GLoGtober '21 Day 2 - Stygia, A Land of Ash

The northwest, a land of ash and folly

     In a past age, the Stygian kingdoms ruled the northwest of the world. Their land was not like verdant and magical Arcadia; it was barren and mountainous, and the humans there fought unendingly for resources. They, like all human tribes, were ruled by Kings.

    But the Arcadian Kings and the Stygian Kings were not the same. The Stygian Kings were a hard-pressed lot, as, unlike their Arcadian neighbors, their kingdoms were far less abundant in resources and people. The Stygian Kings still revered the Titans while the more advanced Arcadians worshipped the six sacred metals.

    Everything remained this way for hundreds of years, until, as always, one individual changed the course of history. Her true name has been forgotten and now she is referred to as the Flamescar Worm. The Worm used to be a female King and artist of the Witch-in-the-woods. She came up with the brilliant idea to start consuming magical energy, including the souls of her fellow artists. She started to consume the sacred metals, especially gold. Then, she found the original Knight of Eyes, a great stone card engraved with a divine rune.

    And consumed it.

    Her skin blackened and became scaly, her tongue and fangs serpentine. Her eyes, reflecting her diet, became spheres the color of molten gold. Wings sprouted from her back and her breath became that of scarlet flame.

Anato Finnstark

   It was midnight when the Flamescar Worm burst from her blazing palace, letting out a screech that alerted all the Kings in Stygia that a new power was on the rise. In perhaps the only time in the long history of Stygia, the mountain Kings united. The goal of the combined kings? Kill their vermicular foe. The Kings traveled to the lair of the Flamescar Worm and fought her there. In their hubris, they thought they could defeat her.

    An innumerable number of Kings died that day. The ashy detritus of their bodies still blows from Worm’s Peak. A few wandering families of artists settled down near the Flamescar Worm’s lair and have become her devout acolytes. Most of the Stygians, King-less, decided to migrate to the mountains of the world, becoming the dwarfs.