Welcome to the Lore Website for Embris. Here is the collection of all the widely known information that your character would be able to easily know or gather. On the side-bar there are several different categories and folders that branch off into pages related to specific places, deities, and other such topics. If you are more interested in a page you can scroll through quickly for a synopsis of the world of Embris you can go to the Quick Guide page. If you have any questions related to the lore please do not hesitate to ask the Lore Keepers in #lore-questions. Below is the Origins of how Embris came to be.
An Except from the novel "The Beginning" in the Archives of the Emerald Tower in the Cinder Confederation.
Our universe was nothing but an endless darkness, ever present and all encapsulating. That was until a single being gave light to the darkness as it flew through with its majestic wings. The light of the Phoenix Eternus could be seen throughout the darkness, and after millennia passed another entity, known as the Scribe, Creator of Stories, was touched by it and drawn to the Phoenix. He followed Eternus’ light all the way to its source, and joined her in her travels. Eternus and the Scribe spent many eons together, the Scribe creating many many stories basking in her light. In turn, Eternus enjoyed his company and his stories.
One day the Scribe sat down to write, yet nothing came to him. His spark of inspiration that had burned throughout eternity had run its course. He sat and pondered, realizing that he had written all that was within him, and grew sad. He had nothing more left to give. Eternus grew sad for him in turn, as she cared deeply for her companion and friend; the only other being in her existence. To help her friend, she reached down into the core of her being to touch the Spark of Eternal Life. She then split that spark into millions of pieces, all now tiny embers of eternity. The sparks rained down from the heavens into the nothingness below. This was the Phoenix’s gift to the Scribe, endless sparks of inspiration. The process was grueling, and she sacrificed herself for the sake of her friend; but in her wake a whole new vista of creation, possibility, and life were born.
Upon seeing what had become of his friend, the Scribe wept. His longtime companion was no longer at his side. Where the Phoenix once shone was naught but ashes; and there in the ashes lay a singular feather. The Scribe picked up the feather, and the feelings of sadness transformed into that of determination. In his skilled hand the feather metamorphosed into a quill tipped with the ink of creation from Eternus' embers. A feeling of purpose once again rose within him; and he began to write once again. He first dipped the quill into the very Elemental Chaos in which he resided, distilling them into their basic elements; writing them into the four Elemental Planes. Earth, Air, Water, and Fire. As he sat writing, he felt empty, inspired but alone, he dipped his quill into the four planes and forged through the Spark of Creation that was left by Eternus' sacrifice, he wrote in four beings, one for each of the new planes. These beings saw the creations of the scribe and marveled at his work, each offering their own aid in creation. Together the five pulled together the aspects of the four planes, and combined them to create the Prime Material Plane.
The Scribe took up the quill again and began to write, turning each of Eternus’ countless sparks into a soul. A soul that would act as inspiration for new stories to be written. For each soul the Scribe made, he created a physical form for the soul to reside within. These physical forms became the mortals of this new world, the world of Embris, named in honor of the sacrifice of the Phoenix Eternus, who had inspired its creation. Over time the physical forms of these mortals began to fade, the mortals perished and their souls drifted, encountering the Scribe. The Scribe showed the soul what they had done in their life, celebrating the stories they had made with them. From that point he would ask the soul if they felt accomplished, or if they would prefer to continue to expand their story. Those who felt accomplished were sent to a new place, the Heavens, where they could reside with others who had completed their stories. Others who felt their story should go on would be sent back to Embris, a new form created for their journey, and a new cycle beginning, a new story being forged. Upon each passing a soul is able to learn of their own past life that they had forgotten, seeing how it had grown throughout each cycle.
Not all that was produced by the sacrifice was good. The loss of the Phoenix Eternus severed the light in the universe, and thus made way for the darkness. A rift began to form in the universe, spilling forth creatures of entropy from outside of the Prime Material Plane and Embris. These creatures are what we know today as fiends, demons, devils, other aberrations, and the Devourer. The Devourer was a massive serpent, able to hide its presence from the Scribe as it slowly bit away at his stories and creations, waiting for the chance to strike at the greatest source of food, the mortals. One day as the people tended their fields they were struck by the Devourer, devoured whole as their souls were sucked into the void of the beings mouth. This drew the attention of the Scribe, who saw the chaos created by the fiends and Devourer within his new world. He chained the Devourer and cast it back into the rift from which it had come, sealing it deep within for all eternity to protect his new world. From there him and the four beings he had made began to cast the aberrations back into the rift as well, then the Scribe dipped his quill once more, and wrote the rift into the Hells.
With all of his world completed the Scribe rested, and began to write once more. Now he observes mankind and watches as his creation, Eternus's creation, develops and grows beyond the simple sparks they had started as.