Aquila



Aquila, also known as the Overworld to its residents, was one of many dimensions within the universe and the basis for the story of White Eyes. Aquila was a relatively small, diverse world that sat close to the center of the universe, and uniquely war-torn after thousands of years of strife.



Background
Like all other dimensions within the universe, those born within Aquila are bound to the world upon birth, preventing them from accidentally or deliberately traveling to other overworlds during void travel (this was the doing of the primordial and benevolent deity Gamma) Aquila was created some milennia prior to the founding of Corvus shortly after the god Avus, one of the many children of the primordial being Moros, the so-called Ancient Fear, was immaculately born. Avus had a hand in designing the world, though its creation was mostly left to chance, its vast plains and deep oceans woven together by the invisible and omnipresent threads of Dark Energy. Prior to the Great Desynchronization, Aquila was a tightly knit world composed of one single supercontinent surrounded by endless ocean.



Above: Aquila (center) protected from alien threats by the Nether 

Some centuries after the first inhabitants of Aquila were born, Avus fell in love with the mortal woman Minerva. The two had one child, Makrozoia, who was curiously born without godly powers, taking more from his mother than his father. The son quickly grew tired of living idly in his father's marble castle that orbited the world and set about making his own destiny below in Aquila.

Accepting the fact that few would believe the truth that he was the son of Aquila's creator, Makrozoia started from scratch, becoming a charismatic politician whom the people trusted with their lives. When the nefarious Nightmare Legion arrived in Aquila in droves from an unknown location, Makrozoia used his wits to seal the evil hordes on an island called Kalga Bland far off the coast of the supercontinent. Gratuitous, the people of Aquila accepted Makrozoia as their king.



Above: the known universe, held together by the deity Gamma

Makrozoia was initially a kind leader, but after decades of ruling, his mind was gripped by cruelty by some dark force unbeknownst to him. With his blade, the Invidere, Makrozoia slew his mother and father to ensure they would not interfere with his new regime, and then quickly set about ensuring the loyalty of his subjects. He waged a hundred year campaign of death and genocide, imposing his infallible will upon all of Aquila. To facilitate his rule, he awakened the deadly Nightmare Legion, convincing the evil warriors to serve him. From then on, Makrozoia was universally known as the Mad King.

Still, despite his all-consuming evil, he found love in at least one of his mortal subjects. An unnamed woman known only by her pseudonym of Yuuki ruled as the de-facto queen of Aquila. Though she was terrified of her husband's wrath, she loved him deeply, and insisted that there was still good in him. Slowly but surely, she was able to sooth her husband's rage, and though massacres persisted daily, they eventually lessened in their severity. The Mad King finally settled down, as it were, when his two children, Notch and Herobrine, were born.

The unseen darkness that initially corrupted Makrozoia, however, was not content to let him grow complacent. His bloodlust resumed, and one faithful night, Yuuki fell victim to his rage. The Mad King was horrified by his actions, but not to the extent of his twin sons, who could never have imagined the tales of their father's evil were true. They conspired for many months before enacting their grand plan, stealing their father's golden sword and slaying him with it in one swift stroke. Wielding the Invidere, Notch and Herobrine were able to banish the Nightmare Legion once more to depths of Urghast.

With the power vacuum left in his father's death empty, Notch and Herobrine seized control of the Aquilan Empire and agreed to formally disband it, thereby allowing several countries to sovereignty. The two twin brothers remained hidden in the shadows, sometimes visiting settlements to feed the hungry or heal the sick with their famed magical powers. Both were a stark contrast to their genocidal father, and the people of Aquila loved them deeply.

The affliction that plagued his father still was not sated. Herobrine grew more wrathful by the day, refusing to help the weak any longer, claiming that they did not deserve to live as they could not keep themselves healthy. He also saw great weakness and corruption in the new countries of Aquila, particularly that of Kilran. He harnessed the power of necromany to raise an army of the dead, commanding them to indiscriminately raze the countless settlements of Kilran.

Unaffected by the strife that consumed his brother and father, Notch enlisted his own military force, the Army of Light, to contest Herobrine's undead horde. The Light quickly overwhelmed the undead, and when Herobrine was forced to retreat to his hidden mountain base, Notch reluctantly slew him, unable to convince him to see the error of his ways. With his dying words, however, Herobrine inflicted a great sickness upon Notch, which sapped him of his strength and would likely kill him in several years' time.

Only one motal was knowledgable and powerful enough to aid him: Lady Thash, a mysterious woman who had unwittingly amassed a sort of cult following that protected her from harm at all cost. Miraculously, she made great progress in healing Notch, but her powers were dulled by another entity that was enamored by her abilities. Moros, a primordial spirit of unspeakable evil and doom, relentlessly pursued her, and when she refused to acknowledge him, the being ended her life in an instant. Without Lady Thash's healing efforts, Notch quickly died a gruesome death.

In the wake of the Lady's death, her followers, led by the valiant warrior Triton, formed the Knights Thash in her honor, determined to cleanse Aquila of evil, starting with the mysterious being Moros. Guided by the unseen hand of Gamma, who needed mortal allies to seal his ancient enemy, the Knights Thash conducted a great ritual to expunge the Ancient Fear not just from their overworld, but from the universe at large - permanently. Upon the commencement of the ritual, Gamma and Moros briefly battled among the endless void of the universe, tossing each other across the stars to devastating effect. Gamma was ultimately able to throw Moros outside the bounds of the universe, but the battle grievously wounded him.



Above: the Ancient Fear, Moros, looking vengefully down at the universe after being cast out by Gamma and the Knights Thash

The devastation brought about by the clashing was experienced by nearly all worlds. In Aquila, the event was known as the Great Desynchronization - a cataclysmic event that broke apart the world's single supercontinent into several pieces, radically changing the geographical and political landscape of the overworld forever. With the Mad King as his children dead and the temporary nullification of the threat of the Ancient Fear, the people of Aquila set about rebuilding and expanding.

Continued in White Eyes!