Aeternus part 1

Ah, Aeternus.  Just thinking about it sends me back on memory lane.  Although it's probably the least developed of my world-concepts, it was the first that I put true effort into the world itself.  Deities, maps, monsters, cities, cultures... I created everything I could from the ground up, in order to make a world that seemed not only fantastic, but believable and immersive.  I've always been saddened by the fact I never came back to it.

Aeternus was the first point-of-concept for a "hub-world", a world who's very inhabitants were not based upon some sort of creation myth, but a gathering myth.  Every being on Aeternus can trace its ancestors to another world, very different from the one they found themselves.  In a way, in made everyone an alien; moreso, though, there was a hierarchy and stereotype in much of the world, based upon not what your race actually was, but how long it had been there.  It wasn't always consistent: this merchant town might only allow those who can trace their ancenstry back four generations in this world to become part of the ruling senate; that Kingdom must be ruled by King who can prove his royal blood from another world (these *were* actual examples, btw).

I'm honestly not sure if I still have all my notes on Aeternus, but I hope so; if not, I'll revisit it through memory and re-imagination, but I'd like to include at least some of the original concept.  It was, after all, where Grey Man was originally imagined, living in the center of the largest continent, in a swamp of his own creation, guarded by strange magicks and even stranger creatures, where none could approach him unless he willed it. And where the mountains were cleaved by the gods themselves, and the destruction they wrought causes the sky to erupt in fire and rain down into the crevasse where the land never healed.  And where an air elemental guarded a legendary trident, only to have it stolen out of his hands and taken by merchant who managed to buy himself a noble title.

All in all, it was a LOT of fun to develop, and a lot of fun to run with as well.  I'll keep searching for the notes; in the mean time, I'll try to continue to post up what information I have on the world as I remember more.  Oh, and hey, if you remember Aeternus (if you're one of those people who was in that game, or used it in your own, or we just chatted about it at some point), tell me what you remembered about it, and why!