A MYTH Is Born

Centuries ago, the lands of Renatus stood at the precipice of ruin.

Long-standing tensions between humanity and the world’s many beast-kin tribes, once confined to mere border skirmishes and small-scale conflicts, had evolved into full-scale war. Prejudice and the ceaseless expansion of mankind fanned the flames that would eventually ignite the entire sphere in a storm of bloodshed.

Though far superior in number, humanity lacked the natural strength and, most critically, the magic possessed by the beast-kin. Through their deep harmony with nature, the Altior Bestia could channel the very spirit of the land itself, wielding raw elemental fury in battle.

It was this bond that allowed the so-called “demi-humans” to resist the ever-present threat Man visited upon their lands.

But over time, mankind’s surging population had emboldened them. What were once simple tests of boundaries began giving way to open invasion. One by one, the smaller Bestia tribes fell to the overwhelming swarm.

In their darkest hour, the fiercely individualistic clans of the beast-kin, facing the threat of extinction, abandoned their long-standing pride. They resolved to cast aside generations of divisions and ancestral grudges in a bid for mere survival. For the first time in recorded history came unity beneath a single banner:

The Bestia Alliance.

In an instant, humanity lost its greatest advantage. What was once a divided foe now stood equal in number and far superior in power.

Human armies scrambled to regroup, abandoning their fragmented campaigns to face the newly unified Alliance. But, the tide had already turned. Bestia magic shattered the human lines in a stunning reversal. For the first time since the outset of the war, humanity was pushed backward, losing their own borders in the process, and setting the stage for the Alliance to make a decisive march toward their enemies heartland:

Astrum.

No longer content with simply repelling the invaders, the Alliance sought to annihilate the people of Man, to break their cycle of violence and conquest once and for all.

It was then, on the eve of humanity’s destruction, that a miracle occurred.

The arrival of the first Heroes.

No one remembers exactly how it happened, but legend speaks of a brilliant shower of stars which heralded the coming of six figures within the walls of Astrum.

As the last streak of light left the sky, there they stood, bearing weapons that defied logic, forged of alien metals and shaped by craftsmanship that far surpassed anything possible throughout all of Renatus.

Their hair and eyes were dyed in brilliant, unnatural hues. Ghostly, ethereal silver, deep lavender and blazing crimson, bearing more resemblance to nature’s splendor and raw fury than human features. Yet, by all other measures, their forms were identical to those in the gathering crowds that surrounded them.

As if guided by an invisible hand, they marched in unison towards Astrum’s royal palace. Upon their arrival, the Heroes spoke of a force called MYTH, a formless voice from beyond the stars that had drawn them to this world to stand as champions for humanity in their time of need.

When questioned about this so-called MYTH and its nature, they all echoed the same answer:

Magnanimity

Yields

True

Heroism

This was, they claimed, the “truth” of MYTH: their only duty being to embody this ideal. To eschew from acting in their own self-interest, and to instead commit themselves towards the pursuit of the greater good.

In desperation, the leaders of humanity were left with no other recourse. One by one, the ruling figures of mankind that had gathered in Astrum, begged the Heroes for salvation.

In Man’s eleventh hour, the Heroes answered their prayers.

At their insistence, the combined armies of humankind withdrew behind Astrum’s walls, while the Heroes, a meager force of six, took to the battlefield. They alone, strode out to meet the full might of the Bestia Alliance.

What happened next became the opening verse to the songs of legend still sung to this day.

Fire.

Water.

Wind.

Earth.

Shadow.

Light.

Each Hero manifested an element, unleashing feats of power that dwarfed even the mightiest of the Altior Bestia. Where the beast-kin drew their power from the land, the Heroes embodied it. They did not borrow storm or flame, they became it. Their magic was not natural, it was divine.

If one were to compare the two, it were as though the Bestia equated to mere torches, while the Heroes were wildfires.

In a single night, MYTH’s champions routed the Alliance.

With the tide broken, the forces of mankind surged forward with renewed zeal. Their counter-offensive, spearheaded by the six Heroes, crushed any meager resistance that the Bestia could muster. Until, at last, even the leaders of the Alliance, its strongest champions and elders, were trampled underfoot.

What followed was nothing short of genocide. The remaining beast-kin were hunted to the ends of Renatus, driven into the monster-infested wastes that laid at the edge of known civilization. The few Bestia that survived this purge, did so only by vanishing from the annals of history.

As for the Heroes?

They were worshipped, deified. The champions of a god-like existence that transcended even time and space.

The King of Renatus, awed by their deliverance, offered them anything within his means. Wealth, worship, power, there was no reward too great or too small. The Heroes need only ask, and he would see it done.

But, the Heroes asked only one thing of the King: to return home.

As silence echoed through the halls of the King’s audience chamber, the Heroes’ pleas were answered not by Man, but by MYTH.

In words spoken to them alone, the architect of their elevation to figures of legend offered a collective whisper:

Your role is not yet complete.

Your place is here, to guide this world.

To serve as symbols of aspiration.

To usher in a Golden Age.

The path to true heroism still awaits.

The discovery of the

Means You’ll Transcend Humanity.

One by one, the Heroes withdrew their request.

In the span of mere moments, something had shifted within them.

Their eyes no longer looked skyward, to their former home. Instead, each began to quietly contemplate what they would ask of this world.

One requested their own dominion, a kingdom unto themselves through which they might forge their place in the world.

Another, sought the freedom to wander the lands unhindered. A nomad holding allegiance to nothing and no one.

A third, sought peace and serenity through total seclusion.

For the Hero who bore Light, their request was the founding of a temple. Through which an order could be born to spread the worship of MYTH.

Of the remaining two Heroes, one became the King’s Shield pledging their eternal loyalty to the Crown and its lineage.

The last asked to serve as the King’s other hand, his Blade in the dark.

To the King, these were minor concessions, trivial when compared to the age of peace that the Heroes had birthed. Their requests were granted immediately, and the date was forever etched into hearts and minds of the people of Astrum and beyond.

Thus began an era of unchallenged human supremacy, unhindered in their proliferation across the realm.

So it was that the lands of Renatus were forever changed.

By the arrival of six figures from across the stars.

The six champions of MYTH.

The first of many.

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