updated 04/23/2026
a page from the journal of Gendin,
son of Arissa and Temone
of the dwarven Clan Gilderlo
Author’s note: Continents such as Trivana are considered “worlds” by their inhabitants, while the entire world is referred to simply as GeKeb. The point of view of Gendin is limited by his people’s concept of the term “world”, and his understanding of what GeKeb is.
Elemental Law and Chaos
November, 1501 AWR
To have any chance of understanding what the Sleeping Abomination is, one must understand Elemental Chaos and Elemental Law.
Simply put, Elemental Law is construction while Elemental Chaos is destruction. These are opposing forces that may pre-date the creation of our universe.
There are hundreds of creation myths. Yes, the word “myth” is appropriate. Cieldren is the oldest known god, and his ascension was forty thousand years ago. Scholars believe that GeKeb was constructed a billion years ago, and the universe predated that. To put this in perspective, twenty-five thousand gods like Cieldren could have existed since GeKeb was built.
These numbers are huge enough that they have no real meaning to us mortals. I suspect the Builder (last survivor of the race that built GeKeb) has no real knowledge of how our universe was created. If that entity cannot, then there is no way mortals can.
With that perspective in mind, these two forces have been in opposition for a time span too long to honestly comprehend. Beyond that, we (mortals) have no idea if the forces of Elemental Law and Chaos are sentient enough to understand what they are doing, or if they simply oppose each other.
There is a school of thought that Elemental Law and Chaos are sentient in some fashion, even if we don’t understand it. If sentient, these two forces direct the creatures that belong to each group. If not, then what drives the creatures to oppose each other?
I don’t know which is more frightening – that Law and Chaos understand what they are doing, or if they don’t.
We know that the interests of Elemental Chaos are deadly to the interests of mortal creations. Elemental Chaos has the end goal of complete destruction, which means we all die. Including all creatures of Elemental Chaos. This is beyond disturbing.
This doesn’t mean that Elemental Law is our ally. My research into Elemental Law indicates that we mortals are not a consideration. Neither helping nor hurting is part of their decision making. We are irrelevant and if we get in their way, they squash us or fling us aside.
What is the Sleeping Abomination?
The entity we call the Sleeping Abomination is so ancient that it was a legend at the time of Cieldren’s ascension. Legends state it was a primary force of Elemental Chaos. All the forces of Elemental Law, along with mortal creatures of that time, fought to subdue it. Failure meant that the universe would be destroyed, so failure was not permissible.
They succeeded, entombing this entity in a prison that could not be escaped. The prison is believed to be some type of extra-dimensional space that keeps the creature subdued most of the time.
Note: There are numerous versions of this legend, and the above summary is the most common version.
When did this happen? Long enough ago that the stories passed into legend long before Cieldren ascended to godhood. The estimate is somewhere between two hundred and eight hundred thousand years ago.
Note: Discussions with Pua, a Fah’Amiga of my acquaintance, is where I gathered the above numbers. A fellow Fah’Amiga (named Tal) is a scholar of this subject who has been collecting and collating information for roughly five thousand years. Tal admits that most of the information he has collected is translations of translations, with the exception of a handful of original statements that were actually chiseled into stone.
Yes, I know those numbers are not meaningful. I doubt the gods can actually comprehend that many years in any useful way.
The Sleeping Abomination is referred to as “it”. We are used to referring to creatures as male or female. For ninety-nine percent of creation, that makes sense. This creature is none of the above. It is so ancient that it doesn’t fit into any recognizable frame of reference.
Note: The actual name of the entity called the “Sleeping Abomination” is never spoken, and very few have even known the name. It is believed that speaking the name may draw its attention. I have seen the name in writing, in a script totally foreign to me, or any living creature. Tal will not explain how to pronounce, and is not sure his is correct. In any case, I have no interest in attempting it.
In Shahrivar it masqueraded as a god known as Bahman. Other names have been used at other times, in other worlds.
The Danger
About a thousand years ago, the Sleeping Abomination roused from its enforced slumber, presenting itself as a previously unknown god called Bahman, gathering followers who quietly took control of a vulnerable city/state. From there the worship of this god spread to neighboring city/states. In about fifty years half the human city/states were quietly absorbed into the worship of Bahman.
Over the next century, all human city/states on the continent were taken by conquest, forming an empire that claimed most of the world. Only one human kingdom, located on an island off the southern coast, remained independent. That and the two dwarven and two elven kingdoms.
Unknown to the populace, the priests of Bahman worked to free their “god” from its imprisonment. Their efforts went on for centuries, with no success. Eventually one of the senior priests repented his actions, which included a life of luxury and debauchment for the clergy. Rallying dissenters, he led a civil war. The result was that the massive empire was shattered.
Tal states there is evidence that the Sleeping Abomination grew angry with the humans’ failure to free it and set into motion the war. History indicates this entity’s habit is to lose patience with its followers and destroy them as punishment for their failure.
Still having power to exert its influence beyond its prison, the Sleeping Abomination gathered followers among the goblinoid tribes. The tribes fell upon the badly shattered humans and took control of the formerly human empire. Humans were relegated to slave status.
History repeated itself. The fractious goblinoids, held together in a fragile peace by the priests of Bahman, worked to free their master. As with all previous attempts, they had no success.
During these centuries there was no effort to take the dwarven and elven lands. There was fighting along the borders, but no real invasion efforts. However, about fifty years ago this changed. The goblinoid attacks ramped up, and the demi-human defenders were challenged to keep the border in place.
Tal believes that Bahman lost patience with his newest followers and inflamed them to attack the demi-humans in order to destroy them. It probably wanted the entire world in ruins to punish everyone. This is what Elemental Chaos does.
Note: Tal did not share how he came by knowledge of events in Shahrivar. I suspect that the Circle has agents in many lands. It is concerning that the Circle knows of situations such as Shahrivar, but their non-interference policy allows such horrors to continue. Knowing the Circle’s history their point of view is understandable to some extent, but allowing Elemental Chaos to grow makes the Circle untrustable.
The band known variously as the Company from Kerr and The Reavers changed the situation. Their destruction of large segments of the Sleeping Abomination’s clerics destabilized the forces of Elemental Chaos. Evil did what evil does best – slaughter itself. Without the strict control of the clerics, the numerous goblinoid factions turned on each other, causing far more destruction than the human, elven, and dwarven forces could. In mere months the goblinoid forces that controlled most of Shahrivar for five hundred years were devastated, a full half of their armies dead at each others’ claws.
It’s very likely that as part of this, the Sleeping Abomination released creature of Elemental Chaos, which had not previously been seen. These creatures destroyed everything that was not themselves. Elemental Chaos doesn’t care about its followers – they exist to serve, and when their usefulness is done, so are they.
The creatures of Elemental Chaos were released in far flung places, worlds other than Shahrivar. While Shahrivar was the primary hot spot, numerous places in Trivana and other worlds were attacked. As far as we know, the destruction wrought by such creatures was severe, but was not total. Groups including the Council of Rendelshod stopped the attacks.
At this time? The Sleeping Abomination appears dormant. Based upon historical information, it will remain so for as many as a dozen eons.