The World of Tellice

The deistream flows through everything in the land of Tellice, it is the life stream which transfers souls from one form to another. The life blood of the planet which most humans and animals have no influence over, but they are subject to it. It can direct the flow of the wind, the migration of animals and the fertility of the soil, and if it surges though an area intensely enough, it can cause natural events and disasters.

 

Much like the blood in one’s body, it can clot, or in this case crystalize, forming deistones, where some soul energy is temporarily cut off from the deistream only to dissolve again if left alone over the course of weeks or months. These deistones can be harvested and consumed by humans however, granting them magical powers for a brief period of time, this does however, consume the soul energy, which the deistream has to regenerate slowly by creating new souls.

 

Deistones can form anywhere that the deistream flows, from amidst the grass and under the soil, from the bottom of the sea to the top of the mountains, from molten lava to frozen ice, within stone and on rare occasion, even living flesh.

 

There is a cost to the use of deistones this way en masse however, and when they are used in large enough numbers the deistream shrinks and leaves areas, those areas become corrupted and turn black. Life leaves and the deistream is repelled by it.

 

This was the case in the old times of wars, large armies of magic users cast destructive spells upon one another in pursuit of dominance and destruction.

 

When enough of the land turned black, the deistream rerouted through many areas sometimes causing surges, and if an intense enough surge went through an animal directly, it would change them, make them in tune with the deistream itself and they would become a diogeni.

 

Diogeni are intelligent creatures capable of mastering language and concepts quickly. They alter the flow of the deistream in their immediate vicinity to control other animals and plants. But their purpose is unknown to them. Each having to figure out their place in the world much like any human. Their forms change slowly over time to reflect their personalities, some become more lean and fast so they can evade confrontation, others who befriend humans and try to assimilate to human society in turn become more humanlike, and others favour their bestial nature, becoming unstoppable monsters.

 

Many diogeni rose to positions of power after being born from the old wars, each becoming the ruler of their own human armies, and each were revered as gods.

So the wars raged on, the blacklands grew and the deistream shrank and with it, so did the lands that could sustain life. The livable world became smaller and smaller until one day only two gods remained. Each vying for dominance yet acutely aware of their mutual destruction, they formed two opposing religions which would settle their disputes on a smaller scale and each side would abide by the results, win or lose as their gods decreed.