History

How it came to be…

The Founding

At the beginning there was nothing, and then, there wasn’t.

A spark was born in the inky blackness.

What came to be not nothing looked upon the void and imagined more. He created water and fire, earth and wind. With fire came light, with light came shadows, that curious place between the nothing of darkness, and the first light of creation. Here is where the Eternals were born, and it was here they hid and watched.

The not nothing spawned a swirling maelstrom of earth, wind, fire, and water as it’s body, the Primordial Sea, and a sparkling blank sea of whiteness as it’s consciousness, the Astral Sea, to contrast the empty black of the nothing around him. Upon it’s flesh were born the Primordials, and from it’s thoughts were born the Divinities.

As the not nothing began shaping the void into something new, what had once been nothing awoke and became jealous of the pieces of itself that had been stolen and seethed silently as the not nothing continued its work.

From where he shaped the nothing around him, the first things he gave life to, the Primordials who grew from the the very building blocks of creation itself, became masters of the elements they were born from and claimed them as their own. While from the spot it had scooped out the nothing, his second children the Divinities born from his first thoughts, and emotions began to grow and claimed imagination and emotions as theirs. While the Eternals quietly gathered what the others had missed.

Using its children it next created the Stars, the World and all life, but soon his children began to quarrel, The Primordials felt the World should be ever changing and chaotic, and the Divinities felt the World should be set and orderly. Unknown to both, among the Stars, the Eternals, continued to quietly watch as the Divinities and Primordials began their struggle for dominance.

Each side created servants and raised armies to seize control of what they had wrought. These first beings were the Elementals and Supernals. As the Dawn War raged each group began to splinter, as a few Primodials and Divinities alike, called for peace while others wished only for war. From this rift in both armies were born newer beings to reflect the emotions of war and peace, as the Elementals and Supernals favored neither. The Eternals too created servants, the Celestials to help them observe the events they were witnessing.

The most chaotic and destructive of the Primordials created the Demons and created a giant and incredibly deep whirlpool within the Primordial Sea for them to call home, which became known as the Abyss, or Tartarus. A few who came to favor a more orderly and peaceful World created the Archons, and created a place where the elements existed in a beautiful symmetry they called the Concordance, or Nirvana. Those who did not care either way created the Jinns who made their home within the Maelstrom, or Pandemonium, which roiled in the space between the Abyss and the Concordance. Thus were created the realms of the Elemental Tempest amidst the Primordial Sea

While the Primordials argued over order and chaos, the Divinities argued between right and wrong. Some of the Divinities had begun to enjoy the destruction of war and actively sought out ways to prolong the fighting, and to this end the Devils, and their home Hell were created. Other Divinities had grown weary of the constant battles, and began seeking a peaceful alternative, and for this purpose created the Angels and Heaven. Those who strived for a compromise created the Elohims and their home Elysium. And thus were created the realms of the Supernal Opposition upon the Astral Sea

Among the Eternals, there were many who diametrically opposed one another, and those who favored creation, life, and the light created the Aeons, those who favored destruction, death, and the dark created the Daemons. While many laws of the universe had opposing forces, others just existed on their own, and those who favored these laws created the Vasu to watch over what was occurring naturally upon the World. All would call the Infinite Void between the Stars and the World home, part of the realms that would become known as the Celestial Harmony within the Ethereal Sea

Soon, these newer servants tired of being sacrificed and always being ordered, and never ordering, created servants of their own. These newest beings had but only the barest of sparks of immortality, but quickly became the bulk of both armies in what began the bloodiest days of the war. The Demons created the calculating Mephits, while the Archons created the passionate Jotuns, and the Jinns created the bargaining Janns, all lesser reflections of themselves. The Devils created the manipulative Imps, and the Angels created the honorable Seraphs, while the Elohims created the mediating Erelims. The Daemons created the unpredictable Asura, the Aeons the dependable Devas, and the Vasu the watchful Vidyahara.

After a time they like their creators before them found that they too could create life, the secret having been stolen by the Imps, and distributed to the others to conceal their own guilt. In an attempt to hide their actions from their masters, each sought out a different corner of the Planes to birth their creations, most quite near to the World they had fought over all their lives. However, their creations were wild and flawed and no longer immortal like themselves. These creations would come to be known as the founding Clans of the nine Tribes of Mortals.

The Erelim created their children upon the Astral Sea, in a Domain just for themselves outside the Supernal Harmony and named them the Ishim. The Jann seeing strength in both the Archons and the Demons took elements from both to create their children the Dragorn, and created for them a home amidst the roiling primordial sea. The Vidyahara created their children, the Rakshasa within the Ethereal Sea on the Echo of the World, often called the Spirit World, among the spirits of the animals and plants living upon the World.

Hidden amongst the Ethereal Sea were many Echoes of the World, which would eventually be known as the Celestial Echoes, and it was hidden upon these Echoes the rest were born. Amidst the shores of the Mirror World the Lare were created by the Seraph to watch over the world. The Imp spawned their creations, the Lilin, in the Dream World, a sky full of dreams over head for them to invade and corrupt. Among the dense wild of the Otherworld the Deva created the Feyn to safeguard the source of all life. Inside the shadows of the Underworld the Asura created the Shadai to enlighten them with the inevitable destruction of all things. In the orderly realm of the Nether World, the Jotun created the Gant, to become adherents of order. While in the chaotic realm of the Else World the Mephit birthed and abandoned their spawn, the Afarit, to be shaped or destroyed by the madness therein.

For reasons lost to time, many of the Ishim were exiled from their home upon the Astral Sea and soon found themselves living upon the World, as the first Mortals to call it home. In the Spirit World of the Ethereal Sea, these new inhabitants souls shined like beacons to the Rakshasa. Soon many of the Rakshasa would find a way to the World as well, where first they began to hunt and feed off the animals whose spirits they had lived among all their lives. However, this was not the game they had travelled to the World to find, and so their hunt continued. The Ishim and Rakshasa were soon joined by a third group of mortals upon the World, the Dragorn, many of which left their homes to explore, and soon found themselves also upon the World on a most unfortunate of Days, for it would be that night the Rakshasa would catch up to their prey.

The Sundering

And so, for the first time Mortal blood was spilled and intelligent lives lost on the prize that had begun this war so long ago. The World shuddered and quaked as it felt the wrath of the entities that would become known as the Primal Spirits. Their screams and power washed over all that existed upon or near the World, separating the Echoes from the World, leaving only the Spirit World connected directly to both The World and the other Echoes. The Rakshasa who had tasted Mortal flesh found they could no longer return to the Spirit World, having been banished by the Primal Spirits for their crime.

Where before the Echoes had existed as part of the World, they were now distinct reflections of it, and the Mortals who called them home would also find themselves changed by the fury of the Primal Spirits. Even the Divinities and Primordials halted their war in awe of their wrath. In curiosity Divinities, Eternals, and Primordials alike would turn their attention once again to the World.

Upon the Echoes and the World itself, some members of the nine mortal Tribes began to change. On the World, the Rakshasa were the first to realize the change as many had lost their ability to change forms and create illusions, these former Rakshasa became the Clans known as the Daityas, Adityas, and Danavas. Meanwhile, some of the Rakshasa that stayed in the Spirit World changed too, becoming more powerful than they were before, these became the Maruts.

Among the Ishims, some became the more powerful Nephilims, while others changed into the Humans, Hauflins, and Anakims. Some of the Dragorns became the first Dragons, while others became the first Kobolds, Troglodytes, and Drayvens. In time it would be realized that many of these newer forms would live much shorter lives than the beings they once were. This instilled in them a fierce drive to explore and expand across the World, often coming into conflict with one another over the coming centuries.

All throughout the Echoes, the other Mortal Clans felt the wrath of the Primal Spirits too. In the Other World some of the Feyn became the first Feys, while others became the Elfs, Alfars, and Vaettirs. In the shadowy Under World, some Shadais became beings that would become known as the Shades, while many became Goblins, Bugbears, and Hobs. In the Orderly Nether World and Chaotic Else World many of the Gants and Afarits also began to change, some becoming the first Giants and Ifrits, while others among the Gants became the Dwarfs, Firbolgs, and Trolls, and Orcs, Nokkens, and Norogs from among the Afarits. Unlike the new Clans born upon the World these new Clans among the Echoes maintained the long lifespans of their predecessors, and so for them the following centuries moved much slower without the urgency of impending death.

In the Echoes of the Mirror and Dream Worlds, the Lares and Lilins also changed with some becoming the Agathos and Lamias respectively. In the Mirror World, many Lares became the Grigoris, Eliouds, and Malakims, while in the Dream World most of the Lilins became the Ogres, Maras, and Beldams. Like those born in the other Echoes, they too lived long lives, but the Worlds they lived in would change far more rapidly than the other Echoes and both offered glimpses into what was happening in the World and other Echoes.

In the Mirror realm, the Lares and their descendent Clans collectively known as the Inevitable Tribe, noticed reflections in the water of people and places different than those around them. Over the following centuries they watched the World and Echoes as their own changed to reflect what was happening there. As structures and doors and mirrors became more and more popular in the other Worlds they appeared on their World as well. However the doors, instead of leading to the interiors of these structures led to a space of infinite halls lined with rooms full of mirrors that instead of reflecting the viewer, looked out onto the various Worlds, and stair cases that would lead to similar rooms but at various times.

Meanwhile the Lilins and their descendent Clans collectively known as the Somnium Tribe in the Dream World, a chaotic realm of ebony night filled with swirling grey mist and twinkling stars of various hues and brightness that would wink out, seemingly at random, while others would come to life elsewhere in the inky black, discovered that each star was a gateway into the dreams of some unknown sleeper among the World and Echoes, and that they could travel into these dreamscapes. Over the following centuries they watched the dreams and nightmares of the other Clans, learning how to manipulate the Dream World, but longing to see more of these other Worlds.

Stop Here

Bridge between the Sundering and the Spheres (needs better name, binding), the Dawn wars begin again, which leads to the binding, during the binding, spheres are formed, the Mortal Gods rise to power and races begin migrating and remaining mortal races evolve/created, eventually leads to the Shattering and the eventual end of the god war

The Binding

The Not Nothing, became angry at the Gods and Primordials for bringing destruction to his creation and imbued in the World and its reflections some of his power, giving birth to the Primal spirits, which in turn imbued the most powerful members of the mortal races with it’s own essence causing them to evolve into beings somewhere between mortal and immortal.

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