Mynthris Campaign #1 Lighthope's Gambit

The Ages of Mynthris

Since the gods first came to Mynthris, five distinct ages of the world have gone by: the Founding, the Age of Exploration, the Age of Terror, the Sacrifice, and the Age of Heroes. The events of this campaign take place in the fifth age. See below for a brief overview of each age, and the common history of Mynthris as recorded and collected by the Thalen Athenaeum over the course of several centuries.  

The Founding

Once when the world was new and young. Not even an egg yet, but more like the idea of one. This idea was found by the gods and twisted into many shapes. Like all good ideas it takes time and polish to create something truly spectacular. First this egg was shaped by Annmore and Ethas, but this world was too vibrant, and often hid a violence in it's beauty. Next the world was shaped by Calanthis and Xarthus, but this world was dark and full of longing shadows. Finally after several tries all the gods worked together to care for the egg, and it began to take form. Wild at first, chaotic and primal, the gods tamed the elements of their new world making something magnificent and beautiful, but devoid of those who could appreciate it. That is until the gods began to grow curious and once again breathed the spark of life into their surroundings. And it was in this act of birth that the gods found the devotion of their new children strengthened them. Thus began the great experiment known now as Mynthris. Home of the gods and all their children reaching out from their bright home into the darkness surrounding them.  

The Age of Exploration

After the gods of Mynthris could look upon their creation and smile with pride they began to feel a wanderlust driving them and their children to build upon their new creation. Divine empires and civilizations rose to reach the stars, and extended to the many planes of existence. It is during this time that humans made first contact with the plane long ago, not originally being native to it. With the arrival of humans and the new potential for faith they held, the gods of Mynthris became emboldened and curious of others, continuing to reach out across the planes. This age is fabled to be a time of unequaled bliss and excess as the civilizations of Mynthris pulled any need they could have from the multiverse. Unaware that while their understanding of the Weave is that of fabric, to others it is the thread of a web, and many hungry predators find their meals from its vibrations.  

The Age of Terror

The Age of Terror begins with the loss of control. The gods and their children having grown inattentive and careless in their glory were felled by an error in their great Weave. A simple problem to fix, but a hard one to notice, this proved to be the deadliest of their mistakes. The Great Perforation, as it came to be known, was the simultaneous opening of the many branching planar portals found throughout Mynthris. This mistake brought a flood of diversity to Mynthris; however, unlike the precise and planned acquisition of the Age of Exploration the Perforation brought unchecked horrors from the farthest reaches of the unknown. Otherworldly pestilence, monstrous beings from beyond, weapons of destruction on a divine scale, and eventually the coming of the Cosmic Horrors. Beings so old they defy the concept of time itself. Unknowable to even the gods, the Horrors brought with them a madness that twists the very essence of reality itself.  

The Age of Sacrifice

The Great Perforation and planar wars that followed were a surprise to almost all the denizens of Mynthris, including the gods themselves. Unprepared, the world found itself ravaged. What marks the end of Terror and the beginning of Sacrifice is not a great miracle, but something quite the opposite, an event known as the Betrayal. Among the many deities of Mynthris there are those that have always thirsted for power, and in their pursuit are more than willing to harm others. With much of their creation in ruin several of the gods now known as the Apostates, chose to make a pact of a dark nature. The Apostates attempted to use the confusion of the age to strike down their brothers and sisters, feasting upon the horrors as well as their own creation. The remaining gods fighting for the survival of their creation became known as the Preservers, and war raged slowly turning into a three sided stalemate. It is said that eventually Asmodeus the first of the Apostates and always the duplicitous one cobbled together the greatest of contracts and in doing so bound his bloodthirsty siblings the Apostates, the Preservers, and the Horrors into a pact. Thus removing the madness of the Horrors, but also locking all the gods of Mynthris out of directly intervening with the events of the material plane. This has since become known as the Sundering.  

The Age of Heroes

The beginning of the Age of Heroes is marked by a mystery yet to be solved, the destruction of the continent of Opet. Opet, which had since the Sundering become home to the most advanced civilizations remaining on Mynthris, found itself destroyed over the course of a single night. The reasoning and source of this destruction is still unknown to the world. Many speculate the accidental activation of a long forgotten divine weapon or the birthing cry of a great and terrible creature of horror. Regardless of the cause Opet was no more, now an amalgamation of archipelagos and broken empires. In the centuries since, the many humanoids of Mynthris have done their best to move on, and piece together their lives without the direct connection to their gods. Now, with the absence of gods and their divine empires, greatness can come from the most unlikely of sources. The age of heroes is known as such for the heroic few humanoids whose actions have staved off further destruction, whose intelligence has led to a resurgence of discoveries long forgotten, and whose undeniable power has helped found new empires out of the ashes of those long gone.