Edit: most recently updated and mapped version of Saihallah, my partially-mostly desert fantasy setting. Gonna pin it and keep adding to the tag. This is almost a decade of written lore compiled from my wip folders LMAO so some editorial errors are expected… Thanks for reading if you do!
Prologue: Saihalla [S-eye-hal-lah]
Saihalla is a half-desert country composed of two distinct provinces. These provinces are the Sothmer Desert, which realistically makes up ¾ of the country, and the forest kingdom of Dinsherrath. As such, Saihalla is located on the southwestern part of the continent Thryndél.
The capital city of Sothmer is New Saroch, where the Kenna (Queen) Meerin Estra XI, rules her realm. The capital city of Dinsherrath is Gorshaal, where the Numah (King) Velcan Relle and his ancient council of elders rule from the cavernous and verdant metropolis of a city underneath the forested mountains.
Between the two provinces sits the city of Wealdstone, a bustling metropolis which boasts most of the trade in the country and acts as peacekeeper betwixt the realms. Overseeing the city currently is Adalish Kuenaré, a rishi (priest) of the goddess Gennethromath and a seer. Her regent, Naith Argel, enacts her will as her dutiful magister.
Most of the country of Saihallah was once forest in ancient times, governed by the Goddess Enora. That was, until the King of the Gods, Sothsuna, found her land favorable, and thus covered a majority of her valleys in burning sand to make His holy country. Enora tried to fight back, but was outmatched by the power of Sothsuna and the other Gods.
This shift from verdant forest to swathes of sweltering dunes came about in a time just after the advent of the First Age. With three thousand years between each age, now marks the middle of the Fourth Age, and the Sothmer desert creeps ever farther.
***
• Gods of Saihalla [S-eye-hal-lah]
- These Gods are publicly worshipped and can be venerated at any Godhead Temple** in Saihalla.
• Enora - Goddess of Mold, Maiden of Graves
- All Dinite (Dinsherrath) Temples
- All Settian Temples
• Sothsuna - God of Gods, Lord of the Desert
- All Settian (Sothmer) Temples
• Nirryel - Goddess of Sin, Mother of Prayer
- All Settian Temples
• Mephrelli - God of Fire, Lord of the Black Sun
- All Settian Temples
• Dergopân - God of Shadow, Father of Demons
- All Settian Temples
• Gennethromath - Goddess of Prophecy, Lady of the Red Water
- All Settian Temples
- Some Dinite Temples
• Fessulli - God of the Dead, Keeper of Harkallah
- All Settian Temples
- Some Dinite Temples
• Bol - Smith at the Forge of Creation, God of the Cosmos
- All Settian Temples
• Nemestré - Goddess of Weaving, Mistress of Magic and Sigils
- All Settian Temples
- Some Dinite Temples
• Riel - Eldest Sister, Goddess of Death
- All Settian Temples
• Bestec - Second Eldest Sister, Goddess of Time
- All Settian Temples
• Torren - Middle Sister, Goddess of Balance
- All Settian Temples
• Navh - Penultimate Sister, Goddess of Divinity
- All Settian Temples
• Arunii - Youngest Sister, Goddess of Forms
- All Settian Temples
• Abraion - Human-God of Redemption & Messiah of Sothmer; Demigod Son of Sothsuna
- All Settian Temples
** Godhead Temples are regular churches for the reverent Sailish citizen. Forsaken is Dergopân, but never forgotten is his lineage.
• Lesser & Privately Worshipped Gods (Al-Dinari)
- These Gods are worshipped arguably more widely than the above pantheon, however individual practice may be either encouraged or looked down upon depending on the deity.
• Osyf-Agnin - God of Wild Beasts & Spring
• Yúmaleta - Goddess of Storms & Undeath
• Deshuul - Half-Demon God of War & Revenge
- Influence Unknown
• Kara-Soé - God of Love & Summer
- Patron of lovers and debauchery.
• Amirdan-Sul - God of Sacrifice & Winter
• In-Anna-Tabash - Goddess of Revolution & Autumn
• Devah-Il - Half-Demon God of Deceit & Madness
- Influence Unknown
• Shaeasa - Goddess of Fortune & Misfortune
• Vishalla - God of Wisdom & Invention
- Patron of commerce and education.
• Bé-Lazra-Ún - Half-Demon Goddess of Murder & Cannibalism
- Influence Unknown
• Lurdu - Half-Demon God of Sickness & Disease
- Influence Unknown
• Neshel - Goddess of Health & Protection
- Patron of physicians and alchemists.
• Mata-Nazrac - God of the Moon & Dreams
- Father of the Nushka Race
• Bakesh - God of Thieves & Secrets
- Influence Unknown
• É-Natma - Goddess of Order & Sanctity
- Patron of the Temple Guard and justice system.
• Hezemél-Afnui - God of Agriculture & Travel
- Patron of farmers and wanderers.
• Nimical Powers of Noted Authority (Nimei)
- Nimei are messengers, sages, healers, and powers forged by Bol in submission to Sothsuna, which can be assigned to the service of other Gods by Sothsuna. Made of pure, burnished existence (“Nim”), each Nimic bears a responsibility to the cosmos.
Vamásh-Imn D’Ra - Nimic of Elemental Fire
Imn-Efriat - Nimic of Elemental Water
Néth-Imn Abat - Nimic of Elemental Earth
Imn Natiah-Lham - Nimic of Elemental Air
Hasa-Ash - Nimic of Destruction
Apish-Núm - Nimic of Proclamation
Nisiod-Imn - Nimic of Power
Oforutú - Nimic of Order. The Corrector.
Nefer-Imn-Jhál - Nimic of Record
Imn-Anki - Nimic of Creation. Bringer of Forms to Sothsuna from Arunii, to be made into Beings.
• Demonic Powers
- The veneration of these spirits is strictly forbidden and considered evil by most of society.
• Un-Seffár - Demon Messiah in Human Form; Counter to Abraion
• Deomal - Demon of Forbidden Knowledge
• Té-For-On - Demon of Vampirism
• Neglethil - Demon of Greed
• Baktu - Demon of Vicious Cruelty
• Foro - Demon of Hatred
• Maurag - Demon of Pain
• Azorand - Demon of Hunger
• Kurthul - Demon of Fear
• Ali-Factém - Demon of Cambion Dealcraft
• Ostinach - Demon of Corruption
***
The Grand Context: A Study of Time, Logic & Gods
By Gianluca of the Gellian Arcaneum
***
Yes, of course, one has already heard that one must think of time as a flat circle. And while that may be a more accurate representation of time as a succinct concept, one mustn’t also forget that the very circular entrapment of empirical events, that we call ‘time,’ exists within the context of something else entirely.
The thing which exists outside of time itself, and which it flows around like a river, is the Grand Context, or ‘Sindroa-Noia’ in the language of the ancient Dinites. the Grand Context refers to the general set of events and proper forms put into motion by the Gods, which dictate the specific course of the entire timestream. Sindroa-Noia means, roughly, “Will of Rule,” and is the way to assert that this is Sothsuna’s literal stake to reality by His Will, and His law is at play. Another way to translate this would be to assume that His mind is the only one which matters in the cosmos.
While subject to change, regression, or even corruption from outside influences—especially by the Gods themselves—the Grand Context is an absolute course, or a representative set of logical laws for both physical and spiritual existence, around which the spiral of time wraps itself. This very pillar was forged by the God Bol, who also carved the laws written upon it as dictated by Sothsuna.
At the bottom of this pillar is Harkallah, and at the top, The House of Mimbah. All of which is surrounded by the Heavens and the Gods. Set to the protection of the Grand Context are the five Sisters of Eternity. These daughters of Bol enforce the universal laws of the cosmos, lest the pillar of logic become unstable and fall.
Part II: The Sisters
Riel - The eldest daughter of Bol, Riel is the keeper of the first Law, Death. That which lives must die. Thus, the first sister watches over the very end of the timestream to make sure all souls fall down to Harkallah.
Bestec - The next eldest sister, Bestec, resides further along the pillar, and is very much the personification of “Time” as one might think of it. This particular goddess protects the Law of Decay, or Destruction, meaning that stability must be met with instability. That which exists must break down and turn to dust. For, even mountains weather over time.
Torren - As the middle sister Torren has the unique duty of making sure that the balance between the material and the immaterial is kept. Meaning that the world as we know it exists as an equilibrium of spiritual and physical forces. Should either of these become unbalanced in the cosmos, Torren would intervene.
Navh - Second to youngest, Navh is the bridge between the mundane and the divine. When those who have lived and died favorably before the Gods come to reside in the House of Mimbah, it is Navh who opens the gate into eternal divinity, allowing Abraion to come forth on his chariot and bring the dead to rest. And it is she through whom the Gods touch the world.
Arunii - The youngest of the five, Arunii’s innocence and purity are her power, for all new forms come from her. She is pure thought, and all things must begin as innocent. Sothsuna chooses which forms to take from Arunii’s font and blesses them, gifting them with a spirit. Bol then forges them into existence.
These forms then gently drift down the flow of time and either land in the water of Harkallah, or are taken to the House of Mimbah. However, forms which have not been given the blessing of Sothsuna become corrupted, laying stagnant at the edges of Heaven. The shadows these forms cast down into the Abyss are twisted and become demons.
Part III: Demons
***
Because demons are without a spirit, they represent chaos and darkness, living as hollow creatures in the Abyss. Hunger calls to them as they gnaw on the souls of the wretched in the deepest pits of Harkallah.
Demons have no society, instead choosing to move in their own interests only. Some particularly old and particularly powerful demons do, however, gain a following over time, either from demons who are attracted to their power, or from those who have been subject to it.
One of the most well known demons in Saihalla is the five-headed serpent Neglethil, chosen by the god Dergopân to be his champion, and he gave the creature immense power. Along with that power, Dergopân also gave the demon governance over the mountain Korvath in southern Saihalla, near my own home country of Gelfor.
For this reason, Korvath and the connecting mountain range of Daraduath is cursed, a nexus between this realm and the Abyss. Demons freely roam there, fighting over territory and corrupting all they touch.
However, stationed on the north side of the mountain range are the Nassomath of Mephrelli, flaming soldiers of the Sun God who burn away the dark should its shadow cast itself too far.
Part IV: The Gods
***
The Primary Gods, or the afore-established pantheon detailed above, were not always separate entities, but a mass of cosmic forces, all churning together in the primordial aether. This being was called “Zyn-Thar” or “God Head” in the ancient tongue. The language of the very Gods themselves. Less speech than pure thought. Concept.
At an indeterminate point during the endless millennia before the conception of Time, Sothsuna—God—split Himself and His siblings from this mass during an event known as the Sacred Breaking. The shockwave from this happening rippled into space, tearing a hole into the nothingness outside and creating the cosmos.
From this rip in the God Head there came pouring out multitudes of subordinate spirits and lesser gods, and some still were crafted by the Gods out of the primordial energy in the universe, to act as servants or vessels for the perpetuation of existence, such as the daughters of Bol.
The very blood that dripped from this most divine of wounds fell into the waters of the new earth, heat melding with cool water to form mankind. And from the ocean we have walked and built our lives upon the firmament.
Part V: Prophecy
***
It is written in the holy text of Gennethromath, the book of Epysalla, that the end of the world will be harkened by the birth of an accursed twin, like that of blessed Abraion. However, this twin will have instead triumphed over its winged equal in the womb. No other womb but that of Neglethil will hold him.
This twin will be named Un-Seffar, and will be the adversary of Abraion. He will insist that he is Abraion come again, and will dazzle men with glamours in droves. But all that is done by his will shall inevitably be twisted and fall to evil purposes. All fruit on his tongue will turn to ashes upon one’s own.
The moon will turn to blood, and shadows will fall upon the desert. Unborn babes will die, plagues will turn the flesh, and storms will throw down the mountainous dunes.
Un-Seffar will unite all of demonkind, creating an army of darkness the likes of which has hitherto been unseen. And when every man, woman, and child has been distracted by his splendor, the cursed twin will unleash this greatest of evils against them.
Gennethromath has revealed that Abraion will slay his brother after many years of battle, and the water of Fessulli will rise from beneath the desert, swallowing all the world in death. The Black Sun will shine again its shivering light and all demons will be burned away.
Mankind will melt again into Red Water, rising from Harkallah to join once more in Zyn-Thar, who will be renamed to Amra’set. From within, all things will be shrived clean of impurity.
• Stygial Age: Defined by the Heavens (Aeturnum) and the Abyss (Harkallah) below.
- The Timestream is born from the Sacred Breaking, birthing human souls.
- Cosmic Pillar (Sindroa-Noia) (Grand Context) is forged and built by Bol.
- Sothsuna Is Speaking.
• Hetharian Age: Defined by the first 3,000 years of human life, war, and death, guided by the Gods.
- Akkrellian Empire rises as first established throne of man.
- Akkrellia is seduced by Dergopân.
- Targathian Empire rises in the north, spreading southward unimpeded but stops at Akkrellian border.
- Ancient Dinite tribes all over Dinsherrath are conquered by Targath and made slaves.
- Mid-age shift occurs when Akkrellian Empire falls to the abyss, replaced by Nuranki culture in the south.
- Race of Ahar (Elves) are born when Hezemel-Afnui mates with Neshel and Shaeasa, respectively.
• 1st Age: Defined by the laying of the Sothmer Desert.
- Sothsuna lays the desert over Dinsherrath, crushing most Targathian land.
- Targathi wage war against remaining free Dinites and Nuranki culture but lose.
• 2nd Age: Defined by the Akkrellian war, and the subsequent delivery of men from evil by Abraion.
- Revived Akkrellians, empowered by the darkness of the abyss, wage war on all peoples of Sothmer, losing against Abraion and his host.
- Ahar migrate to the House of Mimbah in Heaven.
- Dinite and Nuranki cultures merge to form Settian desert peoples.
• 3rd Age: Defined by general peace, followed by strange and sinister events in the last few years.
- Dinite council of elders forms to endorse Relle tribe to lead what’s left of Dinsherrath.
- Old King, Numah Brahnjet Estra, of Sothmer dies under mysterious circumstances, giving Queen-Regent, Kenna Meerin Estra the First, instant power over the desert.
- No new king is announced after line of Queen-Regent fails to produce a male heir.
• Current Day: 4th Age (4A), 1026 in Summer
- Red Star of Demon Messiah is seen above Wealdstone by Princess Adalish.
No link text form of a story from my fantasy setting!
Part 1: The Strange High House in the Dunes:
“Good eve, Rishi Sujo… I’m unsure of how to interpret a memory I’ve started to recollect… At the time, my mother believed my visions to be related to my closed-lung disease, lack of breath and all. But I told her it wasn’t. She gave me shirka leaf anyway, which did act as a sedative, perhaps, but the dunes vibrated all the brighter when I took it.
But I’m rambling, I’m sorry. I promise, and swear to Sothsuna that I am being truthful. I hold no demonic pact nor covenant... Let me begin.
When I was a child, I lived on the western outskirts of Kezu. I was about twelve years old, and I wandered with my friends about the open desert after temple at midday. We would drift so far afield that the moon would have made its way well into the star-laden sky by the time we came home... I’m surprised we weren’t eaten by any of the lurking dune crabs...
Regardless, one night I had found myself alone. I looked around for my friends, but saw a strange figure in the sand instead. It seemed to be some sort of peculiar combination of hare and scorpion—but with wings and antlers… it was so queer that I had to see it closer, so I started toward the creature.
The chimera gave chase and I ran after it for a while… but I had the oddest feeling; the farther I got into the desert the more my head began to feel light… almost like I was dreaming. But I know I wasn’t dreaming, because I heard my friend Usanti call my name, and the feeling went away then. But, alas, I had lost sight of the thing in the sand.
The next day I skipped temple to have more daylight for my explorations, and I had intended on finding that curious animal once again. Yet, indeed, it was not the same chimera in the desert, as I had seen before, which I found now.
This time, I saw before myself a creature with the serpentine form of a snake and the head of an ibis… on either end of its body. The thing shuffled along with both beaks trained forward, leaving behind piles of sand which had been collected by the length of its body and eventually slithered over when it became too much to drag… I was a bit disturbed by this animal, but I was still determined to follow it and shew everyone I wasn’t making this up, nor that it is a contrivance of my thoughts, for the piles of sand remained…
I followed the creature slowly, eventually going past and sliding down a large stone outcropping that the other kids and I usually stayed away from. But when I got to the bottom, I could see something high in the wind-blown sand that flooded the sky, jutting up into the air from the basin I had found myself in. Something none of us had noticed before, to my bewilderment.
Getting closer, it seemed to me that the structure was once a tower, perhaps, or a pillar, partially crumbling and listing northward. From what I know of historical studies I’d place it firmly in the Hetharian age, before the desert even existed… such ancient Dinite work. I was so dazed by the majesty of its height that I lost sight of the animal I was chasing.
I only realized then that I had the same light-headed feeling I had felt the day prior, yet it was so much more intense, now that I was closer to what I presumed to be the source. For, atop that dizzying pillar, there sat what appeared to be a house or hut, precariously positioned so that the only door I could make out was facing into the open air. And from the only window I could see emitted an eerie glow which shewed many colors at once—I thought I might’ve seen another surreptitious creature fly therein, but I couldn’t be sure.
Trying to see through the gusts of sand that blew by and in front of the structure made it hard to determine design, but the house looked as though it had a pointed top and smoothed sides, so that the thing in whole looked almost like a droplet of water.
The only way I could be sure of what I was seeing was, to my nascent and ambitious mind, scaling the tower itself and seeing the house with my very own eyes. So up I went, carefully testing each stone on the erstwhile architecture so as not to fall to my doom on the way to the top.
Most assuredly, once I started to climb past the lip of the basin below, the sand from the desert blew into my face on the gusts of wind. But I was determined to climb ever higher and, indeed, I reached the top, above the current. But it was odd there, the air seemed thin on that height, and below me I could see only shifting sand, as if the entire desert had disappeared and been replaced by a churning storm.
Then, spontaneously, the storm itself began to rise, desperately reaching for the peak of that air-born prison I had found myself atop. I clambered to the house, holding on for dear life as I tried to get into the open window, which was a plain and crudely carved circular port. Stone reliefs of strange and loathsome faces leered at me from the ruined pillar behind and below me, in pockmarked corners where ages past had not worn them away. I felt as if I had ventured into a place entirely alien, where I was unwelcome… Yet bidden, nonetheless.
I did manage to get through and past the window, tumbling inside and onto my rear as I did so, but I accomplished it. And now that I was at a state of relative peace, though still a bit unnerved by the unsettling carvings outside, I could investigate to my liking. It almost seemed as a triumph to have gotten to such a high place, had it not been for the fact that the house was entirely vacant, lacking for a bedroll, clothes, or even any basic offerings for veneration.
The slate-like stone of the foundation was different than that of the ruin outside, and clearly laid quite some time after the original structure had been built, but for what purpose? And how was the whole hut made of it? I was pondering those questions in quiet stoicism when a loud rapping came at the outside of the only door. The very door which gave way only to open air.
I stood for a moment in fear, unsure of whether I should answer the mysterious caller or not. But it seemed I was trapped either way, so I did just that. Though, sandy gusts of wind were not what I was greeted with on the other side of the door, but instead I saw a vast, sprawling body of water, still and calm in the sun. Far off and in the center of the water was a small island, covered completely in foliage and more of the color green than I had ever seen in my life.
The water past the dusty, stone step in front of me was crystalline and solid to the touch, but not necessarily frozen. Just.. solid. So I walked out, reassured by the fact of the surface having been able to hold my full weight when I stopped. Then I tried to stride across the water, toward the island, however it seemed only to become physically closer upon the bending of my mind to its purpose, rather than the efficacy of my gate to find me there.
Upon my eventual first contact, though, I noticed that there were no familiar animals which walked on the land here, nor flew in the air or swam in the ocean. Upon this alien firmament there were creatures which seemed to me as a jumbling mix of other, regular animals. Just like the ones I had seen in the desert before. Only this time they filled the trees and skies and water. Lions with the trunks of elephants and large, colorful birds with the heads of jackals.
The only form I knew with any certainty was that of a man; and indeed, tucked into a corner of the island where a red clay deposit had emerged through the earth, sat a very seemingly human man, sculpting with the wet substance before him. He was clearly aged quite a bit, and his hands moved with the grace of a master artist, but his affect was young and jovial. In fact, he seemed positively delighted to see me. It was only after the man took notice of and started toward me that his flesh and body began to de-age in a sense, or otherwise became young looking.
Now, only a boy of about my age or a bit older stood in front of me. His eyes were phosphorescent, glowing that same esoteric emanation of rainbowed colors that had emitted from the window of the hut, as if they were motes of twinkling stars upon his face. He apologized for his lack of initial salutation, as he said he knew that I was there but was too hard at work to ‘answer the door,’ whatever that meant to him. I then proceeded to ask him what exactly the work he had left behind entailed, to which he responded that he preferred to shew me.
The boy bounded back to the clay deposit, immediately beginning to excitedly mold the stuff to magnificent shapes in a blur of craftsmanship. Each new shape he formed seemed to tear itself away from the clay and come to life immediately, as if a menagerie of chimeric creatures lay just underneath the surface…
Needless to say, I was astonished by the event unfolding before me. But I knew, then, who this lad must be. Creating, acting as only a God could before my very eyes, was the figure of Osyf-Agnin, wielding the primordial clay of existence.
Awestruck, I was, yes, but still determined yet to find what I sought. So, selfishly, I asked a God directly for a trouble. Something, anything that might prove what I’ve seen on this day. Osyf-Agnin did not seem indisposed nor displeased with my request, but instead curious. He seemed puzzled, frankly. Ruminating on machinations far above the understanding of my own.
This God rolled my thought around in his hands briefly, so that I could almost see the line of inquiry itself to his unknowable mind, like unto some spiritual string connecting us to one another. Then he came to a conclusion in his own head, privy to myself only when I pressed, again, the issue. Though, my insistence came well after he had already started trudging into the forest at full speed with me in tow. His hand on my wrist felt like a wreath of flame, as if it had been somehow tempered as to not burn my flesh.
We came to another hut, much like the one built out on the water from whence I had come. The interior of this abode, however, was not empty, instead being filled with a plentitude of clay pots, stacked about and lining the walls in droves. Tall, short, and medium sized pots overwhelmed the room, and stood together as, what I had believed to be, categories or denominations. And from one of the groups of pots the God of Nature plucked a vessel large enough for me indeed, but not so large that I could not carry it, being lighter than I had initially imagined.
Etched onto the sides of the pot were animals of various different compositions, along with an incantation in what I knew to be ancient Dinite above them, but unfortunately couldn’t read.
Inside the pot was filled to the brim with red clay, which gave off a sweet aroma that I couldn’t quite place. Regardless, it was then that the air grew very still, and Osyf-Agnin watched over me with what I could only describe as anticipation once I took the pot, as if not even he knew what would become of it, or myself.
Then, after I had settled for a moment, but before I could ask what to do with my gift, the God ushered me out quickly and led me to the edge of the island. He told me to run swiftly and not to look back, but said so with such a look of genuine serenity and gentleness that the urgency in his statement only registered after I was already turning away.
Then I broke out into a run, fully pelting myself through the door of the house, and landing inside its dark and sand swept interior. Sitting upright straight away, I checked the vase to see if it had been cracked or broken in the process. But it had not, and I was so relieved that I fully leaned back, entirely forgetting that the door behind me actually opened out into nothing, and the subsequent terrible fall made me lose my long-term memory of the events prior…
When I finally awoke after the descent I found my friends, Usanti and Tema, dragging me back to my home as I instinctively clutched the pot of clay in my arms like some kind of protective talisman, still unbroken. They asked me where I had gotten it, but the mumbled and half remembered answer confused them. They teased me and told me there were no strange towers or huts, nor any chimeric animals or Gods to be found, just that I may have tumbled down the rocks too hard and hit my head.
I might’ve been tempted, at that point, to call what I had experienced a dream, if not for the pot of clay which still sits hidden in a place that I had chosen when I was young, that only I could find again, and which has caused me, in my adult life, to remember the events of that day so vividly.
I know what I saw, but haven’t had any visions of the divine since. Rishi, please.. what could this mean?”
