Prologue:
The future develops in accordance with fixed laws, according to calculable
numbers. If these numbers are known, future events can be calculated with
perfect certainty.
- Richard Wilhelm
Over twenty thousand years ago, the universe existed under the tyranny of a being of indescribable power. Twisting the world to its whims and cruelly toying with its people, this "evil being from beyond the sky" was absolute. Then, four heroes rose up from the earth, and after an arduous journey spanning many worlds, they sealed the creature in its abyssal realm for all eternity - or so they thought. After their legendary battle, the four heroes disappeared from mortal view and vanished into the mists of time. In the following centuries, many worshipped them as gods, and indeed they may have been. Skeptics believed that their long failure to reappear seemed to indicate that they had died long ago, perhaps from wounds inflicted in their titanic battle.and indeed.that may also be so. Not long after the Sky Battle (as it came to be known), a being that is now called a "Rudra," or racial god, appeared in the world. This being raised the native Daanan mystics to levels unprecedented by other mortals. The art of "word essence," or rune-based magic, became a basis of civilization and the very concept of the world. Then, after four thousand years of prosperity, the great Daanan civilization was reduced to rubble and the species rendered extinct. The Daanan Rudra had also disappeared. Not long afterwards, a new race appeared, and with them, a new patron deity. These beings were called the "Mizushu-Sai" or Sea folk. Once again, the civilization of the Sea-folk rose to world-encompassing levels, as did the art of word essence, particularly that which centered on the control of the sea and weather. Again, the Sea-folk prevailed for four thousand years, and then disappeared in a single night. After the demise of the Sea-folk, the art of word essence was all but lost, as the new race that emerged, the warlike Hahchu-Rui lizard people had little use for it. Once again, the new race dominated the world and then simply vanished without a trace. Then came the Kyojin giants, who began refining the arts of machinery and defense. After four thousand years of dominance, they too disappeared. Now, after twenty thousand years of this cycle of racial creation and destruction, a fifth race has appeared: humans. Both the arts of science and magic have been quickly embraced by this flexible people, and they have risen to dominate the earth. But the end of the fifth age is approaching. Now four new heroes shall be the deciding factor in the cycle of -
Rudra No Hihou.
Over twenty thousand years ago, the universe existed under the tyranny of a being of indescribable power. Twisting the world to its whims and cruelly toying with its people, this "evil being from beyond the sky" was absolute. Then, four heroes rose up from the earth, and after an arduous journey spanning many worlds, they sealed the creature in its abyssal realm for all eternity - or so they thought. After their legendary battle, the four heroes disappeared from mortal view and vanished into the mists of time. In the following centuries, many worshipped them as gods, and indeed they may have been. Skeptics believed that their long failure to reappear seemed to indicate that they had died long ago, perhaps from wounds inflicted in their titanic battle.and indeed.that may also be so. Not long after the Sky Battle (as it came to be known), a being that is now called a "Rudra," or racial god, appeared in the world. This being raised the native Daanan mystics to levels unprecedented by other mortals. The art of "word essence," or rune-based magic, became a basis of civilization and the very concept of the world. Then, after four thousand years of prosperity, the great Daanan civilization was reduced to rubble and the species rendered extinct. The Daanan Rudra had also disappeared. Not long afterwards, a new race appeared, and with them, a new patron deity. These beings were called the "Mizushu-Sai" or Sea folk. Once again, the civilization of the Sea-folk rose to world-encompassing levels, as did the art of word essence, particularly that which centered on the control of the sea and weather. Again, the Sea-folk prevailed for four thousand years, and then disappeared in a single night. After the demise of the Sea-folk, the art of word essence was all but lost, as the new race that emerged, the warlike Hahchu-Rui lizard people had little use for it. Once again, the new race dominated the world and then simply vanished without a trace. Then came the Kyojin giants, who began refining the arts of machinery and defense. After four thousand years of dominance, they too disappeared. Now, after twenty thousand years of this cycle of racial creation and destruction, a fifth race has appeared: humans. Both the arts of science and magic have been quickly embraced by this flexible people, and they have risen to dominate the earth. But the end of the fifth age is approaching. Now four new heroes shall be the deciding factor in the cycle of -
Rudra No Hihou.