“As the Wind had shaped the world, so too had They shaped me.” Wisdom of Ninos 17:13

Greater Divinity, Deity of Divine Breath, Primordial Will. The Ancient Wind is a unique figure in Cahyalic Religion. Due to Dahabi imperialism, worship of the 14 was brought to nearly all corners of Cahyali, but in the lands of the Oxis Alliance, a peculiar faith had sprung up in the ashes of the fallen empire. Ninism is the sole monotheistic faith in Cahyali that reveres a higher divinity that created the world and breathed life into it. This Ancient Wind is the divine ruler of all things, and it is believed that They once took mortal form as the prophet Ninos. The faith was outlawed under Dahabu rule but grew to become the predominant religion in Arenti and Shinneok.

As taught by Ninos, at the dawn of time, there was nothing and then from nothing came a great gale of wind. This Wind used its power to create the world in a primordial, formless state. The Ancient Wind acted as the great current that flowed over Creation, forming mighty mountain, abyssal oceans, while making a domain for itself in the form of the sky.

While this creation was good, it was empty, save for the Wind, so the Primordial Will took the dust of the earth and the water of the sea and breathed life into it. First it made the plant life that covered the land, then beasts that roamed, and then it created Mortalkind to shepherd their creation. The Ancient Wind then took a more passive role, letting mortals make what they wanted of the world the Wind gave them.

The Ancient Wind blessed Their creation with free will, for it trusted and loved them enough to grant Mortalkind dominion over the world of Cahyali. As a consequence, Mortalkind would be able to go against the benevolent will of the Greater Divinity and choose to do evil. This is best exemplified when the kingdom of Dahabu launched its conquest against the rest of Cahyali. “The Great Conqueror”, as it is called, brought war and death to every corner of the world. The Ancient Wind thought it could subtly guide Dahabu away from its expansionist ideology however it knew that the empire wouldn’t abandon it without more thorough intervention.

Mortalkind had become locked in an endless cycle of violence and suffering with Dahabu waging a never ending war all for the sake of its own dominance. It preached a creed of national supremacy over every nation it conquered, subjugating the people and turning them into second class citizens in their own home. These prayed out to the gods forced upon them, they begged for freedom, they pleaded for grace, yet freedom never came and it seemed that the Gods would ever their prayers, but another being listened. The Ancient Wind knew all too well of the great evils of the Dahabi Empire and it simply could sit back any longer. They would incarnate Themselves as mortal flesh, so that They both can teach the righteous path and to truly understand what life was like for mortal kind.

Trekking through the woods was a human hunter by the name of Tenebrus. She went out on her daily hunt for food when she came across a half-human, half-elven baby boy. Taking pity on the baby, she brought the baby back to her village. She presented the baby to the village leader, Peregrinus, a Dahabi elf, who allowed Tenebrus to keep the child and promised to raise the baby. The two agreed upon the name “Ninos” for the child, meaning “Stranger”. Not much is known of what happened during Ninos’ childhood other than that Peregrinus and Tenebrus had married, had a daughter named Seherine, and he was childhood friends with a hunter by the name of Julius.

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