User:Spanambula/Elegy (3.5e Campaign Setting)/History

=The First Age: Creation=

The Cosmos was created. Different religions attribute creation to different sources. Some say it was created instantly, some say it took eight days. Some heretics even whisper dark secrets that there were no divine beings at all involved in the process, and that things just happened out of primordial chaos. Naturally, these madmen are found and put to the sword.

The most reliable sources tell a story that in the beginning, all was whiteness and light, unbroken and pure. Then one came to the light, and spoke to the light, and the light spoke back to the One. From the light the One created the world. The world was one place and all places. The One took aspects of the world and breathed power into them, forming the Primals, the First among created beings. The One tasked the Primals with creating the cosmos as they saw fit. The Primals divided the world into planes and created all manner of life to fill the places they had created.

After a time, one of the Primals noticed that their creations were beginning to break down over time. Confused, they sought to bring the matter to the One's attention. The One, to their astonishment, not only confirmed their findings but revealed itself to be the author of this newest facet of existence. The One named this last creation Entropy, and instructed the Primals to do with Entropy as they saw fit. The Primals despaired, for they saw the death of all creation, themselves included, bound up in the heart of this new thing. They cried out, imploring the One to remove Entropy from the worlds they had labored for so long to create. The One refused, and made ready to withdraw from creation entirely. The Primal's dismay turned to horror, and they begged The One to remain. "When you understand why I have done this yet are not bound by it, then you will be ready to follow where I have gone," was the final mystery of The One to the Primals. The Primals could not agree on how best to handle this new Entropy. Some fought its influence and created planes built to withstand its effects. These were realms of peace, order, and near-immortality. Others believed the intent of The One was to embrace Entropy and gave themselves over to it. Their creations were full of death and ruin and chaos. Others believed that there needed to be balance, and built realms where entropy became a part of a larger cycle of enthalpy and entropy, creation and destruction, life and death. This final group's creations became the standard model of planar construction, and most of the Primals eventually began reshaping their created worlds to match.

A few Primals remained adamant in their devotion to their extreme views of either rejecting Entropy or embracing it. These Primals were known as the Defiant. While the Primals were forbidden to war amongst themselves, there was considerable strife between the Primals and the Defiant. Eventually the groups arranged their worlds so that there was as much separation as possible between the realms of the Order and Chaos and the rest of creation, referred to as the Realms of Balance.

After a time, the Primals grew well-satisfied with their creations, and decided to do as their creator had done and fashion beings in their own likeness who would be caretakers of creation. And so The Primals fashioned their children, who were known to us as the gods. The birth of the gods began the second Age of Creation.

=The Second Age=

Gods
The Primals were nearly identical to one another in form and power, differing only slightly in personality until the schism between the Primals and the Defiant. The first of the gods, by contrast, were widely varied in form, power, and mind, for the Primals created them to govern specific aspects of their creation. They created gods of Earth, Water, Fire, and Wind. They made gods of Day and Night, gods of Time and Order and Chaos and Balance.

Only one deity stood apart: The goddess of Death. None of the Primals would admit to having brought her forth; even the Defiant grudgingly admitted that Death was not one of their creations. Death refused to answer all questions of her origin. It was thought that perhaps The One had created Death as its own goddess, or perhaps Death was merely an extension of Entropy itself. Regardless, Death was the only deity not beholden to the Primals.

As the Primals created the gods, they saw their own power diminishing; becoming more closely tied into the world they had created. Sensing that their end was near, most of the Primals poured themselves into creation, merging into it and imbuing it with their essence. Thus it was that the power that would one day be called magic came into the world and all that came after. The gods called creation "Éle-g'os," meaning "Essence of the First."

As the gods grew and came into their power, they also became restless, and wished to create beings to aid them. But the gods were not as closely linked with creation as the Primals had been. Rather than creating beings who would serve as caretakers of creation, the gods created beings who would be servants of the gods. The last few Primals looked at the creatures wrought by the gods, and were silent in their judgement.

The gods created beings of terrible power and beauty, beings who forged civilizations for themselves on every plane. The gods discovered that aside from the power they had been given by the Primals, they also gained power from the worship of the beings they had made, and so the gods made more servants for themselves, and then made servants who could make their own servants. The Gods called their created by many different names, but collectively these beings are referred to Illydaea, which means in the Celestial Tongue: "They Who Stormed Heaven".

The Illydaean War
The Illydaea drank up the still-rampant magical energies of the young world and grew even more powerful than the gods had intended. The gods found their power from the worship of their creation waning, and saw that their creations were gaining power that rivaled (and in some cases exceeded) the power of the Gods themselves. Had the gods united against the Illydaea, they might have succeeded, but the gods had grown quarrelsome with each other, covetous of each other's worshippers, power and influence. By the time the danger to their rule was apparent enough to unite even the most reticent gods, it was too late, and the Illydaea began a war with the gods for mastery and rulership of the cosmos.

The war was terrible, and whole planes were consumed in the cosmos-shattering conflict. The gods made by the Defiant fared slightly better in the conflict, and in some cases the Illydaea in those realms did not even rebel. The realms of chaos were difficult enough to survive in without a war, and the realms of order were already quick to quash or expel those who threatened its everlasting harmony. But those realms had been too well-removed from the Realms of Balance, and were slow to lend their aid.

Both the gods and the Illydaea took staggering losses. Finally the surviving gods appealed to the last remaining Primals for aid, since the Illydaea were fast-consuming the latent power made from the departed Primals who had become part of creation itself.

The Primals acted, but only to keep everything they had built from falling into devastation. Realm by realm, plane by plane, the Illydaeans were driven back, some surrendering, some fighting and defiant until they were obliterated. The last of the Illydaeans fled to the realm of Chaos, seeking a refuge in the swirling maelstroms. But the gods of Chaos and their loyal Illydaeans were waiting, and the war ended after a final desperate battle.

In the silence after the war, the surviving gods took stock of their surroundings. Once-proud civilizations had been smashed into ruins, cities had been razed, whole continents broken and thrust into the sea. Several planes had been forcibly intersected with each other, the cosmic stresses of the collision ripping reality in those worlds asunder, creating a desolate void of broken, floating islands adrift in a gray eternal dusk.

As punishment for their rebellion, the Illydaea who had been captured or had surrendered had their power drained back into the planes, using the energy to help restore the ruined worlds. The power required to repair the damage of the war was tremendous, and the level of magic in creation dropped sharply. All but 3 of the remaining Primals lent their power to the healing of creation: one from the Realms of Chaos, one from the Realm of Order, and one from the Realm of Balance. The primals were against stripping the Illydaea of their power, but there seemed no other way. The Illydaea were too powerful, too dangerous, and their energy needed too badly. Only a few survived the loss of their power, fewer still returned to the service of the remaining gods. Sixteen of the Illydaea that had remained loyal became gods themselves to replace the gods slain during the war. Over time, the magic of Éle-g'os returned as the healing process neared completion, but still nowhere nearly as strong as it had once been.

The war had one more lasting repercussion: the creation of a distinction of Good and Evil. Before the Illydaean war, there had been no idea of right and wrong, only balance, chaos and order. The gods had quarreled among themselves, but even then had no sense of a moral absolute. All things simply were as they were made. The rebellion of the Illydaea and the ensuing destruction and slaughter necessitated the creation of new words to describe new acts: War. Murder. Suffering. This was entropy used on a scale never seen before. The surviving gods pondered these new things, and as the primals had divided between order, chaos and balance, so the gods divided between good and evil. A few gods rejected this division as needless, and held themselves to be neutral. Many gods who chose goodness also respected order, but not all. Likewise not all of the gods of Chaos chose evil.

As the gods re-shaped Éle-g'os, they did so along these new divisions. The gods of goodness held many planes in common, creating a more powerful sphere of influence. The gods of evil responded in kind, and combined their influence in direct opposition to the good gods. The realms of the good gods were known as the Realm of Aetheir, and the realms dominated by evil gods were called the Realm of Nyxx.

Neither Aetheir nor Nyxx fully influenced the Center, or the Prime plane. The Prime plane lay at the center of the Realm of Balance, precisely halfway between Chaos and Order. The Prime had required the most extensive reconstruction of any of the planes (save those which had been destroyed beyond possibility of reconstruction). The Prime was declared by common accord to be a neutral ground, where no gods could directly act or seek to control to the exclusion of all other gods. The Prime plane of Éle-g'os became called simply Él.

=The Third Age=

Once more the gods began to create races as Éle-g'os' healing was finished. Having learned bitter lessons from the Illydaean War, the gods created beings of very little power, scarcely stronger than the beasts which inhabited their new realms. The second lesson learned by the gods was to create races with a purpose to serve more than just the whim of the gods. In the Realm of Nyxx, demons and devils were created, beings of evil to further the cause of evil, sowing malice, lust, greed, and above all pride. Among the Aetheir were created Archons, Angels, and other species of goodness, devoted to these new concepts of Justice, Virtue, and Righteousness.

On Él, the gods created two races before all others, to be caretakers of the Prime. The first elves were made, created to help repair the last of the physical damage made to the living things of Él. Also created were the first dragons, made to help repair and maintain the magic, the essence, which held the world together.

Over time, the world was healed completely. And it was then that the gods of Nyxx made their bid for Él through their demonic minions. Subtly at first, silver and honey-tongued demons began seeking the denizens of Él, whispering promises of great power and greater ability. Beings of evil influence were not unknown on Él, and these seemed to grow in power. The gods of the Aetheir became angry, but the dark Lords of Nyxx showed the growing power of their minions to be none of their doing, and therefore the accord was not being violated, and so it was that the gods kept an uneasy truce as many Elves and Dragons fell under the sway of the Demon Princes.

The Illydaean War came as a surprise to most of the gods, but the first Demon War was a long time coming, and both sides had long since made preparations for the coming conflict. Open war began when demon-possessed elves enslaved legions of dragons, corrupting them and bending the power of those mighty creatures to their own dark purposes.

Other races were created, both good and evil, natural and unnatural in this age. Dwarves appeared, as did gnomes. The dragons fashioned kobolds and other races as servants. Other less powerful gods created races of their own. But while most races fought on one side or the other, the elves and the dragons remained the most powerful races. To counter the draconic legions, Elves and dwarves worked in secret together to create mechanical warriors. Not simple golems or clockwork soldiers, the ancient elves imbued these war machines with souls and life of their own. Though they served their purpose well in fighting the demons, none were believed to have survived the first demon war, and the secrets of ensouling them was lost in all the chaos and destruction of the war's final months.

Some dragons escaped enslavement, having discovered a curious process by which they infused themselves with the essence of certain magically responsive precious metals. These metallic dragons found themselves immune to the influence of the demons and their dark Elves. The demonic elves were defeated and driven under the earth and far out to the Western sea, their power scattered and broken. The once-lush lands of Él had been ravaged by the war, half a continent where once Elves had wrought wonders reminiscent of the Illydaean civilizations was now a barren wasteland. The damage was so great that most of the remaining elves re-settled to the west where the lands were still green and healthy. Even after the war ended, many of the dragons freed from demonic influence could not free themselves of malice despite the best effort of their metallic brethren. Thus began the schism between the chromatic and metallic dragons.

The demons, however, were subtle and would not be so easily defeated. Twice more in the centuries to come, Demon Princes succeeded in bringing themselves fully to the Prime plane though corruption and treachery. The second incursion was defeated by an internal power struggle for dominance in the realms of Nyxx.

The third incursion was a surprise, the Demon Lord managing to engineer a war between Elf and Dwarf before making its move. Orcros, Lord of Doom, gained a foothold in the material plane by corrupting and possessing the Elven High King and his entire council. The Elven Capital became an outpost of hell on earthm and even without a draconic army at his command, Orcros' armies swept across the Prime plane. Then for the first time since the end of the Second Age, one of the Primals chose to involve themselves. From the very earth sprang the first druids, creatures of immense raw, natural power. It was as though Él herself had declared war on Orcros. With the aid of these druids, the demon lord was driven back from his conquered lands to his last city. A siege that lasted fifty years commenced, ending only when the druids sacrificed most of their terrible powers forever to cast Orcros out of the world forever.

The elves had now diminished in power, and mastery of the earth was taken from them and given partly to the druids, and partly to others who would work in secret. Once more a period of reconstruction took place, and a time of peace and recovery ended the third age.

=The Fourth Age=

Humans sprang up suddenly on Él. As with the goddess Death, none could be credited with their creation. However they arrived, they were adaptable and determined, living brief but passionate lives compared to the other races. The elves found them curious and taught them things of power and of magic. The dwarves found them quick learners and taught them things of law and government.

Humans were quick learners, but quick to forget, as well. They fought, mostly among themselves, but also with other races. They fared badly against the Elves and Dwarves, who nearly enslaved the human race in self-preservation. Only a desperate plea by one of the human's most famous orators convinced the older races to give humans a chance kept the race of man from a future of chains and bondage.

Humanity, grateful for the reprieve, settled down and formed their own kingdoms, mingling their blood with the other races as another era of peace began. Though there are still those of the elder races that believe the humans should have been controlled or stamped out when the opportunity presented itself...