THE ATLANTÆN UNIVERSE

 In the beginning there was CHAOS!

 Through Random collisions, 5 Molecules lined up and formed a regular pattern. This was the genesis of LAW!

 Law was a powerful concept and it realigned much of the universe. The very structure of Law called space-time into being. From space-time came the 5 elements and from space-time came also the march of time. The 5 elements, Air, Earth, Water, Fire, and Spirit where free floating in a great "soup" until law aligned the elements into matter. The 1st Five (quint) Elements (Essences) that collided and formed law are known as the "Quintessential Order". (See Appendix A) The "Quintessential Order" summoned vast energies to surround it and became a star known as "Sol" Other stars were formed, larger and brighter, but this star was the most powerful. It formed 2 magnificent beings of supreme power, known as "Good" and "Evil". Good and Evil spent the next one million years orbiting their creator (Sol) and basking in his light. Good and Evil during the one million years learned to communicate and enjoyed cooperation and brotherly love. Good came up with an idea, working in tandem with his brother, Evil, and using the raw materials of the universe (Law and Chaos) they created planets to join them in orbiting their creator, Sol. The fifth planet created was named "Gaia" and Gaia quickly became bored with orbiting Sol and spending all of her time worshiping him. She had not been there in the beginning and was not as impressed with Sol as Good and Evil seemed to be. Gaia pulled off a piece of herself and launched it in orbit around herself. She named her child "Luna". When the other Planets saw the intense bond between the mother and child, they copied her and made their own moons, all but Pluto. Pluto was the farthest away from Sol, and he felt as if he was not part of the "Family" He began down a dark path of thought, that he still follows today.

       When Good and Evil saw the plentitude of child-moons littered throughout their backyard, they grew concerned. The moons were casting shadows on their planets and blocking the light of Sol from them. Good and Evil decided to stop the powers of the planets to reproduce. They stripped them of all powers, leaving them incapable of affecting others, only having power over themselves and their moons. Then Good and Evil decided to try what they had seen the planets do. Each of them took a piece of themselves; they molded them into 2 beings, and breathed life into them. They called them the "Principios". Good and Evil gave the Principios all of their powers, but bound them to Gaia. The Principios could create and control anything they wanted, but could not leave Gaia, this allowed Good and Evil to experiment with possibilities without allowing their creations to overrun the Solar system or cast a shadow on the other planets.

 The Principios made a continent on Gaia, and named it Atlantis, they set it in a vast ocean. "Atlantis" in their tongue meant "Earth-Element Mass" (or Mud-ball) the Principios also began creating children, they saw how their parents had limited them, and so they limited their children, not allowing them to be capable of reproducing themselves. After 100 Principios were created, Good and Evil began creating Gods. These SupraGods had the ability to reproduce but their children have half of their power, and are known as Gods. Children of the Gods are known as Demi-Gods and have one quarter of the power of the SupraGods. Children of Demi-Gods are heroes and have one eighth of the power of a SupraGod. Children of Heroes are non-divine beings, with no special powers. Atlantis was soon filled with the offspring of the Gods. They began to gravitate out into families. Some of the families wanted to bask in the light of Good and some of them wanted to bask in the light of Evil. Good and Evil were flattered by this attention; it made them feel like their creator, Sol. The followers of Good made grand tributes or art, poetry, shaping the land into rivers, and lakes. The followers of Evil saw this and became jealous; they made their own art, poetry, shaping mountains and valleys. The jealousy grew and grew amongst the families, and they moved to opposite sides of Atlantis. They began using private, secret names for their creators, the followers of Good called him Seldar, and the followers of Evil called him Ba'alzebul. The tributes piled up higher and higher until Atlantis was overflowing with Paintings, statues, scrolls with poetry, and Atlantis became sculpted in great detail with hills, plains, deserts, forests, mesas, atolls, reefs, and thousands of other minute details. The rivalry and jealousy of the families was like a disease which infected Seldar and Ba'alzebul (Good & Evil). They ended their millennia of cooperation and began a feud that lasts to this day.

 Good and Evil came to blows, they attacked each other with viciousness that only brothers could display. They pounded each other with enormous destructive force for 1000 years. They grappled and rolled over and over, destroying most of the tribute that was built to honor them, eventually they ended up in the next solar system. There their violence destroyed all of the planets, and eventually even the star itself. The 2 brothers were wounded nearly unto a state of non-existence. It was then that the 2 brothers, Good and Evil drew a truce and limped back to bask in the light of Sol. They formed a mutual pact that they would never again come to direct blows. Ba'alzebul insisted that they also include their children, the Principios, and the Gods in the pact. Seldar agreed and they signed a blood oath to honor it. 100 years later, The forces of Good and the forces of Evil were marshaled and faced off against one another. This campaign, known as "The Big Crunch" was supposed to be the final war to end all wars. On the side of good, Seldar had assembled all of the good Principios, and the new creatures that Seldar had created. Zeus, Ra, Odin, the primidon, the glamredon, the solars, and the ki-rin all fought on the side of Good; Seldar, Zeus, Ra, and Odin

 Ba'alzebul had for his army; the evil Principios, orcs, trolls, devils, and demons. And the evil Gods; Ba'alzebul, Hades, Orcus, and Hel.

 The war raged on for 1000 years and many times the children of Good and Evil wanted to join in, but Seldar reminded Zeus, Ra, Odin, and his Principios that they were not allowed to come into direct combat. Ba'alzebul told Hades, Orcus, Hel, and his Principios the same thing. They cautioned that if they all joined in, that everything would be destroyed and that the universe would relapse into "Perfect Chaos". At the end of "The Big Crunch" all of the Principios were slain except the 2 that were not allowed to join in the war. The primidon had split off into 3 races that are today called Hugadon, Arkyndon, and Eledon. (Sometimes refered to as Helspawn, Drow elves, and Surface elves respectively) The Drow and the Helspawn sided with Ba'alzebul. The Eledon remained in the service of Seldar, and today they refer to their Gods as "The Seldarine Gods". The battle also resulted in the banishment of all devils and demons to infernal planes of existence. The Good God Raven and his Demi-God son "The Emperor" were responsible for this banishment, and they and their offspring received a curse. To this day the Emperor's children suffer great poverty and poor luck as punishment. The Glamredon (Dwarves) were driven underground, as were the Drow elves by "The Big Crunch".

 The Seldarine Gods manufactured 5 Artifacts of the Realm to aid in the next war. The forces of Good and Evil still struggle to gain an upper hand all in preparation for the next "Big Crunch", no one knows when it will come, but all are determined to be ready. The artifacts are all made of an unknown black, rune carved metal, that cannot be damaged by mortal means.

The Sword of the Realm

The sword is 4 foot long overall with an 8-inch hilt.

The Chalice of Xanathes

This artifact has unusual powers in the school/sphere of Conjuration and summoning.

The Crown of Rulership

This Crown is the most powerful of the Atlantæn Artifacts. Legend has it that...."He who possesses the crown of rulership as well as the scepter of supremacy shall rule over the entire land of Atlantis. This reign of peace and terror shall be but the beginning of a vast dynasty that will last 1000 years." The crown has 5 jewels set into it in a pentacle design. The gems are red, white, blue, yellow, and black.

Lantern of Seldar

This Lantern never needs any oil or fuel of any sort. It casts a magical light capable of cutting through any sort of darkness, or magical darkness whatsoever.

Scepter of Supremacy

This scepter is 3 feet long. The head is encrusted with gems of immense value. The whole thing is worth a million gold pieces; beyond it's magical and legendary value

 500 years after "The Big Crunch" Orcus began sending the Helspawn on missions to wipe out the Humans and the Dwarves. The best fighter in the Helspawn Empire was General Murad, Orcus was very proud of him. General Murad was next in line to the throne of the Helspawn Empire, and on the eve of Emperor Matok's death he prepared himself to take the throne. Just before the ceremony Orcus appeared to Murad and offered Murad a deal to increase his power. Murad had to surrender the throne to General Hashish. Orcus told Murad what he had to do to prove his worthiness to serve his Lord Orcus in a ceremony of death and bloodletting. First Murad had to betray and kill every one of the 100 Helspawn soldiers who had entrusted him with their lives. He used trickery, poison, ambush, and he even commanded 20 of them to follow him as he jumped off a cliff (unfortunately for them he was the only one to have a rope tied to him). After one month of the most foul scheming, plotting, assassination and murder, he managed to kill his entire troop. After that, Orcus appeared and commanded him to complete the 2nd portion of his ceremony. He was to stand still as a statue as Orcus whipped the life out of him with a bullwhip. Just moments before he died, Murad willingly gave Orcus his spirit. In the 3rd part of the ceremony Murad was risen from the dead and given great supernatural powers. He was unstoppable, he had achieved his dream of becoming the perfect warrior. Orcus gave Murad a token of power, a blue sash, embroidered with images of Orcus. When Emperor Hashish saw the token he bowed to Murad and offered him the Emperor's crown. Murad refused the crown and asked how he could best serve the empire.

 Murad was given command of a legion of Helspawn and was instructed to wipe out the Humans and the Gaijindon. He managed to slaughter 90% of all the Humans and drive a wedge between the Humans and their close brothers, the Gaijindon (Barbarian tribes). The Barbarians were reduced to 5% of their number and retreated before the Helspawn might and to this day live in forsaken lands. Although he had not completed his task 100%, Murad grew impatient with hunting down the last remaining members of the 2 devastated races and he left it in the hands of his favorite captain, Praxus. It is evident that Praxus failed, as I am still alive to write this translation. The Humans and the Barbarians thrived and have swelled to massive numbers in the ensuing years. ....  Meanwhile, as Praxus campaigned against the humans, Murad turned his attention towards the Surface elves. He and his legion managed to drive the Elves into the heart of Seldar's Forest. The elves lost many lives and also lost possession of the 5 Artifacts of the Realm that Seldar had created to aid in the next Big Crunch. Orcus created an enormous great wyrm lord, so large that when it took flight it cast a shadow that spread across the entire width of Atlantis. Murad never had a chance to use this creature, which he named "The Jet Dragon", because Odin and Zeus themselves saw the great beast and fearing for the life of every living thing on Atlantis they struck together and slayed the great beast. As the body was falling towards Atlantis to crush it, they worked powerful magics on it and shrunk the wyrm to 1/100th of its size. The use of so much magic to defeat the Jet Dragon so weakened Odin and Zeus that they returned to Sol immediately to rest. Even greatly reduced the creature was so large and heavy that when it struck Atlantis it smashed into Lon Mountain and crushed it, creating an enormous crater that today is Lon Lake. Murad rushed into the crater to retrieve the Jet Dragon. The blood of the Jet Dragon was powerful and destructive; Murad in his haste was struck down and killed by the blood of the great dragon. His Captains waited until the blood had seeped into the ground and they then entered the crater and retrieved what was left of Murad and the dragon. They took what they had to Orcus

 When the captains showed their Lord what they had captured, Orcus smiled a broad grin and passed his hand over the Crown, and the Scepter corrupting them. Countering 2 powerful items created by Seldar took much out of the dark lord, and he sat down to rest. He told the captains to take all 5 of the artifacts, and the pieces of the Jet Dragon and to hide them from the eyes of Good. Then he gave them specific instructions;

Rest my children; sleep long and well,

the jet is so big it must needs a spell,

to hide the pieces and bury them deep,

Into the land itself your blood will seep.

Chronos shall have the honor of not only the head,

but Murad sans grave, and a restful pallet instead.

The source of jet magic shall be greatest of all,

where the warriors of weispil make final landfall.

For the amulet that my pet wore with pride,

I shall find a bastion and slip it inside.

The left wing of the drake, ah here it is,

plainly enough it belongs in the city of Vis.

The right wing (as with all right wingers) I find to be lacking;

the Eledon won't find it under their noses, for all of their tracking.

The tail shall start in the island of Mclir,

and where it ends up shall not be near.

Rest for now and when the time is right,

I shall raise you both up for a terrible fight.

The Second Big crunch is coming up soon,

and my two lovelies that I bury now will be a great boon.

SO SAYETH the LORD ORCUS!

Orcus also gave the Helspawn captains specific instructions to hide the 5 artifacts. But it is not known for sure where they are. It is rumored that the Chalice was hidden between the horns of the Jet Dragon. There it is guarded by a demon of great power and cunning. To defeat this demon, one would be well advised to be well equipped to fight demons, and bring a demon slayer.

Appendix A.

 The Mad-Wizard, Veritas, submitted his theory to his peers, the "Council of Truth" in Chinji, Egypt. They nodded their heads in a conciliatory manner as they had him arrested for "Unright Thinking". He was sentenced to die and just as the headman's axe fell, his body vanished in a bright, blinding flash of light. The manner of his disappearance led the priesthood of Thoth to investigate, and to eventually declare that he in fact DID know what he was talking about. The "Council of Truth" has denounced the priesthood of Thoth as a "Bunch of delusional senile old men". In retaliation, the priesthood of Thoth released medical records of the "Council of Truth" showing their average age to be 87, and their mental health to be "questionable".

Following is a reprint of the theory, that Veritas wrote;

The Unified Field Theory of Natural Forces & States of Being

The Universe started from Chaos. By chance, 5 molecules of Chaos collided in a cross pattern, and were attracted to each other in a stable unbreakable pattern. This was the beginning of Law.

 Law was a powerful concept and it realigned much of the universe. The very structure of Law called space-time into being. From space-time came the stars and from space-time came also the march of time. The 5 forces of the universe came into being soon after. Gravity( Weight ) , Weak Nuclear forces( Fission ) , Strong Nuclear forces ( Fusion ), Electromagnetism 

( Electrical &Magnetic, Radio waves, X-rays, etc. ), and Chronological flow( Time passage ). These are the fundamental energies that exist in all matter, and throughout the entire universe. Anyone who wishes to design a useful model of Mechanics, Biology, Alchemy, Astrology, and or Magic, must understand how their discipline affect the fundamental forces. In addition to the 5 fundamental forces, one must understand the 5 fundamental states of being; Air ( Gas ), Water

( Liquid ), Earth ( Solid ), Fire ( Energy ), and Aura ( Plasma ).  My associate, Cromaxus, argues that plasma is more accurately named Æther, and I believe his theory to have some basis in fact.

Veritas