Axis

Axis is a tale about a planet in the centre of the universe. All things revolved around it, even the attention of the Gods, the First-Kind. And much attention the Gods gave it, its mortal residents little more than their puppets. Every action, every achievement, every victory in every conflict, every birth, every death, all was dictated by the ever-watching Gods. But this was not a tyranny. In return for their surrender to fate, the mortals enjoyed great boons. They never hungered. They were granted technologies that could cross the skies and shatter mountains. They were guided into arcane arts accessible by even the most magically dull. The mortals would never want for anything, so long as they understood that everything they gained, and lost, was in accordance with the Gods' Play.   But then the Ravage happened. An invasion from the outside - something Beyond. Something that the Gods could not for once control. Now they lie dead across the land, and the few remaining remain forever bound in the Cosmic Pillars to hold up a crumbling reality. The mortals of Axis found themselves in control of their own destiny. Of course, so used to their dictated lives, they were reluctant to take ownership.   But in the end they had no choice, for the invasion has left them a very different world. The flesh-bent Malformed, the land-changing Distortions, the insidious Shards, the loss of all they had in their time under the Gods - those of mortality will need every strength, wit, magic and of course, will to survive their scarred planet.   Without their doting Gods, perhaps these mortals would simply die like flightless chicks. But maybe their wings are more developed than they think. In time they may very well drag themselves out of the cinders of war and regain the planet that they call home.   Tell me, mortals, do you need gods?

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