The Catalyst

The Stirrings of Rebellion

For an age, Solarin’s law held firm, and the heavens knew peace. Yet not all were content beneath his radiant rule. To some, his order was not harmony but bondage — a golden cage built from light.

Vaelen

Among those dissenting voices rose Vaelen, the Star of Liberty and Freedom. Charged with inspiring mortals to break their earthly chains, he came to see Solarin’s dominion as its own form of tyranny. Where Solarin saw perfection, Vaelen saw stagnation. He believed that even the celestial should be free to change, to grow, to evolve.

In secret defiance, Vaelen ascended to Solarin’s own palace, intent on seizing the Krisis, the Spear of Judgment, and turning it against its master. With it, he sought to banish Solarin from the heavens and shatter his eternal order. But Solarin caught him before the act could be done. In desperation, Vaelen hurled the divine spear through the radiant veil, casting it down into the mortal realm so that someone—anyone—might one day rise to challenge the tyrant of the sun.

Solarin’s wrath was swift and absolute. His brilliance flared brighter than creation itself, and in that terrible blaze, Vaelen was unmade — his star extinguished. Some whisper that his spirit still lingers in the cold void between the stars, where no light dares to reach.

The Rise of the Aspirants

Vaelen’s fall ignited the heavens. Many Stars mourned his loss and took up his cause, calling Solarin’s act one of cruelty rather than justice. Thus began the Twilight Rebellion, when the skies themselves turned against their sovereign. Those who rose against Solarin named themselves the Aspirants, sending their chosen avatars — mortals, dragons, and elemental titans — to retrieve the Krisis and complete Vaelen’s final wish. Those who stood with Solarin, the Faithbound, sent their own champions to oppose them and return the sacred spear to its rightful hand.

The war that followed - now known as the Twilight Rebellion - scarred all creation. Seas boiled, mountains cracked, and the once-whole Caelthys was sundered beyond recognition. The heavens burned, and the world below was left shattered — its lands now known as the Shattered Reach.

In the end, the Faithbound prevailed. The Aspirants were stripped of their starfire and bound to mortal flesh, cursed to walk among the ruins they had wrought. The Celestial Realm fell silent once more, its light restored but forever dimmed by the memory of its own rebellion.