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Ozymandius' Memories - Part 1

Long ago, long before Norrath spun about it's sun, long before Veeshan deposited her children upon its surface and raked her claws across Velious, and long before Brell slipped in and deposited his children, there existed...the Makers.

The Makers were the creators, the spinners of reality and builder of worlds. They laid out this world, as it exists today, a piece at a time, slowly unfolding Norrath for the gods to place their children upon. The Makers walked their land in the beginning, ensuring all was well, and became known to their children: Aradune Mithara, Ssra the Dark, Vashaar the Grumpy, Geoffrey the Arcane, Xectia the Sly, and Bilba the Humble, along with many others, all worked to create the land from nothingness.

Before the children of the gods arrived, before the world was complete, there walked Ozymandius the Traveler. Old even then, Ozymandius traveled the world, exploring its every corner, for that was his first love -- walking where no other mortal had been.

Soon, the gods began seeding the world and others came to walk the lands. Seeing Ozymandius there, they beseeched of him the wisdom of the lands, seeking help when they were in trouble and knowledge when they were in need. When there were few people and few questions, Ozymandius did this task alone and with great pleasure, for helping others was his second love. However, as their numbers increased, the need became too great for one mortal to support. Even with the assistance of his wife, Lagniappe Tunaredhil, the people's need was too great to be met. So Ozymandius approached Aradune and they conferred upon a solution. Seated high upon a mountain, the two men discussed possible options until they decided upon a plan.

Aradune reached forth his hand and touched Ozymandius on the shoulder, changing him forever. No more would he be a mortal wizard, wandering the lands. His identity would be forever obvious to all he met, and he would always hear every person's prayers, no matter where in the land they were. Not wishing to carry this curse alone, Ozymandius quickly turned and bestowed it upon his wife, Lagniappe, and his friend, Geiger the Irritated. Thus were born the first 3 Guides of Norrath.

Ozymandius' Memories - Part II

With the ability to hear other people's petitions for assistance without having to go to each of them, the task of assisting them became easier...for awhile. But as the gods drew forth more and more children, the burden became overwhelming. Luckily, there were those that Ozymandius knew were deserving enough to share in this punishment, and he quickly captured them and forever condemned them to share in his plight. Aezaar the Damned, Thorim the Stout, Abashi the Oft-Dead, and Ifurita the Soon-to-be-Doomed were dragged kicking and screaming into the fold, their ears deafened by the sudden cacophony of prayers from people in need Ozymandius assumed the Senior role, for his curse was the greatest and Aradune required his ear to bend now and again.

These new Guides did make the job of answering the pleas of the populace easier, and for a time things moved along peacefully. One of the goals of the Guides was to find others of the gods' children that were deserving of the punishment of being a Guide, and many candidates were reviewed and discarded. When a person was found to be the most worthy of the Curse, they were absconded with and forever branded, made to be a Guide to pay for sins of past lives. It was in this way that Mallku the Maternal, Mistigris the Enigmatic, Siobhan the Librarian, Tywy the Inquisitive, Doran the Absent and Tarangil the Verbose were brought into the brotherhood, each cursing viciously as they were held down and marked for life, Mistigris loudest of all.

By this time, the world was a larger place, with most of Antonica and Odus complete and parts of Faydwer coming to life. Slowly the peoples of Norrath migrated to their respective homes and the cultures began to take shape. However, many were the persons that fell through seams in the creation and plummeted to their death, praying to the Guides for their salvation. The world was a treacherous place, and the Guides were invaluable in their service.

The third generation of mortals to be captured and made Guides included Bappo, Bara, Draxle, Galadon, Keane the Compassionate, Kwen the Mighty, Majara the Strong, Ninian, Qnax the Betrayer, Vlar the Dark, and Xambik the Tiny. This was the first full group of Guides to be recruited, (as opposed to kidnapped), and was the first indication that the Guide program could grow and live autonomous of the Makers, supporting them in their efforts and freeing their time to use in other tasks.

It was at this time that Aradune came to Ozymandius and demanded a sacrifice to the Makers to prove the Guides' obedience. Having lost quite a bit of money to her the night before in a game of cards, Ozymandius cheerfully offered up Ifurita and she was carted away by the Makers, her screams echoing throughout Norrath. Days later, she reappeared as a Maker, her scars only slightly visible. To this day, her enmity of Ozymandius is almost palatable.

With the fourth generation of Guides came Fentil the Wise, Gebron the Eater of Souls, Jenaya the Loving, Kohiba the Confused, Krath the Soon-to-be-Ragnar, Liantus the Blessed, Linuvan, Loviane the Compassionate, Quovadis, and Taon. With this generation, Ozymandius realized that he was no longer able to take care of the entire group himself, and decided he needed assistance. Aezaar and Mistigris, having irritated him far more than any other Guides, were pulled aside and pummeled with the title of Senior, making them peers to Ozymandius so that they could share in the punishment that was bestowed upon him. As Senior Guides, their role was to support the Guides, fighting with the Makers to eke out the tools they needed to answer the pleas of the players. Many were the titanic struggles that rocked the heavens as the Senior Guides clashed with each other and the Makers. The world became larger still, and more and more of the gods' children lived upon it. The Guides wandered the land, helping where they could, gathering information when they could not, and always loving for the peoples in their care. As the people grew in number, so did the Guides.

The fifth generation of the Guides were Aedouri, Amyrlaen the Beautiful, Beyal the Generous, Ganymeade, Makil the Journalist, Sabrah the Indiscreet, Semiramis the Noble, Taav, Tranlen the Combative, Vanaddar, Yael the Young, and Zariin. During this generation, the world split into multiple shards, forcing the Guides to split up to cover the new worlds. Additionally, a massive amount of people were dumped upon the worlds by the Makers, further burying the Guides in the pleas of those in need.