Men say I am a saint losing himself in politics. The fact is that I am a politician trying my hardest to become a saint.
Mahatma Gandhi
Saints should always be judged guilty until they are proved innocent.
George Orwell
In wrath the Liberator shall descend into Thargland. The gods shall nee before him; they shall bow their heads before him, they will spread their hands before his feet.
Filoby Testament, 1001
The Pentatheon, the five paramount "gods" of the Vales:
Visek the Parent
Eltiana the Lady
Karzon the Man
Astina the Maiden
Tion the Youth.
They acquire mana from the native population by terror or deception, and while away the centuries playing the Great Game with human pawns.
Their many minions are known as avatars,* especially the Chamber, who are the worst of them, led by:
Zath, the "god" of death. Although officially an avatar of Karzon, he has become dominant by empowering murderous devotees known as reapers to offer him human sacrifice, a most potent source of mana.
*Neither they nor the Five are really gods, merely humans who have crossed over to Nextdoor from Earth or some other world. Being strangers, they automatically have charisma, the ability to absorb mana from the admiration or worship of natives.
The Service, a group of altruistic strangers who are attempting to overthrow this malignant tyranny by promoting a new faith, the Church of the Undivided.
The Filoby Testament, a book of prophecy that predicts the coming of the Liberator who will bring death to Death, but identifies him only as the son of Cameron Exeter, a member of the Service in the late nineteenth century.
Head Office, an organization of strangers on Earth who frequently cooperate with the Service on Nextdoor and who sheltered Cameron Exeter when he fled back to Earth to escape Zath's efforts to break the chain of prophecy by murdering him.
The Blighters, another group of strangers on Earth, who will sometimes attend to the Chamber's dirty work there, and who in 1912 hunted down Exeter and his wife at Nyagatha in Kenya and slew them.
Edward Exeter, the only son of Cameron and Rona Exeter, and thus the Liberator foretold.
In August 1914, just as the Blighters succeeded in provoking World War I, they also came close to killing Edward. Rescued by Head Office and Julius Creighton of the Service, he found his way to Nextdoor, fulfilling the prophecy that said he would come into the world in Sussland during the seven hundredth Festival of Tion and be aided by someone named Eleal, who turned out to be a juvenile member of a troupe of actors. When Edward made contact with the Service, he refused to undertake his prophesied mission, determined to return to Earth and fight for King and Country. He also rejected Tion's efforts to bribe him with an offer to cure Eleal's deformed leg.
Further attacks by Zath's agents caused him to lose touch with the Service. Lacking knowledge of the keys and portals, he was stranded on Nextdoor. In Nagvale, he was befriended by the young men of Sonalby and accepted into their age group. War broke out between Joalia and Thargia, two of the three great powers of the Vales (the third being Niolia). Because Nagland was a Joalian colony, the junior warriors were conscripted to participate in an invasion of Lemodvale, a Thargian ally. Through charisma and innate ability, Edward advanced to supreme command and rescued the Joalian-Nagian army from disaster. He escaped from Zath with the assistance of Karzon.
After further wanderings, Edward located T'lin Dragon-trader, a native Service agent, and eventually Jumbo Watson, one of the senior members, who led him to the station at Olympus. He still insisted on returning to Earth, but the Service was seriously divided on the merits of the Liberator prophecy and procrastinated. Eventually Jumbo offered his personal assistance and instructed Edward in the workings of a portal—which dropped him into the middle of a Belgian battlefield. Arrested as a suspected German spy, he was rescued by his cousin Alice Prescott, former school friend Julian Smedley, and Head Office agent Miss Pimm. In order to warn the Service that Jumbo was a traitor, Edward returned to Nextdoor with Julian, meaning to stay only a few days. He discovered that Olympus had been sacked by Zath's agents and the girl he loved was among the dead. Roused to fury at last, Edward swore revenge and walked out of Olympus.