Renegade The World of Ralsted
In the Beginning…
In the newly abridged Holy Books of Reanneth, God of the Hunt, Melin, God of Justice, Unger, Goddess of Love and Hethnor, Goddess of Trade, it is written…
The Universe was born from Primordial Chaos in an instant that no living or Immortal being existed to behold. Yet as it grew and expanded infinitely, it suddenly became self-aware. Looking back, she could see only what she was born of, but into the future, she found that she could only influence what would be. Thus, as the Universe continued to grow, she manipulated her fabric and the Galaxies, Suns and Planets around them were formed. Totally omnipotent in her power, she continued to expand, and as there was no such thing as time, decided to contemplate infinity, enjoying infinitesimal wonders in infinitesimal number of possibilities and probabilities. Thus, thus the Universe studied, observed and manipulated all that had been created from the Primordial Chaos.
The Age of Creation began as the Universe decided to separate the Elements of Fire, Earth, Water and Air. Each Element obeyed her implicitly and perhaps because of her influence, they too became self aware. She then created an infinitesimal number of worlds, spun from the chaos around the infinitesimal stars, where the four Elements could work to create beauty. The World of Ralsted was just such a one; formed and moulded with a generous mix of minerals, plants, animals, and fearsome creatures with elemental properties to allow for a challenging existence.
On the World of Ralsted, the Universe created eight, self-aware, equally intelligent humanoid creatures, each with an affinity to a particular Elemental Force.
Humans and Orcs were created with an affinity for Fire due to their shorter lifespan and passion to accomplish greatness.
Wood Elves and Winged Elves were created with an affinity for Air due to their longer lifespan and flighty nature.
Dwarves and Goblins were created with an affinity for Earth due to their desire to study the mysteries of minerals.
Mere Folk and Lizard Folk were created with an affinity for Water due to their freedom of the other world of the oceans, lakes and rivers.
So as to allow such diverse races to coexist, the Universe allowed each race to interbreed with one another, sharing attributes of both parents. Yet the Universe knew that each race would need guidance to bring them to their potential and to watch over them and their needs.
The Gods of Ralsted were created by the Universe to guide the people spiritually and Holy Might derived from the faith of those who worshiped them. There were twenty Gods whose realms of influence were diverse and satisfied the needs of each race and culture and the numbers of the people multiplied as the Gods walked amongst the people, appearing in the holy guise of each Race depending on where they travelled so as to show their love for each race and to care for, nurture and teach the people on their own terms. The Gods were…
Idachie, Goddess Of Medicine,
Cecure, Goddess Of Protection,
Lelene, God Of Courage,
Kimnore, Goddess Of Death,
Eldache, Goddess Of Dexterity,
Itisse, Goddess Of Creativity,
Juire, Goddess Of Knowledge,
Isiere, God Of Fortitude,
Syane, Goddess Of Willpower,
Syware, God Of Secrets,
Ykalae, God Of War,
Reanneth God of The Hunt,
Melin God of Justice,
Unger Goddess Of Love,
Worende, God Of Nature,
Aroshe, God Of Steel,
Eraze, God Of Speed,
Daearen, God Of Strength,
Hethnor, Goddess of Trade,
Nalnale, Goddess Of Wisdom.
So as to ensure that the Peoples would be served by their Gods, the Universe gave the Gods command over the four Elements. The Gods then combined their powers to manipulated the Chaos of the Elements into a Lawful hierarchy of Elemental Beings; each ruled by an Elemental King, with many different self aware Elemental Beings who did their bidding. Of the most pious of their followers the Gods gave instructed and created the Priesthood who could perform minor acts of control over the Elemental Creatures to help the peoples of Ralsted. Under the protection of the Gods and with the care of the Priesthoods, the people of the World of Ralsted multiplied and thrived within the natural surroundings that most suited them and there was peace and abundance and a balance to all things and the Gods dwelt amongst their peoples.
The Golden Age of Ralsted was a time where mighty Empires formed as the peoples multiplied throughout the lands. The various races created a diversity of nations, alliances formed and ended. Times of Peace and times of War occurred in the thousands of years that followed the creation of the World. As the Gods had given the people free will, some people sought to rule over others and wars were fought against these aggressions. The Gods refused support to these Wars; restricting the Priesthood to Neutrality; condoning the conflicts that harmed the people and rules of Warfare; enforced by the Gods prevented wholesale slaughter of innocents.
In this time, the Godless were small numbers of each race who chose not to worship any God, instead choosing to make their way in the World without such Divine guidance and assistance. While most of the people of Ralsted embraced the Gods, worshiping all of them equally, some of the people worshiped only a few or only one specifically. Persecution of the Godless increased as the races of Ralsted multiplied and villages became cities and wherever the Priesthood preached intolerance towards Godless, they the were driven away.
The Godless continued to struggle for exist until finally, a few individuals found that they could gain some measure of power in the worship of a single Element. In wilderness areas of the World, some of these individuals; known as Shamans; became the Leaders of small villages where their power over their people was strong; the success or failure of a crop subject to the Shaman’s influence over the Element that they Worshiped.
At first, this assistance was limited and unreliable compared to the guidance of those who worshiped the Gods but the Priests rarely went into the Wilds and the Shaman’s efforts had no competition or comparison. Yet gradually over time, the Shamans learned to enter into subservience with the Elemental powers, major and minor amongst the Elemental hierarchy. Shaman found that by making minor sacrifices as a trade for their help, the Elemental Entities would do their bidding with more reliability.
As the Shaman increased in their powers the leaders of Mighty Armies recognised their usefulness and would recruit the Shaman to fight for their cause. Summoned Elementals of each of the Four Elements would wreak havoc on the battlefield and soon there were no wars that didn’t involve Elemental Creatures; with opposed Elements quite often raging beyond the abilities of their Shaman to bargain with.
For hundreds of years; as Empires clashed; Shaman sold themselves to whoever would pay the most while the Priesthood were forbidden to take sides in conflicts. However, Priests were permitted to intervene to protect the people from the Elemental forces and did so with great zeal, using their powers of Control of the four Elements to construct defensive walls around their cities, towns and villages and binding many Elemental Creatures to artefacts to be used in defence of the people.
As the wars between Nations intensified and the horrors of ungoverned Elemental warfare threatened the peace of the world, the Gods began to intervene; placing themselves between great armies and commanding the Elementals to return to their home planes. However; as it is now known; that from the very beginning; Elemental Beings had never submitted to the order and domination of the Gods. In their intervention, the four Elements conspired and worked their influences subtly to enrage one God against another; offering more power for one, while withholding it from another. With flattery and deception; some Gods elevated themselves above their brothers and sisters until the Age of Creation ended abruptly in War; involving Gods, Elementals and Mortals on a battlefield that spanned the entire World.
The War of The Immortals…
The War Of The Immortals caused devastation throughout the World of Ralsted. On every continent; in every nation and race the consequences of the War were felt as the fighting raged in and out of the physical, ethereal, spiritual realms. The worshipers of the different Gods would turn on one another, or join forces and follow their deity to War alongside the Priesthood with their summoned Elemental Creatures to do their bidding. On the Battlefield Gods, Elementals and Mortals smote each other alike.
Mortals could not harm the Gods and perished. Elemental Creatures could only weaken a God before being utterly destroyed. When the Gods raged against one another only the strongest Mortals could remain standing or hope to survive the battle. At the time, no mortal knew the reasons why the Gods fell on one another with such ferocity but the destruction of the war was nothing compared to the moment the first God fell by the hand of another.
The Death of a Mortal at the hands of the Gods or Elemental Entities caused little or no consequence on the Battlefield; be they King or lowly farmer. The Death of an Elemental creature at the hands of a God or another Elemental will cause an Elemental storm only to an area of a battlefield. The Universe wept stars at the Death of a God. Millions of the people died as the ground was sundered, cities fell into ruin. Unfettered Elemental Creatures lashed out in every direction as they absorbed the powers of those that perished and went mad.
Yet as Gods faced Gods across the chaos of the battlefield, and the first of them died, the fabric of time and space ripped open and Gates that held back the constraints placed over the Elemental Forces opened up and Elemental Creatures that had not been summoned with any governance or controls entered the fray in Chaos. This sudden increase in power shattered their Elemental minds and they rampaged unchecked, depopulating even the most well protected city, town or village in their unfettered rage.
Yet the Gods fought on and hundreds of thousands of Mortals died in battle against one another or at the hands of the raging Elemental forces tearing at the World of Ralsted. God after God fell, and it finally came to pass that the Universe, fearing the total destruction of all that had come to be, ended the war. In an instantaneous catastrophic storm of raw Energy the Gods were banished from walking the World of Ralsted and the Gates to the Elemental Planes were sealed. Yet the Force she unleashed also destroyed much of what remained of the civilisations of all peoples and ended the lives of those mortals who yet still remained under arms on the battlefields across the World.
The Four Living Gods…
The four surviving Gods, Reanneth God of the Hunt, Melin God of Justice, Unger God of Love, and Hethnor, Goddess of Trade , banished from the World of Ralsted were no longer permitted by the Universe to influence their peoples directly as she had decided that Mortals would be responsible for their own destiny. Weakening slightly by the plight of the peoples calling out to the Gods that they still loved, she relented by permitted the Gods, from that time onwards, to continue to guide their people, but only through the use of dreams, Prophets and a Priesthood rather than direct intervention.
In closing the Elemental gates, the Universe restricted the surviving Elemental Lords and minor powers to their own planes, only to be called for by the Mortals of Ralsted rather than the Gods who had abused their power. Yet during the War of the Gods, the powers of the Elemental Entities had grown and unified as the power of the fallen was absorbed by those that continued to exist, but their power was now more chaotic, mad and twisted as minor entities swelled and became self-aware. The old Elemental Kings were deposed, destroyed and their power absorbed as a new hierarchy was formed.
Golden Age Priesthood…
The surviving Priesthood of the four living Gods, as well as the Godless ones now find it more difficult gauging and controlling the new hierarchy within the Elements, represented by Imps, Minor and Major Elementals and occasionally Elemental Lords of Fire, Earth, Water and Air and the peoples, fearful of both Gods and Elementals alike were now reluctant to empower either.
Another unfortunate consequence of the War of the Gods is that of the plague of Undead now infest much of the World; as a consequence of the loss of Kimnore, Goddess Of Death. It is believed that; due to the death and destruction in the towns and cities of the World; where they lay unburied at the time of Kimnore’s death; that a curse is now upon them for all eternity. The dead have now risen from where they had fallen and will not suffer to live the creatures and peoples who they encounter; dragging them to their deaths and swelling their numbers; especially on the frontiers. Only through careful study has it become known that the undead curse may be appeased if the body or skeletal remains are buried or interned in a crypt and shown the honours due to them with a simple ritual to Kimnore. Those that are thus provided a resting place remain where they lay but the Undead Curse is not broken and should they be disturbed once again, they will rise as before. It has also been discovered that those who have died and been buried since the War of the Gods are also afflicted by the curse and their bones do not crumble to dust. Nor do those who are cremated turn to ash as their bones remain. They too will rise unless their bones are provided for in an honourable fashion.
The Age of Enlightenment as these times are now considered are upon us. I, Nathan, High Priest of Hethnor; Chief Advisor to the Duchy of Yal, lived through these times and we of the Priesthood of the four living Gods have done our best to restore the faith of the people. Yet the task is daunting as the work that had once been shared amongst twenty was now only being burdened to the few. New generations have been born and many of the peoples of the World of Ralsted have adjusted to life without divine intervention of the Gods they once worshiped. The World has changed and for us of the Priesthood, and we fear for the future. Yet the Priesthood will continue to help nations rebuild and the people of the World as best we can.