Elder Evils

Illus. by J. Zhang
16
ehold the death of your world. There, cresting the
horizon. Yes, that faint body is he, and he comes
for me . . . for us all. Rejoice, for the end is near,
and all life, all pain, all suffering shall be silenced
in the perfect eternity of undeath.”
—Caira Xasten,
mad astronomer and ur-priest
Atropus, the World Born Dead, drifts through the
gulfs of space, searching for worlds to consume and,
when it finds them, erasing all life with its gruesome
touch. As the afterbirth of creation, it is committed
to unmaking all things. Nothing, not even the gods,
can halt its relentless progress.
BACKGROUND
Every sentient mortal race and culture has some
explanation for its existence, some story or myth
to describe the creation of the world and the birth
of the ancestors. Since it is a rare case when two
myths are identical, scholars of the subject sift
through the rhetoric for commonalities believed
to be present in all legends. Complications arise
due to regional variations, translation errors, and
the simple scarcity of reliable sources, all making
the process of divining the roots of creation a
daunting task.
Certain scholars have made breakthroughs by comparing
dwarf creation myths, the oral tradition of the gray elves,
and the collected writings of the lich Acererak, recovered
from a strange tower deep in the Plane of Shadow. The
findings have been disturbing, pointing to some primeval
mishap—a horrible divine accident leading to the creation
of something called the World Born Dead. (Knowledge
[religion] DC 33)
According to the writings, creation was the result of a
“prime mover.” This being’s identity varies with the particular
story. Most scholars agree this entity must be the force
behind the gods springing forth into existence from the
primeval void. This force, idea, or being is called Atropus.
(DC 38)
Some theologians believe the appearance of these divine
agencies came with a dreadful price. In order for them to
take shape, there must have been a sacrifice: For life to exist,
there must be death. Atropus must have caused its own death
and in that sense became the afterbirth of creation, the
wasted materials left over from the formation of the gods.
Furthermore, since the gods are living beings, and since life
relies upon energy gained from the Positive Energy Plane,
Atropus must be their inversion: death incarnate, drawing
its own power, such as it is, from the Negative Energy Plane.
(DC 43)
Little remains of the prime mover that made the supreme
sacrifice, nothing more than a decaying, disembodied head,
leaving in its wake cast-off necromantic detritus that floats