Purdue Fantasy Club

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====== Torandor ======
//This setting was the original campaign setting used by PFC in its very early days. It is now entirely discontinued, and very little information exists on it. If you have more information about Torandor, please contact the PFC Story Board!//

For thousands of years, the planet orbiting in [[settings:jaern|Jaern's]] place around the star Onra was not Jaern. It was instead Torandor: a vast world inhabited by today's [[lore:races:humanoids|humanoid]] races. Lizardfolk, avians, and most orcs were entirely absent on Torandor. 

It was here that worship of the [[:gods|Fourteen]] originated on the Jaernian plane. Records are poor, but it is thought that the original Torandoran civilization reached cultural and technological heights somewhat similar to what we see on Jaern today before it was wiped out. The calendar still used today counts its date from the mythical founding of a powerful ancient Torandoran civilization, Aldeberon. Little else is known about Aldeberon, though scholars have long searched.

To Jaernians today, the most significant thing about Torandor is its death.

===== Life On the Old World =====
On Torandor, most folk lived in rather insular communities, rarely interacting with those outside of their own racial groups. Society was divided not by where you hailed from, but what you were: elves lived with elves, humans kept to their own, dwarves did the same, and orcs mostly interacted with other people through war and violence.

==== Elves & Elvesbane ====
The elves of Torandor claimed to be the first sentient people in all the land. Some myths purport that they were crafted from flora by the gods. They stuck close to nature, guarding it fiercely from the other folk. Few of the names of their countries or cities survived, save for one: Jelwah.

Jelwah is well known because it was ground zero for a devastating plague that decimated Torandor's elvish population, known as **Elvesbane.** In the year 2172 BD, a meteor crashed to the ground. The Elvesbane pathogen was carried with it, and millions would die in the years to come. Only one elf in a thousand was resistant to the plague and survived. The plague would change their physiology, granting them incredibly long lives at the cost of a reduced ability to bear young.

It was accepted for a time that Elvesbane was also responsible for the soullessness of some elves with Torandoran lineage, though recent evidence has proven that, for Jaernian elves, this is simply not the case and soullessness simply seems to be an innate trait possessed by some.

==== The Godship ====
In about 6500 BD, [[gods:ra|Ra-Surya]] would call together the mortals and gods and begin work on a project called the Superi: a grand device that would allow the gods to break their dependence on mortal worship and ascend to a higher plane of existence. When the moment came for its activation, though, the world would look on in horror as [[gods:rudri|Rudri]] betrayed him and attempted to claim the Superi for themself.

The two battled, and Rudri was eventually ejected, but Ra was trapped within and the device was irreparably damaged. If he left, the device wouuld explode, destroying not only Torandor but the entire Onra system. He warned the other gods to stay away, and would remain imprisoned for millennia until the [[history:jaern:gods_and_dragons:reckoning|Age of Reckoning]], when the Superi would be destroyed.

Rudri was banished and fell from divine grace after this incident. Ever since, they have skulked the shadows, rejected by gods and mortals alike.

===== The Destruction of a World =====
Jaern drifted into the Onra system around 2 BD, and collided with Tysyl, one of Torandor's moons. This collision destroyed Tysyl, and shifted Torandor out of its orbit to spiral down toward Onra. While it did not actually fall into the sun, Torandor passed close enough that the gravitational tidal forces shattered the planet into millions of pieces. It is now an asteroid belt circling near Onra, reportedly a spectacular sight for those lucky few to go to space.

Anticipating the destruction of Torandor, a great human leader known as the **Chaos Lord** assured the survival of thousands of people by evacuating them to Jaern via the Kaaren of Destruction. This vessel, constructed by the gods, was originally intended to be a weapon of mass destruction with the intention of destroying the inbound rogue planet. However, this plan was eventually aborted and changed into an attempt to evacuate as many Torandorans as possible to Jaern. It is unknown why the plan was changed. 

Some say the Chaos Lord saw that the Kaaren would not be capable of destroying Jaern or stopping its collision course, while others say that [[gods:isis|Isis]], [[gods:neptune|Neptune]], and [[gods:osiris|Osiris]] intervened. They pointed out that life existed on Jaern, in the form of [[lore:races:lizards|lizardfolk]] frozen beneath the ice and [[lore:races:onivero|Onivero]] in deathlike psychic sleep.

The Kaaren of Destruction was rapidly refashioned into a massive starship designed for a single trip. Only a minority of Torandor's population made it onto the Kaaren for evacuation. Passage onto the vessel was managed mostly by priests of the Fourteen, and there was a significant amount of preferential treatment - passage was not cheap, either. 

Notable among those left behind were people from the humble land of Alborn, who paid for passage onto the Kaaren with all their worldly possessions. They were betrayed, though, and left to die. Jaern’s proximity to Torandor triggered severe storms and earthquakes. The quakes started massive fires in the cities, and as the flames spread, it became apparent that the end of their home world was at hand. In despair, they called upon the gods of Torandor to hear their plea for rescue. In vain they called, for at that very time, many of the deities were busy rescuing themselves from the impending destruction of their world. 

With the city around them in ruins, great gaping rips in the land spewing forth molten rock, and the air itself being ripped from the land, the Albornians angrily spurned the gods. They then and there vowed never to rely on anyone other than themselves for their direction and destiny. With their final breaths, the Albornians rejected the gods and their spirits went to the [[settings:planes:kurago|Kurago]], where they became the first nomadic guardians.

The Kaaren of Destruction, carrying all that was left of Torandor, touched down on [[settings:jaern:geleia|Geleia]], Jaern in the year 0. The first days on Jaern were difficult - after all, the planet was still frozen from a lightyears-long journey through space - but they survived. A seed store on board the Kaaren gave rise to familiar crops, and over time a new home was born.

==== Remnants: The Tarusian Temple ====
A mere fifty Tarusian priests made it to Jaern. As keepers of knowledge and history, they felt more keenly than others the loss of their old world. In attempts to salvage something, they turned to a mechanical oracle on board the Kaaren. They meticulously recorded everything they could, then shared this knowledge with the new Jaernian settlers. Over time, they would make great strides in technology which led to creation of automaton servants.

This practice would spiral out of control, though, when an island was destroyed due to an accident involving a Tarusian machine. This incident would sour the Tarusian temple's name for a millennium and a half afterwards, with many Tarusians retreating into obscurity.