Scorge of Fire,
Aqueen of Water,
Zephyr of Air,
Flint of Earth,
Lumina of Light,
Shadow of Dark,
Vinaea of Aether,
Floren of Life.
These eight Spirits govern the elements, wielding between them complete power over the world of Eterna. From their domain in the otherworldly realm of Espiria they govern and guide the myriad peoples of Eterna, aiding them through their lives until, at the end, the elemental essence at the heart of them travels to Espiria join the spirits.
Each person’s essence is tied to a single element. Which element it is does not change them mentally or physically, and most people in the course of their lives will never even discover which element is theirs. Most, but not all.
There are some people who learn to access their element, who are taught to tap into the power within them and wield it for the good of the world. These people are the Guardians, the envoys of the spirits on Eterna, and it is their arduous task to protect the world from the encroaching evil of Varax, a third world apart from Espiria and Eterna.
When the Spirits made Eterna, they put in place many barriers between their new world of balance and the world of evil, but as time passed these barriers began to weaken and the work of the Guardians became harder and harder.
In these dark times, the twisted creatures and depraved servants of evil have become incredibly numerous; the Guardians alone can no longer defend the whole of Eterna.
As Guardians themselves, your characters will know a little more about the state of affairs. They know that Varax was once a world just like Eterna, governed in balance by ten Spirits – those of the elements of Eterna, with Altrina of Good and Malevak of Evil. The peace of the world ended when Malevak began secretly gathering power, shattering the balance between himself and Altrina and corrupting the world to his ends. As he grew in strength, Altrina weakened, and in time Malevak became a force too great for the other Spirits to contend with, killing Altrina and warping the world and its inhabitants beyond recognition. The Eight Spirits fled to Espiria and cast the world away, putting up every protection they could to keep the influence of Malevak away from their realm.
In time, the Eight Spirits made another world, naming it Eterna in the hope that it would endure where the first world had not. The power of a world in balance is greater than the power of a world where the balance has been torn asunder, and as soon as Malevak learned of this new world he desired to conquer it. At first, the protections of the Eight Spirits kept Eterna safe from him, but that safety did not last.
When a wizard named Kravos discovered that he could shear away his own elemental essence, Malevak saw his chance to gain a foothold in Eterna and filled Kravos with an essence of elemental evil. Under Malevak’s influence, Kravos began trying to create a portal between Eterna and Varax. Unwilling to let their new world fall as the first one had, the Eight Spirits each contacted a person with an essence of their element, bequeathing to them rings that bound the power of their essences to the Spirits themselves, and these eight people became the first Master Guardians.
These Guardians defeated Kravos and destroyed the creatures of evil he had summoned from Varax, and for a time the world had peace again. The Guardians slowly grew in number, becoming a respected force for peace and justice within Eterna, rooting out whatever small advances Malevak attempted against the world. The first masters died, passing on their power and their rings to the next generation of Guardians – except one.
Around a thousand years before the present day, though, a group of power-hungry creatures calling themselves Malevak’s Chosen managed to duplicate Kravos’ technique of ripping out their essences, and Malevak took his opportunity to make a serious attack on Eterna once again. This time he decided that he would not be defeated by the simple setback of having his Chosen killed, and he too created an item to link himself to his most powerful disciple, creating the first Master of Evil.
The power and influence of these Chosen grew and grew, until at last the Guardians alone could not contain their advances. For the last five hundred years, the forces of Evil in the world have been gathering their strength ready for one final task, destroying the barriers between Eterna and Varax and drawing Malevak into the new world.
In the last few years, though, the coherence of the Chosen’s attacks has waned and they have seemed leaderless and directionless. It has been speculated that perhaps the Chosen have lost the item that ties their Master to Malevak, but few Guardians can wholeheartedly believe that in these dark times.
