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| − | Legend of Paragons is a popular ancient myth. References to some version this story can be found in old songs, stories, and early writings of almost all nations and all races in the world.
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| − | This is the official version of the legend, sanctioned by the church writings. An alternate version to this story can be found in the [[Sylvan Apocrypha]].
| + | Many thousands of years ago, the Old Gods created a race of powerful immortal beings known as the Paragons. The Paragons were tasked with tending to the prime material plane, protecting it from incursions and protecting it's inhabitants. In addition to their role as protectors and maintainers of the material realm, the Paragons took on leadership roles guiding the lesser, mortal races and teaching them art, science and magic. Under the guidance of the immortals the kingdoms of humans, elves and dwarfs flourished and lived in harmony with nature. |
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| − | Long, long time ago, before the fall of the Dwarven empires, and before the age of men begun the world was ruled by magical beings known as Paragons. Modern clerics insist that they were servants of the gods, created in their image in order to lead and guide the lesser races in the early days of the creation. In the oldest songs however, Paragons are much older than that, and they have walked the world long before the Gods arrived.
| + | Due to their greed and envy however, mortals rebelled against the Paragons in the great war known as the [[Purge]]. During the Purge the material vessels of the Paragons were destroyed but their souls ascended to the higher planes from where they still guide the ungrateful mortals as the [[Gods of Eoran]]. |
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| − | The legends agree that while Paragons were ageless, peerless and immune to disease and common ailments they were mortal, and could be killed by a sudden calamity or violence. Death among them was a rare occurrence however, because they were beings of immense power, and magical skill. They had no natural enemies and thus they only things that could threaten their life would be wrath of gods, or that of another paragon.
| + | When they had physical bodies the Paragons often interbred with mortals. Their children were mortal but inherited some of their power. Their distant descendants are the [[Paragon Blood Sorcerous Origin|Sorcerers of today]]. |
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| − | The Paragons were very few in numbers. The oldest surviving Elven sagas speak of twelve, while other, more popular songs put the number closer to twenty. Those, however most likely also include their mixed race children which were beings of lesser power. The original Paragons rarely married among themselves, and when they did, such unions almost never produced offspring. Some scholars say that there was simply not enough magic in the world to support any more of them, and thus they were unable to conceive with beings of equal power. It is equally likely that they simply did not want to create future competitors who would grow up to lay claim on their domains. They did however breed with the lesser races, and children that cane from such unions inherited only a fraction of the Paragon powers. It is said that all modern day Sorcerers can trace their lineage back to the Paragons, and it is the blood of these ancient beings that gives them their magical powers.
| + | After the Purge the world was plunged into a dark age as many of the binding spells and wondrous artifacts they maintained broke or stopped working. The nature grew wild and untamed, previously docile monsters started roaming the world hunting for prey, planar rifts opened allowing fey and fiend incursions. Mortal tyrants fought for power and established their corrupt empires. |
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| − | In the early days of the world the Paragons quarreled among themselves often, and when they did, the world would be plunged into chaos. Mountains would be leveled, oceans would dry up, continents would break asunder and entire kingdoms would perish in horrific cataclysms caused by the Paragon magic slap fights over trivial matters. Worse yet, some of the Paragons grew wicked and decadent and stated taking pleasure in lording over and tormenting lesser races.
| + | During the dark ages much of the knowledge and magic of the Paragons was lost. Their artifacts were destroyed and their mortal students and descendants were persecuted and killed by the jealous tyrants. |
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| − | The gods grew weary of the constant pleas for help from the mortal worshipers and intervening on their behalf. They have decreed that Paragons were not above mortal laws, and that they should be held accountable for any crimes they commit against the lesser races of the world. They chose twelve of the most just and pious mortals and gave them weapons of immense divine power. This power was divided equally among them, so that no single mortal man or elf could claim power equal to that of a Paragon, but acting in unison they could overpower any of them.
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| − | From that point on, whenever any of the Paragons would cause some terrible atrocity against the mortal men, the bearers of the divine artifacts would convene as The Council of Twelve, and pass judgment. To condemn a Paragon they required a simple quorum: seven or more votes. And thus, Paragons were beholden to the Will of the Seven.
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| − | In it's early days, the Council was just and benevolent and judged fairly. But as the centuries went by, and the councilors changed, so did the Paragon tactics. Instead of world shattering duels, they started waging secret wars, manipulating entire nations and using political intrigue to influence the decisions of the Council. Instead of being judges, the Councilors became pawns in a game played by the ageless, eternal Paragons. Many of them lost this game, and their numbers dwindled down to only four. But instead of dying down, the conflict between them only escalated.
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| − | Eventually the mortals grew tired of being pawns, and joined the game, in order to win their freedom back. Few wars, several assassinations and betrayals later, the Council had a quorum of just and pious men. The Will of Seven was that remaining Paragons were to be purged from the world.
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| − | After the last of the Paragons was judged, and executed, the Council was disbanded, and the [[divine weapons]] were hidden away.
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| − | Most religious writings portrays the Purge in positive light, framing it as a triumph of mortals, empowered by the will of the gods, against wicked oppressors and tormentors. The names of the individual paragons have been stricken from the records to prevent people from worshiping them as gods, or from trying to use magic to bring them back to life.
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| | [[Category:Legend]] | | [[Category:Legend]] |
Use this template to tag unfinished articles that need to be expanded and corrected. They will be added to Work in Progress cagegory so that they can be found more easily.
Many thousands of years ago, the Old Gods created a race of powerful immortal beings known as the Paragons. The Paragons were tasked with tending to the prime material plane, protecting it from incursions and protecting it's inhabitants. In addition to their role as protectors and maintainers of the material realm, the Paragons took on leadership roles guiding the lesser, mortal races and teaching them art, science and magic. Under the guidance of the immortals the kingdoms of humans, elves and dwarfs flourished and lived in harmony with nature.
Due to their greed and envy however, mortals rebelled against the Paragons in the great war known as the Purge. During the Purge the material vessels of the Paragons were destroyed but their souls ascended to the higher planes from where they still guide the ungrateful mortals as the Gods of Eoran.
When they had physical bodies the Paragons often interbred with mortals. Their children were mortal but inherited some of their power. Their distant descendants are the Sorcerers of today.
After the Purge the world was plunged into a dark age as many of the binding spells and wondrous artifacts they maintained broke or stopped working. The nature grew wild and untamed, previously docile monsters started roaming the world hunting for prey, planar rifts opened allowing fey and fiend incursions. Mortal tyrants fought for power and established their corrupt empires.
During the dark ages much of the knowledge and magic of the Paragons was lost. Their artifacts were destroyed and their mortal students and descendants were persecuted and killed by the jealous tyrants.
Work in Progress This entry is in progress of being updated or revised and may contain misleading, contradictory or incomplete information.
