HISTORIA ANNORUM

Overview
Written centuries ago in Ancient Calbournia, Ulo the Historian's HISTORIA ANNORUM is a tome of compiled human mythology, lore, and ancient knowledge. It contains thousands of years of history, detailing everything from the creation of the world to the present age. Ulo's writings would quickly become the royal encyclopedia of lore, and would later become the foundation of Spaurian mythology.

The Old Ones
"In elder days there were other things; Old Ones, older than the gods, from a place where things aren't like they are here. They came from the stars, and in the depths of the primordial seas they took their shapes, and held dominion over the earth during it's infant eons. The Old Ones were here when the ocean was young, and when the first things wriggled and writhed on the oozing shores of the primal world. They were here when the first men awoke, and for unfathomed ages they enslaved the children of earth with their thoughts. Thus was the age of the great Aboleth, until the time of the gods, who smote down the Old Ones, and buried them with their cities beneath the waves."

"...But the Old Ones never die, and they never forget. They remember the days of their sovereignty, for the memory of the Aboleth is eternal, and their plans for return span the epochs of time. From black depths beneath sunken ruins they pull the strings of history, speaking to the world of men in dreams, and transmuted thought. Thus in their tombs they wait, until all the pieces are in place; for when the time is right, the Old Ones will rise again… and on that dark day, a reign of madness shall return to a godless world."

The Coming of the Gods
"Thus, after a thousand years of suffering, the time of the Old Ones was over, and from the heavens came the gods, who smote down their empire and sunk their cities beneath the seas. And thus an era of great joy and ecstasy began as mankind paid homage to their liberators; those great celestial children of Ao.

"For each of them, the gods chose a domain, and together they would have charge over all things on the earth, in the sea and in the skies. They would be given many names by man, and though titles are fleeting, the gods would never die; so long, their Father decreed, that they are worshipped by mortal things. For if the gods should neglect their duties, they should also be neglected, and if the world should forget them, so too would Ao forget."

The Feywild and Shadowfell
"And as the gods beheld the dawning world, it seemed to them that there were some things too dark, and other things too bright; some things which deserved to be locked away from the world in shadow, and some rare purities that deserved a realm to call their own. And so it was that the divine council scoured the world, and cast away those things, sealing some in darkness and some in tranquility. Thus were the secret realms brought into being; the Shadowfell and the Feywild."

The Dominion of Giants
"Though dominion of the earth has been given to man, the world first belonged to the Giants; the primordial children of fire, frost, earth, sky and storm. The Giants of storm were the greatest of all, for their hands were lightning, their wrath was the sea, and their voice was thunder.

"It came to pass that man, in his newfound spirit of triumph, came upon the seas of the Giants, and wished to conquer them. The lord of the Giants looked down, and saw that the race of man was weak, and thus sent Osius the Champion, saying 'He who is worthy to conquer the sea must first conquer thou.'

"Thus rose Herowan the Great, who fashioned the first longbow, and strode to the cliffs of Orobar to meet Osius the Champion, declaring 'To the victor, dominion is his.'

"In the sight of all men and all lords of storm, Osius descended to the cliffs of Orobar and charged; Herowan thus stood unmoved by thunder, wind or spray, and in his string he placed one arrow of mithril. As his foe approached he shot, and with all speed and deadliness did the gods guide his arrow, into the right eye of Osius the Champion, who fell headlong from Orobar with a great cry, which could be heard on that day from all shores of the world.

"Thus the race of man rejoiced in victory, and the Giants conceded, saying 'To the victor, dominion is his,' and there was peace between Giants and men."

"But with Osius there would be no peace, and for leagues of time he wandered the depths of the sea and nursed his wound in anger, scorning the race of men; and everafter his children would be the great cyclops, the man-eaters bearing only a single eye."

The Tarrasque
"In older days man feared many things, but none did they fear more than the Beast: the behemoth of whom there was only one, and had only ever been one. For the bowels of the earth were it's mother, and to the earth it would always return. In it's jaws it crushed both flesh and stone, and ground the bones of men to dust."

The Tablets of Ruin
"Lost; lost to the world were the Tablets of Ruin, scattered to the seas by Nurnian sorcery, and hidden away by elder curses long forgotten… But as the universe values the simple soul that topples giants, and is unwilling to let them go, so reality shall value that which has the power to unravel it, and cannot let it be lost for long. A time will come when spells will be broken, and that which was once lost shall again be found: for fortune, or for ruin."