Redeemers, Part 1

How it began, the First Redeemer

This current aeon, the most recent incarnation of the Garden of Earthly Delights, has stood for almost four millennia. The Garden of Paradise, where the first redeemer, Protennoia, entered this world and her offspring, who became the first people living, is where Axis Mundi now stands. The children of Paradise pleased the Lord and have forever been allowed to inhabit this jewel of Creation while multiplying and eventually peopling the Earth.

Protennoia was not only the mother and father of all who live today, but she was also the first redeemer of this aeon, washing away the sins of everyone who walked the earth. Redeemers have appeared on Earth eight times since Protennoia, and every time they have reaffirmed God's rule over Earth´s children. Each of them has revealed a host of new knowledge as gifts from the Almighty, enabling man to express God’s wondrous creation in new and ever more glorious ways.

~ Excerpt from the Gyronomicon

Armozel’s Folly

Armozel was revealed as the fifth redeemer during the great incursion of the Dark Lord in the twelfth century after creation. The seventh son of a Gothian carpenter, he taught mankind to imbue earth's metals with divine spirit, shaping them into tools, weapons, and armor. Armozel was the first redeemer born under the sun, rather than having descended from heaven.

Four decades after Phaionios’ ascension, Armozel was growing restless. His craft and skill had given him everything he could wish for, so the Deceiver laid out a trap for him and showed him he had yet more to gain. In the guise of the angel Chamuel, he visited Armozel in a dream and led him under the great mountain Medula, beyond the holy seals laid down by the fourth redeemer, and showed him endless halls and chambers where cold metal lined the walls while glistering stones shone the way.

Without seeking guidance from the Allfather, once again, Armozel raised the Sons of the Light, the great host of paladins who had fought with him and Phaionios during the great purge of Evil. His desire for the riches kept by the dungeons beneath the mountain and the pride welling up inside him at the sight of thousands of his holy knights standing before him caused him to disregard God’s peace. And the seals were shattered.

For one day and one night, the Sons of the Light rode through the gates of Medula, descending into the mountain, singing praises to the Lord and shouting taunts at the dark forces that surely awaited them within. Armozel, who was riding mid-column, entered the mountain at sunset.

Neither he, nor a single one of his shining paladins, was ever seen again.

~ Echoes of Cimeron 1:22

Current State of Affairs

For almost a century now, since the slaying of the last redeemer, no sanctified emissaries of the Divine have shown themselves on earth. No prophets, no redeemers, and no new saints have been revealed, and only the occasional rumors of faraway manifestations of the Divine have been reported. The seat of the Holy See remains empty, all the great kingdoms of the heartlands have crumbled and lie in waste and ruin. The fabled monasteries founded by Oroael, the sixth redeemer, have been robbed and deserted, and the great paladin strongholds of Armozel, the fifth redeemer, have been lost, only legends remain, rumoring of their whereabouts.

Has the Divine forgotten her children?

No one knows for sure, but what is obvious to all is that Pax Dei, the protection of the Divine, has shrunk more and more, leaving ever larger swaths of land open to the ever-growing darkness creeping in from the Rimlands and the agents of the Dark Lord grow bolder every year. In fact, the only civilized place that still stands is reportedly Axis Mundi itself, or so we hope. No one has been let in there since the murder of Loios, and besides that, a handful of nearby settlements.

Creation is crying out for salvation, crying out for able bodies and minds to stand against the encroaching darkness, to pick up the banner of light and once more drive the forces of evil whence they came. In order to accomplish that, old fields must be broken anew, trees cleared, roads rebuilt, villages erected, and industries created. The lost wisdom of centuries past must be rediscovered, relics and holy sites unearthed, churches built, and the will of the Divine once again transformed into proud bastions of faith both at home and in the furthest reaches of the world.

~ Sages Annals, the final chapter.