Mantle

  Heres what you need to know.     there was a time long ago where the world was inhabited by simple people, living simple lives. they were born, they died, and in between those two moments they just tried to eat, live, and get by with some happiness. they werent too worried about the creation of the world or what entities existed then, just that they themselves didnt want to be eaten. at night they wished someone could help, just make life a little easier. something heard them...and for a little devotion and prayer, eased the path a little.   over the next few millenia, some continued praying to these entities, and more gods came out from the fog. As a need arose an entity would step forward offering to take that mantle up for the sweet sustenance of belief. gods of the hearth, war, life, moons, suns, fire,water. Each softly influencing events. the more people needed, the more thet preyed. Each prayer hitting the aether like drops of blood in the ocean...drawing more gods. but some gods were young, others old, but many were fickle or needy. some were jealous. All were hungry.   in a bid for power and worship, some gods began gifting their divine power to their followers, creating the first spellcasters that could access the magic of divinity.   The old say is true...power corrupts.   eventually, there was a war between the gods.by lessening their worshippers and realms, many gods met oblivion. Many followers became the conduits of their wrath, and everyone that wasnt imbued was no better than statistics and collateral damage. it continued until the world was decimated to the brink of extinction.   worried for the sake of all life,a handful of gods, minor and major, banded together in a pact to level the playing field. their actions gave the everyman a chance.   there was a ritual conducted by the gods, some didnt survive, and the Arcwave was unleashed.   an arcane wave of pure creation and potential cascaded over the world, starting at one point and rolling nonstop until it encompased the entirety of the firmament. in its wake, the divine spark within living things, the flame of passion in an idea, the spirit of sacred places, and the bound potential of the physical world erupted. new glorious races and creatures appeared, as did many new villians and dark terrors. no one knows if they appeared from nowhere, were mutated by the wave, or if they always exsisted and just crawled to the surface. few think it truly matters   valleys instanstly tore and jutted massive stony fingers towards the sky. mountains sunk or birthed from the bedrock in an instant. faultlines quaked and tore lands from each other. jungles sunk into sinkholes, deserts cracked and flooded, continents broke, volcanoes erupted, and the world remade itself in a chaotic image of itself.   With the survivors of the God War and the Arcwave reeling in the aftermath of two apocolypses, something finally broke. Through study, sheer willpower, or desperation, others found they could influence this new world and its energies. through their manipulation of reality, the first arcane casters were born and could defend themselves against the divine agents that disregarded their worth. however, the anger and fury was short lived. after the upheaval of the world, the god war was over. the gods mattered little since losing many of their followers in the destruction.   the world and its people begane to rebuild. recreating societies, cities, religions, nations and kingdoms. slowly order came back, the divine and arcane finding their own place in the world and being fostered by some to improve the world or their own situation.   and here we are....roughly 4 thousand years since the arcwave, even more from the start of the god war, and almost uncountable years since the first person looked up wondering if it ever got any easier.