The following chapter covers the long history of the world. Unfortunately, very little survived the Cataclysm which occurred over 1100 years ago, and all that remains of the history of the world which existed then is a smattering of maps and fragmented knowledge. Players have recently uncovered a history of the creation of the world which will be recorded here.
The history will be presented as a rough timeline, and will cover important events from the far past.
In the beginning, there were three. Even the three do not know how they came into being, only that they happened. These three are the Elder Gods, and in that great cosmic nothing they decided to create. For eons they built and destroyed whole civilisations, but always they fought with each other over the outcome and all were destroyed. The creators lived, they warred, they feasted on their broken civilisations. But once they fought too harshly and Chronos was wounded. It became clear they needed a peaceful resolution. They started rebuilding anew. This time, without intention to destroy. This time, they would create something lasting.
Chronos, even in his wounded form, created the Dragons. This further weakened him and the loss of power forced him to lay down, rest and recover. This created the material plane.
Krynok decided to make inhabitants for this plane. He created his great children, whom the mortal now call gods (life, death, amroth, keesoth, chaos, law, knowledge, enigmas, aesthetics, celestial flame) and his lesser children, the Fae. For a time, they existed together on the material plane. But innovation ran dry, without any kind of driving force, the inhabitants were not moving forwards.
Lilith created a fix to this, creating her children, the Demons to challenge the Gods and the Fae, to drive them to innovation through finding weaknesses in their creation and defences, but never going so far as to conquer and destroy indiscriminately. However, this prompted the Gods and the Fae to retreat from the mortal plane instead, creating their own planes of existence where the demonic influence could not spread. They fought a war with demons from the comfort of their planes. The demons had no method of retreat.
Lilith, wanting her children to have the same level of safety as the Gods and the Fae, decided to lay down herself, creating a new plane for her children alone where the influence of her brother’s creations could not follow. She became the pit.
All were saddened by the loss of civilisation and life on the material plane, which became empty. It was wiped clean, earth piled onto what already existed, and life was started anew. This new life was fleeting, by the standard of the creators, the gods, the fae and the demons, for it was decided that part of the problem was immortality.
Thus, mortals were created. They discovered the creations of the Gods and they began to worship.
Aeons later, Krynok, having expended much of his power in the creation of his children, considered doing as his siblings had done and laying down to sleep and announced this intention to the Gods. The Gods knew he was displeased with them for their behaviour, which he deemed lazy and selfish, and they worried that this was a ploy to destroy their world and take from them the power they gained through the mortals’ worship. They decided he sought to end the world and destroy all of Creation.
The Gods met together in secret and decided to fight Krynok for control of the world. They began a great and terrible war. The material plane suffered the most, with lands broken and smashed, seas evaporated. With all the destruction, Chronos began to bleed anew. The Gods and Krynok reached an accord to prevent the destruction of all things: they would each use a single champion to fight and finish the war. The Gods armed their champion and Krynok armed his and a great battle was fought. The Champion of the Gods won the battle and it was agreed that Krynok would not change the current world, nor would he become one. Instead, Krynok would sleep on the material plane, and he would not interfere in the affairs of mortals and he would never again wake from his slumber.
The Dragons moved as one to stem their bleeding father. They wove a magical ritual of healing, putting themselves to sleep and shielding them and their father from the minds of those that knew them (the dragons returned to the memories of the people in 1123AC). This ritual also had the side effect of creating the Story Realm, a land borne from the dreams of those sleeping dragons. The old world was buried under their sleeping bodies and a new world was formed on their backs. To help the new world flourish, each dragon gifted something to the mortals and the world, to help stabilise it and fend off outside influences.
The Demons stirred in the pit, without the guidance of their mother they chose to follow their own path. They were angry at the Gods and sought to remove their source of power, the mortals, by tainting them, or turning them, or simply taking their souls.
This war between the Gods and the Demons rages eternal.
The world continued, with mortals raising themselves up, worshipping the gods and using their power freely. However, the Gods came to realise that the power they had given mortals was too great. They were abusing Wish magic and it was killing the world. The Gods took action and rained holy wrath down onto the mortal plane. The world shifted once more, lands changing, seas rising and falling. Lives and knowledge were lost. The Gods were weakened by this use of their power. They knew it would take a long time before they could perform such an act again.
On the material plane, Krynok stirred in his sleep. Though it would be centuries before he fully awoke.
This event is referred to as The Cataclysm, despite the belief that there were possibly many cataclysms between the end of the Gods war with Krynok and The Cataclysm. This cataclysm remains the one in most recent memory and the only one documented. The timeline of the world as we know it today, starts here, with the years being marked from this moment as AC or After Cataclysm.
Civilisation grew anew.
The world as we know it began to take shape.
Trade networks and peace treaties were formed, alliances were created and fell apart. The world became as we know it.