Nor Galad (4e Campaign Setting)/DM Cosmology

DM Cosmology

The world of Nor Galad, (Sentia) is ancient and mysterious. It has had it's times-great and glorious and in decrepit ruins. Yes, it has had dark times and light times, phases that change in it's wonderful state of existence. It's had it's ancient ruins and modern cities, forsaken cultures, heretic warriors, and chosen heroes, advancing tiny villages to advancements reaching the stars. But where did they go? What remains of it? How did it get there? And who in the history of the worlds, whether from Sentia or not, created such things into existence?

The Material Plane: Nor Galad

Nor Galad is an old world, perhaps 4 billion years old. It exists by itself, solitary except for the surrounding planets, and the Belt Of Stone, not far from Nor Galad. Nor Galad, unlike other dungeons and dragons games, is not centered on itself as the middle world, with a heaven above and a chaotic broil of elements below, but centers more on the system as a whole.

Astral-Sea

In Sentia, the entrance to the Astral sea is a gray thread of light that surrounds the world. It can only be seen at Sunrise and Sunset. This border called the "Gray Strip" is right outside of the world's atmosphere, and is a rift in space that leads to the Astral sea. The Astral Sea in this campaign is very similar to the Astral sea of many other DnD campaigns, with a few minor differences. The Astral Sea has five main continents: The Grove of Elders which is the central, starting point when beings arrive in the Astral Sea through the grey strip. The Silver City( which is north of the Grove of Elders):the first stop, the Chaos Rip:the never point, The crystal-land:way point, and the House of the Gods, Final Destination. In the Astral Sea, scattered around the world are islands that hold Primal Spirits, until the gods free to do what they want with there own abode. At either the Silver Lands or the City of God's, there are many different people bustling around the city.

Nine Hells

The Nine Hells in Nor Galad is found by following the River Styx from the Astral sea. The Nine Hells was created when the Demon Impron stole the power of the sun and unleashed in on the planet of Nor Galad- as he grew in power, cunning, and strength, he took the name Asmodeous, and challenged the will of the creator god Taerora- Taerora sent him back to That Place. However, when he was banished, Impron took his power and creations with him, creating seven layers of hell- from these seven, he took the seven fiends of That Place, one for each aspect of evil, and created an empire, separate from the lower fiends: and from Impron's ladder, he climbed, establishing two more layers of hell: thusly, now dubbed Asmodeous set himself as the ruler of the Nine Hells.
Hierarchy of the Nine Hells The Nine Hells is headed by Asmodeous (Impron). From the beginning, Impron had highly skilled fiends that he created from the fire of the Sun- he named them Imps: the imps were weaker than the other fiends, but they were faster, smarter, more cunning: the Imps became the first "devils", branching of from the fiends of that place. The Imps are Asmodeous's intelligence network, as well as being one step lower in the Hierarchy than Asmodeous (even higher ranked than the Seven Devils of Hell). The seven devils of hell are (unf). The top layer of hell is not truly a level of hell, but in fact a city rules by the (#) barons of hell. Asmodeous inhabits the lowest layer of hell: a sun blasted inferno that leaves none but they very best alive. His daughter and wife inhabit the second lowest level of hell.

Abyss

The Abyss, commonly referred to as "that place" in ancient text, is a void in the universe, reachable only through very powerful teleportation, a very powerful semi-permanent or permanent portal, or through certain magical items, or through the Abyss of Time, also known as the Second Abyss.
The Abyss of Time is a vast deep, dark part of the Ocean inhabited by destructive evil creatures of all types: almost all of these creatures are aquatic in some way,shape, or form.
The demon Demogorgon partially rules over the monsters of the Abyss of Time, as well as his aquatic domain in the abyss. A "thing" leads adventurers to a flat, water logged, yet volcanic obsidian seeming area, with Chaos creatures, metallic monsters, and psionic zombies: from here, there is a dark teleportation circle that can be reached- this is usually done after completing the Adventure arc: Journey to the Abyss, or just the last two parts: The Abyss of Time (underwater adventure) and The Abyss of Time (dungeon). (none of these have been created yet)

Elemental Chaos

The Elemental Chaos was the original place that the fiends were sent to: however, the place in the elemental chaos the fiends were sent became the abyss through the darkness of the fiends: in the story of creation, the first time "that place" is mentioned, it is actually the elemental chaos. The second time, when she returns, it is the Abyss. Because of the power of the Abyss, the primordials, the denizens of the elemental chaos brought together a huge army, to try to destroy the fiends, now known as Demons. The result was devastating: the primordial army was almost destroyed, the Primordials themselves weakened. A new leader arose in the Demon hierarchy as well, calling itself "The Destroyer": different types of Demons spawned during the war, due to the lust of the demons, against the armies of the primordial: magic spells as well, altered the minds of demons, making them more evil than before, and more deadly, as well as the minds of Archons, Gjinns, and other creatures in the primordial army. The Primordials then had to ask for the help of the gods: the abyss was separated then from the Elemental Chaos with the help of the Gods. However, this did not make the Abyss sink lower, as thought in many stories, but in fact made the Elemental Chaos rise higher. This is part of how the Nine Hells (originally created in the Abyss) was formed: the first seven layers of hell, known as Asmodeous' ladder reached the Elemental Chaos: the next two shot through the elemental chaos, destroying the creation of a powerful Water elemental, tainting it with magic from the abyss, creating the river styx. From the river styx, the Nine Hells was pulled out of Abyss, and onto the now higher up Elemntal Chaos: this being unexpected, the nine hells shot up all the way too the astral sea.

Creation

The divine spark:

Taerora’s Spark Billions of years ago, a world was created; a world that is much like our own….but different. A spark was ignited, and it has refused to die--although we can’t see it, we can still feel it burning –burning as brightly as it did on its first day. As the young Guardian, Taerora, floated through what we call Space, she gazed upon a single piece of clay. This clay was floating in space with no home, but Taerora did not fret. Instead, this brought a radiant smile to Taerora’s face, for she knew that she could help this lonely clay piece. Her smile was so radiant, in fact, that where she looked a newborn star—Solas-- was formed with a pop, bringing light to the surface of the lonely clay. However, when the light touched the clay, Taerora saw what it was: an Ugly misshapen mold—a blueprint of a strange, mythic creature with horns and terrible strength—and she frowned upon it, creating the first demon--and it was sent to a strange place. And then Taerora cried-- for she knew that she could have done well by the clay, shaping and molding them to her will. She cried—her tears becoming floating ribbons of water-- then she groaned, and from her groaning came the four winds—and she wailed—the sound piercing the sun and creating fire, which crackled and popped with power—she trashed, and her hair fell, becoming Trees. After a time, she realized she could not change the fates—and from this somber realization came the soil. Suddenly, she let out a final, horrible scream, shaking Space itself, and the elements of creation came together, creating a world that would endure. As she looked up, she saw this creation, and saw that it was good—and she laughed, giving the planet life: The Water became the blood of the planet, coursing and vivid, and the Wind became its breath. The Fire became the Energy coursing strength of the planet. The trees became the Soul. and the Soil became the Solidity of the planet in which all things were grounded. As the planet blossomed with life, Taeora decided she needed to safeguard her new world—so she gave the water a protector—one who was wise, smart, and caring—and she imbued this Protector with her essence, and named her Goddess, the first of her kind. The Wind, with its soft swish--swishing would be protected and counseled by the Brothers of Direction. However, the brothers were unruly, continually bickering about which way the Wind should blow—and so the Wind that was promised to move Goddess’ water never came to be. And so, for a time, the planet could not breathe, and the water became smooth and flat, much to Goddess’ disliking. She took her issue to Taerora, but the Guardian was too busy negotiating with the young protectors of Energy, Soul, and Solidity—who all claimed to be stronger than the other. Taerora and Goddess worked together, showing the young protectors that balance in all things was necessary to keep the planet aliveYet Taerora still did nothing to sway the minds of the Brothers of Direction. Eventually, Goddess became so upset with the smooth, flat water that she decided to move it herself—with or without Taerora’s help. From this moment, a second side of Goddess manifested—that of Gwendalin, Watcher of the Winds. Though younger in age, she was smarter and wiser than the brothers—being (at some level), part of Goddess herself, and vowed to keep the planet strong--often meddling in the roles of other protectors to accomplish this goal—leaving the planet with Wise Taerora willing to do anything to keep the planet alive—just like Taerora had planned. Thus the elements of creation were given life, giving essence to the empty planet. They were given names, responsibilities, the titles of God and Goddess, in respect for the Protector of the Water, first of her kind, and they watched over the world and its soon-to-be inhabitants--but that story is for a different time. From Taerora’s sorrow she discovered happiness again, and she named this feeling--Hope. Hope was the beginning—Hope was fuel that kept the spark burning—Hope was the chance to do more—and Hope will keep our world--and the people in it—strong, for ages to come.

Sentient Life

Her creation lacked something. The planet was alive, but there was no joy in the planet. No hope, no ambition. Power, to keep going for eternity, but the will was not there. Feeling sad, that her almost complete creation (as the materials were still floating down) she thought back to the goat men, and how long they may have been there as she had been crying. So the goddess, determined, appeared in that place, and saw what had become of them. What she saw saddened and disgusted her. The goat men were nothing but fiends, and were always fiends. She turned to leave, but paused, noticing something. The other goat-men, were large and strong, evil creatures. But she noticed one, a very small creature, who looked very different than the others. And she took these creatures to the planet and placed them there. however, there was one among them, smaller than the rest by the Name Of Impron. Impron was a small and cunning fellow, smarter and faster than the rest, stealing the light of the sun and unleashing on the un-created planet. The planet then suffered overwhelming heat: volcanoes and lightning crackled, and the Materials, were rejected. Impron reveled in the heat, his skin turning crimson, his teeth sharpening, and he felt himself growing. He challenged the rule of Taerora, but was banished back to that place, and when he left, he took his creations with him, creating the Nine Hells from that place, and establishing himself as the ruler. And from these creations and his will were born the imps, smaller than the rest, but ten times as cunning: and he valued these creations. The fire was the power of the planet, the trees the soul, and the Soil the Solidity of the planet. Taerora, was ashamed of her mistake, but she made this Declaration of all time:The land settled here is yours, and the men and women of these lands yours to rule justly. Do with the lands as you please, but treat the earth with kindness. Do not forget me, for I will vanish, if the ones who created me would not believe.With this declaration, you are the powerful; You are the Cydi os Cestaloria: Si Tyrael: And from the spark of Willpower from the Chosen, the wild animals were created, and all was good. From the mountains, Came Slegor, the God of The earth: and from Slegor came the dwarves. From the Wind-Gwendalin came the halflings, and from the the Water came the creatures of the sea, and from the Plants (god) came the Jungle, and the Pure, and from the Sky dragon, the Dragonborn: from the essence Impron merged with the Stone game the gnomes.

The oral tradition of tiefling passes this on, at great expense to them.

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