FIRST AGE:

While there is (or was) a creation myth, the world was actually formed by natural processes.  The "gods" migrated to it at a point in it's pre-history.  At this point all of the major races were present more or less in their modern forms, though society and written language were still some way off.  Being that they arrived before the advent of written language, the gods were soon incorporated into the various races' mythos.  For much of pre-history the major races got along well enough and their individual mythologies coalesced into a shared one.  As written language developed, this shared mythology was codified and the pantheon developed into its current form.

At around this time the dark lords recognized that the belief structures of their world and the attendant founding of religions were taking shape.  They saw an opportunity to possibly cement an outsize influence on their new world.  And so they created a lot of the monster races and the world became a darker, more dangerous place.

After a time, and as the situation grew more dire for the peoples of the world, the lords of light, at the behest of the god of knowledge, acted in concert and exerted their will to rebalance the scales.  This took the form of investing more of their own power in their followers and quickly led to the rise of their reflective religions, and those religions' influence on society at large.  Great champions of faith arose to combat the growing darkness.  As the conflict between the gods grew it eventually led to a great war that wracked the world and ended the first age.

The first age of the world spans an era from pre-history up through societies with cities and roads, a few of which still stand today.  While magic in its current form was not yet present, the gods have never been more active in the world.  Many relics and artifacts were created with their blessing during this time.  These items are highly sought after today and are some of the most valuable objects in existence.


SECOND AGE:

At the beginning of the Second Age, the world was reeling from the great war.  Cities lie in ruins, kingdoms shattered and broken.  The peoples of the world set about rebuilding.

The lord of balance was in a unique position as just about all of the other gods subjugated to his will.  Almost none of them wanted to return to conditions that would nurture more conflict.  Their faiths would be allowed to carry on, but their direct intervention would be limited and subject to the scales of balance.  The lord of balance was forced to take on a much more active role in the pantheon and a less active role in the world of men.

In his desire to not lose influence over the world he granted the thinking people of the world direct access to some of the same energies that gave him life.  He believed the good that would come of it outweighed the bad.  This access was very limited after all, and their minds were not equipped to do that much with it.  Thus, early in the Second Age, magic was born.

With memories of what was relatively fresh in their minds, and with wizards and sorcerors spreading around the world, it did not take long for societies to reach even grander heights than ever.  Much of what is seen in the world today began during this period.  The peoples of the world still worshipped their gods, but fewer champions of the faith or holy men arose than during the First Age.  The world's peoples began a long slow pivot to magic and science.

There were vestiges of monsters holding on but brave heroes were numerous and kept them at bay.  The peoples of the world enjoyed a vast stretch of mostly peaceful time.  Society and culture reached new heights.  It was an age of gold and while it lasted, the peoples of the world achieved heights they would never match again.  Magic users flourished around the world and almost all of the major advancements in that field came from this age.

The people of the world were never more knowledgeable and learned as during this era, and the god of knowledge and balance never more powerful.  It would prove his undoing.  Towards the end of the Second Age scholars, researchers and archeologists started to piece together the fact that perhaps the world was formed by natural processes and was far older than the churches believed.  Educated men started to suspect there were other holes in the teachings of faith and that the gods were beings from another place.  These ideas began to circulate and made the last several centuries of the age a time of great religious upheaval.

The result was near immediate fracturing of the faith, in which knowledge- and fact-based takes on religion appeared and grew.  These sects were often led by high priests who were actually wizards.  The dark lords, who had been secretly meddling in the world for centuries, seized on the opportunity and fomented conflict.  They were worshipped primarily by monster races and stood only to gain by seeding disarray.  This culminated in the War of Reason which marked the end of the Second Age.

The War of Reason began as a conflict between gods of light and the lords of darkness.  The gods of light quickly realized that the truth couldn't be swept under the rug and set about incorporating it into their faiths.  Blaming the lord of balance for their predicament, they abandoned their policy of non-intervention and waged war whole cloth with the forces of darkness and their heretic wizard-priests.  Again, much that was great was laid waste in the final years of the era.

The world quake cast the dark continent into the depths and rent the central regoin of Thera asunder.  A section of the great Hornback Mountain range, over 200 miles long, collapsed into the depths of the earth.  It left great canyons and cliffs sprawled across the central region of the continent, and whole cities disappeared.  Now known as the Broken Lands, this region is shunned by all and is thought to be home to some of the most powerful evil beings in the world.


THIRD AGE:

The world quake reshaped the world and many great cities were erased.  The damage was beyond measure, but it wasn't total.  The first several decades were bleak, but hope eventually sprang anew, for a while anyway.

In a way, the fact that people knew the truth about their gods didn't adversely affect faith.  It was different now; the main church was greatly diminished, but many more began worshipping the lesser gods.  Over the course of the Third Age this lead to a great diversity of worship and ultimately lead to more priests active in the world than had been seen since the Firat Age.

After a several decades, as the people of the world reestablished their kingdoms and empires, it was clear this age would not quite match the grandeur of the last.  Magic was not what it used to be and there were less heroes about.

The gods no longer respected the lord of balance, which lead to less power among them even as the numbers of his followers remained the same.  He dared not exercise his power on the world, feeling the weight of his prior mistakes. His evil gods have been feeling emboldened  by his absence and begun making inroads in the world of men once more.  While his good gods have lost patience with his ineffectiveness and begun doing the same.  Much of the world's recent history bears out this conflict.

The state of the world today is such that while civilization is growing, there are reminders that it used to be much more.  Much of society's current drive is to recapture the grandeur of the past. Efforts to that end have stalled due to the growing monster populations, rising cult activity and the slow steady increase in corruption.  The last century has seen progress grind to a halt and even begin to reverse.  The various races are beginning to distrust each other and the world is eager for heroes...
This message was last edited by the GM at 10:27, Fri 13 Sept.