Grovecan Legends And Myths

Grovecan Legends And Myths
Groveca had a troubled past. Many of the events of its long, blood-soaked history are spoken of only in myth and legend.

The Divine Blacksmith
Eons ago, long before the nations of today were even conceived and before the Great Destroyer ended the Second Age in the war between realms, the First Goddess came to a mortal blacksmith. This blacksmith was the most talented in the land, more talented than the denizens of the Holy Realm could believe. The Goddess, offering him the tools and knowledge of the heavens, asked him to create a weapon fit for a mighty hero, one who would save the world should a grand evil ever arise. Relishing the challenge, the blacksmith accepted.

Adamant, The First
There once existed an indestructible material known only as adamantine, or adamantium as it is sometimes known as. Dull grey in colour, it was impossible for mortals to use as it was impervious to anything they did to it. Even when they did find some they could take, it was incredibly heavy. Only the magic of the heavens could so much as scratch it, and it required great power indeed to use it in smithing. The Divine Blacksmith, as he was appointed, was said to have used it to fulfill the Goddess' wishes.

Using the magic of the heavens and their superior tools, the Divine Blacksmith toiled for days on end. He believed that there were no true, mighty heroes in man and that a saviour of the world could only be an angel of the Holy Realm. But angels were much bigger than mortals, and thus needed a suitably big weapon. With the might of the heavens, the smith carved out a large slab of adamantine, and proceeded to chip and chisel a mighty sword out of it. The days slid by as he endlessly picked at the slab, gradually creating a sword as long as he was tall. Incredibly heavy, impossible for mortals to wield but also invincible.

The Goddess was unsure of the Adamant, as he christened it. It was simply too large and heavy to be of much use, she deemed. She asked the Divine Blacksmith to try again, and to avoid using adamantine.

Occasionally, one hears tales of a large slab of rock that looks vaguely like a sword but also vaguely like a tree being wielded by warriors across the world. It is believed to be the Adamant, ever invincible.

Infinity Plus One, The Second
The Divine Blacksmith pondered. How best to destroy the forces of evil? That was the purpose of his divine mission, after all; create the weapon that would purge the land of evil time and again. Perhaps the answer lay not in the heavens, but in the darkness below. And so he set off for the Dark Realm, to learn the secrets of the demons. After all, who best to ask about killing demons than, well, demons?

It was a horrid journey. Accompanied by several of the world's finest warriors, the smith set off for the largest demon settlement he could find, hoping that the demons within would be civilised. To his surprise, they were, and after some negotiation they were willing to assist him in his task. They spoke of a dark ore that littered the land, an ore that was tougher than any found in the mortal world (aside from adamantine, of course) and was very good at retaining magic. He went out into the fiery, scarred wilderness of the Dark Realm in search of it, and did not return for some time.

When he did return, his mind forever tainted by the horrors he witnessed in the darkness, he used a demon forge to create a wicked, curved ebony blade. He had the demons enchant it with their strongest magic, and slaughtered them to test its effectiveness. As soon as he finished, he wished he never created it; the wicked sword carved through everything as though it was eager for their blood, eager to take in their flesh.

He came to the Goddess, and dropped to his knees before her, begging for forgiveness. Horrified by his creation, she had it sealed back in the deep darkness of the underworld, and admonished the smith. He was given one last chance; forge a weapon fit for a hero, a weapon that could destroy all evil, or be cast into the same darkness as his vile creation.

The sword, darker than night, was engraved with scrawled symbols of demonic madness, symbols that imply there is something beyond infinity. This very same sword would be the one wielded by the Great Destroyer as he marched his demon armies across Groveca.

GodSlayer, The Third
The Divine Blacksmith contemplated giving up and offering himself to the darkness. He could think of nothing suitable, no great material with which to forge a truly divine weapon. He couldn't even think of what such a weapon could and should be capable of. All seemed lost.

From beyond the gaze of the heavens came a mighty astral object. It descended upon Groveca, embedding itself into the surface of the earth, forming a cavern. From this cavern came a terrible field of magic; it did not amplify magic, it did not augment it. This field nullified it entirely. The glowing blue crystals from beyond the stars drained magic from the air around them, and killed beasts of magic by simply being near.

The Divine Blacksmith heard of these crystals, and set off at once. Arriving at the cavern, he felt their aura and was astounded that such things could exist. A weapon made of these crystals...it could ''slay the gods themselves. ''Excited, feverish and anxious to forge, he took as many as he could carry and departed for his forge. Again he toiled for days, once more forging a sword (for he had a preference for them), but he could not present it to the Goddess. Not as it was, it could kill her, or leave her vulnerable.

So he had a message sent. Angels descended to him, and as swift as the wind, they struck him down. They left with the sword, to hide it away from the world. The cavern of crystals was destroyed, its terrible contents forever lost.

The Godslayer, as it came to be known, only ever resurfaced once; to put an end to the Great Destroyer's rampage.

The Great Destroyer, Hellborn
From the depths of the Dark Realm came the Great Destroyer. A mere shadow of a man given life, it stalked amongst the demons and monsters of that hellish place baring an ebony blade of lore. It united the horrors of the deep, and rose up against the world of the living. Kingdoms fell as the shadow led the monsters across the lands, stealing the very life of the earth itself in its death-ridden march. As the last bastion of humanity drew itself together, the shadow declared its intention to seize the holy land of the Goddess, and in doing so called down the divine wrath of the heavens.

But the Great Destroyer did not fall easily. The first Goddess fell to save the life of her daughter, who took up her mantle and struck back at the demons with the full might of the heavens; with the blade that could kill gods, the Second Goddess led a last, desperate charge at the demons. The planet itself died around the combatants, as the Destroyer pulled more and more of its life for itself. Unable to control that power, he went mad and began to tear the earth asunder in his rage. But not even he could withstand the god-slaying blade of the heavens, and he was struck down, but not without one last act of defiance towards the heavens.

In his death, he unleashed the life he stole from the earth as a destructive force, purging the land of all life.

The world recovered under the guiding hand of the Second Goddess, but forever would it live in fear; would it happen again? Would there come a time when a great evil would emerge from nothing and ravage the earth once more?

Who can say?