Chanteval (Overview)

Overview
Storytellers often recall legends sung for millenia about the land that the Father god loved the most. It was a quaint, green piece of land nested between two mountains he knew so well, where winds whispered and streams sung. He called the valley Chanteval and there He led His people to a better life.

These people take many shapes and forms: equines, cervines, bovines and dragons coexist as one society, all loved equally by Sirius.

Chanteval exists in the unforgiving world of Soranha, a world created by Sirius and his brothers and sisters and has been washed over by constant wars ever since. It is completely locked away from foreign lands, which Sirius deems too dangerous. Only an endless, glittering nothingness stretches past the borders: because they are Sirius’ doing, the people never question them.

While sheltered from the outside world, Chanteval is no less wide and has a turmoiled inner life. A river splits the territory in half: each half was given to Sirius’ two daughters to rule.

The eastern half, littered with lush forests, became the fabled Kingdom of Liande, ruled by the youngest daughter, Lucie. It is home to fae people and the numerous legends surrounding them. The western half, with a gilded capital city crowning the mountaintop, became the powerful Kingdom of Avalon, home to the people of the sky, ruled by his eldest daughter, Astrielle.

While the two Kingdoms were always at peace, numerous events during the past year threw off a balance that was kept for millenia. Both Queens disappeared mysteriously: Astrielle vanished one night without warning, leaving her kingdom to chaos, and Lucie died to never be reincarnated again. The borders appear to have been shrinking sensibly, and in some places were reported to have turned pitch black. People started catching mysterious diseases giving them undesired, harmful powers. More recently a floating island has been seen soaring through Chanteval’s skies, but no one has been able to approach it thus far.

Creation of the World
Soranha’s creation was brought about by two stars who had been born at the same time, and meant to always exist next to one another. The chances of primordial chaos had made them conscious. One of them was thinking, the other feeling. They called each other Sirius and Soraya. Sirius was mightily powerful and shone like a thousand suns. He was the embodiment of light and could create galaxies upon a flick of his wrist. Soraya had no power of her own and her light was nowhere near as bright, but it shone like the first sunrise and she always felt neverending curiosity and love. They existed together for what would be an eternity to any mortal, before finding out that they were not the only ones, and meeting new brothers and sisters. Those new stars were Nagai, Hora and Kamara, and just like Sirius and Soraya, they had unique abilities. Nagai could create matter out of the void and bend his will into physical form. Hora could alter those physical creations through her ability to manipulate time, of which she was the root herself. Lastly, Kamara could alienate anything that has ever been created and bend any laws to her will: for she possessed magic. Together, the five stars decided to create a world of physical, thinking, living things, ruled by time and experiencing magic. They would be known by their creations as the Old Ones.

Creating the world they dreamed of would come with a sacrifice: one of them would have to give up on their existence in order to become the body and the life of the world, for their powers alone could never create true life. Soraya willingly gave up on her form in order to birth the world she loved so much already, not giving anyone a choice. As she drew her last breath, a deeply heartbroken Sirius shed a single tear, which, with Soraya’s powers, would become the world.

Sirius and Soraya were always meant to be together, including in death. As she became the world, Soraya gave Sirius what was left of her: her ability to feel. Because he held the power of two gods, Sirius rose above his siblings in power, and is often believed to be two instead of one.

The Disturbance of Time
Ever since the world had been created, Sirius had been resentful. Out of the Old Ones, he was the only one who could feel, and had to deal with things only his beloved children could understand: intense feelings of grief, anger and longing. Misunderstood by his siblings, he came up with an irrational vow: he would steal Hora’s powers and go back in time in order to bring Soraya back, so she could see what she had created. As he traveled through the fabric of time, Sirius tore it in multiple places, creating the first time rifts. He worried little about that, for soon he met Soraya in the past - bright and breathing as she once was.

The dream would not last long however. She collapsed into sand the second he touched her. So did the entire world around him. While Sirius had stolen Hora’s power, little did he know that Hora, as the Goddess of Time, existed in every single era in time, and was waiting for him. The Goddess was outraged, discovering that the fabric of time had been altered permanently. Sirius had almost destroyed the world by preventing Soraya’s death. The damage was done, both to the flow of Time itself and the relationship between the two Old Ones.

Ever since Sirius travelled to the past, time has never been the same in Soranha: it no longer moves on a line, but as a cycle of constant loops and reincarnations.

Some geographical zones are stuck in time paradoxes, known as Time Rifts.

Ur and the First Godly War
Ur was the name of the first civilization created by the Old Ones and was nestled on a beautiful island rising from an endless sea. It was home to all the wisdom the Gods had to share with their children. It was a peaceful place, believed to have achieved technical heights never retrieved in the future and a philosophy of life that made it the summit of culture.

Upon Sirius disturbing the flow of time forever and almost destroying the world, the relationship between the Old Ones would never be the same, and eventually bring about the tragic end of Ur.

Hora waged war on Sirius, so she could prevent him from taking anymore damaging actions. She found an ally in Nagai, while Kamara sided with Sirius.

The war was terrible and Ur was flooded in the process, doomed to disappear forever. Life had sprouted outside of the island, but nothing that could compare to the glory that had reached Ur.

Sirius was brought to his knees by the war and forced to see the truth for what it was. No longer willing to harm his siblings and helpless among a devastating war, he found help within the mortals. A dragon that was likely the sole survivor of the Ur downpour rallied everyone he could find on his way and led an army that marched over Nagai’s and Hora’s troops and pushed the two Gods towards exhaustion.

Foundation of Chanteval
Defeating Hora and Nagai proved to be an exhausting and merely temporary endeavor. The calm that followed the last battle would only announce a tempest and sooner than later, the war would wage again. Sirius was not blind to the truth and took it upon himself to lead his people towards safety. Followed by Kamara, the Dragon and a long procession of mortals, Sirius sought out the place where Soraya’s presence was strongest. They happened upon a large lake in a vast valley, nested between gigantic mountains. There Sirius could swear he could hear the Goddess’ heartbeat and deemed this place his new home.