Corius Rework True Currod

Currod

"It is said that on the end of each eighth cycle, the world is wholly reset, with even the Great Spirits erased and overturned. Now, I do not know how true this is, but rumor has it, the highest three have managed to survive far longer, and know much more. There is a legend, that a powerful warrior-sage reached them one day and extracted a promise of an answer to seven questions. He inquired on the nature of fate, the universe, space-time, the fine arts, the master of the sword, the mastery of the mystic ways...but when he inquired of the cycle's truth, the spirits fell silent, and instead promised to answer seventy seven more questions, other than that one."-unknown.

=======

The Cycle

The Cycle of Currod is perhaps, what the world is most known for. It is said to be due to the power of a mysterious being, a presence from beyond that holds power over Currod. Each cycle is labelled with a number of Years, and each Year lasts for...well, nobody has been in Currod for long enough to find out, but the guess is anywhere between 100-200 of the more typical 'year' measurement. Each Year is defined by it's unique traits, listed below, in order of the Year's comings:

Year of the Snail: Fresh out of a Cycle ending, the world rebuilds. The 'Presence Beyond', lends it's three greatest agents with the power to survive the purging of Currod after a cycle, to the masses who are lost and confused, and they help civilization begin anew. It is an era of learning, of mastery, of building, of arts, of peace and advancement. Virtue is abundant in Currod.

Year of the Moth: The 'Presence Beyond' goes quiet, and the world is left to it's own. The three great spirits observe: only Azoch and Jasnah are permitted to intervene. In this time, things become more balanced: virtue and vice are in equal measure. The world of Currod is at the brink of war, yet people are wise to it's terrors, and maintain peace. Advancement slows down.

Year of the Frog: This is the beginning of a dark period. The first wars break out, and combat by champion is deemed honorable and just: this is the age where Great Heroes are born, who can possibly become Great Spirits, in later ages. The shadow of war and death is falling over the world, but it has yet to reach it's most important players. At the center of Currod, a large, featureless black pillar appears.

Year of the Snake: Cruelty fills the world: men are oppressed and slaughtered by the will and power of the 'Presence Beyond'. Kingdoms fall into chaos and ruin, and war becomes a brutal affair that consumed not just men, but women and children too. The Tower of Eyes fully forms: it makes all those who observe it, into statues of coal, and takes their eyes into it's own body. In this age, the Black Great Spirits may form.

Year of the Wolf: The darkest of years. The last dregs of mankind are destroyed in great calamities, as the next batch of Great Spirits is finally collected. The Tower of Eyes then, grows to it's full size, developing into a Tree (some believe, Currod's Tree of Time) of Eyes, and unleashing it's power on the world, destroying all life. As the Year ends, the world is ready to begin anew.

=======

Great Spirits

The Great Spirits of Currod exist to guide the world at certain points, and oversee the creation of more Great Spirits. Usually, each cycle yields seven White and seven Black Great Spirits, who are picked from the world's foremost heroes: in fact, the ascension into a Great Spirit is often the goal of most warriors of renown (even if they do not necessarily make the cut). Every eighth cycle, the spirits are reset too, all but three of them being wholly obliterated. However, the last cycle only produces twelve Great Spirits, six of each, normally, however different spreads depending on the overall virtue or evil of a cycle can occur. Nobody knows whether this has ever happened.

Beyond that, a total of 99 Great Spirits exists at any time, with three of them persisting through the end of seven cycles: Ym, Azoch and Jesnah. More on the spirit types and individuals below:

Black Great Spirits

Known for their violent tendencies, and capacity as warriors, black great spirits are mainly selected due to sheer battle prowess. The main qualification is the capacity to bring about great violence. There is little besides this that the Black Great Spirits are confined by, thus their morals can vary quite wildly, from those that see violence as a tool to their ends, to others who enjoy inflicting it, and further still to those that only use it when absolutely necessary (while still being capable of outputting impressive amounts of it). Often associated with man-borne phenomena, emotions, thoughts and matters of the heart and mind.

White Great Spirits

These Spirits are known for their wisdom instead, their ability to discern, observe and sense. Much like their Black brethren, morality is often not a question, so White Great Spirits can in fact be fairly rotten and with their capacity for great intellectual feats, can in fact rival the potential damage caused by a rampaging Black Spirit, or fairly often, even surpass it. Others tend to use their considerable talents to assist mankind as well as they can, a task they have continuously proven to be quite good at. These spirits are often associated with natural phenomena, contrary to their Black brethren. Most of them are quite kind. Emphasis on most.

Grey Great Spirits?

No such thing truly exists, however there is no other explanation as to the oldest surviving Great Spirit, and some say the first: Ym. He is neither Black, nor White, yet he is counted among the Spirits by the Presence Beyond. He is the only one who communes directly with it, and the only one who is unconcerned with the end of seven cycles,whereas even Azoch and Jesnah, the oldest White and Black Great Spirits, respectively have to take measures to survive their possible erasure. Some have however postulated that Grey Spirits existed a long time ago, and Ym is simply their last survivor.

=======

Current State of Currod

The current Year is Frog. Things are going dark and circumstances are odd. The war should have begun, but things are odd, people are plotting and monsters appear from the borders, requiring a lot of interference from the three high spirits. Other Great Spirits have intervened as well, this being a fourth cycle, there are 56 of them. A vast kingdom has formed in a floating sky platform, called Horann.

The Kingdom of Horann presides over all realms lower (in altitude) than it, which means most of the world, barring the Great Spirits. However, these lower kingdoms fight between themselves, and words of the ruler of Horann being illegitimate have spread and threaten the emergence of an all out war: so far, no such conflict has happened, but it it did, the year of the Frog would speed into the Snake year immediately.

Most lower kingdoms and people seem to want to move out as well, with traffic between worlds becoming frequent for Currod.

=======