Gursan

Long ago, the old gods traveled far from their home to begin anew. When they arrived and began to mold our world to support the life they came to seed here, they unlocked and awakened a strange energy unique to the planet. Their work was aided and accelerated as they learned to harness this new form of energy, which we now simply call magic.   Millions of years later, the nine sentient species of the world of Gursan, the adaptable humans, the sturdy dwarves, the graceful elves, the friendly halflings, the curious gnomes, the magical pixies, the stoic draconians, the mighty ogres, and the nimble goblins, had arisen from this original seeding and begun to establish their civilizations across the globe.   Then strife began to arise among the gods as different factions disagreed on what their role should be among their creations. Koloka, Tachir, and Alinys believed that they should directly guide and direct their creations, who they thought of as their children, into prosperity and peace. Torowe, Halit, and Vicdak thought it better to make sure their creations struggle so that only the strongest would survive, and so make the whole of their creation stronger as a result. Smonn and Lalphaw, meanwhile, elected to remain neutral and not get involved in the affairs of either faction, preferring to concentrate on their own pursuits: the gathering and storage of knowledge for Smonn and the exploration of their world's unique energies for Lalphaw. Meanwhile, Caithyra alone tried to mediate between them, proposing compromise after compromise until eventually coming up with the Game of the Gods.   Every one thousand years, each faction would choose mortal champions to compete in gathering together four artifacts, each one a symbol taken from their home world, and taking them to a designated place to claim their prize in the name of their gods, who would then have free reign to rule over the world until the next Game took place.   So it continued for many milliennia, one side or the other ruling the world in turn, sometimes for thousands of years at a time, either bringing about an age of prosperity and peace that also brought with it stagnation, or an age of war and strife in which many suffered, but would bring about great change and innovation.   Then, only a few decades ago, the Game suddenly ended. It is thought that the champions who completed the final game chose neither faction of gods when the time came, and so freed the nine races from the endless cycle of either stagnation or suffering.   Some, however, think that the gods instead arranged for this outcome to cover for something much more catastrophic... that perhaps it was because... the gods themselves were dying.