Darju origin myth

  Originally posted to the message boards by Trevor Rage.

This is the "myth" of creation of the Darju. It does not detail how they arrived on Haelrahv.


A Tale of Sorrow and Pain: The Tale of the Darju
Scribed by the hand of Vdohov Ka, Historian and Scholar


All things began with Gemrem, mighty conqueror and creator, and from his hand sprang the mighty Darju people and their home world, Vkeftku. Gemrem was not known to be a kind god, nor a particularly evil one; he simply served as the ruler of his creations and lent his hand to them only when he saw fit to do so. Some say this is why compassion is not a strong Darju trait, but that is debatable and a subject for another text entirely.

Despite the lack of intervention by their deity, the Darju people flourished and became great hunters and warriors. But, it was also in this time that clans formed and warred amongst themselves; many Darju became bloodthirsty and savage, threatening to unravel their progresses as a civilization.

It was during this time that the goddess Nkati cast her face upon Vkeftku, and more specifically, Gemrem the King God. With her charm and allure, she bewitched Gemrem and soon took her place as the Queen Goddess. Although far from the eyes of mortals, it came to be that Nkati had dominion over Gemrem and her word was law; in time, the signs of this transfer of power became ever apparent for Nkati was not of the same heart as the King God.

During their union, four offspring came forth to take their place as lesser gods. These were Mlogltu, Rugnol, Lvordu and Rihdtu. Each had their own distinct personality, but all resembled the Queen Goddess much more than Gemrem.

Possessed by a cold, ruthless heart, Nkati was a being of pure evil who ruled over the Darju without mercy. Her treachery became well known among all the people and to this day she is the personification of lies and cunning deception. In short time her children became more as she and their power grew as their hearts blackened.

Mlogltu was a brilliantly evil commander who consumed every ounce of power he could at the cost of many lives. Lavish temples and monuments to his greatness were constructed by starved laborers who worked out of sheer fear of death. Mlogltu is said to have let most of them starve anyway, feeding just enough to give them a reason to keep working. Mlogltu is known as the symbol of greed and selfish desire.

Rugnol was transformed into a hideous beast; a six-legged monstrosity with a deadly, slashing tail and a massive blood-thirsty maw. He inhabited the nightmares of Darju everywhere; dreams not unfounded, for he was fond of devouring mortals live. He became the very symbol of fear and the bringer of nightmares.

Lvordu took delight in the despair of the hopeless and devised ways to crush their hopes endlessly. All fortune became misfortune, and hope no longer existed where he tread in the lives of mortals.

And finally, the dark daughter Rihdtu was a truly evil spirit with a heart of twisted thorns. Her greatest pleasure derived from bringing pain and misery to the world by torturing and afflicting all living beings with plague, disease, and poison.

And so plunged the world of Vkeftku into eternal darkness. The world shaped itself into a monument of evil, crafted by the blood and tears of the Darju; their backs eternally strained by the burden of fashioning a world not for themselves, but for their creators and slave masters. To this very day, Vkeftku is the domain of the truly wicked and no mortal being exists there that is not a servant to these dark lords.

Their once mighty King God has since become riddled with insanity, unable to cope with what has become of his power and his world. He, like all of the pantheon, is despised by the Darju. Gemrem in particular, however, is not truly evil, but merely weak and foolish; he is known to all Darju as a symbol for the ultimate weakness and folly, and a joke among the very gods.

This story of the sad beginnings from which the Darju have come is not without a small ray of hope, however. For despite the stranglehold the evil slave masters have upon them, some of the Darju people have managed to escape the wretched world of Vkeftku. Some believe the dark gods still have control over the lives of even these mortals, despite any barriers of distance and time; some believe they are finally free. Even still, with such a bitter and terrible past, it remains to be seen if they can live a better, brighter life on their own.