The True History of Azrai

You hold in your hands now a history that has never been told, one that has been covered up by others, or worse still mistold. It is the history of the greatest of the Gods, Azrai, patron of Aduria. For many centuries now followers of the other evil gods have attempted to stop us from bringing you this tale, to block the truth and allow only their lies to be spread, but here in the great city of Aduria the truth is known, and soon, through this very document, all others shall know the tale of Azrai and the story of his betrayal and imprisonment at the hands of the gods of evil.

In the Beginning

In the beginning there was Aebrynis, the lord of order and death, and Nestellia mistress of chaos and life. Both fought against each other, hoping to dominate, but neither was powerful enough to defeat the other. Aebrynis tired of the long battle formed himself into a sphere or rock and fire to protect himself from Nestellia. This sphere became the world on which we stand. Nestellia did not wish to let her enemy escape that easily and made herself into a being of air and water, surrounding Aebrynis to become the oceans and the clouds. They continued their ancient battle this way, with Aebrynis sending up mountains of rock to pierce Nestellia, and fire to burn away the water. Nestellia for her part sent wind to erode the mountains and water to quench the fire. They still remained at balance though as both were equal in power and neither could defeat the other.
Their war continued for many, many years and the two gods looked for other ways to defeat each other. Aebrynis created plants to drink the water and air that was Nestellia. Nestellia then created animals that would eat the plants, and walk on Aebrynis as they did so. Aebrynis created lions, and other predators to eat the animal and Nestellia made her animals faster and stronger, so they could outrun the predators and continue to eat the plants. Aebrynis created fish to swim in Nestellia's oceans and the goddess created sharks and other predators to eat the fish.
This went on for a long time, until eventually both were exhausted and fell into a deep sleep. Around them the beings that they had created grew and became stronger and eventually humans were born. Humanity followed neither god and both, as they would eat both the animals and the plants, and drink the water and dig in the earth. They breathed the air and used fire to cook their food. And so it was that humans came to this world.

The Birth of the Gods

Eventually humanity learned of the gods, and their long sleep and called to them in worship. The gods, although remaining asleep heard their call and created powerful being, new and younger gods for the humans to worship. The new gods were part of both the ancient gods and so were perfect for the humans to worship.
The new gods originally numbered only five, the eldest of who was Anduiras the god of war. Next was Masela, queen of the seas, and Reynir lord of the forests and streams. Vorynn, god of magic, and Basaia, goddess of the sun were the last of the two original gods. As time went by though and human developed more and more Brenna, goddess of commerce and fortune was needed. And finally Azrai the god of knowledge was born, youngest of all the gods.
In the time since their birth the gods had found many different races on the world and each had taken on one race as their worshippers. Anduiras had taken the evil Andu as his worshippers as they were a people who liked war and needed the protection of the god of war. Masela had traveled to the north and taken the Masetians, a weak tribe of fishermen as her people. Reynir had chosen a minor race of primitives in north-east of the continent, while Vorynn had taught his people, the Vos, the secrets of illusion so they could hide themselves in the shadows and sneak up on their enemies. The foolish tribes of the Ghan people worshipped the sun goddess while the greedy Brechts of the south followed Brenna. The last of the race, the Neha did not have any one god, but instead followed all the gods, as well as the ancient ones.
Azrai, the youngest however had no worshippers, and was still weak and could not free the people from the others gods control. Azrai realised that the other gods were stopping the advancement of humanity, preventing them from being all they could be so he traveled the lands seeking those who would hear his message, seeking to free them from the enslavement of the other gods. He could see their unhappiness, but lacked the power to fight his evil brothers and sisters.

The Betrayal of the Anduiras

Azrai, still young and looking for a people to call his own came upon the Andu. The Andu were a young race then, but had already chosen a patron god, Azrai's elder brother Anduiras. Some of the Andu though seeing the truth in Azrai's words choose to worship him as was right and were well rewarded by Azrai, growing in both knowledge and power. Anduiras though, looking down on the Andu saw that they had begun to choose Azrai as their patron and he became jealous.
The Andu who followed Azrai were well fed and healthy while those who followed the evil Anduiras were ill and war constantly among themselves for food. The jealousy in the god of wars heart soon spread to his followers and they began to look on the worshippers of Azrai as a people to be conquered. And so Anduiras made his followers attack and kill those who worshiped the great Azrai. All but a few of the worshippers of Azrai were slaughtered by the Andu, their blood used in unholy rituals to praise the evil Anduiras. Many thousands died under the swords of the monstrous Andu warriors and only a few of Azrai's holy order were able to escape the attack. They fled south, and Azrai followed to protect them from the bloodthirsty Andu who still pursued them, carrying out the orders of the foul Anduiras.
Eventually the few remaining priests and followers came to a far off southern island and hid there, building a temple to house the books of knowledge that they had saved from the fires that had consumed their temples. There they remained for many centuries, preserving the knowledge of Azrai for a time when they would be needed once more.

The Return of Azrai

In the time since Azrai had been forced to flee by his evil brother a new race had risen in Aduria, in the lands south of the Andu. This new race was formed from the people who had been forced like Azrai to flee for their lives from the evil of the Andu and they had once freed of this evil grown strong and hungry for knowledge. And so it was that these people, who now called themselves Adurian came to the hidden island where Azrai's priest lived. At this time they were without a god to call their own and on hearing of Azrai's glory the Adurians took the great one as their own and the priest returned back to the north.
The followers of Anduiras heard of Azrai's return though and they mounted an attack on his new followers, the Adurians, soon after the priests arrived. Azrai learned of the foul plot though and gave weapons and knowledge to his new people, strengthening them against the Andu. When the evil ones came to the Adurian city they were defeated and driven north out of the Adurian lands, never to return. The evil god Anduiras was furious with the destruction of his hordes and called on his other brothers and sisters to fight Azrai, and so they did, sending storms to attack the Adurian ships, plague to sicken the people, and hordes of monsters to kill those who survived. Azrai had been strengthened by the prayers of his people though and was able to defeat the evil of his brothers and sisters sending the other gods fleeing in the face of Azrai's greatness. They would try again many times, but Azrai was strong now, and growing stronger all the time, while the other gods were weak and could not work together. Had they all join together to attack Azrai perhaps their evil might have been successful, but alone they were no longer a match for good.

The Rise to Greatness

Now with many followers Azrai was able to help them to advance, and follow the cause of knowledge and good. The other gods remain jealous of Azrai's greatness, but were too weak to attack him directly. With the help of Azrai and his priest the Adurian people rebuilt their homes, damaged in the wars with the Andu and constructed mighty cities, including Aduria, Genova, and Floresele, the home of the largest of Azrai's temples. Now strengthened against attack the Adurian raised armies to defend themselves against their enemies.
The first to be converted to the truth were the Andu, who dominated the lands around the Adurians, ruling from forts while their people were enslaves. The Adurian army freed many of these slaves, allowing them freedom and drove out the Andu, capturing many of their forts. The largest of these forts was built closed to the Adurians, but it was no match for Azrai's power and was conquered. The Adurians did not destroy what they captured, like the Andu and altered the fort, making it large and stronger so they could never be threatened by the Andu again.
The second of these enemies to try to attack was the Masetian Empire of Subriya. The evil warlords of that land looked at the Adurians lands and saw the wealth and beauty that had been build there through the hard work of its people and sent their navies to attack. Azrai aided his people though and like the Andu army before them the Subriyan navy was destroyed and the new Emperor of Adurian people sent his armies to capture the evil warlords and free the Masetian people from their grasp.
This they did, as the Subriyan army was no match for the might Adurian force. The evil empire though called on the other Masetian tribes and they sent soldiers, killing many Adurian before they were defeated. The people of Subriya could not be freed from the Evil of Masela though continued to fight against the goodness of Azrai. Some were saved, their evil hearts cleansed, and they joined the Adurian and were happy. The rest though were too tainted by the evil that dominated them and the Adurian army was eventually force to retreat from Subriyan, least it also be tainted by the evil sea goddess.
A great victory had been won though, for Azrai had proven that he was the most powerful of the Gods and that none could stand against him now. His people, the Adurians, were the most enlightened race on the planet, living at peace with themselves and their lands, while the other races still fought amongst themselves.

The Adurian Empire

Azrai's people now had build a mighty empire and brought his truth to many race, driving out the evil of the older gods who were not worthy of worship. The Adurian empire now covered many lands, but enemies still remained. To the north the followers of the evil sea goddess were first to fall, although the goddess saved many of them from salvation by carrying them away across the sea on great ships. Azrai let them go and his priest converted those who remained to the truth, freeing them from the evil that had bound them for so long.
Next of the evil gods to be driven away were the Vos, who had been taught trickery and illusions by their god Vorynn. His evil nature was no match for the righteous Adurians though and the Vos people soon saw the truth, joining with Azrai's followers in the war of truth. Azrai had spent many years attempting to teach the Vos of Vorynn's evil and many had joined him even before the Adurian army arrived to free the people, and so the armies were welcomed by cheering Vos, grateful to be free of Vorynn's imprisonment.
The hateful Andu were next, but even here Azrai was kind and allowed all who were free of evil to live, only killing those who were beyond help. The evil of Anduiras ran deep though and many had to be cleansed. Unlike the Vos the Andu had been taught by Anduiras to hate the Adurians and the great one and this teaching was hard to cleanse from their souls. Azrai's priest were eventually successful and the Andu were converted to Azrai's cause.
The followers of the other gods were not capable of preventing Azrai's truth from being heard now and the primitive Rjuven and greedy Brecht were also converted, along with the corrupt Neha. Only the evil Ghan people of the deserts still resisted the truth, despite many attempts by Azrai's priests over the centuries to free them. It seemed now that Azrai had won, and driven out all the evil gods, but this proved not to be true.

The imprisonment of Azrai

When the other races had been converted to Azrai's truth the evil gods had fled Aduria, travelling north into the wilderness. Here that bought some of their followers and began to build a massive army of evil, ready to strike down all that had been built. Azrai learned of their plans though and traveled north to try to convince the people who made up the evil gods armies to turn from evil and embrace goodness instead.
He was however only successful in freeing the Vos from the evil gods grasp though and with the native creatures of that northern land they were able to fight the huge army of the evil gods. Azrai could not win against all the evil ones at once though and was forced to call on his people for help. All the warriors of Azrai's faith who could reach the northern lands in time came at his call, armour by his faith, and ready to destroy the evil gods once and for all.
After a long battle Azrai had succeeding in driving the forces of the evil ones before him, but the evil gods had set a trap for him and Azrai spoke words of peace and kindness to the poor imprisoned people forced to be the slaves of the evil gods sprung their trap, imprisoning Azrai in another dimension, and breaking his connection with his loyal followers. Unable to call on Azrai's help his armies still fought on against the evil ones, but they were not strong enough to fight all the gods and the armies without Azrai's assistance and were destroyed. Cut off from their god many of the people of Adurian in their grief allowed the other gods to influence their thoughts and the peaceful Adurian empire fell into civil war. His priests no longer able to hear the word of their god could not aid their people and many lands slipped back to the control of the evil gods. For a time it looked like all that Azrai had created would be destroyed, but his people were stronger than they seemed and evil without his aid they were able to drive off the influence of the other gods and restore order to their lands. Much had been lost, but the Adurian Empire itself was still intact.

The Future

In the thousand years since the imprisonment of Azrai his priests have worked hard to free him, but have not been able to contact him yet. Azrai however has managed to reach his people and aid them with his magic, although his words no longer can be heard by the commoners of Aduria and only his priests can hear his wishes. His power flows through them once more though and they can again use magic to aid their people.
Priests of Azrai, working day and night for the past five centuries are close to discovering Azrai's place of imprisonment and soon when this place has been found the Adurian faithful will once more ride out to do battle with the heathen followers of the other gods and they will free Azrai and drive out the influence of the evil gods once and for all.

Back to the Empires of Blood page.