The gods War
The Age Before was a time of unknown length before the creation of the material universe. During this time the physical universe did not exist as we know it but instead this dimension was still a formless plane filled by an endless war. The two sides of this war were the endless hordes of Demons, formed and fueled by unchecked chaos, and Ao, the singular deity of order and law. Ao created legions of divine warriors, known as Champions, to fight against the neverending swarms of demons. This war is called The Chaos War.
The Chaos War raged for a unknown amount of time until Ao's forces had pushed the forces of demons back far enough for Ao to execute his devine plan. Ao created the Universe (also known as The Materium) which is a plane of unknown lenght, width, and height, governed by physical laws and filled with mater. Along with the creation of the Materium Ao birthed 5 sons and 5 daughters to tend to, protect, and govern. This material plane would serve as a barricade between the chaos of the demons and the order of the gods. The demons could not exist in the material plane, without divine magic, as they would have to submit to the natural laws of the plane. With the Materium now protecting the divine plane and Ao being weakend from creating the universe, Ao would sleep for 2000 years to regain his power.
From creation the mortal races were birthed and began to roam Ümbria. The mortal races grew in number and began to farm, hunt, and gather from nature and they would soon create great cities and nations. The races grew great in number and lived together with no predjudice or hatred between them. The nations of the world grew more powerful and prosperous as time passed. This time of peace and learning is called the Age of Birth.
The next era began around 1000 years after creation and is known as the Time of Boon. This next age started as the gods began to take notice of the mortal races. The gods had always kept an eye on the mortals and accepted any worship or offerings given in the gods' name. Around this time the gods began blessing their followers with great boons of wealth, technological innovations, and bountiful harvests. Along with these boons the gods began to reward their most loyal and dedicated followers (often mortals of great power or wealth, kings/emperors/nobles, as they could give the greatest of offerings) with immensely powerful magic items, armor, and weapons. The mortal races and nations, though living in generally peace with one another, had more practical and primitive versions of weaponry and armor than the ones given to them by the gods. Each Divine Faction had their own versions of swords, shields, armor, defensible structures, and (soon to come) siege machines that were based off of their god's personal design or concept. This age would last for around 500 years with each nation and Faction becoming larger and more powerful.
Soon the Factions would become uneasy being so close to other highly fortified and equiped nations, who did not worship the same god as them. This would result in espionage which would later lead to sabotage. Spies and saboteurs became an unwelcome but expected part of everyday life especially in the larger cities and capitals. Within a few short years, paranoia and unrest had become the common state of mind in each of the nations. This lead the mortals to worship and praise their gods more intensely and regularly giving the gods every reason to continue as they had resulting in a sort of divine arms-race with each Faction praying for every possible magic item they could receive. Soon the paranoia would come to its boiling point and the cold war would come to a close sparking open war between Divine Factions. This would begin the greatest war to date, The gods War.
During The gods War, nations fell and new ones were built on the ashes of the old. Grand cities fell and new fortresses were built of top of the bones of those now gone. History of before, the arts, songs, and many technical achievements only a few generations old had been lost or discarded as unnecessary or worthless. The only thing that mattered to the Factions was winning the war, at any cost, for the glory of their god. This war was filled with bloodshed, death, betrayal, suffering, destruction, and hate. Great magical item were used to wipe out thousands of men in one use or bring back the dead to fight once again. Often time the wielders of these powerful items would engage in duals of sort with other magic wielders resulting in untold amounts of destruction and death for miles around. The world was burning in the name of the gods. Then Ao awoke.
Ao was enraged. His roar was heard around Ümbria and throughout the The Materium. The gods shook in fear at their father's voice. The mortals hid their faces in reverence but would not stop their fighting. Ao was disappointed and furious to see his beloved world was covered with corpses and ashes. Ao saw how each of his sons and daughter had been apart of the war except for his daughter Mystra. Mystra was the youngest of Ao's children and had no children of her own for she had not lain with any of her brothers. Ao was pleased with Mystra's actions (or lack of actions). Ao took Mystra and lay with her. Mystra would give birth to the Dragons with her 5 firstborns becoming The Elder Dragons. Ao sent the dragons to end the mortals' war and they did so. The magic items the mortals treasured so highly had little effect on the dragons and thus many were abbandoned in favor of a good hiding spot. Nations were all but wipe from the world with only a hand full of small communities remaining. This would begin the next age of Ümbria, the Age of Dragons.
Mystra took pity on the mortals for they may be wiped out entirely if her children were left to alone to rule the world. Mystra gave the mortals a gift, the gift of language and with it the gift of Magic. The mortals had primitive forms of language before this but now each race had their own ways of speaking with more complete alphabets and grammatical structures. Giving the mortals fully functional languages also allowed them to be able to comprehend and apply the language of the gods, Celestial. The Celestial language is how the mortals would be able to access the powers of the gods in its most basic form being that of Magic. Although it was not intentional, it could be seen as a gift of sorts from the gods, the act of Ao bedding his daughter to create the Dragons would cause unforeseen (or possibly quite foreseen) side effects. In a few short centuries that Dragons would begin to deteriorate into feral beasts instead of their highly intelligent ancestors. Whether if was intentional or not, this fact would give the mortals a fighting chance against the Dragons in the future.
Ao saw that becasue the mortals had free will some chose to uphold order while others were allies of chaos. Ao's original plan was to have the souls of mortals, once deceased, be transfered from Ümbria to a plane called Y'rnhym for eternal rest. After the war Ao saw that the mortal souls were not all equal in their desire for order and must be seperated. Ao split Y'rnhym into creating Y'rn and Vällhym. Y'rn would become a plane for dark souls while Vällhym would be a place for light souls.
Ao would punish his sons and daughters as well as the mortals for what they had done acording to their actions during the war.
During The gods War, the Divine Faction of Tyr were one of the largest, most powerful, and most successful factions of the entire war. Much of Thrunmorr, Myrgen, and Aar'karr were under Tyr control. Due to Tyr's domain of justice and his factions' almost overwhelming grip on Ümbria, Ao was greatly disappointed in his son Tyr. Tyr truly believed he was just in participating in this "holy war" against his siblings. Ao judged Tyr's actions worthy of the destruction of each mortal who fought in Tyr's name as well as every child of Tyr, the Minotaurs. Tyr knew this was not a just punishment but he could not go against his father's command. Tyr offered his own life in place of his followers and children. Ao rejected this offer for Ao could not kill his own son and that he still needed him to help govern Ümbria. Tyr then offered both of his eyes and his hand as compensation. Ao was satisfied with this offer and spared Tyr's children and worshipers from eradication. Ao was pleased with his son's desire for justice even at the cost of his own well being. Ao then removed Tyr's eyes and right hand but allowed him to keep his sight. Due to Tyr's great resolve for justice, as well as passing Ao's test, Tyr would become the "Bilnd Judge" for the mortal souls now departed from Ümbria. Tyr would deside whether a mortal's soul upheld or abandon order and would guide them to their eternal destination, either Y'rn or Vällhym.
Myrkul would stay out of The gods War, along with his brother Lathander and sister Mystra, but he continue to collect the souls of the fallen mortals and bring them to Y'rnhym. Ao was quite happy with how his son conducted himself during the war and, after the creation of Y'rn and Vällhym, Myrkul would become the overseer of souls as well as being in charge of the escorting of mortal souls from Ümbria to Tyr to be judged.
Lathander would stay out of the war, due to his divine love of life, along with his brother Myrkul and sister Mystra. Ao found great pleasure in seeing his son hold to his divine domain and for this Ao would give Lathander control over Vällhym.
Many people and events can be pointed to for why The gods War happened. The main figure blamed for sparking The gods War into existence is the god Cyric as he, through lies and whispers, began to erode the relations between the nations, races, and enetually the Divine Factions of Ümbria. Cyric had a Divine Faction but they typically did not engage in large scale open combat. Once The gods War had properly begun, Cyric's Faction would infiltrate cities, nations, and military bases of the other Divine Factions where they proceed to sow distrust and paranoia until the hostile city, nation, or base had all but destroyed itself from the inside. Here Cyric's Faction would assemble under the banner of their god and wipe away any remaining resistance. Cyric was Ao's fist choice for overseer of Y'rn but due to his disgraceful actions, Cyric would not gain this role and instead be banished to Y'rn with no power over it. Y'rn would instead be placed mainly under the control of the lower gods Asmodeus, Loviatar, and Talona. The children of Cyric, the Devils, would be able to enter Y'rn as well as being able to use the souls now inhabiting Y'rn. However, Ao knew that, if unchecked, the Devils would follow their father and lie to possibly steal a mortal's soul for themselves and so Ao cursed the Devils to not be able to lie to a mortal.
Selûne has always had a rivalry with her sister Shar as they both fought for control of the night. This rivalry lead these sisters to encourage conflict between their Divine Factions. As punishment Ao would force the two sisters to be together for night to occur. Darkness could not fall upon Ümbria without the moon and the moon could not rise if the darkness had not fallen. This would also force the children of Selûne, the Fairies, to enter the darkness of night to feed upon their mother's light.
Shar has always had a rivalry with her sister Selûne as they both fought for control of the night. This rivalry lead these sisters to encourage conflict between their Divine Factions. As punishment Ao would force the two sisters to be together for night to occur. Darkness could not fall upon Ümbria without the moon and the moon could not rise if the darkness had not fallen. Shar's children, the Shades, would be highly subject to Selûne's will, as much of their mother's darkness would be tainted by Selûne's moonlight.
Chauntea and Umberlee have a similar rivalry to that of their sisters Selûne and Shar. Chauntea and Umberlee, during The gods War, mainly "aimed" their Divine Faction's aggression and resources at their sister's Faction. Chauntea encouraged the destruction of her sister's coastal fortresses and island based capitals. Umberlee encouraged her Faction to push back her sister's control as far away from the coast as possible. As much as this pained her, Chauntea used her power to slow (or cease) plant growth in territories under the control of her sister's Faction. This left many islands and sections of the continents as barren wastelands, devoid of plantlife until they could be retaken. After the war, Ao forced Chauntea to revive the flora she had "cut off" as well as making plantlife rely on sunlight and water to grow and survive. Ao knew his daughters were vital to Ümbria's ecosystem and that he could only punish them so much without hurting the world and the mortals. Ao instead chose to punish Chauntea's children, the Nymphs. The Nymphs would keep their abilities (such as talking to animals/plants, nature magic, and shapeshifting) but would gain weaknesses to the mortals' iron and steel tools and to salt which, also known as "Umberlee's curse" by Chauntea's worshipers. Ao also made it so Nymphs would lose energy and become ill if they were away from "their mother" (nature) for too long.
Umberlee and Chauntea have a similar rivalry to that of their sisters Selûne and Shar. Chauntea and Umberlee, during The gods War, mainly "aimed" their Divine Faction's aggression and resources at their sister's Faction. Chauntea encouraged the destruction of her sister's coastal fortresses and island based capitals. Umberlee encouraged her Faction to push back her sister's control as far away from the coast as possible. Umberlee weaponized her waters by poisoning the sea (with salt that would kill plantlife and stop it from regrowing if the salt remained), by causing the ocean to flood to overtake enemy territory (as well as seperate the continent to what they are today), and by creating deadly storms to breach the mainland into enemy territories. After the war, Ao forced Umberlee to cease the unessisary storms, to pull back her poisoned waters to the seas, and to only allow the tainted waters in the ocean. Ao also restricted the ocean's light only allowing the sun's light to pierce the waves a few thousand feet. Ao knew his daughters were vital to Ümbria's ecosystem and that he could only punish them so much without hurting the world and the mortals. Ao instead chose to punish Umberlee's children, the Mermaids. Similar to the Nymphs, the Mermaids would gain a weakness to the mortals' iron and steel tools and weapons. Mermaids would also gain a weakness to wood as contact with it would lead to extreme pain and possibly death. Ao also made it so Mermaids would lose energy and become ill if they were away from water for too long.
Silvanus is the god of the wilderness and of wild animals. During The gods War, Silvanus was more or less stuck between his sisters Chauntea and Umberlee as their divine domains and territories were quite intertwined with one another. With his siblings' Divine Factions on poised for war, Silvanus decided he would fight back. He would use the animals of the land, sea, and air, lead by his children the Centaurs, to battle in this war. Silvanus's Divine Faction was quite successful in both defence and offence during the war through the aid offered by the beasts of the wild. After the war, Ao would have to punish his son for taking part in the war as he did for the rest of his children. Ao found Silvanus to have acted mostly in response to the actual war and not joining the divine arms-race before any of the espionage or sabotage had begun. This pleased Ao. Ao would leave the Centaurs alone but would reduce some of his son's power concerning the animals of Ümbria. Before the war, wild animals were intelligent enough to understand mortal speech and lived in relitive harmony with mortals. As punishment Ao would reduce the intelligence of wild animals so they could no longer understand mortal speech. Wild animals would also become fearful of mortals either attacking or fleeing depending on the type of animal. The animals of the wild would become hunted by the mortals for survival, pleasure, and profit. Ao allowed some animals to keep their intelligence but these creatures are considered mythical by nature.
Summary
The gods War was a world wide war between the gods and goddesses through the use of each gods children and/or followers. The gods and goddesses gave great boons and magical items to those who swore alliegence to and fought in their gods name. These groups of battle ready god and goddess worshipers became known as the Divine Factions. The Divine Factions grew large in numbers and great in power which lead to many attacking the others for more power, land, and wealth, while also raping, stealing, and destorying any who would not side with them. All this was done in the name and worship of the their holy patrons. Great battles were fought and countless lives were lost until the day when Ao awoke and the skys were torn open with rage and sorrow.
Date of Setting
~1500 - 2000 AC
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