Creation of Talsmara

## The Beginning

The beginning of the world was a time of savagery. The wilderness was untamed and deadly monsters ruled the forest. The oceans dominated the continent, and huge beasts lurked in their depths. The aboleths ruled the seas, their great civilization reaching near divine status. On land, it was the Tarrasque that was the apex predator. Nothing could defeat it, and it roamed the lands, destroying most things in its path. The elemental planes regularly bled into the world; places of primordial power appeared in certain areas. That is, until the gods arrived.

Finding this world adrift in the sea of realities, a few divine beings took a liking to it. They waged a war on the aboleths, banishing them into the darkest abyss of the ocean. They imprisoned the Tarrasque deep within the core of the world.

At first, there were two divines:

* Lumina. The goddess of light, creation, life.
* Shroud. The god of darkness, destruction, death.

The divines worked together to rid the world of its dominant predators, those of the Tarrasque and Aboleths.

To populate the world and worship her, Lumina created the first humanoids from the wood of the trees. These people were known as elves. She then created another people from the rock of the mountains and hills, these were known as dwarves. Along with the dwarves, giants lived in the mountains.

The dwarves were instilled with a spark of inspiration; that of creation and discovery. The elves were given the gift of preservation and empathy.

However, darker forces worked on the corners of the divines' work, where they could not be seen. They slowly corrupted the two races, bestowing upon them obsessions. The dwarves were cursed with greed, the need to keep pushing the limits of what they could do. The elves were cursed with paranoia, a quality that led them to isolate themselves from the rest of the world.

Shroud knew that, without natural predators, these people would ravage the world. He created the dragons as a replacement for the predators they had killed off. The first dragon, Enmebargasi, had great glittering scales, and could soar through the air like a bird. Others followed, of all colors of the rainbow.

## The Fall of Lumina and Shroud

Time passed, and the elves and dwarves lived together. Lumina and Shroud disappeared from the world. When they returned, they had created children, more divines.

Their names were:

* Talisman. The god of magic.
* Perdition. The god of war.
* Felicity. The goddess of luck.
* Sovereign. The god of kings.

During this time away, other gods had arrived and left their own races on the world.

* Giants
* Yuan-Ti, from a great serpent god

However, the original divines were horrified to find that the races had not been coexisting. The dwarves had dug so deep that they had burrowed straight into another plane of the world, that of the Nine Hells. Devils had reached into the material plane, corrupting the minds of dwarves and elves alike. They turned them against each other, and a war broke out. At this point, the malevolent presence revealed itself. It was the Great Ones, the oldest beings of the universe, determined to have everything bend to the will of the laws of entropy. The gods rebelled against the Great Ones.

Shroud sacrificed himself to sever the world's connection to the Nine Hells, but also opened it up to the other planes as well. The Feywild, the Shadowfell, and the Astral Sea all established connections through the sacrifice of Shroud. His body became the conduit for travel across the planes.

Lumina sacrificed herself to create five great pillars to protect the world. These acted as a planar foundation, holding the world up. With her dying breath, she did two final tasks. She created the humans, a race uncorrupted by the devils, one filled with fighting spirit and wanderlust. These people would bring change to the world. Her final task was to turn her body into a magical barrier around the world, protecting it from external influence. This became known as the Veil.

With the devils pushed back into the Nine Hells, the races settled into their respective areas of the world. The dwarves to their hills and mountains and the elves to their forests and jungles. However, the humans were left without a home, and began to roam the world. They created caravans and wandered the world, looking for a purpose.

## The First Age

At this time, the world was opened up to the rest of the planes. The Fey took an interest in the elves, and established contact with them. The gnomes came of this meeting. The wood gnomes staying within the forests, and the rock gnomes moving to live with the dwarves, who shared similar ideals.

Humans mixed with all other races of the world, resulting in half-elves and other breeds. Some humans were lured in to the dark temptations of a dark god Gruumsh, who had come to the world after it was opened to the planes. Gruumsh corrupted these humans, bestowing them with his gifts. These people become Orcs.

As time passed, the humans began to settle down and band together, creating kingdoms like the elves and dwarves had. However, some of the humans wanted to remain in their nomadic state. Over time, these people became the halflings.

Other races came from other planes:

* Aarakocra came from the Elemental Plane of Air.
* Triton came from the Elemental Plane of Water.
* Goliaths came from the Elemental Plane of Earth.

Humans propagated throughout the world, leaving in their wake:

* Tieflings, created from humans associating with the dark powers of the Nine Hells
* Half-Elves, created from a mix of Human and Elf
* Half-Orcs, created from a mix of Human and Orc
* Shifters, created from a mix of Human and Tabaxi

Other races appeared throughout the world.

* Changeling
* Firbolg
* Kenku
* Lizardfolk
* Minotaur
* Tabaxi
* Tortle

These races also spread throughout the world, attempting to create their own civilizations.