Eons ago, at the end of the War of Hosts, the Elder Dragons stood triumphant over the Four Horsemen. Understanding their eternal nature, they bound the Horsemen and shattered their former ally, Conquest, scattering It across the cosmos. But while the fate of these eternal entities is well known to those few that concern themselves with such things, the fate of the foot soldiers of this conflict has long been ignored and forgotten.
Humble before the might of the Dragons but staggering in number, these endless shards and motes of Primordial Creation and Destruction were cast indiscriminately by the Dragons into the very foundation of the nascent cosmos, the raging Elemental Cores of Balance. The Dragons hoped that the overwhelming environment and raw primordial essence would change them or break them down into raw power. Those who had challenged and almost destroyed Balance would become fuel for her cosmos.
For millennia untold, these defeated shards were forced to endure in the rawest and most hostile of environments imaginable, deep in the elemental cores of Balance, where the inimical forces slowly ground away their power and very persona. There these primordial entities lingered, adding to each other’s torment and fighting for the barest scraps of power in order to endure just one more day in a sentence measured in eons. Much like the Dragons had hoped, the Elemental Cores destroyed many, grinding away everything that made those shards what they were, allowing for their raw power and essence to be milled back into the Cosmos, filtered and Balanced.
But not all perished. Far from it. Surrendering their power and stripped of their old primordial nature untold number of these shards surrendered to their torment rather than try to resist it, diving deep into the Cores and embracing the basic essence of Balance, the Elements, and finally surrendering their unbalanced primordial selves. And there, forgotten even by Time, their torment endured, until something unheard of happened: change.
A few millennia after the dawn of mankind, far from the shores of Alektria, in lands unknown to all but a handful, an isolated tribe bloomed into a prosperous civilization. This civilization developed a unique philosophy, which, much like many belief systems, intuitively sensed the truth behind the Material world and worshipped Balance and emulated its virtues though its elemental constituents. Like most known civilizations, their attention turned to the four elemental pillars of this world: Earth, Air, Water and Fire. Unlike most others, however, it counted a fifth Element: the Void or Heavens, a unifying, invisible force that could be understood but not perceived.
Given the ascetic simplicity of their worship, an echo of their prayers travelled deep into the Elemental realms where no human thought had intruded before. The resonant power of their Belief propelled their faith and convictions… and from the depths of the Elemental Domains, hosts of imprisoned primordial warriors lifted their heads and heard.
While the prayers made many of these broken spirits stir in their tormented slumber, few of them could actually listen to their words, their intent and, ultimately, their philosophy. They spoke of Enlightenment, something vague and elusive that souls must traverse before they their they could be refined and ascend, and in doing so they forged a Path to ascension and perhaps freedom. Unfortunately for the creatures that dwelled in darkness and elemental turmoil, this path was hard even for the humans who forged it, how much more so for wretched souls trapped in a spiritual hell? For them, it seemed impossible.
It would take them centuries of effort, pain and dejection before the first of the spirits was able to climb the first step, finally grasping the most basic tenets of the beliefs and philosophies that constituted it. Where he went, others could not follow. For centuries they despaired in darkness made more absolute by the presence of an impossible hope. When he returned, he bore the name of Shuten Doji, Lord of the Ascent, and named his people Yoroni, adopting the language of those who had crafted their Path in homage and gratitude.
Known also as the Twice-Masked Prince, eventually he guided, through discipline, focus and self-denial, a growing number of spirits, who were slowly able to climb the way. For each step they took, the path became just a tiny bit wider, a tiny bit more stable and easier to transverse. And in each step, they paid homage to the speakers of the prayers, their mortal saviors. Over centuries the simple steps became stairs, and in time the passage of countless souls turned the humble stairs into an impossible tower, a pagoda, that contained all of those on the Path as the pilgrimage of thousands of spirits made it stretch from the depths of the elemental layers to the boundless heavens above. Filling the hole forged by their sentence by the Dragons, they called this Eternal Pagoda “Five-Fold Path”, for it started from the Void and crossed depths of the four Elemental domains, piercing them all… but could not pierce the heavens themselves. Only the greatest amongst them had been able to step forth from the pinnacle of the Five-Fold Path and free themselves, but their ability to do so gave the others hope.
Thus, the spirits endured, their ceaseless toil and discipline making the Pagoda a world within itself, contained within the bowels of Balance, but apart. A place where they could learn, refine and uplift themselves through meditation, discipline and devotion. In time, they took shapes, fitting the element that once served as their prison and torment. Ever inspired by the prayers of their mortal guides, they made things and clothes, created arts and admired beauty, elegance and honor – just as they honored their past in the Cores and Void, glorifying in secret in their own indulgences and celebrating their amassed power.
There they remained for centuries, occasionally peering into the heavens above, occasionally witnessing the greatest amongst them making the sudden epiphany that allowed them to move on, ascending to the heavens, but destined, as a people, never to set foot on its hallowed grounds.
Until now.
Through the folly of mortals and in their hybris to reach for heavens higher than theirs, the ceiling above the Way… cracked. A thread was pulled from the Mantle which separates and filters the Elemental Domains, and the veil was weakened. Countless Eons of significance and devotion have granted the Eternal Pagoda such a powerful presence that in this ripple of the Mantle, its highest layers now escape the elemental bowels of Balance. Following that thread the Yoroni can, for the first time, cross in numbers, allowing the most enlightened to step through into their long-promised heaven: the world of mortals.
