Codex Valorum

Atar sat in the void alone, nothing but darkness surrounded them with nothing but darkness to call out to. Letting out a sigh of apathy the being shed one single drop of sweat and sprang forth the universe and all things including Valoria. Though just a barren pebble at first, signs of life began to emerge after forming in the void.

The first two beings to emerge from the water were tall and slender, and their beauty was unmatched by anything in Valoria. The two beings looked longingly into each other's eyes and each named the other, ‘Nirwё’ was the female and ‘Ñandener’ was the male, and clasping each other's hands they went to make homes for themselves among the trees in the forest. Then Three centuries passed before the next being from the water sprouted forth, a short and squat man who was bald of the head but bushy of beard. He looked at his surroundings, proclaimed himself ‘Kakec’ and began making himself a home within the mountains.

A century passed before anything more came from the water left over from the creation of Valoria but out of the ground walked three people of average strength beauty and height. Three siblings two men and one woman, the woman took the name ‘Phiris’ as she thought it evoked beauty, the first man took the name ‘Letarr’ because in that name he saw the strength he needed to protect and the final man to emerge, covered in soot and ash, took the name ‘Tukstus’ as he knew that name could conceal him in the shadows. The siblings gathered and went to make their homes on the plains of Valoria.

Five centuries passed, and the Water of Creation had all but dried up and was almost forgotten by all born from it, but still, one more being lay patiently. Emerging from the Tears the last of the Nemdine was born. His skin a dark red hue from incubating so long in the primordial pits, he looked around him at the world his siblings were creating and named himself ‘Borzolleth’ and collected what remained of the water before he set to work making his home in the wildlands, the only region that remained to him.

Nirwë and Ñandener headed west and began filling the forest lands with all manner of beauty, their love grew like the trees, plants and animals around them. Their devotion giving vitality to all things in the forest from the lowest blade of grass to the mightiest bear.

One day Ñandener wished to make something to match his wife’s beauty and give her a gift for their betrothal. He began making all manner of forest creatures and flowers of various shapes, colours and fragrances, but not even the majestic golden gryphons felt right to him. Wandering their kingdom Ñandener tried to draw inspiration from that around him, and for a long time the new groom wandered his kingdom and for a long time, he found not. Upon returning, his wife Nirwë was so relieved he had come home that she embraced her husband and immediately gave him her love in the form of a kiss, suddenly Ñandener was inspired to finish the gift for his goddess-queen.

For years Ñandener toiled away trying to make the perfect animal to represent Nirwë’s beauty and finally when he was done he went to hide it for their honeymoon. Before his eyes was a gorgeous pastel-coloured horse with a long flowing mane that resembled Nirwë’s golden hair, and a long sturdy horn protruding from its head that represented her strength, Ñandener named the new creature a ‘Unicorn’. The lovers finished their duties before retiring away, making a secret spot in their forest kingdom of ‘Nila Tirion’ and naming it ‘Thylfe Alari’ or The Hidden City.

Not long after the Lovers Nirwë and Ñandener retired to their sacred city did Kakec begin his labours in the mountains of the north-east, first making the precious gems and minerals of ‘Garn Darohm’ or The Ice-Crowned Mountains in the Common Tongue. Kakec’s second labour was the hollowing of the mountains before he began constructing within those hollow caverns, his dwelling of ‘Thon Maldur’ better known to many in the Common Tongue as The Halls of Iron. The third and final labour of Kakec was building his forge whereupon many wonderful items appropriate only for the Nemdine could be forged. He scoured the lands within his domain in pursuit of the strongest ore he could uncover with which to build his forge hammer.

For years Kakec searched high and low, hither and yonder to find the perfect metal for his hammer, everything he saw was either too brittle or too soft. On his seventh year of searching Kakec finally found it, the ideal ore within the dirt, holding it high he named it ‘Kirkja Ithor’ better known as Holy Steel in Valoria’s later days, and with the Kirkja Ithor, he would return to Thon Maldur to commence work on his forge hammer.

The three siblings were next to begin taking part in the work of shaping the virgin world, they gathered together in their grand auditorium and sat in council. Letarr, Tukstus, and Phiris disputed amongst themselves as none could compromise on the perfect place to call home, Letarr fancied the vast open plains of Valoria while Tukstus favoured the arid desert lands to the far east. Phiris was the least insatiable of the two as she had settled on a small snowy island outlying in the north and away from her brother’s quarrel. Taking that land as her own she anointed it ‘Flokåvaroi’ which had no connotation until she had given it one, The Frozen Isles the men of later years would call it in their songs and tales.

Determining that they couldn’t come to an accord, Letarr and Tukstus went their separate ways, taking the central grasslands and the eastern deserts respectively. Letarr began by building a giant watchtower from which he could observe his lands and guard all that was within his territory. He then began to form farm animals that would wander and graze his lands until the end of days, thus the cows, chickens, ducks and all other forms of agricultural life commenced in Valoria. Finally, Letarr began constructing what he understood would become his magnum opus, a kingdom from which he could protect all of Valoria should the need arise. So his work began immediately on the grand kingdom of ‘Ticüria’ and within it the proud and noble ‘Castle Kirek’ a jewel in the Valorian plains. When all was done Letarr finally sat upon his golden throne and rested.

While the grasslands were lush and bountiful, the desert lands of Valoria were a cruel and unforgiving dwelling, just as Tukstus desired for he had never wanted things to be effortless for himself. Alas, he knew with challenging work and patients, even a desert could yield genuine magnificence and splendour. The sandstorms were brutal so Tukstus began making an oasis within the desert for himself to seek respite, a small patch of trees and a little pond untouched by the scorching desert air. Next, he headed further into the desert until he could walk no more, and where he halted, he began construction on his wondrous kingdom. Tukstus marked out the land that he desired to utilize but decided it may be wise to enlist the assistance of a true craftsman and he knew of only one that may be of service to him.

Thus Tukstus set off on his long journey west to Thon Maldur, to ask for the aid of its King the ‘Great Smith’ Kakec. Braving the sandstorms and drought Tukstus resolved that he would name his fledgeling desert realm ‘Djadjuris’ the Great Desert as he knew how truly great it was indeed. Long was his journey but the dry heat soon turned to chilling frost as Tukstus began to make his way through the mountains of Garn Darohm and up to the entryway into the Halls of Iron. Tukstus did not tremble as he demanded an audience with the Greatest Smith of Valoria nor did he waver in his ambitions when sat across from the King in Thon Maldur, he requested of the great smithy that it be in his powers to create a city from something of the utmost value and rarity. Kakec sat and contemplated the commission set before him and after some time agreed that he could undoubtedly meet the requests of Tukstus, in return, he would owe the smith a life debt, a favour that Tukstus was all too happy to oblige.

The two Nemdine trekked through the callous and unforgiving mountain passages of Garn Darohm and after miles of walking the two finally reached the borders of Djadjuris. While he was fond of the cold, Kakec disliked heat and slowed their journey but before long they finally had made it to the location of Tukstus’s future kingdom. The smith got to work right away digging up the ground and trying to locate a specific metal he had infused into the land of the eastern desert when he was finalizing his previous labours.

Many years passed before Kakec was able to obtain enough of the precious metal he had onetime composed within the ground, and since named ‘Goldolion’, from the barren desert of Djadjuris and began work on the creation of Tukstus’s City of Gold. The smith was indeed a more competent craftsman than a miner for the kingdom was shortly finished and Tukstus was sitting upon his brilliant throne, and as he sat and thanked the craftsman from the bottom of his heart, he named his kingdom, ‘Casentino’. Kakec smiled with pride at his work before reminding his newfound Shield-Brother of the favour he now owed. Tukstus waved it off, thanking the smithy for all the glorious deeds he had done for him, Kakec met his praise with a humble bow before returning to his Halls in Thon Maldur.

Thus the Age of Creation began in Valoria, the wheels of intention set in motion by the very hands that guided it to exist in the first place. The Nemdine in their new homes and the darkest heart among them plotting in darkness, as was the grand design of the universe set forth by Atar’s Will.