In the mist-shrouded days of ancient eons long past, a race of men dwelled upon the Outlands. They were a people long and gaunt of face and limb, not comely by the standards of the present. These lean and sturdy folk were known as the tiere. The sharp-eyed tiere, whose name meant "steadfast" in their now-forgotten tongue, were warriors and wizards of wondrous skill. The greatest of the tiere, however, were their priests, worshipping a deity whose name is lost, probably forever.
The tiere focused their energies and resources to construct a massive temple for their god. Their goal was to create a palace so large that the god would come and live in the temple, if only for a short while. They toiled at this task for untold generations until it was finished. Suns and moons were born and died in the time it took to construct the massive temple, but the unwavering tiere were true to their name.
When the temple was finished, its size and grandeur surpassed anything any mortal had ever created. A flock of ravens or doves could fly straight for days and not touch a wall of the enormous shrine. The god of the tiere was so pleased that he did indeed make the temple his home.
When the temple was complete, other gods dwelling in the Outlands coveted it, and word spread that the temple would be overtaken by outsiders. So the tiere gathered round their temple in hopes that their god would protect his steadfast people. The deity within feared more for his own safety, however, and refused to help his mortal followers.
Instead of weeping at their betrayal, at the knowledge that the work of generations was for naught, the tiere began to chant words of revenge, words to repay an act of infidelity so great that it would condemn the tiere for the rest of eternity. These words of power sealed their enormous temple and imprisoned their once-beloved god within. The god of the tiere was trapped forever in the temple his people had created.
The tiere were consumed by the power of the ritual they performed. The Temple of the Captive God is lost now. It disappeared from the Outlands and was never seen again. As for the tiere, they were swept by the power of their incantation out of the Outlands, into the wind-torn layer of Minethys on Carceri. They now call themselves the gautiere. This is a name that would have simply meant "once steadfast."
-Eric Noah's paraphrasing of the Planes of Conflict Monstrous Appendix
Source: Planes of Conflict
- 645 reads