The Churning World

Many centuries ago there were many worlds with many creatures upon them. These worlds were separated by a sea of darkness that stretched out for an eternity condemning each one to isolation from one another. Despite being far these worlds came to be threatened by the same malady; a sickness of metal that spread through all life. It was driven by a malignant intelligence unlike anything seen before and, if left to its own ends, would have consumed the worlds whole.   Then the gods came on great ships that could traverse the infinite void and move from planet to planet. The gods, dragons in the shape of men with manes of fire, fought back the sickness in hopes of securing the worlds' safety. Yet they could not fully destroy their foe, so they instead took away huge chunks of the different species from each world and built for them a new home to live in; known sometimes as the Great Wheel or the Churning World.   It was within this new world, a great ship that held whole continents and oceans that wrapped around themselves like the interior of a massive cylinder, that life would carry on should the gods fail in their task of destroying the sickness.   Knowing they could not watch over their charges themselves the gods took many mortals up in their embrace and sired through them a race of demigods; sacred beings with traits from both the gods and their mortal parents. These demigods were meant to watch over their mortal kind and act as an interpreter for the will of the gods so their messages might cross the great divide in mind and nature between the gods and their new charges.   But then the gods went silent. The demigods, without direction, debated and then quarreled over how best to act as guardians of the mortal beings. Soon all cohesion was lost and each demigod became their own master. Unfettered by risk of punishment for misdeeds for they answered to no higher power but their own. Some became tyrants, enforcing their will through the power of great artifacts left to them by the gods. Others became heroes who never forgot their sacred task to protect and nurture. Others fell to their own vices, disappearing from history for centuries at a time.   The old worlds are dead, the new gods are missing, and their children have lost their way. Is there hope for the people of the Churning World? Or has the salvation of the gods become their newest doom?