The Divine Awakening

There are many stories about the Gods of Siriande. If you ask around in a big city, you can probably get at least five different stories about the different Gods of Siriande. Whether they are true or not is anyone's guess. Many people will have stories about their own deity, giving them a reason to follow this particular God; stories that have the power to unite and to separate. But if you ask the one important question, if you ask around about how it all started, there will always be this one story that everyone agrees upon.

Summary

It is said that the Gods the people know now were not always the Gods of Siriande. It is told that they came from a different world, some say they weren't even Gods at all until they woke up in these lands. One day the Gods simply woke up on Siriande, not knowing what had happened to them in the time before, where they had originated or how they had gotten here.

Many believe that this was the doing of O. That the Darkness in the Mind had something to do with the amnesia of the Gods, conjecture and theory about a large battle or end of days in their previous incarnation. But no one could or will ever confirm that, since no one ever remembers an encounter with the shadow memory. Not even the Gods themselves.

When the Gods woke up on Siriande, it was not the world as we know it now; the Gods were the ones that gave shape to Siriande. It was a formless, colourless grey.The first Gods to wake up were Sominor and Lymedrin Aleanurden, both at different ends of the world. Light came over the part where Sominor woke up, the darkness prevailed on Lymedrins’ side of the world. They could sense each other's presence in this new world and there was a familiarity between them that urged them to move in each other's direction.
Sominor marched across the barren wastes in the direction of Lymedrin until he came across Amska'ir. The nimble Goddess was tending to a small sapling, desperately trying to keep it alive in the lightless grey that came before Sominor’s awakening. The light Sominor brought renewed her energy and let her auburn hair light up, her pale greyish skin flushed with colour the brown of oakbark. Immediately the barren wastes surrounding her sprung green with flora, the sapling quickly sprouting up into a strong tree, Màthair Darach (the Mother Oak in common), which would become the source of all life in Siriande, it's roots spreading all throughout the lands. Even though the mother oak herself is no longer alive some claim its roots remain and they are the basis of some very potent magic, including restoring life to the dead.
Lymedrin felt the sudden influence of Amska'ir and something stirred inside his being. The darkness surrounding him started to dot with lights, piercing through his perfect darkness. He picked up his pace heading in the direction of Sominor, in a rush to stop his influence from spreading. The encroaching green had quickly reached him and life was sprouting up all around him when he came across a patch of land that remained barren. On the ground lay Charishna, withered like a fallen autumn leaf, preventing the new life from touching the ground around her. Lymedrin reached up to the skies and stole some of the stars from the black. He then filled Charishna with the starlight that he'd stolen. Charishna came to life with a shock, taking in a deep gasp of air and lashed out at her surroundings, draining the life from plants all around her. At one point she was able to tap into the roots of the mother oak. Her skin turned a dark green and her tusks grew strong and prominent. The Orc deity's influence spread and plants started to turn into darker, lifeless shadows of their former selves.
Plants started to wither across all of Siriande, drying out and with no way to renew their leaves. No matter what Amska'ir did she couldn’t keep the plants alive with just Sominor's light alone. Sominor had marched steadily on in the direction of Lymedrin. It was then that Sominor came across Ludmilla, a pale woman with human features. Her blonde hair dancing wildly in a wind unfelt as she sat in a trance in the grey. As the rays of Sominor's light touched her features she startled awake from her trance. When the light showed her the brown, rotten state of the world she was immediately filled with sorrow. Never one to cover her emotions her tears started to flow freely, being swept up by the winds and distributed to cover all of the flora. The dead leaves fell in the growing strength of the sweeping winds, the water renewed their energies, green returned to the lands, balancing out the deterioration caused by Charishna.
Angry that Sominor and his allies interfered with him and his allies Lymedrin started to run in the direction of Sominor so that he could stop them, in search for others. He came across a giant mountain, piercing the skies above and rooted deeply in the ground below. In the pouring rain a Duergar man stood in front of it. A pickaxe over his shoulder, skin as dark as the stone of the mountain itself. Lymedrin offered the Duergar a star and challenged him to free the way. Halgayil didn't speak but used the power of the star to grow ten times his regular size and with his now giant pickaxe cleaved the mountain and shattered it with one blow. Shards spread across all of the continent and made the mountains, far and wide.

The Anvil Heart Dwarves of Dormark Maurr claim that their homeland is this 'mother of mountains' and that all other mountains are simply the shards that remain.

The ground shook, broke and moved, life sprouting and dying in quick succession, water and wind thrashing. Through all of this Vaebrion, a bare chested warrior human man, awoke with Kolashé by his side, her skin a dark ruby red, with small horns curving up out of her head and a tail swaying behind her. Immediately at odds with each other their blades crossed. Their battle raged, shaking the world similar to when Halgayil split the mountain. Sparks from the blades rained upon the lands, digging into the ground creating ravines, lava pits and undying flames.

Three of the undying flames were found throughout the history of Siriande, one in Demoran, one in Dormark Maurr and one in Telenholm before the fall. Only the one in Dormark Maurr is preserved to this day.

The Neverending Fight

Sominor and Lymedrin met at the battlegrounds, the light clashed with the dark. The two groups stared at each other in silent anticipation, choosing the side of their respective champions. The land moaned and twisted under their divine war. Empowered by their respective sides Vaebrion’s skin turned a bronzed hue, his eyes alight with lightning and his voice the sound of thunder. Kolashé’s form twisted more, the horns grew bigger, a stolen star was embedded in her chest, wings of dark shadow formed on her back.
With a thunderous roar the battle was broken up, the sky split open and a dread silence fell on the world. All the Gods fell to the ground through a mysterious force and as they looked up they gazed in the face of the court, of Traegur, Pelniira and Ballaod. They were unknown to the Gods and are widely accepted to have been in Siriande before the Unity and the all-consumers arrived. In the court Thalorn Xoth was already seated. He looked at his brothers and sisters before averting his gaze, as if he knew something they didn't.

Theological theory suggests that O and Thalorn worked together in bringing the Gods to Siriande, perhaps in the hope to avert a cataclysmic disaster in their previous world

A swift trial followed, the verdict was that the new Gods were never to meet again on the surface of Siriande. Sominor was granted the day, Lymedrin Aelenurden the night. The seasons were distributed among the others, never to meet except for the fleeting moments when one season bled over into the other. During other moments they were expected to return to their appointed realms away from the physical plane.

Up until the trial both Dayishi and Umber had kept out of the developments, leading to another theological theory that the Trickster and the Gambler had something to do with the God’s arrival in Siriande.

The Trial

During the trial Dayisi and Umber listened in from the spectator section of the courtroom and when they heard that they, or the other Gods, were never to meet again. A prospect that, to them, didn't seem at all appealing. The two of them immediately devised a plan. They would make creatures mirroring the appearance of the Gods, so that through them they could meet each other without the Arbiters' knowledge.
From the stones of the mountain, they fashioned Dwarves, short and stout and resistant to the fickle change of seasons.
From the trees in the forest, they created Elves, their skins in the hues of the barks of trees, bending with the flow of the winds to prevent from breaking. Petrified wood was used by Umber to create Drow in the image of Lymedrin, trying to appease his leader and outdo Dayishi.
From the water of the lakes, they created Humans, their wits quick to change and easy to adapt to changing situations, always carving a way for themselves. Fashioned to look like Ludmilla and Vaebrion.
Umber took some of the blood from Kolashé, that was spilled in the fight with Vaebrion and mixed it in with some of the newly created human’s blood creating the first Tieflings, as an ode to Kolashé.
In his own image, Dayishi created the halflings, created from the leftover scraps of the former creations, fleet of foot and clever to make up for their short stature.
Umber, quick to jealousy, immediately also created a race, the Gnomes, using the image of the attorney that was presiding over the trial, created to exemplify what Umber felt was the best aspects of Ballaod's consciousness. Clever, charismatic and sneaky the Gnomes quickly filled in the cracks left by the other races.
Umber and Dayishi smirked at each other, pleased with their work. To prevent the arbiters from finding out what they were up to they created people in the image of Traegur and Pelniira as well, saying that all they had done was to honour the Gods.
Using a part of the marble in the courtroom they created the High Elves, clever and objective, their skin cold and pale in stark contrast to their Forest and Night Elven kin.
Stealing a vial of ink from the Bailiff they infused a slain dragon with her essence. The Dragonborn were much like their patron deity, factual and structured, though with a fiery streak.
Once the trial of the Gods ended Dayishi and Umber visited both camps in the battle and informed them of their scheme. They forced the Gods to take an oath, the Oath stated that while they were in corporeal form they wouldn't harm one another, making sure the Arbiters would never find out that they walked among the mortals. If the arbiters ever were to find out, the consequences of this would be unforeseeable.
For a long time the Gods lived in harmony with all the races, taking physical forms to mingle and communicate with them, and each other. Everyone lived in harmony, every god in their time and place, none more important than the other. Working together to make the best of the world they were given, even though nobody knew how, or why, it had come to be. Until the day the oath was broken.

Spread

Everybody knows a version of the Divine Awakening. Specifically which role every deity plays is influenced by whom you ask but the broad strokes remain the same. A tale of Light versus Dark, Life versus Death.

Variations & Mutation

Throughout the years the vile aspects of The All Consuming has been played up, to create a starker contrast with The Unity. This practice was especially prevalent in the time following The Fall. In earlier versions that can still be found in some of the more ancient texts the emphasis was much more on the fact that neither party should ever prevail, lest they destroy the material plane.

In Art

A great many artist was inspired by the divine awakening and it's difficult to find any Bard worth their salt that doesn't know the famous epic poem by the famous elven poet Omamenor Romaris. You also wouldn't be the first pilgrim to travel to Ekeral to see the world famous painting created by Frida Sigvatdottir depicting the epic fight between Vaebrion and Kolashé.

Date of Setting

Long before any recorded history, at the dawn of time.