Children of 'ODD

The Children of 'ODD /i'ad'tɛ/ is the religion solely held and observed by the Orcari and is the pre-FTL name of their people.

Children of 'ODD Mythology

The Three

In the beginning, there were gods: K'ODD, T'ODD, and X'ODD.

K'ODD /ki'ad'tɛ/ - god of the planets - maintained the order of the planets in the Orcari solar system, with Eldane as its chief responsibility.

T'ODD /ti'ad'tɛ/ - god of the in-between - oversaw the space between the planets and the sun.

X'ODD /zi'ad'tɛ/ - god of the stars - not only held dominion over Eldane's star, but counted and catalogued the stars of the night sky.

The Fourth

But then something marvelous happened: a fourth god arrived. Her name was J'ODD /dʒe'ad'tɛ/, god of the natural world. Her beauty was beyond compare, and X'ODD fell madly in love with her.

Courtship of the Fourth

X'ODD and J'ODD fell in love, much to the chagrin of the other gods. K'ODD and T'ODD could only watch as J'ODD basked in the warmth of X'ODD's doting gaze. Over millennia, their envy grew until X'ODD broke their trust and wed J'ODD. On the planet Eldane, X'ODD became flesh to walk in the world with J'ODD.

Discord between the Three and the War of Five

K'ODD and T'ODD's envy boiled over into rage. From asteroids hurled through the void and the matter of broken planets, K'ODD and T'ODD forged a fifth god - M'ODD /mɛ'ad'tɛ/ - god of the MACHINE. With M'ODD- K'ODD and T'ODD waged war with X'ODD and J'ODD.

But X'ODD and J'ODD outlasted their divine counterparts. In defeat, K'ODD and T'ODD returned to their celestial firmament, while M'ODD was broken and cast down.

The Children of 'ODD are Born

Harnessing the remnants of M'ODD- X'ODD and J'ODD constructed the Valley of the Wells, a life-giving spring where divine waters flowed and channeled their divine energy into pools that gave rise to the Children of 'ODD. The children were perfect blends of their parentage, Orcish beings with a love for nature and eyes fixed on the stars. Yet, they were also born amongst the remains of M'ODD and felt the machine call to them as well.

Later, the Valley of the Wells would become the seat of power, the capital of their ancestral roots, and the origin of all cloning science. The capital of Eldane would one day rest on top of these ancient, hallowed grounds.

The Passed Torch

Having sustained considerable wounds from their war, X'ODD and J'ODD were slowly losing their divine gifts. But using their boundless knowledge of the cosmos and the natural world, they guided their children through an age of prosperity. X'ODD and J'ODD knew they could not continue as they once did as eternal beings. So they passed their essence into a golden scepter and the generational seed. The divine torch of kings, the golden scepter, held a mesmerizing star map of their night sky within its top. The scepter would guide the children. The generational seed held their unique heritage, divine knowledge, and the secrets of the Wells with it.

The passing of the torch signified the end of X'ODD and J'ODD's physical presence on Eldane. The divine god and goddess diminished, reverting to their primordial forms.

The Remnant of M'ODD

It was not long before the children were tested. Sensing his time had come, M'ODD marshalled his remnants, attacking the mourning Children of 'ODD. The machines, monstrous and vengeful, cast down chains and fire upon the Valley of the Wells, scattering the children from their ancestral home. The attack split the springs, branching the rivers and cutting them off from their previously divine potency.

The First Order of Orcari

The Children of 'ODD, having been cast from their homes, became a nomadic tribe on the run from M'ODD's deadly machines. The adults grew old, and their children rose to adulthood with a hatred for M'ODD and his vindictive hunting parties.

One day, the chieftain passed, and his son took the torch of kings. He gathered all of the Children of 'ODD and called them to war. The son, little more than a teenager, cracked the first M'ODD hunting party with the golden scepter. The Children of 'ODD fashioned weapons from the remains of the machine army and marched on the Valley of the Wells. At the height of the mountainous scrapheap M'ODD had piled for himself, the boy held the scepter aloft, the starlight casting down, and a piercing flame cut M'ODD asunder. The machinery, brittle and broken, collapsed as M'ODD's divine energy fled from their warriors.

They became the Orcari /ˈɔr'kɑr'ri/ - or The Divine Overcomes - and regained control of Eldane from the machinations of M'ODD. The boy, Oruk, became the first Chief of the Wells in the First Order of Orcari, a monastic religious order of the Children of 'ODD.