Many legends exist about the creation of the most powerful race to walk this plane. This forgotten realm that some say was a byproduct of a powerful being’s whimsy. There is one certain legend, that speaks of a brother killing his brother, and it was that first act of malice which bled through to the forgotten world and cursed the brother to an eternal existence of loneliness.

He was cursed to be the Originator of this forgotten realm.

And so it was that Abel’s blood and Cain’s eternal suffering gave rise to the Originator’s most dangerous creations. “And they shall be called the Icchorians, and they shall be a testament to my power. They shall be rulers of the night, and their only curse will be the Sun.” And from that first creature born of blood and fire, the Originator multiplied them with merely one word.

Some he fashioned as Elders, old when they were just created, having known no birth or childhood, no experiences of suckling a mother’s breast, or growing up and learning about the world. And some he fashioned as eternally young, to be servants and blood sacrifices in his temples; others he created to be consorts of Death across his cursed plane. The Code of Life of the Icchorians was this: a bond must be formed with a Human to slake the blood lust. This bond was spiritual in nature, reaching across space and time.

However, as the firstborn son of Man sinned and slay his brother Abel, so the Icchorians began to sin and refuse to bond with the Humans. Their blood lust grew great, and they began to turn on even their own, even on the gospel of the Originator himself. And the Elders grew angry, and rallied together with the strongest and oldest ancestors, and they hunted these savage beasts, their own brothers, and dressed them in enchanted gold adornments to bind them. And while they were yet beautiful, the Golden Ones were a threat to their own kind, and forced to form their own society.

And one-third of the Icchorians fell in this way and refused to bond with a Human.

However, it came to pass that even the peaceful Icchorians were in danger. Those who were charged with being blood sacrifices—willing to give their blood to their brothers to sate the thirst for mortal blood—were growing fewer, and could not keep up with the demand of Icchorian bonds. The Originator, in his imperfection, failed to create an eternal supply of blood sacrifices; and the common Icchorian population was ever-increasing. And so it came to pass that more and more Icchorians, though willing to form bonds with Humans to suppress the truest form of their being—that beastly rage formed from the first Sin—were not physically able to drink enough blood. Thus as Sin on Earth increased, and the Humans fell further into depravity, the Icchorians were forced to wear more and more golden armor.

However this could not last. It was then that the Elders cried out to the Originator, and the whole world fasted in subjugation. Mother separated herself from child, and husband separated himself from his wife. So it came to pass that the Race born from Sin and Suffering was crying out for relief, for blood, for peace. “Save us” was their cry. And the Elders wept, for there was no more blood in the realm except for each other. The original blood sacrifices died out, for their blood was drained too quickly by the masses.

And finally, after two thousand years of suffering and hurting each other, the Originator heard their plea. The Originator began to bring whole civilizations of Humans from the other plane to the Great Realm. He was familiar with these Humans, and not the beasts born from his Sin. “The Humans and Icchorians will be able to form personal bonds now, instead of fragile bonds spanning space and time,” he thought to himself. And the Great Realm was a poor reflection of the other plane, a mirror world, a nightmare plane, soiled from the Icchorians’ destruction of their fragile civilizations. Their blood lust could not be calmed. And the Humans did fear the Icchorians, the beasts of which they knew nothing. They lost all faith in their god and rebelled more than they ever had on the other plane. And Icchorian killed Human, and Human killed Icchorian, blood for blood, suffering for suffering.

And thus began the Great War.