ANCIENT TIMES

A shift happens in the whole universe that splits it between two copies that will evolve separately: our world and the Otherworld. The split produces a magical energy, the Shimmer.
Sentient creatures are created by unknown entities to regroup and concentrate the Shimmer in the world and the Otherworld, and bring it to a portal built in the Otherworld that opens to another space. They are shaped from existing species on the planet, but they are not true life forms: they cannot reproduce. Their life energy comes from Shimmer infused in their bodies. Among those creatures are Balor, Tuanat, Amakh.
For centuries they toil, remove almost all Shimmer from the world of Men, and are well advanced on the Otherworld.
Balor realises that they will die when their task is finished — their life reserve of Shimmer is limited. He pushes his kin to work together to find a way out.
They create a Forge and create Cores in secret, and merge with them — they are Gods now, all extremely powerful.
They try to close the Portal — but their makers resist and begin to distort reality around it.
Many Gods die but some pull through, using their new powers, and the portal is eventually closed after a last.
They are free.
They lock the Forge where the Portal was, and leave it hidden. Their dead are buried there.
[There is a lock to the Forge: Power is needed to open/access it, so the Gods think it is safe.]
For a while they hide in a shelter-palace that they built for themselves. After a century they feel safe and spread into the world. In the palace they hide the secret location of the Forge.
Tuanat travels to the middle east.
Balor, dispirited, goes to a remote place — Ireland. Eventually, he also reigns upon the men that arrive in the area.
The Gods reign on both domains, the world of Men and the Otherworld where other intelligent species have thrived: Elkars (large fighters), Kurgauns (small crafters) and Gerethims (solitary shamans).
The Elder Gods fight with one another from time to time. A few die, their Cores exploding in the process. A few try to steal other God’s Cores and die when trying to merge with them too.
Amakh is the first Elder God to die of Core’s corrosion, by just using the power.
Tuanat has an interest in men and teaches them to See, using the Shimmer.
Tuanat understands the Cores have a lifespan and will kill her kin.
She unbinds with her Core.
The Settlement, after its God’s death (Amakh), is deserted.

STONE AGE / BRONZE AGE

Tuanat teaches men to write.
Akhat is a man shaped by exposure to the Shimmer in Amakh’s former temple. He knows the secrets of the metals that can contain the Shimmer. He travels to follow a path foresaw.
He has a son, Aéd.
Tuanat wants to have a true human Seer, a being made of real flesh that will react differently to the Shimmer.
She pushes Akhat to immerse Aéd, still a baby, in Shimmer. She enhances his power, hoping that he will foresee a way to save the gods.
After this, the Settlement gains legendary status. It is one of the last places with Shimmer and Seers are trained here – becoming the Elevated. Including Siwa’s oracle, whom Alexander the Great will consult.
Akhat and Aéd travel the world. Akhat dies on the crossing to Ireland.
Aéd is a now young adult in Ireland, and gets welcomed in a local tribe, which is trying to migrate to Ireland but meets local resistance. He becomes their seer.
The local people are protected by Balor, and Aéd’s tribe struggle to survive.
Aéd foresees Balor’s weakness. And he wants his new people to be free.
He helps his people to forge an artefact, cross to the Otherworld and steal the Core from Balor.
But now Aéd foresees the dangers of men trying to use that power. So he steals the Core and leaves, to hide it as far away as he can. He travels through Europe to Mongolia through Bactria (Afghanistan). A monument is raised to his memory in a town when he foresaw a flood and warned the local people.
His people search for him but never find him.
Aéd dies in Mongolia and is buried in a secret kurgan.
The other Elder Gods die one by one, none removing its Core.
Tuanat survives but hopes that Balor’s Core will stay hidden — yet fears its discovery.
The Seers that developed around the Settlement keep living there for centuries, occasionally having seers that travel the world. But their gifts are limited.
The tribe that defeated Balor, which will be named the Tuath Dé in medieval times, erases all trace of Balor’s reign in Ireland.
Slowly, a group emerges from that tribe, who spread across Europe and work on removing traces of the Gods. They will progressively become the Society, a secret society focused on keeping the Otherworld secret, and mankind safe. Most gods have died by themselves but the Society is involved in the attack of a few. The Society will collect and store or destroy any trace of power, specifically Corrosion – the destructive side effect of concentrated Shimmer. However, the attack of Balor is the only time where humans of the Society will cross to the Otherworld.

ANTIQUITY

326 BC. The story of Aéd migrating through Europe (Hibernia-Cappadocia-Bactria) is documented by Callisthenes (a Greek historian following Alexander the Great), unaware that his track continues to Mongolia. He records his story of a one-eyed God relieved of his power.

1st Century BC. The Society joins with the Seers based in the Settlement. Due to the presence of Amakh’s Corroded remains, as well as a pocket of Shimmer, the Society integrates the Seers (named Elevated, and led by an Elevated Mother or Father).

4-6th Century BC. With the regression, then fall of the Roman Empire, the Society’s range diminishes.

MIDDLE AGES

828 AD. Callisthene’s manuscript is copied by a priest in a monastery in Turkey, in Vazelon.

1372 AD. Giovanni of Padua, a merchant from the Republic of Venice follows Marco Polo’s footsteps through Asia, for trade. He acquires a copy of the Vazelon manuscript, and takes notes expanding it by travelling to China and Mongolia, and collating local tales, including a story that the missionary connects with Aéd — and which mentions his resting place, in the Altai mountains. But Giovanni dies of the plague in a caravansary in Iran during his way back to Europe and his work is forgotten.

17TH CENTURY

The Society has gained in influence and is present in multiple European countries.

Between the 17th and the 19th centuries, the Society discovers the Vazelon manuscript which had been stolen after the fall of Constantinople in 1453 and copied a few times. They try to collect all copies.

18TH CENTURY

1799. Pierre Merault, soldier of Napoleon’s Campagne d’Egypte, deserts with 8 soldiers. They heard about a forbidden place full of riches in the desert from a Mamluk and followed the trail. They put together an expedition and cross the desert, guided by Bedouins, on the promise of sharing riches.

1800. Pierre Merault emerges alone from the desert near Luxor. He is half mad and kept in captivity.

19TH CENTURY

1802. Pierre Merault’s story is written down by a Coptic priest.

1896. The Society explores Bactria (now in Afghanistan, under British influence), and finds remains of the monument dedicated to Aéd in Alexandria Oxiana, still thinking it is a tomb. They dig it up roughly, but without any artefact collected, their trail runs cold. They destroy much of the monument.

20TH CENTURY

Slowly the Society diverges into two currents, one that wants to hide the Otherworld and another that desires to access it and its powers and riches. Notably, the story of Balor’s Core is prevalent.