Birth

Once upon a time, in a world no so far and an epoch not so distant was a little tribe living in the northern ice lands of their World. They lived in a life of peace and harmony. Their days were of hunting and fishing, their landscapes of ice and snow, and the blizzards their challenges.

The stars wrote the fates of this world along with its All God, the Pantokrator. Once in every millenia, the stars would align in a particular way to favour the power of an Element. That millenia had come and it was time to Water to be in the graces of the Sky. Water was a tricky element, that could be sweet, soft and nimble, bringer and joy and pleasure to the women. But it had also another side, harsh, severe, putting Life at stake, bringing the challenges where only the strongest survived.

During the first months that started the Great Alignment, life had been soft in the tribe. Fishing was easy, water was sweet, children were obedient and husbands all dedicated to their wives. But as the alignment moved forward to the day of its utmost power, the weather had started to change. The Great Cold had fallen upon the tribe and the blizzard that woke up only got worse with every passing day.

And the weakest of the tribe started to die … the old ones, the newborn, the sick, none could stand the cold that had become unbearable. A young woman, Aquane, had been pregnant for some months and was approaching the term. And the very day the stars reached their ultimate power, she gave life to a son. And as soon as he brought out his first scream, the tempest that had been raging for weeks stopped …

She named him Kall, a word that in her language could mean either “Sweet as water” or “Hard as ice”. And soon life in the tribe got back to normal …

The Prophecy

Everybody knew that Kall had some magical powers. When he went somewhere, the water usually changed even in the most subtle ways. The waves would come soft, the streams sing a different melody, and the rain be light and refreshing. But as he grew, his mother could see that he had in him not only the softness of water, but also its harshness. On a day of great anger, the ice ground on which they were standing cracked and one of his brother fell into it and almost died.

From that day on, his mother tried to teach him to control his powers and avoid to show them to anyone. “If you show people your secrets, they will hate us and bring only suffering to us”. For the love of his mother, he learnt and hid them so well that by his 15 he had almost forgotten about them.

In that tribe, 15 was the age of Adulthood. The boys had a passing ritual where they had to go hunt alone a bear, and if they came back alive, would become a respected warrior. And then, only after, they could go see the Seer that would tell them their Life. That was the only time one could see the Seer and all knew that what was told that day defined their whole life from then on.

The hunt was an easy task for Kall that had been trained for that all of his youth, and was made even easier given that, unconsciously, he was using his powers to help himself. So he came back victorious and, as a new adult of the tribe, went into the dark cave of the Seer.

I’ve been waiting for you Kall … come to me my child, you are a very special one, come to me, show me your fate …

And soon the Seer went into a deep trance and a voice from beyond spoke through him.

Hmm … An uncommon fate, you have …

I see …
Streams of scarlet water washing out the dirt
Powers within, awoken
And shortlived joy amongst the blue ones

I see …
An old one with an eye for talent
A challenge that will bring duty
Greed as a gift and a curse
And the Earth as a home to anger

I see …
From the smoldering mountain will come out the jailed one
He will be worshiped by the ladies beyond
The one eyed will fall to the jaws of the giant wolf
With eyes so deep and a vision so clear …
The boar will burn, death will fall on its kind
No hope for the ghosts as the messengers of death bring their sentence
They will lose their power, and give it to the True one

And then a new moon will rise with the colors of autumn
A brass moon that will bring peace and stability …
to you My Lord, and to the whole world …

A moment of silence passed, the Seer obviously in shock and Kall afraid of the strange words he had heard …

And now get out. NOW !

The Dark days

Kall had been living as a new adult hunter of the tribe for more than a year. Things were smooth, life easy … he only missed a girl to fill him with complete happiness. He was due to go visit another tribe in a few weeks to may be meet the one of his dreams.

However, this day of summer, something happened. He had left for 3 days hunting several miles away from the village, behind the mountains. The hunt had been good, and it’s with a full sled of seals and fishes that he was making it home. But as he closed to the village, he was surprised to see that foreign ships were anchored on the beach. Strange ships like he had never seen, with colors of red and green.

Suspicious, he left his sled behind and started to get closer to the village, ready for anything. Sometimes, the sun reflected a strange red glint coming from the marketplace, and sometimes that red glint looked like it was a little stream of red water flowing to the sea. And the closer he was getting to the village, the worst he was feeling.

He first visited some houses that were all but empty of life. In fact, from the noises, it was like all the villagers were gathered on the marketplace. And sometimes there were voices … and screams. And suddenly a scream of fear left him in shock, as he recognized the voice of his mother. Whatever was happening was wrong, very wrong, and he started to run for the center of the village.

And then he reached it. The sight was horrifying. In the middle of the place was standing something like an altar. Lying on the altar was his mother, her throat wide open while streams of blood were spilling down the alley, filling an unending stream of blood that reached out to the sea. He instantly threw a scream of horror, and tens of eyes turned on him.

The strangers were dark skinned men wearing colorful outfits decorated with bird feathers. All were obviously seasonned warriors equipped with dark stone maces and slings. Their leader was the one watching over his dead mother’s body, carrying out a dark ceremony. On one side of the place, numerous dead bodies were lying while on the other side just a few survivors were attached, waiting for their fate.

As soon as they saw Kall, the warriors started to deploy to catch him, expecting him to flee for his life. But what was inhabiting Kall wasn’t survival, it was deep hatred and anger. And without realizing it, all the powers he had hidden for all these years started to awake. From the well in the center of the place emerged a huge water elemental . From the sea, numerous others started to form and attack the ships. Instinctively, he himself took his gourd and of that water formed ice darts that he started to send in numbers to the invaders.

The battle was short and deadly, the leader of the strangers was drowned by the water elemental coming from the well. Meanwhile, the ships left ashore were destroyed one by one and engulfed deep into the water. Some of the warriors coming to Kall got killed by his ice darts while others got too much injured to move. Finally, only one made it to him, and at that moment a surge of power got through Kall, and with the sheer power of his mind he crushed the spirit of his opponent that instantly fell dead on the ground.

Only a few injured ennemies were still lying on the ground, begging for mercy. He slained them like animals, showing no mercy whatsoever for the murderers of his tribe. When finally every of these barbarians had been eliminated, he went to the few survivors of his village to free them. There were not many … but instead of relief the look in their eyes was more of fear and terror. What they had seen of Kall raw power was too much for them to handle and, made half crazy by what had happened to most of their fellow villagers, they begged him to spare them.

He made them free, but from that moment he knew that he was not part of the community anymore. The very few survivors would flee somewhere else, but not with Kall, that was now a monster in their eyes.

Streams of scarlet water washing out the dirt
Hidden power awoken

Growing and learning

Left alone in the middle of this mess, this utter bloodbath, Kall took upon himself to bury the deads and burn the Heathen. The other half-mad villagers had left to seek shelter into another tribe, and had decided altogether to forget their former life. The burials took him several days and when he had finally burnt the last body, he was surprised to see a strange woman watching him from afar, inviting him to come for her.

When he reached her, he found her escorted by several water elementals. He understood quickly that she was no human, but rather a spirit of water in human form, a Naiad.

“My dear Kall, I’ve been watching you for a long time, since you were born.
How unfortunate that we now meet under these circumstances …
But your power is now awoken, and you need guidance to make it whole.
Come with me and I will teach you”

Kall, having lost any reason to live, took this invitation willingly. His village gone, his family gone, there was nothing left for him there. To a new life he had to go.

He spent 3 years amongst the spirits and elementals. He learnt the magic of this element in every possible ways, from the soft waters of the Naiad to the deepest ones of the oceans. Why did these creatures help him, he didn’t really know. May just to honor what He, Kall, was to them, the embodiement of water magic to its utmost realization. He there learnt of his Ascendency and how the Stars had blessed him the day of his birth.

By the end of the third year, he had travelled a lot, been in several places of power, met several powerful beings, including the most mysterious Bishop fishes. His hate of Blood magic had not diminished but a deep attraction to the mysteries of the World had grown in him.

Then, one day, the Naiad that had been his mentor all along came to wish him farewell.

“My duty to you is over.
You now know all you need to know.
Into the world now you must seek you fate.
Soon, it will come to you.”

And then she was gone and a new chapter of his life was opening.

And shortlived joy amongst the blue ones

The Game of Power

The Pantokrator felt that newly risen powerful presence. He took some time to watch him, probe his heart. As he saw him pure enough to be one of his lawful servant, he summoned him into his realm.

However, the Pantokrator was not as sweet and kind as the spirits that had raised Kall. Indeed he wanted to see what that tiny yet powerful human was really made of. And for that, he already had a titan that served him to oversee the winter over the world. For the fun of it, he made them ennemies and watched them fight. And to his delight, that little human won. It was time to give him a proper title, and Lord Kall was appointed to oversee the winters of the world.

But with that new power … came ambition. He who had been living only through water  was discovering new ways of power. The day he discovered about the true power of Fire magic, his heart started to change. Who he was wasn’t enough, he wanted to know more, he wanted to know everything ! And so he went to the masters of Abyssia to understand their burning secrets.

But that was just the beginning ! He summoned the great masters of Caelum to learn the secrets of Air , while some Devas from the skies taught him the Astral powers of the Ether. He went then to learn the secrets of Death from the most revered mages of Helheim, the ones who accompanied the dead souls to the land of the Dead. Every discovery was a wonder that made him want even more !

But the pantokrator didn’t like that behaviour. He had appointed him to oversee winter, not to become more powerful and potentially threaten his power. So, when he saw his servant  abandonning again his duty to get to see a dwarf Earth master, he cursed him. “So you want to learn Earth ? Then you will learn it from the depths of the earth, and you’ll have all eternity, for that, ha ha ha ha ha !”. And so Lord Kall was sent to a magical jail, a place far below the earth, down in a cave deeper than anything he could have ever imagined.

However, in that prison of rocks, his anger and lust for power kept him strong and alive. And out of the rocks he started to learn Earth magic, just as the Pantokrator had joked about. It lasted years, tens of years, a century and every passing year his anger as well as his power grew even more … And then one day, without warning … the power of the Pantokrator had vanished … just like that ! This came to a shock … and an opportunity ! The magic holding him into his prison would eventually break up and he would come back to the world, more powerful than ever. And he intended to have his vengeance. If the Pantokrator had left this world, then it was His to take.

An old one with an eye for talent
A challenge that will bring duty
Greed as a gift and a curse
And the Earth as a home to anger

A new Path

When he had learnt the basics of Death magic, Lord Kall had befriended some of the most renowned mages of Helheim. Even though he hadn’t spent that much time in there, they had left in his mind a strong memory of ambition and cunning power. Indeed, they were not only able to muster some raw and fearsome magical energies, but they could use them with ruse and sublety.

To conquer this world, he knew he needed followers, a people to support him and destroy the ennemies that would inevitably oppose His will. So he used his strong Astral knowledge to send forth his Presence to contact the leaders of Helheim. Every single inhabitant of the city felt Him that day. His Presence was so strong, irradiating such a tremendous magical power that they came to understand that He was a true God, made to replace the lost Pantokrator.

So they started to worship him and prepare for war to enforce him as the one and only God. They soon learnt of his gifts, which enhanced their fervor towards him even more. Indeed, the already quite agile valkyries felt that when blessed by His power, they became even faster. They would then be so nimble that almost nothing could hit them in melee combat. Furthermore, they could now fight ghost-like creatures without fear as their weapons lived both in the matter and the Ether worlds. Finally, infernal creatures, as well as those raised from the dead, were to fear them as a blessed strike from Lord Kall followers was to burn them with the power of the Sun.

Lord Kall, Shining Boat of Heaven, God of the Sacred Eye, Opener of the Wells, He who Makes Clear the Way, had awoken. And none would stand in his way until he became the new Pantokrator.

And so, as other pretenders rallied too their people on their side, started the first War of ascension.

He will be worshiped by the ladies beyond