Creation and Rise of the Gods

The Beginning

Before time had meaning and purpose there were the Primals. They were the closest thing to sentience the universe had ever known. The Primals were leviathan elemental forces that thrashed about in chaos. The most powerful force among them was Cosmos, a being of near unimaginable power who's body was the vastness of empty space. Cosmos' limits were unknown but acted as boundaries to the other Primals. The leviathan of fire, heat, and magma was Pyrus. Opposite of Pyrus the leviathan of water, ice, and cold was Articia. Swirling gasses and arcs of lightening were the domain of A'rorn, while churning sand, mud, rock, and metal were the aspects of Ken'tok. These four forces within Cosmos raged across the universe and over the course of their many interactions, conflicts, and collisions they gave birth to something new.

A New Star

As a result of a chance collision between Pyrus, A'rorn, and Ken'tok a new form of life was created. Cosmos named this first spark Solas, and it was intrigued. It brought the chaotic elements together once more and brought forth a second spark Baleas. Amused by their creations the Primals toyed with the brother stars and subjected them to the extremes of their elements. After millennia of this treatment Cosmos noticed the two lives had so much more potential than the chaotic leviathans. It incited the two to fight for their freedom.

The Cosmic War

Solas and Baleas combined their might and rose against the Primals. They wielded their own power against them as they were both born of it and bathed in it. One by one the elements were subjugated by the pair. Cosmos labelled the pair brother gods, and watched as the elemental Primals were woven into cosmic ley lines. These ley lines became the thread and fabric for magic and life as we know it.

Baleas' Betrayal

One of the first created by Solas was Keera, a being of beauty he meant for himself as a wife. Over time Baleas took to Keera with envy and it was then that Cosmos came to understand balance. The features that had made Solas so intriguing to Cosmos were slightly different in Baleas. He watched as Baleas turned his wrath to his brother. The two clashed until their spark nearly fluttered out. Cosmos flung them to separate ends of his being to cease the fighting. In their respective corners Solas gave birth to the Heavens and Baleas the Nine Hells. This division would mark the end of a chapter of brotherhood and the start of the Eternal Conflict.

Family Matters

Baleas could not have Keera so he forged his own lover Molora. Both brothers found with their goddesses a new means to make life. Jonas was born as the son of Solas. He embodied hope and innocence in the truest form. Born to Baleas was a daughter Jilas. Like her mother she was beautiful but twisted internally by fear and later lust. Over millennia the families were split apart and the two brother gods turned to the Primals' powers once again to build themselves generals and troops of angels and demons. The Eternal Conflict raged across Cosmos who initially found joy in the spectacle. In an effort to strike Solas at his heart Baleas sent out his daughter to find and corrupt Jonas. The two found each other in one of the furthest reaches far from the raging war. Jonas saw hope for Jilas, and Jilas attempted to fulfill her father's wishes. The two became an unlikely couple as star crossed lovers that gave birth to a series of lesser gods. These gods straddled the moral lines that had come to define good and evil. Jonas and their children payed little attention to the unending war. Instead they created worlds and planets, and several of the lesser deities tried their hand at creating life amid the void. One world was made specially by Jonas for he and his love to settle on, but when he seeked her out to show her she was gone. Jilas had found herself a failure. She was unable to snuff the light of hope in Jonas and instead had grown to love him. In both shame and fear she returned to her father who put her through ages of punishment. Disappointed, but never one to give up, Jonas took their children to the world he called Caleus. There they did what they always wanted they created life in the shape of the mortal races we know today.

The Veil

Cosmos watched intently as the drama of the Eternal Conflict played out. That was until he saw these new lifeforms, amalgamations of good and evil with equal potential for both. Worried that the unending conflict would engulf such fragile creatures, Cosmos changed his very form. He placed the warring Heavens and Hells behind a barrier known as the Veil. The gods had limited power through the Veil and thus the material plane was mostly isolated from them. Over the ages they have found ways to circumvent or slightly pierce the Veil and as such are still actively influencing the world of mortals. The offspring of Jonas and Jilas concern themselves with their various spheres of influence, while the greater forces of good and evil via for control over the material plain and its mortals as a secondary front in their unending war. Some planes like the Feywild or Shadowfell, that are parallel to the material plane are slightly more accessible to the gods and as such are notably more mystical.

Spread

This is no mere myth and is accepted by the vast majority of the religious populace of Caleus.

Variations & Mutation

The only real variations come from acolytes of the dark gods. They find means of twisting the story to show Solas' actions as injust and victimize Baleas.