“The first seed to be sowed by Gaia, the first spriggan rooted itself amidst the brutish energy that swept the desolate land in a constant storm. Her roots reached out to the broken pieces of land, pulling them together as her arms stretched to the heavens above until they pierced the skies and ended the forever storm.”

“As she grew, the first acorns to fall from her branches gave life to four gargantuan powers known as the Elemental Lords, with the majestic land turtles and titans following soon after. Through their combined efforts over thousands of years, the world slowly embraced peace. The oceans were calm, the wind brushed ever so slightly against the open meadows, and the sun shone down upon the world.”

“The Elder Spriggan, near the end of its life, released its last batch of acorns that would create lesser versions of itself to venture across the world and produce bountifully. Forests sprang up across all of Gaia, adapting to the traits of their environments and providing a safe haven to the life that sprung forth. The Elder Spriggan’s husk eventually decayed, with the remains of its trunk harvested for the Kingdoms and burned away from the Sundering.”

“During the Great Formation, the Elder Spriggan dropped her first acorns across the anarchic land. Bursting forth from their hardened shells came the four Elemental Lords. Their bodies, each aligned with their appropriate element, worked in conjunction with the Elder Spriggan and dragons to calm the untethered energy that battered the world. Their minds all linked together, a manifestation of the forces of nature itself to bring balance.”

“Kai, the Elemental Lord of Fire, calmed the nonstop eruptions of the world’s volcanoes and extinguished the flames raging about. Thrun, the Elemental Lord of Earth, eased the earthquakes, landslides, and brutal sandstorms. Alda, the Elemental Lord of Water, steadied the waves while carving rivers into the land. And Vuu, the Elemental Lord of Air, stopped the concussive gusts, purified the air, and parted the black sky of ash so the sun may shine once more.”

“After the world had been balanced, the Elemental Lords made their home in Gaia’s Inner Grove, towering above all and serving as its guardians.”

Emerging alongside the titans from their acorn housings, the land turtles were massive beasts that roamed on both land and sea. Chunks of earth attached to their backs, where flora from the spriggans flourished, and fauna, spawned from the land turtles themselves, thrived before trickling into the world. It is believed not many land turtles remain in the world, with the last few using the vast oceans and their hazards as protection against humans.

Like the land turtles and Elemental Lords, the titans were birthed from the acorns of the Elder Spriggan. They were the first children of Gaia to walk the world, establishing the ancient titan society out of the remnants of the Elder Spriggan’s husk. For a time, they enjoyed peace upon their world. However, they were manipulated by the Abaddonus Pantheon—their minds weak to the dark Gods’ influence.

This caused a massive rebellion that led the titans to storm the Inner Grove. They were quickly pushed out, but the war spread across the world. Their great magical power, combined with the pantheon’s deep knowledge, resulted in the conjuring of the krakens, which were used as instruments of war against their creators.

However, the Gods had their own arsenal known as storm serpents. The two monstrosities clashed violently for nearly ten thousand years. The conflict pushed the titans to extinction. For some, life slowly slipped away from them. Their remains merged with their environments, creating protrusions on the earth that can still be seen today. Those who lived on were chastised by the Vuhlmira Pantheon, their magic confiscated and their bodies withered down to what would eventually become the first humans.

Among the heavenly realm of Vuhlmira, rising in an upright posture alongside the thrones of Gods, were the storm serpents. Created as weapons of war against the titans and their krakens, storm serpents possessed incredible abilities. They held mastery of all four elements, channeled lightning from their breath, and were capable of adapting to, as well as the melding of, the environments around them. During the titan wars, they created hurricanes as a buffer between them and their foes.

When the wars ended, most storm serpents ventured back to Vuhlmira and entered a slumber, awaiting the call to battle when needed. The few who remained hunted down the last of the krakens and titans, while keeping a watchful eye on the imprisoned void children hidden deep beneath the surface.

Ancient texts, recovered from the remnants of Drythenian society, speak of a storm serpent that dwelled in the frigid north. But these rumors have yet to be confirmed, as the distant land lies across a vast, hazardous ocean.

Birthed from the mixing of the titans’ magic and the Abaddonus Pantheon’s influence, the Krakens are formidable aberrations that rivaled the storm serpents for ten thousand years, leveling mountains and creating great tsunamis that engulfed the coastlines. Though they were pushed to the ocean depths in the end, they managed to kill many storm serpents in the process.

The few krakens left in the world isolate themselves in the abyss, occasionally coming to the surface to hunt and sink any ships unfortunate enough to cross their path. One known kraken lurks in the depths of the Nattawa Deep, between Serendale and Crystalvale. To cross is a perilous journey reserved for those brave enough to embark on such an expedition.

Witnesses are aberrations thought to have existed for eons, perhaps since the beginning. The odd sensation that something is watching you, the small movement you swear you saw at the corner of your eye, or thinking you heard your name when no one else did. These are the few side effects of a witness standing, floating, or crawling nearby. They observe all that transpires.

Traversing between different realms grants witnesses the ability to travel vast distances in short periods of time. No one truly knows what they are, the purpose they serve, or why they are even here. Seeing one is exceptionally rare, reserved to those who are incredibly disciplined in magic and meditation. Upon being spotted, it’ll stand in curiosity. But it never intervenes and typically scurries away quickly.

Over time, their presence may inadvertently cause psychosis in some individuals, due to their curious nature and incredible power. Maybe they aren’t aware of their implications on our world? Either way, they are here, gazing upon us as time and events pass by.

After the Sundering, many of the Druids who knew of the existence of the void children worried of Irae’s effects on their prisons. Dyan’s craftsmanship was known for its durability, but Irae’s wrath had proven to overwhelm even the most hardened defenses. And so were they right, as their eternal cages cracked, allowing their perverted energy to leech out and corrupt those unfortunate enough to answer the devious whispers in the shadows.

Blighted ones are the result of this corruption, normal creatures twisted beyond recognition to act as vessels for the void children. They pose a significant threat, with incredible strength and the ability to resist devastating blows from weaponry and magic. The Nameless One is even capable of conjuring such specimens, though his creations have more ’order’ to them despite their unnatural origins. The chimera is but one of many examples.

The Druids encourage all that are able-bodied to eliminate any blighted ones encountered, but stress that one should be prepared to face a challenge, unlike anything they’ve seen before.