The Storm Eternal, Pt. 2

 This is part two. You can find part one here.

P.A. Nisbet

Nobody remembers life before the storm. There are no beings, alive or dead, who still reminisce of azure skies and celestial rays. The idea of Bromeilles before The Storm Eternal is a dead memory, a dream lost in the seas of human consciousness, chased endlessly by poets and envious politicians. Anything alive that could possibly share its recollections of the old world has no desire to, especially not with mortals. 

History books are filled with eyewitness accounts. Thousands of old fables, fears and hopes, each recorded tediously over generations. Shelves complete with compendiums line the wall of high society like wallpaper. Many have read their contents. Others have no need. Whatever idea the books represent is invaluable compared to the actual content shared. 

The Storm Eternal was a manifestation. A clockwork machine of enigmatic design focused on achieving a goal far beyond our understanding. With it came the rain, the dark, and the violence. But the children of the old world were familiar with oddity; They had witnessed the great blood storms, of beasts born through human fear. If this storm was simply another creation of their own beliefs, they could surely destroy it? And so villages fell to their knees in synchrony. Those first great cities toiled their bells and pounded drums. The children of The Old World looked to the sky and begged the universe for salvation, giving in exchange whatever they did not have. 

As forests burned, haybales were struck ablaze. While farms were ripped from their foundations by magnetic winds, lambs were slaughtered by the litter. If they could merely buy some time, a moment of reprise in an eternity of grief, then surely something could be done. And so it was. 

The final seven years of The Storm Eternal are considered the official end of the Old World's anthology. This was when the meteor swarms began, thus introducing the Exterior Races to the world. 

The Old World did not end because of The Storm Eternal. It ended because The New World superseded it.

By BrandonSticker 

End of An Era

Before The Storm Eternal, Bromeilles had three "intelligent" species:

1. Hallwani, an immigrant species from a far-away continent, are long removed from their cultural centre. Although stout and short-lived, they are a proud race of sailors and labourers. They are one of the only major religious factions remaining on the cracked continent.
2. Imps, a viciously diverse race of insectoids. Their culture is highly isolationist, only truly revealing themselves to the other races in bulk when The Storm Eternal tore open their burrows and threatened their colonies. Progenitors of the Artisinal Schools.
3. Humans, the most populous of the kin. Their cultural barriers alone number in the hundreds, and the half-dozen ethnic groups which now permeate the continent's surface are as distinct as they are alike. They are disproportionately afflicted with Curseridden.

The Exterior Races are a collection of intelligent, collaborating species that arrived Post-Storm and have since engaged in active communication with The Republic. First contact with most of these races occurred in the final years of The Storm's operational period, outliers notwithstanding. Some of the more prominent Exterior Races include:

1. The Elkem, a race of lean, sharp-eared creatures placed somewhere in the uncanny valley between the humanoid and the utterly alien. Solid eyes of unnatural colour, skin the tone of beaten flames, and an unnatural lankiness to their form. The Elkem, as they are now, rival even The Republic in places. They have fragments of their own culture to thank, brought over from whatever world they came from. They are the closest thing to "elves" in this setting, and they are not pleased.
2. La Verre, a colloquial term for elemental spirits that have cobbled together (or have been forced into) a humanoid vessel. These vessels are typically capable of safe communication with their neighbours. Some believe that the Verre was always present; that the congregant nature spirits that possessed the world were granted the ability to better interact with humanity. Or were forced into it by The Storm.

Hundreds of species landed in Bromeilles in the starting weeks. Thousands were wiped out in months without ever being known. The ecology of an entire continent was forced to adapt to this new, alien environment. Its new inhabitants were no luckier, now introduced to a locale entirely unlike their own. Local flora was foreign to these creatures, and diseases were strange weapons in an unfamiliar arms race. Predators became prey. Animals previously hunted to extinction found themselves engorged on land.

The druids remember the old ecology, but even their own fears have subsided. The natural order has adapted. Many have grown fat on such opportunity, jovial bears through and through. Even still, there are some who believe in the sanctity of a world restored to longevity. An uncracked continent. Their circles collect in quiet commune under the moonlight. Their bodies will be thrashed by beasts never meant to flay human flesh. Their siblings will collect the pieces, hoping that their next life will be one returned to grace. 

Only the Elkem live to tell tales of The Old World, but their numbers are few, and their words are melancholy. What little knowledge they share is that of a sputtering flame, struggling to outlast its final breath. They have already witnessed the death of one world. They have no desire to wrangle with ours.