Legends
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Five Eyes, the Devourer
It's said that once, before she was sealed away by the guardians, the Queen of Darkness, Déméchrelle had what could be called a lover. He was an amazingly powerful human mage, master of the dark arts and he served her with passion. He became her most trusted servant and the Queen felt, for the first time in centuries, love. This illusion was eventually shattered however. The mage had only been placating Déméchrelle and using her for her power. He eventually betrayed her, having another lover. Déméchrelle entered an incredibly violent rage that was felt by every creature in the whole region. The mage believed he had learned how to deflect all of Déméchrelle's attacks, but he was wrong, for the Queen of Darkness has a power that very few mortals could comprehend, let alone rival with.
What exactly happened to him is unknown, but Déméchrelle is said to have unloaded a horrifically powerful curse onto the mage. She then turned him into a shadow fish and had him devour his other lover, before casting him out to the Evernight Forest. Though he could sense all the actions that he did and experienced everything in his new body, he was bound and had no control. His rage and pain flowed over into the monstrosity. What is most frightening is that many say that he has managed to survive all this time, not falling prey to other predators, growing larger as the centuries passed. There are still tales of a truly monstrous Shadow fish that hunts in the area near the Tenebra Maze. Something truly hideous that stalks the gloom, cursed to an eternity of awful hunger. Locals call him "Five Eyes the devourer", or "Old Raja".
Most of what's know about this is from a warrior who claimed to have fought and lived against this behemoth. The warrior claims to have actually gouged out one of the creature's eyes. Whether this is truth or a very exaggerated legend is not known.
How Cookies Conquered The World
A fairy tale...
Once upon a time, there was a fairy who had the most unusual of passions, at least for a fairy- she enjoyed cooking. Whether it was meat, fruit, vegetables or rarer fare, it's said whatever made it into her hands would end up in a pot -or under the knife- at some point. She enjoyed eating a little less, though, and usually found that no one cared to join her for supper. Other fairies found her practices needlessly cruel, but above all, slow, and her constant experimentation with ever more exotic ingredients and recipes ran counter-intuitive to the rest of her kind. So the fairy found herself with rarely a guest to cook for: no one enjoyed her meals as much as she did.
This went on until a point when the fairy created a recipe with all the goodness she could think of in it. Fashioning the result into little cookies, she succeeded in finally making a popular dish; past their initial reluctance, all her friends loved the feel and taste of her new cookies. Having found the right direction, she proceeded to make little faces on her cookies, and then make hands, and fingers on the cookies, modeling them after most tauric races. These cookies came to be even more widely accepted. As she kept working on her technique, abandoning the rest of her experimentation, her cookies became more and more lifelike, until they were just as good as any of the tauric races in Felarya. Past this point, the fairy decided to make her own special brand of tauric cookies - cookies with the lower half of a fairy. They started as a joke, but they were so popular with all her friends that she stuck to that design. She varied her recipe often, using different ingredients, and sometimes they came out white, sometimes they were almost black, sometimes, the lemon in them made them yellow- some say she once made a cookie with ascarlin chips too.
But as she improved her cookies, they grew more intelligent than she intended at first. Of course, she didn't really care- smart or not, they'd always be cookies. And even the little hearts she gave them served only to improve upon their taste. All their intelligence was just so that they could be played with. And it'd have stayed that way, were it not for one thing... they were just food, and as mere food were they thought of. So no one bat an eyelash every time a cookie or two went missing: if they could not be found, then no problem, their friend would bake more! Everything in Felarya wanted some of those cookies... so logically one or two would go missing sometime!
However, sometimes cookies went missing because of a dimensional disturbance, the kind that's so common in Felarya. Released from their fate, those cookies soon began achieving their maximum potential, beyond the scope of that fairy's imagination. They thrived, and they spread out and about, invading and conquering world after world after world. Cookies soon became one of the most powerful forces of the universe: they grew proud, and they forgot their roots. In time, cookies forgot they were ever cookies, and forged a new name for themselves : humans.
Eventually, the guardians realized the threat. Cookies were everywhere, and it was now time to recall them, therefore Felarya started gating those cookies back in. But there were too many; it was impossible to catch them all. By the time the futility of this effort was realized, it was too late to stop gating them in: the Guardians' spells had already enough momentum. Even today, the power of their spells still draws several dozens of them every day. However, some escaped back to the worlds they'd established themselves in: they brought with themselves the tale of Felarya, and many went there of their own volition, in volumes far greater than any dimensional disturbances could ever hope to accomplish. Once there, cookies once more met their eaters...
But alas, the harm was done. No matter how many cookies returned to Felarya, and despite the world could eat them all if they ever managed to get them all back, the cookies had already spread beyond control. And there was no way anymore to prove the cookies were cookies, for the cookies had written now their own rules. All because they hadn't been all eaten. So those cookies are spread throughout the universe now, sometimes meeting their intended fate, sometimes not: one thing is certain, and that is that they're delicious. Predators all throughout the universe recognize those cookies easily, even though they might not know their true nature, because of their tauric form, which combines the universal upper body with the lower half of a fairy.
Needless to say this tale is extremely controversial. Whether the myth is true or not, the recipe exists; the Othemites have found two copies of the recipe so far (Sugar, spice, and everything nice, or snips, snails, and puppy dogs' tails, maybe with a little something else...). This sacrilege against human life is one of the reasons why they're so obsessed with scouring Felarya free of predators: some predators certainly know the recipe, and if there's any possibility people can be not just born of woman, but simply MADE, like they were cookies, so that even if they were all destroyed they could simply be remade by anyone with the time... if a heart, a soul is worth only a few pounds of sugar and flour, what are PEOPLE worth!? (Of course, they also believe anyone who's read the recipe should never be allowed again within ten miles of a kitchen, stove, spoon, mixing bowl, or campfire, for good measure.)
Jallas Amar, the city of genies
Genies, as magical beings, are attracted to Felarya above other worlds. However, despite their greater numbers, relative to other worlds, very little is known about them. Adventurers often stumbled across a lamp or some other receptacle, rub it, and summon a genie. The genie gives out an alloted number of wishes (Genies have found that humans are gullible enough to think they only have three wishes with them at a time. They generally carry a bit more than that.) After they have given out the wishes, they vanish, leaving the human to the rewards (or consequences).
But where do these Genies go? Where do they come from? The only knowledge comes from a very dusty old tome found only in the Venmys-Pieaug Library. According to this book, so many Genies came to Felarya in years past, that they built themselves a city, in order to live comfortably away from the rest of Felarya. This city is said to float over a desolate part of Felarya with little inhabitants - most believe the Akaptor desert. This is the city of Jallas Amar, a floating wonderland of elegant spires, minarets and towers, crammed together on the floating rock. Here, Genies trade and construct wishes, their source of power. They also create a variety of lesser magical creatures to use as servants for various tasks.
Genies are, however, proud creatures and having so many living so close together can lead to tensions. However, it is very difficult for a Genie to actually kill another Genie. Furthermore, ancient law has harsh punishments for murder. Thus, Genies tend to dispose of their rivals by shoving them into objects like lamps and tossing them down into Felarya. This is a horrible punishment and very humiliating - even if a human or other creature comes and rubs the lamp, the Genie laws also state that they must reward their rescuers with wishes - and a Genie wanting to fight his way back into his city will need all the wishes he can get. This would seem to explain why Genies are so stingy with their wishes and strangely bitter about performing them.
Kris' Maas
(Don't take this one too seriously XP )
Kris' Maas is an event that takes place across Felarya at what appears to be regular intervals. It is part holiday and part magical rift disaster. Among the predators it is generally a time of joy, even if they do not know much of the actual origin of the event.
"Kris'Maas" is named after the Succubus of the same name, "Kris'Maas the Heretic." She was a Frost Succubus who became displeased with her lot in the Hell dimension of Felarya. Thus, she led a number of her sisters in a revolt, murdering many of their superiors and traveling en-masse to Felarya. Kris'Maas then cast, through unknown means, or possibly a fluke, one of the most powerful Ice Magic summoning spells seen. Whole swaths of central Felarya were suddenly buried in snow, wreaking havoc on the local ecosystem. Hundreds of Frost Succubi roamed free, causing chaos in what was essentially a massive twisted Frost Succubi party. The leaders of Hell were mortified at this show of disrespect and the mess that had been created. They prepared for a full out invasion of Felarya, an event which could have torn the universe apart. However, on the eve of battle, a young Succubus, who had been lazing in the corner, raised her voice, offering a different solution. The most powerful mages of Hell prepared their own spell, unleashing it on the rebels. In an instant, all the rebels lost their size-changing magic, if they had any, and were trapped at human size. Hell no longer needed an invasion as the local predators did a fine job of "dealing" with the rebels themselves. Kris' Maas herself attempted to flee north, in order to find a rumoured Frost Succubus relic, and she would have caused more havoc had she not been captured by a Rangitaur ( colloquially known as Reindeertaur), who gave her as a gift to a hungry, younger member of her herd. Once the majority of the rebel Frost Succubi were gone, their enchantment faded and the snow melted. However, there was a problem. The spell had somehow been locked in - every set space of time, the snows would return for a day.
Hell was rather embarrassed by their inability to deal with this spell and did not want to seem ungrateful. So, whenever the snows came, a Noble Succubus, wearing the fearsome red cap of her office, would board one of the feared War Sleighs of Dis. As thanks to the predators of Felarya for their aid so long ago, the sleigh would soar above the snowy skies, tossing out gifts, sometimes warm clothing but most often prey who had their souls snared by demons, usually evil souls taken directly from Hell to Felarya for the day, turning this cold day into a festive one. A Rangitaur is chosen from the Northern tribes each year and given the ability to fly, in order to pull the sleight. This is to specially remember the Rangitaur who captured Kris'Maas and gave her away in the spirit of charity. In this way Hell paid its debts, made amends for the snows and started a tradition of sorts.
In Negav, this day was originally seen as a cursed one, due to the havoc wrecked by the Frost Succubi during the original Kris'Maas. Whenever the snows came again, the humans feared another demonic invasion and took steps to ward them off. Whether their souls were really in danger or not, the inhabitants attempted to be on their best behavior, just in case. Even though the real reason for this is know forgotten, it is still customary to partake in acts of kindness and goodwill on Kris'Maas. Parents give presents to their children on the condition of good behavior, while warning them that naughtiness could attract the attention of a frost demon. Festive lights and candles are laid out (originally these were made as holy wards, though nowadays people just like how pretty they look.) It is also customary to make little angel dolls and put them in high places, to further frighten off any demons.
Frost Succubi themselves pretend that this holiday doesn't occur and don't understand what "all this fuss is about." They traditionally stay at home until the whole rigmarole is over with.
- Credits to Jaette-troll for the legend of Five eyes, Kris' Maas and Jallas Amar, and to Stabs for that of the Cookies ^^
