History of the Overgods

The Forgotten Times

The true origins of reality are lost even to the Overgods, but it is told that at first there was one true First God whose singular creation was formed and molded of pure thought. The First God created powerful beings - the Forgotten Ones - to oversee Its creation, and quickly they disappointed It by following their own desires instead. All that is certain is that the First God chose to abandon Its creation, leaving the fate of reality to the Forgotten Ones and It's own name to be lost from the annals of history.

Whatever lesser beings existed back then were undoubtedly little more than chattel, tortured and desperate in a world now unrecognisable, subject entirely to the whims of their unchained masters. However, those who survived such trials became powerful in their own right and discovered that some of the First God's latent power remained and could be wielded. So it was that groups of survivors eventually learned to fuse their souls together to form beings powerful enough to defeat the Forgotten Ones.

Four such beings were created, and they became known as the Overgods: Eormus the Absolute, Joliath the Merciful, Belek the Uncertain and Heleth the Beating Heart.

Rise of the Overgods

The first act of the Overgods was to imprison the Forgotten Ones, as they could never be truly destroyed. Heleth consigned their evil to the Abyss, which was set deep in the Void apart from the rest of reality. But still the infinite evil of the Forgotten Ones threatened to seep out over time, and so Eormus formed a nightmarish gauntlet of nine levels over the Abyss through which nothing could escape.

An overseer, Asmodeus, was appointed as its guardian, charged with containing the Abyss through whatever means were necessary. Asmodeus was true to his charge, but quickly turned it to his advantage at the urging of Belek, who advised him that he could exploit Eormus’s wording to enslave others to his cause.

Eormus was furious at this mockery of his command, but Belek pointed out that no law had been broken and Asmodeus now had the means of containing the Abyss for eternity. Heleth grudgingly agreed that no other solution presented itself. Thus began the necessary evil of the eternal Blood War.

The Sundering

The ideas and beliefs of the Overgods’ former individuals soon proved too divisive for them all to coexist peacefully in the same reality. Eormus and Belek threatened war with each other, and so Heleth, who could appreciate the purpose of both sides, turned to Joliath who had remained quiet, searching for a solution. Joliath decided that reality should be divided into many planes of existence, each governed by an aspect of the Overgods. Still, a common ground was required for them to meet and test their ideas against each other with permanent consequences, lest reality be devoid of any lasting meaning. This became known as the Prime Material Plane.

Eormus and Belek agreed to the proposal at the counsel of Heleth and Joliath, and so reality was sundered into the various planes. The ruling aspect of each plane grew in independence until lesser beings often mistook them as separate beings to the Overgods, rather than the four beings taking different guises.

Today, some still call upon the Overgods directly, whereas most simply worship the Aspects, either in ignorance or understanding of their true nature.