited by the knowledge and power of the user. The simplest example is imagining something that you want to cut. The more one can hone their control of both forces, the sharper they can forge a blade through Asa, and the better they can apply Sefu to tear matter, even quarks, apart.

This has the important effect that anything becomes interactable with enough knowledge and power, and anything can be formed with the right imagination. 

In the early days of the world, this was a non-factor. No living thing had direct control over Asa and Sefu. However, beings that could abstractly think could move around the Asa and Sefu that naturally resided within their bodies. This is the fundamental quality of manifestation, like you, who may manifest or believe that your professor will give you a passing grade on a test you failed. In Asasefu, this would happen by you unconsciously directing your natural collection of Asa and Sefu towards your professor to urge him to give you a good grade.

Manifestation almost never works at the individual level. The amount of Asa and Sefu in the world is vast, and trying to will something by yourself is quite literally pouring a drop of water into the ocean. Going back to the example of your professor grading your test, you may not be able to affect the professor’s final decision. But what if the entire class was manifesting the same thing? The combined direction of everyone’s Asa and Sefu could magically skew the professor to give out higher grades or extra credit.

The problem then becomes getting everyone on the same page, which was impossible to solve without luck. It started small, with the first “users” of Asa and Sefu being people who would find rhyme and reason in certain things. For example, a flower may bloom better when placed on a plateau. The proto-Asasefian will be the first one to notice this, but will have no context to explain why this happens. They will simply make the connection and bring more seeds to the plateau with the expectation that the resulting flowers will bloom. They will now unconsciously direct their Asa and Sefu towards the flowers with the expectation that this plateau will help them bloom, but it will still be a roll of the dice whether it works. 

If it does, their belief will be stronger, and they may take more actions that get other people involved in planting those flowers. The next batch of flowers will be fed more Asa and Sefu, and what starts as a roll of the dice slowly turns into an expectation manifested into reality over multiple generations. With enough time, flowers will always bloom on that plateau regardless of other factors. Folklore would be created about the plateau, and that folklore may be joined to folklore about other natural phenomena.

With even more time, multiple sets of folklore will be represented with figures that directly control whether things happen. These figures may be made in their own image or crafted with total creativity. They may be figures that will live among the people, or figures that are above or below them. Stories and routines about these figures evolve into rituals and ceremonies that are done to appease or feed this figure. Items that are donated and sacrificed will have their own natural amounts of Asa and Sefu, and a runaway cycle of feeding these larger-than-life figures continues until one day, someone wakes up and sees that exact figure standing before them.

Chapter Text

These figures go by many names, but the most common figure created by civilizations are gods. The people who manifest and believe in a god are called worshipers, believers, and/or followers. 

There is a mutually beneficial relationship between the worshipers and the god. A god will be someone who is able to do extraordinary things because of the worship and the belief of their followers, such as changing the seasons or controlling celestial bodies. This requires direct control over Asa and Sefu, something that mortals, or the normal beings that manifested the god, cannot do by default.

A god can obtain Asa and Sefu through different methods. The most straightforward is the simple belief in the ability of a god, which passively directs some of a mortal’s Asa and Sefu towards the god. It is the smallest amount by unit, but usually makes up the lion’s share of a god’s power. This is because not all believers will or can dedicate entire ceremonies to a god, but the energy spent on believing that a god has power is a very low bar of entry that doesn’t even have to be fully committed. One mortal could have a very strong faith in a god, while another mortal believes that the god only has somewhat of an effect. Both mortals give their respective amounts of Asa and Sefu towards the god (which does imply that it is possible for someone to feed energy to someone they hate). The rest of a god’s power is obtained through prayer, where worshipers directly engage with the god, and ceremonies, where an action is dedicated to their loyalty and power to the god. 

When a god receives this power, they have the responsibility of fulfilling the things they are said to do. A god will feel an innate desire to fulfill the folklore of their worshipers, but a god is a creation like anything else in Asasefu and is an independent entity once created. At the end of the day, it is up to the god how they want to use their power to affect their worshipers, whether for better or for worse. 

This creates very open-ended scenarios of how gods can interact with their followers. A god is within their right to entice worshipers to believe in them more, whether that is by doing their job, threatening their followers’ safety, or magically influencing their followers. A god can grow very strong or very weak as the populations change, but a god can only completely disappear when the entities that describe them completely disappear. For example, if a population were completely wiped out, a god could survive in stasis through that population’s writings and sculptures. Once those writings are rediscovered, that god would then be able to jump to the people who read and learn the writings, as now that person, at minimum, has allocated something within them to remember the god. 

A god can use their power to turn some of their worshipers into extraordinary beings. This can manifest as a council of advisers, delegates for controlling smaller parts of land, warriors who have been emboldened by the force of their god, a harem whose bodies have been altered to suit the god’s desires, or entire civilizations that passively carry attribute boosts thanks to their god. In theory, a god could create another god, but you would be hard pressed to find a god that worships another god of their own volition. 

Lastly, figures created by people do not always end up with abilities on the level of gods. Examples of this include mythological entities that manifest in real life and live among the people, and the spirits of the deceased that are wished back by communities. Mythological entities are typically animals, but they can also be fictional groups of people that end up manifesting and independently developing their own civilizations and sets of folklore, creating mythological lineages of species and people that grow alongside evolutionary lineages of species and society lineages of people.

As a side note, the path of belief described does not have to reach the logical conclusion of gods. Sometimes, the belief will just stay at the plateau. This means that faith in concepts such as philosophy, mathematics, and the sciences also counts as beliefs. Faith in simple things, such as the smell of the air indicating that a rainstorm is coming, is a belief. However, this also means that such concepts rarely obtain the level of power that gods can, as it is the nature of people to circle their brethren and ideal figures rather than a book or instinct.

Chapter Text

When modern Asaefians think of the first gods, they do not think of the literal first gods created by the proto-Asasefians. They will think of the continental and oceanic namesakes that grew to enough power to rule over thousands of miles of terrain and millions of people. Before these gods came to power, Asasefu was a world of disconnected continents separated by uncharted oceans, creating barriers that prevented anyone on both land and sea from talking to each other. This extended to the gods, who found themselves the loneliest of their people.

Babel

Babel’s people make up most of the first civilizations to ever develop, and they created him out of a desire for protection and guidance. His people faced life-threatening storms, monsters that were their natural predators, and seismic events regularly, but persisted through their love for their very fertile home. Their folklore developed around the idea of a mature being who often allowed challenges onto his people’s doorstep, but would never truly put them in danger. A parental figure who ensured that the people knew the worth of their land and treated it with respect and reverence. 

It is through this will that Babel was born, a bipedal figure whose body was pure white and whose face bore no features. Three wings adorn the sides of his head, and several more could be seen on his back and arms. He did not need to communicate through voice or text, as he could touch the forehead of one of his worshipers, and they would understand what he meant. 

Adwene

Adwene’s people lived in hot, dry climates that were sparse in resources. Thus, her people would long for literal and figurative reprieves, weathering through rain to replenish supply or through the simple fact of completing their travels. It is from these simple desires that Adwene took form. 

She took the form of a bird, whose body was the size of a house, and whose wings could shield an entire public square from view. Her regular face would just be that of a bird, but she would frequently change her face depending on who she was in front of. Her eyes would glow gold, and she would wear a wreath of plants on her forehead. It is said that one look into her face could bring calmness and clarity. Her appearance is a sign of good fortune, progress, and assurance that the path one walks is the one that is right for them. 

Nu

Nu’s lands were seen as some of the ends of the world by the landwellers, and consequently, their people grew up very isolated. Calm times were said to be because of a protective shield around the oceans. The environment itself worked to keep them safe from unwanted life, and thus, the environment down to the water they breathed was to be celebrated. 

This will born Nu, but unlike Babel and Adwene, Nu was seen more as a friend than a higher than. Nu was, of course, powerful, but that meant less than being able to spend time with them for their people. Nu took the form of a lean water spirit whose head and tail closely resemble a jellyfish. Nu is the size of a kraken, but it is more common to feel Nu run through the water around you than to embrace their physical form. Followers of Nu are said to be able to travel anywhere blind, as embracing Nu is foregoing the fear of the unknown and the darkness, and instead treating the mystery as something to be befriended.

Muntu

Muntu’s people are a mix of natives and prior land dwellers who have converted to her following. They live in warm to cold waters and bordering coast regions that were known for trade. The water communities believed in their wealth and saw their life as blessings that had descended upon them. This belief of blessing manifested into a human woman, with hair of snakes, the scales of a lizard, and the hands and feet of a frog. 

She did not interact with her believers as much as the other gods, maintaining the distance and aloofness that they desired. Instead, it was more common to find evidence of her paths traveled, through scales that shed off her and marks of flora that were shaped in her feet. Sights would be told of in the past tense, and those visited would regel tales of her giving them destinies of greatness. More often than not, they would embark on long travels and never return home. 

Damballa

Damballa’s people lived in rough mountainous terrain and had turned their struggles into a sense of pride and self-reliance. They live off the land, and rather than look for protection like the followers of Babel, their folklore emphasizes the underdogs that could turn themselves into the monsters that haunt the region. Above all was one entity that could rival even the likes of Babel. 

From this spiritual consciousness, Damballa was born, with a nursery of fiery volcanoes and the god’s first toy being a greatsword forged from pure obsidian. Damballa does not seek out Damballa’s worshipers. Damballa’s worshipers fight through trials and tribulations to seek Damballa’s wisdom, with the last challenge being to fight Damballa to their death. 

No one knows Damballa’s true form, as Damballa changes to whatever suits the challenger. In the eyes of Damballa’s believers, such questions are worthless anyway. No one knows if the seekers of Damballa ever find their answers, as they always return to their homes with the same silent pride she exudes. There is only one recorded story of Damballa not following this trend, and that is when she had a chance interaction with Babel himself.

Kaouso

The followers of Kaouso previously did not have a strong unifying set of folklore, as they sat in the middle of many of the other major regions and were a melting pot of ideology as a result. However, conflict between what will become known as Thracia and Critias would spill over between the oceans, and a permanent divide would be instilled into the ocean’s dwellers. Back then, many people from Thracia would immigrate to Critias in search of a calmer life. At first, both regions would regularly interact with one another, but once Thracia started demanding the continuation of its ideology in Critias, Critias rebelled, and the parties went to war. 

Kaouso’s people would be unified and split by this war. People closer to the coast of Thracia would sympathize with them, while people closer to the coast of Critias would sympathize with them. The folklore that developed from the region would most commonly compare the entire ordeal to siblings fighting, which would quickly become the basis for Kaouso itself. He would have the lower body of an arachnid that could spin silk as smooth as the lies that could spin from his tongue. Her skin was deceptively smooth, yet orange and leathery to contract against the ocean’s depths harshly. He had an angelfish’s glowing antennae and glowing eyes that shone a soft gray. Swimming fins and gills covered her entire body, and the tail end of her thorax was a stinger encased in several other soft and squishy tails that wrapped around the stinger like a cocoon. 

His most fitting feature, however, was that she was actually two souls, brother and sister, that were tethered to one body, forever at odds regardless of the situation. Believers of Kaouso have a saying that translates to “the first casualty of war is the truth.” They say that anyone who can see behind the veils of Kaouso’s words can find such truth, and that the most successful have gone on to become legends in their own right.

Ferlias

The lands where Felias reigns were extremely fertile for almost the entirety of the world’s history, and that, combined with favorable climates, has resulted in well-off civilizations that could put more time and energy into building on their land, knowledge, and entertainment. In this case, Ferlias happened to be the first god to be personified by the people, as folklore was created of an entity that would appear in villages and transform them into beings of peak intelligence, fitness, creativity, and sexuality. 

Her appearance is half plant and half avian humanoid, with bones that are made of the purest bark. Her skin was a collage of the different plants that grew around the world. The feathers of her wings and tail constantly shift colors and are larger than the rest of her form. One wave of her wings could unleash a downpour of rain onto a town, and one shake of her tail could stir the realm in a frenzy. Her design was topped off with protruding horns that flared out into an antler crown. To this day, it is speculated that the current ruler of what is known as the Makai Ocean based her pseudonym on the folklore surrounding Ferlias.

Columnar

The eighth god to walk the Asasefu lands is currently known as Columnar. The people of Columnar’s continent looked towards structure, as the variation in the lands created instability in big and small ways. In addition, the factions of the lands frequently fight amongst one another, although very few of the fights escalate to a large-scale war. This made Columnar a comparatively weak God on arrival, with the body of a moose, the paws of a feline, and the jaws of a shark. 

Hir uncanny design complemented hir interactions with hir worshippers, as shi was a fleeting sight to any travelers that are moving through the lands. Due to the diversity of hir followers, shi has become the most adept at using Asa and Sefu out of the first gods. However, shi prefers to delegate hir skill through the spreading of hir power amongst a chosen few. Anyone having trouble of the ethereal kind could find one of hir delegates and seek answers through them.

Atlantia

The ninth god to walk the Asasefu lands is currently known as Atlantia. Atlantia’s waters were always frigid, and with tropical climates far from the edges of her domain, the communities that resided there found themselves with few troubles, as they had advantages. Their lives encouraged a reliance on foresight, intuition, and wisdom, and their folklore would reflect that. 

As many of their stories were centered around their own people, Atlantia would be born with a body similar to theirs. She was humanoid with pale blue skin, matching translucent fins and flippers that dwarfed her body, and countless symbols that danced around her round form and supple skin. Each symbol represented an animal or natural phenomenon, as her believers saw them as small and large signs for the future. 

She always spoke beyond her years, and the friendly gaze of her grey eyes inspired respect and trust. Unlike some of the previous gods, she spends her entire existence living among her people, wearing her clothes, and teaching life lessons to the children. This also means that she travels often. However, she does attempt to balance the movement by staying for weeks or months at a time at every place she goes.

Heiwa

The tenth god to walk the Asasefu lands is currently known as Heiwa. Heiwa’s people saw extended periods of peace even though surrounded by turbulence. Their oceans were fertile due to the massive ranges of tectonic activity that were the center of the region. It wasn’t to the point of Ferlias and Muntu’s lands, but it was leagues better than what was immediately around them. It was common to see royalty and people of exuberance pass through the oceans, if only to see the treasures that could only grow from their volcanic range. The natives came to value the tranquility that seemed to fortune them and prayed that it never left, and through that need for peace, Heiwa was born. 

She was a translucent wind spirit that lived in the air above the oceans, as most of what Heiwa’s followers needed protection from the currents rather than traveled through them. When she took on a physical form, she was an anthropomorphic, pink-furred monkey who sprouted two crane wings from her back. Due to the limitations of both forms, she rarely traveled in the water. Anyone who wished to see here would have to travel to the islands that sprouted from the active volcano range in the area. 

Onogaro

The eleventh god to walk the Asasefu lands is currently known as Onogaro. Onogaro is the youngest continent, but it holds the second-oldest people. Intense storms pepper it like Babel, but the land was low elevation, flat, and gentle. The lines of communities often blurred with ease of travel, and many felt as if they belonged to a much large group of people than the ones in their immediate vicinity. Folklore in the lowlands and gentle forests praised the unity among differences. When new regions such as Critias were established, many travelers found themselves initiated into the ways of the continent. Onogoro was thus born, not out of desire but as a symbol of community. 

In daily activities, she exists as the land and plants itself, and her worshipers place high importance on leaving her better than they found her. There is no reward, there is no incentive, and her appearances are as unpredictable as any mortal can be. She has no definite form, but accounts from her followers state that if she takes the form of a person, she would always be wearing makeup that covers her entire body. She will also vary her body, sometimes appearing feminine and other times appearing masculine. 

Gulfarin

The twelfth god to walk the Asasefu lands is currently known as Gulfarin. The oceans that Gulfarin will come to govern have always had instability, whether it was coming from external regions or from the internal activity that took place on the ocean floor. For example, the future region of Marinas contained the Marinas trench, an underocean chasm where the darkest depths of Asasefu were. Other regions nearby fought proxy wars and held trade hostage to fight for control over the waters. So many factors were at play that doing anything beyond one’s slice of life was like rolling a dice where one or more sides led to an unfavorable demise. Luck and fate were the most desired qualities to have, and the creation of Gulfarin matched that to a tee. 

He was a shark the size of a ship, with eyes the size of an adult human, and teeth sharp enough to cut momentary gaps in the water. His key distinction was the tattoo of a two-sided scale that was on the roof of his body. His form represented how quickly your life could change from a chance encounter, and many live in fear due to what could happen if an encounter with him resulted in bad luck rather than good. Paradoxically, even if he could directly change the outcome of someone’s journey, due to the instability of his waters he can never keep a consistent follower base, and as a result he is the weakest out of all the first gods. 

Romena

The thirteenth god to walk the Asasefu lands is currently known as Romena. His continent was predominantly inhabited by smaller, fragile races in comparison to other continents, and that made them uniquely vulnerable to storms, seismic events, and conflicts that took place between them. The key desire throughout all of the strife was mobility, and the ability to set out and find one’s own land to call their home was romanticized amongst the people. They created inventions to match the powers around them and used external abstract factors like wealth to compare themselves with others. 

Folklore of people that represented the shining pinnacle of their vales eventually congregated into Romena, a person of half flesh, half automaton who wore white, frilly clothing, kept accessories made of gold on their form, and always had a book tucked in between their arms. Their style stood out against the land like orange on purple, the ultimate sign of wealth when one can afford to not worry about the preservation of their personality. No matter what they wore, though, nothing was as valuable as that book. Romena’s believers say that touching the book would grant you access to an imagination you never knew you had, and you turn into an ideaman among ideamans, a once in a century being who would go on to change the world with their inventions.

So there we have it. Gods that represent some of civilization’s most inner desires. Safety, guidance, friendship, purpose, strength, trust, wealth, knowledge, wisdom, peace, connection, fortune, and self-determination. These thirteen constructs formed the foundation of what would become of Asesefu, and every location in the world would follow one of the first gods to some degree. It didn’t matter how much countries diverged into their own beliefs, as the lineage of extraordinary beings can be traced back through these thirteen.

Chapter Text

Because these gods were the first of their kind, they were the only gods that mortals went to for their desires. There was the occasional exception, such as Columnar’s appointees and Atlantia, but for the most part, the gods were worshiped. This meant that, as much as a mortal could desire to, no one in their immediate vicinity would understand what it meant to be like them.

That is, no one but each other. As the mortal population around the world obtained the means to mingle with others, they began to hear of the other gods through word of mouth. Whether through comparisons or overhearing passing conversations, they had heard of entities as powerful as they, doing different things but making a change in people, nonetheless. All of them, even Damballa, grew curious about each other and daydreamed about what it would be like if they could be in person. 

Kaouso x Babel

Kaouso would be the first god to make a move. He was quite experienced with the lies that mortals would tell, and the closest god to her was Babel. He couldn’t believe that Babel would be so kind when his people were directly responsible for her creation, and as she had the largest jurisdiction of water in the land, she decided to take action to draw Babel out into her domain.

According to accounts by her followers, she granted a truth seeker’s wish in exchange for a favor: they were to take articles of clothing, hand-spun by Kaouso himself, to Babel, and convince him to put them on. The mortal assigned to deliver the clothes to Babel told him that it was a gift, a gesture of goodwill from one god to another. Babel didn’t need to be convinced further, and he quickly put on the clothes. Kaouso sensed it happening as there was an invisible thread attached to the clothing, and she pulled Babel into her waters for interrogation. Kaouso had pulled him so quickly that it looked like a meteor flying across Babel’s continent, and Babel’s followers could do nothing but watch him be whisked away over the horizon. 

Babel, despite encountering the predators and monsters of his people, was wholly unprepared for Kaouso’s gambit. However, that became a blessing as much as it was a weakness. Within seconds, Kaouso had wrapped Babel in a prison of webbing and instantly began interrogating the first god. Babel responded to every question with complete honesty, even ones that felt confidential, such as the location of his home. The more the questioning went on, the more Kaouso begged herself to let Babel go, but he just couldn’t accept that Babel was pure of heart.

In one last move, Kaouso asked Babel how he could be killed. Kaouso expected a denial that such a thing was possible or to be refused an answer entirely. But Kaouso listened as Babel, still in a panicked state from the abduction and interrogating, described in detail, finer than his personal silk, how to destroy him and disperse him into Asa. Kaouso, a god forged from the lies and distrust that once ran rampant in his domain, was dumbfounded. A god like Babel could not be this naive; humans were not this naive, but their souls and the souls of mortals will always be one and the same. 

Kaouso untied Babel and apologized to him, admitting that she was doubtful of the lore that was seeping into his waters. She swore to Babel that one day he would catch Babel in a lie and end him, but until that day, she would forever owe Babel and keep his answers secret from everyone. Babel forgave him and simply asked that Kaouso visit his domain from time to time, for above all, he was just happy to meet another god.

Babel x Damballa

Babel’s run-in with Kaouso only fueled the news of gods throughout the world. Before the latter half of the thirteen gods could finish forming, everyone was already trading stories of a being of pure white form who protected his people from all that threatened them. Such stores traveled halfway across the world to the realms of Damballa, and the sudden whispers of another all-powerful god roused Damballa from her secluded life in the mountains.

Damballa walked through the waters of Muntu and Kaouso with a singular focus at hand. Legend has it that Damballa’s footsteps formed some of the earliest underwater mountain ranges of the modern era, and Damballa is solely responsible for introducing the northern waters to the heat of the mantle, and with it some of the richest waters and coasts across the realms. To Damballa, however, the only thing that mattered was seeing this so-called god kneel before the god’s feet.

Damballa’s straight-laced path made it obvious to onlookers where she was headed, but it wasn’t until Damballa had entered what would become of Makai that people started to realize who the god’s target was. Babel’s worshipers rushed to him with warnings of Damballa’s arrival, but Babel was never to worry too much. Knowing Kaouso existed in the world, he would call the Ocean god to join him in welcoming Damballa’s arrival. Kaouso would make her way to Babel’s side, and together they watched Damballa emerge from the ocean.

Once Damballa locked eyes with Babel, Damballa took the form of a giant serpent and rushed to eat Babel whole. Babel would defend and evade Damballa’s attacks, but never went on the offensive. He urged Kaouso to stay out of it as he fought back Damballa for eleven days and eleven nights, enduring being dropped into mountains, dragged through forests, and pierced with giant fangs that oozed lethal venom. 

After the eleventh day, Damballa would try once more to eat Babel, desperate to hear his cries as he was crushed in Damballa’s maw. Still, Babel would not yield and finally took his first strike against Damballa. He would punch the serpent’s mouth, then strike one of her fangs from the inside. He broke the fang off whole and leaped out from the jaws of death with little more than dirty clothes and wings.

Damballa was rife with frustration, but stopped the attacks on Babel. Damballa would admit to growing jealous of the stories the god would hear about Babel, and how no one had been able to hold off the onslaught until now. Babel asked if Damballa would like to visit again, like Kaouso, and Damballa promptly rejected. However, Babel was allowed to keep Damballa’s fang, as the god’s reminder to one day best Babel in a match of strength.

Damballa x Muntu

Damballa may not care about the journey taken to Babel, but Damballa’s followers certainly do. The fruits of the warrior’s labor had manifested in only a few decades, and many communities experienced a flourish of life that previously wasn’t possible in the cold north. Much like Damballa had graced Babel with a surprise welcome, Damballa would receive a surprise of their own.

Muntu would effortlessly find her way to Damballa’s quarters and let herself in, much to Damballa’s dismay. To Damballa, Muntu was a God who was too confident and assured of herself for her own good. Muntu did not have feats of power like Damballa or Babel, nor was she forged through conflict as Kaouso. Muntu didn’t even care either, and rather than challenge Damballa to a bout, she would gift Damballa an otherworldly bouquet of flowers, spices, and meats as a thank you for the steps she took all those years ago. 

Damballa would reject the bouquet and command the seawoman to give the gift to Babel instead. Muntu would counter by saying that the god of wings and protection was not the cause of her people’s wellness, but Damballa would yell and hiss at the claim. Begrudgingly, Muntu would make an even farther journey to Babel’s domain, marking her first encounters with Babel and Kaouso. Babel would happily take the bouquet, Kaouso pointing out that Damballa might in fact be interested in the bouquet, but specifically wanted Babel to be the one to deliver it.

Muntu would be confused, but indeed, she eventually encountered Damballa again and saw the bouquet. Damballa said nothing and promptly disappeared under the cover of the mountains. 

Nu x Kaouso

Babel and Kaouso would grow intrigued by the waters to the south of both of them. Both gods had the proximity to see for themselves, and Babel’s island followers in particular would speak of a foreboding darkness that emanated from the depths. Babel has had bad experiences with oceans, so Kaouso would be the one to venture into the depths, leaving behind a line of silk for Babel to pull in case Kaouso was in danger. 

Separated from Babel, Kaouso was left to their devices, and the two souls would clash constantly, fretting on whether they should even be taking the plunge down into the bottom of the world. There is a reason neither of their people had dared to come down here, and the light that would usually penetrate the waters was totally absent. One of his hands would be kept on the line, ready for Babel to pull. 

In the total darkness, Kaouso would feel beings begin to run along her body. She internally cried to pull, but he rejected his desires and stood fast in the increasing activity around him. It became too much, though, and a new light source quickly wrapped its way around his body. Kaouso would pull his string, and she would be dragged back so fast by Babel that it would cause a new current to be permanently added to the ocean. Babel would carry Kaouso, surrounded by a glowing organism the size of an island. The organism would communicate to both of them as Nu, and the three of them quickly realized they all shared a similar godhood. 

Legend has it that this was the first “fishing” event to take place in Asasefu’s history, and after that fated day, the people of Babel would build nets and poles that mimicked Kaouso’s webbing.

Adwene x Babel

Populations were growing too big for their borders, and the mingling between continents and oceans began. The gods would also begin to mingle, drawing their locations together in an effort to reduce travel.

Babel would come across Adwene this way, meeting her while he walked through desert sands to Damballa’s mountains. As a god, he was impervious to heat and thirst, but that did not stop the giant bird from descending out of the air to greet him on his travels. Her eyes inspected every inch of his white form, and her chest was puffed out with exuberance. She asked about his destination, like a master questioning her student, and Babel responded by pointing in the general direction of the mountains he was walking towards. She then asked if he was prepared to make the trek, highlighting his lack of any supplies. 

It was then that Babel introduced himself as a god in his own right, saying that he lives among his followers in the land mass south and east of her domain. Adwene did not believe him initially. She spoke of how many people had claimed to hold statuses that they didn’t have in the hope of favor from her or the locals. She challenged him to a test of godhood, saying that any god should be able to fly like her. 

Babel admitted that he couldn’t fly for extended periods despite the wings, but he did say that he was impervious to mortal pain. He told her that if he were to be dropped from the sky, higher than any human had been, he would walk away without a scratch. Adwene gave him one last warning that bluffing would not get you out of the desert alive, but Babel, in his usual sincerity, assured her that he would be fine.

Adwene scoffed and took Babel within her talons, flying him up as high as the sky could shine down on them. She gave him one wish of favor in the afterlife, then dropped him. She watched as he disappeared from view, and mere minutes later, a giant plume of sand rose below her. She glided down to the explosion, stopping once she could see him dusting himself off as if he had gotten caught in a ball of falling leaves.

Left with irrefutable evidence of his godhood, she guided him through the desert to Damballa’s domain. However, she demanded that he return and bring the other gods with him. Put simply, it got lonely flying around in the desert.

Atlantia x Columnar

The first six gods had finally learned of each other, and just as their populations intermingled, their folklore intermingled as well. Only now did the gods play a role in the stories the people told. The most frequent of these sightings occurred between Nu, Kaouso, and Babel, as they shared oceans; there were still plenty of places for new stories to take shape. Asasefian folklore makes a distinction between the gods after Kaouso and the gods before Kaouso, as the first group of gods could be credited with the creation of the next. 

A second wave of gods actually began with Ferlias, but Columnar and Atlantia met each other first due to bickering people. Columnar had made the trek to the icy tundras that wrapped around one of Atlantia’s seas, joining a group of ice people that were in a stalemate with Atlantia’s mermaids. With both of them apologizing for the inconveniences, they hovered around while their followers discussed matters under their supervision. 

Columnar, a forever student of Asa, picked Atlantia’s brain on how her power worked. In public, Atlantia spoke in parables and Columnar delegated responsibilities, but in private, they exchanged secrets and tricks they picked up in their early lives as Gods. Columnar appreciated that shi had another god who could understand hir manipulation of Asa, and Atlantia found it fun to hang around someone who seemed as level-headed as her. They left each other reluctantly once their people’s meeting ended, but many more meetups would take place in the icy sea.

Ferlias x Damballa

While Damballa does not keep track of who comes to her domain, she is not blind to it. When Damballa sensed the slightest dip in power, the god sought answers with Muntu. Muntu determined that it was a consequence of Damballa’s own angry travels to Babel, with people migrating to the continent to the south. Thus, Damballa did the only sensible thing and sent Babel to confront the source of the inconvenience. Kaouso would follow Babel, if only to convince Babel that he did not have to do everything Damballa asked of him. 

They traveled to a continent lush with life from the moment they set foot on the sand. They saw some mortals who looked like Damballa’s followers, but many more who looked like nothing seen before. Everything from the trees to the sky seemed to have beings living inside it. Eventually, Babel and Kaouso found the God responsible in Ferlias. She immediately invited them to a proper tour of her domain and even arranged a dinner put together by some of her followers. Kaouso urged Babel to discuss their business with her, but Babel was sure that a tour and dinner could not take so long.

He did not account for the sheer amount of land that Ferlias was keen on showing them, and they ended up being taken around Ferlias for days. Babel would finally crack once they had gotten near what will become Ubar, unloading about how Damballa’s concerned about the number of people emigrating from Damballa’s lands into Ferlias’ lands. Ferlias appeared to have no idea it was happening, assuming that her followers had simply become more devoted to her. 

As a show of openness, she gave Babel a cornucopia of local delicacies to deliver to Damballa. This extended Babel and Kaouso’s journey into Damballa’s mountains, where they completed the delivery and gave her Ferlias’ response. Just like with Muntu’s gift, Damballa seemed to care little about the cornucopia, but Muntu would mention seeing Damballa with it, hinting that she does indeed keep the gifts she’s given.

Columnar x Babel

The creations of mortals were becoming good enough to enable the regular trade of both goods and culture. This created havoc for all the gods, but especially Columnar. Shi already dealt with having to understand the languages of her own people, but now shi had to account for the mortals that came from outside hir realms to learn about hir. Shi began work on a solution to this around the same time that Babel’s followers began to assemble a tower in the highest point of the coastal land. That idea started from the minds of a few overzealous followers who believed they could see the entire world from a high enough post, but under the protection of Babel, the general populous felt assured in trying it. 

With the tower dubbed the Tower of Babel, it quickly gained global recognition as it became the highest thing built by mortals. Everyone, whether on land or at sea, came together in this shared feat of Asasefian kind. The tower ceased to be an idea to see the earth, and quickly became a shared project that represented unity among the people.

Naturally, so many people gathered in one place, bringing all the gods together. For the first time, everyone, including Damballa, would share a region together. Babel decided that the best place for this would be what will become Royal Makai, which will sit just north of Nu’s domain. From there, everyone congregated and conversed as they watched the tower assemble from afar. 

With this gathering came new faces. Atlantia and Columnar would meet the older gods together, with Atlantia riding on Columnar’s back. Ferlias would come with Onogoro and Heiwa, new gods that had recently formed. Gulfarin would be the last god to arrive, introducing himself and hanging in the waters with Nu. 

Onogoro and Heiwa seemed already intimately familiar with each other. Heiwa, having never known a bad day, would talk at length about the many ships that would pass through her waters. She always carried a coin or two with her, thank-you tokens that she claimed were from ships she had guided. She, however, made sure to steer clear of Kaouso, much to Kaouso's confusion. 

Onogoro was quiet and observed far more than she spoke. She walked with a natural elegance and a permanently neutral face. Many of her responses were simple ‘mmm’s or any sound that saved her the trouble of moving her lips. Outside of Heiwa, she would mostly sit by Nu, watching the others talk as the tower went up over the horizon. 

Columnar worked on hir creation all the while. According to hir, it would be a permanent area effect that will translate anything that comes within a certain radius of hir. Atlantia would listen on with loving interest, and Kaouso would ask the most questions, suspecting other intentions with something so powerful. Outside of those two, everyone else had, at most, mild interest, as they never interacted with their followers outside of a few sentences here and there.

As Columnar was coming up on a crucial part of hir spell, tragedy would strike. The true details of what went wrong will be lost in hundreds of translations and retellings, but all stories agree that after the crucial event, the foundations of the Tower of Babel gave way. Millions fled and died as the tower that rose above the mountains came down in a deadly mess of stone, metal, and sediment. Crashing of the tower shook the continent so badly that it would cause Columnar to make the only error shi had ever made in hir existence as a God. Hir unfinished creation would activate, and rather than being limited to the area around hir, it would flash across the world, and scramble the languages and localities of every Asasefian. A disaster was thrown into further chaos as people couldn’t even understand themselves, much less the Asasefians to the left and right of them. 

Even with help from the gods, it would take years until the former tower was cleaned up, and Columnar’s spell could be completely reversed. The region around the tower will be designated as the capital of Babel to honor those lost, and it will evolve into the present-day city of Babylon. While many more important hubs of Asasefu will emerge, Babylon will hold the distinction of being the first-ever global capital.

Adwene x Ferlias

The founding of Babylon created a place where everyone truly felt welcome. Mortals now have a global identity, and while we call them Asasefians now, the world will need centuries before it will settle the debates on the forces that form the world’s name. For now, trade was the top priority, and routes could be safely planned months in advance, knowing that their delivery would eventually reach Babylon and return.

This newfound trade causes tensions between the Gods. Gods were no longer just protectors of their people. They were advocates, diplomats, and political representatives whose friendships affected the balance of the economic world and vice versa. Their attempts to stay out of monetary affairs, and what started as pleas and tired compromise, evolved into bickering and, in rare cases, fights. 

The most public battle took place between Ferlias and Adwene. The normally friendly Ferlias came to Adwene’s domain, demanding answers for an uptick in deaths of Ferliasans on Adwene’s sands. Adwene attributed it to the usual suspects of dehydration and lost souls, but Ferlias would not have it. Ferlias would accuse Adwene of killing her people out of jealousy, which Adwene rebuked as nonsense and unbecoming of Ferlias. In Adwene’s eye, whoever dies dies, and overeager Ferliasans who do not seek the counsel of Adwenians before traveling her land do not deserve special treatment. She even went as far as to push blame onto Ferlias, which was Ferlias’s last straw. 

That instant, Ferlias would proclaim that Adwenians will never again be able to make their way into her realm, and to ensure this, she made it rain so much that the lands facing Adwene’s continent, and there was too much water to disappear into the ecosystem. This left a permanent, dense fog that shielded an entire side of the continent from view. Any ship departing from Adwene to Ferlias would be greeted with a giant shield of fog that stretched miles in every direction. Folklore of sailors who attempted to cross through the fog recalls ending up in the most random of places. Few made it to shore, but most ended up in the realms of Onogoro, Damballa, and the continent adjacent to Gulfarian’s waters.

As time went on, Ferlias and Adwene would mend their relationship, but the legend of the foggy curtain would remain through its own collection of stories. A side effect of the foggy curtain is that it will play a key role in the creation of one last god, an automaton formed from the stories of Columnarian humans and human-eques who set sail to Ferlias’s land in search of spices, only to mistakenly land on an entirely different continent.

Romena x Columnar

Romena’s history books would eventually come to recognize the tale of the Ferlias expedition as a lie done to cover up their failure, but the stories they brought back to their communities were enough to spur larger expeditions to the unclaimed continent. Gulfarina’s domain was the primary reason why Asasefians stayed clear of the land, as any sort of travel would necessitate surviving the deadly storms and creatures that resided in the ocean. 

However, the human settlers were a mix of courageous and delusional, as later described by Columnar hirself. With almost no civilization in the way, they quickly made the territories their home. The land itself was stable and temperate, untouched by the influences of gods. Wildlife was plentiful, trees grew as tall as ships were long, and the weather never went outside of the range of comfort except for the peak of summer. Before long, what started as temporary encampments turned into thriving city-states, and ships would travel back with confirmation of safety, plenty of produce, and stories of surviving the denizens of Gulfarin that spread like a disease. 

Conquering the obstacles of life became more important to the settlers than living among them. Why settle for living among difficult terrain when one could change it to fit their desired reality? 

This line of thinking broke with Columnar’s values. Shi shared the feeling of an insatiable appetite with the settlers, but that was focused on the manipulation and exploration of Asa, not life. Shi called them foolhardy, irresponsible, and disrespectful, warning that seeing themselves above the world around them could lead to deadly consequences. When that didn’t work, shi stopped providing blessings for people who would travel to the new continent. Shi thought it would teach them a lesson to deal with the foggy curtain and the oceans of Gulfarin alone, but the deaths of settlers that never were only added to their legacy. The new continent became something worth dying for, a paradise that would be shaped by those worthy enough to fight through the deadly waters with nothing but their bare hands. 

Those who made it became radicalized. Some will recognize Columnar no longer supports them and ceased to become hir believers. They will instead spin a new web of folklore, one that suits their will to get as much out of life as they possibly can, one that finds strength in reliance, independence, hard work, and constitution. This will eventually lead to Romena, who represented a peace that is built, not asked for.

When news of Romena’s birth spread across Asasefu, it was met with negative press. The nature of Romena’s power, or more accurately, lack thereof, meant that he was by far the weakest of the gods. However, he didn’t need the power to shape the world. He had a tongue like Kaouso's, intelligence like Columnar's, and was unpredictable like Gulfarin's. He was unusually flawed in his folklore, and yet Romenians valued his flaws like gold. 

Asasefians all over the world looked to the gods to deal with him, but they didn’t know how. It wasn’t in their way to meddle with the natures of a realm they do not control, and every one of them could individually handle him if he were to attempt to impose his will on them. It also didn’t help that Romena’s people got into way more internal conflicts than any other domain. To the other gods, it was best to just sit back and observe.

The Gods x Romena

Over time, the world adjusted to the new continent of Romena. Asasefians heard news of their constant battles and wars and saw them as backwards people. The early warnings of Romena warring with the rest of Asasefu had dissipated into pity and a common sense distrust. No one understood why Romena’s people would fight over resources that could comfortably support all of them, and no one understood why Romena himself would encourage this behavior.

But then, without warning, Romena would suddenly give every one of his followers the power of his godhood. Spread out among millions of people, the power wouldn’t make anyone strong. However, it allowed Romenians to manipulate Asa and Sefu in ways that only the Gods could. The fears and warnings were reinvigorated, and the gods quickly confronted Romena in a meeting on Gulfarin’s seas. 

The old gods called for extreme punishment, with Damballa even advocating for his death. No god before Romena had blurred the lines between mortals and God as Romena did. Atlantia would put it most succinctly. He had given his people a fire that they need not control, and they will burn themselves down to the ground trying to tame it. Romena defended his actions by citing examples of other gods doing similar things. Muntu and Damballa bestowed extraordinary blessings upon their followers regularly. Ferlias would fully transform some of her followers, and Columnar practically created proxy gods for hir bidding.

Columnar would not respond to his claim, but Atlantia shot back that there is a difference between creating a few disciples and millions of powerful mortals. Romena then sought the voice of Babel, the first god.

It would be the first time Babel would ever be given such a responsibility as the eldest god among them. The other gods waited with heavy breath as he mulled it over. Kaouso and Damballa, his earliest friends, would wait by his side. Damballa would try to sway Babel, but Kaouso would web Damballa’s mouth shut. Columnar would go into the oceans with Atlantia, unable to look Romena in the eye. 

Once the sun had reached the lowest point in the sky, Babel would announce that he had his answer. 

Romena, if he wished to remain in the graces of Babel, would need to remove the powers he gave his followers. Everyone would quickly side with Babel’s decision. Romena would shout back that Kaouso had tricked Babel into saying this, that the other gods are conspiring against him and his people, but would ultimately capitulate to the demand. 

The Gods x The People

As quickly as Romenians were given control over Asa and Sefu, it was taken away. This sent the realm into its first dark age as settlers suffered intense withdrawals. For a people that prided themself on hard effort, they suffered greatly to bring their powers back. Some would conduct public sacrifices in the name of Romena, to which he would endure in silence. Some would try to rally wars in revenge against the other realms, but the gods simply stirred Gulfarin’s waters enough to severely weaken any warships that tried to leave the shores. 

Romena resigned himself to the ways of the older god, but the inability to stop the bloodshed disgusted him. He would journal every event that happened in Romena in a book he had started, writing down every drop of blood that fell on his doorstep, as well as the lives of everyone who lived and passed under his watch. It would be his way of still being involved in their lives and giving them the legacy they craved when they first landed on his shores. 

Outside of Romena, stirrings of the possibility of mortal control of Asa bounced around Asasefu. The gods were not blind to it, as they directly felt the will of their people. Romena was a disaster ground, sure, but many Asasefians saw themselves as superior to the Romenians, and many believed that if given the chance, they could harness the power for the better. Even if Romena was out of the picture, the belief of controlling the world had sprouted all over the world, and it wouldn’t be long before someone did something about it.

It only took one attempt as well. Asasefians met in Babylon to create a second Tower of Babel, one that could be used to unite the gods together once more. Babel would warn the gods to stay away this time, only inviting Nu so that they could watch the tower go up while hidden from the people. They were able to hear their true intentions of confronting the gods about the power they were seemingly hoarding. They heard that if the tower was built tall enough, not even Adwene would be able to escape their jury. They then heard rumblings of extremists who wished to go as far as to tie the gods down and extract the powers from their hearts. 

However, as with Romena, different desires led to infighting that couldn’t be contained. An unidentified Asaseifan faction would destroy the foundation of the second tower, and once again, it would come crashing down, destroying a large section of Babylon and killing millions once again. 

It was that moment that Babel decided to convene the gods again in Gulfarin’s sea. He preached about how he witnessed firsthand with Nu how unrest was building in their followers, and that something had to be done. Given the current state of the world, granting everyone direct power was out of the question, but the opposite extreme—no one having power — was just as undesirable for the foreseeable future. 

What they would come up with was a middle ground that at least bought the gods time. Muntu would use her gifts to see a future where the Asasefians would teach their own ways of using Asa and Sefu. Columnar would be inspired to suggest a system that didn’t provide power, but ways to interface with Asa and Sefu. Shi would workshop the system with Romena and test it with Kaouso to ensure it couldn’t be abused to wage war against the Gods. The other gods would provide the necessary materials, and Babel, once again, would give the final approval to put it into practice. 

The night would come for the world, but people would notice something drastically different. Before, there was nothing in the night sky but stars, but now several moons dotted the night sky. The next day, news of people being able to fly would spread throughout the lands. Everyone knew the gods had done something, but anyone who would ask would be greeted with a quiet smile. The gods never revealed what they did that day, but time can unravel all lies and secrets. 

The Thirteen Moons

In the modern age, scholars of Asa and Sefu mostly agree that what the gods did that day was create moons that radiated the blessings of the gods around the world. Early astronomers were able to identify thirteen moons, one for each of the gods. Thus, this system would become known as the thirteen moons. The thirteen moons system has two dominant schools that have been used to create truly fantastic things. 

The first is the school of Columnar, which views the thirteen moons as extensions of the god’s very essence. This school was founded by Asa and Sefu users with the goal of preserving the old ways before the creation of the thirteen moons. This school focuses on the connection between Asa, Sefu, and the mind. Columnarian spells have no limits but are influenced by the favor of gods, and different people have different affinities for certain moons. Spells aren’t to be explained; they are to be believed and trusted like comrades.

The second is the school of Romena, which views the thirteen moons as independent foundations for executing specific spells. This school was founded by Asasefians who sought to develop strategies for utilizing Asa and Sefu without requiring specialized expertise. This school focused on the inner workings of Asa and Sefu and how they bonded to the physical world. Romenian spells thus are limited by the understanding of the world, but are vastly more accessible as spells are transcribed into items, writings, and even people. Natural affinity or divine input does not matter when it comes to these spells, and every spell can be broken down into the physical actions that Asa and Sefu take to manipulate the world.

While the two schools of Asa and Sefu are locked in disagreement over the details of the thirteen moons, historians largely agree that it served its purpose of quieting dissent after the second Tower of Babel fell, while buying enough time for the gods to ensure that the new status quo couldn’t be turned on them. While the gods never said that out loud, they were around to ensure that Asasefians were using their newfound abilities in the right way, but not a second longer. Once they were sure that the world could go on, they disappeared without a hint of whether they would ever come back again. They had left the world a supercontinent to bring the lands and oceans under one union. Smaller gods and deities would appear, some of which hold abilities that are world-defining, but none could ever match the status or power of the first thirteen gods.

The first moon is Babel’s moon. This moon is the largest of the thirteen and is commonly referred to as the wing of protection, after Babel’s many wings in his true form and his nature of protecting his followers. This moon manifests as a passive healing factor and protective shield for every living thing in Asasefu, but it can also be extended to perform tasks such as manipulating light and moving objects. Babel is a pretty basic god, all things considered. 

The second moon is Adwene’s moon. This moon has the largest orbit out of all of the moons and is commonly referred to as the feather of navigation, alluding to one of many feathers on Adwene’s wings. This moon, no matter where you are in the world, will always point you in the direction of the north pole. It radiates the ability to increase speed, agility, and the possibility of flight, but can be extended to many more abilities related to Adwene. 

The third moon is Nu’s moon, and it orbits the closest to the south pole of Asasefu. This moon is the darkest in the sky as it reflects the least light from the sun. It is commonly referred to as the beak of silence, as in Nu’s beak in their true form, and represents the lack of anything. It can be used to cloak one’s presence, hide one’s footsteps, or for any other function imagined. 

The fourth moon is Muntu’s moon, more commonly known as the scale of divinity, after one of many scales that Muntu sheds in her travels. This moon is distinguished by being the first one visible in the sky and is commonly seen before the sun sets. This allows mortals to practice future sight, predictions, and advanced anticipation techniques. “Gut feelings” that were previously uncontrollable can now be controlled through this moon.

The fifth moon is Damballa’s moon, or the fang of destruction. The fang in question is the one that Damballa had given Babel so many years ago. This moon has a red tint when observed, and is the moon responsible for allowing Asasefians to increase their physical prowess in whatever way they can imagine. 

The sixth moon is Kaouso’s moon, better known as the web of deception, after the many webs Kaouso can spin. This moon has one of the most intricate patterns on its surface, but most people require a telescope to see the details clearly. This moon allows for all manners of trickery, such as shapeshifting, persuasion, seduction, and forgery. 

The seventh moon is Ferlias’ moon, more popularly known as the seed of fertility due to the many plants Ferlias has cultivated. This moon is the brightest in the sky, shining enough light to allow plants to still grow through the night. Its blessings deal with healing, plant growth, and beautification. Despite the moon’s name, it has little to do with fornication. 

The eighth moon is Columnar’s moon, known as the horn of rendition after Columnar’s horns. This moon is Columnar’s prior language failure corrected and perfected, giving everyone the ability to understand all languages if they hone their craft. It also aids in intellectual pursuits, giving boosts in qualities such as aptitude and versatility. This moon is what is used to convert these pages into English for the reader’s understanding. The moon can be identified by the massive dish-like craters that are on the moon’s surface, as if it were a giant radio tower drifting among the stars. 

The ninth moon is Atlantia’s moon, and can be identified as the moon that pulls the tides the most (with some trigonometry). This moon is commonly referred to as the fin of time after one of Atlantia’s fins, and provides mortals with the ability to alter time itself. This power was rumored to be of debates among the gods, and the use of the power is the fastest way to have Atlantia watching you from behind. Outside of time, Asasefians with an affinity towards the moon are rumored to be natural-born leaders and wisemen.

The tenth moon is Heiwa’s moon, and is better known as the coin of wealth after one of Heiwa’s gifted coins. This moon is the smallest out of all of them, but for how plain and seemingly unrelated the moon is, it provides a wealth of abilities, including magnetic manipulation, sleight of hand, and the most dangerous of them all, soul manipulation. This is in addition to the manipulation of winds and storms. No school has developed an acceptable theory for why Heiwa’s moon would radiate such a diverse array of abilities.

The eleventh moon is Onogoro’s moon, called the dagger of elements. The item used to create the moon is the only one that was created for the explicit purpose of the thirteen moons. This moon differentiates itself with a mossy pattern of light and dark patches that indicate fertile soil on the moon’s surface. This moon provides control over the elements and the environment, allowing people with an affinity for the moon to be more in tune with the nature around them. 

The twelfth moon is Gulfarin’s moon, known as the blood of luck from the blood that Gulfarin drew from himself to form it. This moon can be identified by looking for one with a giant crack running through its entire circumference. The blessings provided by this moon can be used to alter fate itself in however fashion the wielder uses. This can range from simple things, such as avoiding slips on banana peels, to cheating the odds of life and death itself. 

The thirteenth and last moon is Romena’s moon, otherwise known as the page of determination after the book that Romena kept at his side. This moon is the only one to shine gold in the night sky, and it is what regulates the use of the other twelve moons. Experiments by both schools found that without access to the page of determination, no other power works. Asasefu historians have theorized that this is Romena’s attempt to restore what the Romenians had, but with a built-in bottleneck that can easily be controlled by the gods. The secondary effect the moon has is the enabling of an “overdrive” in mortals, where mortals can temporarily multiply their abilities at the cost of overworking their bodies to the point of serious injury or even death.

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Once the gods left, there was no reason for the continents and oceans to stay united as they were. Having beings such as Babel in an Asasefian life was enough to have a strong identity, but with the gods gone from daily life, that identity would fade over the next few thousand years. Their names would carry on in the lands and skills of magic that they created, but for the majority of Asasefians, more mortal affairs would dominate life.

The Start of Modern Babel: The Thracian War

Babel’s realm was the first to disband into separate countries once the gods left. Babylon was immediately made into an international powerhouse, with statues erected that honored the gods and all that they had done. By 10 A.R., Babylon was in full force.

While Babylon was thriving, there was little immigration to the hub as other regions had strong identities to gather around. The country of Thracia would be officially founded in 50 A.R., claiming thousands of miles of land along the north and northeast coast of Babel. They were a collection of communities that had used the protection of Babel to forge weapons to fight the monsters of the night, and once they had created enough weapons, they turned their sights on construction ships to sail. With the gods gone, they were a military society that used their newfound control of Asa and Sefu to force monsters out of their country. 

This was much to the dismay of everyone around them. Not only could they destory the balance of predators in the lands, they would frequently force their way onto communities that rode along the borders. The Thracian empire would become the very thing they sought to destroy, and would go to war with the northwest regions of Babel in 187 A.R. The disorganized northwest Babelians would be boxed into a corner by the military tactics of the Thracians, but the Thracians made too many enemies to control the war forever. The southern regions of Columnar would assemble at the last hour to join the northwest Babelians, and coastal communities of Kaouso would destroy key resource sites of the Thracians along the coast.

The tide of the war truly shifted when one Babelian would enchant the monsters that hunted them to give them higher-level intelligence. Called Sepan by early accounts, she would enchant more and more monsters to join the war against Thracia. By 192 A.R., Sepan’s monster army, along with the northwest Babelians and the southern Columnarian,s began to push back the borders of Thracia. When the Thracians began to close ranks, their opponents turned to chipping away at their borders through an unrelenting volley of ambushes and night attacks. Their final decisive move was the staging of an assault on Babylon, leaving behind Thracian equipment to place blame on the Thracian army on the assault of a sacred ground. International attention was now on Thracia, and infighting began as a fight to abandon rank before the weight of everyone else was brought down on the militaristic empire.

The fallout would be officially settled in 203 A.R., where Thracian generals would meet with Babelians and Columnarians alike in Babylon to formalize their defeat. The conditions they agreed to stop the war decimated their power on the global stage. They were divided into three different countries, with the land bordering Columnar becoming Avernus, and the land between Babylon and the East Kaouso Ocean becoming Aeneid. In a twist of irony, the people and monsters who fought the Thracian Empire joined together as the territory, then country, of Entropy, becoming just as large as the empire that sought to subjugate them. 

Some of the earliest patron gods would come out of this war for the northern half of Babel. Sepan’s actions would be immortalized so much that after her death, her soul would come back as the lesser goddess Sepan. Thracia, despite the loss, would stay fastened to a less conflict-oriented society, creating the lesser god Ares to bless their ways. Other lands would simply adopt leaders. Aeneid would be permanently turned into a country of East Kaousians and successionist Thracians, led by a Kaousian named Scrylla. Avernus would become a country of predominantly Thracian human-esques and immigrants from Columnar, led by a Tiefling general-turned-political leader named Kataxan.

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Sepan may have been the reason her side won the Thracian war, but regardless, her actions had turned a stone that could not be put back in place. Simple-minded monsters now shared the higher intelligence of Asasefians, and questions arose about what is the right place for an intelligent monster in Asasefu. 

The premier way to see the evolution of monsters post Sepan was in an a new gene that her enchantments added. Nicknamed the Entropy gene, testing for it was found to give the clearest indication of whether a monster carried Sepan’s enchantment. The earliest tests would use an extract from Entropy-native plants and mix it with the sweat and urine of monsters. The combination of the plant extract and monster fluids would create a purple hue of varying intensity depending on the prominence of the gene. Some monsters exhibited a binary response to the hue testing, indicating that either the gene was present in them or not. Others had varying levels of a purple hue, which was reflected in traits such as struggles to control predatory urges and difficulties adapting to Asasefian norms.

As for what was done once the intelligence of a monster was determined, responses fell on a scale of acceptance. For example, Thracians were extremely against monsters, whether intelligent or not. It was common to hear news of murders committed against any monster found on their territory and trials of traveling Thracians that got into it with monsters in pro-monster realms. On the opposite end, Entropians went the extra mile to create their city-states with both Asasefians and monsters in mind. In their eyes, all monsters, regardless of intelligence, were Asasefians as they fought and died for the same freedom from Thracian tyranny. Lastly, the southern half of Babel was either indifferent or conservative to the integration of monsters. Before the Thracian war, monsters were their natural predators, which slaughtered them so extensively that they manifested the first god for protection. Naturally, these Babelians would have their reservations about any monster, even the ones that prove themselves to no longer pose a threat.

Regardless of what everyone else thought, the Entropy gene would spread throughout all monsters of the world over the next few centuries, with its effects first seen at a societal level in Babel. First in Entropy, a schism formed between the worshippers of Sepan. Some simply saw her as a war hero, progressive icon, and a pioneering practiciner of Asa and Sefu, but others saw her as much more. They would filter out into different regions of Entropy, which by 299 A.R. officially drew new borders. The land that bordered both Romena and Adwene would be redeclared as Phrygia. The Phrygians would center around an evolution of the goddess Sepan, known as Cybele. Cybele, AKA “Mama Sepan,” had a more intimate relationship to her followers and worshipers. 

Worshipers of Cybele did not simply join a belief; they joined a family of siblings who shared Cybele as their all-powerful mother of monsters. Everyone was a monster under Cybele, and because of that, everyone was worth the Babel-esque protections she provided. While every Cybele follower was part of one family, followers would keep to one of many cults that dotted the Phrygian landscape. The most sensational activities involved cult-wide orgies for the creation of new monsters for Cybele, festivals that encouraged feral behavior and drunken celebrations, and the annointment of new members in Phrygian blood. Outside the limelight, however, Phrygia would be one of the global leaders in medicine, as its scientists took pride in researching the workings of plants before using them for a host of things.

The existence of Phrygia would put strain on Entropy, as now, their land was more akin to two masses connected by a large body of water. It would only be a matter of time before it would further divide, and that time came in 462 A.R. due to trade route insecurities between the Entropy bordering Adwene and the Entropy bordering Babylon. The latter would declare independence and rename themselves “Ano-Aboa.” Ano-Aboa and the smaller Entropy would start trade talks as separate countries, and Ano-Aboa would start a long line of leaders who specialized in economic policy. Some monsters, specifically spider-esque Entropians, would immigrate to Ano-Aboa sensing opportunity, and the majority of the figures in Ano-Aboa’s government going forward would be monsters. While Babel’s economic power will be created somewhere else, some of the most respected names in finance would be produced from country of Ano-Aboa.

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To the south of Entropy in 203 A.R., a new region of monsters was developing. The midwest of Babel was never really populated due to the proximity to the Gulfarin Ocean, and then Romena, once the first gods left. By the creation of Entropy, many of the few inhabitants there had migrated to the southern coast because of a mix of fear from war and opportunities that were closer to water. This left behind a region that, while landlocked, was supplied with major rivers.

Monsters would stake their post in this region in 278 A.R., and from there the region became a beacon of light for Monsters escaping persecution in the southeast corner of the world. Folklore of monster pride would flourish, resulting in two distinct countries: Eldar and Promethea. 

Eldar was founded as a celebration of monsterkind, with the patron god Slaanesh at the helm. Followers of Slaanesh separated themselves from the folklore of Sepan and Cybele, choosing instead to focus on their identity as monsters only, rather than assimilating into Asasefian culture. They preached that monsters shall not reduce themselves to fit in with other societies, and that they are at their best when able to indulge their most carnal, hedonistic, and unsightly desires. Eldar counteracted Thracia’s military with their own and became experts in herding and animal migrations to support their hunting needs. However, like Cybele, much of what is known of Eldar by the average Asasefian comes from sensationalized sources that are not Eldar. There is a somewhat supported claim that Eldar has and still does recruit Asasefians to serve as “sacrifices” for Slaanesh, but the evidence for these claims is not comprehensive enough to be considered proof. If such activities exist, they are kept under tight lock and key by Eldar. A better example of something with conclusive proof of evidence is the claim that Eldar fights proxy wars and gives troops to communities of monsters, for which the proof is provided with Eldar’s own admittance.

Promethea’s history is a mix of political bargaining combined with the most uninhabitable land in Babel. Rumored to be the fault of Damballa, the land is overrun with shield volcanoes, geysers, and hot springs. Around the time the first Eldarians moved nearby, the molten activity had reinvigorated. The land became a convenient bargaining chip when Eldar’s independence was challenged by the leaders of Babylon and other countries, who wanted assurance for their uneasy population that the monsters of Eldar would not turn heel and attack them.

In 361 A.R., the land will officially declare itself an independent nation from Eldar. Promethea would become the land of fire elementals and monsters who are acclimated to the heat. Promethea’s patron god would be the lesser god Hephaestus, centered around their relationship with fire.

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Avernus would begin a painful period of de-Thraciation following the Thracian war. While Entropy seemed to instantly land on its feet, Kataxan would take on the tasks of keeping relations with both Entropy and Thracia while managing relations between the former Thracians and Columnarians that settled in Avernus after the war. 

Kataxan would struggle immensely with all of her goals. Small conflicts between former Thracians and Columnarians would constantly develop, similar to those seen within the early Kaousians when proto-Thracia went to war with proto-Critias. As a general, Kataxan held a bias against former Thracians that she consistently denied, despite evidence from land settlements, political appointees, and Avernus policy. The bias shone through in how her staff negotiated trade with Entropy, who would often dissolve trade agreements with Avernus. The bias shone through her constant appeals to Thracia, who would just as much disregard her as a turncoat to their former empire, despite her attempts. 

The first attempts to force her out came when a group of young adult Avernusans protested in front of her national addresses. When she had the group forcefully arrested by her militia, her nation went up in political flames. A rebellion started in the Avernus capital, and for two months straight, her military would battle with protesters in the capital streets. 

With the nation’s resources and a supply of pro-Thracia supporters to recruit, she would eventually defeat the rebellion, but not before it left the capital a war zone filled with blood. It had shaken what small international connections she had left, and left her government with serious doubts about her viability and their own survival. On a cool night in 270 A.R., she was murdered via assassination while she was sleeping in her home. Corroborated evidence suggests that Kataxan’s closest allies were the ones who ordered the hit, which made it more suspicious when they took the mantle as the leader of the country from then on.

They would inherit an Avernus with fresh memory of the blood in the capital. On the east coast region of Avernus, a succession of disillusioned Avernans and coastal Kaousians silently stirred. It wouldn’t be until 275 A.R. that this group announced their presence by declaring themselves an independent nation and allying themselves with the Columnarians to the north and the Kaousians to the east. Avernus would war with the new nation for two years, but they did not get the same support that the new nation did from its allies. Thracia was being watched too closely to do anything other than sell ships to Avernus, and the people of Entropy were more concerned with the growing schism in their culture rather than the machinations of a war remnant country. Those two years would be a fruitless endeavor that would be capped off with a 277 A.R. peace treaty that codified the new country’s border as the same one they announced at the start of the war. 

Avernus would be left debilitated, smaller, tradeless, and broke. They would spend hundreds of  years building themselves back to relevance while the rest of Babel would flourish into the start of the next era. The new country would rebuild more quickly due to their aid, and would be the first country in Babel to be made up of more foreigners than natives. Without an identity, they name themselves East Avernus in the meantime.

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Much of Adwene’s early development took place in the fertile places where communities had already established stable lives, especially in trade hops where traveling Asasefians would stop to recuperate for their next journey. 

The biggest to benefit from this trading was the valley in the middle of Adwene’s desert. These places started out as a small oasis, but with the advent of the thirteen moons, its permanent residents quickly discovered ways for enlarging the range of which plant life can grow. In addition, the enhanced ability to dig into the earth uncovered molten activity and water reservoirs that had been previously trapped for thousands of years due to sandy buildup. By 66 A.R., this small oasis would turn into a valley civilization where agriculture was king. The residents of this place would declare themselves “Fu,” named after their collection of spells for digging into the environment to their whim. Things were looking bright for Fu until the Thracian war started in 187 A.R. and cut off trading traffic from Babel, but thankfully that turned into a temporary drop in commerce, followed by a surge as the newly created Entropy and Avernus sought to make up for lost time. 

While Fu’s come up was a sign of turnaround in the desert, much of it would stay barren. The native Asasefians were quick to attempt to replicate the thriving nature of Fu, but Fu had the advantage of sitting on top of large water reservoirs. Shamuus, incorporated in 89 A.R., would sit between Fu and Columnar. It would be defined by a massive canyon that would carve through its land, with roaring rapids traveling through the canyon. However, those rapids were part of a much larger river body that stretched all the way through the lands of Columnar, so the water from those rapids couldn’t be as easily siphoned without drawing ire. Residents of Shamuus would instead turn to the sun, using Asa to direct the sun’s energy into mirrors and primitive lasers that carved and hardened the semi-arid stone and gravel into beautiful monuments. They would name their set of spells for this “Sha,” a not-so-subtle dig at Fu. 

Shamuus’s founding would help shape the lands of Osiris, who would grow the distinction for its lack of habitation rather than the unique qualities that made it manageable. Osiris’s name would be the namesake of its manifested god, who Adwenians developed as a spirit of death that walked through the Adwenian sands. Early Adwenians would often come across dead bodies and developed a special ritual for burying the dead in a way that their body and belongings would be preserved in a locatable place in the sands. Relatives and acquaintances of the deceased would come back looking for a body to mourn, especially after the creation of the Foggy Curtain. 

Until those people come, if they ever did, the Adwenians that conducted the ritual would hand guardianship over to a spirit of death. To sate the spirit, these Adwenians would leave their own resources, material possessions, or even a sacrifice of blood. The laws of Asa and Sefu would coalesce these beliefs until Osiris would be born. Osiris would appear across Adwene, but the combination of trade routes, climate, geography, and the placement of civilization meant that most people tended to die in the dunes below Fu and Shamuus. The exact borders of the land Osiris will never be set down, but the idea is that, hopefully, it will one day shrink enough that the land becomes a holdover. 

With Fu and Osiris roughly known, this left one last triad of desert to be claimed. It had some Semi-Arid climate like Shamuus, but was mostly desert with no water reservoirs. Trade will become its sole economy, and residents would travel out to the other Adwenian regions or beyond to obtain the goods they needed. Their geographical location with respect to Asasefu meant they had no easy access to water travel. This led residents to develop either their ability to glide using Adwene’s moon or see the future using Muntu’s moon. Around 71 A.R., they will declare themselves the city-state of Omen, their name roughly translating to “center” since they saw themselves as the center of the world, at least for land dwellers. They would refer to their Asa and Sefu techniques as “Moonfu”, with many of them citing how they would travel to Fu to learn their craft and then create new spells in the night when the moons would give them the most power.