I n the wake of the Sundering, magical storms ravaged all life in Avendar. The seeds of modern races were sown, growing out of the transformed creatures left in its wake. With this evolution came other divinities outside of the Overgods’ original Compact. One such being was known as Jalassa, a planar traveler in search of further transcendence. Scouring the multiverse alongside Chadraln the Seer, the pair encountered young Avendar. Chadraln’s interest was piqued by the emerging caladaran race, and foresaw their many future possibilities. Jalassa, as well, was keenly attentive of them. She nurtured their desire for order and reason, and they blossomed under Her tutelage. This would be remembered as the birth of the caladaran monastic tradition.
Settled in the ancient Rirro Jagka, Jalassa instructed the caladaran in the virtues of restraint. Many caladaran scholars and historians believe that this spirit continues to pervade the race to this day. It was then that the young race conquered passion in the name of reason, and Jalassa was pleased by this philosophical victory. As She continued to encourage the unique talents of the mind, Chadraln offered the caladaran knowledge of the Overgods. Although He made clear to Jalassa that He had done so because He had forseen the race’s talent for magic, the act drove a wedge between the Two. She felt that this revelation had come too soon; the caladaran had not yet reached the enlightenment She desired, and She feared magic would erode their discipline. Regardless, the caladaran were now divided between introspection and the study of the power of Earth.
Chadraln bade the caladaran to seek out the other children of the Sundering, and emboldened by power and knowledge, many left the glades of the far east. Many of Jalassa’s devoted remained behind, still seeking the enlightenment She sought. However, the rising power of human empires in turn drove other races into the Rirro Jagka. The alatharya, fearful of caladaran magic, grew hostile; the kankoran, driven east by the Republic, sought new prey; and the srryn, who fled to escape their deaths at the War of Fire’s close, encroached on Jalassa’s ascetic paradise. Many caladaran of this era knew little of violence, as neither the Arbiter nor the Seer had encouraged it. In the face of these growing threats, Jalassa spurred the caladaran monks ever onward, guiding them to the revelation of psionics. Although rudimentary and incomplete, this new power preserved Her disciples as She led them westward. Upon their arrival many integrated into the human Republic, while others sought solitude in the wilderness.
Within the Republic, the worship of Jalassa spread within the aristocracy, and by extension, the military’s officer corps. Humans and aelin were both keenly interested in Her transcendent philosophy, as both had come to value the art of meditation. This racial interplay suggested additional paths to enlightenment, widening debate and discussion on its nature. Humans brought with them the rigors of Dolgrael and the art of war; aelin brought their own meditative techniques and the art of calligraphy. The resulting intellectual fusion inspired a leading caladaran ascetic, Adrajisk, to immerse himself in these foreign cultures. One of the first recorded chosen of Jalassa, he would achieve worldwide renown with the development of ginta’cham’akan: “thought creating form”. As the War of Night spread, the study of Jalassan meditation grew sparse, vastly overshadowed by both tragedy, and Dolgrael’s chosen, Marlax. By its conclusion, the coming of the ch’taren would captivate Avendar with the magics of Spirit. In the modern era, Jalassan worship has resurfaced, the relative detente inspiring aristocrat and ascetic alike.