FrivYeti/CometaryHistory
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The Eighth Incarna
The history of the time before the Primordial is dim and shrouded in secret. Humans wrote no histories of these times, and the histories of the Dragon Kings have been lost to time. Even the gods themselves are not always certain of the way of things, and those who know do not always wish to speak of their knowledge. However, a few historians have learned enough to know that the seven Incarnae that currently reign are not the only ones to have shared rule over Creation. Once, they were eight in number.
When the Primordials began to shape Creation, some of them thought far enough ahead to realize that if they had shaped themselves from the Wyld, others might do so as well. With the infinite reaches of the Wyld, Tigranes, Master of Comets, was crafted by Gaia, Cecylene, and Oramus, who had looked ahead to the future and imagined the likelihood of new arrivals. Tigranes was designed and developed to be able to pass freely through the bounds of the Wyld, passing away from Creation on long arcs and then returning periodically to check in with his overlords.
Tigranes would spent three cycles of the years - seventy-five years in total - journeying through the Wyld, forging his tools and weapons from the Wyld-stuff around him as he needed, fighting or hiding from the Fair Folk as necessary. His life was hard but enjoyable, and he was occasionally successful in his task, uniting the Primordials within Creation. Each time, he found a mighty but confused being, taking them on his journey, befriending them and showing them the rules of Creation, so that when they returned, they were ready to join the ranks of the Primordial gods, adding their touches to the nature of Creation. And each time he left again, and upon his next return he found a good friend transformed into an imperious overlord, the other Primordials quickly convincing each newcomer that only the Primordials, ultimately, were important, and that Tigranes was nothing more than a tool. He grew depressed, at first, but it was not in his nature to shirk action. His sorrow turned to rage, and when, upon one return, the other Incarnae whispered their plans of rebellion to him, he joined them both willingly and eagerly.
The Primordial War
Each of the Incarna designed their Exalted based on their own capabilities and natures. The Solars were the Lawgivers, the golden champions and symbols. The Lunars were the Stewards, guarding their fellows and supporting them. The Sidereals were the Viziers, advisors and trainers, who worked fate. The Dragon-Blooded were the footsoldiers, armies willing to stand behind their leaders. And the Cometaries were the Omenbringers, who infiltrated the ranks of the Primordial minions, met with their leaders, sabotaged their fortifications, and paved the way for war.
When the war began, the Omenbringers were in the front ranks, shock troops that created openings for their fellows to exploit. Their rates of death were ferocious compared to the other Exalted, but they were chosen for their willingness to sacrifice - those for whom the cause of freedom was greater and more important than their own lives. They sacrificed themselves to bring down great foes, and fought and died as the heralds of the freedom for humanity that the Incarna had promised.
The Great Vanishing
By the end of the Primordial War, nearly all of those Cometary Exalted from the first generation had passed away. In the discussions about Creation that followed, Tigranes spoke privately with Gaia, and then announced his decision to resume his original duties with the war over. It was his hope that, if he found new Primordials, Gaia and Autochthon could be responsible for their training, integrating into the Celestial Bureaucracy and preventing the arrogance of the older Primordials from spreading anew. Otherwise, he argued, innocent beings would be destroyed - or worse, might gather elsewhere and forge a new Creation, one that would inevitably turn hostile to theirs when they learned of their imprisoned siblings.
It was the second concern more than the first that swayed the other Incarnae, and they agreed that if Tigranes wished to resume his duties, he could. However, there was another problem. While the other Incarnae had looked ahead to the running of Creation, Tigranes had little experience with Creation, and the other gods worried that they would prove to be a destabilizing influence, rather than a reinforcing one. After some debate, it was agreed that the Cometary Exalted could provide a new purpose by warring against the fae, drawing the Unshaped away from Creation so that the Exalted could set about rebuilding Creation and expanding its borders once again.
Tigranes gathered his Exalted about him, and set off into the Wyld, taking a safe-point around themselves to guide their journeys. After seventy-five years, he returned, and a number of new Cometary Exalts awakened and joined him on his second trek into the Wyld. When another seventy-five years had passed, the Incarnae awaited his return once again - but he did not return. Years turned into decades, and the Incarna sent expeditions into the Wyld. Solars and Lunars ventured as far as they dared, but no sign of Tigranes or his Chosen was ever discovered. As the centuries passed, the First Age took shape, and the Cometaries were gradually forgotten, believed destroyed by the power of the Wyld.
But they might yet return one day. The talent of the Omenbringers was to come when they were most needed. They were not seen in the days of the Contagion, but with the many dangers facing Creation, they might yet return...
