From the earliest recorded history, the Pantheon of Skopun has been the most popular and well known pantheon in all of Tilvera, and is the most common source of religion and celestial magic in the multiverse. The Eight Skopun are often depicted as a family structure, covering all of the core domains of mortal life, with no inherently evil deities; while some of these gods do cover the domains of such things as death and war, it's approached more in a way of respect and understanding rather than worship. History tells of the great exploits and miracles performed by the gods, and the people of Tilvera still tell the stories of the exploits of the gods as if they happened yesterday.
Most members of civilised society worship and celebrate this pantheon, however there are also those to be found that are jaded and disillusioned with the gods, especially in more recent years. Since the Age of Destruction began, there have been little to no confirmed interactions with the gods from any mortal in Tilvera. This fact combined with the lack of an active Legion of Spring has provided an amount of distrust between some of the common folk and the gods.
The pantheon doesn't have any kind of formal structure since each deity within has their own domain, with each member managing their work and elements of life. If certain decisions cannot be made by the entire family however, Lifiosil will take an executive role in an attempt to preserve the most mortal life she can.
The members of the pantheon all care for the mortal races in their own way. While some may show a true and unending love for mortals, others are more detatched and have more respect and admiration than love. Every god in the pantheon has a responsibility to some aspect of mortal life, so they will each push for their agendas as much as possible where they can.
The great history and mythology of the Skopun is long and sordid enough for a series of novels, however there are a handful of major events that have defined the core teachings and beliefs of the pantheon. It's relatively known among the common folk that these myths are the true formation of the multiverse, the mortal races, and the state of the modern world. As well as these stories told within the Age of Ancients, there are other less known events that have defined the current approach of The Eight.
The Creation of the Cosmos
While the Pantheon of Skopun are content with their existence as the only known beings, and most powerful, in the multiverse, the Godmother and goddess of life, Lifiosil, felt that something was missing and craved further levels to existence. She spoke with the other deities and they each created a great elemental dragon of their own design to live in the various planes of existence.
Lifiosil began the process by creating a dragon that could give the gods themselves somewhere to create their own corporeal forms and a physical space for them to inhabit. This was Himmelstor, the Dragon of Aether. Due to Lifiosil’s experience creating other beings, in the form of the other gods, she gave the others a starting point of large winged beasts. The others all took this lead for their own creations.
Her partner and father of the other gods, Daevasus the god of death, created the next great beast Ildstor, the Dragon of Fire. While he was following the lead of his partner in the overall shape and silhouette of Himmelstor, he made Ildstor significantly larger and more threatening.
The twins Xanos and Emagi, the goddesses of knowledge and war respectively, created their great dragons following their parents. Xanos wanted a plane to have the potential of further life for her to study and increase the bounds of her knowledge; this led to her creating Jordstor, the Dragon of Earth. Her sister Emagi craved for a new material with which to wage wars when they would come about, thus she created Gullstor, the Dragon of Metal.
Ljosar, the next daughter of the pantheon, being the goddess of light was upset at the extended and eternal darkness in the universe so created a beast that could provide holy light to any corner of existence that needed it, Lysstor, the Dragon of Light.
Gyarus, the twin brother of Irax, created his dragon before his sister. Seeing the other dragons all look fairly similar he decided to create an incredibly unique creature with multiple heads and tails, this kraken-hydra was Vannstor, the Dragon of Water. Gyarus’ sister, Irax, wanted to create a beast that would not only compliment her brothers, but also display her occasional rage in a physical form, this spawned Tordenstor, the Dragon of Thunder.
The final and youngest member of the pantheon, Brorgo created a beast that would try and remove his reputation of trickery, and chose a unique creature without wings that would provide life to anything in the material plane, Luftstor, the Dragon of Air.
All of these leviathans lived on their own elemental planes, creating creatures and beasts of their own based around their elements. At the point in existence where all of the planes collided was the material plane made, a combination of all the elements that provided the basis for common life. This was when Lifiosil again decided that this material plane needed inhabitants of its own, she created the early common races with the help of her great dragon Himmelstor. These races were the elves, nymphs, and fairies.
The Wings of War
While this new existence was being created the other leviathans were being neglected by the gods. Left to their own devices and creating their creatures wasn’t enough for them anymore and they desired the same powers as the pantheon. However none of them were powerful enough to defeat the pantheon or lead an army against them. This led Ildstor, the Dragon of Fire, to convince the youngest god of the pantheon, Brorgo, to create a ninth powerful titan that would impress the other gods.
Brorgo then created Morkestor, the Dragon of Darkness, the largest and most powerful of all of the beasts and able to lead the leviathans against the pantheon. This was the beginning of the Tilveran War, a great holy conflict between the pantheon and the titans that lasted for thousands of years. During this time the titans created the demonic and infernal races, monsters of the earth, and the powerful Valkyries. For many years they were defeating the pantheon with ease, as the gods didn’t want to involve the mortal races in their conflict, however after the near destruction of the entire material plane, Emagi, the goddess of war, took the lead in the conflict creating a new warlike race to lead the fight against the armies of darkness, humans.
These wars led to such events as The Destruction of Aaqa, The March of Mountains, The Creation of the Valkyries, The Prisons of Frostfall, and The Corruption of Lysstor. Throughout the centuries many mortal beings were killed, with races rising and falling entirely within the span of the war. During the final assault of the pantheon Brorgo, feeling guilty for his part in creating the leader of the titans, tricked the armies into thinking they were infiltrating the pantheon to ambush the gods and take their power. However, all of the leviathans were cursed and bound to their own elemental planes for eternity by the gods. Most of the beings they created were also bound to these planes however they’re still minimal enough to occasionally break through to the material plane.
The Silence of Stars
Taking pity on the Valkyries, Daevasus decided to create a new band of wraiths to collect the souls of those who die in battle, the Wild Hunt, which the Valkyries were cursed to lead for eternity. The leader of the Valkyries however tried to take advantage of this offer by refusing to take her charge and so had her power stripped and was imprisoned within the material plane like her masters. As the gods continued to handle the cosmic aftermath of this war, they also created the first Legion of Spring to handle their will upon the mortal realm.
These were the final actions of the Tilveran War, with the pantheon providing advice and assistance to the troubles of the mortal races, making sure that the leviathans didn't attempt to breach the boundaries of their planes, and creating new races over time. Humans however, would be the most important of all. In the days since these events, the presence of the gods has been felt less and less, leading to the modern detachment from the celestials.
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