The Shaping of Ethernia

Celestial / Cosmic

The world is that of a burning sphere doting a young cosmos. The Gods coalesce and are given ethereal form, snuffing out the flames. The Unintended are inadvertently given life and war over the cooling planet's surface. In millennia more, the Gods open their eyes, scour the world's surface of the Unintended, and shape the world to their own design.

In ancient times, the world was that of molten rock churning alight neverending. WIth the first breath of the gods, the flames snuffed out, leaving the world that of ash and smoldering brimstone. Out of this brimstone arose the first signs of life. The Unintended: beings untouched by the gods grace, which tore their way out of the primordial crust. Demons were the first to emerge, many and varied in their despicable forms, and quick to feud, as the violent, unstable world could only produce violent, and unstable beings.   Millennia later, long after the hellscape had cooled and built in pressure, other, stronger beings began to rip through the increasingly difficult crust. Greater demons, who had clawed their way to the surface from deeper reaches of formation, of course took to the blasted field to impose order upon their lessers. To oppose them too came the first dragons: thorny, bristled, flightless, and suffused with the element of their primordial world: fire. So strong were they, that they struck aside the lesser demons by the hundreds and feasted upon their foul flesh. In time, later generations of their kind began to bear winged forms, so that they might take to the spires and know some fleeting peace from the demon hoards.   In a millennia more, the world had formed into a rough sphere of obsidian miles deep. No further life- no matter how strong- could reach the world’s surface. So ended the birth of the Unintended.   It was at this time that at last the gods opened their eyes and beheld the world they had inadvertently influenced. It was then that all but one agreed this was not the world they wished to see. Each of their number reached a hand, reshaping it to their own design.As the Gods beheld the world, all but one deemed it unfit for their intentions. Each of their number reached a hand to reshape it to their own design.   First, Akua, God of the Skies, parted the clouds with his hand, scouring the surface with ripping winds, which tore at both the demons’ and the dragons’ scales. In defiance, the dragons roared against the heavens, but were met with torrential rain from Isiis, Goddess of the Seas, as she wrenched water from the swirling clouds, and drowned out the dragons’ power over fire. Humbled by beings greater than they, the dragons took flight for their obsidian peaks to weather the hundred-year storm. Meanwhile, the demons- in spite of all their wickedness- were left to the lower reaches to be battered against the glassy mountains and drowned from the surface of the Ethernia. For one hundred years, the glassy obsidian world was battered by the torrent and gale wrought by the two Gods, and eroded to an unrecognizable state.   When at last the waters receded and the winds stilled, the world’s surface was that of a blank slate. All that survived were the dragons, who found mercy in the heart of Ornzir and were called his own and permitted dominion over the high peaks, where they had weathered the storm.   Lunsir, Goddess of the Harvest, shaped the green wilds of the world out of strands of her arcane essence. Out of these strands, she bore life to the elves. Frail as they were in body, they basked in her moonlight, and cultivated the wild places of the world so that their Goddess’ gardens might flourish as far as the eye could see.   Meanwhile Kor, God of Iron, reached deep beneath the soil, and retched up great seams of metal from the world, as he favored sturdier materials for his creations than mere ether upon the wind. This angered Lunsir, who’s ever-expansive garden was ruined by such careless cataclysm. Fashioning a hammer or club out of this iron, Kor bludgeoned the world in frustration at Lunsir’s complaints, expelling his will for creation into the primordial seams deep beneath the ground. In time, in the deep places of Ethernia, these seams of iron would take shape into the first of dwarvenkind. Squat and without grace, these beings shared their creator’s desire for creation and an echo of his grudge.   Seeing this tension, Fenrir, God of the Hunt, bestowed the world with creations of his own in many shapes. From his hand, animals were borne, which pranced across the dry surface, seeking balance and harmony with one another and wherever they dwelled. This delighted both Lunsir and Kor alike, allowing them to forget their feud for the time being.   As Fenrir watched his creations, he beheld as they ceased to prance and dance hither and yon, as they found idleness in their contentment. For Fenrir, God of the Hunt, this would not do, and so he borne unto Ethernia creatures of fang and claw, so that they might hunt his gifts of prey. Chief among these creatures were the Ulfhethinn: large, tusky bi-pedals, who might wander for their Huntmaster and prey upon all the world’s game.   Fascinated by Fenrir’s craft, both Isiis and Akua followed in short, populating both the depths and the heights alike with creatures made in their image.   By the time they were done, the one who disagreed, Belora, had no inch of the crust to shape to his whims. So, left with no choice, he cast his shadowy hand to the depths, where demons dwelled, and laid claim upon their wicked existences.