History

The history of Rhadixe is divided into two aeons, with the second aeon further subdivided into 300-year-long "ages."


First Aeon

First Aeon is a mythical, prehistoric time period. It begins 7000 years before the present, with the Origin's creation of Enuzir (and unknown to later generations, Anihkesh). The angels were created over the course of the next millennium (5000-4000 FA). Life in Rhadixe then developed over the next few millennia, first in the form of primitive, immobile beings (plants, fungi, etc. - 4000-3000 FA) then in the form of animals (3000-2000 FA) and finally human beings (2000-1000 FA). (The process is basically one of angel-assisted evolution.)

At the time the first humans appeared, there was a single continent in the Zenith hemisphere, and a single continent in the Nadir hemisphere. Human beings only lived in the Zenith hemisphere. They initially lived a simple hunter-gatherer existence, and were few enough for conflict to be fairly easy to avoid. All human beings at this time had a uniform appearance, with gray skin and white hair.

Thanks to angelic assistance, humans became more settled and agrarian around by 500 FA. As society became more stratified, conflict developed between three classes: priests, who were the authorities of old through whom the zeraphim spoke; shamans, who consulted with ancestral spirits for guidance (widespread by 300 FA); and philosophers, who argued that properly-applied human reason was of more value than blind faith in spirits of any kind (increasingly popular around 200 FA).


Transition to Second Aeon

Around 100 FA, Enuzir made the disturbing discovery that his angels, whom he had intended to be immortal, actually had a maximum lifespan of under 5000 years. He confronted the Origin about this seeming limitation upon his powers, only to be driven insane by it. He became convinced that Apixe was inhabited by a monster he called the Nameless One, and that if he could force this monster to submit to him, he would be able to perfect creation: to make angels who could live forever, humans who would always make Righteous choices, and so forth.

Anihkesh attempted to talk Enuzir out of this delusion, fearing that if he carried out his plan, any number of disasters could befall creation. But Enuzir would not be dissuaded, and in his initial struggle with the Nameless One, Anihkesh was accidentally injured. The injury shattered her soul, causing the pieces to fall down through all of the worlds and ultimately into the Abyss.

The descent of the Goddess was manifest on Rhadixe in several ways. One was a massive earthquake which split apart the continent in the Zenith hemipshere, creating the continents that would later be known as Celes, Sol and Lune. Another was a worldwide deluge of magic, which had mutagenic effects on many living creatures. The priests, shamans and philosophers each used different powers and methods to shield their own supporters from this deluge, and none of these groups was able to shield themselves from mutation perfectly. This event is thus the origin of the Celesti (priestly group), Solari (philosophical group) and Lunae (shamanic group).

Due to Enuzir's efforts to hide his guilt by erasing Anihkesh's existence, later generations were led to believe that these events had some other explanation, either supernatural (e.g. a punishment for human sin) or natural (e.g. random chance for the earthquake, evolution for the races).


Age of Tribes (0-300 SA)

In the upper worlds, this era is when the Archons first appeared. Thallixe then became divided between the Archons' abode and Enuzir's, and upheaval spread across Codixe as the daemons rapidly multiplied and the angels rejected their presence. Enuzir's war took on two objectives: to subdue the Nameless One in Apixe, and to keep the Archons from spreading their influence all the way down into Rhadixe. And during this age, neither of these objectives fared well, as the Archons barricaded Apixe and the daemons used their powers to create mutated animals - the kimerae - in Rhadixe.

Meanwhile, human beings were left in shell-shocked disarray after the earthquake. The darkest aspects of tribalism soon asserted themselves, with each human group blaming one another and waging genocidal war against those who did not share their ideology and/or skin color. The result of this widespread violence was that by the end of this era, each continent was dominated by a single racial group: Celesti in Celes, Lunae in Lune, and Solari in Sol.


Age of Magic (300-600 SA)

This era is most noteworthy for the appearance of the Tenebrae. The corpse-white skin and black hair of the Tenebrae were inflicted upon humans by the daemons in two circumstances: 1) as a blessing to those humans who had chosen to learn magic from the kimerae, and 2) as a curse afflicted randomly, in order that those so afflicted would be driven out by their tribes and then recruited by the daemons. In both cases, the aim was ultimately the same: since the daemons were not powerful enough to create their own humans from scratch, they would have to steal some of Enuzir's. Their long-term goal was to gather these humans into a society that would promote human flourishing better than Enuzir's own Righteous Celesti had thus far managed.

Threatened by these developments in Rhadixe, Enuzir moved to at least secure the upper worlds. It was during the Age of Magic that he created the Archangels, powerful beings who helped to turn the war back in his favor. By the end of this age, Enuzir had managed to cast the Archons down into Codixe, sealing Thallixe so that he could begin to build Neheva without the daemons interfering.


Age of Visionaries (600-900 SA)

The human "visionaries" for whom this age is named include:

  • The founders of Methakasha, who with kimerae assistance gathered the outcast Tenebrae from around the world, transported them to the Nadir hemisphere, and set up a new society.
  • A Solari warlord who consolidated a large empire in the northern part of Sol, which would later become Iristan.
  • A school of militant philosophers who established democracy in the southern part of Sol, which would later become Surshia.
  • A Celesti noble who unified the southern part of the country and led it against the north, spliting Peuro and Ukanos.
  • A Lunae mystic who achieved enlightenment and spread her message throughout that continent, thus founding Mind Dharma.
  • A Lunae tribe in the far north who developed their own variant of the Righteous religion, which they called Vigilance.
The biggest development in the upper worlds during this era was the construction of Neheva. The Righteous were led to believe that Neheva was a place where the faithful would be rewarded with paradise. In reality, such souls were being held in suspended animation and used to produce faera, powering Enuzir's Spear of Destiny as it continued to batter at the the shell that the Archons had built to protect Apixe.


Age of Separation (900-1200 SA)

"Separation" refers to events during this age that brought about a clearer demarcation between the nations of Rhadixe.

  • During this age there was almost constant holy war between the regions of Ukanos, Peuro and Koaffi. The conflict was initially three-way, but by the end of the age, the two Celesti nations set aside many of their differences in order to stand strong against a common enemy.
  • A Solari matriarch led a rebellion against the despotic dynasty that ruled Iristan, ultimately establishing Chazak as a separate nation.
  • Tiana and Gandbhajat became more clearly distinguished from one another. Gurus of Heart and Mind Dharma both multiplied, and established a tradition of respectful philosophical competition. The alliance of the two nations served both well, as later in this age, Gandbhajat aided Tiana against Tarusha, and Tiana aided Gandbhajat against Koaffi.
  • The most distinctive institutions of Tenebrae culture, such as the schools of magic, the governing structure of city states, temples and the Inquisition all took on their most recognizable forms during this era.
Ironically, while this era thus saw a deepening of contrasts in Rhadixe, it simultaneously brought a homogenization of Codixe, as angels drove daemons toward the remote corners of the world, and as gelbarim began hunting souls indiscriminately so as to obtain more fuel for the Spear of Destiny. In any case, violence, torture and premature death were common throughout all of the worlds during this age.


Age of Union (1200-1500 SA)

This age is named primarily from a Celesti perspective, and is thus somewhat misleadingly-titled: It is during this age that the Celesti began their most ambitious efforts to "unify the world in Righteousness," and the end result was not as agreeable for the other races as the term "Union" might imply. Unwanted Righteous and/or angelic presence became prevalent in Tarusha, Gandbhajat, Yuenti and Iristan during this time period, as all of these nations were to some extent subjected to conquest. The development of New Dharma in Yuenti was only one symptom of the cultural trauma that these incursions caused. But on the more peaceable side, this was also an era in which some Lunae and Solari began to have limited contact with Teneb for both trade and cultural exchange.

Celesti success in empire-building during this era did no favors to Enuzir's megalomania. Bitter about how long his war had dragged on, he introduced a third objective: to punish the Archons personally for their refusal to submit to him. It was toward the fulfillment of this objective that Enuzir created his new weapon, Thiyavat.


Age of Science (1500-1800 SA)

The age of science opened with increased intellectual exchange between Peuro and Surshia. Soon, even in more traditional Ukanos, the Righteous began to rationalize compatibility between science and religion, so long as the end result brought about a better standard of life for themselves. And it wasn't long before even the angels themselves began to embrace rigorous experimentation, resulting in the development of their own new technology.

One advance that the angels achieved was the creation of the irin, thus making a constant angelic presence possible in Rhadixe. But an even more significant advance during this age was the angels' activation of the Tree of Wisdom, a device that drains magic (faera) from Rhadixe more quickly than the souls (khiah) of the living can replenish it. As magic began to decline in Rhadixe, ambitious Ukanos seized the opportunity to invade the continent of Teneb. Thus would begin a series of disastrous defeats for the Tenebrae and their kimerae allies.


Age of Eschaton (1800-1999 SA)

The intrusion of Ukanos into Teneb was soon followed by that of Peuro. The two colonial powers fell to squabbling amongst one another, but this did not prevent them from nonetheless succeeding in the genocidal campaigns they waged against the Tenebrae. Those Tenebrae who survived were forced to retreat to Methakasha. Since this was the one place in the world where magic did still work reliably, mages and kimerae were able to secure the region around the city, even in conditions of long-term siege. After decades of ineffectual efforts to wipe out the last Tenebrae, the invaders decided to cut their losses and be satisfied with dominating the entire rest of the continent.

The new Celesti nations in Teneb - Neoluxia and Peurodia - attracted many zealots from Celes, both human and angelic. In the early 20th century, Neoluxia was the site of a new experiment in government: rule by the irin. Unfortunately, it wasn't long before the irin demonstrated that they were no less corruptible than human beings. Rebellion and civil war broke out in the country, and raged throughout the first half of the century, ending only when the angels turned on themselves, forcing their own brothers to surrender their political power. Neolouxia then became a democratic republic, and spent the rest of the 20th century bouncing back and forth between control by conservative Saints and control by liberal Servants. But despite its inconsistent policies, Neoluxia still prospered and became perhaps the most powerful country in the world.

The second half of the 20th century ushered in rapid technological advance, accompanied by associated cultural upheaval. As telecommunications and globalized media made information more accessible, the younger generation increasingly questioned the assumptions of their parents, leading to the popularization of such notions as equality between the races, religious tolerance, and resistance to colonialism. These changes made it progressively harder for Righteous to behave as if they were superior to everyone else, even though in the upper worlds, the angels were firmly in control of the vast majority of territory. Impatience with this contradictory situation has made Enuzir eager to finish off the Nameless One, in the hopes that Purifying it will homogenize humanity into his preferred mould. Meanwhile, Righteous everywhere are split into two factions: those who embrace modern values and actually want to live peacefully with the other races (or at least with the Solari and Lunae), and those who desperately cling to outmoded notions of cultural superiority while they wait to be vindicated by the Purification.


Last update: March 22, 2013



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