The Birth of King Izurith, Son of Izurdin, the first Isur
In a time when protohumans were crawling across the land, fighting for their very survival against the monsters that dominated the land and the gods engaged in a contest for their worship, one god in particular sat back and patiently watched events transpire. Izurdin, God of Strength, Patience and Industry, chose not to interfere. To him, these odd little creatures were merely a curiosity. They fought not only the creatures that called the land their home but also fought amongst each other. Despite their failings, the early humans thrived albeit with the help of the other gods. Izurdin felt that the humans should have been allowed to grow and refine themselves on their own without divine help. Through the course of time the humans strong enough to survive the challenges of the untamed land would pass that strength on to their children and their children’s children. Patience and Strength would create the perfect beings deserving of divine attention.
Unfortunately, the actions of the other gods tarnished the potential of the protohumans and robbed them of possibility. Izurdin saw the imperfections of the humans being used by gods for their own desires and realized that few of these mortal creatures would ever display the qualities that he cherished in himself. Nonetheless, the early humans continued to spread their influence across the land. Izurdin knew however that such growth would eventually come to a terrible end. The humans were quickly becoming favored by the other gods and with this favor would come divine conflict as the gods took sides and pushed the imperfect humans to a breaking point. Izurdin, a smith, a builder, a crafter by nature, saw how the imperfections would compromise the greater whole and eventually bring everything down in a cataclysmic collapse. It was not something he could continue to stand by and watch happen.
As much as he wished to somehow repair the damage he saw growing, the humans were too broken to repair by himself and the other gods would not take kindly to his interfering with their newfound toys. It was then that Izurdin realized that if he couldn’t fix things himself, perhaps he could create something that could act in his stead. In his divine forge, Izurdin began working on what would soon become his greatest creation.
His creation would need to be able to blend in to human society yet still stand out as being something special. In the center of his workshop stood a chunk of stone collected from deep within his own divine realm. The stone was not much to look at, dull gray with a single small vein of silver running through the center of it. However, the stone was harder than any substance known in either the divine or mortal realm. With his hammer and chisel, Izurdin got to work. Slowly, the stone fell to his chipping, cracking and breaking. As he labored over the stone, the familiar shape of a humanoid skeleton began to take form. When the excess stone was finally removed and the rough stone skeleton stood before him, Izurdin reached for a large piece of silver that he had fallen from the stone during the carving. Holding it in his crimson hand, Izurdin softened it to the consistency of clay. With the silver, he ran his hand over the stone skeleton. As he did, the silver melted over the bones and formed muscle and sinew. When he was finished with this he stepped back and gazed upon his progress.
In the silver muscles of the unfinished work before him, Izurdin saw his own reflection and smiled. As he smiled, the next step in the creation process began. Starting at the figure’s toes and slowly crawling its way up, light-blue tinted skin began to form over the silver muscles. As the skin began to cover the figure, it parted in places to allow some of the silver in the muscles to stand out like veins. The only part of the figure’s body that wasn’t covered in skin as it reached the neck was one of its arms; there the skin stopped at the shoulder. As the skin stretched up and over the figure’s head, a slightly raised ridge formed across its brow and short, black hair sprouted at the top of the head. Izurdin was then presented with a very lifelike statue of a something human and not human though its eyes were closed. He was not quite finished yet though and reached out with his crimson hand and touched the figure on its still stone shoulder. The stone cracked and began flaking away to reveal a silver-veined arm of pure ruby. There was but one thing left to do before his work was complete.
Reaching into his own chest, Izurdin broke off a tiny piece of his own heart. Pulling it forth he touched the figure’s chest with it and pressed it into the flesh, muscle and bone. Removing his hand, the piece of his heart was left in the figure’s chest which now looked unmarred. With his off hand, Izurdin lifted his thumb to his mouth and bit it, drawing a single drop of blood. He pressed his thumb to the figure’s forehead and said,
“My world, my wealth, my heart, my blood, my son, awaken.”The figure’s eyes opened and the first Isur gazed upon his father for the first time.
