The Legend of the Age of Metal
In the beginning, all was darkness. That was how the First Ones preferred it, for they were so hideous that even they could not bear to look upon themselves. Then came the Fire Beast, a giant monster of flaming, molten iron, who roared across the sky like an angry comet. His metal body burned so brightly it illuminated the world and all its hateful creatures. He was Ormagöden, Cremator of the Sky, and the First Ones loathed him because his light forced them to see themselves as they truly were. So they hid underground, and dreamed of a day when they could murder the fire beast, and rid the world of his light forever.
The First Ones spent their days feeding from Madronal, the teated tree of drinking. They suckled from her bark a thick nectar that flowed up from her roots, which penetrated the ground so deeply they reached even into the Untouched Place. There, a beautiful being named Aetulia sang to the roots of Madronal, and the tree turned her song into nourishment for the ungrateful creatures above. One day, the greediest of them sneaked into her sanctuary and trapped Aetulia in a cage, forcing her to sing only for him. That is how he gained unlimited power over all creatures, and became their first and most terrible king.
The king used the song of Aetulia to lure the Fire Beast Ormagöden to the ground, where the First Ones tracked him and tried to douse his flaming body with mud. Rather than be extinguished, the mighty Fire Beast let out an earth-shattering scream and exploded like a sun. A million pieces of his steel flesh shot into the ground, veining it with ore. His fire flew up into the sky and became the sun. There was so much blood it flooded the world, drowning all the First Ones as it formed the oceans. His death cry was so loud that it echoes throughout the world to this day. Low creatures felled the god Ormagöden, but his death gave the world the elements from which a new era would rise: Blood, Fire, Noise, and Metal.
From the oceans of blood came new life, the worst of which was the Tainted Coil. With the twisted forms of the First Ones, but the angry power of Ormagöden - they were hated, feared, and almost exterminated. Instead, they were saved by a majestic race of Titans, who inherited the strength and size of the Fire Beast, and the purity and beauty of Aetulia. They took pity on the small creatures, and adopted them as pets. They hid their deformities with severe, restrictive garments, and the Coil endured the pain because, more than anything else, they wanted to look exactly like their beloved, merciful masters.
The Titans mined Ormagöden's steel flesh from the ground, and found it retained the beast's desire for speed. They forged swords that flew through the air so fast they could not be seen, and armor so light it made their warriors run faster. They made chariots so quick it was hard to find beasts fast enough to pull them, and so they abandoned the beasts and made giant vehicles that moved with their own power. These colossal hot rods were a rolling temple to Ormagöden, forged from his gleaming flesh. They had a fiery engine for a heart that roared with the mighty god's death cry, scattering the Titans' enemies as they carried their civilization across the globe.
Titan civilization exploded with new art and technology. Their cities flourished with culture, and echoed with the sound of pounding metal as gleaming skyscrapers were hammered out of Ormagöden's flesh and vaulted against the sky. From this collision of artistic passion, invention, and sonic overload, a new kind of music was born. It was as hard and heavy as the Fire Beast's metallic flesh. It had the power of his blood, the heat of his fire, the speed of his flight, and the mighty roar of his death cry. But is also had the angelic beauty of Aetulia's song, and a touch of her mournful wail. Its words told the story of a fierce and noble age. It was an anthem of the people, and they called it Heavy Metal.
After she was used to lure Ormagöden to his death, Aetulia was left to cry alone in the darkness for an eternity. She wept for so long, her tears turned into an ocean of pure sorrow, and she turned to dust. Whomever drinks from this ancient Sea of Black Tears is granted some of Aetulia's power, but also cursed with her all-consuming grief. Most tear-drinkers go mad and destroy themselves and everything around them in a murderous rage. The Titans dropped a mountain on top of the sea to keep themselves safe from its allure, but it is said that through the cracks in the mountain you can still hear Aetulia singing, inviting passers-by to come lose themselves in her sad waters.
After growing and advancing for millennia, the Titans were giant, all-knowing entities of spiritual perfection, who could no longer be confined by this mortal plane. In the final stage of their evolution, they ascended into the heavens to become Metal Gods. Before they left, they took time to leave instructions for all they had invented into the natural world. They taught spiders how to spin guitar strings for webs, and the trees how to grow exhaust pipes for branches. They etched hieroglyphics that showed how to put these elements together. "We give our secrets to the future generations," they inscribed in glowing letters, "so that they may know the glory of Metal."
The Tainted Coil never comprehended the Titan's instructions. They were too consumed with their feelings of abandonment and betrayal. How could their masters leave them alone? Where had they gone? They searched the entire world, but the only trace of the Titans they ever found was a single shred of a single nail from a single toe of their old masters. They worshiped the master's nail and tried to reanimate it with dark and bloody rituals, but all they could create were small replicas of the Titans, creatures no bigger than themselves, whose very size mocked the Coil's failure. And that is how the Tainted Coil came to create, and immediately despise, the race of Man.
Humanity was enslaved by the Coil and suffered their cruelty for ages, until a leader emerged and led the humans in rebellion. He made them into an army, taught them to make weapons, cars, and clothing from the natural world. The man they called Riggnarok was so effective, the desperate Coil broke the seal on the Sea of Black Tears, knowing the allure and danger it had for humans. Those who drank first, intoxicated with power, renamed their uprising the Black Tear Rebellion, but madness eventually turned human against human, and tore the movement apart. Riggnarok never gave in to the sorrow, and he alone survived. His rebellion crushed, he set off on one final mission to assassinate the Tainted Emperor. He was never seen again.
To ensure their dominance over the world forever, the Tainted Coil decided to hunt down the so-called Future Generations, and take back the wealth of knowledge so unfairly bequeathed to them by the Titans. They performed a ten-year ceremony of orgy and sacrifice that culminated with a gross perversion of time that sent their Emperor and most bloodthirsty warrior forward to the Age of Modern Man. Along with the Emperor they sent a small idol of Ormagöden, which would return the traveler if a blood offering were made into its mouth. They also sent a small cadre of the Emperor's slaves, not knowing that among them hid a murderous stowaway.
When Succorria arrived in the modern age, she made a horrible discovery: the future belonged to humans, not demons. They were the inheritors of the Titans' legacy and their civilized world drained her of her spirit, her bloodlust, and her will to live. She could not return a failure, so she released her slaves and retired in defeat to a hidden cave. The stowaway, Riggnarok, stayed with her to complete his mission, but he could not bring himself to kill the pitiful, once-great warrior. Instead, he took care of her, and they became companions. Far away from their old world and its ancient battles, prejudices, and taboos, an intimacy developed, and then a coupling, and then, miraculously, a child. Its birth left Succorria lifeless, and Riggnarok took the child out of the cave and raised him in the Age of Modern Man, never telling him of his forbidden ancestry.
Riggnarok lived out the rest of his life in peace, and when he passed, his son, Edward, found the idol of Ormagöden in his attic, mistaking it for a belt buckle. He wore it to remember his father but when an accident let his blood fall into the beast's mouth, the spirit of Ormagöden was summoned, and the Fire Beast took Edward back in time to the Age of Metal. There, he found that his combination of roadie skills and demon blood allowed him, and him alone, to complete his father's mission: to slay the demon emperor, push back the flood of Black Tears, and fight for the freedom of his people and the glory of their Metal.
Through the woods a girl came sadly. Something broken in her chest. She had dared to love another. Alas, no better than the rest.Up my path the girl came gladly. Something opened up my doors. I longed to stop her bleeding heart. And so I called her to my shores. Those you trust will hurt you badly. Something now I'm sure you see. So drown your tears in me, my dear. As you drown, my dear, in me.
The First Ones spent their days feeding from Madronal, the teated tree of drinking. They suckled from her bark a thick nectar that flowed up from her roots, which penetrated the ground so deeply they reached even into the Untouched Place. There, a beautiful being named Aetulia sang to the roots of Madronal, and the tree turned her song into nourishment for the ungrateful creatures above. One day, the greediest of them sneaked into her sanctuary and trapped Aetulia in a cage, forcing her to sing only for him. That is how he gained unlimited power over all creatures, and became their first and most terrible king.
The king used the song of Aetulia to lure the Fire Beast Ormagöden to the ground, where the First Ones tracked him and tried to douse his flaming body with mud. Rather than be extinguished, the mighty Fire Beast let out an earth-shattering scream and exploded like a sun. A million pieces of his steel flesh shot into the ground, veining it with ore. His fire flew up into the sky and became the sun. There was so much blood it flooded the world, drowning all the First Ones as it formed the oceans. His death cry was so loud that it echoes throughout the world to this day. Low creatures felled the god Ormagöden, but his death gave the world the elements from which a new era would rise: Blood, Fire, Noise, and Metal.
From the oceans of blood came new life, the worst of which was the Tainted Coil. With the twisted forms of the First Ones, but the angry power of Ormagöden - they were hated, feared, and almost exterminated. Instead, they were saved by a majestic race of Titans, who inherited the strength and size of the Fire Beast, and the purity and beauty of Aetulia. They took pity on the small creatures, and adopted them as pets. They hid their deformities with severe, restrictive garments, and the Coil endured the pain because, more than anything else, they wanted to look exactly like their beloved, merciful masters.
The Titans mined Ormagöden's steel flesh from the ground, and found it retained the beast's desire for speed. They forged swords that flew through the air so fast they could not be seen, and armor so light it made their warriors run faster. They made chariots so quick it was hard to find beasts fast enough to pull them, and so they abandoned the beasts and made giant vehicles that moved with their own power. These colossal hot rods were a rolling temple to Ormagöden, forged from his gleaming flesh. They had a fiery engine for a heart that roared with the mighty god's death cry, scattering the Titans' enemies as they carried their civilization across the globe.
Titan civilization exploded with new art and technology. Their cities flourished with culture, and echoed with the sound of pounding metal as gleaming skyscrapers were hammered out of Ormagöden's flesh and vaulted against the sky. From this collision of artistic passion, invention, and sonic overload, a new kind of music was born. It was as hard and heavy as the Fire Beast's metallic flesh. It had the power of his blood, the heat of his fire, the speed of his flight, and the mighty roar of his death cry. But is also had the angelic beauty of Aetulia's song, and a touch of her mournful wail. Its words told the story of a fierce and noble age. It was an anthem of the people, and they called it Heavy Metal.
After she was used to lure Ormagöden to his death, Aetulia was left to cry alone in the darkness for an eternity. She wept for so long, her tears turned into an ocean of pure sorrow, and she turned to dust. Whomever drinks from this ancient Sea of Black Tears is granted some of Aetulia's power, but also cursed with her all-consuming grief. Most tear-drinkers go mad and destroy themselves and everything around them in a murderous rage. The Titans dropped a mountain on top of the sea to keep themselves safe from its allure, but it is said that through the cracks in the mountain you can still hear Aetulia singing, inviting passers-by to come lose themselves in her sad waters.
After growing and advancing for millennia, the Titans were giant, all-knowing entities of spiritual perfection, who could no longer be confined by this mortal plane. In the final stage of their evolution, they ascended into the heavens to become Metal Gods. Before they left, they took time to leave instructions for all they had invented into the natural world. They taught spiders how to spin guitar strings for webs, and the trees how to grow exhaust pipes for branches. They etched hieroglyphics that showed how to put these elements together. "We give our secrets to the future generations," they inscribed in glowing letters, "so that they may know the glory of Metal."
The Tainted Coil never comprehended the Titan's instructions. They were too consumed with their feelings of abandonment and betrayal. How could their masters leave them alone? Where had they gone? They searched the entire world, but the only trace of the Titans they ever found was a single shred of a single nail from a single toe of their old masters. They worshiped the master's nail and tried to reanimate it with dark and bloody rituals, but all they could create were small replicas of the Titans, creatures no bigger than themselves, whose very size mocked the Coil's failure. And that is how the Tainted Coil came to create, and immediately despise, the race of Man.
Humanity was enslaved by the Coil and suffered their cruelty for ages, until a leader emerged and led the humans in rebellion. He made them into an army, taught them to make weapons, cars, and clothing from the natural world. The man they called Riggnarok was so effective, the desperate Coil broke the seal on the Sea of Black Tears, knowing the allure and danger it had for humans. Those who drank first, intoxicated with power, renamed their uprising the Black Tear Rebellion, but madness eventually turned human against human, and tore the movement apart. Riggnarok never gave in to the sorrow, and he alone survived. His rebellion crushed, he set off on one final mission to assassinate the Tainted Emperor. He was never seen again.
To ensure their dominance over the world forever, the Tainted Coil decided to hunt down the so-called Future Generations, and take back the wealth of knowledge so unfairly bequeathed to them by the Titans. They performed a ten-year ceremony of orgy and sacrifice that culminated with a gross perversion of time that sent their Emperor and most bloodthirsty warrior forward to the Age of Modern Man. Along with the Emperor they sent a small idol of Ormagöden, which would return the traveler if a blood offering were made into its mouth. They also sent a small cadre of the Emperor's slaves, not knowing that among them hid a murderous stowaway.
When Succorria arrived in the modern age, she made a horrible discovery: the future belonged to humans, not demons. They were the inheritors of the Titans' legacy and their civilized world drained her of her spirit, her bloodlust, and her will to live. She could not return a failure, so she released her slaves and retired in defeat to a hidden cave. The stowaway, Riggnarok, stayed with her to complete his mission, but he could not bring himself to kill the pitiful, once-great warrior. Instead, he took care of her, and they became companions. Far away from their old world and its ancient battles, prejudices, and taboos, an intimacy developed, and then a coupling, and then, miraculously, a child. Its birth left Succorria lifeless, and Riggnarok took the child out of the cave and raised him in the Age of Modern Man, never telling him of his forbidden ancestry.
Riggnarok lived out the rest of his life in peace, and when he passed, his son, Edward, found the idol of Ormagöden in his attic, mistaking it for a belt buckle. He wore it to remember his father but when an accident let his blood fall into the beast's mouth, the spirit of Ormagöden was summoned, and the Fire Beast took Edward back in time to the Age of Metal. There, he found that his combination of roadie skills and demon blood allowed him, and him alone, to complete his father's mission: to slay the demon emperor, push back the flood of Black Tears, and fight for the freedom of his people and the glory of their Metal.
Click to viewThrough the woods a girl came sadly. Something broken in her chest. She had dared to love another. Alas, no better than the rest.Up my path the girl came gladly. Something opened up my doors. I longed to stop her bleeding heart. And so I called her to my shores. Those you trust will hurt you badly. Something now I'm sure you see. So drown your tears in me, my dear. As you drown, my dear, in me.