Echoes and Origins: A Brief History of the Multiverse

Quick Reference Guide to the Gods

The Nameless One (a.k.a. "The One Who Dreams", "Origin", "The Sleeping God", "The Believer", "The First") - Creator of the Dream that is the Universe
The Originate:

• Arond - God of Order
• Syntus* - God of Chaos
• Orna - Goddess of Light
• Vhar - Goddess of Darkness

The Eternal Court:

• Arthedis, The Gleaming Tower - Goddess of Civilization and Culture
• Ausalai, The First Seed - Goddess of Nature and the Sea
• Beldain, The Cooling Iron - God of Craftsmanship
• Caedalin, The Artist - God of Art and Creation
• Estus, The Purifying Light - God of Healing
• Monaia, The Calming Wind - Goddess of Peace
• Sevast, The Just Hand** - Goddess of Justice

The Other High Gods:

• Aeyar, The Summoned Spark - God of Magic and Arcane Study
• Baeliel, The Tempting Lie - God of Tyranny, The Devil King
• Crucera, The Crosswinds - Goddess of Commerce
• Daeos, The Fleeting Eternity - God of Time
• Eiludi, The Knotted Souls - Goddess of Love
• Enditi, The Long Stride - Goddess of Travel
• Glimmer, The Celebration - God of Joy
• Hailla, The Warm Fire - God of Home and Hearth
• Irinia, The Abundant Mother - Goddess of Life and Fertility
• Jimara, The Branching Lineage - Goddess of Family and Tribe
• Kemehea, The Eversprout - Goddess of the Harvest
• Luthena, The Imagined Maiden - Goddess of Dreams
• Meikana, The Stirring Heart - Goddess of Freedom and Rebellion
• Mox, The Eruption - God of Storms and Destruction
• Nashall, The Welcoming Arms - God of Outcasts
• Nezer Damos, The Chasm*** - God of Madness
• Obus, The Champion - God of Strength and Sport
• Phorarus, The Thought Engine - God of Innovation
• Qanar, The Occluded Face - God of Secrets
• Qomos, The Open Book - God of Knowledge
• Rach, The Bloody Ground - God of Conquest
• Tattarus, The Eyes in the Dark - God of Fear
• Thelena, The Inevitable Embrace*** - Goddess of Death
• Vados, The Last Stand - Goddess of Courage
• Venali, The Truth - Goddess of Lies and Deceit
• Weros, The Forethought - God of Strategy
• Xashand, The Thirsting Horde** - God of Greed

* : Syntus died shortly after his creation, consumed by the demons he birthed. ** : Sevast and Xashand were once a single god, known as Seshare, The Breath of Law *** : Nezer was the original god of death, driven mad a combination of his position and witnessing the Void. He was replaced by Thelena, who was originally the goddess of sadness and mourning.
Known Planes

• Parendia, Realm of Order
• The Inferno, Realm of Chaos
• The Wellspring, Pure Creation, Source of All Magic
• The Shade, Pure Rot
• The Aftersleep, Realm of Dreams
• The Blood Pastures, Realm of War
• Hevastus, The Eternal City
• The Veiled Haven, The Realm of Souls
• The Wild Garden, Nature's Garden
• Serenity, The Temple of Peace
• The Festival of Joy
• The Cabin at the Edge of the Sea
• The Silent Tower

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Echoes and Origins: A Brief History of the Multiverse

There is a Cycle: the Gods feed on the belief of their followers, then bless their followers with fragments of their own power. This has always been true. They create each other.

Chapter One: The Originate

...and so there must have been a First, a Believer, a God Who Dreamt. And as they dreamt, the universe was born. If they were to awaken, the universe would cease to exist. This god remains Nameless, but it is through their brilliance that life came to the world.
First, they dreamt of chaos. A swirling mass of raw possibility, but so unformed as to mean nothing.
From that chaos came something unexpected, a shard of order, of law. This shard eventually grew into Arond, who sought to bring a structure to the Nameless One's thoughts. The efforts were small at first, shaping from the chaos the planes of Air, Earth, Fire and Water - forging the elements. However, Arond realized quickly that he could not bring perfect order to such an environment, so using his power, he built the perfect kingdom of Parendia to rule over, as well as the Astral Plane to connect his new realm to the rest of the universe.
Sensing an imbalance, the chaos gave birth to its own avatar and defender, Syntus - the father of demons. Almost instantly, Syntus began to raise an army to decimate Arond and his realm of rigid order. However, before he could begin his campaign, Syntus' children turned on him, refusing to recognize him as a leader and consuming his body. With his body ravaged, Syntus' soul travelled outside of the chaos, through the Astral Sea and eventually spread like a disease to become something new: The Inferno. Those demons who drew most of his power became known as the Demon Lords and immediately began battling each other for control of their new realm.
But something beautiful came from Syntus' demise, as the fires of the demons who consumed him burned so bright that a new god was born: Orna, a being of pure light. She foresaw a great conflict between Arond and the Demon Lords, as order and chaos could never learn to live together peacefully. So she began shaping her own realm, combining pieces of chaos - air, earth, fire and water - to create an immortal paradise of creation called The Wellspring. She placed her realm between Parendia and The Inferno - hoping to prevent war - and populated the ever-growing forests, mountains and seas of her plane with the Fey. These creatures seemed to fluctuate between the inherent goodness of their mother and the brutal chaos of the elements they were shaped from. They were imperfect, but an immediate barrier to the Demon Lords, who continued to grow in power.
With light, however, must come darkness - and from the shadows of non-existence, from before the dream began, came Vhar, darkness incarnate. Vhar grew jealous of her sister's paradise and longed to create her own. She too shaped pieces of the chaos into a new plane; but it was a twisted reflection of the Wellspring, a place of decay, of mourning and of a new concept - Death. This place came to be known as the Shade.
As the The Wellspring and the Shade floated across the chaos, they would often collide. The rivalry between Orna and Vhar caused them to invest even more into building their parallel planes, and as such, these collisions became more regular and eventually gave birth to something new. It was a plane in which life and death could co-exist. Trees would grow, but before they could sweep through the land, growing beyond control, they would die. The nourishment that came from their death would give life to new generations of trees and other beings. From this, a new cycle was born and mortal beings began to take hold of their own plane - the Material, which would come to be known as Aorna ("The Temporary Light").

Chapter Two: The Birth of the Gods

Life and unlife began to spread through the planes, simple at first, but rapidly growing more complex.
Within a few million years, plants and trees spread from the Wellspring to the Material Plane, covering much of the land and providing a home for small birds, mammals and reptiles. As these mortal beings began to thrive, so too did the immortals throughout the rest of the multiverse. Demons began to turn their eyes from their internal conflicts to conquering other domains. The Fey spread throughout the Wellspring unfettered, taking numerous forms, constantly growing and changing without the consequence of death to stop them. And Arond, still hoping to bring order to the universe he believed that he had built, created the Angels, instructing them to protect Parendia, the Astral Sea and Aorna - and to wage war against chaos wherever possible.
From this expansion, beings of great power began to rise. Beings that would come to be known as the Gods of the Eternal Court. Spawned over millions of years, no one knows the true order of the birth of the Gods; but as they began to take power, the Originate - Arond, Orna and Vhar - started to recede.
Orna continued to tend to the Wellspring, her first creation, in her final days, but always with one eye on Aorna. She eventually came to believe that the Material Plane was the true paradise, as mortality gave the beings who lived there purpose, motivation and value. However, she also became concerned that Vhar and her followers in the Shade might become overzealous and attempt to overtake Aorna in darkness. To prevent this, as her last act, Orna created a beacon of light in the sky, the sun, that would ensure that some part of the Material Plane was always bathed in illumination. She placed her son Estus, The Purifying Light in charge of this beacon, which had the added effect of providing energy and healing to life on the planet. Her daughter, Luthena, The Imagined Maiden, would rest on one of the planet's moons, Othune, reflecting her brother's glow in even the darkest of moments. Orna blinked out of existence like a dying star.
As the sun's rays accelerated the growth of plants and trees beyond the areas of Aorna touched by the Wellspring, animal life grew more complex as well. An interconnected web of nature began to form on its own, free of the Gods' interference. Eventually, this garden would sprout its own gardener, the goddess Ausalai, The First Seed. It is believed that she was born when a bird dropped a seed into the rich soil where the land met the sea. While the Originate had viewed Aorna from afar, Ausalai was the first of the Gods to walk the Material Plane herself.
Witnessing Estus' restorative effect on Aorna, Ausalai began to fall in love with the god of the sun and through that love, three children were born. Irinia, The Abundant Mother was chosen to tend to the life on Aorna, keeping it from becoming unruly and overgrown as in the Wellspring. Mox, The Eruption was chosen to feed the plants and animals the water and nutrients they needed to live, touched by the elemental chaos and ruling over the roiling storms that covered Aorna's surface. Nezer, The Inevitable Embrace would ensure the cycle of life would continue by watching over the domain of death.
Satisfied with her work, Ausalai wanted to give a gift to the flourishing life she had groomed and cared for. She delivered the spark of consciousness to the Gith, the first sentient mortals to walk Aorna with her.
But the Material Plane was not the only space in the universe changing and shifting.
In the Shade, Vhar grew weary, her power sapped by the raw decay that surrounded her home. Withering, jealous and desperate to out last her sibling, she constructed a child out of the rot - Tattarus, The Eyes in the Dark - a ravenous, coiling worm, feeding on the waste of the world. Tattarus ate his mother's flesh, consuming her darkness, and spilled her still warm blood on the dead soil below. This shard of her essence waited and rested for years upon years, until one day, another figure emerged - Rach, The Bloody Ground.
Rach grew obsessed with conquering the Shade for himself, believing he was Vhar's true heir. He chased Tattarus through the dead realm, hoping to quell his bloodlust, constructing an immense army to battle the unending worm. Their combat lasted thousands of years, until finally, Tattarus retreated underground, burrowing so deep that he found a nexus point connected to Aorna. It is believed that the tunnels he left behind, searching for a way to the surface, created what is now known as the Underdark. Unable to escape the labyrinth of his making, Tattarus slumbered. Still, with him, he brought fear to Aorna for the first time.
In the Wellspring, the forces of creation had coalesced into a Fey of immense power: Caedalin, The Artist, the first Elf. Travelling the ever-growing borders of their home plane, Caedalin grew bored as the millennia passed - bored of leadership, bored of creating new life to play with, bored of even art. And so, they tried their hand at creating a god, a sibling, one more refined then their self. From stone, they carved Beldain, The Cooling Iron, the first Dwarf.
However, that was not enough to resolve Caedalin's boredom. The Wellspring, even with its constant metamorphosis, had become too familiar. Caedalin and Beldain gathered up their children, the Elves and the Dwarves - as well as an errant group of Fey called the Halflings - and waited for the Wellspring to collide with Aorna and open a bridge to paradise.
They were mesmerized by the material plane. Caedalin roamed the land, whistling music into the air, creating the first melody, enjoying Ausalai's garden. Their people, the Elves, settled into the forests of the world and used their connection to the Wellspring to develop the practice of magic. Beldain took the Dwarves, as well as a small handful of curious Elves, into the tunnels below the earth, where they felt the most comfortable. There, they practiced their hands at crafting the rock and metal into tools, which they used to build cities of stone. The curious Elves, however, kept digging further.
The Halflings, always seeking out the new, and untethered to any god, spread out across the world, some choosing to wander forever, others making their homes in quiet places - to learn, to study, or just to live. In their travels, they came upon a stranger, Enditi, The Long Stride, who agreed to protect them as they pushed further into the unknown. They had found their own goddess, though they know not where she came from.
For eons, this state of things remained. They would have called it peace, if there had ever been war. The Gith built an expansive civilization, with Ausalai's blessing, living in harmony with nature. Never using more than they needed. The Elves, took up residence in the wild places beyond city walls, but engaged in trade, and helped to teach the Gith their magic. The Dwarves, from their subterranean fortresses, built the tools that made the engine of civilization possible. And the Halflings, ever on the move, explored every inch of their new home.
The gods were happy to let their followers do as they pleased, as long as they continued the worship that provided them with their expanding power.

Chapter Three: Tattarus Emerges

Venali, The Truth has no origin point. She simply appeared, fully formed. A lie. And every story about her is likely a lie as well. Perhaps even this one. But she was found in the depths of the Underdark, by the wandering Elves, who had dug too deep, beyond even the Dwarves; who were lost, cold and starving. She offered them shelter from the elements and protection from the beasts of the Shade who had crossed planes. With each gift, their reliance on her grew, and she began to speak with them, to offer her counsel, and to deceive them.
These Elves, who would become the Drow, spent generations being told that Venali was the one true god. That she had created the universe. That they were her chosen children. That they would rise up and reclaim the world. And so, out of desperation, they kept digging, to the very edge of existence, where they found a lost and afraid Tattarus, buried in the rock. The enormous, hungry worm burst out of the caverns and tunnels, racing his way to the surface, devouring everything in his path. Only the Drow were spared.
As is so often the case, a lie started a war. The first war on Aorna.
Despite their immense power, the gods of Aorna had never faced such a malicious threat before. Though they could not be killed, each of them were felled in combat. Even Mox, the strongest of them, could not stand up to the beast. He was simply too distracted by the destruction left in Tattarus' wake - which fed Mox a new kind of meal: the destruction of war. He savored it.
Venali appeared to them, a stranger to the other gods, but offering her "knowledge" of the beast. They had never been lied to before - and so they accepted her as one their own. She manipulated them, pitting them against each other, starting the vicious rumor that one of them had unleashed Tattarus for their own benefit. Some believed it was Mox, to feed off the destruction. To others, Ausalai, for her love of nature superseded all things - and for all they knew, Tattarus was a part of that nature. Still others thought it was Nezer, bathing in the blood of the dead.
Estus, the beacon in the sky, could no longer look upon his wife and children - whom he was convinced had created this chaos. Darkness reigned as the sun disappeared from the sky.
Just as the gods fought amongst themselves, so did their followers. The Gith, Elves and Dwarves could not unify and their nations were torn asunder. The Halflings were escorted away by Enditi, to a distant land.
Some say that Vados, The Last Stand was a Gith leader who refused to bow down to Tattarus. Others say that she was creation of Beldain, forged like a blade on a steel anvil. There are even those who believe that she was sent by Arond, the last of the Originate, to bring order back to the world. Vados raised an army, of all those left to fight in Aorna. She gave weapons to the orcs and the goblins, sentient folk who were scattered in the wild places of the world, bolstering her forces. And in one great battle, Vados defeated Tattarus.
As the beast lay on the ground, withering, the goddess Luthena came down from the moon. She conjured a realm of dreams, called the Aftersleep, and locked Tattarus away there, sealing him away for eternity. Venali, having lost the trust of the other gods, slunk back into the shadows, to plan.

Chapter Four: A Season of Love and Peace

With peace, came time to rebuild. And the birth of Monaia, The Calming Wind, who would help to maintain what had been won.
But the war with Tattarus had created tensions between the gods that were irrevocable. Estus returned the sun to the sky, but he still did not trust his former lover or children. Caedalin grew bored, as they always had before. Nezer, consumed by the mourning of millions, grew weary of his position as the ferrier of the dead. Mox, having felt the focused destruction of battle, began to thirst for more. Even Vados, the victor, worried about the next war and whom of her peers would start it. For if there had been one, there could be another.
Still, progress was made. The peoples' of Aorna regrew their great civilizations, by trading, intermingling, and spreading across the landscape to build new, dynamic societies. The Gith, the Elves and the Dwarves became more interdependent. The Orcs and Goblins were hailed as heroes, having tipped the scales against Tattarus. And the Halflings returned, cataloging the changes to the world since their departure.
Cities, cultures and nations pushed back against the wilderness, waning Ausalai's power and influence. From one of the great halls, in the greatest of these civilizations, emerged Arthedis, The Gleaming Tower, nature's opposite. It is believed that Arthedis may have been a gift from Arond, who with his last breath, hoped she could bring true organization to Ausalai's controlled chaos. Regardless, her impact was immediately felt, as a diversity of cultures sprouted in every corner of the world.
Estus was drawn to Arthedis, for many of the same reasons he had been drawn to Ausalai. The sun didn't just power nature, it powered civilization as well, and so Arthedis returned his love. From their bond came four children: Crucera, The Crosswinds who watched over the growing commerce between nations, the twins Qomos, The Open Book and Qanar, The Occluded Face keepers of the known and the unknown in the world, and Phorarus, The Thought Engine steward of progress and innovation.
This season of love extended to others.
Ausalai was not alone for long. In the hills and mountains, she found Beldain, who had crafted her a ring of diamond and silver. Beldain had fallen in love with Aorna and the goddess who had kept it for so long. They settled into a small cabin on a high cliffside and the family of gods continued to grow. Hailla, The Warm Fire started as a spark from the tip of a flame and grew to watch over every home and keep it safe. His sister, Jimara, The Branching Lineage would do the same for the families and tribes scattered through her mother's expanding wilderness. And Kemehea, The Eversprout would take the tools of Beldain and the skills of Ausalai and combine them to keep the land fertile and ensure good harvests.
Caedalin, looking for new experiences, travelled to the moons of Aorna where they became enamored by Luthena and her realm of dreams - a shifting plane of creation, not unlike their home in the Wellspring. Their charms won over the solitary goddess and together, they built a beautiful castle on the far side of the moon Othena where they raised a family. Aeyar, The Summoned Spark studied and maintained the connection between the Material Plane and the Wellspring, monitoring magic and its effects on the natural world. Eiludi, The Knotted Souls sprung from Caedalin's unfathomable love for Luthena and they would come to represent passion, lust and romance. Such beauty resulted in joy and happiness, conjuring Glimmer, The Celebration. But because all love must end, he required an equal, to mourn what could be lost: Thelena, The Weighted Tear.
Other pairs emerged: Monaia and Vados - peace and sacrifice. Aeyar and Qomos - arcane and practical knowledge. There are even those who believe that Venali and Qanar - lies and secrets - birthed Nashall, The Welcoming Arms, an outcast.
What had started as a small family of gods had grown, exponentially. As had the societies built to worship them. But war, was once again on the horizon, on two fronts.

Chapter Five: Heaven and Hell Above

Time in the Astral Sea works differently than it does on Aorna. In fact, to account for this, Arond assigned one of his most powerful angels, Daeos, The Fleeting Eternity to organize it and keep it linear.
Because of this, one cannot be certain when exactly the following events occurred, though it is believed that it was after Arond had departed from Parendia, making him the first and last of the Originate.
The Angels, fearful of the growing legions of Demons deep within the Inferno grew increasingly militaristic. They had built a realm of endless perfection and were at least satisfied by the order that civilization had brought to Aorna. But the Demon Lords had fostered the very worst of chaos and though they often fought amongst themselves, the Angels could not afford to let them unify.
So they struck first, and hard, crushing the Demonic forces and pushing them further and further into the fires of the Inferno. The Angels attempted to bring order to the chaos, but they found that they could not. Their order, imposed by force, only caused more destruction - which the Demons fed on. Slowly, over millennia, they grew in strength, becoming even powerful than they once had been.
The Demon Lords pushed most of the Angels back to Parendia. Some would recognize the contradiction of their mission and return of their own volition. Others were repelled violently. Still others, the most ardent, stayed, refusing to abandon what they had set out to do.
This led to a schism in the Angelic ranks. One faction, Arond's original followers, regrouped in Parendia, reviewed their failings, and strategized over how they could win the next war. A second chose to denounce absolute order - and instead elected to revere Orna and her cause of light and goodness. The last, the most radical, would remain in the Inferno and transform from Angels to Devils, uncaring tyrants, imposing order at all costs. They were led by Baeliel, The Tempting Lie, Arond's original second in command, who would forever try to subdue the Demon Lords and all those who opposed him.
It is said that one Angel refused to choose a side in this divide. She admired the freedom in chaos, the comfort of order and the innate goodness of the light. So she stood, resolute, separate from her brethren as a beacon of rebellion. Meikana, The Stirring Heart would forever be a thorn in Baeliel's side.

Chapter Six: Rach The Conqueror

Rach bided his time in the Shade, gathering an army of rot, frustrated by his lack of worthy opponents. However, his prospects changed when he received a visit from a mysterious visitor from beyond: Venali.
Venali had retreated after her failure with Tattarus. Dejected and lost, she returned to the Drow to plot her next moves. With Rach, she believed she had finally found the tool for her revenge. She offered him access to Aorna, to a whole world to conquer and to even the planes beyond.
Rach agreed and prepared his forces. Venali spread her agents throughout Aorna, starting insidious rumors and deceptions that would break down civilizations and the gods themselves. The Gith began to believe that the Orcs and Goblins had been responsible for Tattarus' attack. The Drow viewed the Dwarves as foreign invaders, hoping to claim the dark spaces of the world. Even the Elves grew suspicious that the Gith had grown too powerful in the magics they had given them. So much time had passed, that there was no one left to refute these claims.
Venali herself sent whispers to Mox, who had already been craving conflict. He grew to hate his father, Estus, for turning his back on their family, as well as Vados, a champion he viewed as false and pretentious.
War broke out before Rach even arrived. Mox recruited the Orcs, who had grown frustrated by their treatment, and attacked the Gith. Vados reluctantly responded, eager to keep the conflict from growing, protecting the bastions of civilization. But it was too late. Everywhere it escalated. The Drow infiltrated the Dwarven cities in the deep. The Goblins, feeling as though they had been given scraps, raided Halfling settlements. Only the Elves remained neutral, following Caedalin's instructions.
By the time Rach's hordes poured in from the Shade, the peoples' of Aorna had been stretched thin, the war having lasted centuries. Rach picked them off one by one, assimilating the survivors into his ranks.
The gods tried everything to gain a foothold. Beldain and Phorarus worked together to build engines of war, placing them in the hands of Vados and her allies. But Rach was always one step ahead, his General Weros, The Forethought in charge of the ingenious battle plans.
And so the gods, desperate for a return to peace, built a new kind of weapon. Luthena travelled to the Aftersleep and retrieved a shard of Tattarus that encompassed his ravenous, violent hunger and hatred of Rach. Arthedis hoped to control that hunger with a shard of law from Parendia. Qomos gave this being every drop of knowledge he had acquired in his years of studying the world. Monaia provided a touch of peace for its chaotic soul. And Aeyar, with his strong connection to the Wellspring, infused it with pure, chaotic, roiling magic. Seshare, The Breath of Law, the first dragon, was born.
Seshare flew into battle, thwarting Weros' carefully drawn strategies, dropping endless barrages of arcane energy onto Rach's forces from the sky. Vados rode on his back, rallying the remaining free peoples' of Aorna to victory after victory. But Rach had become too strong, his armies unending, and Weros adapted. They fought to a stalemate.
Mox, in his hubris, saw a foe in Seshare that threatened his own destructive abilities. He turned his axe to this new rival and formally allied with Rach, Weros, and Venali. The Orcs, compelled by his patronage, followed his lead - though some were uncomfortable with the tasks ahead. Mox conjured a mighty storm that blanketed the world, knocking Seshare from the sky, sending Vados tumbling into the sea. He battled with the dragon over mountains and through forests, until finally he landed a devastating blow, slicing off Seshare's left wing.
Luthena came down from the moon to retrieve the wounded creature. Mox had won and Rach took his seat on the throne of the world, beginning his 10,000 year reign, plotting to lay other planes under siege.
But hope was not lost. Pockets of resistance still existed throughout the world. The Elves, in the deepest of forests, hid away the Dwarves, Gith and Halflings that remained uncorrupted by Rach and his minions. Ausalai exerted her control over the natural world, causing earthquakes and volcanic eruptions to destroy Rach's fortresses. Aeyar developed powerful new magics to teach the survivors, allowing them to surprise and thwart their enemies. And Estus proceeded to heal the injured Seshare, re-growing his mighty wing.
Small acts began to turn the tide. Irinia, life herself, traveled to the place where Seshare's blood had been spilled. She used it to spur on the evolution of a new people, the Dragonborn, who were infused with their parent's power. Enditi, having travelled every inch of the world, collaborated with Arthedis to create a unified, hidden nation - Hevastus, The Eternal City - that would shift its location if the enemy grew near. Weros grew frustrated with Mox's brutal and chaotic impulses, his refusal to follow well laid plans. He defected, taking many of the Orcs with him, drawing up new strategies with Vados to overthrow The Bloody Ground.
Seshare, rejuvenated and stronger than before, led the attack, leading a contigent of Dragonborn, Gith, Dwarves, Elves and Orcs. Many of the Drow turned their back on Venali, influenced in their dreams by Luthena.
The dragon went straight for the heart of the empire, destroying Rach's throne, battling him through the sky, surrounded by comets and meteors. Arthedis opened gates to the hidden nation, Hevastus, across the world and soldiers of the light poured out, overwhelming Rach's troops. Vados snuck behind enemy lines and confronted Mox. They fought to the top of a volcano - whose name has been lost to time - and just as it began to erupt, Vados stabbed Mox in the heart with her spear.
Mox drew as close to death as a god can. His soul travelled to the place between Aorna and the Shade, where he met with his brother Nezer. They had been close when they were young, as their domains so often wove together. Nezer showed Mox what his destruction had wrought - the sheer volume of souls that he had committed to death. Mox mourned his actions, realizing the fallacy of annihilation without creation. He plead for forgiveness - and his mother, Ausalai, and sister, Irinia, appeared to him. The family, together once again, was strong.
He awakened, determined to make things right, and he hurled the comets and meteors that were streaming across the heavens into Rach's body, knocking him off course long enough for Seshare to bite off his dominant arm. Rach's sword fell into a deep canyon and he found himself pinned against a great stone cliff.
Certain that Rach would never stop, Caedalin and Aeyar created a prison plane for him to spend the rest of his eternity - a plane of unending war and violence, The Blood Pasture. Vados, hoping to keep Rach occupied and away from Aorna, volunteered to travel there as well, so he would always have a worthy opponent. Monaia cried as her lover stepped through the gateway, for it is difficult for Peace to live without Sacrifice. There are some who say that it is her tears that filled the Merchant Sea.

Chapter Seven: The Dispersal

A court was convened, presided over by Estus, Ausalai, Arthedis, Caedalin, Beldain, Monaia and Seshare - an Eternal Court. The gods summoned Mox to be punished for his crimes and in a rare moment of clarity, he gave himself over to them. His heart torn asunder, Mox volunteered to be sent to the Blood Pasture with Rach and Vados. But on a split vote, Monaia chose mercy instead, electing for a lesser punishment. Mox would be sent away to the Wellspring, where his chaotic instincts could be put to some good, destroying the expansive overgrowth. What he would destroy, would always rebuild - an endless supply to feed him.
The world had been unmade and after thousands of years of war and conquest, and with no common enemy to rally behind, the ancestries had broken all trust with each other. They were not eager to rebuild in the same way as they had before. Most returned to the wilderness, their diminished numbers forming isolated tribes.
The Elves had perhaps the most dramatic split. Some chose to remain in the forests of the world, tending to them, forming druidic circles to grow them to their former glory - the Wood Elves, sworn to Ausalai. Others scattered out towards the coasts, to study Aeyar and his fountain of new magics - the High Elves. A rare few, decided to return to the Wellspring, to become true Fey once more - the Eladrin, Caedalin's original children. And then, of course, there were the Drow. It is said that those who chose to follow Luthena were brought to the moon to live by her side. But others continued to stir in the Underdark, waiting for Venali to make her next moves.
The Halflings, too, emerged as a diaspora. The travelers, those interested in cataloging the world around them, returned to their lives as nomads, following in the footsteps of Enditi and becoming known as Lightfoot Halflings. Those who had found comfort in their small, quiet villages, isolated themselves even further, weary of war and longing for simple pleasures, devoting themselves to Hailla - the Stout Halflings. There were also those who turned their natural curiosity inward, choosing to explore the mind instead of the world - the Rock Gnomes, an inventive and intelligent bunch who were swayed to the service of Phorarus.
The Dwarves, as resolute as their patron Beldain, crept back to their mountain cities, which had largely been left untouched by the war. Once there, they promised to stand watch - and wait for Venali to crawl out of the Underdark once more.
The Orcs, once regarded as great heroes, had been swayed by Mox's impulses and knew they would be distrusted. Followers of Mox retreated to the prairies and hills, forming tight knit clans, struggling with the storm inside of them. Followers of Weros built a fleet of ships and sailed to the end of the world, to a new continent, far from the stressors of other societies.
The Goblins, feeling forgotten - by the Eternal Court, by Mox, by Rach - burrowed into the ground, settling the shallow dirt, coming out only to plunder from those with more. For a time, they refused to worship any god, until one day they met with a visitor - Nashall, The Welcoming Arms. Outcaste, diminished, and tread upon, the Goblins looked to him for acceptance when the rest of the world refused to give it.
The Dragonborn, the children of Seshare, shared his penchant for law and justice. Still youthful, and not as war-worn as their peers, they assembled a small, but mighty nation far from the interference of the other ancestries.
And lastly, there was the Gith, Aorna's first sentient, conscious beings. Unlike the other elder ancestries, the Gith chose to rebuild what had been theirs - not out of tradition, or reverence, but out of fear. Their hero, Vados, was gone, locked in eternal combat on the Blood Pasture. They could not allow another war between the gods to spill out across the world, nearly ending their lineage. As such, their civilization would need to have the strongest military, the greatest magical minds, the most resilient populace - dedicated entirely to the security of their home. They built and built and built, their empire stretching across continents, taking up all of the space between the wild places of Aorna.

Chapter Eight: The Devil's Empire

Venali did not return to the Underdark. Instead, she posed as a mortal, living among the Gith in their mightiest city, taking on an identity as a humble merchant while plotting her revenge. But in time, she was discovered, for no secret can be kept from Qanar. Qanar had learned that she had been the one to instigate both of Aorna's major conflicts, but he had kept that information to himself, viewing all information as a source of power. The growing Gith Empire, with its rampant corruption, was the perfect place for lies and secrets to co-exist.
However, Qanar's brother, Qomos, was a constant threat - always uncovering hidden knowledge, the balance between them constantly shifting. Escaping, Venali and Qanar travelled the planes that many of the other gods had abandoned, uncovering ancient truths about the universe. Some say they that it was during this time that they rekindled their old love. Their journey crossed the Astral Sea over thousands of years - until they reached the Inferno, the realm of Baeliel.
The Devil King, having never interacted with the other gods, was suspicious of these outsiders. A band of his finest devil soldiers collected them and delivered them to a prison in the eye of the Inferno's great firestorm. But Venali and Qanar did not view their imprisonment as a threat. They revealed the existence of Aorna to Baeliel and demonstrated the influence that a god could exert over his followers' mortal souls. Qanar even revealed a secret that had been known only to him - that these souls could be traded, their owners' corrupted.
Baeliel saw an opportunity. His ranks had thinned after millions of years of combat with the demon hordes of the Inferno. With no god of their own, and a penchant towards absolute, unquestioned authority - the Gith were a perfect target for his wiles. He dispatched devilish agents across Aorna, offering power in exchange for the souls of those who would accept his gifts - those who would be drafted to his forever war. The Gith were reluctant at first, but Baeliel's temptations were too great. In exchange for this arrangement, Qanar would whisper secrets to the Gith, giving them access to power beyond their imaginations.
The Gith would use this knowledge to push the boundaries, experimenting with chronomancy, necromancy, and even Void magic. And though this would concern Aeyar and Qomos, it would also peak their curiosity. The Gith Empire's hold on the world grew more firm with every passing year, the wild spaces growing smaller and smaller. This greatly distressed Ausalai, but she found few sympathetic ears in the Eternal Court, as many of them viewed the Empire as a stabilizing force for civilization.
Without any great conflict, and without being discovered, Baeliel, Venali and Qanar had found their means of control.
What they did not expect was the thorn in Baeliel's side to follow them. Meikana and her band of rebel angels rose from the Inferno and quietly met with Ausalai in Aorna's most desperate hour. They whispered words of revolution to the Wood Elves of the forests, who took up arms, refusing to be battered back by the Gith Empire. Some say that is during this time with the Wood Elves, that Meikana fell in love with a mortal, with whom she had children - the first Tieflings.
News of the Wood Elf rebellion spread far and wide. Though they could not hope to defeat the Gith alone, they could prevent them from expanding further into the wilderness. This inspired the Orc clans, who joined in the fight to protect their homes and families on the prairies. The Goblins stirred from their burrows to protect the hills, alongside their old adversaries, the Stout Halflings. The Dragonborn, who saw the corruption of the Empire as an affront to honor and law, sailed their ships across the ocean to protect the waves. The High Elves erected great magical barriers to protect the coasts. The Dwarves stood sturdy on mountain tops. And more of the Drow of the deep were awakened, stirred by Meikana soothing voice, turning against Venali's forces, abandoning the Underdark to settle and protect the deserts of the world.
What had started as a small annoyance had become a threat. Qanar and Venali slunk back into the shadows before their presence could be known. Baeliel, fighting a war on two fronts - against the demons and against the rebellious mortals - let go of his grip on the Gith Empire. But his work had already been done. Yanki, the corrupt and immortal Gith Emperor, instructed his wizards to find magic that would allow him absolute control over Aorna, to quell the masses and to end the uprisings. To bend reality to his will.
This single instruction would be the end of the Gith. They did not find what they were looking for. Instead, The Emperor opened a gaping tear to the Void and it consumed him. And his wizards. And every loyal Gith in the Empire. In an instant they were gone, lost in the Void. Those who disappeared would be called the Githyanki.
The remaining Gith, those who had fought against the Empire from within, retreated from Aorna in shame. They followed their leader, Zerai, to the Astral Plane, where they hoped to serve the gods they felt they had betrayed. Those who fled would be called the Githzerai.
Those who were left returned to their homes or reclaimed their old lands. Within a few generations, nature overtook most of the soaring towers and expansive cities that the Gith Empire had constructed. Some still stand in ruins today.

Chapter Nine: The Tear Migration

But the Gith's experiments had changed the world. The Tear to the Void had never truly closed. Worse, there were other, smaller tears that ruptured Aorna's surface, opening it up to incursions from nearly every plane.
Beings from beyond Aorna began to migrate, finding a world that, apart from the occasional small settlement or city-state, was largely barren and devastated after three great conflicts.
Angels from Parendia briefly settled amongst the existing mortal populations, posing as mortals themselves to better understand worldly law. A few stayed behind to sire celestial children who would become called the Aasimar.
The winged Aaracokra arrived from the Plane of Air, the stalwart Goliaths from the Plane of Earth, and the proud Tritons from the Plane of Water, helping to beat back ancient beasts from their homelands that had crossed through tears to the swirling chaos that had given birth to the multiverse. The Elves born near these tears had their blood tinged by the elements, becoming the Genasi.
The Changelings emerged from the Aftersleep, hoping to escape Tattarus' growing realm of nightmare, their bodies able to shift and mold themselves - not unlike the ever-shifting landscape of dreams.
However, it was the raw creationary power of the Wellspring that brought about the most widespread change.
Fey beings, such as the curious Forest Gnomes, danced aimlessly through the thick old growth forests of Aorna, followed closely behind by the gentle Firbolgs - who had for eons been subjugated by the Archfey.
Others began to appear as well, and it is unknown if they were migrants from the Wellspring or animals transformed by the energy of the tears: Kobolds, Tabaxi, Yuan-Ti, Tortles, Centaurs, Minotaurs and so many others. Much of Aorna's great diversity was birthed in this era of nature and life reclaiming the land.
But not all of the migrants were benevolent. Demons from the Inferno razed the countryside. Devils manipulated their way into places of leadership, attempting to bring order by the blade. Undead monstrosities rose from the depths of the Shade, haunting the living. And aberrant Voidkin corrupted reality itself. These incursions were small, but the Eternal Court grew increasingly worried that if the tears were to grow, the prisons they had built for the likes of Tattarus and Rach could shatter.
To prevent this, the Court met to construct guardians to stand watch over these bridges to the other planes. Beldain began by molding massive figures out of the hardest stone and toughest metals, imbuing their creations with their strongest wards of protection. Caedalin used strands of elemental power to bind them together, drafting their son Aeyar to give this army innate magical abilities to rival their martial prowess. And Irinia, at the behest of her mother Ausalai, breathed life into these creatures - who would come to be called the Giants.
The Giants were posted at the most dangerous of the tears and placed under the leadership of Obus, The Champion, the strongest among them.
Within a few generations, most of the planar incursions had been ended and the largest tears had been sewn back together. However, some remained - either because they were powerful enough to survive or small enough to remain elusive. Those that led to the Wellspring became the Wells of arcane energy that continue to dot the quiet places of the world. Others, so small as to be undetectable, more cracks then tears, still allow for the entry of lesser planar entities, such as Angels, Devils, Demons, Fey and Undead.
Balance had been restored. Neither the natural world, nor civilization, dominated the other. Populations regrew. Life flourished. And the gods were finally able to enjoy the paradise they had discovered.

Chapter Ten: The Corruption of Nezer Damos

Since his birth, Nezer had been the ferrier of the dead and the prince of the Veiled Haven, where all souls travelled after their lives had faded.
Indeed, every living being has a soul, a shard of the divine that connects them to the gods, but also connects the gods back to their charges. And in this time, before the gods left the world, once a soul had left it's body, it would travel beyond the known multiverse to reconnect to every other soul, its divine essence, at peace. The location of this dim, quiet place, was known only to Nezer. Not even Qanar could uncover this secret - though some have speculated that it lie beyond the dream of everything, in the waking universe of the Nameless One.
For much of his history, Nezer had been a kind face on the other side of the veil, welcoming every soul with warmth, helping them to transition back to the collective.
But after three great celestial wars, he grew tired. He had collected so many souls needlessly, because they had died on the field of battle, fighting for his siblings. What's more, he was jealous. The other gods could frollic in the paradise they had molded for themselves, yet by his very nature, he was mostly confined to the quiet of the Veiled Haven. A quiet that was slowly, over an eternity, driving him mad.
It is believed that when the Gith opened the Tear to the Void, Nezer was corrupted. But it likely happened long before that. Perhaps it was a subtle lie whispered by Venali. Perhaps it was his jealousy taking hold. Or perhaps, he had simply glimpsed too much death.
Either way, he was broken. And began to think of himself as Damos, The Chasm.
Nezer Damos pondered the state of Aorna. Paranoid. Arrogant. Mournful. And after a millenia of consideration he came to a single determination: that he was the Nameless One, trapped inside his own dream. That he had to awaken himself to return to his true life. And that the only way to do so, would be to create such a nightmare that he would be forced to rise from his slumber.
To Awaken.
Nezer Damos first appeared to his brother, Mox, whose devastation raged across the Wellspring, taming its wild growth. They spoke of their isolation, of the betrayal of their father Estus. And though Mox had originally welcomed his imprisonment - at the behest of Nezer himself - he had grown restless, the chaos brewing in him once more. Being so close to Nezer's corruption sent Mox careening over the edge, his fury building to a crescendo. Nezer promised his brother vengeance, but did not reveal his true plan.
He then travelled to meet with Irinia, his sister. She had always been his favorite, always able to sooth his mournful heart. But as life and death spoke, Nezer Damos realized that even that affection had fallen away. That even she was just a character in his dream. His corruption weakened her connection with the Wellspring and strengthened her connection with the Shade. To her horror, Irinia's power to imbue life became inconsistent - more and more she birthed only the undead. And Nezer Damos grew in his conviction.
His next journey took him deep into the Aftersleep, where Tattarus had built his kingdom of nightmare and terror. The writhing worm has been imprisoned for millions of years and initially met Nezer Damos with hostility. But Tattarus saw the madness in Damos' eyes, a cousin of fear, and welcomed him. Nezer could not further corrupt Tattarus, but some say that that Tattarus did further corrupt Nezer - ending any chance for redemption. Fear feeds madness and makes it grow.
Even meeting with these figures had caused disruptions in the fabric of the multiverse, which alarmed Seshare, who requested an audience with Nezer to address his concerns. But Damos was clever enough to hide his tracks, explaining that his trips to consult with Mox and Irinia were merely family business - and that he had gone to the Aftersleep to study how to communicate with new souls who died at rest. Seshare was skeptical, but ultimately bought this explanation - though not before the corruption began to spread in his own mind - his passion for justice becoming a lust for more.
Nearing the culmination of his plan, Nezer Damos made one final stop. Few secrets can be kept from death and he uncovered the location of Qanar's tower, where the god of the unknown had been hiding with his love, Venali. Damos asked Venali for a single favor - to lie to the Giants, as she had to others, to turn them against the gods and convince them to leave their posts. In exchange, Nezer would offer the secret of the Veiled Haven's location - a tempting offer. But Venali and Qanar needed time to consider and turned Nezer Damos away.
The queen of lies knew that Nezer was not telling the truth. Venali and Qanar were left so disturbed by their interaction that they immediately summoned Qomos, confessing what they had learned. Some say that it was Damos' corruption that caused Venali to finally tell the truth - and Qanar to open his book of secrets.
The Eternal Court was convened. Venali pleaded with them to investigate, but Nezer had been a reliable friend to the gods' for eons - and her lies had started nearly every major conflict. She had completely lost their trust. They did not believe her.
They did nothing.

Chapter Eleven: The War of the Awakening

Without Venali's lies, Nezer Damos was forced to wait, though not long. Irinia continued to sprout hordes of undead, whose presence the giants mistook for a planar incursion. Their leader, Obus, would send his forces to put down the threats as they appeared, but the hordes only kept coming. Even the giants could fall - and as they did, the small bastions of civilization grew increasingly threatened. Still, Obus did the work that was assigned to him, killing the beasts before they can do harm to Aorna.
One evening, as he stood in a field strewn with his brethren, Obus spotted Nezer, arriving to ferry the dead back to the Veiled Haven. Obus had been mourning his losses and had begun to question his purpose. Had the Giants been born to die? They were so mighty, but barely more than tools to protect a world that they could not enjoy. Damos sympathized with the Giants, having seen so much death himself, and told Obus that he had come to believe that the finite lives of mortals were a waste, a means to keep the immortals in power.
His words corrupted the youngest of the gods, as they had Irinia and Mox. Obus rejected his position and instead of defending Aorna against incursions from beyond the tears, he used his raw strength and ripped them further open.
It started so fast that the rest of the gods had no time to prepare.
An earthquake ripped the continents asunder and from deep within Aorna, Mox arose from the Wellspring, blanketing the sky with hurricanes and lightning. He summoned the orcs who still followed him to his cause, legions of them invading their neighbors without warning.
Tattarus, the ever-growing worm, slithered from beyond the realm of dreams, leading an army of nightmares. He coiled around the moon of Othena, destroying Luthena's castle of night, sending her plummeting to Aorna with Caedalin and their children. Injured and unconscious, they were removed from the fight before it even began.
Demons poured in from the Inferno. Devils emerged to contain them, followed by Angels from Parendia. Powerful archfey from the Wellspring set up fiefdoms in the forests and fields, inciting overgrowth and bursts of wild magic. Rotting monstrosities roamed the mountains and the Underdark, transforming the landscape into the bleak hills of the Shade. Beings of raw elemental power boiled up from the chaos in which all of the planes resided.
Aorna was engulfed by conflict, war, disaster and darkness. The balance of the universe had been fundamentally altered.
Nezer Damos watched gleefully as his madness spread. He had yet to be truly discovered.
Stunned, the Eternal Court as a whole was slow to mount a defense. But Seshare, ever the warrior, refused to back down in the face of multiple great foes. He mustered his dragonborn followers, commanding them into battle against the invaders. Soon enough, his forces were bolstered by Weros' orcs, who were determined to reclaim their mantles as the heroes of Aorna. They developed a strategy to overcome the superior numbers of Mox, Tattarus and the other planar entities - using small, fast-moving groups, they would distract the various factions and pit them against each other; and when a faction had been sufficiently weakened, they would attack in earnest.
This tactic worked for a time, Weros' brilliance outsmarting the chaotic nature of many of the invaders, allowing the rest of the Court an opportunity to organize and plan their retaliation. Instead, they were paralyzed by indecision and infighting. Ausalai, weary of watching the peoples' of Aorna die for the sake of the gods, argued that together, they should cleanse the world of all divine energy, eliminating the invaders, but also removing themselves from the material plane. Her partner, Beldain, agreed, stating that while they had helped to foster growth, they had also interrupted nature's plan - time and time again. This was met by vehement protest by Estus, who believed that the gods were brought to Aorna for a purpose, to protect it, not to abandon it. His light had helped to create the world and it would heal this wound as well. Arthedis took up with her husband, adding that only through further progress of civilization could such mistakes be righted in the future. Monaia attempted to mediate between the two sides, but each dug in further. Estus blamed Ausalai for having too much sympathy for her unruly children. Ausalai blamed Arthedis for wanting to use the conflict to expand her influence and push back nature.
The Court fell to pieces, taking up arms on their own. Ausalai sent her Woods Elves into the enclaves of the Archfey. Beldain reinforced the mountains with Dwarvish might, holding back the Shade monstrosities and the undead. Arthedis directed her son, Phorarus, and his Rock Gnomes, to build engines of war to protect the civilizations of the world from collapsing. Estus, despite his pride, offered healing to all those who asked, even those who had slighted him. And Monaia distributed diplomats between the warring parties in a desperate attempt at peace.
It did not take long, however, for Mox to learn that he was yet again being thwarted by Seshare. He had taken the dragon's wing once before - he was determined to take the rest. Mox sent waves of cyclones to decimate the dragonborn forces, carving a path for him to confront the Seshare directly. Seshare took up his long blade and fought Mox across the land and under the sea, their battle lasting years. But The Eruption's fury outlasted the dragon and Seshare made a fatal mistake. Mox turned his axe and split Seshare in two; then raised his weapon in the air, declaring victory. It was a rallying cry for the invaders. If they could kill the dragon, Aorna could be theirs.
But gods never truly die. It is an immutable fact of the universe. They can, however, become something new. And the two halves of Seshare began to regrow.
Without the leadership of Seshare, the organized defense of Aorna began to break down. The gods fell into retreat. Kemehea warned of great famines as firestorms rolled across the plains. Hailla struggled to find homes for the mass of refugees with nowhere to go. Glimmer tried desperately to bring joy to a joyless situation.
The Eternal Court met in secret, hoping to resolve their differences, to present a unified front. Ausalai again pleaded with her brethren to leave Aorna. But even Beldain had begun to doubt her plan - too much damage had already been done. Damage only they could rectify. Caedalin, having finally woken from his slumber, submitted his vote to continue fighting as well. His home had been taken by Tattarus and he had every intention of driving the writhing beast out. They would go on the offensive.
In a desperate move, Aeyar opened the gates to the Blood Pastures to find a new leader - Vados, who had won the wars of the past. She emerged with her angelic soldiers, prepared to fight for Aorna once more. But before they could close the gates behind them - a vicious army followed, led by an emboldened Rach, The Bloody Ground, who declared that all of Aorna would soon be his - and that any who joined in his crusade would gain a position of leadership in the coming empire. Vados turned, vowing to defend her brethren from the plague of Rach's bloodthirst. They raised their blades and brought the violence of the Pastures to the material plane.
With Vados distracted by Rach, only barely holding his forces to a stalemate, the rest of the gods were forced to come up with another solution. Caedalin donned their armor and spear for the first time in aeons, since they beat back the rest of the archfey to control the Wellspring. Beldain picked up their colossal shield and mace, standing next to their sibling in battle. Ausalai summoned all of nature's wrath to her control. Arthedis churned out weaponry to arm the remaining peoples' of Aorna. Estus himself walked the battlefields, healing all the souls he could. Even Monaia recognized that the only means to preserve the peace would be to fight back the encroaching darkness.
But all of this ware a mere distraction. Nezer Damos toiled in the shadows, furious that with each new layer of chaos, the Nameless One still refused to awaken from his slumber, to show the true nature of reality. He became obsessed with what he believed would be end of the dream - a weapon that could truly kill the gods. Not change them. End them. He especially wished to drive a blade into the stomach of his father, Estus, the first of their kind, the light in the sky that allowed Aorna to thrive.
He returned to Qanar's tower, desperate for answers to this secret. But no matter how many times he asked, Venali's answer was the same. It was impossible. Nezer flew into a rage, balking at Venali's lies and Qanar's silence. He threatened to reveal their location to the rest of the Court, but this did not move them.
And so, Nezer Damos sealed himself away in a corner of The Veiled Haven, searching for his solution.
The body of Seshare laid in a vast desert, split in two, for nearly a millenia. Eventually, the two halves began to writhe and reshape themselves, stretching out to reconnect. But they could not. They were at odds. The first was fueled by the sense of justice imposed by Arthedis when it was created, Sevast, The Just Hand. Sevast retained all of Seshare's memories and as soon as it was possible, flew off to join the rest of the Court in battle.
It's twin was twisted by the shard of Tattarus that had turned it into the weapon it was meant to be. It was a creature of raw hunger, lust and greed, a dragon of the night, Xashand, The Thirsting Horde. Xashand began to consume and collect everything around it, eating those standing in its way, gorging, thinking of only one thing...more.
Sevast arrived to find the gods weak and depleted. As their followers died in the millions, their own power began to wain, the cycle had been broken. They had fallen back to a single small island in the center of the ocean, now referred to as Hearth. Sevast attempted to rally them, but the losses had been too great. They could only mourn.
Vados and Rach continued their unending fight, spilling their own blood and the blood of those most loyal to them across the continents of modern Abapharil and Kirodari.
Mox conjured a storm over Sheanora, hiding there to protect himself from the Court, but also from the growing threats beyond.
Obus and his corrupted giants settled the mountains and hills of Vul'Badir, building a hierarchal society based on strength alone.
Irinia's undead hordes roamed the wastes of Ysead. Powerful djinn from the depths of chaos claimed Jabardi. Conniving archfey from the Wellspring spread across the evergreen forests of Sethdruine. Devils built a throne for Baeliel in Cibrala, while demon lords across the border in Deitradas fought amongst themselves. And Xashand continued to consume, growing and growing, its wings stretching from coast to coast of modern Xashare.
With the Court's influence diminished, the temporary peace between Nezer Damos' pawns could no longer last.
Obus grew bored, desperate to test his strength, addicted to competition. He had beaten every other giant, had subdued his opponents, and still felt lost in the world. He challenged the only god he believed could compare to him - Mox - to a battle of martial prowess. If Mox could defeat him, he would pledge himself and his giants to the service of destruction. Mox was intrigued and agreed, under the conditions that the fight occur within his territory, to prevent the interference of other divine beings.
And so they grappled, punching each other so hard that thunder clapped on the other side of the world, sheering pieces of the continent in half, creating islands where there had been none. Finally, Mox fell into Obus' trap, his fury causing him to get overzealous. Obus landed a blow directly above Mox's weakened heart, sending him reeling, his body knocked unconscious and splaying out across a lonely mountaintop. Obus celebrated his victory and looked to the west for greater rivals.
There, the war between Vados and Rach had calmed, for a time, while each side mustered new troops. Obus arrived in Rach's war camp and offered the god of conquest the same thing he had offered Mox, his allegiance and his army. This was tempting for Rach, who knew that the giants would allow him to completely overrun Vados' position. But he cared not for a fair fight, or a competition. Rach deals only in victory - at all costs. He attacked Obus without warning, stabbing his black sword into the giant's stomach a dozen times, then slicing off his head. But Obus' body continued to fight, ripping the sword from Rach's hands, wrestling him to the ground until his skull regrew.
Vados sat from his position to the south and watched as Rach and Obus tore each other apart, waiting to strike when both gods had exhausted themselves.
In the East, things were just as grim. Baeliel had built a strong, orderly kingdom, something rare in this era, something attractive to those who had survived. With an army of devils and mortals alike amassed to his side, Baeliel drove out the demon lords by turning them against each other, imprisoning them deep within the underdark, even managing to banish some back to the Inferno. But the tyrant could not be satisfied with his corner of the world. He turned to the pine forests of the Archfey and the ruby deserts of the Djinn. None could withstand his might, until finally, he grew too arrogant and crossed into Xashand's borders.
Xashand would not stand for this. The behemoth of a dragon took on Baeliel's armies himself, scorching them with fire, drowning them in water, freezing them in ice. His wings grew to blanket the whole of the east, so large that there was nowhere that Baeliel could strike with his flaming scimitar. The Devil King relented, returning to the Inferno to restore his strength.
Xashand, on the other hand, turned his eyes towards the sky, where Tattarus had consumed the moon of Othena and had begun grasping for Dihonus and Nabili. Xashand lusted after Dihonus, emerging from the surface of Aorna, flying towards the distant moons.
The Eternal Court saw an opportunity to come out of hiding. As Nezer's pawns collided in their owns wars, they were weakened - and no longer paying attention to the small island at the center of the ocean. Still, only one in one thousand mortals had survived, the population was decimated. What armies were left were depleted and demoralized. The world was a waste with little left to fight for.
That is when someone unexpected appeared: Venali. She had warned the gods of what was coming, but they had refused to believe. The Court offered a formal apology, as well as seat amongst them. In return, she would finally enter her Drow into the fight. Her lover, Qanar, reiterated the truth, that Nezer Damos had been corrupted by his own mourning. The gods had simply assumed that he had been overwhelmed by the death of the war, but with everything that had come to pass, the Court finally believed them. Ausalai was devastated and rivers formed from her tears.
Estus, stunned by the revelation, became determined to find Nezer and heal whatever corruption had consumed him, to redeem what he had done in the aeons past. He took a boat to the Astral Sea - hoping to find the path to the Veiled Haven.
The rest of the gods pooled together what few resources they had left. Weros drew up a strategy. They all assembled their armor, even those who had never done so in the past, gods like Hailla, Jimara, Enditi and Glimmer. This would be the final push. It was to be the Eternal Court or Damos' madness.
They let Xashand and Tattarus collide above them, two equally hungry creatures, eager to claim the moons for themselves. Instead, they assembled with Vados, focusing their whole effort on a single front. Every god, every mortal, prepared to take back the West.
As in the ancient past, Vados rode in on a dragon, this time Sevast, lightning crackling from her open maw. But they were too late. Obus had refused to submit to Rach, so The Bloody Ground simply hacked away at the giant king until there was nothing left. The pieces of Obus lay strewn about the battlefield, Rach covered in the blood. He turned, thrusting his arm into the air, commanding his new cadre of giants to attack the incoming dragon. The giant's pulled Sevast from the sky, sending her colliding into the side of a glacier, burying her beneath the ice. Rach, mad with power, clashed blades with Vados, until he shattered her mighty sword, its pieces piercing the ground. With each victory, he grew stronger, taking on every god who attempted to stop him. He snapped Caedalin's spear. He ripped Beldain's shield in two. He dominated the battlefield.
His arrogance got the best of him, however. While the gods assaulted Rach himself, their armies, bolstered by Venali's drow, overwhelmed his forces, pushing them back. Rach was stunned to see that, in truth, he was losing what he had gained.
But he was even more surprised when Mox awakened, his heart having been restored by Obus' punch, Nezer's corruption having been washed away. Mox conjured a tidal wave to knock Rach off of his feet. A volcano erupted, melting the glaciers, freeing Sevast from her icy tomb. Together, Mox and the dragon goddess led a relentless attack against the Bloody Ground, as they had in times passed. Rach was simply too strong, thriving off the violence.
Suddenly, Rach was grabbed from behind by powerful arms and hurled into the air, flung so far that he collided with the edge of the universe, returning to the Blood Pastures. Standing there, a mass of pure muscle, was Obus, The Champion. He had refused to submit. Victory was finally his. He stared down Mox, prepared to continue their own battle, but Mox extended a hand in respect - and Obus accepted.
He turned to face the rest of the Eternal Court, those who created him, those who used him, those who betrayed him. The corruption was still deep in his bones. But he agreed to a cease fire, under one condition: that someone from within their ranks beat him in combat. Mox could not. Rach could not. But surely those who had constructed him from dirt and metal could.
One-by-one the gods accepted Obus' challenge and one-by-one, they lost. Until finally, he was confronted by the most unlikely of opponents: Eiludi, The Knotted Souls. Before he could even think of striking, he fell to his knees, enraptured by her beauty. She offered nothing but a small kiss to his forehead and a nod of acknowledgment, of unconditional love. Obus wept, finally discovering the one thing in the universe stronger than he. He was cleansed and vowed to resume his role as protector, to never again fall under Nezer's foul whispers. The Court agreed that he would not face consequences until Aorna had been brought back under their control.
Mox, however, understood that he was too susceptible to the whims of liars and tyrants, his fury out of even his own control. He spoke with his mother Ausalai and modeling her response after Eiludi's, she offered her son unconditional love, accepting his apologies. Mox knew that the Blood Pastures could only contain Rach for so long and volunteered to take Vados' place. He left in the night, bringing his strongest lieutenants with him, raising his axe as he crossed into the realm of unending war.
With that, the Eternal Court turned their eyes to the sky, where Tattarus and Xashand were locked in a brutal conflict, determined to consume each other.
Sevast spread her wings and the gods mounted her back, flying across the emptiness of space to the three moons of Aorna. Caedalin, having reforged their split spear into two curved blades, leaped to the moon he had once called home, accompanied by their wife, Luthena, and Vados, whom had beaten Tattarus once before. Though the beast had grown since then.
The Just Hand was shocked to see what her other half had become, a dragon so large that it blocked out a wide swath of stars, as black as the emptiness between them.
For once they had the element of surprise, as Xashand attempted to consume Tattarus' tail and Tattarus ripped into Xashand's wing. They were so lost in their hunger, that the Court snuck through their defenses.
Caedalin summoned all of the raw, chaotic power of creation and channeled it through his scythes, slicing off pieces of Tattarus that would only regrow into smaller versions of their master. Luthena opened the gates to the Aftersleep, an army of dream-beings pouring through to push back The Eyes in the Dark's nightmares. Vados jumped into the beast's enormous jaw, ripping it away from Xashand, piercing her blade into its writhing tongue. Tattarus reeled back, biting down, its teeth cutting into Vados' armor. From its length grew dozens of tentacles, wrapping its enemies tightly, squeezing the lifeforce out of them. Caedalin was overwhelmed, cutting through a forest of fear, worms tearing at him as he protected Luthena.
But a bright light shone in the darkness, as Qomos, The Open Book, held aloft his lantern of knowledge. Tattarus quaked and shuttered, releasing his grasp on those who fought him, and a sword burst from his head, slicing down his body from the inside. Blinded by Qomos, Tattarus had no defense. Vados cut until there was nothing left offering Caedalin the strength to fight back against the stragglers. Luthena, dream herself, kissed Caedalin, then laid down and fell asleep, dreaming of Tattarus, sending him back to the Aftersleep. She sleeps still today. The moon, Othena, was freed.
Across space, Sevast and Xashand collided, the fire and lightning so hot that they burned like another sun in the sky. Xashand dwarfed his twin, a small moon in his own right, and their jaws clashed, teeth like armies, The Thirsting Horde still hungry for more. Obus grabbed Xashand by the tail and hurled the black dragon into the moon Dihonus, shattering it into pieces. This gave Sevast a moment to slide her claws into Xashand's ribs, but instead of doing damage, Xashand grabbed ahold of The Just Hand and pushed her against his body, desperate to be whole again - the one thing he could never have.
Xashand batted away Obus with his snout, clinging to Sevast, shoving her into the wound she had created. What he did not notice, was one of her companions, so small against the blanket of the stars, floating up to touch his chin. Glimmer, The Celebration, gave Xashand a brief moment of joy. Something Xashand had never felt in all of his existence. His desires faded away, replaced by contentment - just long enough to distract him, so Sevast could reach up and slice off his head with a beam of pure energy. Obus grabbed the pieces of Dihonus and rebuilt the moon as a prison, surrounding Xashand's body. His head would be tossed deep into the Astral Sea, to float forever.
Estus, still searching for his children, shined his sunlight in every corner of the multiverse, in every unknown place. He eventually found Irinia, The Abundant Mother hidden in the Shade, deep within a cave, withered and shaking. She blamed herself for the events that sparked the crisis. Estus told her the truth, that she had corrupted by Nezer Damos, that the unlife that had come from her was not her fault. Estus gave her a single sunflower from the surface of Aorna and Irinia began to heal. She offered the whispers she had heard of Nezer's location - then rejoined her brethren in the Court.
With Nezer's pawns driven out, the gods could finally rest and return to the surface Aorna.
However, the few surviving mortals they found there had a new god to worship: Venali. She had convinced them that the gods had abandoned them, that the Eternal Court had caused their suffering. Another betrayal. Another lie. Even Qomos, with his lantern, could not convince them.
The Court simply waited, until after a few generations, Venali was driven out by her own followers. One lie too many.
As they assembled to weigh punishment against Venali for her crimes throughout eternity, Estus returned. No matter where he searched, he could not find the Veiled Havens - nor could he find Nezer Damos.
They voted, making the rare choice to send Venali so far from existence that she could never influence Aorna again. A place where her lies could become truth. The Void.
A portal was opened, Venali taken to it. But before she could be thrown in, she revealed one final secret - that she was not Venali at all. Nezer Damos emerged from her body, wielding a sharp dagger, smiling wildly as he thrust his arm toward Estus. But Vados saw glint of the blade and leaped in front of the Purifying Light, taking the dagger to her side. Vados dissapated, a wave of energy blasting back Nezer Damos - sending him hurtling into the Void. The Last Stand was gone - but so was the weapon that had taken her.
Thelena, The Weighted Tear mourned, for Vados, but for every dead soul, so many taken by a pointless war.
Then, Glimmer, The Celebration, smiled, for there was finally a future.

Chapter Twelve: The Divine Concordance

Still, so much had been lost. Millions, perhaps billions of souls had been taken in the conflict. And they had not had a choice, they had only followed their gods. This was greatest crime the Eternal Court had committed. They had drawn the mortals, the creatures who had made Aorna beautiful in the first place, into a war that was not theirs. What the gods had helped to create had been left to waste.
Ausalai again proposed her solution. That the gods retreat forever into the planes above and below. Estus had finally come around - it was the only option, the only way to ensure that the travesty of what had occurred would never occur again. He asked only one small change, because he did not want the Court to become ignorant of their followers needs.
This was the Divine Concordance: No god will ever again wield their power or influence on the surface of Aorna.
The gods' agents could still operate there. They could even visit, in the guise of a mortal. But the Eternal Court could never again influence or create life in their paradise. The mortals would choose their own fate. And the gods would retreat into their own domains.
Sevast, The Just Hand, would try to live in Parendia for a time, but its strict order did not allow for the consideration of morality, of the good, and she would end up in Hevastus, building the Court of Justice - a place where the only law is what is right. She would also give life to the dragons - protectors of Aorna in the god's stead, powerful mortal beings meant to hold back any divine presence should one ever choose to break the Concordance.
Arthedis, The Gleaming Tower, returned to the hidden nation of Hevastus, The Eternal City, where she would serve as a fair and kind ruler. Estus, The Purifying Light, her great love would join her.
Caedalin, The Artist, would fall asleep next to Luthena, The Imagined Maiden, entering the Aftersleep, becoming a dream.
Monaia, The Calming Wind, would construct a demi-plane, not far from Parendia - realm of law - and call it simply, Serenity, a temple to true peace. She would be joined there by Eiludi, The Knotted Souls. Though the chaos of love would sometimes for her to join her parents in the Aftersleep.
Glimmer, The Celebration, would construct a demi-place as well, The Festival of Joy, often found in the Wellspring, a place of revelry and happiness.
Crucera, too, would make her home on Hevastus, operating the Heart of Trade, the bank of the multiverse.
Aeyar, The Summoned Spark, would build an observatory, deep within the ever-expanding Wellspring, seeking a true understanding of the nature of magic by tracking it to its source. Qomos, The Open Book would join him, keeping a piece of himself in The Library of All Things in the Eternal City.
Enditi, The Long Stride, would take a ship and travel the Astral Sea, looking for all that had not yet been found. Hailla, The Warm Fire would join her for a time, until she found a place to quiet place to rest, to build her home. It is said that travellers of the Astral Sea will often find a cabin with a table full of delicious meats if they are lost and at their most desperate.
Jimara, The Branching Lineage, felt sympathy for Mox, The Eruption. She would join him on the Blood Pastures and they would marry - standing together against Rach, The Bloody Ground's force of conquest. It is said that her love is what has helped to quell his fury, to focus enough to stand guard.
Weros, The Forethought would also travel to the Blood Pastures, aiding Mox with new and ingenious strategies to push back The Bloody Ground.
Meikana, The Stirring Heart, remained in the Inferno, striking back against the tyranny of the devils - though it is said her voice can be heard anywhere there is oppression, where hope and inspiration is needed. That she may even be the one god capable of breaking the Divine Concordance, of rebelling against it.
Obus, The Champion, was given leniency after his assistance in defeating Rach and Xashand. He was given a stadium in Hevastus, The Limitless Coliseum, where he could compete against the best athletes in the multiverse - though he can never leave its gates.
Nashall, The Welcoming Arms, has been seen on every plane. Though few know his true location. He is often adrift in the Astral Sea, looking for those who need him most, the misfits, the outsiders, the lost.
Phorarus, The Thought Engine, would arrive in Parendia, to study its clockwork, its order and to improve it, using the gears and mechanisms to inspire new machines.
Thelena would assume the title the Inevitable Embrace, taking up Nezer's mantle as the new goddess of death, her mournful soul, filled with empathy, prepared to support the souls in their transition.
Vados, The Last Stand, did not truly die. They say she still lives on in each small act of courage.
Baeliel, The Tempting Lie, would continue to rule over the Inferno, resentful of his station, sending his devils to beat back the demons below, to tame pure chaos - always with an eye towards Aorna.
Tattarus, The Eyes in the Dark, would rebuild his kingdom of nightmare, but never again threaten the waking world.
Xashand, The Thirsting Horde, would be contained for a time in his prison within the moon Dihonus, his head floating through the emptiness of the Astral Sea, waiting to consume something - but offered only nothing.
Qanar, The Occluded Face, remained hidden in his tower, barely a whisper in the wind.
No one is certain what happend to Venali, The Truth. She never returned to Qanar's tower. Perhaps she had been working with Nezer Damos. Perhaps Nezer Damos had killed her and assumed her form. Perhaps she is still living on Aorna now, a con played on the gods for millennia. Or perhaps this was all another lie.
Nezer Damos, The Chasm, is gone. Floating in the Void.
And finally, there was Ausalai, The First Seed. The first to walk the world. She cried as her brethren departed and she built a place where she could go to remember what it had been like before the chaos the gods' wrought had come to pass. The Wild Garden, nature in perfect balance, would be her new home. Beldain, The Cooling Iron, would provide the fertile ground. Kemehea, The Eversprout, would grow the flora. And her daughter, Irinia, The Abundant Mother, would birth the fauna.
She waited for them to leave, before taking one last stride across Aorna. She sat on a cliffside, overlooking the ocean, watching the sun rise. There, in the distance, she saw something beautiful. Creatures on the beach, building a small house, laughing. They had been given their consciousness by the gods. They had not come from the planes beyond. They were born of Aorna. Evolved on their own. Humans.
There were mere thousands of the other ancestries scattered about the world, but it was enough to start anew. Humans, Elves, Dwarves, Orcs, Dragonborn, and beyond, the peoples' of Aorna were great and diverse. Ausalai would miss them the most.
She stepped across the threshold into her garden.
And history began.

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Type

Manuscript, Religious

Medium

Papyrus