The Constraints

The Constraints of the Children

During the Conference of Representation Iberian had little trouble convincing those attending that his Principle of Inclusion was the way things were. But the next hurdle, that being why the Children could only enter Caern through a mortal birth, with no knowledge of their deific nature, was harder to jump. Most races had much older myths around the early ages of Caern, where the gods used Caern as their personal playground and battlefield, nearly destroying it time and time again. There were similarities between these creation myths, but these stories were thousands of years old; Iberian had no timeline to help him prove his version of Caern’s early history was more valid than the racial myths that had been brought to the conference.

But Iberian had a captive audience, and all who left the conference told the same story. Iberian had power coursing through him that day, a power none in the room had felt before or since. The words spoken by Iberian on that day were later called “The 2nd Collected Prophecies of Iberian.”

Iberian’s early prophecies of the future were always told through stories of the past. He used this method to redefine Caern’s history, even as he gave clues to unlocking the future path of Caern.

Iberian described what happened after the Children of Az were born from Az’s tears at the beginning of time. The Children of Az fought constantly on their plane of existence, over their powers, over their position with respect to their father, over anything that entered their minds on any particular day. The Children also found they could enter and exit Caern at their leisure. The verbal confrontations led to physical confrontations once on Caern. They understood that even death on the physical plane of Caern only returned them to their heavenly plane. Some of the Children kept out of the fray, including Balin and Ursala. But the other Children had no problems using Caern as their personal battleground, and began using the living creatures of the Land to fight their battles against each other. These wars were waged for many reasons, some valid (to the Children in any case) and others simply as part of some grand game between the gods.

But at some point the games of the gods resulted in a tear in the fabric of the universe. Through these holes flowed what were later named the Tourim . These creatures of darkness, both living and undead, nearly destroyed Caern. Only the combined might of all the Children were able to banish the Tourim from Caern.

Az had watched his Children nearly destroy the Land. Az had hoped that the love of the Land he had created would pass on totally to his Children. Since this was not the case, Az was forced to place constraints on the immortals. From that point forward:

• a Child could enter Caern by conscious choice
• they would be born into the world as any mortal being. They could influence their race and area they would be born, but there would be no guarantees. Az would choose the mortal mother for his Child.
• the Child would have no knowledge of their true nature – they are born into the world as mortal as you and me.
• only through an epiphany can the Child learn their true nature. Examples of triggers of epiphanies:
  • acts of heroism
  • acts of sacrifice
  • revelation by another Child that has already realized its nature.
• once a Child receives its epiphany, it may or may not receive “full disclosure” of its past. If Az desires certain facts or knowledge to remain unavailable to the Child , that’s how it is.
• While still being very mortal, a Child that has received its epiphany has access to many powers, but certainly not the powers the Children possessed when they nearly destroyed Caern.
• a Child can live its entire life and die without ever realizing its true nature.

Iberian referred to this as The Constraints of the Children.

(Editor’s Note: Iberian’s vision of gods ignorant of their own nature and the importance of a Child’s choice to enter Caern became a vital component of his prophecies. His 4th and 5th Collected Prophecies center on the Ending of the current age. a time when all the Children of Az will come into play. According to the Priests of Caern, that time is now. There are rumors of a secret sect within the Priests of Caern whose sole purpose is to seek out possible Children living on Caern, ignorant of their own nature).

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