“Gather close, children, for I have a tale for you, one I haven’t told in years! Did you ever wonder where everything came from? Yes Cid, I know you’ve heard this before, but I need you to be quiet so the others can hear it too. Now where was I? Ah yes…”

The God Outside All Things was content. From his power and with his hands many worlds had come, and many planes had been impressed onto the immaterium. Each was unique and each was a treasure in his eyes. Soon he would spend his time watching his creations learn and grow wise as they came into the fullness of what they could do, but before that he had one task left to see through.

“Come!” He called, and the spirits of the lands and the seas, the rocks and the trees all rose to stand before him. They came in endless variety and represented all of nature as he had formed from mind or whim.

“I wish to thank you.” The God Outside All Things decreed. “For a world without variety is a dull thing indeed. From desert sands to frozen lands, all here have followed my demands and settled into their places large or small. In return I offer fitting reward for all”

In his vast hand he formed a spark that formed a seed. “Hark! My gift is neither Plane nor World but something greater once unfurled. A place of growth, of grand extremes, where you can all do as you deem.”

The greater spirits came to the fore, Six or seven, or maybe more. To receive His final child. The place we know as the Endless Wilds.

The spirits talked with gift in hand, of how they’d change once barren land. Each wanted to grow, to become great, to push their limits while they create.

Water was the first to build; an ocean formed, with water filled. Then grown so vast and far and wide that none have seen the other side. Then terrors came and filled the deep, the Ocean’s secrets theirs to keep.

“They shall not cross my darkest depths, not with their largest fleet. My guards will break their strongest hulls, will make them claim defeat. I. Am. Not Tame.” The Vast Blue claimed its name.

An Ent was next to say his piece, as shepherd for the trees. “No need have we, to be the seas, where monsters lurk and violence breeds. We seek to rest, to live, to grow; to reach the skies, send roots below. Let all else live as best they know, however that may be.” And thus The Forest came to be.

The earth itself was split in two; disagreement over what to do. A split of great and small. The first formed mountains tall. And though the mountains did not speak, they are now known as The Jagged Peaks

The small rocks gathered beneath the sun and trapped the heat till glass did run, molten through the dunes. “No gifts have I, no treasured boons, what men might build I’ll tear to ruins beneath the fickle moon. Harsh lessons breed men harsher still; Men with iron hearts and will. Find strength to live in this land.” This is The Shifting Sands.

Winter’s Hold was the next to form, a bastion opposed to all things warm. With icy walls and frigid bite, and constant blizzards to cut off sight. A place so far from hotter climes that all things freeze and fleck with rime.

The grasslands were the last to take their place, no great ambition to embrace. “I am not hot nor cold nor dry, I have no depths, don’t chase the sky. I need no extremes to fill my days; let grasses grow and groundlings graze. It is enough to simply be.” Were the final words of the Amber Sea.

“This ends my tale for you children. Perhaps some other night I might tell you of the forest that grew in the air, or perhaps a story of places stranger still, but for now you should sleep. Sleep and dream, and dream sweet dreams that color your days with brightness.”