The Starborn Codex: Entry III

For a time, it seemed there was peace.

From afar — and from the safety of distance — the Realms appeared balanced.
Each Court tended its domain. Each Regent guarded their piece of the Starfallen.
Trade passed quietly between borders. Messengers crossed without fear.

Those who recorded from the margins — as we did — noted harmony not because it was loudly proclaimed, but because nothing yet strained against it.

And yet, even in those early years, differences began to surface.

Not in the Starfallen itself — at least, not in any way that could be agreed upon — but in how the Courts spoke of it.

Some Regents described their shard as a gift freely given.
Others, as a force that demanded intention.
A few spoke of patience rewarded… while others murmured that power answered only to those willing to seize it.

At first, these were idle distinctions. Philosophies, nothing more.
Different ways of understanding the same… light.

But philosophies harden when repeated.
And when power is involved, belief has weight.

The Courts began to measure one another — quietly at first.
Comparisons were drawn. Conclusions formed.
What one Court had, another might lack.
What one Regent wielded with ease, another struggled to command.

From such thoughts came expectation.
From expectation, unease.

And so, while the Realms appeared harmonious, the Archivists noted a subtle shift — not in borders, nor banners, nor treaties — but in language.

Words like fairness.
Words like entitlement.
Words like balance — spoken now with an edge.

Still, there was no war.
Only watching.
Only wondering.

From afar, it looked like peace.

Entry IV — Fragment (Unsealed)

It is difficult to say when the line was first crossed.

There was no single moment the Realms could point to and agree upon.
No trumpet. No declaration.

Only a quiet act, carried out with conviction.

A shard was reached for — not one’s own.

Whether this was done out of desperation, ambition, or belief that the Starfallen had been wrongly divided… the records do not agree.

What is agreed upon is this:

Once the first claim was made, the Realms could not unsee the possibility.

And from that moment, harmony became memory.