Setting: The Oracle of Ghul Tulak

 

When the Mother and Father, called the First Gods in the lost mythology, set foot onto the newly forged Mythren, it is said they met over a pool of reflective water whose glass-like surface caught the first light of the Laughing Moon. It was also the place they would later meet for the last time before departing Mythren, bequeathing a powerful totem to be found at some later date. Long after the First Gods slipped into legend and their names forgotten, the Moon Pool itself remained a sacred place often visited by those of fey origins, immortal races, and those mortals blessed with powerful magic.

In later ages, this location would take on greater notoriety as a place of great mystery, knowledge, and destructive power, ultimately transforming into an Oracle unlike any other.

During the early years of the Dominion Age, the goddess Neverial, known as the Lady of Secrets, gave birth to a daughter. True to form, Neverial kept the father’s identity secret, though it was rumored he had come to her through one of the twelve ancient gateways within her temple; a domed structure tucked far away in the mountains and housing the sacred Moon Pool of the First Gods. But it was not only the father that was hidden from the world, but the child as well. Upon discovering Mythren, a pact was made between the three gods of magic that a child bearing their bloodline would be too dangerous for this fragile world, and an act of procreation was thereby forbidden. For years Neverial managed to keep her daughter hidden, but at last betrayal and tragedy led to conflict which inevitably bled to war, and in the fallout the child, Angel, suffered a mortal wound.

Taking her dying daughter into the heart of the broken temple, Neverial bathed her in the Moon Pool, and summoning the long-dormant magic from the gateways, bound the child’s spirit to the mortal world. The weaving of magical energy was something never before seen or felt and the voices of the ancient First Gods echoed a warning across the reaches of time which fell upon the deaf ears of a desperate mother. The magic rendered was a combining of Neverial’s own power with that of the twelve gateways woven together with the enchanted light of the Laughing Moon held within the unspoiled pool for thousands of years. Neverial’s prayers to the First Gods, however, were as lost as their warning was to her, and the gathered magic proved too much for the crumbling stone gateways to bear. A tremendous explosion occurred where all perished, save for Neverial who helplessly bore witness. The temple imploded, and where once the sacred Moon Pool sat was only a dark chasm. As Neverial wept, a light deep within the chasm appeared and the Oracle was born.

For time uncounted, the Lady of Secrets remained at the edge of the chasm, her face aglow with the ethereal light—a fire of creation and destruction burning like the heart of a newborn star. In the centuries that followed she built a sprawling new temple over the chasm, a place she named Ghul Tulak, translating loosely to “City of Secrets” in the ancient tongue of the fey creatures that now inhabited that place. Neverial adopted these strange creatures who had been severed from their own homes in the wake of the explosion. The feyen, as they were called, were able to assume the shape of others, and in this manner were used to collect knowledge for the Oracle whose dawning sentience awakened a near insatiable curiosity.  These secrets were collected from the world abroad and brought back to Ghul Tulak where they were whispered and purged to the awaiting light. 

The Oracle became self-aware at some point a few hundred years before the cataclysmic end of the Age of Dominion, but its personality was akin to that of a child. Neverial, unsure if this newly created entity was indeed her daughter returned from beyond or perhaps something altogether new, vowed to protect the Oracle by any means necessary. As the Sorcerer Kings and Queens rose to power and the danger to immortal entities increased, Neverial sacrificed herself to the Oracle. Stepping into the chasm, she was absorbed by the light, merging with the blinding vortex. The Oracle consumed her entirely...save for the mother’s protective instinct that, despite all the forces that pulled her apart, survived.

As the world around Ghul Tulak slipped toward war and both gods and titans met grisly ends at the hands of greedy mortals seeking divinity, the Oracle came to understand a new emotion: fear.

Despite all the knowledge of the world around it, the Oracle could not answer the all-consuming questions about itself—could it die, and what would death mean?

Word of the Oracle leaked beyond Ghul Tulak. A place that housed the greatest secrets of the world became a highly sought destination for those in power, and those seeking to claim power. A bridge was constructed over the chasm, and pilgrims would make sacrifices of magic and blood for answers in return. But these questions offered insight to the machinations of the mortal inhabitants of Mythren. Their covetous nature betrayed their desire for strength and power beyond their grasp. Despite the answers they gained, their need could not be quenched, and those who could not be sated with truth became dangerous in their conjured fictions.

As war edged nearer to Ghul Tulak, the Oracle became consumed with fear. Here was an entity of unrivaled power filtered through a child’s fear and embraced by the looming presence of a dangerous and protective mother. To ensure its safety and to protect what it believed might be its own immortal soul, the Oracle did what was necessary. A beam of pure energy erupted from the domed temple, splitting as it rose into dozens of smaller rays which struck every major city upon the continent with disastrous effect.  The Age of Dominion ended in fire and ash and in the quiet calm that followed, the Oracle feel into a deep slumber.

Time slipped by, and in the centuries that followed, others came to discover the secret city of Ghul Tulak and the Oracle within. Often these travelers and truth-seekers encountered a young child on the outskirts of the city. Angel, she called herself, and she warned of “Mother” who slept restlessly within the wan light deep within the chasm. Answers might be gained, but only if those seeking to speak with the Oracle did so quietly, allowing their whispered questions to seep into Mother’s dreaming subconscious. As a projection of the Oracle’s fragile psyche, Angel appeared unaware that she and Mother were, in fact, the same entity. 

To ensure that the Oracle remained asleep, a clan of vandi called the Candlemakers would visit every one-hundred years. Lowering a “valla vakra,” a young woman touched by the powers of fate, the Oracle was lulled back to sleep with a song. So, this ritual continued, though even the vandi knew it to be a doomed effort. It was prophesied that the powers of the ancient world would arise, and none knew better than the vandi that the greatest power of the former age lay here, within the chasm.

How exactly the Oracle played into the destruction of Old Mythren and the Breaking of the Moon at the end of the Age of Prophecy remains unclear. There are tales of a forlorn traveler of who met Angel at the gates of Ghul Tulak and hand in hand they crossed the long bridge where his whispered words re-awakened the ancient light.

And though apocalypse befell the world, the immortality of the Oracle was proven yet again. Even through the dust and ashes of the ruin, somewhere in the shattered Remains of Mythren the shadow of a young girl appeared, cast by the glow of an eternal light.

Todd VanHooser

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