Every culture of every world has its mythologies, and so does Maldene.  But, no matter what the culture to be found on Maldene, be it Human, Elf, Thirdocian, or anything else, there is one mythology that comes before them all: that of The Olden Gods.

Long ago, before any time currently known, the Olden Gods were birthed from the very fabric of cosmic forces.  The details of their rise and fall are best told by The Great Sage at the Foot of the World, for he is the only one who has preserved the entirety of such ancient knowledge, and indeed nearly all of the Olden Gods are gone; destroyed or lost so long ago that the number of people that even know of their once-existence is a literal handful (and they’re all characters specifically encountered in the novels).  As such, we will present just a general outline of each of these Olden Gods: deities of a power level far above that of any other gods.

Glomf(augh)raugh, Olden God of force (gravity, magnetism, etc.), he is connected to the entirety of all forces of Maldene itself; its gravitational field, magnetic fields, and so forth.  So intimately connected with the world itself, that he views Sÿlva’sea as his sister and himself as her protector.

Mefwa, Olden God of the elements.  Air, Earth, Fire, Water, he rules them all.  As dead as the rest, though if you believe a small fringe cult consisting of about four priests, Mefwa may still be out there, trapped, somewhere…

Sÿlva’sea is not just the Olden Goddess of all that is nature and sÿlva’ of Maldene, she literally is the world of Maldene… or at least was before she was killed.  Never judge her based on her 6-foot human appearance, for she is every storm, every earthquake, every mountain, every natural-born creature of the world of Maldene.

 Selesan, Olden God of light.  As Sÿlva’sea is the world, Selesan is the blue sun of Maldene.  Needless to say, certain ancient mythologies make them out as lovers.

Natersea (Na-ter- seh-a), Olden God of… nothingness.  The void is his domain, and he would rather see everything returned to it, all life sucked dry.  He and Selesan are polar opposites, and perhaps that antipathy is what led to the Olden Gods’ downfall; no one knows.  But he was not the only vile Olden God…

Vold, Olden God of Evil, and the one Olden God still around and spreading his deathly touch; he has a high priest, cult following, temple, and is said to be working with Miro.  His existence hints that whatever happened to the rest of the Olden Gods, he had something to do with it.

Interesting little factoid regards this deity: in the Maldene language there are three different words for ‘death’.  The word that translates to mean “the death of all,” is ‘Vold’.  Then there’s one particular tarot card.

Who do you think the death face in the lower left corner was modeled after?

There is one Olden God remaining to be mentioned, and that is Metse’a, the Olden God of Knowledge.  Stories of his form are nearly non-existent, just that he was said to be the littlest Olden God, knowledge being his domain.  As for what happened to him, not even conjecture remains, save this one vague legend.  It is said that he has a single priestess only, which would make his following even smaller than that of Mefwa, but that priestess is herself a subject of some legend and one that would stand out in a crowd.

A blond-haired Sileen whose body is covered with magical runes would be unusual enough as it is, as is the fact that legend of her goes back thousands of rels, but then figure in the fact that she is said to be friends with this enigmatic figure:

Until next time; I think I’ve given you more than enough to chew on.