Cosmology

The Planes of Existence

The planes of the world are layered like the pages of a book, with relatively impenetrable “covers” at the very top and the very bottom. Some demi-planes are adjacent to each other (i.e. the Feywild is next to the Material plane). In terms of teleportation, it is easiest to move from side to side along the planes, and much harder to climb up than to move down in this set up. For example, going from the Prime Material Plane to the Hells is relatively simple but going from Prime Material to the Astral plane is much more difficult.
The planes are ordered as follows:

• Ethrys’s Plane of Order
• Celestial Plane for the Gods
• Astral Plane
• Material Plane/Feywild/Ethereal Plane/Elemental Planes/Demi-planes
• Hells
• Abyss
• Oknus’s Plane of Chaos

The Creation of the Universe

Before the different planes were created, there was only raw chaos churning through the cosmos. From this chaos, particles and elements were separated out by the wild thrashing of matter and energy to eventually form Ethrys, the Embodiment of Order, while the other elements formed into Oknus, the Embodiment of Chaos. These two forces clashed severely and locked into combat with each other immediately.
After wrestling each other throughout the universe and tearing the fabric of reality with the force of their inherent power, Ethrys was able to gain the upper hand on Oknus. She used the torn shreds of the cosmos to form a second plane of existence under the original one that was held down by the weight of the rest of reality and imprisoned Oknus there. On top of that plane, she layered more space to form the Abyss, to contain his raw chaotic power. As Chaos diminished, the torn fabric of reality was able to settle down into more planes of existence, including places like the Prime Material Plane and the Elemental Planes. These planes layered themselves on top of the Abyss, pressing Oknus down even further.
Ethrys was driven completely by her need for balance and order, and knew that if Oknus was to remain imprisoned, she would have to lock herself away as well in order to preserve balance in the rest of reality. However, she did not want to leave the new planes completely unprotected against the power of Oknus’ chaos, so she created the first pantheon of Gods to preside over the demi-planes of existence. After that, she sealed herself away in the highest plane of Order to parallel the sequence of the planes below her.
Oknus’ imprisonment on the lowest plane was not perfect. He managed to accumulate enough power that seeped down onto his level in order to form his own pantheon of Gods and a plane of existence for them below the Prime Material, called the Hells. These Gods structured themselves as they saw fit and immediately began organizing plans to influence and overtake the other planes in order to free Oknus from below them.
Ethrys’ Gods, in order to preserve the order of the planes that their creator sealed herself away for, gave up their ability to access Unlimited Power directly from the cosmos to do what only Oknus and Ethrys had done before and created the Astral Plane between themselves and the Prime Material. However, the Astral Plane they created acted as a barrier between them and the Prime Material, and so they have to pick and choose when they can amass enough power to directly intervene on the lower planes.

The Gods and Mortals

The original pantheon of Gods created by Ethrys was made up of five individuals: Ionid, Gelion, Cielara, Onthys, and Elowen. These gods presided over the most fundamental aspects of space and time. Of the five, Ionid was elected the Sovereign of the Gods as they oversaw the flow of time through the planes and enabled the rest of the Gods to care for their domains.
Elowen and Onthys walked among the planes, sewing the rips and tears of reality back together where they found them. From these spots of healed chaos, the first humans, elves, dwarves, and other beings came into existence. Elowen loved these new beings dearly, and worked with Gelion and Cielara to make the planes beautiful for them to enjoy. When Gelion saw the beings, his tears created the first oceans. Cielara created the sun and the moon so that the new beings would always be able to behold the glorious domains of the Gods. Elowen poured her sparks of light and life into the new creations, giving them the ability to create and think and love as the Gods did.
The more beings Elowen created, the more Ionid and Onthys grew concerned about the precarious balance of nature that Ethrys had sealed herself away for. Because of this, Onthys tied their strings of fate to the sparks of Life Cielara had given the new beings, and attached them to their loom. These shining threads became the first Souls. The new beings were then joined into the cycle of life that the other living beings followed, beginning with birth and ending with death, to maintain the balance of existence.
With the creation of living Souls came the creation of new Deities, born from the minds that Elowen gave them. There were dozens of these new Gods created. Just as the Souls were able to adapt and change, these gods partially created themselves, taking on their own aspects and domains. Some only lasted for a generation before they were forgotten and faded away, while others attained powers nearly equal to those of Ethrys' Pantheon. Some of these more powerful gods included Thaldorn, Kivan, Hipoar, and Tiva. These more powerful gods could encompass multiple aspects and persisted longer than some of the smaller, more specific domain gods. For example, a city's local god and Thaldorn could both preside over Roads, Thaldorn in general and the city's god along their own streets.
There was tension among Ethrys' Pantheon and the New Gods, especially in regards to which group encompassed the truly superior Gods. The Old believed that the New were too unpredictable and unbalanced, and that they should not be seen as parallel in power to the Old as they had not been directly created by Ethrys. The New believed that the Old were denying the innovation and creation that Ethrys had stood for by holding the New below them. This schism was present on the Mortal Planes as well, with each God's followers arguing and warring for their own superiority.
Elowen was the first deity to decide that the fighting had gone on long enough, and started to compromise with the New on behalf of the Old in order to unify all the good and neutral aligned deities against Oknus' Pantheon. This unification effort made her a symbol of Civilization among the Souls, as a bridge between the old world and the new. Begrudgingly, the Gods agreed to tentatively put their differences aside in order to focus on protecting their domains against the more important threats from the lower planes and convinced the majority of their followers to do the same.

The Gods

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Ethrys' Pantheon

• Sovereign of the Gods/Justice/Time - Ionid
• God of the Earth - Gelion
• Goddess of the Skies - Cielara
• God/dess of Death/Fate - Onthys
• Goddess of Light/Life/Civilization - Elowen

The New Gods (Examples)

• God of Knowledge/Magic - Thaldorn
• Goddess of Strength/War - Kivan
• God of Home/Artisans - Hipoar
• Goddess of Luck/Trickery - Tiva