The Origin of the Universe
Characters with any of the following traits would know this information:
Race: Elf
Class: Bard, Cleric, Druid, Paladin, Wizard
Background: Acolyte, Noble, Sage
Skill Proficiency: History, Arcana, Religion
Note: This article is a special case in that the average individual knows the general story. The above traits would be those individuals who know the whole story in detail. Think of it as the difference between the average person knowing "Adam and Eve were in the Garden of Eden, ate a fruit, got banished by God, and evil was brought into the world" versus knowing the entire book of Genesis. So even if you don't have one of the traits, feel free to assume you know the basics of the story, particularly which gods made which races. -------------- While mortals may not know the truth of the universe as only the gods can, they do have stories. These stories are passed down from generation to generation to make sense of the world around them. This is one such story: -------------- Before all else, there was Vash’aguul. The first will, the oldest being in the universe. In fact, some might argue that Vash’aguul is, or was, the universe itself. A formless point of existence and nonexistence as one. Then, at some unknown moment before time was time, Vash’aguul exerted its will, a surge of thought and emotion where such concepts did not exist. The result was the birth of the gods. Vash’aguul’s sudden usage of willpower had a cataclysmic effect on the universe, as the power of its thought fractured its very being, creating entities from the aspects of its will. Each of these beings was born embodying an aspect of Vash’aguul, creating the gods as they are now known. The result of this devastated Vash’aguul itself, shattering its being and leaving it as a husk of itself when the gods severed from it, forming their own separate wills. Each God was an aspect of the existence that previously was Vash’aguul, the formerly omnipotent entity remaining only as an incomprehensible emptiness, devoid of anything and yet connected to everything in way that cannot be severed. Vash’aguul was not destroyed by this act, but left as a separate will without desire. The paradox of existing as an entity of nonexistence has transformed it into a god that is, by mortal comprehension, inconceivable and insane. All the gods are irrevocably tied to Vash’aguul, and as such all beings are tied to it in the same way. All beings will cease to exist, and in doing so return to the Void that is Vash’aguul. It has no emotion, no desire, no form, and no will of its own, and yet it exists. As such, in order to comprehend its “existence”, mortals perceive Vash’aguul as the God of Death. Not necessarily more “powerful” than the other Gods, but existing as an unavoidable fact that cannot be defeated or destroyed. After all, you cannot destroy what does not truly “exist”. You cannot send Vash’aguul to Vash’aguul. Upon their birth, the gods each carved their own realms from the body of Vash’aguul, each plane of existence being born from the aspects of their own individual identities. While they can traverse each other’s realms as they please, each god chooses to, at least for the most part, remain in their own realm. In each of these realms, the ruling god exists as an unstoppable force, as the realm itself exists as a manifestation of that god’s very being. All of these realms are bound together by Vash’aguul’s “realm” of the Void, which tethers them all to each other and exists in the empty space between them. The gods very, very rarely make passage through the Void, as with any trip through the Void they might be absorbed back into Vash’aguul. The creation of these planes of existence created another plane, the Emergent Plane, which mortals call the World. Each of the gods respective realms overlapped with each other upon their creation, resulting in a single, connected realm that belongs to no God and contains the aspects of each god’s nature. This is the Emergent Plane, a realm which the Gods could once traverse freely without fear of being absorbed back into the Void, an ability they no longer possess. As a result, the gods constantly fight for control over the Emergent Plane, as ruling over it would grant the ruling god access to any other plane without fear and make them more powerful than any of the other gods, things that each of them desire for their own reasons unknown to mere mortals.
Class: Bard, Cleric, Druid, Paladin, Wizard
Background: Acolyte, Noble, Sage
Skill Proficiency: History, Arcana, Religion
Note: This article is a special case in that the average individual knows the general story. The above traits would be those individuals who know the whole story in detail. Think of it as the difference between the average person knowing "Adam and Eve were in the Garden of Eden, ate a fruit, got banished by God, and evil was brought into the world" versus knowing the entire book of Genesis. So even if you don't have one of the traits, feel free to assume you know the basics of the story, particularly which gods made which races. -------------- While mortals may not know the truth of the universe as only the gods can, they do have stories. These stories are passed down from generation to generation to make sense of the world around them. This is one such story: -------------- Before all else, there was Vash’aguul. The first will, the oldest being in the universe. In fact, some might argue that Vash’aguul is, or was, the universe itself. A formless point of existence and nonexistence as one. Then, at some unknown moment before time was time, Vash’aguul exerted its will, a surge of thought and emotion where such concepts did not exist. The result was the birth of the gods. Vash’aguul’s sudden usage of willpower had a cataclysmic effect on the universe, as the power of its thought fractured its very being, creating entities from the aspects of its will. Each of these beings was born embodying an aspect of Vash’aguul, creating the gods as they are now known. The result of this devastated Vash’aguul itself, shattering its being and leaving it as a husk of itself when the gods severed from it, forming their own separate wills. Each God was an aspect of the existence that previously was Vash’aguul, the formerly omnipotent entity remaining only as an incomprehensible emptiness, devoid of anything and yet connected to everything in way that cannot be severed. Vash’aguul was not destroyed by this act, but left as a separate will without desire. The paradox of existing as an entity of nonexistence has transformed it into a god that is, by mortal comprehension, inconceivable and insane. All the gods are irrevocably tied to Vash’aguul, and as such all beings are tied to it in the same way. All beings will cease to exist, and in doing so return to the Void that is Vash’aguul. It has no emotion, no desire, no form, and no will of its own, and yet it exists. As such, in order to comprehend its “existence”, mortals perceive Vash’aguul as the God of Death. Not necessarily more “powerful” than the other Gods, but existing as an unavoidable fact that cannot be defeated or destroyed. After all, you cannot destroy what does not truly “exist”. You cannot send Vash’aguul to Vash’aguul. Upon their birth, the gods each carved their own realms from the body of Vash’aguul, each plane of existence being born from the aspects of their own individual identities. While they can traverse each other’s realms as they please, each god chooses to, at least for the most part, remain in their own realm. In each of these realms, the ruling god exists as an unstoppable force, as the realm itself exists as a manifestation of that god’s very being. All of these realms are bound together by Vash’aguul’s “realm” of the Void, which tethers them all to each other and exists in the empty space between them. The gods very, very rarely make passage through the Void, as with any trip through the Void they might be absorbed back into Vash’aguul. The creation of these planes of existence created another plane, the Emergent Plane, which mortals call the World. Each of the gods respective realms overlapped with each other upon their creation, resulting in a single, connected realm that belongs to no God and contains the aspects of each god’s nature. This is the Emergent Plane, a realm which the Gods could once traverse freely without fear of being absorbed back into the Void, an ability they no longer possess. As a result, the gods constantly fight for control over the Emergent Plane, as ruling over it would grant the ruling god access to any other plane without fear and make them more powerful than any of the other gods, things that each of them desire for their own reasons unknown to mere mortals.
