Ethian

Ethian, otherwise known as the Morning Star, is a former star and present comet that annually crosses paths with Achaea. It has been the focus of a handful of major events throughout the Modern Age.

The Coming of the Morning Star

The coming of the Morning Star was an epochal event for the realms. In 208 AF a giant star named Ethian collided with the devouring bottomless pit in space called Abbadon, the Destroyer. Abbadon was unable to contain the star, and both of them exploded. This collision thus killed all mortals on Sapience save for a small gathering of Mhun and a single adventurer named Clark, who were in the lowest levels of Moghedu at the time of the blast. The force was such that the energy released formed two Divine: Apollyon, the Malefactor, and Aurora, Goddess of Light. Vastar, the Skylord also reappeared during this time, exerting his power to clear any lingering radiation that which was tainting the air in the aftermath of the blast.

Landmarks

Now, all that remained of the star was a desolate comet - the hard, burning core of the once-magnificent sun. However, much of the destructive energy became focused inside the surviving core of Ethian, which then fell into an orbit in space that brought it near Sapience every year in the month of Sarapin, in a cycle known as Ethian's Crossing.

Unbeknownst to mortals at the time, the star cum comet was rife with sentient beings - a race of lesser dragons of which Yudhishthira and Geh'shya are a part. As the comet passed the planet time and time again, chunks of it fell to the earth and became charged with and attuned to the energies of Necromancy and Devotion, the largest fragment forming the isle of Polyargos itself. Yudhishthira, Geh'shya, and their kin arrived on the planet by way of these cometoid shards.

Over time, these fragments of Ethian either took special shapes (such as a jewelled Sphinx in the Mhojave Desert) or became absorbed into the area where they had fallen (such as a special valley in the Dakhota Hills). Once mortals learned that they could affect these landmarks during Ethian's Crossing, when the landmarks' mother comet was closest, Necromancers, Devotion users, and their enemies and allies alike began to battle each Sarapin for control over them.

The Birth of Makali

Many years later, in the year 342 AF, a botched Conclave ritual in what became known as the Reflection Incident led to the complete dysfunction of the landmarks of Achaea.

Later still, the intentions of the Conclave in the incident became apparent as they tried to prevent Yudhishthira and his witch-priestesses from completing a ritual upon Polyargos. These attempts ultimately met in failure, and the Conclave members' hearts were added to the ritual. During this crossing of Ethian, the comet came closer to Sapience than it ever had before, drawing out the latent destructive energies of the landmarks like poison from a wound. The red dragon used this energy, coupled with the consciousness of a witch-priestess, to create the Divine embodiment of Destruction - the goddess Makali.

The power of the Morning Star's radiance is encapsulated in the Tear of Ethian artefact and the renewing Ethian card of the Deck of Legends.