Thousands of years ago a group of humans built a small quarry on the coast of the continent of Androsen. They named it Cillian, meaning home in the language of that ancient time. They worked to pull a living from the stone and sea as they had claimed it. The town grew almost imperceptibly at first but over the next hundred years this small conclave of humans became a town, then a city, then a metropolis and eventually it became the seat of an empire spanning an entire continent. With its growth came attention from the great first god Androse who in his infinite wisdom created me and my siblings to rule over this growing people. First he created my sister Selene and appointed her as the goddess of hearth and home. She tended to her flock lovingly, welcoming all those that sought to make Cillian their home. She ruled alone for a time, but as our young empire grew there came the need for more guidance. That guidance came in the form of my brother Vernal, god of law and order. He guided the hands of that fledgling empire to create a place of peace and justice, taking the humans' ideas and codifying them into the divine. Next I was born Halbrin, god of the arts and creation. I watched over my little flock of sculptures and poets with all the love I could give. Finally my youngest brother Cyrus was created. He became the god of glory and victory, a firebrand who cared for his soldiers with a zealotry that only the heart of an immortal being could contain. Each of us ruled over our own precious domain within the empire, walking among the people and providing what guidance we could.
I fear in writing this I have made us sound far too divine. We were much like the mortals: we made mistakes, we failed our people at times and at times we even failed one another. We did not make the kind of world shattering mistakes that other gods have made over these long years, but I will not allow this record to make us more than we were. Just like our subjects, we were newborns in a young world.
For thousands of years we thrived, leading our people to rule over the entire continent of Androsen with as much honesty and valor as humans or gods are capable of. However, when I write that there was never such an empire to be found anywhere else in the world, it is the truth. Cillian was truly something singular in this world, and I looked forward to an eternity as the patron of the arts throughout an empire that seemed would never end.
When our divine father disappeared, I felt it, as did all the other gods he had created. It felt like a hole had been ripped in the world and in myself that could never be healed. We all felt it from the great gods of life and death to our city’s small pantheon.
I remember little of the time immediately after. I know I held my people close, gave them platitudes and reassurances, but I knew little of what was to happen. My siblings and I watched as Androse’s higher creations, the gods of the moon and the stars, death and life, earth and storms began to mutter among themselves about who would take our father’s place. Neither myself, nor the rest of the pantheon of Cillian dared to claim any right to Androse’s throne, all we wanted was to see our people cared for as they had been when our father was alive. So we watched as discussions turned to arguments which turned to battles which eventually turned into all out war. My siblings of the pantheon of Cillian dedicated ourselves to keeping the people of our empire safe. Soon our people and by extension ourselves were lending aid to refugees of a world at war with itself. We thought if we kept to our own we would be spared the violence.
On a day that will never truly leave me I woke to a field of glittering swords and shields arrayed before the gates of Cillian. The armies of the firstborn of the gods, Selhona, goddess of the moon, and Orvose, god of the sun, unfurled in all its horrible beauty.
What came next was chaos. Our little pantheon gathered in a gilded meeting hall, our decision holding the weight of all those who called Cillian home. It did not take long for a decision to be reached. Myself Vernal and Selene would load all the ships of our harbor with the people of the city. We would flee, hoping Orvose and Selhona would be content with taking our home from us but not our people.
The youngest of our group, Cyrus, would lead our warriors in a valiant charge against the unfathomable force in a battle that was for nothing but a few moments of time. I remember seeing Cyrus for the last time as he charged out of the meeting hall, preparing for his final battle.
It is an odd thing knowing in complete certainty that this is the last time you will see someone you love again. It is a feeling I do not have the words to describe, and I pray I will never feel it again.
It broke my heart to see my brother, who I had shared these last millennia with, charge into battle for the final time.
All these thoughts were there and gone in a moment, and the wave of emotions I felt were pushed aside, replaced with a grim determination to save my people.
My siblings and I worked tirelessly to load every available ship in the harbor with our citizens. As the boats launched with all but Cyrus and his soldiers, we watched the city fall, and my brother fall with it.
I thought for a moment that this would be the greatest despair of my immortal life, but I was wrong once again.
As we sailed for somewhere, anywhere safe, we saw ships on the horizon. Great warships flying the banners of Umbreth goddess of darkness loomed on the horizon before us, setting themselves between us and safety. Before I could even rally the few able fighters we had, I was sinking to the depths of the sea, surrounded by those I had been created for.
I do not know how long I drifted in the open sea or why the waves did not kill me, but I awoke on an unfamiliar shore, alone and powerless. Surrounded by the refuse of my former life.
I had escaped the wrath of my fellow gods, but the city of Cillian, the center of my power, was destroyed. I was no longer the god of a great people, I was a wanderer, lost in a vast world without the purpose I had known for thousands of years. I spent much time on that beach contemplating my situation, praying to a father that no longer existed that my siblings and my people made it out alive.
