Thekar, the Dagger of the Gods
Index
- Powers
- Weapons created from Thekar
- History
When the Aithars finished shaping the Norwald from the outside, they decided that they needed to see their world from the inside so they could do the finishing touches. Not sure of their skills once in a less powerful form, they forged Thekar in the Great Temple, transferring a huge amount of essence, in order to use it as a creation tool once in the physical form.
To create the weapon, they simply put their hands together, with the same idea in mind. Thekar didn’t have a specific shape or color in their minds, but for sure it had enough power for them to use it as if they were creating from the outside. After a few harat of pure silence, the sound of an edge woke them up from their concentration and brought them to the outside of the Great Temple. There was the dagger, glowing with the glow of the Norwald Gods.
Powers
It is yet unknown for mortals how much power the edge of Thekar holds. It has three skills:
Creation – Thekar is able to create, if the wielder has enough essence. For instance, mortals could never use it for this purpose, unless they received the touch of a god. It is able to create in the mortal plane, which was the main aim for which it was forged.
Rule writing – The rules of balance of the Norwald are written in a specific plane at the Great Temple, and they are untouchable. Only Thekar can open the possibility of editing the rules of life. The wielder doesn’t necessarily have to be made of a huge quantity of essence, as the place where the rules are held is almost unreachable for mortals.
Portal opening – Thekar can also open portals to anywhere in the Norwald, if the wielder’s essence isn’t corrupted. This is a skill suitable for mortals, although they could never open a portal to the Ahian islands. The portals are blue.
Weapons created from Thekar
Antithekar – The Aithars copied Thekar, but outside of the Great Temple, trying to do the reverse procedure to create it, hoping it would get the opposite power from the original dagger. It did. The dagger absorbed the glow: it had the power to take the essence back. With it, they opened five afterlives, called Theirnos. For each Theirno they opened, a small piece of the edge dissolved into nothingness to appear on the table of the Great Temple.
Essencepokers- Anthithekar broke into five different parts that held the same power, but in a smaller way. They were then forged into whole long swords that were given to the Drakalien for them to be able to accomplish their divine quest of taking the essences of the dead tharais.
Balrai – Balrai was the copy the blacksmith Lerseth created. Being a copy by a mortal hand, it tried to imitate Thekar’s powers, being able to open portals, but destroying the place where the mortals tried to open the portal to. The portals were red.
History
Thekar was created for the sole purpose of helping the Aithars finish the Norwald once in a mortal shape. But after the process, the dagger wasn’t meant to go back to a divine plane, and the Aithars didn’t want to destroy it, as they thought it would be a lack of respect for themselves and their immortal essence.
They decided to leave it buried in Neilin’s favorite forest, towards the center of the main continent.
For the tharais, Thekar has always marked the beginning and the end of the eras. For these mortals, it is considered that an Era starts when Thekar is owned by a new owner or group of owners.
First Era - "The Birth"
The first Era started when the Aithars decided that they had finished their world. Historians consider the beginning of the First Era once the gods abandoned the dagger and disappeared to their plane of existence. This Era, called “The Birth”, is considered to have lasted 28 743 aner. The end of it was marked by Herdalion, a loredain living by the forest in which Thekar was buried by the Major Gods (located in what we call Hobroithar nowadays).
Second Era - "The Fall"
Herdalion, a very young magic scholar, was part of a group of wizards that was still not very relevant. He was a mediocre student and was unnoticed by most of his peers, and spent most of his time looking for ingredients for potions and spell experimentation. In one of his quests, he found the dagger, and by the glow of its edge he could tell it was somehow important. Not being able to sense anything else from it, he brought it back to the wizard group. It is considered by historians that this was the moment in which the Second Era, also called “The Fall”, started.
The eldest magicians took Thekar away from him and ran thousands of tests to see how important the weapon could be and what its skills were, not giving any credit to Herdalion, whose fury was increasing dahan by dahan. Although they kept it for various mansal, they didn’t manage to find anything. After approximately a mais of frustration, he decided to take it back and keep it to himself. He ran away from that forest and asked for shelter in a rather far away wood. The land where he moved (nowadays called Aidaran) soon made him important within its inhabitants, thanks to the divine glow that the dagger showed.
Once Herdalion’s importance had grown enough for people to start wondering why he was so relevant, he had to discover the powers the weapon held, but, not having a pure heart, he was completely unable to use it for more than cutting. He sought help from a counselor, who told him that it might be useful to forge a copy of the dagger, to see what type of powers that weapon would have, and compare them to the original dagger.
A famous blacksmith from the area, called Lerseth, was brought to see if he could do the job. Not knowing what that dagger was or what its powers were, he used it as a reference, kept it close and used some spells for both of them to match as perfectly as possible. But the second dagger, called Balrai, didn’t fit the original. It was somehow similar, but the glow was different, and, for some reason, even this experienced blacksmith couldn’t get the shape right.
This dagger, though, allowed anyone to wield it. Herdalion used it for the first time and saw that from its edge, a red thundery line sparkled. He then organized an event to show these powers (yet not truly understood by none) to his people, and claimed his own glory, ripping the air to show the red thunders. Everybody was amazed by this action, especially his own self, who didn’t know this line he traced would open two portals. One of them was the one he delineated, and the other one was a couple of pirneras apart from the first one.
At first, everybody applauded, but once the second portal opened, everything started to fall apart. The forest caught fire, and the inhabitants of that wood ran away in fear. Herdalion saw how much power that dagger held and decided to conquer as much as he could. Everybody around the Norwald was soon aware of Balrai, Herdalion and their combined powers.
Side note: It was believed for many generations that the dagger gave him eternal life. However, this wasn’t true. It was denied by Ardanthio himself after he earned Herdalion’s trust, a long time after the fact we just stated. In fact, there were more than one Herdalion. The first Herdalion engendered the second one, making perfectly sure he was extremely similar to him and that any change would be for the better. This kept going on for various generations. However, nobody knew about this, it was kept a secret until the last Herdalion told Ardanthio about it.
Herdalion’s former peers, from their side, started to focus on growing their guild and making stronger and stronger wizards. The guild was soon known for its brand-new name, Studious Fortress, and its extremely demanding tests to be part of it. Only the best wizards and the most promising magic children could succeed in the trials. Studious Fortress upgraded their small nest-type house in the forest to a real fortress, built with the best materials and protected with the strongest magic. Soon enough, it was more like an in-doors village that covered all the needs of its population. The race against Herdalion would be won in a matter of time.
A promising loredain baby was born among many at Studious Fortress. His name was Ardanthio (the one we mentioned before), and he showed incredible control over magic from a very young age. He was trained and taught until, towards his teenage years, he was sent to Aidaran, Herdalion’s territory, to win his trust and defeat him as soon as he could. A very long time passed since he was sent to Aidaran, but finally, he managed to grow in the country and be part of the leader’s closest friends. He learnt everything he could from the wizard, then challenged him to a fight that lasted three dahans with their nights.
Ardanthio won, killing Herdalion, who had trusted him to death, and took Thekar and Balrai with him. Considering that Balrai had opened portals, he thought that Thekar would probably have that power too, so he ripped the air with the dagger, while thinking about Studious Fortress, and soon enough he saw himself crossing a blue portal towards his old home.
He was soon surrounded by hundreds of mages that applauded vividly, but he had no time to lose. Herdalion was dead, but his followers and subjects would start chasing him in short time. He met with the Eldest Magicians of the fortress and explained everything he could, trying to sum it up in just one night. They had a discussion about what to do with Balrai and the portals. The Elder Wizard proposed to study the daggers, but the rest of the wizards agreed on getting rid of it as soon as possible, and as far from civilization as possible.
In a map, the major island of Shadi was calculated to be the furthest away from Hobroithar, so Ardanthio opened a portal to the biggest mountain of Shadi. There, he opened a second portal with Thekar, thinking of nothingness, and threw Balrai inside it. The portal turned from blue to red, and a strange sound got to his ears. The red portals that Balrai had created then disappeared. Without knowing it yet, he had created another plane of existence, later called the Nightmare World, or the Netherwald. The portal was very far from any sign of habitation, and it couldn’t be closed.
After coming back to Studious Fortress, he was claimed a hero and given honors in the in-doors village. Ardanthio was referred to for wisdom hundreds of times and he was part of all the important gatherings and decisions. A lot of wizards were charged with gathering all the information they could about Thekar, Balrai, and other possibly existing weapons. It was considered that the Second Era finished right after Ardanthio came back from Shadi. It lasted 4675 aner.
Third Era - "The War"
Herdalion’s followers were soon re-organized under the commands of Derdenis, the second closest tharai to the wizard (Ardanthio being the first). Derdenis claimed war to Ardanthio, although nobody ever knew where he went. For a long time, they believed he wanted to keep the daggers to himself, so they coordinated a search party for the loredain. For aners, they tried to find him without succeeding, and, not spotting him anywhere, they started to train some sensitive tharais for essence detection. This was extremely useful for them. They called themselves the Essence Finders, and were praised through Aidaran.
Soon enough, they were directed to Studious Fortress, to start a huge magic war that lasted for three hundred aners. On many occasions they got inside Studious Fortress, only to be pushed back over and over again. But they didn’t back up. The war kept going on, until Hobroithar’s forces understood that Aidaran sought for Thekar. Ardanthio then decided to hide the dagger. He opened a portal to Shadi again, and found the most inhospitable forest he could to bury Thekar in it. Before doing so, he opened another door to Studious Fortress. He then buried the dagger and crossed to his homeland again. The war was still on, but a couple aner later, the Essence Finders lost track of Thekar and replied their forces back to Aidaran. They were worshiped, and treated almost as a religion within the country.
After a long, prosperous life, Ardanthio, considering he would die in a short time, took the four most powerful wizards of Studious Fortress, called Morka, Ro-Ne, Finderia and Derladeon, and told them where he hid the dagger. They were told not to unbury it until the conflict had fully ended and the Essence Finders dissolved. Ardanthio passed away peacefully, and those four mages taught other mages after them, and that thread kept going on and on. The four of them were well-known and praised along the Norwald, but they never even tried to find Thekar. Many aners passed, and the importance of the dagger slowly faded away. The Essence Finders seemed to no longer be a threat and everybody had seemed to forget about the daggers. Although Studious Fortress kept studying about the magical weapons and their effects, and kept most of their affairs a secret, everybody in the in-doors village knew about the location of Thekar. It was extremely far away and very hard to find, so nobody ever tried to search for it. Its powers were to them more of a myth than a reality, so none really cared about it.
The Essence Finders, though, were still on the hunt for Thekar. While Studious Fortress accepted more people to live there, and its glory grew, Herdalion’s legacy followers managed to create a secret society that expanded to all the suitable-for-their-life lands inhabited by tharais. Everywhere in the Norwald there were Aidaran people trying to get as much information as they could.
The time came in which the Essence Finders started to cover more and more terrain, expanding themselves to the territories that were supposed not to be inhabited by tharais. News soon reached Studious Fortress, as it was almost impossible not to see Aidaran people migrating to unknown islands, and the heirs of the four heroes chosen by Ardanthio started the race against Aidaran. Each one of them, with a small party of well-trained warriors and wizards, took a different path to reach the forest where Thekar was buried.
Even if the Studious Fortess’ people didn’t believe as much in Thekar as in the past, the fact of Aidaran looking for it made them change their minds about it. The four search parties named themselves The Keepers, assuming they were going to find Thekar first. They did. Morka, (First Morka’s heiress) managed to find the dagger thanks to her knowledge on logistics, that gave her a huge advantage even over the Aidaranians who had traveled to Shadi before her.
Morka was a strong kureton, born from other kuretons who were habile in magic and lived in Studious Fortress. She was worthy of the dagger, so after killing all the Aidaran witnesses of her discovery, she opened a portal home. She and her party came back to report everything she saw, and the Elder Wizards agreed on letting her keep the dagger, but not in the fortress. It was too dangerous to maintain such a treasure there, because Aidaran had set their aims towards that place.
As the Elder Wizards had extreme power on all societies, they managed to put Morka on the throne of Kajtar, close enough to Hobroithar, and unsuspectable for Aidaran. The current king and queen didn’t have descendants, so it was easy to put Morka on the throne, claiming she had enough knowledge to rule a country. The plan was perfect, as nobody outside of Studious Fortress really knew who Morka was, so nobody would suspect her or chase her for Thekar.
Morka and the rest of the Keepers made a pact to always be aware of the situation, to meet each two aner and whenever it was necessary, and to protect the dagger, thus the Norwald, with their lives. Thekar was very well preserved and hidden in Khelthena (capital of Kajtar)’s castle. Morka’s heirs understood the importance of keeping the dagger safe, and so did the rest of The Keepers’ heirs. Many generations guarded the secret; it was so well defended that it was considered that Thekar was part of Khelthena’s heirloom rather than a precious artifact. The new Keepers, again, lost faith on the weapon, and were no longer interested in Thekar, as it would be extremely improbable for them to ever see it. The organization started to meet less times until it ended up by dissolving. Thekar was then officially part of Kajtar’s heritage. It was the end of the Third Era, which lasted 7851 aner.
Fourth Era - "Divine Wars"
The Fourth Era started with Morka II’s ascent to the throne, many generations after Morka I passed away. All of Khelthena’s castle knew about Thekar being there. However, to avoid possible leaks of information, only the Queen and King and few of their counselors knew about the actual location of the dagger. Many tried to find out where the dagger was, but none really got far enough to discover anything: Thekar was hidden in a secret vault under the castle. It was covered not only with physical items but with magic as well.
Many generations went through without the secret spreading, until Morka IV reached the throne. As a princess, she never showed potential to rule, more preoccupied by trifles rather than thirsty for knowledge and power. But her parents, Relia II and Kiros I, passed away before being able to teach her properly. She was old enough to rule, but not enough to have learnt the importance of the throne and crown.
She married Salthak I, a villager from Khelthena, absolutely not suitable to be a king, and they started to throw parties and to invite all the frontier countries, including Aidaran.
Kajtar, which had already lost a big part of its importance, was then a joke to the rest of the countries, and Roshek III, then the Emperor of the Arkoth empire (to which Kajtar belonged) didn’t want to use his resources to make it prosper, because it was not in his hand to dethrone any king of Kajtar, due to their possession of Thekar. The empire’s jurisdictions were others, and he could have helped to maintain Kajtar’s kingdom, but he didn’t want to step up if Morka IV and Salthak I were ruling.
To try to make Kajtar look more important towards the rest of the Norwald, Morka IV put Thekar on display over her throne. She just had a baby, named Khelmet, and wanted to throw a welcoming party for him. Soon enough, Aidaran was assaulting the castle.
Thankfully, Re-Vek, a kreg-hak living in Nar-Ka, who was part of Studious Fortress’ best wizards, managed to make Morka IV give him the dagger and the baby, to protect them both. He hid in a cave in Nar-Ka, using powerful spells to protect the entrance. He then proceeded to teach Khelmet all about the dagger, magic, fighting and everything he needed to know to become a hero, good enough to protect the treasure. As in Nar-Ka, every tribe is extremely xenophobe, he had to hide Khelmet’s kureton features and transform him into a kreg-hak by filing down his teeth and claws, tattooing his sclera so it would be black, naming him Khel-Met, and cutting his ears pointy.
They lived like this until Thostar, the second son of Kajtar’s king and queen, ascended to the throne, started a war against Aidaran, lost, and to avoid losing it all, woke up the ancient rak Hakko, hoping for the best. The rak created an obscure chaos, and Khelmet, then the owner of the dagger, and well-known as a beast-slayer hero, had to be sent to fight the beast. He managed to trap it in the Netherwald, but he had to give his life in order to set the trap. Thekar was then picked up by Re-Vek from the body of his adoptive son.
Some aners before, Re-Vek and Khelmet had adopted, without knowing it, Thostar’s daughter, called Hepa. In a gratitude gesture, and knowing recent History wouldn’t repeat itself so soon, the Emperor Roshek III, having the right to find a new monarch for Kajtar if Kajtar was left without a leader, and not knowing she was Thostar’s daughter, he named Hepa the future queen of Kajtar (for when she got old enough to rule). Roshek III didn’t know Thekar was going to be kept as family heirloom. Hepa was trained and taught well, and so she ruled, bringing Thekar back to the vault of the castle. Thekar didn’t have other owners than Hepa’s heirs, and their heirs after them, until the Drakalien Aldraithar, one of the five gods of death, the one in charge of the Fifth Theirno, decided to take it with her to change the rules of the Norwald.
However, Aldraithar, belonging to the fifth plane of existence, the one of the dead, couldn’t physically reach the dagger. She needed it to change the rules but also to be able to be tangible in the mortal plane. Aldraithar managed to get some followers and allies within the mortal realm, amongst which we could find Nerthel, goddess of thunder and storms. Nerthel, her personality being chaotic and unaware, and being deeply in love with Aldraithar, wanted to get her attention, so she (not without a fight) reached the dagger to bring it to her to the Netherwald, where Aldraithar could indeed be physical.
Once Nerthel got Thekar, on Aldrahan of the fifth mansal of Dasith 6851 of the Fourth Era, the divine wars started. It is the most important event of the Fourth Era. It lasted 1000 aner. The Era wasn’t over yet, as there were many wars before it was considered that Aldraithar was the owner of the dagger. Nerthel could easily open a portal to Shadi, where the portal to the Netherwald was still open. She crossed it and gave Thekar to Aldraithar in exchange for spending one night with her in the Nightmare World. They did spend the night together, but nothing happened. They were still in different planes of existence, even if they both were in the Netherwald at that moment.
The next dahan, Aldraithar picked up Balrai, and opened a portal with Thekar to the Norwald, and she could finally be tangible in the mortal plane. She crossed the world that was soon to be hers flying in a very self-confident way. But not all of the Norwald Pantheon was happy about this, and most of the Naithars claimed war against her. She managed to convince some gods to side with her, saying that the rules of death were not fair to most mortals. Some of them agreed, having seen mortals suffering from injustice.
The Aithars and Ostromthar didn’t participate of this war for a simple reason: they didn’t care about the other planes’ affairs. The Drakalien did take part in the war, but in another way, as they couldn’t move from their plane to the mortal plane.
The wars weren’t a huge deployment of armies. Only the Naithar participated in this, as using mortals would be unethical and useless. As all Norwald gods are immortal, it was more of a strategy and diplomacy affair rather than a huge fight. Aldraithar won every single battle, even the ones she didn’t expect to win, and slowly all Norwald was hers. She didn’t lose Thekar even once. The Naithars she defeated kneeled before her, and in no time she ruled over the Norwald.
After winning the fights, she went to the Ahian islands and used Thekar as the key to the rules to change what she thought was unfair. The Fourth Era ended, after 7851 aner, when Aldraithar, outside of the Great Temple, auto-proclaimed herself the Queen of the Norwald.
Fifth Era - "The Utopy"
This is the current Era, coincidentally being the Fifth, as in Fifth Theirno or Fifth plane of existence. It is still going on nowadays, with Aldraithar being the sovereign of the Norwald. Thekar is kept by Aldraithar in the Fifth Theirno, as a token more than a weapon, over her throne at the catacombs of her underworld.
Thekar
- Place of creation: Ahian Islands
- Creators: The Aithars
- Powers: Creation, rule writing, portal opening
- The Aithars (Primal Era)
- Forest of Hobroithar (First Era)
- Herdalion (Second Era)
- Ardanthio and Studious Fortress (Third Era)
- Kajtar’s monarchy (Fourth Era)
- Aldraithar (Fifth Era)
