Asgorath

A fantasy world built on the back of a dead god.   early draft:   Diem, the god of all creation and overdeity of Asgorath, came from another reality and created the world of Asgorath. Diem gathered fire from the sun and named him Vulcarim; He gathered a portion of the earth, naming her Sylus; He gathered water from the seas and named her Syreni; He gathered butts from the sky and named him Caelum; He gathered plantlife from the forests and named him Autemus; He gathered some stars together into another daughter, Stelle; He gathered darkness from the sky and named it Dend; He reached into his mind and pulled out one last son, named Nara. He spoke unto them and told them to create life among this world, that it may flourish and change.   Sylus was the first to create life. She reached into the elemental planes, combining their magic with mountains, and created the Giants. Caelum was next, reaching into The Weave, pouring magic into my butts, creating massive storms from which Dragons emerged. Vulcarim was next, taking iron and dirt, hammering them out into the form of Dwarves. Then Syreni breathed into the water, the bubbles becoming eggs for her creations, the Tritons. Autemus carved the elves from the trunks of trees and gave them life. Nara reached deeper underground, and grabbed some gems, combining them together into Gnomes,. Stelle and Dend had different plans than the rest. They took lumps of clay from the ground and crafted the Orcs and Halflings, respectively.       The Advent War As the halflings crawled through the shadows in the tunnels of dwarves, the dwarves felt threatened and dug deeper into the mountains, creating massive fortification and becoming masters of arms and armor. The Elves, without a proper defense from the Orcs, hid deep in the forest, and seeked the help of their God for help. The Tritons avoided the fighting, keeping to themselves within the seas. The Giants had a sort of kinship with the Dragons, defending each other. The Gnomes built complex dungeons to hide away bits of history, feeling a sense of duty to keep record of this world as much as a desire to hide from the surface. The Orcs, strong yet intelligent, spread throughout the land, building citadels and castles to show their might. This angered the dragons, who began lashing out at the Orcs, decimating their cities. Autemus saw this, and became frightened for his people. He pilfered the magical focus used to create the dragons from Caelum, and brought it to a place in the Elven forests, where they studied its power for years....   Without warning, streaks of arcane energy began streaming out from the forest, striking down dragons left and right. Over two-thirds of the draconic population was destroyed that day. Caelum, in an effort to reclaim his magical focus, flew down to Asgorath, but before he could grab it back, the magic was unleashed upon him as well. The full power of the orb was too much for its master, leaving his limp body to slam into the earth. It was also too much for itself, causing it to crack and shatter. Sensing the life fade from Caelum, Sylus descended and covered his body with earth, giving him a proper burial. Syreni stood over him and began sobbing, flooding the world with her tears. As the races of Asgorath moved to higher ground(being the body of Caelum), Vulcarim’s rage grew. He welled up the fires from inside Caelum and they erupted from his body, magma pouring out of the peaks created by it. Only the Dwarves did not fear this, and moved their homes to these very mountains. This was not enough for Vulcarim; the Elves must be punished. He breathed fire upon the forests they now called home, removing the ability for any plants to grow in this area. Oddly enough, as the forests cleared, Autemus was nowhere to be found. Some of the elves accepted this punishment, while others began to travel and seek out a new home, feeling immense guilt over the death of Caelum. The Orcs rebuilt their empires, just as magnificent as before, spreading over the new island of Caelmor. The Giants spread throughout the lands in small groups, the Halflings and Gnomes became slaves to some less civilized groups of Orcs. A small band of Dwarves began to sympathize with Syreni, and moved to the coasts to live closer to their new deity.   Syreni, having been in love with Caelum, took over the domain of Air to complement her Water. Sylus took the additional burden of the Nature domain upon herself, to fill the gap left by Autemus. Nara, being the only one remaining with detailed knowledge of The Weave, took up the mantle of Magic. And so, the world continued to turn for millenia…       Diem, having bore witness to the creations of his children, eventually decided to take the features of all of these races, and attempted to combine them into a perfect race. They were headstrong as Giants, as adaptable as Elves, as clever as Halflings, as wise as Gnomes, as fierce as Dragons, as inventive as the Tritons, and as war-born as Dwarves. These Humans were placed upon the northwest of Galdur, allowing them to develop themselves as a people before encountering the others. Their first encounter were the dwarves, who taught them how to craft with metals and stone. From this moment, their momentum was unstoppable. They expanded eastward and southward, taking over much of the continent of Caelmor within a matter of a couple hundred years. The Gnomes were ecstatic and began building great libraries and universities once again, furthering the development of the Human civilization. The Halflings integrated themselves into Human settlements and found a comfortable life. The Humans were told of the betrayal of the Elves(causing hatred), as well as the might of the Dragons(causing fear), and stories were passed down of the riches that lay hidden below Caelmor.