The Creation

Before Arcadia #

• It begins with complete darkness, a yawning nothingness across an unending ocean of water.
• Over an aeon of time, millions of tiny eggs start to formulate and develop, floating upon the ocean.
• One egg contains the first ever living thing…Icesi.
• Icesi eventually emerges as The Maker, Father of all the Heavens.
• Inside the egg, Icesi slowly evolves, growing to gigantic proportions containing all the elements that would one day become the world, totally intermixed together.
• As Icesi grows he separates the earth and the sky within the egg.
• At the same time he gradually separates the many opposites in nature; light & dark, male & female and wet & dry. These were all originally totally commingled inside the egg.

Genesis of Arcadia #

• After 23,000 years the egg hatches and life springs forward. From Icesi’s eyes the sun and moon appears, from his sweat, rain and dew, from his voice, thunder, and from his body all the natural features of the earth arise.
• Icesi also creates the first children of the world (humans, dwarves, elves & halflings).
• Icesi observes his creation and names it Arcadia, a single large land-mass surrounded by an ocean of water. Exhausted, he falls into a slumber that lasts 11,000 years.
• While Icesi sleeps, life on Arcadia flourishes. All is good.

Children of Icesi #

• Awakening, fully revived Icesi reigns over Arcadia for many thousands of years.
• However, he is lonely and longs for companionship, so from his heart he gives birth to a son (Ikinadari) and two daughters (Ilandris and Ilkor).
• Icesi give Arcadia to his children and in doing so casts an immense lightning bolt upon the lands, splitting and reshaping it into five separate continents.
• Stirring the waters of the ‘Sea of Icesi’ (a huge land-bound sea), Icesi produces the island of Annwynia, later known as the ‘Vault to the Heavens’ and ‘Icesi’s Court’.
• Annwynia is given to his offspring from where they reside and assist their father in the over-seeing of Arcadia:
  • Ilandris’ passion is for all wild animals. She loves Arcadia and all of its nature.
  • Ikinadari is honorable, pure and lawful, respecting all mortal life.
  • Ilkor, the youngest, is spoilt, selfish and carries a cold heart, thinking secret and dark thoughts.

Rise and fall of Ilkor #

• Putting forth her dark arts of enchantment, Ilkor sings a song of great power and spellbinds her brother for many years, tricking him into marriage.
• Ilkor gives birth to a total of 6 children (4 sons, 2 daughters), all lessor gods in their own right.
• Ilkor devises beasts and demons of the night to worship her.
• Due to Ilkor’s evil and malice, Arcadia’s lands lie barren, bare, cold & dark. Her power grows so great that neither her brother nor sister can challenge.
• Icesi is displeased with the imbalance and in a rare moment casts Ilkor out of Annwynia, banishing her from his court.
• In doing so Ilkor’s power dwindles, the enchantments trapping Ikinadari broken. Ilkor flees to the Underworld, taking with her the 3 children she had most manipulated (Iliad, Erus & Vesuna).
• Ikinadari restores light and with the help of Ilandris starts to rebuild and repair the damage of Ilkor.
• Ilithiia, Almos and Alcstei stays with their father and each take on a worthy responsibility to the mortals of the world.
• Ilandris selects four mortals to join her in looking after Arcadia’s nature. They are brought to Annwynia and transformed into demigods.

The Gods Today #

• A piece of Icesi’s heart actually died when he was forced to banish Ilkor, and in his sorrow and despair has turned a blind eye to the affairs within Arcadia:
  • Icesi’s heartache is slowly sucking the life out of every living thing, even the gods.
  • Mortals and immortals alike haven’t yet discovered Icesi’s emotional/spiritual withdrawal from the world, but soon will.
  • As Icesi’s power wanes, the strength of Ilkor increases (her “dark rising” within the game).
  • Ilkor’s ultimate goal is to face and destroy every other god—including her own father—so she alone will be the subject of worshippers throughout the cosmos.
  • The ultimate goal of the player characters will be to show Ilkor how much her father still loves her, which in turn will cure her of her madness (love conquers all).
  • New player characters are automatically assigned Icesi as their default deity, totally ignorant of the fact that Icesi has mostly withdrawn himself from Arcadia.
• Ilandris and Ikinadari are beginning to feel the effects of their father’s broken heart, and are reacting in their own ways to improve the situation throughout Arcadia:
  • Ilandris believes that all animals should be made sentient as well humans, elves, dwarves and halflings, as such sentience will channel needed energy to the gods.
  • Ikinadari strongly disagrees, and naturally champions the four humanoid races and their continued reverence of the gods.
  • The growing discord between Ilandris and Ikinadari is only accelerating Ilkor’s return to power.
• Meanwhile, the four demigods (Ceroklis, Mikelis, Thethis and Zalktis) have not forgotten their mortal origins as they each struggle to increase their individual influence within Arcadia:
  • Ceroklis is determined to give all plants and trees a direct way to communicate, so they may better defend their lands against perceived humanoid encroachment.
  • Mikelis dislikes the cities and the growth of urbanism, and seeks to return the land to more simpler and “uncivilized” times.
  • Thethis wants to see the four races “evolve” into sea-dwelling creatures and live under the waves within their own fantastic cities.
  • Zalktis believes that the combination of wind, rain and lightning is the music of the cosmos, and is constantly experimenting with new (and terrifying) melodies.
• The good deities (Ilithiia, Almos and Alcstei) continue to champion their own ideals (almost despite the coming apocalypse):
  • Ilithiia seeks to prevent misery and heartache, and hence heals and protects all who are loyal and trusting. She alone understands Icesi’s pain and how it is slowly unraveling the fabric of reality.
  • Almos recognizes the importance of tradition and procedure, but while championing law and order, tends to oversimplify issues. Hence, he can seem a bit harsh and unsympathetic at times, but he always believes he is doing the right thing.
  • Alcstei is driven to teach all sentient beings that true happiness can only be won once all greed, hatred, vanity and temptation are eradicated from the heart. She has forgiven her mother Ilkor, and understands that the universe is doomed unless Ilkor is forgiven by all the other gods as well.
• While the evil deities (Iliad, Erus and Vesuna) serve Ilkor individually, Ilkor has prophesized that only one of her children will survive her dark rising, instilling fierce competition between them:
  • Iliad rules the depths of the Underworld, where the dead compete for a chance to be reborn into Arcadia again (but those “slain” in battle are instantly fed to Iliad and their souls destroyed forever).
  • Erus is a psychopath who cares little for fame and fortune—he just wants to spread misery and heartache everywhere. Erus sees his own immortality as a curse, and believes his only escape is to cause the annihilation of the universe itself.
  • Vesuna derives her power directly from the evil borne of vengeance, and is forever tempting mortals to cross the line and seek (bloody) revenge. Those who have given into blind hatred have fully embraced Vesuna and all she represents.