In the beginning, there was only the Primal Force. It was thought, space and matter at the same time, but if felt lonely, bored and purposeless. So the Primal Force split and created the universe. The first form to appear was Tauramin, the god of time, and so Time began to flow. Then Elidra was, and the universe knew that everything was music, song and harmony, and the other gods were born out of the shards of the Primal Force, so that Elidra's song could have an audience, because Tauramin was cold hearted and deaf to her music as Time itself.
And the music was a good thing, and the gods started to dance and be merry.
And in their dances, the gods decided to create a world upon which they could play and bestow their own gifts. They made it out of the matter of stars, and Elidra called it Norindaal, that in Godspeech means “Song”.
Gobras, the green skinned trickster and jester to the court of the gods, proposed a game. Each god would sire a people. Tauramin decreed that, to be different from the gods themselves, each created race would be subject to the laws of time, so all the races were created as mortals. Each race would be given an area of Norindaal to live and prosper.
Father Hulla made giants and titans out of rocks, and his wife Mother Fari created plants and animals for them to feed on. Some of the other gods took Fari's creatures and started to change them. Radah the Rodent God took rats and mice and decreed that they could live anywhere in Norindaal as long as they did not claim an area as their own, and this is the reason why today no nation in Norindaal is without rats, mice, ratmen or mouselings, but none of these cultures have a nation of their own.
Tezany took the Five Oceans and designed creatures that could rule over them. He was so fast and skilled in conquering the Oceans that today sages say “There are many gods on the earth and many in the skies, but the seas all belong to Tezany the Shark God, and all that lives in the water obeys to Tezany”.
Titans and giants waged a war between them, and from their crumbling remains, the Dwarves were born. There were shards of the Primal Force in the bodies of Titans, and it is said that these are the gems and the precious ores that the Dwarves seek today.
Unknown to the other players of the Godgame, Ssiklis the Scaled One had scattered thousands of her eggs all over Norindaal, and while the Dwarves dug deep into the mountains, lizardfolk and thunder lizards conquered the world. Ssiklis thought that her creations were so superior that the others were just food for them. The lizards tasted dwarven meat and found that it was good.
The lizards, serpents and lizardfolk took over all of Norindaal. Food become scarce. The Dwarves learned to fight to defend themselves, and used their talents and their ores to build weapons and armor. This was inspired by Darim, the Smith, who liked the Dwarves and had bestowed his grace upon them.
Lizards enslaved Dwarves and kept them as cattle. Gro Khair, the god of hunger, had made their appetite insatiable. He planned to have the lizards self destruct by eating each other, until he could unleash on Norindaal the race that he had been building in his image, the Orgas (Ogres).
The other Gods, and especially the Law gods led by Luura and Tamas Zeya, thought that all the moves performed by Ssiklis and Gro Khair were invalid, and so wanted to start the game anew. They confined Ssiklis to a pocket dimension, where for 100 years she hissed and cursed them, while the Light and Law gods caused torrential rains and meteorite shower to fall upon Norindaal to destroy the lizardfolk, serpent people and thunder lizards. That was the Century of Rain and Fire.
And near the end of the Century of Rain and Fire, Elidra re-entered the Godgame and made her chosen race, the Elves, fall from the sky inside meteoritic wombs. Dwarven curiosity freed the Elves from the rocks. “Mistakes were made, Elves freed and Dragons let live” is a frequently heard D'Harrish proverb.
The world was almost destroyed by the end of the Century of Rain and Fire, but the gods of Life and Chaos were too invested into their creations, and opposed the Light and Law gods. So life adapted and the races survived. The Atlis (Atlanteans) were created as the only air-breathing race to worship Tezany. When meteorites destroyed their Floating Island Citadel Atlantis, Tezany asked Xichtul for help, and Xichtul turned the Atlis into Deep Demons so they could survive in the water. Tezany felt cheated, as some of his creatures now worshipped Xichtul, but it was too late.
Some thunder lizards were touched by Xichtul and became Dragons. Antediluvian lizardfolk adapted to a subterranean lifestyle, in the caves where they kept their Dwarven cattle, and sheltered from the water and the fire raining from the skies.
How Xichtul and Ssiklis sired the Demons
Xichtul lusted for Ssiklis and resented the fact that she was trapped where he could not have her. Ssiklis was not choosy and accepted the company of any male god, as long as she could have her eggs fertilized. Gobras thought that this could lead to some fun, and revealed to Xichtul how to access the pocket dimension. It was a small opening, just to let Xicthul give a peek at his loved one. It was an innocent thing: Gobras delighted in seeing Xicthul squirm with unrequited passion for the Serpent mother. But that opening was enough for the Formless one. Xichtul sent his Demonseed through the opening, and fertilized the thousands of eggs that Ssiklis had laid in the pocket dimension. Thus, the Demons were born, full of their mother's hate and resentment, and having a million different shapes like their father. This is how evil came unto Norindaal, out of lust, vengefulness and spite. Today, the Demons are still trapped in the Pocket Dimension, but the hole is growing wider and wider and some of them acquired so much power to become gods themselves.
Tamas Zeya, the goddess of oaths, wrote the new rules for the Godgame. All other gods chose to play by the rules, including Ssiklis, but not Xichtul, whose mind was chaos, lust and madness. Xichtul shared some of his power with mortals, and two ascended Dragons (Ter Za Necht and Sozara) became gods of their own. This is the reason why dragon worshippers on Norindaal today call Xichtul and Ssiklis as Father and mother of the dragon race, and Demons call Dragons siblings, although not all dragons are evil.
With the arrival of the Dragon Gods, the game of Norindaal became an open war, The heavens and surface of the world shook with their rage. Tauramin was forced to stop time to prevent the battles from destroying the world. But the power of all the gods combined was too much for him to keep time from flowing. Some of the gods remained trapped in time, waiting for their followers to awaken them. for this reason, they are known as the Slumbering Gods. He who waits below, Ssiklis, Xichtul, Radah, Pandalatra Telemvii and Asdzugh are basically inactive at the moment, but their minions and followers are trying to free them from their sleep.