The Lore Keeper

As it is written by me, the Lore Keeper, this sixtieth day of 174 AB, so it was:

They never stopped to think, humans. Generation upon generation of world altering changes led to the moment it broke. The World Stone, shattered into elemental pieces. With resources dwindling and an ever increasing thirst for control of their physical realm, those that came before uncovered the manifestation binding our spirits to their existence. Evil, no that is too crude a term, perhaps it was chaos that pored into the crack they chipped with their meddling. Whatever we might call it now, that corrupting force peeled away the infinitely strong bonds that had kept physical reality and spiritual force coupled and balanced for eternity.

Instant death and renewal. New worlds, separate and fragmented, formed. Elemental aspects swirled, forming shards separated in space and time. No longer whole, shards of the World Stone attracted like matter and energy. From the dust formed the precursors to what we call the Realms. Nebulous and ill-formed, the Realms gathered enough similar energy and matter to lock in each's path distanced from others.

Huddled and protected from outside influence, time passed and Realms grew. On larger Realms, ethereal animalistic celestial spirits, walking the spirit path since the shattering, poured their energies into physical form. Their Shén energy molded lifeless matter into living manifestations in their likeness. Eons passed and mighty clan-like civilizations rose in each Realm, each with behaviors and motivations guided by traits of their Celestial.

It has been 174 cycles and 60 rotations since that history ended. Since the first Binding. Like increasingly oppositely charged entities, Realms drew together enough for their realities to bleed into each other. These points of contact between Realms, anchor points, are strong in Shén imbued material. Their presence, and the fine line between spirit and physical there, opened and expanded each Celestial's spirit path, giving them access to other Realm fragments. Guided by their Celestial, each Clan learned how to weave physical space together with energetic bindings at anchor points. Enough bindings between a Home Realm and a Realm Fragment and Celestials are able to suture them permanently into a larger whole with increased matter and energy to draw from.

The Realm Stone was the key. An obelisk infused with their crystalized Shén, once set on a discovered fragment, serves as a source for a Celestial to channel their Shén through the spirit path and in-turn manifest corporeal and spirit avatars to secure and dominate new Realm fragments. Six Home Realms, including my own have been discovered. Conflicts at anchor points ensue whenever Realms meet across the void.

Now, each Celestial postures their Realm for the day when Home Realms, growing ever larger and more powerful, will collide. When that day befalls us I fear for the sanctity of my histories, written and recorded here. Until then Spirits Rise, and we rise with them...