Before the Great Migration, there were a string of coastal countries that spanned along the Sea of Andrasel, on the coast of the continent of Leihou. Loun Leihou and Said Leihou formed the shape of a crescent extending into the Sea, with the small, religious country of Aronsythre Hold protected within the ‘arms’ of Loun-Said Leihou. To the south, there were lesser powerful and politically influental countries of Sohoei, Canth, and Ruilt. Loun-Said Leihou were ruled by men and women called Soei; Soei Ruit acted as a monarch over the agrarian Loun Leihou, Soei Raenth was the matriarch of the merchant country Said Leihou. These two held power over almost all the affairs in the continent of Leihou, bar the power bestowed upon the High Priest of Aronsythre Hold, the center of all religious activity in the world that they knew.

Each country worshipped their own gods and goddesses, but there were two that all held oh high. Aron and Syth, they were called. Duel goddesses, Aron and Syth represented both sides of things–light and dark, good and bad. What one had, the other didn’t, and so the people of Leihou believed that if they worshipped both, that they would recieve both the benefits.

The scales were slowly starting to sway.

It only took the death of the High Priest of Aronsythre Hold to tip the balance of power between those who worshipped Aron and those who worshipped Syth.

Soei Ruit and Raenth were fraternal twins, secretly born to the High Priest of Aronsythre Hold. Annyou Sabriel-Toru, he was called, fell into sin one eve before the annual festival beginning the seasonal planting in the spring, falling in love with a girl by the name of Raethius. He sang her sweet songs, offered her his all, and in the blind love that the High Priest was to never meant to feel, gave her a parting gift before his duties as High Priest would begin.

In the winter, Raethius gave birth to Ruit and Raenth in a small home with only the comfort of her brother and sister watching over her and safeguarding her from the eyes of unwanted strangers. Knowing that if any knew of whom the father was, Annyou Sabriel-Toru would be immediately dismissed from his duties, Raethius secretly used the formal blessings that Sabriel-Toru gave her to get Ruit and Raenth into a position of power they were meant to have. With parentage, came power, and there was no one that the High Priest came in second to. Neither Ruit nor Raenth knew of their lineage or their own personal relationship, but in time, both became the Soei of Loun-Said Leihou through what came to be known as ‘personal wisdom and power’. The blessing of Aron and Syth were obviously to be with the two.

Annyou Sabriel-Toru passed away with age and good fortune, as most High Priests do, but in his wake left much unsolved turmoil. The Priest was dealing with the chasm that had formed between the worshippers of Aron and of Syth, but was unable to solve, throwing first Aronsythre Hold into a religious civil war. The war gained momentum and fighting moved across land, spreading like wildfire into Loun-Said Leihou, then Sohoei, Ruilt, and Canth. country boundaries blurred as governments were unable to stop the warring factions, and as time progressed, the land became charred and war-stained, turning what was once beautiful into desolate waste.

Sparked by the arrogance of their worshippers, the dual goddesses Aron and Syth angrily took to the form of their avatars and walked the land like humans do, destroying everything in sight, human or not, in order to create from scratch the land they once loved. Blind fury dried the seas and scorched the land, leaving nothing.

Both Soei fled immediately for safety, in what was called the Mountains of Gods, a region of miles upon miles of cavernous mountains that stretched beyond the clouds. They were sure to be free from the war there, so they thought.

Human numbers dwindled rapidly, leaving only a small portion of the population of Leihou alive. People searched desprately to find a way to reconcile the goddesses, but it was not until one woman, a prophet of Aronsythre, the whole form of the dual goddesses, showed the way to appeasement. In a quiet gathering of the remaining former leaders of the continent of Leihou, the prophet spoke to them.

“Offer the goddesses her children. They are what Aronsythre has been searching for. Find them, and return them to our great goddess.” Hesitating slightly, she continued on. “You call them your Soei, but they are much more than that. Name them, find them, and bring them to her.” Before leaving, the prophet only named herself Raethius, and left before anyone was able to ask more.

Before people were able to find Ruit and Raenth, Aron and Syth did.

The goddesses appeared before them, dressed in pure white, silken robes. Light shown all around them, filling the dark room with light that permiated everything that it touched. Their hair flowed white from them, eyes closed and fingers gently extending from their slender figures to touch Ruit and Raenth’s foreheads. My child, they spoke with voices pained and hurt, Bear us a child, and call her by our name. Give her to us, to serve us.

You will travel from this barren land and give praise to us in other nations. Follow the mountains to the south east, and you will find Eternals there that will offer you guidance to your new home. Love us, and we will bless you. In parting, Aron and Syth kissed the heads of the two tenderly, as a black scar was seared into Ruit and Raenth’s arm, the mark of the one goddess, split in two in signifying the two goddesses that made up Aronsythre.

Morning passed, and Raenth awoke feverishly as the hot sun bored down upon her. Repeatedly, the two shook what seemed like a dream out of their mind, but the words spoken echoed in their heads.

The black scar still ran hot across their arms.

–

Aronsythre was born early in the fall that year. The Great Migration had started, and Leihou was reduced to nothing. All that lay behind them was what they remembered.

By then, Aron and Syth had left the land to watch over their servants, guiding them along the path in the kind manner that they once watched over Leihou with. There would be no more war between the two factions. Aronsythre, the girl, would be enough to bring the goddesses together.

Ruit and Raenth, still unaware of their own heritage, quickly grew close in the caring for Aronsythre, and Raenth gave birth to one more child, whom they named Raethius, after the fabled prophet of Aronsythre, the goddess.

–

It had been five years after the war had began, and six since the death of the High Priest.

Ruit and Raenth were both twenty-seven the year they reached the Crystal Desert between Tyria and Elona. They wrote the story of the fall of Leihou, and of the Great Migration. It was that from which they gained the name Liore, for it meant story in the language spoken in Leihou at the time.

The birth of the Liore family began here.