In the time before mankind, lots were drawn, domains defined,
Gods divided, fate decided, spheres of influence aligned.
Sky and ocean, war and hearth, storm and river, mind and heart:
Realms shaped for mortal souls, infinite but numbered.

Man was formed from clay and dust, temporary vessels for a spirit.
Souls sealed into a mortal form.
Capable of traversing the realms of gods but bound,
To a final fate beneath the ground.

The Eldest rules the underworld!
Where mortal souls shall remain
An afterlife of mists and shadows,
Without light, but without pain

Spoken:

Thus was the first age of man auric but austere
Their souls unweighed, but numbered days
Meant life was all they would revere.

Mankind's first age was ended by the youngest god, the last divine:
He that holds dominion over discord and ambition.
Desire grew to overthrow his eldest sibling's realm
To forge a kingdom in the land beyond the dark waters

Sinister desire!
Necrotic empire!
An army ever growing
The dead shall not rest!

Spoken:
And so the Youngest wove a web of artifice and cunning
To subdue the Eldest divine, the just and rightful Ruler of the Underworld.
With face wreathed in shadow and weapons forged in the fires of stars
He descended into the cavernous mists beneath the world,
Crossed the dark waters unending, and entered the realm of his sibling:
Whose silver throne is black and tarnished, and whose eyes see all.
There, he challenged for the right to rule the dead.

The younger, with evil cunning
Strikes at the all-seeing eyes
The Eldest subdued, but cannot be killed,
And so the final humiliation
The youngest takes the face of his sibling
And with it, creates a MASK
The eldest: faceless,
Enslaved!
To stand over the Dark Waters as Bridgekeeper
Guardian of a realm usurped


Mankind lament
Sins to repent


Gods' abomination!
Facial excarnation!
The Mask of Judgement born
Chthonic Empire formed.