Please note that this timeline is intentionally skeletal - the GM team wants to provide as much scope for player character backgrounds to shape the timeline, with player characters taking credit for past events, fleshing out the events in the timeline by covering their own role in them, and even causing whole new swathes of divine history. Once player-created events start appearing on the timeline there will be an update history at the bottom of the page letting you know what's new since you last looked at this.
You may notice that some gods are not specifically named in the timeline - this is to allow player characters to take the credit for various deeds that have occurred in the past. We've noted some historical events below to give you some ideas, but feel free to make up more events, kingdoms, mortal heroes, dread adversaries, and so forth as part of your background. Let your imagination run wild now - don't worry too much about whether your ideas fit the metaphysic, the GM team is happy to answer any questions and suggest alterations which might help any awkward ideas fit better.
Timeline summary:
These are the major events every PC should know about.
Many have noted that the First Thought was a vague dissatisfaction, and the First Deed an act of self-harm, and that this says much about life's hardships and inadequacies.
So it was that the Creator took the world for a wife and brought forth the first of the Old Gods. The Creator treated his sons and daughters well, granting them Estates to rule and Rights over creation, but required hard work of them, for with these Estates and Rights came the Duty to keep Creation in order. The Creator also established the Courts of the Gods, which reflected his priorities for Creation. Most Gods gladly accepted the gifts and burdens the Creator offered them, but there was an exception: Artemisia. He brought her forth from the winds, and she struggled against her birthing. And when, at the last, she stood before him at the edge of the world and he told her what it was he wanted her to do, she said “No.”
And this was the first refusal. The first betrayal, some said then. But the Creator was well pleased with his daughter, and so she wandered the world like the wind she was born from, and though they trusted her not her sisters and brothers could not say her nay.
And one day she returned to her father and said to him, “I will take the wild places of the world, and be bound to them and to their good.”
And the Creator did not say anything, but bound her to the wild places of the world, and she went into the wilderness and was not seen again for a long, long time.
Another born in these first of times was Arenmei, and Arenmei was duly charged with ensuring that the rivers ran as they should. In those early days, under his direction, rivers were not the creatures we see today, reluctant to move at all except to flow, but would change their position, or indeed move across the land in response to the time of year or recent events, a tendency which was a source of irritation to some, who thought it better if they would stay still. This reflected his general manner in those early days, frequently he would stray from those unspoken agreements about how the world should be, and many of the oddities one sees in the natural world today, mammals that lay eggs, bats that eat fruit and so forth, were due to his enthusiastic hand when aiding the latter parts of the world's creation. While some of those things disliked their odd nature and some were proud of their uniqueness, it is fair to say most simply accepted it as how they were. And while some of the Gods were deterred by Arenmei's determination to make what he will in spite of the designs of others, and spurned him, there were still others he would talk to on occasion: and one of these was the goddess Miora, and the tale of Arenmei and Miora begins with their first discourses at the beginning of time and ends with the coming of the Iron Rule, and may not even all be told yet.
In the meantime the Creator fashioned the day so that he might see as he worked and so that the gods and the people he created would also be able to see clearly. However, in his wisdom the Creator decided that to balance the light of day there should be the darkness of night. To this end he fashioned night such that day would submit to night and allow darkness to claim the world and then day would regain his position and light would return.
The first Day was not happy with this. “I was created to bring light to all of creation such that all could see and I will not bow before the night.”
With this he fled far and hid from the Creator and the gods.
The creator left the first day alone and created another day that would work with the night and the two then took it in turns to shed light upon the world and to enshroud it in darkness. And then seeing the need for one to see that that which must begin begins and that which must end comes to a close, he set the world to changing, and took the world to wife once more, and out of the world's changes was born Epimelsthai Hopose ti Geneseetai, who was granted the Estate of Time and taught its mysteries by the Creator. And Epimelsthai set forth to hunt the First Day, and caught it, and whence it has gone since is a mystery.
Now the day and the night exist in delicate and precarious balance, and to govern and control that balance, the Creator sired two of his children - one to govern over the night, whom he called Destia, and one to govern the day, whose story is told elsewhere.
Looking upon the starry cosmos he had forged from nothing, the Creator decided to make that the guardian of night should be a part of the night itself. Plucking the brightest star from the sky, he took it and shaped it into the form of a woman - Destia, goddess of night. Her hair shone black as ebony, and she was clothed in shining silver silk that shone as she had shone in the night before. Her skin was pale as milk, and, although she was not perhaps beautiful in the ways of men, her silver grey eyes spoke to all humans that saw them - so that most who saw her only took with them the memory of those eyes, overawed with a sense of secrets hidden, and depths uncharted by mortal man.
Seeing what he had wrought from the stuff of night, the Creator smiled, knowing that Destia was a creature of light, born of the darkness. Speaking to her, he asked "My daughter, the task I would lay upon you is not an easy one, for you will be feared or hated by as many as will love you. My universe needs balance. There must be darkness in light, and light in the darkness. You I would task with the latter. Watch over the night for me, and ensure that it remains in balance with the day."
"Gladly will I do this father, for I owe you my very existence," Destia replied.
"Child, I do not ask this lightly, and I do not compel, for I see that the path that you must walk will be a difficult one. The darkness is a reminder of that which is not - by reminding us, it sharpens our senses of what is. I cannot tarry long if my creation is to be complete - and there is much that you do not understand, that I do not have the time to explain to you. Truly child, do you accept the burden of gaining that understanding, regardless of how much it will cost you? For I sense that the cost will be high indeed - higher than you would willingly pay."
Destia bowed her head in reply, and kissed her father gently on the forehead. "I love you father, more than anything. I would do only what you will, for such is the proper way to respect your memory. My life belongs to you."
The Creator smiled at his daughter. "Your life is yours, Destia - I gave it freely as a gift. Go my child, walk in the hidden places, learn of those things that are concealed from the sight of others, and keep my Creation in balance."
Destia bowed deeply before her father, and without another word, she departed to do her duty.
In the meantime the Creator set about siring more gods. The last son of the Creator was Madness, born of the last echos of the Creator's scream of torment at the moment of Creation. And then the Creator began to fashion Creation itself.
With the Gods reigning over that which he had made already and keeping it in line, the Creator was free to finish his works. He made beasts and birds, caves and rivers, mortals and monsters. Many of the Old Gods aided them in this, seeing that he was struggling to manage, and so the first covenants between Gods and beasts were made: butterflies have ever owed fealty to Laetatio, Bringer of Light, who crafted their iridescent wings in this peaceful time. Before long the Old Gods bred and multiplied so that the newer parts of Creation could have their own Gods to guide them. Several Gods became interested in the mortals, whose aptitude for invention and creativity was matched only by the Creator and the Gods themselves. One such deity was Trutina, who lived with the mortals long after her unknown sires bore her, and gave them the gifts of brewing and distilling.
Finally, the Creator had made all that he wished to make. He called forth all the Old Gods in their multitudes to a plataeu in the Himalayas, to address them one last time. All but one. When Artemisia was called to the plateau she said, again, “No.”
Then her sisters and brothers sent again to bring her to their father’s side, and their messengers found her at the top of a high mountain peak, looking towards the East where their father lay. And they entreated her to go. But all she said was, “I cannot go. I will not be bound.” And she watched, from her high mountain peak as her father died.
All those who did come to see the Creator die remember his words to this day. "My children, my grandchildren, my family, I give unto you and all Gods that come after you the Right to rule my Creation and the Duty to keep it safe. You must be, so that others may be. You must do, so that others may act. You must rule absolutely, that your subjects may have the freedom to exist. This world is yours now - rejoice in it."
With that, the Creator took one last look at the Gods, his descendents, and the completed Creation, his masterwork, and content that no matter how dire the world would become it would still be better than Nothing, he died.
They dug, in their sorrow, until they reached the depths of the world, and placed his body there in a sephulcre which became the palace of the Court of the Underworld, and on the surface, above the grand staircase winding down, was built the Outer Tomb, where the Lords of the Dead receive their living guests. Ever since then, when mortals have died their souls have gone into the Outer Tomb, passed down the staircase, into the Inner Tomb-Palace, and presumably from there pass on into the Underworld - but no living thing, except the Lords of the Underworld, knows what that place is like.
Before the Tomb was finished, a vicious rot came and demanded that the body of the Creator be given to it, that it might become stronger. For a week and a day the Old Gods and the rot fought, until the rot was defeated. The rot was then enslaved to do the work of the Gods in reclaiming the flesh from dead things - all mortal flesh is consumed by the rot after it dies. This battle was notable in that it was the only time that Laetatio, called the Bringer of Light, has ever been known to resort to violence - his roars of anger at the attempted desecration of the Creator still echo in the Himalayas today. Artemisia, however, remained aloof: she would not bind just as she would not be bound.
After the rot had been consigned to its menial tasks upon the earth as punishment Niobhan came to it and spoke unto it thusly:
“Oh rot, thy ambition hath impressed me, would thou wish for thy children to rival those who have left you supplicant to there wishes?”
The rot, who had been harbouring a desire for revenge since its downfall, looked up the face of the God of Madness and wove itself a body made of the most beautiful humans it had consumed.
“Ahh so thou would sire children upon me? Children who would be as gods? Why would thou wish to do this?”
Niobhan gazed at the rot's new form.
“Thou dost intrigue me, I find thee most interesting and would learn much from our coupling”
The rot did after much persuasion consent to lay with Niobhan and the fruits of their union were four in number, three of these took on aspects like there mother, becoming Corruption, Corrosion and Contagion, each more rapacious in its hunger than their dam, the fourth however was more like her father in aspect, she was flighty but fascinated with humanity, she became associated with them and their stories, she became associated with art and imagination, she drifted through the human world whispering inspiration in the ears of the creative.
Sometime after this, to bring light into the darkness and to prevent a blasphemy taking place in her sacred grove, Destia created the Moon, a mirror of quicksilver and the First Mirror. The full story is recounted here. This would be the most long-lasting relic of Destia's rulership over the Estate of Night.
Except, of course, for the god Checkaveee, born of Destia and a minor trickster-god named Cereles, known mainly for this greatest of tricks and for being the right-hand-man of Turos, a more accomplished trickster. A while after he came onto the scene Checkaveee became Lord of the Dance, after the original Goddess of the Dance spent so much time elevating her position in society she quite forgot about the position of others, and neglected her Duty. Since then Checkaveee proved to be something of a maverick, quite eclipsing the japes of Cereles and Turos - certainly, few tales are told of those two since they crossed Destia.
"Children of the Creator, Lesser Gods, hear my words now. We fought to preserve the body of our father from the Rot. We fought and won, though it cost us dearly. But still the Rot was not beaten, and it travelled into our Father's creation."
At this, those gods who could not count the Creator as their direct father began to heckle and jeer, for what God could stand being called "Lesser"?
Destia thought such complaints beneath her, and paid no heed as se went on. "Why do so many of us sit by and do nothing as this sacrilege is permitted to continue? The Rot, first having sought to unmake the creator, and having been defeated, now seeks to unmake the creation instead.
"I, who was appointed to watch over the darkness, see this clearly. The rot causes the darkness to expand and thicken, and yet we do nothing. I created the moon so that there would be light in the darkness, and yet much prefers to hide in darkness still. The ultimate sacrilege is not ended, as we had hoped when we defeated the Rot. It has merely changed its tactics."
At this, the audience began to argue and bicker. These were great words to say without strong fact to back them! Some Gods refused to accept the idea that the Rot was somehow growing in darkness, since "how could it defy Destia, who rules the dark hours, if this were so? And besides, a fallen fruit will rot just as well in sunlight." Others had strong thoughts indeed about the idea of the Rot - for after all, was it not ever-ravenous and brooding? Arenmei made as if to stand and leave, but decided to wait and see what Destia would say.
Destia let them argue, and carried on. "And yet, the Creator did not leave us without the tools to combat the insidious decay that lurks within the darkness, being nurtured by it. In His wisdom, He placed in his Creation creatures who would know to fear the darkness and the rot beneath it. I speak of the humans."
At this, the members of the Court of White Silk Fire cheered and applauded, hoping that Destia was about to declare a defection to their Court.
Destia paid them no heed, and continued. "The humans bring light into the darkness, as I was told to by my Father. If all is not to be lost, if Creation is not to succumb to this Rot, and my Father's masterwork not be allowed to decay away, then we must act to help these creatures.
"For they understand the need to create, rather than to destroy. And yet, they are limited in their vision and scope. They will not triumph against the Rot unaided. The time has come for us to help them, to show them how to create something that is bigger than themselves - that will last as a monument to them and their creator."
At this, all heckling and whispering ceased - Destia clearly had an important plan in mind.
"I propose that we instruct the humans in the art of construction, and of agriculture. That we show them how to make the tools that are necessary if they are to settle in one place, and not to wander the world as nomads any longer, all trace of them erased when they pass. I propose that we give them a future."
At this, Artemisia stood and said "I will have no part in this. You will bind the wild places to servitude, and bind the people they serve. You would imprison them in the death of forests and claim what you offered was freedom. This is anathema, and I shall not let it come to pass." And she strode from the chamber.
As the Lady of the Briar left in storm and darkess, Epimelesthai's voice grew deeper not in depth but in the power of the words that foretold the future. "In the centre of the wild places there will rise the first place of men. In this place will come a light that is brighter than any that has come before and will illuminate the night for as long as the city stands. But night will no longer see comfort in the light for night will no longer be night and the light will have no meaning to her."
Epimelesthai looked over to the door that Artemesia had left through and the spoke to Destia again in his normal tones, "This is a prophecy which speaks of powerful consequences but I will help you build this city and teach its inhabitants to the extent that my duties will allow me to."
Destia replied "I care not what this thing will cost. I see only that it must be done. Therefore I will do this thing. I would ask the aid of my brothers and sisters here. Artemisia has made her decision. I did not expect otherwise from her whose first act was disobedience to her Father. Who else will do this thing with me?"
There was much debate. Arenmei did not stay to listen, leaving the room immediately. Some of the Gods agreed to help, and some did not, but there were sufficient that the First City would be built. The Court of White Silk Fire declared their unqualified support for the idea, claiming it to be the culmination of all their deeds and plans to date and thanking Destia for so eloquently summing up the Court of White Silk Fire's case. Artemisia, however, stayed apart from the debate, her rage making her dark woods darker, and many humans died within, and the mortals were much afraid.
The time came to decide where the city was to be situated. Many of the Gods made suggestions. Time insisted that the humans be taught to read and write, in order that they be able to record their history. Another said that the banks of a mighty river should be chosen, that there would be water enough for the people who lived there to drink. Another, that there be cliffs to provide stone for the houses that would be built. Destia said that there should be forest nearby, that there would be wood for fires, and fruit to eat. Another suggested that there be grapevines, that the humans could make wine to be merry and celebrate. Another that there be gold deposits nearby that could be used for barter.
That night, Destia scoured the earth looking for a place that met all the requirements that the various Gods had laid down. Where there was an excellent river, there was no stone. Where there was stone aplenty, there were no trees. Where there was forest in abundance, there was no gold, and so on. And yet Destia did not give up the search. She looked in the mountains and by the sea - she looked on the plains, and in the jungle. Yet wherever she looked there was something missing.
Finally, near to dawn, she came upon a tangle of wyrmwood bushes on the banks of a mighty river. There were cliffs nearby, and forest, and gold, and grapevines, and she knew that this should be the place where the city was to be built. The bushes would have to be removed, but they were ugly things, and doubtless the humans would find some use for the plant once it was properly cultivated and not running rampant over the ground in such a chaotic manner. Triumphant she returned to the other Gods and told them of the place that she had found.
By the will of the various Gods, a number of wandering tribes were brought to this place, glad of the offer of security and safety from the dangers of the wild, and construction began.
So the first city was built, over the objection of Artemisia, and its night fires were like a beacon in the darkness, and those Gods who had taken part in its construction were pleased with what they had accomplished. And Artemisia saw the trees burning in what had been her most beloved place, and knew what had been done in her absence, and the air boiled with her anger, but the city stood tall and withstood the storm. The people learnt arts from the Gods and each other and raised their towers high, and sank their cellars low, and lived their lives to the full and worshipped the Gods gladly. Epimelesthai, as good as his word, taught the humans the arts of reading and writing, so that what man has said in the past will remain in the future, and the esoteric skills of astrology - for some hints of things to come may be gleaned if one watches the dance of the stars.
On midsummer's day, when Destia's powers were at her weakest, Artemisia set out to take her revenge. Before night fell, Artemisia commanded vines to grow over the heart of the clearing that had once contained the moon, knowing that Destia would see that it had become dark and come to investigate. Sure enough, before the night was over, Destia's presence illuminated the clearing, and Destia saw that the entrance to her glade was also choked with vegetation. Suspecting Artemisia was to blame for this violation, Destia began to strip away the excess vegetation, first from the top then from the entrance to the glade. Artemisia could not be allowed to prevent the moon from shining here.
Again Destia worked until dawn, this time clearing away layer after layer of vegetation until all that remained blocking entrance to the glade was a solitary wyrmwood bush. Smiling at the petty nature of Artemisia's vengeance, and weary from her night's work, she prepared to remove the final obstacle. At this point, Artemisia appeared behind Destia and pushed her forward onto the bush, wyrmwood spikes piercing Destia's glowing eyes and trapping them on the bush.
Pulling Destia back from the bush once more, Artemisia laughed in cruel triumph. "My wilderness for your light, little shadow. And I will take it all, all, before I am done." And plucking the brilliant gemstones lit by their own internal light that had once been Destia's eyes from the bush, Artemisia left the glade. Destia tried to weep, for all she could see was darkness, but without eyes to come from, no tears could form. The goddess of Night was blind.
Then did Artemisia come at last to the city she despised, and she took the bright gems that were Destia's eyes, and cast them into the sky above the city. And the people awoke and came out of their houses to see the new wonder that was this bright light in the middle of the darkness, laughing and joyful, for were they not the favoured of the gods?
And every person as they came out and the light touched them was stricken with agony, and fell upon their hands and knees, and screamed until the air was filled with torment, which was music to Artemisia's ears. Then those who had destroyed the wild, beneath the power of the creator of the moon, were turned to wild things themselves, and ran the city ravening. And husband ate wife, and mother ate daughter, until when the morning dawned none were left in the city but wolves.
Then Artemisia snatched the eyes out of the sky again, before the sunlight could touch them, and put them under her tongue for safekeeping. And looking at what she had wrought, she allowed herself a small smile, and said, "It's a beginning."
So the Goddess of Night was blinded, and fell, and the Estate of Night passed to Arenmei, who released the command of rivers to another god - who immediately tamed the rivers and set them in strict courses, no longer allowing them to run wild as Arenmei had done.
In the times after the City's fall humanity still remembered the arts of civilisation, and soon many mortal nations were founded. These nations remembered the fate of the First City, and often made pacts with Gods to ensure their protection. Sometimes Gods even recruited mortals to found empires in their name - for is it not written in Peter-of-the-Beard's history Times Before Iron that:
...the Duke of Shadows left that place [the First City] and adandoned his works there. And he did pass unto the desert and whispered in the ears of Mortals there, and yea, they built a temple in his honour. The Duke was pleased, and granted boons to his people, and soon a mighty city there stood at the heart of a vast empire. But this was no ordinary city, for the Duke walked among his people as a living god, clothed in black robes and cast in eternal shadow, and his immortality did bring in them the true understanding of the embrace of death. And verily the people contructed tombs for their ancestors, vast citadels and monoliths in the cold desert, and did flit among the shadows of these monuments like mayflies, brief creatures awaiting the embrace of the lords of the underworld. The Duke of Shadows was pleased, and the land prospered for an age.So it was that Shadows created the nation which, during the Iron Rule, the Pharoahs would mimic. Even then few nations were as blessed with the favour of a God as the Empire of Nihon, beloved of the god Kami. That Empire consisted of all the lands which are today called Japan, and at its peak the surrounding regions. It was founded by seafarers guided through a storm by Kami to the lands of Nihon. So much did Kami love the Empire that he swore by the Shinken to never abandon it, and took a mortal to wife.
Some time between the battle against the rot and the First War the Children of Grace came to be. The God of Madness took a liking to them, and has been a patron of theirs ever since. At this time the Kingdom of Grace came to be.
Meanwhile, a sect of astrologers sought to use their skills and arts to confound the plans of the gods and the cycles of the world, and thus render insult unto Time. And it was the vengeance of the Lord of Time that Niobhan who is Madness would henceforth have claim to those mortals who know the way of the stars' dance, and ever since astrologers have been mad.
“Artemisia has chosen to destroy my light in the darkness. She has made her declaration of war on the Estate of Night. If the light is lost to me, Artemisia shall have no joy of it. For war she has declared, and war she will have. Behold.”
And Destia gestured to the sky, and to the falling stars that she had caused to be. And the stars smashed into the forest and the deep places, raining fire and destruction down upon them.
“Behold the new lights in the darkness. Although I may not look upon their glory myself, I am content as long as there is always a beacon in the night. Artemisia will pay dearly for her treachery. The darkness and the Rot shall not be triumphant, even if all the Deep Places must burn to ensure this.”
At this there was an outcry, and Arenmei spoke up, saying “Destia, you're going too far. Recognise, now, that the Night is a thing of darkness, and as the guardian of the Night, you should not continue to attack this darkness. Cease this obsession with light. Stop this mad attack now and begin to tend to your Duty properly.”
But Destia was unmoved. “You would presume to tell me my Duty, Arenmei? I, who have watched over the night skies since the dawn of the universe? This is impertinence and I will hear no more of it.”
Arenmei responded. “In that case... I can sit by and entreat you no further. We will have to fight for your Estate, for I will not see it despoiled and dishonoured in this way. There must be balance, and you place the universe at risk in your passion and hatred.”
“I am doing my duty, Arenmei. Do yours and do not defy me in this.”
And so it was that Destia and Arenmei fought, and that fight continued for seven years. Destia could send no more shooting stars to burn the forests of Artemisia for all her strength was taken up by her battle against Arenmei. Although Destia was strong, the loss of her eyes had weakened her, and left her unable to fathom Arenmei’s strategy or anticipate his actions.
Back and forth across the night sky they duelled. Destia hurled huge balls of flame across the sky at Arenmei. Arenmei fought back with a mighty sword fashioned from shadows. He used his black cloak to cover the light of the moon, and though Destia tried to push it aside, she lacked the strength to do so completely. The visible part of the moon became larger and smaller as the battle raged on, and Aremnei and Destia’s power waxed and waned. The moon still waxes and wanes to this day in remembrance of that time, and as a reminder of the need for balance between the light and the darkness.
Eventually, Arenmei fought his way forward until Destia was at a standstill, her back to the moon. Arenmei grabbed her by the throat.
“Yield to me,” he demanded.
Destia knew that she was beaten, for she had no more strength in her. “I have failed my father,” she said, “and am no longer worthy of my mantle. End it now.” And no-one is sure whether she hurled herself backwards or Arenmei thrust her forwards, but Destia fell into the quicksilver of the moon. Arenmei took control of the Estate of Night.
“Destia was unwise, but she was my sister.” Arenmei told the other Gods, “I wished to give her an honourable burial.” But although he had searched the quicksilver pool of the moon for her body, he was unable to find it. But no more was heard of Destia for many years to come, until she re-emerged with her glass eyes and weird secrets as Goddess of Mirrors.
The passing of the Creator was noted by others, aside from the Gods and the rot. At the beginning of things the Creator had defined those things which did exist, and those which did not exist. Now they who did not exist saw an opportunity. "The tyrant," they thought to themselves, "who defined us and shaped us solely that we may be disenfranchised is gone - we shall go forth and wreak our vengeance on all that is real." So the forces of the Unreal went forth, and did great damage with their nonexistant powers.So began the First War, between Real and Unreal, a battle joined by all but a very few Gods. Laetatio, called the Bringer of Light, notably refused to become involved, for he abhored violence in all its forms. Artemisia refused to join battle: she would not bind any more than she would be bound. Contrary to his somewhat frivolous nature, Checkaveee took the war very seriously, and fought the Unreal with an unnerving fury.
The contribution of some Gods was more ambiguous: in particular, few understand precisely what part the Duke of Shadows played. It has long been rumoured that something in his Nature, or some obscure aspect of his Duty, compelled him to side with that which did not exist. Others say that he did nothing, finding the temptations and entreaties of both sides equally compelling. Others still sing the tale of the Duke's valiant role in the final battle, luring the Unreal to the centre of Dream with the promise of the Light Which Does Not Burn. The ambiguity is not helped by the perchant of the Unreal for illusion, contradiction and chicanery.
Arenmei's role was also doubtful. At the conflict's start he withdrew and would be found by none, only to return after a brief time and fight against the Is-Not as hard as any. He completely refused to explain what had happened during his disappearance, and continues to refuse to this day, saying only that "it is not something that should become common knowledge," and causing great speculation.
Meanwhile, the God of Madness encouraged the Unreal to engage in ever bolder and more impudent attacks. Many called him traitor, until it became clear that Madness was most loudly advocating those attacks which led to crushing defeats, or at best pyrric victories for the Unreal. And soon all whispered of how Madness had tricked the Unreal into overreaching themselves.
The Gods struggled to defeat the Unreal, for their armies, since they didn't exist, were without number, and they possessed imaginary magics which were unimaginably terrible, and yet after many sacrifices the Gods were able to defeat them and seal them in their last fortress, and then bind the fortress and the surrounding lands within dream. Ever since then, the Unreal has been plotting to escape dream, and yet so far it never has. Meanwhile, the people trapped within dream when the Gods built its wall, and the creatures which have arisen within dream since then, have all become strange over the years - some due to the corruption of the Unreal, others in order to adapt to cope with the ever-present threat of What Is Not.
Epimelesthai also found happiness in those blessed times, and married a mortal priestess of his (it is said for her music as much as her beauty). The pair were seen apart rarely, and yet even the love of Time does not save one from age, and Time's wife died after a mere fifty years. And the Lord of Time has been cold and unfeeling ever since.
Whilst the Gods reaped the benefits of peace, however, humankind soon found itself plunged into war, as certain of its kingdoms began a quarrel with the curious enclave known as the Kingdom of Grace. The Children of Grace were the descendents of the union of mortals and various breeds of servitor-spirit, and so had the freedoms of the former and the magics of the latter. They did not have the same talent for creativity and invention that gods and men shared, except when it came to tricks, pranks, deceits, lies, illusions, diplomacy and maliciousness, at which they excelled. As a result, and so all the tools and settlements and clothes and foods that they made were in imitation of mortalkind, and yet with their magics they were able to make enchant these things with great power - rivalled only by that of the gods, and by mortal magicians.
It is unclear how the hostilities between mortals and Children began. All know that it started with the first expedition of mortals into the Kingdom of Grace. The lone escapee would later claim that the Children tricked the party of men into selling their freedom in return for a glass of wine each, which would not be surprising - this story enraged Trutina, Lady of the Apples, who declared that wine was one of her Gifts to mankind and could not be sold to or withheld from mankind by bastard mongrel creatures. The King of Grace later asserted that the mortals had broken several of the laws of the Children's Kingdom (namely trespassing in a sacred grove when its inhabitants were at play, taking fruit and berries without asking permission, and speaking without politeness to their betters), and besides had come to burgle the royal palace of its treasures - considering the boorishness and greed of mortals, this is not an entirely unbelievable story, even though it comes from a Child of Grace. Note that the two stories are not mutually exclusive, and indeed most Gods believe that both are broadly correct.
Whatever the reasons, the Children enslaved a group of human adventurers. The nearby mortal nations objected, and soon war broke out. Initially mortalkind fared badly against Grace magics, until several powerful human wizards came to lend their assistance. The Old Gods watched impassively, having decided only to act if either faction threatened Creation. (Though most of the nearby mortal kingdoms were ruled by kings with Divine Right, their patron-gods did not interfere since their rulership was not threatened - the Grace-Children showed no desire to conquer any mortal kingdoms.)
Sure enough, after a hundred and thirteen years of stalemate both sides attempted to use dream-walkers to contact the Unreal. The Old Gods therefore stepped into the breach, slew the dream-walkers, and imposed a peace calculated to leave neither side entirely happy. Specifically, they supported the right of the Kingdom of Grace to enslave those who breach its borders and break its laws, but compelled the Children's Kingdom to pay yearly tribute to the Gods, and to hide their lands thoroughly from the sight of mortals so that no mortal could stumble into them except by design or a foolish excess of curiosity.
But insane arrogance seems to have been a trait of rulers of Giat, because Oamach decided since he had become a ruler of a great kingdom of Man by divine appointment, he was obviously an equal with the Gods, and further should become a ruler of Gods as well. He was also exceptionally clever and subtle, so instead of brazenly declaring his ambitions, he found out by what means humans could hope to influence the divine, and used the resources of his position and a great amount of trickery to find or develop many such sources of influence, working always secretly through intermediaries. For some time he built up his position with enormous skill, until one God was told of his plans by Oamach's closest confident, Marakesh. When the wrath of the Gods came Oamach's treachery was exposed and he was dealt with, and the wrath of the Gods was a bloody one. Marakesh demanded as a reward for his services that he be given rulership of Giat. Instead, the Empire was broen up into countless small duchies and the like: for truly, it is not well to reward one who would betray his liege-lord.
But Arenmei and Miora seemed to blame each other for setting up a mortal with such ambitions. Arguments between the two, which for aeons had not been thinkable, started to happen more and more frequently. And after their greatest argument, Miora disappeared and wandered outside of divine society for a time.
As more and more of the gathered gods saw the Tools and came to know their power, more and more of them plotted to take these most powerful of artifacts for themselves. Before the trickster could even demonstrate the marvellous powers of his newest treasures, a god who looked precisely like him marched into the room and accused him of being an impostor and a robber, demanding the return of the Tools. By this point Checkavee, Lord of the Dance, who had earlier made attempts to keep order and who as host might have judged the matter, had slipped away, and the gathering rapidly descended into a disordered riot as various gods attempted to snatch the items.
Eventually, the hammer, the knife and the compass were each taken from the gathering by a different god. Those gods and their Courts immediately began plans to acquire the other two Tools, since they were useless on their own. The War of the Gods had begun - a war which would threaten to tear Creation apart. Time declared that the War was the end of the Old Gods' power, and retired to his sanctum and did not emerge.
Madness, for one, revelled in the idea of a War of the Gods, and encouraged both sides in their battle. However, he did wax wrathful when the Court of the Underworld declared that there would be no honour guard for gods that fell in the War, and swore vengeance. It is whispered that the rogue demon Hiskarl, who can be commanded by no God and is greater than any of his peers, is the fruit and the form of that vengeance. Yet the Court of the Underworld had its own problems, for not all its luminaries agreed with Qandisa's decrees: the old Sentinel went forth to join the battles of the gods, though he was persuaded by Qandisa to not use the armies of the Underworld in the War. He was slain on the battlefield.
More serious was the rebellion of the old Shepherd, who disagreed with the moratorium on honour guards for gods killed in the War. He challenged Qandisa to a Trial by War, and fought so determinedly that when Qandisa gained the upper hand he refused to yield, perferring death to dishonour.
Towards the end of the fratricidal conflict, a band of Gods began working to take the Tools for themselves - not to use, but to destroy or hide, for they realised that the power of the Tools was too great for any one God to possess. One of the most famous members of this faction was Laetatio, who was responsible for one of its greatest victories and its final defeat.
Now it came to pass that the God of Shadows had taken the Compass and hidden it from the sight of men and Gods in the Darkest of Places. Yet then the Bringer of Light, Laetatio, poured forth the light of the brightest stars on the Darkest Place, and a bit of light glinted on the Compass's frame: then was its place revealed and it was lost to the Duke. The Duke raged, though yet it is said by some that he forgave Laetatio before the War's end.
And after this success came the failure of those who wished the undoing of the Tools. It is said that this noble endeavour failed due to the kindness of Laetatio, for after gaining the Knife through unusual means (a trickster had swapped it with a replica, made of the trickster's own bones) he gave it to a mortal, who claimed to come on behalf of mankind to beg for an end to the war which was ravaging Creation. Laetatio had urgent business, and so told the mortal to stay, and to keep the Knife for a while as Laetatio's guarantee that he would return and listen to the mortal's appeal. When Laetatio returned, the mortal was gone - and mere days later, Laetatio was accosted by men with burnt, scarred faces, stinking of molten iron, who stabbed him with the very Knife he had given up and bound him where they caught him. The fall of Laetatio is regarded as the beginning of the end of the conflict.
The final outcome of the war is known to all, though the identity of the victors is unclear. What is certain is that eventually the three Tools were snatched by a small clique, who proceeded to use them to banish and bind the Old Gods to the hidden places of the earth, and to establish Iron Laws which would function in the place of the Old Gods to keep Creation ticking, and to breed the foul burnt metal men they used as enforcers. Since the identity of this clique is not generally known, they are widely referred to as the Gods of the Iron Laws.
The binding of the Old Gods took a whole week. Eventually, all were bound, even Madness, who was entrapped in Dream just out of sight of the Kingdom of Grace, which he favoured. In a way this was a boon, for mortals who escaped the normal bounds of mortal dreams and stumbled across his prison were driven insane, and did not win through to the fortress of the Unreal.
The very last God to be bound was the Duke of Shadows, who had flitted from hidden vault to lightless nightmare since the fall of Laetatio. In the end Burnt-Metal-Men surrounded the exhausted Duke in an ancient tomb in the land which in the Iron Rule would be called Egypt, and with his last free breath the Duke cursed the very walls of the crypt which would become his prison.
For millenia the Old Gods were trapped, unable to leave their prisons, torn away from their palaces and dens and places of power. They were not entirely alone. Their worshippers immediately began to search of them, and many eventually found their former masters after long and arduous journeys - although they were forced to go underground to avoid the wrath of the Iron Laws.And after a while, there came the New Gods, born of the Old Gods through unions with men or spirits, or through being crafted from the ground, or through the carrying of seeds from one Old God to another. Amongst the first was Isis, daughter of the old Starsinger, who hatched from a star when the Iron Rule took hold of the world.
The New Gods were not bound as the Old Gods were, and yet were forced to keep a low profile - the Iron Rule would have killed them had they raised their heads. They took messages for the Old Gods, and ran other errands in return for tutelege in the history of Creation and the way of the Gods. They infiltrated mortal society under assumed names, and became the patrons of many areas of human enterprise, from the arts to the sciences to business to politics - though they always had to be scrupulous about not letting their true nature be known, nor did they dare cross the Iron Rule.
Meanwhile, the Iron Rule continued apace. It was by no means perfect. The Gods of the Iron Laws used the Tools to their fullest extent, but they could not perfectly fill the Duties of the Old Gods. Some examples of their misrule include:
Human civilisation was critically destabilised: government and big business simply couldn't cope with the wave of floods, earthquakes, and less natural disasters. The infrastructure of civilisation was ruined: all computer and telephone networks, electricity grids, water and gas supplies and so forth were destroyed.
Cults sprang up announcing the end of the world. The more canny cults of the Old and New Gods began to raise their profile, proclaiming that the Gods would soon walk the world once more - with civilisation in crisis, the Gods of the Iron Laws did not have enough resources to suppress them.
For all of last month the Sun did not rise. The sky glowed pale and green and strange silhouettes were seen flying across it. Humanity huddled in the ruins, fearing the worst. For the last week, no disasters shook the world - no liberated dragons destroying any cities, no volcanos spewing lava across the countryside, nothing. The world held its breath and awaited the return of divine order.
(NB: Once we have processed people's Turn 0 actions, we will put up the first news which will go into yesterday's events in more detail.)
The Gods of the Iron Laws are in hiding, assuming that they aren't dead. If anyone ever finds out who they were and where they are, they can expect harsh treatment. The Old Gods have returned to find that many of their fellows are dead - some killed in the War of the Gods, others committing suicide during the Iron Rule. The New Gods can at last cease skulking around in the shadows and take their rightful places in the family of the gods. Many gods have set about seizing control of the Estates, others are settling old scores or simply rejoicing in their freedom.
The Lord of the Dance has called the first meeting of the gods since the outbreak of the War of the Gods - it will take place in the Room of the First Ball, the Dance-Lord's palace and the site of the first ever meeting of the Old Gods after the Creator's death.
(NB: If no player takes the Estate of "Lord of the Dance", it will be assumed that it is filled by an NPC. Similarly, the High Lord of the Underworld is still around, being the only Court ruler to survive the War of the Gods, so if no player takes that Estate it will also be filled by an NPC. All other Estates which have not been bought at character generation are up for grabs at the start of the game.)