The First Reign of the Titans
Soon after the rise of the worlds and the fall of man, God allowed His servants known as the Titans (similar, but not related to the Urges) to follow Man up to the worlds they had created. Thus the three brothers: the Sun, the Day, and the Night were sent to guard the Twelve Kingdoms.
The Titans fulfilled their duties, unremarkable in their accomplishments, until they took notice of the wild men and women who had begun to inhabit the borders of the land. One such maiden named Mira caught the Sun's eye, and he abandoned shining on the world to court her. The people, deprived of light, complained to his brothers who locked their brother in the Golden Valley as punishment. The Land of Perpetual Twilight
This cast the world into Perpetual Twilight for nearly five hundred years.
While the Sun and Moon slept, Day and Night strove to drive back the Dragons to the eastern shore. In battling the Dragon Prince, both Titans were burnt by a stream of fire. This illuminated Day, so that he shone more brightly and was imbued with greater knowledge. While that same fire burnt and disfigured Night, as well as giving him an understanding of the mysteries of the universe. Day retreated to the north, where he built a great scientific laboratory, Castell Gwyr - the same fortress where the High Kings lived after. Here he created the four Elementals to govern the Earth, Air, Fire and Water, as well as the Gorwynymgràin to carry lights. Meanwhile, Night retrenched to the south, where he created a Citadel by the Perilous Strait, under which he birthed the stars and set them on the Sky Paths, until the Sun should return. It was thanks to the intervention of a neighboring Titan, Brangwenn, who frequently took the form of a Firebird, that the celestial lights were brought to life again. She helped Brigglekin the Dwarf discover the Mira frozen beneath the Lornloch. Eventually, she convinced the dwarf not to hoard his new treasure, but to throw the girl into the sky where she became the Moon. Soon afterwards, the Sun was similarly released and brought to the Sky Paths with the help of Östrung the Giant. Read the stories in Charming the Moon. The Second Reign of the Titans
The Sun and the Moon soon had two children, the twins Dawning and Dusk. But it wasn't long before the venality that beset their parents proved their downfall, too, as the boy Dawning was seduced by a Cineadd of the Fires, a woman sworn to serve the disgraced Dragon Princes. He escaped, but barely, from releasing the Dragons once more upon the world, and vowed that he would never step foot on the earth again. Thereafter, he made the Mountains of Morning, where the blessed souls greet each other after their course on earth is done.
His sister was not as fortunate. Having little to do while her father reigned, she spent many of her mornings with her Uncle Day. However, he soon grew mad with desire for his niece and tried to force himself on her. She escaped him, and fled to her other Uncle Night. He built for her a fortress, known as the Shadowless, for her own autonomy, so that she might spend her days alone. As he labored, though, and much to her surprise, Dusk found that she had fallen in love with this quiet Titan and his spangled stars. Titans being what they are, they agreed to marry and made preparations to travel to Night's keep for the celebration. Day was so enraged that, as the happy couple journeyed past his castle, Day blasted down all his powers upon the southern kingdoms - which is why the land around Malinka's keep is nearly unfarmable to this day. Night and Dusk were immediately incinerated and some say they joined Dawning on the Mountains of Morning, while others claim they live below the earth, further down than the Dwarven kingdoms - filling the earth with diamonds and rubies from their veins. Ashamed of what he'd done, Day then journeyed northward to Brangwenn's nest, where he begged to be set on fire. But Brangwenn denied him, and locked him in a Giant's frozen heart instead, to await the day of his salvation. The Sun and the Moon continued their separate dances across the sky, becoming paler and paler imitations of themselves, until some say they are now no longer anything but a ball of burning dust and another sphere of ashes. |
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Ages of the Twelve Kingdoms
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(c) Emily C. A. Snyder