The Imaginer Among Us

i - Finding

The Imaginer felled a Lodestone from the sky and walked to our land upon it, all the way from the foot of the Great Am. Along the way, he pulled from the Lodestone a series of gems. Once he reached the shores of our wide continent, the Lodestone bridge fell away below the sea. The Imaginer stood in darkness and silence. He planned.

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The Imaginer had stories to tell. On the far side of Am, where Eimea's Light withdraws to bring out the Stars, it is said that people no longer listen to stories, because they no longer know how to feel. As he walked, the Imaginer wondered at the thought of a place where people would live only to feel; where the very purpose of life would be to spin endless, winding tales, then spend the eternity following them listening to the tales of others.

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The Imaginer looked at the land stretching far ahead of him. Untouched ground reached out past the point where his eyes dropped their sight in exhaustion. Ahead of him, a stone rested upon the ground. As he walked, the Imaginer felt the stone resting there. He reached out inside himself and told the stone to grow. When the Imaginer reached the stone, it had grown enough to shadow all the land around it, even in the dark of a sunless sky. Cradling the stone was an enormous valley, which formed an unbroken ring in the centre of our wide continent's expanse.

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The Imaginer walked to the peak of the valley holding the huge stone in place. Veins of rich ore sparkled throughout the stone; glistening with the promise of a world to come; glistening with countless stories waiting to be told; glistening with life.

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The Imaginer raised the rock from its cradle. Into the sky it rose, parting Lodestones as it went. It floated in stunning vastness over all the land, and the Imaginer stood excited at what it promised. He opened his mouth to speak, and the resulting sound rang out in the sky as the stone cracked into millions of pieces. Like flocking birds, the pieces flowed around one another and drifted apart in a blanket across the sky. 

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The Imaginer pushed the stone fragments apart to form a ring above the land outside the cradling valley. He drove them with force into the ground. Every rock fell at once and planted itself in the soil of the land. Once they had settled, the rocks rooted themselves in the earth around them and began to grow.

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The Imaginer stood in the centre of the valley and turned his attention to the gems he collected from the fallen Lodestone. He took the largest one and lodged it deep into the ground at his feet, right into the core of our land. This gem, we all know as children of Eimae, was the World Gem: the first and most powerful Lifening Gem. As the World Gem softly glowed from beneath the ground, the Imaginer walked away from it and began to lodge the other Lifening Gems in the ground in a vast ring around it. When he finished placing the other Gems in the ground, he returned to the first one.The World Gem glowed the colour of fire. It sang a soft song of life from the ground.

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The Imaginer basked in the rising heat from the World Gem. He cast a breath over it and watched it begin to take on its destined form. While the World Gem took on earth to build itself up, the Imaginer cast the same living breath over all the other Lifening Gems in the ring at the heart of the valley. Outside the valley, the rocks grew by taking on ore and salt, but inside, the Lifening Gems grew using the earth and ground around them.

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As the Gems grew, the first Measure passed and Finding was marked.

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ii - Romun

The Imaginer watched the World Gem

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Out of the earth rose a giant man-like form. An eyeless, dirt-clod covered head rose to twice the height of its summoner, wrapping itself as it formed around the World Gem, which rose up inside it. Around the rumbling body, the ground glowed a hot molten orange. Two enormous arms pulled themselves up from below the melting ground and were coated in a hissing liquid metal which bubbled up around their earthen skin. Dirt and earth continued to push its way upwards to form a body to accompany the arms, and when the heat and motion settled, a hulking creature stood before the Imaginer.

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Steam crawled off the beast's metal skin. A furnace-rattle mumbled into the ground as the newborn golem took its first breath. The wide mouth of the dome-like head opened and light from the World Gem shone out into the shimmering air. Billows of steam poured out from the six great nostrils flanking the giant's head, shrouding its entire body momentarily within a hot, heavy cloud. Each successive breath grew deeper, and the giant sank into a deep pattern, shooting small flames from its head as it came to meet the power within its throat.

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The Imaginer spoke. He named the giant Romun. He placed a hand on one of Romun's fists, and it formed itself into a gargantuan hammer. He explained that Romun would become the smith of the race soon to be known as the Titans. The World Gem would allow him to manipulate the stone, earth and ore of the world, and breathe the fiery breath of life into everything he created. With the World Gem, Romun was to build a world for the Titans, and when it came time to know them, he would teach the ore-born children of Eimae how to build one for themselves.

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Romun breathed a flame of understanding. Pillars of smoke emerged from his head and snaked around his body at his command. They pulled tightly around him and formed a wispy, flowing apron covering his torso.

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Another Measure passed.

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The land of the Titans needed to be separated from that of Eimae's children in order for each race to have a place of its own to dwell. The Titans would inherit the basin where they grew, and the children of Eimae would take the land where they did the same. From inside the basin, the Titans would govern over the children of Eimae using the powers instilled in them by the Lifening Gems, so to divide the worlds of earth-born and ore-born, Romun was commanded to build a wall of living Eimean metal along the mountains in the range forming the valley basin. Romun set to work.

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The Imaginer called down his aid from Am. A glowing, elegant mass of golden alloy with a swivelling glass eye made its way across the sea and up into the mountains where Romun worked. Since this journey was made, it has not been known for anyone else to successfully cross the waters between Am and the beautiful Eimae, save for the Imaginer's invisible voyages from plane to plane. Inside the golden body lived a piece of the Imaginer's mind, permitting him to work in two places simultaneously. Maih, the Golden Warrior of Am stood strong by Romun, and the Finding Gate Wall was built by the pair, who grew to become friends as they worked.

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iii - Spirits and Titans

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The Imaginer stood by the crater left by Romun's birth. He looked into it, and saw the heart of the land. Above the hole, he raised a hand, and out of it shone a blinding light. He turned the palm to the sky and within the light, a shape appeared. A yellow, translucent stone began to manifest where the light focused itself, and the sole Lifening Gem formed by the Imaginer's hand took shape before him.

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The Imaginer held the Gem in his hand and the ground shook beneath him. Suddenly, the Imaginer slammed the Gem into the centre of the crater at his feet. The whole earth shook from coast to coast, and the Gems within the valley began to grow faster. Outside the basin, the growing rocks of salt and ore drew life from the light being driven into the heart of the continent. 

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The crater racked violently with pure energy. Light like that of a star poured from the hole in the ground and then slowly settled into a gentle glow. 

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The Imaginer crouched with a palm to the ground. He felt the heat of the new Gem below the surface. He stood tall and stepped back, rolling earth between the fingers of the hand which  formed the Gem. 

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A shape of pure light burst forth from the crater. It levitated gently at head height, making no sound. The shape took the form of a young woman and shone softly into the air. 

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Eimae shined a smile.

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The Imaginer reached out and took Eimae's hand. He explained to her that she was the spirit of the land she was born out of. She would hear every story to be told throughout the life of the land and give life to all its people. She would be found anywhere life lived, and she would bring life to everything, everywhere.

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The Imaginer walked to the ring of Lifening Gems around the centre of the land. The three northernmost Gems had grown larger than any of the others, and the Imaginer stood in ait by the central one. A small child of Romun's same earthy under-complexion climbed to its feet and looked up into the Imaginer's eyes. From the child's head sprouted small stalks of a future crown, and out of its eyes came the light of the High Gem.

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The Imaginer took the child's hand. Eimae joined the pair as the Imaginer began to speak, and the Imaginer sat down to tell the child his destiny. When he was fully grown, the child would become High King of Eimae and all her people. The High Gem within him would give him domain over all the lands inside and outside the Finding Gate Wall and over the entire populate. He would grow the land to fit the people's needs each time the peaks of the Great Am stretched upwards, and he would maintain peace between all living things.

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Among the Eimean Populate, in every cycle of life, a ruler would be born. The ore of the ruler would be the only gold throughout all the land, given unto them by Eimae's spirit as a gift to a spotless soul, but each new cycle would renew them. The child Titan would rule forever, with Eimae as Queen at his side.

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The Imaginer watched the child turn to his future Queen with open arms. the spirit of the land drifted down to meet him, and the Imaginer rested a hand upon his growing grown. Upon the boy, the Imaginer placed the name Mon Arkom, and he was made High King.

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Another Measure passed, and Mon Arkom's birth bore the first Star in the sky of Am's Dark.

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On Mon Arkom's two sides arose two smaller children. To the left, a boy robed in white sang softly in the light. He looked longingly into the sky, waving his hands at the Lodestones drifting overhead. To the right, a girl grinned while smoke puffed in small bursts from the palms of her hands.

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The Imaginer spoke. To the boy, he gave the name Mon Cros, and to the girl, he gave the name Mon Sus. He sat on the ground with Eimae, and the children joined him to form a circle.

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Mon Cros would grow into the Communicant of the Titans and Eimean Populate. Spirit Energy from across the continent would channel through him into the great Lodestones in the sky by the power of the Lodestone Gem within him. He would hear the Imaginer's will in the air and coming down from the Stars, and pass the spirits of the deceased on to live in the sky.

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Mon Sus learned that her Gem made her responsible for the power generated by living souls across the continent. As people lived and created stories, the energy from their spirits would develop a charge which would channel through Mon Cros, and as it moved through the air, the spirit energy would give off power, which Mon Sus could direct and control in order to give back different forms of energy to the people. Throughout the Populate would come people who received the power and used it to help those around them.

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The spirits of Eimae and her Titans pulsed warmly in the presence of purpose and life to come. 

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The Imaginer plotted the valley basin according to the places where he had planted the Lifening Gems. Each Titan would have an opposite, with an antithetic Gem to collide with and find solace and calming company. Around each Gem's planting spot was plotted a Spoke in the land, and in the spots themselves, the Imaginer placed a seal for each Titan, designating their Spoke. When all the seals were forged into the ground, the Imaginer waited. Above each metal seal, corresponding Titans' insignias drew themselves in the silent air. Eimae and the infant Titan Triumvirate watched as each insignia spread out into the Spoke behind it and set in motion the individual landscapes which would match the powers and needs of each Titan when they came to inherit their lands. The spirits of the Titans still forming in the ground bound to their individual Spokes, and some of them began to reach out to their opposites, forming bonds which would become eternal partnerships before long. 

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As the Spokes took on the essence of their Titans, the basin filled with colour. Lines burned into the ground to separate each Spoke from the others. A hub rose up from the centre of the land where Eimae's Gem lay, and the basin was at once full of life.

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The Imaginer sat on the raised hub at the core of the land with Eimae and the infant Triumvirate. A beam of light shone up from the very centre of the hub, and the Imaginer laid a hand upon it. 

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The Imaginer felt Eimae's energy through the ground. He felt her Lifening Gem pulse. He named the Gem in front of the others and gave over the name of the land, so that those within it now could rule it and see it live. 

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The Measure closed and two new Stars pierced the sky of Am's Dark, shining with the spirits of the two new Titans.

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iv - The Land of Mae-Titan

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The Imaginer sat on the Spokes' convergence point above the Imaginer Gem. A mile away on all sides were Titan children clambering up out of the ground. Clothes of dirt, grass, earth and vines swathed the new and bemused children, and one by one they began to notice one another. 

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Beautiful Eimae rose above the ground and shone for the children to see. Each child turned to look at her, shocked by the sudden dazzling brightness. They were drawn to the heat, and their little legs all began moving them towards the centre of their land, where their creator waited for them.

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So much power closed in on the hub of the land. The first country of Eimae was scarcely born and her subjects were already growing into the forms they would inhabit at their seats of authority over the land. Eimae's spirit watched from above the heads of all around her. Each spoke was taking shape; life emerged from the ground, mimicking the powers of the Titans who would soon rule over them, and a warmth glowed from the land. Eimae smiled in the sky in anticipation of the world to come. 

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The Imaginer sat among the throng of children. Already some were in their adolescence, taking on some of the hulking mass which would separate them from the people outside the mountain wall. The Imaginer looked at the confused and fascinated expressions on the faces around him. He sat, and the Titans did the same. 

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The Imaginer spoke to the children. As he spoke, he gifted unto them his language, brought from the world where he was born. It is said that to purify the lives in this world, The Imaginer withheld pieces of language from us and has hidden them within himself. The Titans learned from The Imaginer that they would each take hold of a power given to them by the Gems which gave them life. Their powers would be necessary for the survival of the world around them, and their individual Spokes would give them places to root their powers and control their energies across all things. Together, the Titans would maintain Semblance across all the stories of Eimae.

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For each Titan there was a companion with an antithetical power who would inhabit the opposite Spoke in the lands within the wall. Although the Titans would be responsible for the world when working as a whole, their companionships as pairings would allow them to better understand their powers and their own lives. 

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The Titans would be free to roam across all the Spokes of their land, but in the centre there would be a great palace for them to meet together. Mon Arkom and his Queen would  inhabit the palace and convene the ruling collective when necessary. Between them, the Titans would work to move forces under their influence to benefit all those throughout the land of Eimae, and once during each Age of the land, when a Low King passed on to the Stars, they would build new land on to the continent in honour. These new Realms would be built to feed the greatest need of the Eimean people at the passing of each Age, and the Titans' powers would come together in combinations to produce a place to provide for the people. 

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In all, the Titans would grow and change the continent of Eimae through each Age to ensure the greatest possible Semblance in the land. 

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Each Titan's eyes lit up as purpose was suddenly bestowed upon them. The spirits in the power of each Spoke shook the ground and settled themselves within each Titan's seal, accepting their masters. 

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The boy Mon Arkom stood to face his peers. The knowledge of their need for him flashed across his face in revelation, and his face steeled, taking on the air we still see upon it to this Measure. When he opened his mouth to speak, the stalks of his crown cropped further outwards from his skull. We do not know what was said by the High King, but it has been passed down that even mighty Romun looked down from his work on the mountain wall to raise a fist to him in allegiance and honour. Stars appeared above each Spoke in the sky of Am's Dark following the closing of the Measure to mark the birth of new souls. The sky was learning to be beautiful, just as the Titans were learning to be strong.

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Measures passed, and the Titans grew along with their powers. As they learned of themselves and came to meet their companions, they settled into their Spokes, which took on a stronger resemblance to their individual powers with the passing of each Measure.

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The Imaginer grounded foundations above the Gem at the core of the land. With the help of Eimae's High King, the first Titan Palaceum was created.

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v - Children of Ore

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The Imaginer departed from Mae-Titan during the Measures when the Titans were learning of their strengths. When Romun's creeping wall neared completion, the Imaginer was outside it, among the lands we call our home. 

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The Imaginer laid a hand on the ground outside the wall and named it Mae-Ulus. Around him, countless of our World-Owners were wandering the land in search of answers. At first, they were confused; the Imaginer was not like them, and they were afraid of what they saw. When the Imaginer showed his hands to those first World-Owners though, they saw that he was like them.

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The Imaginer travelled the trimming lands of our home and taught the Populate of Eimae about the Purpose of Story. Each Ore was given the Imaginer's language, just like the Titans, but with it this time he granted the desire to live and tell great stories to one another. To each Ore the Imaginer spoke of the others. All of them were different in their skills and appearances, but if they lived and told stories together, they could learn how to help one another create the greatest tales with each new Age. 

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The Ores learned together that the stories they told would live on in the spirits inside them, which would pass energy into the Lodestones of the sky. The vibrations of a spirit steeped in wonderful tales would pass tremendous power into the sky, which the Lodestones could use to enrich and empower the land and her people. As power from vivid spirits was released, it would return to the land to press life onward in chronicle.

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Of course, spirits would only ever be able to produce so much energy before burning out. At the end of its wick, each spirit would earn a Star in the sky of Am's Dark which would shine as brightly as the stories it told in life. Together, all those who passed beyond life among us would go on to live in the sky, telling stories from the lives behind them and listening to those being told below.

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Eimae's outer lands soon brimmed with the mingling colours of every Ore and the Lodestones above sang with power as innumerable stories broke into their opening pages. 

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The Imaginer decided we were ready to unite our worlds under the light of Eimae.

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The TItans were strong, and they lived in joyful peace above Eimae's spirit and below her light. They spoke of their thoughts and creations together in the Palaceum as they each learned about their powers. They knew they would come to grow the land of Eimae for her people, and they were starting to learn of what their Lifening Gems would allow them to do when duty called upon them.

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The Imaginer returned under the light of Eimae while the Titans met in the Palaceum. The Titans were pleased by the visit, thinking it time to act on behalf of the Populate. Instead, the Imaginer told them that their duty was to act for the people throughout every Measure, and not just at the changing of each Age. Spirit power, divided among the Titans by the Triumvirate, would be used to constantly refresh and renew the world, giving energies and resources to those telling stories outside the wall; every gesture would need a moulding of some form of energy, and the Titans would be there to provide it. The Imaginer explained that the Titans would be needed to guide life in its every step throughout all the lands which would come to be a part of Eimae.

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The Imaginer remained with the Titans as they took on the knew knowledge of their responsibilities. The ways in which they studied their powers changed as they looked to see how their Spokes could help them work through every Measure to control the energies passed down to them from the Lodestones through the Triumvirate. Across many Measures, the Titans learned.

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