Campaign guide plight of the tuatha (1) 44

Chapter Three: Lore of Aeliode
upkeep of this shrine, creatures which will build up the
unstained portions so that her blood made be contained.’
Volsung then reached down to touch the top shroud,
then reached down through layer after layer of shroud till
he found some of the soil that had been placed between
shrouds. Then he did pull this handful of soil back through
the layers of shrouds and as he did so bits of fire, air and
water stuck to his hands. Little by little he shaped the earth
into his servants. As he shaped them he worked little bits
of air, fire, and water into their forms.
‘Earth, I awaken you,’ spoke Volsung, ‘aid me’!
His servants awoke to find themselves on a rocky shore
with sea-spray in the air and the tide threatening to wash
over them. They began to panic when a voice thundered
from the sky above.
‘I am your creator, Volsung. You have been made in
order to bring the land from the sea. Through me you
shall cause the land to grow and flourish. Where you walk
mountains shall rise; where you live the earth shall touch
the sky,’ the voice thundered. “You shall make a land to
hold back the ocean and hold up the sky!”
And so it was that where his creations strode, stones
gathered and the land lifted. Where they lived stones gathered into boulders, and boulders to hills, and hills to great
peaks.
The people looked up to the sky and cried, “Volsung,
Father of All, we shall do as you ask, we shall create a land
worthy of you.We shall hold back the ocean, we shall hold
up the sky, we shall craft as you command.”
It was then that Onhr came upon the body of Tulhesa,
Volsung, and the creations of Volsung. When Onhr saw the

body of Tulhesa he let forth a cry of rage, as Tulhesa was his
only ally. He raged for the death of Tulhesa, and he raged
for the manner in which it occurred. He raged since he
was not told, and he raged that others made her memorial.
And he raged from the audacity that the gods had defiled
her by creating beings that trod upon her as they worked,
profaning the dead god.
Onhr spoke to the gods thus, ‘I do not have the power
to destroy that which you have wrought, but I will not let
your creations demean the Great Serpent.’
He dipped his hand in the blood of the great beast and
brought the dripping ichor to his face, smearing the redness
upon his skin.
Then he turned his bloody and seething visage towards
Volsung. ‘Your pitiful creations do not belong near one as
great as Tulhesa. They bring not but more destruction upon
her. They deceive all of creation into believing that she is

a land and not a god. As they are deceivers and destroyers
I shall call your scions Dwarves and I shall not have them
live. I shall purify her of your creations, tear apart her tattered shrouds, and build a true glory to hold her bones!’
Onhr roared.
The rage of Onhr then fell upon the land. The god’s
creations began to fight and quarrel. They divided up the
land amongst themselves and began slaughtering each
other.
Some Dwarves dug deep into the land they created
making their homes in the earth as they built. They spoke
to their god Volsung for guidance.
But some Dwarves felt the call of the seas. During

their creation more than their share of water had been used
and it sung in their veins. They grew and became twisted.
They built ships and began to travel on the ocean they were
supposed to hold back. And when they tried to speak to
their god Volsung, the only voice they heard in reply was
that of Balar.
And so it passed that Dwarves and Fomoire came to
inhabit the Mortal Plane, forever to war with the other.

The Dark Trail
Almost 22,000 years ago the elves moved to their current location in the Godspine Mountains of the Eastern
Empire. Before this the elves lived in large numbers in the
Western Empire and where almost the only humanoids
who made the Wilderness and the lands of the Western
empire home. The elves were a very proud race and delved
deep into their magical nature becoming such powerful
forces that they would change the face of the land in order
to suit their needs.
Legends have it that their power became so great it
rivaled that of the gods, and in their pride they began to
indulge in the darker parts of their souls. Having done so
they gave birth to Balar and his fomorian children. The
elves paid no heed to the warning signs which these twisted
children gave. The fomoire began to take on aspects of
animals, but in ways that were a twisted mockery of nature.
The fomoire began to eat and crave the flesh of the elves
and the lands which the fomorians claimed became dead
and blighted. The fomoire and their god Balar hunted the
elves almost into extinction and the wars between the elves
and fomoire were long and fierce killing much of the life

of the land.
The few remaining elves withdrew into their places
of power and hid, weaving powerful spells that made the
fomoire blind to them. But the magic was only so powerful,

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