The Beginning of Ebeon

## **Tharizdun, Erathis, Atropus, and the Primordial Chaos**

When the Universe began, it was in a state of Primordial Chaos. It was a limitless nothing, without shape or form. This was how the first being who ruled over this Universe liked it. Its name was Tharzidun. It is not known how Tharzidun manifested, perhaps he was a relic from a past universe. He was the ruler of all primordials who reigned within the Elemental Chaos, an inner plane of the Universes cosmology. There were other planes and worlds inside this Multiverse and the primordials coveted them all. Soon many worlds and planes had been consumed by Tharzidun and the primordials. Their inhabitants names have been lost to time, swallowed by chaos. Their consumption of these worlds eventually brought them to the Astral Sea. This is where the first god was birthed and her name is Erathis. In order for her existence to be possible, there first had to be death. Atropus, the one being who ruled in this plane, sacrificed itself so that there would be life instead of neverending churning chaos. Erathis was the first being that could challenge the primordials reign. However she needed more help to defeat an entire army. Therefore she created a warrior of great might whom the Primordials called Asmodeus. He was a great weapon and after many battles, Erathis and Asmodeus were able to defeat the primordials and end Tharizdun’s reign of terror. The primordials retreated to their home plane of Elemental Chaos severely weakened. Tharizdun is imprisoned in the Voidharrow, a dead universe parallel to the one Ebeon resides in. The reason for this as his prison was to leave him in a realm just like the one he sought to create. He now has nothing to destroy and an infinite amount of time to lay out an infinite number of plans to free himself, only for him to have no way of implementing any of them. However he continues to seep into the universe because his power is so great.

However, all was not peaceful in the multiverse. The emergence of gods resulted in their opposites being created to bring balance to the world. The god of chaos and destruction, Set emerged from the Astral Sea as did the evil opposite of Asmodeus, Kovas. These two, knowing that they were not yet powerful enough to challenge the Gods, retreated to a realm they created known as the Abyss and set about creating an army of demons.

There was another enemy that neither one realized still existed. After sacrificing itself for Erathis, Atropus never truly died, it still floats through the cosmos, looking to destroy all life. Now known as the World Born Dead, it has realized it made a huge mistake in giving true life to a dead universe. Now it seeks to correct that mistake and remake the world in its image, a universe of undeath.

## **Erathis and the Elves**

While Set and Kovas created their Chaotic realms in other planes of existence, Erathis set about forming something out of nothing. The Universe was soon created and filled with galaxies, stars, planets, etc. One of these galaxies she created contained the world of Ebeon. After traversing the universe and creating it, Erathis grew tired and wanted to focus on a smaller project. This smaller project would be found on Ebeon. It was the perfect location for life to flourish, and flourish it did after Erathis’ intervention. The foliage and natural geography already existed, but Erathis wanted to create sentient creatures. The first race she created were the elves. They were granted long lives and ethereal beauty. She then formed the metallic dragons to protect them. Both the Elves and Dragons sentience allowed for more gods to rise in the pantheon with Erathis. With the creation of laws and justice came Tyr. The creation of dragons led to the rise of Bahamut. When the Elves looked to the sun there was Pelor shining down on them and marking the passage of time. When night came, Avandra arose from the sky and change came with her. With knowledge and writing, Thoth arose. When farmers looked to the skies, the Dagda was there to tend their crops. When the elves began exploring the seas of Ebeon, Obad-Hai came alive to churn the waves. When they travelled through the untamed wildernesses and mountains, the great goddess Skadi arose to take charge. When the elves caroused, Bacchus and Bes were there to join them in their mirth. When storms shook the night sky, they thundered in the name of Kord. The Elves lived a heavenly existence in the eden that was Ebeon. However, that would all change with the betrayal of Asmodeus and the Great Demon Incursion.

## **The Beginning of the Dawn War**

Asmodues was upset with his treatment after his and Erathis’ defeat of the Primordials. He felt as though Erathis took him for granted and never properly thanked him. Instead, she went on a journey across the Universe, while he was a weapon with no purpose. He was also jealous of how all of the other gods flocked to her and ignored him. He was the reason they are alive today but he received no accolades or thanks. He especially hated Ebeon as he viewed her pet project as the most selfish action. Creating a race in the image of the gods was taking it too far and so he set about destroying the world that he believed was an abomination.

He did the unthinkable and met with his ancient enemies, the Primordials. He asked them to grant him an army that could destroy the elves and Dragons, and perhaps the gods themselves. They obliged and agreed to help him and set about preparing an invasion. Set heard word of this and began plotting a demonic incursion of his own to capitalize on the chaos this war would be sure to spread.

First the Primordials arrived with their army from the Plane of Elemental Chaos and assaulted the peaceful Elves and Dragons. The Elves and Dragons were heavily outnumbered and had never fought a war before or suffered deaths on such a large scale. The gods knew they had to interfere and thus created the dwarves, a stout race with creative minds. The Dwarves created great weapons of war for the Elves to wield. The King of the Elves, Corellon Larethian led the Elves to numerous victories with these great weapons. Set seeing his chance, invaded the realm with an Abyssal legion of his own. The coalition of Elves, Dwarves and Dragons were soon outnumbered once again and thus the humans were created. They were a strong race, bred to have war within their blood, and were quite numerous compared to the Elves and Dwarves. With the war being so violent and horrific, more evil gods arose to help Set and Asmodeus in their war against creation. Nerull (the first death God), Yeenghou, Tiamat, Jergal (not yet the god of death), Gruumsh, and Maglubiyet all arose during this period. Much like the Good Gods creating new races to combat them, the Evil Gods created forces within their own image: Orcs, Ogres, Wargs, Trolls, Gnolls, etc. The war continued to rage and the races of Good continued to be pushed back, until the Goddess of Magic, Mystra emerged.

## **Mystra and Magic**

As the great battle waged on, the battles between gods and mortals was shattering the fabric of the Material Plane. The walls holding back the other planes was continually being shattered, and the gods, being so distracted by the protracted war against their evil cousins, hardly noticed. Thus, the Universe birthed a force that could hold the Material Realm in place. This force is known as magic and is one of the most powerful forces in the universe. In order to help harness it, the Goddess Mystra was created along with it. Mystra was at first focused on fixing the damage created by the war between the gods. However, she was not a neutral observer for long and decided to aid the Good Gods seeing the irreparable damage that would be caused to the Universe if Evil was fully unleashed. Therefore, she taught the power of spellcasting to the mortals and this allowed them to turn the tide. Corellon Larethian was the greatest spellcaster and warrior the world had seen and the good races followed his lead in driving back the evil races. Soon, the Great War seemed as though it would be over soon. However, there was one last trick up Set’s sleeve.

## **The Sundering of the Elves**

During the Great War, Set had been trying to sow discord within the Elven ranks. Seeing them as the most powerful of the mortal races, he knew that a division within their ranks could lead to the defeat of the Gods. Thus, he at some point had begun whispering into the powerful wife of Corellon Larethian, Lolth’s ear. He told her that joining with him would grant her power beyond her wildest imagination. While Corellon was off leading the troops, Lolth had ruled at home and had always sought power. She wanted to rule solely as Queen before her father had married her off to Corellon, a man she despised for taking away what she believed should be her Kingdom. The patriarchal society of the Elves made her just a figurehead while Corellon was allowed to rule. Therefore Set’s promises enticed her, and her influence at home allowed her to turn many to the Evil ways of Chaos and the Abyss. This was the creation of those known as the Drow. Lolth also turned many Dragon kind to the Abyss and soon evil Chromatic Dragons were brought to Ebeon, and the evil Dragon Goddess Tiamat arose with them. Soon these traitors attacked throughout the Elven Kingdoms and began to kill any Elves who refused to turn to the Abyss. When Corellon heard of this, he was forced to turn his army around to meet his own people, and wife, in battle. This left his dwarven and human allies alone to face the armies of the gods of Evil.

## **The Final Battle**

The loss of the Elves in the great army left the humans and dwarves without strong spellcasters and their greatest warriors. The Battle of the Risen was horrific as the humans and dwarves lost thousands of troops within hours. The Dawn War seemed to be at an end. That was until, Shar (her real name was expunged from the histories) somehow slew the Evil God of Death Nerull and obtained his Divine Spark. With the God of Death now on the side of creation she returned thousands of Dwarves and Humans to life, turning the battle in favor of creation. As the mortals fought on the ground, Erathis and her old friend Asmodeus met in the skies. Their battle took them from the material plane across all the planes of existence. Eventually, Erathis gained the upper hand and sent Asmodeus crashing through the Astral Plane. He eventually landed in what is today known as the Nine Hells. Asmodeus was now the ruler of the devils and after his great fall, he immediately set about another grand plan of revenge. After the loss of their greatest warrior, the primordials and Abyssal troops were soon defeated and returned to their own planes, while the orcs and other mortal creations of evil were scattered. The Evil Gods then retreated to their own planes. Mystra created a magical vale to seal both the Good and Evil Gods within their own realms. This has prevented them from physically intervening on the Material Plane ever again.

## **The Defeat of the Drow**

Meanwhile, the Elves were battling their own kind after the Drow’s great betrayal. Corellon tried to speak to Lolth and bring her back from the depths of the Abyss. However, she was committed to destroying the Elves and leading the Drow to dominate the world with the aid of Set. When the two sides met in battle, horrific losses were suffered on both sides. Corellon and Lolth met in the center of the battlefield and had a duel that lasted for hours. By the end both were exhausted but they continued to battle. Lolth eventually gained the advantage and began to beat Corellon into the ground. Corellon knew that if Lolth were to fall, the drow would be forced to retreat as their spiritual and seemingly invincible leader had fallen. Therefore, Corellon in his exhausted state, knowing that utilizing his most powerful spell would most likely kill him, still cast it. It tore Lolth asunder, scattering her to ash in full view of the Drow army. They fled and eventually settled in the Underdark. Lolth was saved from death by Set who brought her to the Abyss to rule alongside him. Corellon meanwhile was mortally wounded. He was slowly dying on the battlefield and as the Elves gathered around him, he suddenly gained ascendancy. Corellon was so influential that he obtained a divine spark and became the god of the Elves. Corellon then created his own domain, the Feywild, and sometimes returns to the material realm to intervene, occasionally, within Almorin and the Wood Elf kingdoms of Syngorn and Lyrengorn.

## Humanity and the New Races

 After the war concluded, humans began a period of infighting known as the Dark Ages. Meanwhile, new races emerged that are known as Gnomes, Halflings, and Dragonborn. The Gnomes and Halflings were taken in by the Elves and Dwarves to be taught how to survive in the world. The Dragonborn were nurtured by their forefathers, the metallic dragons and went off with their progenitors to found a new kingdom. Some Dragons stayed with the Elves or went off in solitude, but many travelled with the Dragonborn. They battled through the war torn lands of Karkoth and eventually arrived at what is today known as the Frozen Wastes. However, in the days of old, this land was known as Arqiroth. The Dragons were very knowledgeable when it came to magic and passed this onto the Dragonborn. Soon the frozen archipelago that they found had been transformed into a beautiful tropical location. The Dragonborn lived here for many centuries experimenting with magical tools, building magnificent inventions, and with the help of Gnomes, were instrumental in creating those known as the Warforged to aid them in conflict with the Abyssal creatures that never returned to their demonic home.

However this mighty empire was eventually destroyed by the Chromatic Dragons, their evil cousins. Tiamat hated the Metallic Dragons and Baphomet with a passion and ordered the Chromatic Dragons to attack. With the help of Tiamat, the Chromatic Dragons were able to open an Abyssal gate in 620 C.E. right in the center of Arqiroth. This allowed an army of Demons to once again step foot on the mortal world. However the Dragonborn and Dragons sacrificed themselves and their kingdom to stop the spread of the Abyssal creatures. The Gold Dragon Odriet sacrificed herself to close the Abyssal gate and stop another Abyssal incursion. This invasion led to the destruction of much of the Dragon and Dragonborn races. Their kingdom destroyed, the surviving Dragonborn returned to the mainland and became wandering scholars and warriors, some hoping to one day reclaim their fallen kingdom. The ruins are incredibly dangerous as demons still remain within. However, there are many artifacts that are sought after within the destroyed Dragonborn civilization.