12.1.5 Ceylon, the Golden Land
Ceylon, the Golden Land, is also known as the Land of the Dawn. Ceylon was designed by an Aldar, the famed architect known as Mantru, and built at the behest of the god Proteus, long ago. Built as a paradise and sanctuary for the newborn race of humans, it was a wondrous and beautiful place the likes of which have rarely been equalled. Maya, the Aldar who gave birth to the first humans, was raised to the status of goddess and set to watch over them. The descendants of the first humans eventually left the valley of Ceylon however: first, out of choice, then later, forced due to a terrible plague. Abandoned, Ceylon fell to ruins, forgotten for centuries. Later, after Sarapis, the Logos passed the mantle of Creation to Maya, the Great Mother, She saw fit to recreate the beauty of the Ceylon-that-was in a separate plane, as homage to the beauty of the once-cradle of civilisation. The Great Mother gifted this idyllic paradise to certain distinguished souls who had once lived in the Prime Material Plane, such as Gruul, the leader of the mercenaries of Arn in the War of Humanity, and Severian, right hand of the Emperor during the founding of the Seleucarian Empire. It is rumoured that such luminous souls as the emperor Nicator and the Aldar Dekalb reside there as well. For a time, at the age of eighteen, Achaeans were able to undertake the Trial of Rebirth through self-immolation in the Flame of Yggdrasil. This Trial transported them to the recreated Ceylon, where they underwent a quest to become Reborn. This is no longer possible (see HELP TRIAL). The whereabouts of the ruins of the original Ceylon are unknown. Also see: HELP REBIRTH