Genèse de Mythrania

There are those who believe that the world came into being when the All-Void gained consciousness and exploded into all manner of chaos, forging the world into existence through violent collisions and cataclysms of both thought and form. Others believe the world was imagined into being just as it is today, with its endless tapestry of flora and fauna dreamed to life by this same great consciousness. Still others believe the world itself is merely a dream of this great consciousness, and when it inevitably awakens, all shall simply wink out of existence. Whatever the case, the history of the world as it is known today begins with the first known entities to people these lands: the gods. It is said that the gods came into the world eons ago from the Great Beyond via a massive portal that is said to have once existed, though its location has been lost to the sands of time. Scholars of the world’s mysteries speculate that the gods were drawn here by the abundance and variety of life that already populated the land. The first gods believed to have been drawn into the world were Melsôh, the god of Nature; Daeron, the god of Primal Energy; Celestia, the goddess of Life; Mortisia, the goddess of Death, and Mythaera, the goddess of Time. It is said that in the days when these 5 inhabited and ruled the lands together, there was no Good or Evil in the world, and very little strife for a time. All was neutral, the future was yet to be forged and the story yet to be written. It is believed that there were many unions among the gods and several children born to them. Sylvara, the goddess of Beauty beloved by the Elves, is believed among them to be the daughter of Celestia and Melsôh. In addition, the following gods were born into the world: Celestia birthed 2 other children to Melsôh, as she was faithfully devoted to him – Glorion, the god of Bravery, and Juris, the god of Order; to Mythaera and Daeron were born twins – Abador, the god of Civilization and Belthor, god of the Forge and father of the Dwarves; shortly thereafter, a brief but most lustful affair occurred between Mortisia and Daeron, the result of which was Nethys, the former god of Magic. The introduction of these new gods into the world had a massive impact. As quarrels arose among the parents, their children grew and took their own sides. Large schisms in ideology began to appear. So rigid were some in their views that no bridge could be hoped for. Daeron, being the god of Primal Energy, had not respected the time it took for Mythaera to gestate their sons in her womb, and had been all too quick and eager in her view to release that energy with Mortisia; yet it was upon Mortisia that she unleashed her wrath – slowly, yet cruelly, like endless drops of water upon the head. Celestia, too, took exception to Mortisia’s continuous taking of the life she sowed upon the lands and, with her sons at her side, would chase Mortisia off of the lands she claimed as her own. As a result of the goddess’ wrath, Mortisia retreated into a cave in a distant mountain range where she made her home. Celestia and her sons too began to take issue with the young gods’ father, Melsôh, who objected strongly to their treatment of Mortisia. While they, and especially Celestia, were steadfast in their belief that life must be preserved above all else, Melsôh was just as ardent in his that death is a necessary part of the cycle of nature and argued that, without it, there could be no life. Celestia would not be moved and Melsôh departed her company. Celestia did not blame her former consort for the disagreement, but their daughter Sylvara took her father’s side and left with him. Their sons felt great enmity toward their father and had no contact with their sister for a great time. Melsôh felt much kinship with Daeron and the two forged a deep friendship and would eventually fight side by side. As young Juris grew, he found that, unlike his brother, his true power lay not in great physical strength, but in oratory and persuasion. He is said to have penned a great treatise on his doctrine of Order, which convinced many. Glorion was first, but he also successfully convinced Albador and Belthor, the twin sons of Daeron and Mythaera. The young gods together devised a plan to rid the world of all Chaos. At first, the other gods did not see a problem with this and either encouraged or simply ignored the fledgling gods’ efforts. However, this began to cause many problems in the world, bringing them into direct opposition of the domains of the elder gods Mythaera, Melsôh, Daeron, Mortisia and even Celestia as the goddess of Life. These gods determined that Chaos must be allowed to exist alongside Order, but all of their attempts to convince the zealous young gods fell on deaf ears, until there was no alternative but war. In the midst of this raging war of the gods, Sylvara fell in love with Nethys, the god of magic, and gave birth to Altacia, the goddess of Luck, and Idris, who would eventually supplant her father as goddess of Magic in the eyes of the peoples of the world. The war between the gods was, to their own great surprise, brutal, passionate and lasted 1000 years. Today, it is known by the scholars as the War of Order and Chaos. In a tragic twist of irony, the unimaginable chaos that resulted from the war attracted terrible entities to the world, creating a whole new war which forced the already existing gods to fight on the same side. This came to be known as the First War of Good and Evil. At this time the portal through which the gods had come still existed, and the war attracted Baanor, god of Evil and Umbra, goddess of Shadows to the world. Their unholy union resulted in the goddess Arachnessia, the Spider Queen. Thrym was also attracted to the world at this time, and fought furiously against the evil gods. The evil gods conjured demons and giant spiders from other planes to attack the other gods at the height of the war, when they were most vulnerable. In response, the other gods conjured all manner of magical creatures to aid them in pushing back the evil gods and their demons. This is also when the dragons came into the world, summoned by Celestia and Umbra, respectively. While they were never able to completely defeat the evil gods, the gods who had fought on the side of Good were able to temporarily close the portal they had come through and return the evil gods and their horrible minions for a time. It was at this time the gods were finally able to sit together at the table again, and they chose to take sides vs. Evil itself. While they all agreed that Evil should never be allowed to flourish and that they would defend themselves if attacked again, some desired to chase the evil gods down in the Great Beyond and destroy them forever. They also officially took their sides on the matter of Order vs. Chaos which had started the wars. Celestia again refused her son Juris on the issue of Order, but was most staunch in her belief in Good; she proclaimed that she would now be the goddess of Good, smiting Evil wherever it may be found and serving Good in the world in all its forms. She was unsuccessful in convincing Juris, but Glorion knelt before her and swore his sword, while also promising to uphold his brother’s values of Order. Melsôh, disappointed in the zealotry of his sons, refused both and retreated into the forests. Daeron, Mythaera and Mortisia all refused to take any side in the end, as their domains are neither Good nor Evil, neither Lawful nor Chaotic, but all of these and everything in between. Nethys agreed and decreed that Magic would be likewise and never take a side, a decree which has been upheld by his daughter, Idris, according to her clerics. Sylvara refused the side of Order, but pledged her assistance to Celestia in her battle against the evil gods. Abador and Belthor both refused Celestia but remained loyal to Juris’ cause. Thrym and Altacia were vocal opponents of Juris’ ideology and threatened him should he continue trying to stamp out Chaos, but Altacia agreed to join Celestia in her battle, and so Juris and Glorion did not wish to escalate the matter further.
And so it was. Celestia, her valiant son Glorion and beloved daughter Sylvara, and the mysterious Altacia entered the portal to the Great Beyond to hunt the evil gods Baanor, Umbra and Arachnessia. Though their power was great and they fought gloriously, they were unprepared for the immense power of the evil gods in this realm. They were beaten back and forced to flee back through the portal, their corporeal existences barely intact. With the last of their strength they tried to shut the portal, and for awhile it seemed they had succeeded. After the battle and her recovery, Altacia looked to the night sky and found it lacking in its blankness and blackness. In a stroke of her mother’s artistic vision, she put herself to the task of filling the night sky with billions of tiny, glittering stars. This, it is believed, is how she earned her title: Mistress of the Skies. In this time it is said that Sylvara became lonely with only the forest creatures to keep her company as her consort and children attended to their own affairs, and so she created the Elves. The Elves lived alone with Sylvara and her father, Melsôh, in the forests of the world, and they dwelt there during a long and peaceful era. Eventually, Belthor became jealous and wanted a race of people to call his own, so he fashioned the Dwarves out of the stone of the mountains, which they lived under and built their cities in Belthor’s name. Melsôh, for his part, is said to have created Feykind to live alongside the Elves, but so little is known about the origins of this elusive race that this is little more than an arcane rumor. Eventually, strange occurrences began to disrupt this time of peace. Other planes of existence began to slowly leak and bleed into the world until it was difficult to tell which plane one was actually on. By the time the gods had figured out what had happened, it was too late – the evil gods had returned to the world in full power for the ultimate battle of Good vs. Evil. The war raged for a mind-breaking 5000 years. In this time, the entire landscape of the world was changed. Continents rose, fell, split in two, crumbled into the seas, rose anew in different locations. Volcanoes sprung forth from the earth and immediately erupted in spectacular explosions of magma and rock. Calderas formed and bubbled over, covering the whole world in ash and darkness, and the sun was not seen for three generations of Elves. The world froze and became covered in ice and freezing, blistering winds howled constantly, only for the oceans to then melt into great and constant deluges, turning much of the world to one great ocean as the balance of powers shifted among the gods. Sylvara and Belthor sheltered the surviving Elves and Dwarves on a lone island during this time, and Nethys wove magics around it to protect them. The most terrible creatures imaginable stalked and ravaged the lands and seas, and the gods raised up great heroes among the people to help in the fight. During this time, many magical artifacts were fashioned by the gods and imparted to the people for the effort. Not all the Elves fought on the side of Good. Arachnessia was extremely successful in corrupting the minds of some young Elves and warping them to her worship. Once the great Time of Darkness was ended, these Elves found they had grown to love the darkness and hate the light. They were the first of the Drows, and made their homes in the deep dark caverns beneath the world. Finally, with the help of heroes and great magical beasts, such as dragons, griffins and pegasi, the evil gods were once again sent to the Great Beyond. The gods who had fought against them, seeing the destruction their petty squabbling had created, wanted to ensure the evil gods could never return to the world, and there was only one way to do so – they would have to permanently destroy the portal through which they had come. At the same time, they decided that they must cease directly interfering in the course of this world. They resolved to leave it up to the peoples they had created to populate the world. Albador resolved to create his own race to build great civilizations and empires, and Juris agreed to assist him and charge these people with keeping the world’s order. Together, they named this race the Humans. Once the Humans began to gather and build societies, the gods bid a final farewell to the plants, animals and people they had come to cherish and left the world through the portal, sealing it behind them forever. They did not leave it in the condition in which they found it; they were never able to expel the great Chromatic Dragons, and many other dangerous creatures remained in the world, which the peoples would have to guard themselves against. However, they also left behind the many magical creatures and artifacts they had created to aid them, as well as the knowledge of Magic. So ended the Age of the Gods.