HumbleLunars/TheLunars

Prehistory

At first Gaia drew two great circles, dividing Creation up into three regions. The center region was the largest and most plentiful, and this the Primordials took for themselves, setting it up as their private playground should any wish to remove themself from the Games of Divinity. The second circle, what is now the Threshold, was given to the Dragon Kings and other favored children of the Primordials. Farthest out in a place that today has been lost to madness was a region given to the Gods to do with as they saw fit.

The Gods still toiled in the service of the Primordials during the day. But at night, they called forth their great winged chariots and rode out to their own domains. They lovingly created all manner of life. The Gods did not call the land forth carelessly as the Primordials had done, but lovingly crafted every detail. Every tree was made to carry beautiful flowers and delicous fruit. Beasts were both strong and tame, rivers were filled beautiful and with fishes. Even the tigers of that land would not hunt except in play, drawing all the food they needed from fleshy plants planted for this purpose. And finally, when the Gods thought they could create no greater wonder, man was born.

Humanity prospered in the outermost circle of Creation. They built great living cities high in the trees. They sang great poems, and wrote them in sand in the desert, the Gods allowing no wind to disturb the stories of their people. The stones in the river were arranged in a pleasing manner.

The Gods looked upon their creation, and marveled at humanity's ingenuity. They thought to make another part of Creation, farther out, for humanity to rule and mold as the gods themselves had done. The petition was drawn up and presented at the jade pleasure dome. But the Primordials thought it vain for the Gods to compare themselves with the Primordials in such a way, and dismissed them to return to their games.

The small gods were furious. While they sat among themselves and vent their wrath, the Incarna came among them. The Unconquered Sun spoke first, saying that the gods were no less than the Primordials, and ought to be able to shower gifts on their creations. He spoke with a golden voice of the plans Autochthon had drawn up for the Solar Exalted. The Gods looked at the Solar shards and dreamed of giving one to a favored mortal, dreamed of how glorious their children might be with such a thing.

Next the Five Dragons rumbled from among the crowd of Gods, each speaking in its own way. They showed the Gods the plans for the Dragon Blooded, and showed how they would stoop to serve the Gods.

The Five Maidens spoke in unison, and said that the victory of the Gods was forseen, if only they would act soon. With deafening whispers they fortold the wisdom of the Sidereal Exalted, how their wisdom would make things easier for the Gods and better for the world.

Finally Luna spoke, and said that Gaia groaned under the rule of the other Primordials, and would greet the Gods as liberators. Luna painted shimmering illusions with her words, showing them how beautiful Creation would be when ruled by the Lunar Exalted. She showed how the Lunars would change and sway with the moon, their Castes not fixed but changing to fit the every needs of Creation. When the Gods saw how beautiful the Lunars would make the world, they could not help but weep.

Thus filled with dreams and thinking their victory assured, the Gods at once agreed to war. The Exalted were created and trained, Autochthon forged weapons, and all was made ready. The Sidereals planned the attack, the Solars lead the battle with Dragon Blooded riding at their sides. The Gods too wished to join the fight and earn honors. And so the Lunars were set as great guardians of humanity. They would stay in the outermost ring of the world and guard humanity. The Primordials mustered their forces in the center, while the war was raged in the domain of the Dragon Kings. As the Solars went off for battle, they joked that they would come back covered in scars, but their spouses would stay safe at home, untouched and beautiful when they returned.

The Primordials were cleverer than expected. They sent their counterattack in great winged ships that sailed over the Exalts defensive line and struck at the third ring. Great terrible monsters rose up, and humanity was tortured in all ways. The Lunars fought with their backs to the wall. The Solars fought on the front lines, but they had the forces of the Dragon Blooded and the machines of autochthon backing them up. The Lunars had nothing, but still they fought, and still they won. The Guardians of Humanity stood firm, destroying the invaders. As they did so, the other Exalts likewise pushed the forces of the Primordials back.

In the midst of a last great battle in the center of the world, the Fair Folk sent an invasion. The Lunars fought even harder now, but their ranks were all but decimated from the earlier battles. Desperate and unable to call for backup, the Lunars evacuated humanity from its birthplace as chaos overtook the outer part of the land.

When the Gods realized what had happened, they were furious with the Lunars. They rebuked them for having given up their posts too easily. They demanded that the Lunars be punished, saying that from now on, Lunars should Exalt from the greatest failures of humanity. They blamed Luna, saying that if the Lunars' had not been allowed to flow and change so easily, they would not have been so eager to desert their posts. The Solars were ordered to carry out the punishment, to brand the Lunars so that their castes would be tied in place.

The Solars knew that this was wrong, for they had seen the scars on their lovers and knew that the Lunars had fought well. But worrying that another war would break out between Gods and Exalts, the Solars carried out the edict anyway. Afterwards, some claimed the Solars had not protested loudly enough, or that they were interested only in their own positions with the Gods. But most accepted the punishment, out of guilt or resignation, and returned to their lovers afterwards.

The Lunars screamed for days as their Essences were fixed. The Gods in their madness that devised an elaborate categorization for what flaw had caused the Lunars to betray their posts.

Some, they said, had deserted because of they could not bear to be away from their spouses. They were cursed to be stunted and waste away, just as the third ring had vanished from the earth. They were branded under the sign of the Crescent Moon, so that they might vanish to nothing even as their spouses heaped love on them.

Some, the Gods claimed, had deserted their posts because they did not care enough for humanity. These they cursed to wander the earth, just as they had wandered from their posts. They were braned under the Half Moon, so that they would be ever between worlds, but never able to find home in one.

Some were said to have deserted out of simple stupidity. They were cursed to foolishness to remind them of their foolishness in deserting humanity. They were brander when there was No Moon, so that their heads would always be filled with emptiness.

Some were accused of deserting out of cowardice. They were branded under the Gibbous Moon, which no poet ever sings of, so that they would always look with ugliness upon their own selves.

Finally, some were accused of betraying out of outright treason and anger at the Gods. These were cursed with the heavy weight of the Full Moon, so that their souls would always burn with hatred.

The ritual was painful, and the screams could be heard as far away as Malfeas. Gleefully, the Malfeans decreed that even as they were punished for deserting their posts, the Lunars would be cursed with excessive loyalty from then on.

The First Age

Gradually, the wounds healed and the Lunars grew to strength. The Solars carved more Creation from the Wyld, appeasing the Gods' wrath. The Chosen of the Sun sat down to build a world. Time passed.

The Lunars, too, built up a world. Some traveled to the edge of Creation, building cities near the edge of the Wyld. These acted as import centers between Creation and the Wyld. Filled with the goods of madness, they were fabulous places. Tall towers were made of silk, flowers and trees grew in all the houses. Glamours allowed mortals to swim through the air as though it was water. All was protected by from the Wyld by great refracting crystal domes that scattered rainbow light throughout the cities. Even the Solars, it was said, did not have cities such as these.

Other Lunars joined their Solar mates. They rested quietly, raising brilliant children and supporting their spouses in all that they did. They quietly worked to prevent the worst of the Solar excesses, and many thousands were spared by their efforts. Lunars worked to help the world in other ways as well. They cured diseases to small for the Solars to bother with, made sure the regions outside the Deliberative's rule were looked after, cleaned up after wars, and generally made the world a better place to live.

In all this the Lunars were the most beloved Exalted of the First Age. Mortals found the other Celestials aloof, and knew too much about the Dragon Blooded to really love them. But the Lunars were sympathetic figures, and the mortals looked to them for guidance. These pleas for guidance became more frequent as the Great Curse took hold over the Solars.

But the Lunars were bound by their love. Some cared too much for the Solars to truly see the terror, even as they dealt with it on a daily basis. Some were too wrapped up in some great but transiet moral cause to see what was going on. Some feared the Solars and saw little reason to risk further punishment. The Lunars did not act.

And so the Sidereals did. The Chosen of the Stars gathered the Dragon Blooded and overthrew the Old Realm. Many Lunars were killed in the fighting. Some fled to the cities of their fellows at the edge of the world. Others quietly went underground, doing their best to pretend that nothing had happened at they could continue to serve their causes.

It was during this time that the Silver Pact was formed. The Lunars were subdued, but hardly lost. Quietly, Lunars met on mountain tops across Creation or near the edge of the world and formed pacts to share secrets and resources with each other. Gradually, these connections coalesced into a secret society spanning the entirety of Creation. The Lunars aided each other in their quiet causes or bid their time, waiting to take their revenge. In its day the Silver Pact was an impressive organization. It did a great deal of good at times, taking up causes the Sidereals would not or looting the relics of the First Age and taking them to safe keeping in the Great Cities at the edge of the world. It never posed a serious challenge to the rule of Sidereals, due to the independant nature of the Lunars, but still it persisted.

Then came the Great Contagion and the invasion of the Fair Folk. The great cities at the edge of the world now sit in ruins or isolated outposts of stability buried in the madness of the Wyld. The Silver Pact has lost its influence, although most Lunars are still honorary members. The First Age Lunars died of age, and their causes died with them.

Now, in the ruins at the edge of the world or the crumbling cities at the center or the wilderness everywhere, the Lunars are being reborn. Each comes to life having experienced bitter defeat at the hands of something he could not control. Each feels his Castemark burn and scream in his soul, a bitter legacy of incredible power. The Lunars are weary, and angry, and ready to strike.