Farthon the First

Farthon the First, also called Farthon the Great, the Architect, the Stoneborn, was born c. 4017 BFR. Not much is known about his early life, as most of the stories surrounding his childhood include divine tales of predestination and of his already elevated status in the eyes of Illin, the Sky-God.

Birth of Farthon
The most popular myth is that Illin loved Farthon's mother, Cheyth, and put aside his wife, the moon-godess Qurut, for Cheyth. He descended upon Cheyth in the form of a great eagle, and slept with her and she conceived.

Cheyth was the daughter of King Gruthun of the Illinathi tribes north of the Midland Sea, whose name is the only name known to us of a king prior to Farthon the First. She was promised to the High Priest Both, the priest of Illin. When she discovered that she was with child, she concealed herself from her father remained in her bedchamber for nine months, allowing only her chambermaids into her presence. When her time was come, she delivered her child in her room, but a guard heard her cries within and broke in to protect the princess for he thought her in danger. When he reported to King Gruthun, Gruthun was very angry. He had her chambermaids seized, and the baby was torn from Cheyth's arms. Cheyth was also arrested. Gruthun allowed the High Priest to decide what to do with the princess and the child. Both was a man slow to anger, and meditated for many days. He reported that he dreamed a dream from Illin, wherein a great eagle appeared to him and spoke to him of the child's origins. Both was charged in his dream to raise the child in the ways of Illin, and the child would be a great king one day. Gruthun accepted Both's judgment and Both and Cheyth were married.

Qurut, the wife of Illin, was said to have been wroth with Cheyth and her son. She cursed Cheyth with a great sickness that did not kill her, but which caused her great pain and she lay in bed for years. Qurut appeared to Cheyth in a dream and told her, "If you but slay your own son, I will ease your suffering and heal your body." Cheyth told her, "If I were to kill my son, I would not only slay the flesh of my flesh, but the flesh of the sky, the very blood of Illin, and their would be no peace for me in the Sky nor in the Depths of the World." When Farthon was seven years old he cried out to Illin to save his mother from her suffering. Illin was angry with Qurut, and took the soul of Cheyth, whom he had loved, and put her in the body of Qurut, and put the soul of Qurut into the body of Cheyth. Qurut could not bear the agony which she herself had wrought upon Cheyth, and with all of the strength left in the mortal body of Cheyth she ran to the ramparts of the temple which stood high near the peak of Mount Iruthus and cast herself upon the rocks below. She was made a demon in the Depths of the World who obsesses about causing pain and suffering to mortals, especially the descendants of the Illinathi.