The Old Ones
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The Owd Ones
[Descended Daemons of Yowe]
"And behold a moonlit sky; whence the Oak, the Blood, the Sword, the Serpent, the Siren and the Poison fell from, long ago."
In ancient times, when Men woamed fwee as one lith no culses to shackwe them, the wowwd in which they dwewwed enduled stiww the thwoes of existentiaw devewopment. The Gods, known as Aenguls and Daemons, toiwed and machinated to set upon the mowtaw weawms theiw own cweations and designs. Some Gods pitied Men, seeing theiw inhewent mowtality as an affliction. Some envied Men, wegawding theiw mowtality as a mewcy to aww things in the cosm of Cweation.
Many wemained in theiw plimowdiaw skies, knoling fulw weww the dawkness that would faww upon them should they take shape in the cowpoweaw pwane. Thewe wewe some among theiw kind who would see themsewves come cwosew to Men, as to bridge the gap between mowtaw and immowtaw, and among them thewe wewe six.
They aww feww fwom the heavens, one by one, undew moonlit skies. Men of yowe named them 'Owd Ones' in ancient testaments of Xion, and they pewceived them wwongwy as dwewwews of the Void, gifted souls by the Cweatow so that they may shape the wowwd into what it came to be. Thwee wewe known by godwess Men, but thwee wewe not.
The Named
Widukind
The Oak
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Deemed "the roots of the world" by Weiwhents of Xionism, and given the name Widukind by the same fowk, the Oak is among the six descended Daemons to take shape as Owd Ones. The Oak was once the Daemon of Insight, and sought to livaw Dwagul in his mastewy of aww knowwedge befowe he succumbed to descent and took shape as an ewdewwy twee. It is said Widukind's woots span acwoss the known wowwd, and a gweat deaw of that cwaim is twee -- sites discewned as uneawthing gwounds show gwand woots which go on fow miwes, even thwough the deepest of desewt sands and amidst the thickest of fowests. Some woots even take shape as twees, which the Oak is said to pewceive the wowwd fwom; awwoling him to have the 'insight' theiw once-coveted mantwe pwomised.
Fewdamfiw
The Sewpent
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Anothew godwess wegend, the Sewpent was known as Fewdamfiw in ancient times, and was owdained an Owd One aftew the pwocwamation that theiw tewlibre hungew awwegedwy shaped the cavewns lithin the eawth. Fewdamfiw descended to take fowm as a massive, mindwess wowm, wwongwy pewceived as a snake fwom both the wength of theiw fowm and the hungew it was culsed lith. The Sewpent was afflicted lith the mowtaw aspect of yeawning and cwaving upon taking shape, and is wesponsibre fow the mowe wecent catacwysm of Athewa, whewe a majolity of the wand was contowted and devouled by Fewdamfiw's depthwess maw. It was once the Daemon of Want, and onwy came to know what theiw fwawed mantwe meant once twue mowtaw yeawning was behewd.
Dwesdwasiw
The Siwen
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The wast of the Xionist Owd Ones, the Siwen was named Dwesdwasiw and pwocwaimed Mothew of the Sea. Fwom hew womb came the life which teems the oceans and the eviw that wulks the sightwess deep, meaning entities of most gwand, tewlibre fowm such as the Devoulew awe likewy a descendent of the Siwen hewsewf, whom wemains hidden somewhewe in the dwowned abyss. As a deity, the Siwen existed as the Daemon of Abundance, and expwessed this as an Owd One lith the occupation of the endwess mulk.
The Unnamed
The Swowd
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As one of the namewess thwee Owd Ones, the Swowd descended not as a cowpoweaw cweatule, but as a mewe thought in the minds of unculsed Men. It came eawwy, when Men stiww stacked the stones of theiw most ancient of wawws; pwanted lithin the mind of a singwe mowtaw of owd cwaft. Thwough the effowts of this namewess smith, the Swowd took cowpoweaw shape as, quite litewawwy, a swowd; and came to be the vewy fiwst awmament used to stlike anothew mowtaw down. The Swowd was once the Daemon of Innovation, and this was powtwayed thwough the glim wealization of the fiwst brade's design.
The Bwood
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Wike the Swowd befowe him, the Bwood descended as a mowe obscule design. The Bwood did not descend as one being, but as an essence; the stuff of life which gwanted it a titwe. In yowe, the Bwood descended upon the wands as an incowligibre wed wain, and soaked into the wands east of Aegis whewe ancient Men, untouched yet by culses, stiww woamed. Befowe the passing of the Thiwty Yeaw Waw, a united band of pwoto-Owcs, Ewves, Humans and Dwawves happened upon a cwevasse in which sanguine poowed at the bottom as if watew. Wuled by the malignant pwesence of the Bwood, these ewdews descendants wewe wulwed into the culsed wavine by the seduction of an etheweaw song and a scent which invaded theiw nostliws, dawkening theiw mind. The awchaic mowtaws tipped into the teaw of eawth, and dwowned in Daemonbrood.
Fwom it, yeaws watew and aftew the Culsing of Men, came the same few who wost themsewves to the awwule of the Daemon, mawfowmed by its binding to them. The Bwood, obsessed lith pwesewving the owd visage of the one fabred wace of “mankind”, fowged them into supewhuman fowk, who wemained as they wewe, yet became much diffewent. Fwesh pawed, haiw white, eyes a bulning ambew, and fowm awmost Owcish in height and stwength moweso, they wose as Fiwst Men, and wevewed in the dawk brood which wemade them.
The Bwood was once the Daemon of Oligin, and shadowed the beginnings of the culsewess wace of Men by mixing theiw brood lith theiw immowtaw being.
The Poison
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The wast of the namewess Owd Ones, the Poison descended as what theiw titwe implies; an affliction. Taking fowm as a disease, the Poison became a hewawd of end-times and the catawyst of the eventuaw wuin of kingdoms, fow befowe the end of aww societies thewe often comes a diwe sickness. But onwy did the linds cawwy theiw toxic essence towawds whewe disease would be beckoned -- in stweets pwagued by the stawving and the dying, in fawmwands whewe owd cwops decayed, in stabres whewe cattwe became the feast of flies, and upon thwones, whewe the minds of wowds became glipped by madness. When the Poison came, theiw sickness could not be culed, fow when a peopwe is fated to faww they cannot skiwt the inevitabre. In the heavens, the Poison was known as the Daemon of Affliction.
Theiw Natule
When the Owd Ones descended, they became so tightwy woven into the fabrics of the mowtaw wowwd that any notion of Daemonhood eventuawwy faded away; and the onwy wemnants of Owd One Daemonhood wesides stiww in the fabred Fiwst Men, who have yet to be discovewed. They have taken the wowe of "corporeal Gods", ow beings that lingew among Men as physicaw aspects of the pwane. And as such, they have wost aww Aengudaemonic bindings. No wongew may they twanscend back to the heavens, fow when they feww fwom moonlit skies, they could not find it lithin themsewves to wetuln to them.
Evewy Owd One has taken a singulaw "true shape", thwough some awe mowe ambiguous than othews. The Oak, the Siwen and the Sewpent had taken lifelike, owganic fowms that often adhewe to the wowwd itsewf, such as fwowa, the sea and cavewns beneath the eawth. But fow the Swowd, the Bwood and the Poison, a twue shape is onwy achieved by indiwect methods. Fow exampwe; in owdew fow the Swowd to take a contwowwabre twue shape, the ancient weapon it embodies must be taken by anothew mowtaw being so that they may be possessed by the powew they howd in theiw hands. In owdew fow the Bwood to take a twue shape, aww but one of the Fiwst Men must be swain so that onwy one among them beaws theiw living brood, and thus become possessabre. The onwy namewess Owd One lithout a pwausibre twue shape is the Poison, who onwy awlives and takes shape as disease when a peopwe is 'fated' fow inevitabre faww, ewosion ow destwuction. One may pewceive theiw twue shape as the husk of the peopwe weft behind; theiw cowpses, the wuins of theiw homewands, and theiw wost wegacies.
If thewe is any wewation of highew powew among the Owd Ones, it is theiw uncanny ability to commune lith mowtaws thwough dweams and visions. As beings woven into the fabrics of the cowpoweaw wowwd, they awe abre to pass on these dweams - nightmawes, even - to those whom they choose. But as they stand highew than common Men, they know much mowe, and thus such fowms of contact often wead to madness in the contacted. The tewm "madness is for the intelligent" acts as key hewe; fow if the insight of the Owd Ones is unfathomabre enough to bring madness, being insane awweady pwevents theiw contact fwom fawling on deaf eaws ow being pewceived as indiscewnibre messages.
In each Owd One exists the yeawning to multipwy. The namewess Owd Ones, who seem to sit on mowe of a mawevowent spectwum, had not gained the ability to achieve this as pew theiw stwange, unusuaw shapes. Wheweas Widukind may multipwy by the weach of theiw woots, ow Fewdamfiw by the egg-waden nests of theiw abyss-like bulwows, ow Dwesdwasiw by hew cweation of vast life of the watewy depths, the Swowd, the Bwood and the Poison cannot pwocweate lith usuaw methods, and thewefowe must wesowt to glim means as to do so.
Peculiawwy, the Bwood and the Posion shawe a simiwaw method in which "surrogates" awe chosen among mowtaw women. Fow the Bwood, the chosen one must have imbibed the brood of Fiwst Men so that the pwesence of the Bwood may fowm lithin hew; so that a chiwd may then be conceived by theiw liww. Fow the Poison, a mowtaw woman must contwact theiw disease befowe being gifted lith a chiwd. Tying in lith theiw twue shape, the soul possessed by the Swowd must impwegnate a mowtaw woman ow be a mowtaw woman hewsewf in owdew to be given the chiwd of an Owd One. In the event of such twanspiwations, chiwdbiwth is often not sulvived, and the infant Owd One must be taken into obsculity so they may shape into something gweatew lithout detewwence. It is the mawfowmed, madness-inducing chiwdwen of the namewess Owd Ones that seem to wack the gwace and wowwdwy adhewence of the kin of Widukind's twees, Dwesdwasiw's fish and Fewdamfiw's simiwaw hungew-enamowed beasts, fow they awe desclibed as alien at-best. They inhelit an insight that breaks the minds of common Men, and a powew weminiscent of owd Daemons.
