The Dunes of Aelius

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Emotions ran high among the homins that day. They tread once more upon the lands of their ancestors, a few dunes lost in the desert where the Fyros had lived before the Great Swarm came. But the homins weren't there to reconquer the land nor to feast; the divine powers had sent them there to collect the resources needed to build their temples. The collection of these resources was to provoke a veritable blood bath on the Dunes of Aelius.

The same raw materials were needed to build both the temples of Jena and the sanctuaries of Ma-Duk. Within a few minutes, the Kamist and Karavaner harvesters were fighting over the deposits they had discovered. The warriors grabbed their weapons, the magicians invoked the supernatural forces and soon a pitched battle was under way.

Day and night, the homins clashed in the name of Jena and Ma-Duk. The battlefront fluctuated, each side taking it momentarily before being pushed back under the weight of a counter-attack. In the meantime, the harvesters filled their bags with the shells, resins and wood of Aelius. The presence of kitins made their task extremely dangerous. Fighters were kept off the front line to repel the kitin attacks. Fortunately, this homin intrusion didn't provoke any reaction from the kitins.

Weighed down with raw materials, the harvesters returned to the construction sites and handed their precious loads over to the master crafters, who then distributed them to the crafters to turn into parts for the future temples. The heroes' hearts were filled with joy and pride. Their names would be recorded for ever more on steles created by the gods, saving them from the oblivion and the void into which ordinary homins sink.

Not all shared this joy and pride. Some homins were disgusted by the suffering and death brought about by the divine quarrel. These unfortunates wept to see their dream of universal fraternity shattered by divine will. In their time of despair, Tryton sent them his emissaries, but the message delivered aroused anger and exasperation and was swept aside in shouts and recriminations. Tryton once again warned the homins about Jena and Ma-Duk. He also maintained that, as long as the two powers were fighting each other, homins still had hope but, if one defeated the other, then homins would be enslaved for evermore. So Tryton asked the homins to take part in the fight in order to maintain the balance of power and to keep hope alive…

Some time later, the deposits on the Dunes of Aelius began to dry up. The homins were still far from finishing the parts of the temples to be built using the resources extracted from the Dunes. However, the two sides were on an equal footing, no faction having managed to gain the upper hand. Impressed by the devotion of their respective followers, both Jena and Ma-Duk helped them. The parts needed to build the temples were multiplied through divine intervention! This miracle strengthened the faithful's fervour even more. It was now time to leave the Dunes of Aelius; the building of the temples would continue in another place, on the peaceful banks of a forgotten lake.

  excerpt from The Erlan Chronicles, by Erlan, chronicler.


The Chronicles of Atys  
HistoryChronicles Overview
Before the Great Swarming  
Fire of Coriolis

The Fever of DiscoveryThe Siege of KaraviaThe Company of LoriaThe Youth of LoriaThe Assassination of LoriaThe Liberation of the Trykers

Chronicles of the Great Swarming - From 2481 to 2484 (JY)  
Massacre and flight

A Kitin StoryMonsoon SunsetMy Karavan GuardianThe Kitin Song

The return of Hope

First ChronicleNew DayOpportunity Awaits

Chronicles of the New Beginning - From 2484 to 2525 (JY)  
Chronicles of Aeden Aqueous

The Secrets of Tryker engineeringA Flyner EscapeThe Story of a Young Corsair

Chronicles of the Verdant Heights

A Little Lore at BedtimeCiochini learns of His HeritageChrysalisScreaming Shadows

Chronicles of the Witherings

Tears of SerenityThe Crying MektoubThe Stance of DaïshaMabreka

Chronicles of the New Beginning - Since 2525 (JY)  
Erlan's Chronicles

Preface to ChroniclesRevelation of TrytonThe Call from the PowersThe Dunes of AeliusForgotten PlacesKitins Stir... Homins! Prepare!Spring, when tents blossomedAnnex to Spring, when tents blossomed

Chronicles of Aeden Aqueous

Ardan KealeA Tryker wedding storyWirell Aelan, Decent TrykerThe Traveller returnsTryker ConstitutionLady Chiabre's Social Diary

Chronicles of the Burning Desert

Story of a Young FyrosIbian Peldix, bark SculptorDexius Apokos, Fyros GenadierMenia Pyron, engaged FyrosInterview with Lekos DaraanThe Mystery of the RenegadesMeeting with the new Senator Dios ApothepsA New Face

Chronicles of the Verdant Heights

An Interview with Cuiccio PeriniaBebi Cuirinia, royal EmbalmerViero, young married matisTo fight to exaltAutumnFoul FruitsThe TearMelario Estriano, history of a Matis

Chronicles of the Witherings

Cioi Ba-Nung, Tattooist for HominsA Zorai WeddingYi Be-Pian, Old Zoraï of the Company of the Eternal TreeUnfortunate NightEqual to AtysThe Story of Sian Gai-Lua: A Fateful HuntTribes of the Witherings and GooTeleportation Sickness

Trytonist chronicles

In The BeginningA new Seeker of EliasHiaoi, seeker of Elias

Marauders chronicles

Stabre Sicco, Marauder PrisonerThe misadventures of Arty Mac Keaggan

Chronicles linked to the Temple War

The Call from the PowersThe Dunes of AeliusForgotten PlacesWirell Aelan, Decent TrykerAnnouncement of the construction of the Karavan TempleFao the ZoraïTales of Mac KeagganIn Jena's light

Chronicles linked to Spring, when tents blossomed

Spring, when tents blossomedAnnex to Spring, when tents blossomedFor a Few Dappers More

Diverse chronicles

Out of SlaveryThe Mektoub AffairThe Memoirs of Kedgy Be'CaunyThe Legend of the Blue OcyxWhen Jena ComesA Very Special DrinkThe Circle of DarknessClandestine AttackAn Ancient ConflictBloody DuskThe Kami of the Lost SoulsThe Followers

Special chronicles

The Legend of the Ghost YuboThe Gingo Who Ate the Sun