War of Light and Shadow - The Aftermath - Age of Twilight

The War of Light and Shadow heralded the end of the first cosmic era of the Unfolding Dream: The Age of Dreams, and ushered the Cosmos into the second age: The Age of Twilight.

The Age of Twilight begun with the end of the War of Light and Shadow, the division of the Dream between these two forces, and the subsequent emergence of the Prime Worlds and the nascent Cosmos. During the Age of Twilight also many other denizens were born into the Unfolding Dream.

In summary this is what became at the end of the war, and afterwards during the beginning of the Age of Twilight:

 The Shadow God, his mightiest lieutenants and Khorugoth remained imprisoned inside a dimension that was thereafter called the Torment. Entangled in spiked chains, they were rendered unable to move without causing terrible anguish on each other. Nonetheless, the Shadow God as a cosmic entity continued to influence the beings of the Unfolding Dream with his whispers. In addition many Shadowsworn, Shadowspawn and Fallen remained free, and continued to serve the cause of the Shadow, already plotting Ulhaeron's ultimate liberation.

 The Aldoren were all but obliterated, and Akuinor was nearly destroyed. But all was not lost. Aellon survived, and despite his immense grief for the loss of Nuviel, he had to continue to lead the Aldoren. Elora had also survived and so had Yriel. New celestials stood in place of the old ones. Vaelune the merciful stood in Nuviel's stead as the Aspect of Fate. Faergus the Flame-Shaper stood in Kaehir's place as the Aspect of Creation. Caelmon the wise became the new Aspect of Magic. Shyanu the mysterious became the Aspect of Change, and Azaon the Thunderer became the Aspect of Force.

 Caldonnas begun a mighty crusade that was called the Great Purge. He led the Cal'ashan into a great aggressive war against the shadow, reclaiming many lost realms from the enemy, and destroying those that had been corrupted too far. Sadly, the extended war ultimately further estranged the Cal'ashan from the other Celestials. Although at first the armies of Light fought together for the liberation of their realms, eventually as enough worlds had been liberated, the other warriors found it pointless to continue to hunt down the forces of Shadow, preferring to spend efforts and energy to build new wonders and protect what they had reclaimed. The Cal'ashan and their lord would never be content with anything less than the complete extinction of the powers of Shadow, it seemed, and this endless thirst for retribution was something the other celestials could never understand.

 With the introduction of the power of Shadow, the Dream was now divided between Light and Shadow and all things seemed to find balance between them. Therefore the Cosmos changed much from what it was. Manifestation of Destiny begun in new places far from the homes of the Celestials, in the threshold between Light and Shadow. There, the Prime Worlds begun to appear, and first among them, was Arandor. The Ancients watched the formation of the Prime Worlds with growing interest. Ultimately, they agreed that their own work with creation had to take the next step, evolve, in the same manner that the universe was evolving.

 Thus, studying the other Prime Worlds carefully, the Ancients shaped Akuinor into a Prime World, and uncovered their secret project: Their children, whom Kaehir had meticulously crafted and the rest of the Aldoren had endowed with secret gifts. This had been their secret project. Ready to spring to life most of the statues stood around the lake of Stars, whilst some had been scattered elsewhere in Akuinor. Alas, many had been broken by the war. Each one of them had been a masterpiece of the Smith, a unique creature with its own personality, skills, merits and typology. All of them had been unblemished by the Shadow, and thus perfect and flawless in their way. Ancalimon sat among the idle statues and with his music woke them gently, calling the spirits of the stars to dwell within their bodies. Thus were awoken the firstborn of Akuinor, whose tales are better told elsewhere.

 It was agreed that the Celestials should continue their work in the Celestial realms, or the rest of the Dream without involving themselves in the evolution of the Prime Worlds, so ultimately, the Aldoren left Akuinor to the Firstborn whom they had annointed as their inheritors. They departed to their celestial realms. Together, the rest of the Aldoren built their seat in Ysedar, where another replica of the Throne of Akaon was built around the pillar of the Flame Eternal which had been restored after Ulhaeron's entrapment. They built many more places of great splendor and beauty. But each time they lay their eyes upon the Prime Worlds, the Celestials were awed by the power of Destiny at work there.

 Ancalimon had survived the War, wounded and having entirely lost his appetite for battle. Yet the bard remained with Akuinor for awhile longer, curious to see what would transpire next. In time, however, he too departed into the Heavenly realms of the Celestials.