The Great Sundering

The Great Sundering is a legendary and apocalyptic event in the mythic history of Elossis, marking the catastrophic end of the Nexus Wars, a divine conflict of unimaginable scale. Often shrouded in religious mystery, cultural distortion, and half-remembered epics, the Sundering is widely believed to be the single greatest upheaval in the history of the world—one that shattered civilizations, remade the Veil between worlds, and ushered in the era now known as the Age of Twilight.

Origins

Though the exact cause of the Great Sundering remains obscured by time, myth holds that it was born from conflict among the gods themselves. The celestial harmony that once governed the realms collapsed when Noctis, the Chaos God of Destruction and the Enemy of Life, turned the divine beings—often referred to as Watchers or early gods—against one another. It is said that alliances crumbled, loyalty decayed, and even creation itself was weaponized in the name of dominion.

Legends speak in hushed tones of the death of Aeonis, the All-Father and God of Creation, who is said to have perished—if not in body, then in presence—during the final days of the conflict. Whether by betrayal, sacrifice, or cosmic fate, His disappearance marked the end of the divine order.

The war that followed would be known in fragments as the Nexus Wars, fought not only across continents but across planes of reality. Cities vanished in pulses of light, stars fell, and divine relics cracked under the pressure of untethered Aether.

The Maelstrom of Silence

Perhaps the most haunting remnant of the Sundering is the Great Vortex—a titanic storm system that eternally churns over the eastern reaches of the Baring Ocean, west of the continent of Ehas. Sailors call it the Maelstrom of Silence. Priests name it The Unclosed Eye. In ancient texts, it is simply The Wound.

Visible from the western shores of Ehas, the vortex is a perpetual spiral of dark clouds, thunderous voidlight, and ruptured gravity, reaching into the sky like a divine scar. No ship that has entered its heart has ever returned. Compasses twist. Magic fails. Time seems to stretch or collapse.

Myths vary, but many hold that the Maelstrom marks the exact point where the fabric of the world was torn asunder—a cosmic tear caused by either a failed god’s last stand, or perhaps the death scream of the world itself. Some claim it is the very place Aeonis vanished from existence. Others believe it to be a hole in reality where Noctis once stepped too close to the material plane, leaving a shadow that will never fade.

Whatever the truth, the Maelstrom remains untouched, untraveled, and feared by all.

Aftermath and Legacy

In the wake of the Great Sundering, the civilizations of Elossis fell to ruin. The once-mighty empires fueled by divine Nexuses—technological and arcane marvels—were reduced to crumbling husks, overrun by chaos, twisted creatures, or the passage of time.

The very Veil, a metaphysical boundary between the material world and outer realms like the Ethereum Abyss, was shattered. In its absence, breaches formed—Veil-thinned zones—allowing chaotic entities and corruption to bleed into the mortal realm. Magic, once the dominion of gods, began to flow freely through the Aetherflow, empowering mortals but destabilizing reality.

Survivors of the Sundering faced a harsh new world. Magic was unpredictable. Technology was largely lost. Entire bloodlines, cultures, and species vanished. The gods, once present and powerful, became silent and distant, bound by mysterious laws many now call the Covenant of the Veil. They can no longer intervene directly, and many mortals have abandoned the temples, choosing independence or desperation over divine silence.

Still, echoes of the Sundering remain:

• Ancient automata left behind by the ancients guard forgotten Nexuses in unbroken vigilance.
• Twisted remnants of once-mortal beings roam Veil-fractured ruins, corrupted by uncontrolled Aether or exposure to the Abyss.
• Crystalline formations of Aetherite, solidified magic, can be found buried in cataclysms zones—treasured and feared alike.
• Scattered across the world are whispers of a return, a prophecy of renewal, in which Aeonis—the Redeemer, the Creator, the All-Father—shall come again to judge the Fallen and restore balance.

Modern Views

Today, the Great Sundering is understood not as a singular event, but a cosmic threshold—the dividing line between the age of gods and the age of mortals. Though most agree it marked the end of the Nexus Wars, no consistent timeline or record survives. Most histories are secondhand mythologies or reconstructed from fragmented stone tablets, relics, or prophetic dreams.

Some cultures view the Sundering as divine justice. Others, as a cautionary tale. And still others—as unfinished, believing the world continues to fracture, inching ever closer to a second collapse unless balance is restored.

To all, however, the Great Sundering is the defining tragedy of Elossis, a wound carved into the bones of the world, whispered in nightmares and sung of in half-forgotten lullabies.