Friday Feature: The Making of the Unmakers

Last week's Friday Feature presented Aranalar, a sword +1, +2 vs the Unmade. I have since received a few emails and messages asking me, "What are the Unmade?" That's a very good question and one I'd like to begin to answer in this post. To do that, though, we have to first take a look at the Makers.

The Makers – or ja-Chanaldalu in the Onha language – are the common name given by the present-day peoples of sha-Arthan to an ancient civilization that flourished during the Epoch of Legends. The Makers were masters of sorcery and science in equal measure and they were responsible for creating the archway (chu markai) network that once allowed near-instantaneous travel across the world (and, it is said, between the worlds as well). They are also generally believed to have constructed at least some of the Vaults, though this is a matter of debate. Also debated is the question of whether or not the Makers were themselves Men or merely something akin to them. 

At some point, the Makers disappeared from the face of sha-Arthan. Whether they left of their own accord, destroyed themselves, or vanished for some other reason is unknown, forming the basis of many myths and even entire religions, such as that of the Chenot. In their absence, a group of Men who came to be known as the Heritor Lords rose up to lay claim to their legacy, ushering in the Epoch of Wonders. During that same time, another group also arose, but they had little interest in setting themselves up as would-be Makers – in fact, quite the opposite.

This second group, the Unmakers (cha-Omejaldalu), saw the Makers as having been detached, corrupt, and, above all, stifling of the development of sha-Arthan and its inhabitants. The Unmakers, therefore, sought to free the world from the shackles imposed by the Makers by using both sorcery and science to tear down and destroy every established norm, pattern, or system – including those of reality itself. In so doing, the Unmakers hoped to inaugurate an era of unparalleled liberty; instead, they commenced the Epoch of Strife.

To some, the Epoch of Strife is known as the Epoch of Heroes, after those who appeared to challenge the Unmakers. Figures like the warrior Jalisan of Churuga; Muntaja Nur, the Adept of Manashten; and the Ga'andrin, ja-Hejneka, are but a few of the storied names of this era. They and others forgotten by subsequent generations fought against the Unmakers and their creations, the Unmade, turning the tide against them and the chaos they had unleashed across sha-Arthan.

Of course, the Unmakers were never wholly defeated. Instead, they retreated and hid, with some, it is said, establishing themselves in the World Between so as to continue their "great work" of dissolution unimpeded by the small minds of their foes. From time to time, they would reappear to menace sha-Arthan, such as during the Daybreak Wars (1:15–25) at the foundation of the Empire of the Light of Kulvu. Even now, there are rumors of cults and secret societies dedicated to the Unmakers across the world, with the Empire of Inba Iro supposedly a hotbed of such activity. If true, then the True World is once again in need of heroes to combat them.

[Next week, I'll take more specifically about the Unmade and their place within the setting.]