Forcelia

Forcelia (フォーセリア, fōseria) is the world of and setting for the fantasy light novels and tabletop role-playing games Record of Lodoss War, Sword World and Crystania.

History

　The history of Forcelia dates back to a time when there was nothing except a single giant (later referred to as "Primordial Giant". Also known as the "Great One" and the "Creator of All Things"). Said to be a perfect being. Tired of his eternal loneliness, the giant burned himself to death. Upon his demise, the massive body of the giant became the world of Forcelia. The giant's flesh became land, his blood became the oceans and his final breath became the wind. His lonely, lamenting heart turned to fire and brought forth heat and life. The first to be born from this life, were the gods.

　From the giant's right foot sprung the god of war Myrii. From his left foot sprung the god of fortune, Cha Za. From the giant's head sprung Rahda, the god of knowledge. From his torso sprung "Earth Mother Goddess" Marfa, the goddess of creation. From the giant's wicked right hand sprung Phalaris, the god of darkness. From his righteous left hand sprung the "supreme god" Pharis, the god of light. Many other gods sprung from the giant's other remains, however the aforementioned six major gods were meant to be the kings of the gods.

Primordial giant with the six major gods and a dragon lord. Illustration from Record of Lodoss War: The Lady of Pharis manga.

　Following the birth of the gods, other parts of the giant gave birth to other lifeforms. The scales that covered the giant's body gave birth to dragons. These dragons were bigger than gods and possessed stronger bodies, but they accepted the gods as their superiors and became their loyal servants. From the body of the giant grew the ancient tree. The fruit of this tree was said to be full of life and the gods created numerous beings from it. The beings born in this age are known as ancient races. In the times of the stories of Lodoss, Crystania, and Sword World these beings are respected, or feared, as much as the gods themselves.

Age of the Gods and creation of Forcelia

　The gods divided the world into three seperate planes or layers. First, they created the "spirit world", then the "material world" and finally the "world of fairies". The Legend of Crystania manga suggests it was Rumiss who created these planes.

　The spirit world is the source of the world's power. When chaos was still scattered throughout Forcelia, the gods established laws and divided chaos into several powers, or elements; fire, water, wind and earth. It is believed Rumiss was the god who divided chaos in the four elements. An infinite number of higher and lesser spirits were made inhabitants of the spirit world.

　The material world is the world where the humans live and is sometimes called the "human world". It is said humans were created in the image of the gods, and thus were given the role of ruling the world. Besides humans, the gods created numerous other creatures and made them live as subordinate to humans.

　The last plane that was created was the fairy world, which serves as an intermediate world that connects the spirit world and material world. The fairies were given an eternal mission to correctly draw spiritual essence from the spirit world and send it out to the material world. It is only because of the fairies that spiritual powers work properly in the material world.

End of the Age of the Gods

see also: War of the Gods

　During the creation of the world, but before its completion, the gods began to quarrel. The supreme god Pharis wished to create a world governed by the laws of light, while the dark god Phalaris envisioned a world of complete freedom. This small dispute eventually led to war and both sides summoned gods to fight on their behalf. The gods split up in camps of light and dark and both sides summoned thousands of dragon lords, fire-spewing beasts that were said to be much larger than the dragons that inhabit Forcelia today. Beings from the three planes—humans, fairies, spirits—were also summoned to fight in the war.

Gods and dragon lords do battle in the War of the Gods. Illustration from Record of Lodoss War: The Lady of Pharis manga.

　Eventually the war came to an end, with neither side emerging victorious. Many gods lost their lives to the dragon lords and after the gods were exterminated, the dragon lords destroyed each other, until only one remained. Before her demise, Kardis, the goddess of destruction, cursed the land. Before the curse could spread Marfa, the goddess of creation, using her final strength, split the already cursed part of the land from the rest of the continent, creating Lodoss Island. The last dragon lord was deeply wounded and has gone in hibernation ever since.

Age of Magic

see also: Kastuul

　Following the extinction of the gods, the world was left to those they had created. The few humans who had survived the War of the Gods gathered together and shared what little food they had, occasionally fighting over it. This period of the Age of Magic is called the "Age of Darkness". The "ancient" humans of that time were not as strong as those of today, however, among them were humans with special powers which they had received from the gods. They called these powers "magic". It were the ten great sages who unraveld the true meaning of the words given by the gods and developed the art of using magic at their will. Today, the ten sages are referred to as "The Founders". The Founders used their magical powers to build the first human kingdom in Forcelia history. This was the beginning of the magical kingdom of Kastuul.

　Over the years, the Kastuulians were slowly but surely expanding their magical civilization and territory. Their cities were initially centered on the eastern side of the continent of Alecrast, but eventually spread throughout the continent. While the humans were expanding their kingdoms, other beings, like dwarves, grassrunners, elves, demons and others had established lands of their own as well. Some of them would interact with humans, like grassrunners and dwarves, while others would not, or would even oppose them.

　In the last days of Kastuul, a great invention was made: a magical tower, a tower that gathered and stored all the magic in Forcelia. Using crystals embedded in their foreheads, the Kastuulians were able to use unlimited magic from the tower. Using this power, they conquered spirits, demons and even giants and dragons and made them their servants. The kingdom was reaching its apex, but in the face of just one monster, it would lose its primary power and cease to exist. A monster, believed to be called Aton, was of enormous size, said to be able to consume the world itself. In an attempt to defeat it, the Kastuulians forged a sword from the body of their king Farlam. The sword was entrusted to their best warrior, who managed to destroy Aton with it. However, the magical power that the sword required was so huge, that the magical tower could not hold it. As a result, the tower collapsed and with it the magical kingdom and the Age of Magic.

Age of the Sword

　During the Age of Darkness, some humans did not use magic to survive, but used other methods. During the Age of Magic these humans were oppressed as barbarians and some were enslaved by Kastuul. When the magic of the Kastuulians was lost, these barbarians, using their swords and other weaponry, destroyed Kastuul within a few years after the tower had collapsed. This marked the beginning of the world of Forcelia as we know it today. The barbarians destroyed all the rulers of Kastuul, including Farlam and the last governor; Saluvan. Pretty much every sorcerer from Kastuul was killed. The year in which the last city of Kastuul was destroyed is considered to be the first year of the New Royal Calendar (NRC).

　The first kingdom that was inaugurated after the fall of Kastuul was Ramliearth on the continent of Alecrast, which passed on surviving knowledge from the kingdom of Kastuul. More kingdoms followed in subsequent years. The Age of Swords is the "current" age—the age in which the stories of Lodoss, Sword World and Crystania take place.

See also

• Ramliearth
• Lodoss
• Crystania
• Alecrast
• Timeline
• Gods of Lodoss