Stories Of Zoltah

Tartarus

The Sphere, that magical artefact of magnificent, bright light, which dwells deep inside the bowls of Zoltah, is said to control not only the seasons, but the very water the celestials drink and air they breathe. Located near the volcanic heart of our world, far below the ground, only a few celestials have ever laid eyes upon it. And when the Olympian named Hades, sought to steal it for himself and gain the power to challenge his brother Zeus for the throne, the Sphere reacted by igniting and bringing to life the fearsome titans.
First to be created was Cronus, whose very veins course with streams of molten lava and colossal body is riddled with ridges of dormant volcanoes. Having seen what he had wrought, Hades fled from the cavernous pit, through The Fields of Mourning and came out into the open, only to see yet another titan, built up from the spiralling waves of the sea swirling high up into the sky, take the monstrous form of an upper torso whose lower body was the sky-blue waters. Oceanus, as he would later be called, spewed forth floods from his gaping mouth, while both of his cavernous eyes led down into deep, black bottomless holes, even graver than the deepest of graves. Gaea swiftly followed, as the very ground around Hades's feet, quaked and gave way while he made for dear life – the trees rustling wildly and nearby mountains collapsing like castles made of sand. Arms made of rock and debris soon sprang forth from the destruction, followed by a searching face whose very hair were ropes of vines, twisted like coiling snakes and skin dull grey with rock. Last to emerge, just as Hades made it above the horizon, was the titan Atlas, who, with the deafening cry of a thousand ghouls, was formed by howling winds blowing in from every direction. His massive frame was an assortment of spiralling tornados, intertwined and twisted into a towering body. And after he had uplifted Asgard and Olympia centuries later, his deeds created an imbalance in nature that even the Sphere itself failed to rectify.
The once sprawling and ever-green lands of Zoltah soon devolved into utter chaos and destruction – littered with pitch-black gorges, snaking rifts, imposing canyons and rivers of boiling tar. And with the forces out of balance across the entire surface, Cronus was free to unleash his rage at Atlas's actions in eruptions of volcanoes the world over. Yet, through all the turmoil, barrenness and unrelenting heat, a bustling oasis teeming with swaying palm trees and crystal-clear lakes survived, stretching across the third kingdom of Zoltah, Heliopolis. There, celestials such as Horus, Osiris and Ra, dwell with their kindred in abodes fashioned in the shape of pyramids. Through their midst, the enchanted River Styx flows gently, leading off into the dark distance, away from the oasis where Heliopolis sits, and toward a daunting valley passing between two towering mountains. Ahead, a hooded sentry known as Charon awaits, scythe in hand and bow-shaped boat awaiting to take whoever can best his whit, down into The Fields of Mourning, situated far beneath the surface of Zoltah, now known as Tartarus.