Creation Event

In the beginning, there was void. The great creator Ori, one of the Timeless, fashioned existence as a child might fashion a city in a sandbox. An unknown amount of times, the cosmos would be created, run it's course, spring forth life, and then in a blink, fall in on itself. To create form out of void is within the power of the Timeless. What is not within their power is to recognize the Spirit of Vengeance, until too late. The untold amounts of life, created, snuffed out gave rise to resentment against life, and unbeknownst to it, against the Timeless themselves. As more and more cosmii were created, the Spirit of Vengeance grew in power until the creation of our cosmos, where in the space between the void, it struck. Shattering Ori the Timeless into three spirits, the Spirit of Vengeance exhausted itself. Forever sealing the shattered remnants of Ori into the last cosmos it created. Corrupted by the sundering, the three spirits become Order, Chaos and Logic. Each spent some time recovering from their battle. Separate and of unknowable power, the three spirits licked their wounds. This period is known as the Lightless Age. Life as mundane creatures know it does not exist. Each of the three spirits carry a great wound, a terrible fear of giving rise to the spirit of vengeance ever again. Together they vow to never create mundane life and for many millions of years, this is the case. Until the Age of Creation. Chaos began first. Swirling clouds of dust left behind as they dance across the cosmos are quickly ordered into place by their sibling. Stars stab light into the darkness, then rocky worlds suspended in the grasp of the celestial lighthouses gather into galaxies. Aspects of Ori shine through, as Chaos cannot help but smash apart and create. It was this that drew Order to Chaos, and despite their inclinations, they birthed the Allmother, Compassion. She is the progenitor of our world. Thus begins the Age of Life, anew.

Compassion, bored with the simple-minded destruction and creation of her parents, set out to create a garden for herself. Choosing the world known to us as Sytol, she expressed her desire for simple beauty in creating life and breathing it across the world. Compassion sought more than simple grasses, plants and blue skies and sought to create a caretaker. So begins the Age of the Foretals. Compassion sought a way to impart herself, and subsequently parts of her parents into these first peoples. Little is known of them, though their ruins and remnants of their powers are scatted across the world. For thousands of years, the Foretals tended and built upon Compassion's garden, using her gifts to imbue powerful magical artifacts, creating cities teeming with people dedicated to the maintenance and improvement of her garden, the world of Sytol. That is, until Chaos feels the spirit of vengeance tug at her heart. The three shattered remains of Ori sense a growing power, as the Foretals perish and their souls begin to resent their beautiful, yet comparitively short and pain-filled lives. They begin to fear an impending doom and flit in desperation across the cosmos, searching for the life which for them, could spell disaster. Chaos is the first to discover Compassion's garden. Foretals tell of a swirling sillouete of terrible black energy, swirling with sharp points of light descending to the world and an ear-splitting scream of desperate rage flattening cities. Chaos manifested a great sword and in a single blow, cut Compassion down. Logic and Order sense this and arrive to investigate, but not before Chaos unleashes a world destroying storm of magic, which begins to creep around the world. As Logic and Order see the body of Compassion, and see that Chaos has spelled destruction for the world and it's teeming life, they spirit Chaos away. Order carries in their heart a heavy burden of sadness and angry grief towards Chaos for killing their daughter, and together with Logic, they bind themselves into a self induced slumber, in order to halt any more pain. It is why Logic dances always closer with Order, and without Compassion, grows colder. So begins the Age of the Foretals.

Seeing their Allmother cut down and a horribly destructive storm manifest on their world, the Foretals steal the heart of Compassion and burrow into their world. The surface is scoured of life, bringing about horrible mutations and then death for anything unfortunate enough to encounter it. Thus abberations are born. Primordial creatures seeking safety from the magics in the depths of the oceans of Sytol, forever filled with malice and hatred of life. The Foretals set about delving into their world, burrowing further down and away, seeking safety for their people. Eventually, a network of cities is established, with a grand tomb to house the heart of Compassion. Here we can see the division of the species of Sytol. The Foretals who remain close to Compassion, those who carry her in their hearts become the noble races. Those without become base creatures and beasts and those who actively spurn her, give rise to the monsterous races of the world. Such is the Age of the Foretals.

The Age of Separation.

As the cities of the Foretals delve deeper into the world below, eventually the underdark is discovered. This network of tunnels spans the entire world, but those brave or foolish enough to enter it are often lost forever. Those Foretals nearest the surface begin to manifest a rudimentary ability to practice magic, some touched by the vestigial weaves of energy transmitted from the raging storm above. These Foretals are given preferential treatment, and soon schools are established to condense and learn more about the ability to practice magic. Enormous crystals are fashioned and brought near the surface, each slowly siphoning away the power of the storm on the surface, and condensing it in a way useful to the Foretals. It is here where the greatest separation begins for the Foretals. Those nearest the surface and priviledged to practice magic grow slender and remain tall, while those who burrow to expand the cities grow shorter and stronger. Thus the Foretals divide into what we now know as the Elves and the Dwarves. As the division of class and power increase, resentment grows between the two. The Dwarves, often used to fill the armies needed to resist the monsterous creatures from the Underdark and from fallen Foretal cities grow resentful of the magically inclined Elves. A theft of one of the ley-crystals proves to be too much for the Elves to condone, and as the last of the original Foretals die off, the two separate species often fight, often war and for most of this age, go back and forth, warring between themselves for increasingly empty tunnels and cities.

The Age of Escape. Not all Elves hate the Dwarves, and an ardent religious faction dedicated to Compassion seek resolution. One renegade, however, seeks to expand to the surface. Breaching through an ancient gate, they find the surface of Sytol, drained of the magical storm, a safe enough place to begin to expand. As the stories spread, more and more Elves arrive to escape the war and to leave the Dwarves to fend for themselves until eventually, several cities on the surface have been established. In a terrible loss, the Tomb of Compassion falls into Dwarven hands, but this spells the end of the race war, as Compassion works in the hearts of the Dwarves, who slowly become more amenable to the idea of peace.

The Age of Mankind

The Elves, finding themselves unable to produce enough offspring to fend off the multitudes of Dwarves, practice the ancient rite of lifebringing, moulding a crude clay form and instilling a fragment of Compassion's heart into it. A new species entirely, mankind introduced into a life of perpetual servitude. Ordered to maintain the Elvish gardens and help construct their cities and beautiful architecture, mankind eventually breaks away, forming small nomadic tribes and using guerilla tactics to resist the shackles of their former Elven masters. Eventually, the Elves forbid the use of lifebringing magic, learning their lesson and retreating into elusive, and well defended cities, letting the rest of the races to spread across the world.