The world

Chapter 1: The creation of the world
Back in time immemorial, and for unknown reasons, all the immaterial Gods decided to create something together, something new, something they could be proud of, something so huge and impressive they would not have been able to achieve alone. This is how the world came to be.

First, there was only an infinite sea, and in it - a single giant snake, Orobouros. This creature had been created by all Gods together, and received a part of each their power. In the end, Orobouros became much stronger than any one God.

For a long time, Orobouros swam in the sea, traveling from here to there with no real goal or point, but he was happy. One day, he felt tired and decided to lay down and sleep. His slumber was going to last for a very, very long time.

This is when the Gods decided that even if their creation was great, it could be even better. They were so enthusiastic from their first success that they wanted to create more creatures. With all their new ideas in mind, the four most powerful Gods went down to the world to create the continents and give a new face to their universe. They became the Four Gods of Elements : Aoros, God of rocks and mountains and Gaea, Goddess of nature (bound by the earth); Alua, Goddess of the seas and oceans and Astar, God of the winds (bound by the sky).

To achieve this immense task, the Four Gods of Elements shaped their new sons : Giants. But having multiple creatures in the world had a consequence the Gods never thought of: their creations didn't always like each other. Soon, Giants started to fight, and the war quickly destroyed everything the Gods created. To stop this disaster, the outer Gods shaped powerful celestial creatures, strong enough to beat their sons: this is how Dragons were born.

The Dragons did what they were created to do, and separated all the Giant kingdoms from their neighbors. With these neutral zones created, where no Giants could walk without getting attacked by Dragons, the war stopped and an era of peace began. Life grew, thousands of species appeared, the world seemed to be in perfect harmony.

Chapter 2: The destruction of the world
This explosion of life changed the universe: the old peaceful world was now full of little things that were moving, eating, drinking, partying, singing, and who knows what else... The world wasn't calm anymore, but it was full of life. Eventually, the Gods decided to awake their first creation, Orobouros, to show him how they improved his home and how nice it was.

This story is famous all over the world, and has been told from father to sons for thousands of years. Of course there are a lot of versions of it, but I'm going to tell you the one a monk of Eirimar once told me. It is called 'the Speech of Orobouros to the Gods Astar and Aoros, before the destruction of the world':

"Astar created a gigantic sphere of wind around them, and together they plunged into the deep darkness of the sea. Before long they could see the shape of the Worm, and Aoros gathered many rocks from the outer continents, which he melted. Then Astar sent them whirling around the huge body of Orobouros, a cyclone of lava burning his skin and bones.

The Old Worm opened its Great Eye in rage, and the sea around them evaporated. But he did not show any pain. He then said to them:

« Who are you to dare such offense, Outer Gods who intrude my home, who bring chaos to my peaceful darkness ?

I have felt every little wave in the sea, I have heard every little whisper in this world Since its very beggining until its end. I am the oldest and most powerful, Master of Fate, First and Last to be,

I will now devour everything I see Until nothing is seen or heard anymore And at last I will have peace again. »

He devoured them, and that was the end of the most powerful Gods. He then chased Alua, Goddess of the sea, in a circle that created the Maelström, which destroyed the Ancient World for ever.

In the end Alua was devoured as well, but the serpent overreached with his massive maw and had also bit its own tail: the world was thus saved and the Maelström slowly ceased, until continents emerged again to a new era."

Chapter 3: The new world
Now you are ready and you can understand why I was saying this world has nothing to do with ours!

So, the first thing to know about the world of Faeria is it's a disc, a bordered disc. The body of Orobouros biting his own tail creates a circle and nothing, nothing exists outside this circle. So the world of Faeria is not a planet lost in the galaxy; there are no planets, there is no galaxy, there is no sun, no stars, no moon. The world IS what's inside the circle. The old world was infinite, the new one is limited.

"Wait wait wait, what? There is no sun?"

Indeed as there is no galaxy there is no sun, so where does the light come from? The Eye of Orobouros. The 'sun' is the burning Eye of the Giant Snake, turning around the world and illuminating it. So one day in Faeria is the time Orobouros takes to fall asleep and to wake up again. And one year is the time the Beast takes to make a rotation around the world. Which also means the sun is not 'rising' or 'setting', but 'opening' and 'closing'. And so the moon is nothing but the closed eye of Orobouros.

This is also how seasons work in the world of Faeria. As the Eye turns around the world, when it is close to a certain region, it's summer there, but when the Snake's head is on the opposite of the world, there are a lot of things blocking the light, and so it is winter. As a direct consequence of this, the 4 seasons are present in the world at the same time and move everyday.

Finally, as the 'sun' is the Eye of Orobouros, the polar zones are not the north and the south, but the middle of the earth, as it's where the light reaches the less. Also, the areas close to Orobouros body are all burning like Mars. The more you get closer to the Snake, the hotter the weather is.

"Well ok but there must be a sky or something? How can it be limited? You won't tell me the world has two dimensions?!"

No indeed the world is not in two dimensions, and yes there is a sky. Above and below the earth are two vortexes, ended by black holes. Those void Maelstroms are created by the movement of the Orobouros, and in the end, everything that falls into them is destroyed forever.

But the actual problem of the world is this: the Faeria is the divine energy, and it is being destroyed everyday by the black holes. The Gods become weaker and weaker, and every year, the Snake's desire gets closer becoming a reality.

The world isn't as peaceful as it was before, and if no one reacts, it could be destroyed one day or another. Sadly, no living race is really taking care of it, and they prefer waging wars against each other, instead of trying to stop the destruction of all.