November 2009

In the Immortals’ Wake world, there is a character simply known as The Nameless One. For more than 2,000 years, he has roamed through populated and unpopulated areas, leaving a wake of destruction and bewilderment behind him. His is an extreme case of what I will call the “Road to Redemption.” Unfortunately for him, it’s a very long road along the lines of Groundhog Day.

However, his story is not unique. There are others in our own histories and myths. The story of the doomed sinner wandering the Earth until the end of days is repeated throughout Christian legends. Cursed to live an eternity to pay for a single evil or thoughtless deed.

So what did this poor soul do? He was among the first to be Changed. The records from that age were long ago destroyed, but some pieces of the past remain. Scholars suspect that in the Time Before, there were many such beings – some of whom were truly Immortal and able to perform miracles both great and terrible. During the Time Between, a great war raged between Mortals and Immortals.

Not all of the Immortals were without conscience and wondered at the cost of such a rift between factions. Elle T’aibi began a movement to help the poor mortals caught in the middle. Jost, another Immortal, was tired of the war and among those swept up in this new movement. Together they, and others, wandered the lands, doing what they could to soothe fears and calm nerves, guiding people to start rebuilding their lives.

It was then she gained the nickname “Young Mother” for the way she handled people as delicately as children, speaking kind words and harsh for the best effect. She would coddle only so long and then those who came ot her for help would have to learn to live on their own again.

“All around were the distressed and mad, scared senseless by the thunder of the unholy Storm. The Young Mother, in the face of the Storm’s fury, aided those around her with a touch and soothing words. Witnesses who later became the first of her followers claim she glowed with a soft, divine light to lead them from the darkness.”

– Taken from the Book of the Beginning

T’aibi was a simple woman at heart, raised doing hard work on a farm and loving the family around her. She and others were swept up in the Storm of Change that led to the war. But even as her peace movement was just beginning, those around her seemed to gain insight and balance. The path she and her followers took often led into places of darkness. Without regard for her own safety, she took it upon herslef to enlighten these dark leaders to “The Way” – her philosophy of love, peace, and brotherhood.

“Adal’s lair, littered with the remains of his enemies, lay open to the Mother. With confident strides, she began to clear away the pieces until there was room to sit before his throne. For days, she said nothing and remained motionless. As though in a trance, Adal matched her for five days before descending. He embraced her and began repeating ‘I see! I truly see!’ over and over again…”

– Taken from the Book Between

Though immortal, she chose to pass into the beyond a hundred years after she had begun. Her body had become frail over time, and rather than construct a new body, a new vessel for her Spirit, she chose to take her place in the Maker’s House. For months, her followers mourned. But eventually they built her tomb, stone by stone. When it was completed, Pidae spoke the words that changed the world.

“We return you, Great Mother, to accept your place beside the Maker. While here, you opened our eyes to the love in the world and so we embrace our fellow man. In your memory, we shall continue to persevere with peace and faith. From this day on, we will spread your teachings to the ends of the earth, over seas, mountains, and plains…”

– Taken from the Book of the End

And so the church began. The 100 or so members of her flock spread the word far and wide. The first cathedrals were build soon after in her memory. Over time, many of the people accepted the word of the Mother’s Disciples and Priests as divinely blessed by the Mother herself.

Among those first Disciples was Jost, and he grieved for nearly one hundred after she died, wandering the places mankind still hadn’t discovered yet. When he returned to the world, only a few generations removed from The Mother’s message of brotherhood and peace, he was distraught to find her message twisted. Instead of a brotherhood of all mankind – Changed or not – those who were different, like the Changed, were cast out.

To stop the madness, he began a counter-culture, preaching the true words of the Young Mother as they were meant to be heard. But he was hunted again and again by those in power. Instead of stopping the madness, he fanned the fire, eventually causing an incident near the Mother’s tomb that he couldn’t forgive himself for. On that ill fated day, he slaughtered more than a thousand soldiers until he was the only one still standing.

As a result, he lost his mind. He wanders the world in a 50 year cycle, bringing death, pain, destruction, and change in his wake. He returns to the site where the cycle began – where his mentor and mother figure gave her life for a cause few if any remember, where he sacrificed his own mind so he would no longer be forced to remember what he had done for the person and ideal he held so dear.

What could end the infinite path of this immortal? What might shake him out of the cycle? Only time or The Mother will tell.

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