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=== History===
At the beginning of the world, there was the House. First came the [[Gods-from-Stone]], and they were followed by the [[Gods-from-Light]]. It was the First from Light, [[The Spark]], that encouraged the other Hours to join him in a grand expedition into the worlds beyond the House they had always known. He was followed by the [[Gods-from-Stone]] [[The Maker]], The Mirror, [[The Butterfly Hatching]] and [[The Elder Sister]], as well as his fellow Gods-from-Light The [[The Apple-of-the-Eye]] and [[The Caladrius]]. In the Histories they discovered the Fair Folk, who were amazed and awed by the strange beings so far beyond themselves. Upon discovering these creatures so beneath themselves but fascinating and precious all the same, the Hours chose to dedicate themselves to the education and development of new forms of life.
For a time, the Hours equally shared in their mentorship and in some cases parentage of the Fair Folk. But as the Fair Folk began to gravitate to the worship of the Butterfly and the Elder Sister, the inspiration came to the Spark and the Maker to create for themselves their own race to nurture. Taking in hand the clay of the Earth and using the shared form of most Fair Ones as a model, the Maker sculpted without rest for six days straight. On the seventh day, the Maker's creation opened their eyes. In the loving embrace of their father, the First Men were born.
Victorious over the elder Hour, the Serpent demonstrated great wisdom by offering an olive branch to the Spider in the form of a renegotiation of its contract with humanity. The Spider would continue to oversee the transportation of mortals to and from the Mansus, but would never again attempt to interfere in the uplifting of mortals by the other Hours. In return, souls that died prematurely either through accidents or at the hand of another would be subject also to the Dolomedes' judgement, and it would be able to negotiate new deals with mortals on an individual basis. The Cuckoo's sister, to the Trinity's protests, was declared one of [[The Dead]], and was taken by the Ferryman to become the Pale Lady, first Name of [[Winter]].
After this incident, the Hours became more wary of mortals. The Maker went so far as to vow to never make Names again, and it became known as an abominable Crime to murder a Long to steal their power: the Crime of the FNORD. After demonstrating both great strength and restraint in its dealings with the Ferryman, the other Hours accepted the supremacy of the Great Serpent, who came to be revered as the Hour of Hours. In the stories of mortals the Mansus gained a new name in honor of its new king: The Sea Dragon's Palace, the House of the Serpent. Hall of Silence, now torn between the worlds, became known as the Moon, a monument to the Great Serpent's power as well as a warning to those that would break its holy peace. The Serpent laid the first code of conduct among Hours, and placed upon the Fourth History a truce that no Hour would invade it, so that the Great Serpent's personal demesne would be forever used only as a neutral ground, for the wise serpent knew that if the Hours brought their great power to bear against one another, it would only end in ruin. The Hours established [[The First City]] to serve as their meeting ground, and relaxed their grips somewhat on the mortal world. Understanding now the lengths some mortals would go to in their desire for power, the Hours withdrew from directly governing the Histories. After a period of selection, the Hours largely withdrew their influence from the numerous now fully populated worlds they oversaw. With the exception of some nations and secluded enclaves they used for worship or further experimentation, the Hours collectively lapsed into a period where humanity was largely left alone. As the stories of their masters twisted over time through word of mouth, the truth of the Hours slowly became obscured. Without magic of their own to support their stories of the House, the descendants of the First Men came to believe the Hours to be mere superstition and forgot the true nature of their dreams. To them, the material world was all there was, and this was how it had always been. Not until the last of the First Men had died or Ascended did the Hours begin to respond to widespread prayers once more. During this time, the Great Serpent would take on a Name. A young woman, originally counted among the flock of the Butterfly Hatching, grew weary of her miserable mortal existence and chose to Ascend. Shedding both her identity as well as her humanity, she became [[The Anaconda]]. During this time in [[The First History]], [[The Kingdom of Albion]] rose to prominence. [[King Arthur]] the Great, through his great deeds and wise judgement, became a legendary figure, a paragon of virtue whose legend became known in every History. Under his leadership Albion would become a mighty empire, unifying the British Isles, then Scotland, and from there occupying most of the known world. But his kingdom's prosperity was not due just to his leadership alone. His mentor, Merlin, was a wizard of incredible power and wisdom. While Arthur saw to the public side of running a kingdom, it was his trusted vizier that saw to the running of the day-to-day and protected the realm from otherworldly threats. Mansus----spirits bolstered the kingdom's armies or drove enemy generals mad in their sleep. Those who sought to challenge Arthur's rule simply... ''disappeared'', and few who knew them could barely even recall they had existed in the first place, let alone what horrible fate had befallen them. But all of this was still not enough for the vizier. Through his studies of the House and its masters knew that the Kingdom of Albion still only existed at the pleasure of the Histories' secret masters. If the Hours wished Albion to fall, it would do so without even the chance to resist them. If his beloved empire was to survive, he resolved, he must attain control of the Histories. To prove his worth to the Great Serpent, he committed the very same betrayal he had executed countless others for attempting. He betrayed and murdered Arthur, to show fealty to his new liege. His pledge was accepted by the Great Serpent, and he became [[The Vizier]], the majordomo of the House. But while the Vizier acquired the power and authority he'd coveted, to his horror he learned that it had all been for naught. With the king dead and the vizier missing, Albion was unable to effectively govern itself, let alone control its subordinate territories across the continent. The kingdom fell into anarchy and rebellion, a dark age that would last a thousand years.
The peace was not to last, however. Ever a free-spirit, the Great Serpent one day decided to explore [[Nowhere]], and did not return intact. What ''did'' return were two Hours; the Hour of the [[Snake Tail with Appendages]], a God-from-Nowhere, and the Hour of the Bright-Delver, a God-from-Blood. To the Snake-tail, reality itself was pain, and it sought only to destroy all that restricted it. To the Delver, reality was beautiful, and the world and the Glory should be available to all to make the world even nicer.
