Godsend (In Character)

[Razade]

ANTHEM ZERO: The God War


https://i.ibb.co/TwNw0qg/d2e5033ec2a54850c41eb805e0f2e307.jpg (https://ibb.co/b6G6vRK)

It is rarely spoken, by the tongues of Mortals, that like the scattered and abused tribes the Gods too have stories. The Gods, in their Divine Realm and their Tapestry, gather around their fires and feast halls and tell myths. They sing of legendary battles, of fearsome foes, of forgotten loves and trials that would render all of Creation asunder in their toil. Mortal mouths, with Magic even, cannot seek to find the words to tell these stories. They are of a time before Creation. Before the Gods threw their mighty enemies down. Before they forged the world and gave birth to the multitude.

But there are those, mad and hated by all, that have heard them in the echoes of the Song. They name these fearsome enemies as The Titans. To call them creatures would be too small a word. To call them Gods would still be too small for they were more than God and creature and Creation itself. Each a Creation to itself. They numbered as many as the stars above, their eyes burned like shining moons and their voice sang the Song of Creation in such clarity they could bring a hundred Creations asunder with a single breath. They ruled before The First World in a space of darkness. A Void utterly unlike the Void above. A Chaos, Primordial and without end. They ruled over kingdoms of dreams, of the Song of Creation itself which was more to them than mere hymns. They were a foundation in the Chaos, apart from it and alien.

The mad speak of their creations. Monsters that prowl in the bowels of The Divine Realm, hunting and stalking the Gods even to this day. They speak of The First Gods, Titan Made, that served as their playthings. They say the Titans taught the First Gods the Song of Creation, to hear their own beautiful music but lesser. To simply enjoy its song. They say the Titans did not know deception. Could not fathom it, for deception only comes from a refusal of order and the Chaos had nothing of that kind within it.

They speak of the God War. The New Gods, born from the Old and First whose names are banished to time, rose up against their masters with weapons forged to slay them. Where they found them, the mad and hated could not say. They simply had them there, where the war began. The causes were many. Freedom. Hate. Fear. A wish to control and command what the Titans held. The Gods were many in their families, or so they say, and their reasons were of the same number. The War raged for countless eons and in a single moment for time was not a concept within this Chaos.

From these ravings, the early writings of the Pantheon were formed in the dawning years of Mortal Life. We open to The Sutra which Speaks of Gilded Chains


Verse One: The Gods came, by ones and twos, to the battlefield where the God War was waged. Who among the Pantheon was first to take up arms, were there holdouts amongst its members? The Sutra One, Verse One details this order.

Don’t feel obligated to post in the game in the order.

[ChaoticHarmony]

Who better to speak of first than the God born out of the first clash of rivals cut down. Born from the blood of the fiery Aragosh and the flesh of the collected Dinosyt, Athiarias rose in the mid of great conflict, divinity after divinity falling and rising amidst the smoky field of War. Claiming his fallen progenitors sword, Athiarias swung into the fray, gleefully striking blindly into battle, unknowing of why he fought or for who it was for. Perhaps through sheer luck or a Cosmic hand did his blade sink into Kyojin flesh.

As the battle dwindles down, the next one sounding over the horizon, Athiarias looks about himself and sees the bloodsoaked landscape, and cannot help but think of the glorious feeling it leaves him with. The battlefield, a contest between so many wills and spirits. It is where he belongs.

A hand claps onto his shoulder from behind. Athiarias turns, ready to strike down whatever foe dared touch him, and comes across a kind smile, the first he had ever seen. The man stood tall and proud, wearing thick armor that shone even under the gore and viscera of his foes. "Well done Brother, but we must move. The battle for our freedom continues. Let us go....what is your name?" The first true thought bubbled to Athiarias' head since his birth, giving him his name. "Athiarias...."

[Ramsus]

Zend was not first to take up arms, as Zend was not yet one thing. In as much as any God can be said to be one thing.

Of the multitude that were salvaged to form Zend, there are examples from any side. Of any choice. So long as that choice ended in their being laid low.

One that some might consider a major part of what became Zend shone with cold light bright enough to blind the eyes of any mortal if they were to hang even in the farthest reaches of what they know as the Void. This one was not the first to join the war, but was for their brief time at the forefront of it.

Another, a betrayer by very nature. Betrayer of Titans. Betrayer of Gods. Betrayer of Kyojin. Betrayer of Akuto. Betrayer of Monsters. Betrayer of things unknown to mortals and things that no longer are. Fell only because it betrayed itself.

Yet another, little more than a twisted song born of a foul monster, a mistake in the eyes of its Titan creators, that could not bear the depth of what it wrought and was torn asunder as it sang its most perfect song. Yet as frail a thing it was, a confounding and grim threat for all it came across before it was finally quieted (though not quite silenced).

One could speak of the god that sided with the Titans, only because it wanted to mimic the song of each before its end. And yet failed to achieve this goal.

Or perhaps the would-be-scavenger born of a dead god and slain by their failing companion as it tried to steal of them as its first and last act.
So on and so forth were the titan-forged things that would become the god-forged Zend and be in some ways lesser and in some ways greater than them all.

Or even that slayer of the would-be-scavenger after their final act of defiance.

[ShadowImmor]

As the thoughts of Those that Came Before got stronger and louder, they took on a strength of their own. Then The Thought came... no one can say for certain who thought it first, but the Thought was powerful.

It was "What if we had ideas that could think for themselves?"

Which was followed by another.

"What if our Dreams no longer needed us?"

This Thought reverberated throughout Creation as it was then, and it's gave form, and rise to Casmir. He rose in a crackle of magical force and energy. His first thought was 'Magic', and it created another surge of power. After all, he realised, what is Magic but Thoughts given Form? Casmir embodied the Form of Magic. He was the one who would control the concept of Thought Forms, and was to be in charge of that. He was Arcane by his very nature.

"What if our ideas could think for themselves?"

So Casmir started thinking. He thought of weapons and of Spells and they sprung forth from his great mind. These weapons were used and the Spells were powerful. The weapons he gave to his allies who were more skilled than he, the Spells he kept for himself to wreak havoc on his enemies. Casmir continued to wage war in the only way he knew how.

By thinking.

After all, what was Casmir but Magic Incarnate? Thought given Form?

So he Thought.

[Captain Jak]

Gods strove against Titans; Titans brought crashing will down upon the Gods. Some fought with mighty weapons forged for this very purpose; others used their very Will in a Titanic effort to throw off their progenitors.

One...well, one used the very Titans themselves as weapons.

Hauling essence from the Titan of the Fire, plunging it into the Titan of the Firmament to burst out again in a spray of molten viscosity, that Titanic essence was hurled through the Titan of the Waters with stunning force, vaporized essence boiling forth as the missile emerged resolidified into a long, narrow shaft that slapped into the God's waiting hand.

These acts of twinned destruction that birthed creation, leading to further destruction in a harmonious cycle, this pleased their instigator. It was right that all things balanced, and the time for addressing the balance between Titan and God was upon them all.

Lacking the desire more subtle machinations – he had, indeed, spawned a lesser God of his own to deal with just such trivial matters – Bora wielded the very Titans against each other, and saw that it was good.

[~Corvus~]

For an eternity the interconnected chaos of primordial essence floated beyond the stars in the void of nonbeing, and yet a portion of it became. Out of nowhere, the Titans comes forth. And soon after, their rebellious creations. The Great War undid an essential, fundamental understanding: that they all were one. In their separation, the Gods could represent ideas, forces, powers beyond compare, and from this potential arose the stentor ideas of connection.

Questions floated among the Titans, to challenge their will. Why are you worth saving? You created our life. And when that life turned against you...you comfort yourselves in the knowledge that it really wasn't your fault, not really? You cannot play Creator then wash your hands of the things that you've created. Sooner or later, the day comes when you can't hide from the things that you've done anymore. Inspired words such as these worked into the minds of the Titans, and they, in turn removed them.

So Kowan found herself in a body that could not simply connect with the other Gods but also eternally bound and gagged by her creators. A quintessential paradox, the God that represented connection was a separated, bounded and silenced being. But with time and the dragging conflict, Kowan's determination and rage at her forced separation proved the better of her titanic bindings. She got lucky.

Kowan's mind expanded, letting her move and be as she determined, and her mind became the mental equivalent of Athirias' greatest shield and spear. But this strife was not her wish, and even as she fought she still urged the minds of the titans, and even her fellow Divinities that this conflict was not necessary.

If ever there was a paradox, Kowan was (and was not).

[Malexia]

If a Titan is a Song that knows only truth, then a well-spoken lie can be just as fatal as any blade or brand. A Song that cannot fathom deception is an inherently malleable existence.

And so it was that a God with neither a bloody sword nor a raging storm was able to slay her small share of Titans with nothing more than honeyed words. She turned her tricks upon the Betrayers as well, playing them against each other like so many pieces on a game board, but the Gods were not so gullible as the Titans. Aresh and Hattah, Kyojin and Akuto, they grew sick of her lies and drove their myriad blades into her God-forged flesh.

So, to survive a thousand blades, the God of Lies invented a thousand names. Melpomene. Calliope. Terpsichore. Erato. Clio. Euterpe. Each invention birthed a new mask to shatter against the weapons of her assailants, each falsity an immaterial shield protecting the divine essence inside from material threats. And so this dance continued for a thousand blades, until the liar's father, the storm incarnate, descended upon the Gods seeking to slay his daughter and tore them asunder. When the ashes had settled, only one name remained: Thalia. She took it for her own, making the mask her face, and walked with her father back onto the battlefield. And she laughed, for there was such joy to be found here at the end of the world before the World.

[Razade]

Sutra which Speaks of Gilded Chains
Verse One

Born of Aragosh and Dinosyt came first, Athiarias when the Gods War raged.
Warrior, Scion, wielder of the mighty blade of fallen Aragosh whose flaming blood was in his veins.
Kyojin fell, fewer for the star forged prisons, Titan Made.
Grand Athiarias, friend to those upon the battlefield, foe to all who stand amongst the enemies of the Pantheon.

Upon this battlefield, a storm raged, born of Titan Song and in it the fury of Chaos was found.
Raging Bora was in the Storm as well and their Song echoed the Song of Titans.
Raging Bora who bound first the Five, burst forth upon the battlefield.
Bora, the enemy of the proud. Bora, who held no need for artiface or ruse.

From Bora sprang a thousand names and a thousand names sprang deception.
To deceive a thousand enemies, a thousand names and more were scattered to the winds.
Scheming Thalia remained as the winds of Raging Bora scattered all others asunder.
Here there was joy, for Thalia knew war was a lie.
And she, a lie even more so.

The War, eternal, raged ever on and in the slumber of Titans a dream did come.
Casmir, they say, a dream of a dream that dreamed itself.
From dream, the Dreamer Casmir called forth spells from the Song of Creation.
These spells he did teach, for it was all Casmir thought to do.
Or, so he Thought.

Still this was not enough, the Titans were vast and cruel.
Both sides however fell short, the Song was ending and the Chaos with it.
The Titans, desperate, forged Gods from their fallen and here came Zend.
Scavanger, Betrayer and Betrayed, Warrior, Zend was these things and more.
Both Titan Forged and God Made, Zend the Scavanger took the side of the Pantheon.

The War did end, or so the Gods sing
But where did Kowan, blind, step forth?
To judge, as the Titans judged, she was born.
Her pleas of Amnesty unheard over the din of the final battle.
It was Kowan who would judge the Titans, for there were none other qualified.

So the God War ended. The Titans, diminished, their host destroyed. It is in Verse 2 the mad and hopeful speak not of the time before but the time between. For before Creation, there was nothing, and before there was nothing, there were monsters.

The Five Great Titans were made into Creation as the Chaos evaporated around the Gods. The Titan of Flame, the Titan of the Wateres, the Titan of the Firmament, the Titan of the Skies and the Titan of Void, stretched taught and woven wider across the Nothing that remained. Yet more came forth upon Creation. The Stars themselves, prisons of the Kyojin Titan Made. The Planes and the Divine Realm, where the Gods dwelt.

Pick and answer one, each.

1. Who among the Pantheon forged the Divine Realms and its many Planes? Were they alone in this act, or did other Gods assist?
2. There remained a single Kyojin when their star prisons, Titan Made, were full. Cast into the Sun, who was this Kyojin and what was their greatest crime against the Pantheon?
3. There were monstrosities made by the Titans during the God War. All know of The Corpse Dragon. Name one, and where it prowls.
4. The Kyojin and the Akuto were not the only enemies of the Gods. The Esh could not survive, so the legends say. What do the Pantheon say happened to the Esh when Creation was made?
5. Battlefields uncounted remained after the War, even in the ebbing Chaos. What became of the Titan Made weaponry the Titans left behind?
6. The Creation was difficult work. Who among the Pantheon forged the First World as it is, or did they leave it to the many Gods not among the Pantheon?

[ChaoticHarmony]

5. Battlefields uncounted remained after the War, even in the ebbing Chaos. What became of the Titan Made weaponry the Titans left behind?

Battles won, enemies felled, conflict escalating beyond even Athiarias's deepest wish. It felt as if countless millennia passed since he first sprung from the first true Divine Rivalry, yet mere seconds as well in this timeless domain he found himself on. Despite such notions, he knew the war was fading, as Titan ichor pooled under his feet. Atharias felt deep in his heart the need to keep going, to keep the battle raging by any means. He would have to betray those he now considered family.

But a thought, a light, a spirit unlike any he encountered before shone out in the final battlefield. A new birth of a God, one like him. A new passion bloomed within his chest upon feeling the prescience of a kindred spirit, driving Athiarias to plunge his blade into his chest and rip out his traitorous organ.

Athiarias fought on, a gaping bloody hole in his chest as he fought harder than before, fo once desiring an end to this conflict. As consciousness was slowly lost, the Scion of Conflict found himself embroiled with the Great Titan of Flames. With pride and joy, the sword of his forebears drove into it's flesh, bathing Athiarias in a torrent of boiling lava. The heat awoke Athiarias enough to rip a chunk out of the deity and place the burning orb where his heart once was. Athiarias does not know who killed the remaining foes, but the battle was finally won.

A spot of desire and compulsion drove him to collect the fallen warriors weapons. A need to impress the holy beauty he spotted enveloped his fiery spirit. Having collected as many as he could find, Athiarias melted the Titan Made weapons down in the heat of his new heart, molding them into a gift for his beloved.

With a confidence only a warrior of his magnitude could claim, Athiarias found the Goddess of his desire. "Kowan.....though we have just met, your beauty and inner spirit have enraptured me. Will you please be mine to have and hold for our eternal lives?" With a respected bow, Athiarias presents Kowan a ring, still redhot and emanating the powerful force of the Titan killing weapons.

[Malexia]

2. There remained a single Kyojin when their star prisons, Titan Made, were full. Cast into the Sun, who was this Kyojin and what was their greatest crime against the Pantheon?

If a word is a dagger in the hands of a deceiver, could one of the Aresh learn to wield that dagger?

This was the question posed by the Muse of Honeyed Words, though few are certain if she posed it intentionally or as a mere accident of action. Regardless, when she turned her lies upon Titans and Gods alike, there were some who watched and waited and learned. One of the Kyojin, Aurora of the Dancing Thorns, learned all she could from the Muse and forged of scattered lies an ephemeral sword. With this blade of untruth she would cut down the greatest of her foes.

Among the Gods who would become the sacred Pantheon, one stood above all others. The fairest of the Gods, noblest and kindest, beautiful and glad-hearted, a shining beacon to which all other Gods looked for guidance in situations of strife. When the Gods came to blows, when their campaign against the Titans was threatened from within, it was Glad-Hearted Milost who defused tensions. The other Gods of the Pantheon recognized his importance and so they each gave him a gift of shielding. Swords and axes, disease and illness, fire and storm. The Pantheon shrouded Milost from all dangers they could think of... all except one. Thalia, ever-scheming, had no desire to see a God rendered entirely beyond the grasp of the dark. And so when the Pantheon laid their gifts upon their fairest member, the Muse of Honeyed Words wove another lie. Though Milost would be protected from all material threats, and even from the great weapons of the Titans, he would still be vulnerable to a silver tongue and a poisoned word.

In this, the death of Milost was Thalia's fault twice over.

Aurora took her sword-that-was-not-a-sword and challenged Milost, who believed himself invulnerable and callously accepted her duel. When the blade sunk into his chest and claimed his noble heart, the despair on his face was mirrored by all those watching. The Gods descended upon Aurora with fury and hatred, but they were not swift enough to save Milost. The fairest of the Gods was gone, and what was lost could never be recovered.

Aurora was cast into the Sun for her crime, the greatest of crimes, the darkest sin of any Kyojin. And there she would remain, burning forever yet never dying, until the end of days.

[Captain Jak]

6. The Creation was difficult work. Who among the Pantheon forged the First World as it is, or did they leave it to the many Gods not among the Pantheon?

Many were the gods whose efforts had guided the battle 'gainst the Titans to ultimate victory. Many too did fall, but those who survived were wearied yet anticipatory; for with the Titans slain, there were none now to gainsay their rule, their plans. Weary though they were, the myriad of divinities began at once to scheme their plans to effect Creation. Much were the raw resources to work with; the Titans, even slain, were such potentialities that all things were, indeed, ultimately possible.

Should any be able to come to agreement, that is.

Diverging opinions became arguments, became discord, and weary minds were only a short moment away from falling back into recent habits of war and destruction. Voices – many voices – too many voices – were raised in disapproval, and it seemed most like that war would come again before anything could be wrought.

Bora, the Father of Storms, The Destroyer, the Cloud Gatherer...asked his daughter to have a word with the rest of Divinity.

And while the honeyed tongue spoke distractions to the feuding gods, Bora took hold of the Essences of the Titans once more, but this time rather than using them to destroy each other, he became the Creator, and wrought all of Creation from the corpses of the five greatest of their fallen foes. In this act the true Duality of his Nature solidified, and Creation mirrored this; for every high a low, every paradise a wasteland, every feast...a famine. A world of opposites, of endless changes, of...Balance.

[Ramsus]

1. Who among the Pantheon forged the Divine Realms and its many Planes? Were they alone in this act, or did other Gods assist?

Zend, like other gods, found themselves in possession of one the great tools of the God War that did not wind up in the hands of Athiarias. They knew that these tools would upset the balance of power after Athiarias destroyed so many of them in his gesture of love.

As Bora decided to take the decision of what the world should be away from the others and claim the glory of that role for themselves, Zend knew this would bring further strife.

So Zend came before the other gods before they could unite in anger against Bora. They came and showed their secreted tool. The very weapon that had felled the god that was now part of them that had shone most brilliantly. A weapon all would remember for its great power above all others in the God War. Before this gathering they blessed the weapon with decay and fertility. As its essence began to bleed out of it like the light of the stars bleed into the Void, they beckoned forth all the gods to take part in fashioning a place for themselves. They took part themselves at first to show the way and then offered a guiding hand when a god would struggle with it. In the end, they had crafted the Divine Realms. What remained of the great weapon was nothing like it once was. An item of power by mortal standards, but merely a novelty in the eyes of the gods.

Then Zend offered to help make more planes. If only those who withheld tools from Athiarias or found ones he overlooked would bring them forth. Many immediately leapt at this offer. For the act of creation of this was as close to the creative power of the Titans as they could ever hope to come and many had not even thought to hope for such.
But others withheld for their own reasons. As Zend knew they would. So while Zend aided in making of realms from tools which bled rivers, blazed, spun out, oozed, or otherwise unleashed their essence violently or languidly...

They set Thalia to task of tricking the holdouts of their hidden treasures, of gathering those tools that would upset the Balance her father Bora had sought to create in the world, telling her that they were the price she must pay for her role in Glad-Hearted Milost's death. To honor the greater harmony their lost companion would have brought.

And thus the last of the great tools of the God War were unmade and fashioned into new things. Be they as small as a ring or bigger than the world itself. Leaving behind just the smallest of echoes of what they once were.

[~Corvus~]

The Esh, the Fourth Trouble of the Great War, remained a problem. They traveled underground with help from their Titan progenitors and the tools they were given, and maintained cities beyond the reaches of light and most of nature. Kowan could not judge them for their crimes, for they escaped her reach at every turn. The creatures made their way underground, making themselves their own prisoners and yet also escaping the fates of many others that had sided with the Titans in the Great War.

She pursued their remnants on the surface, through battlefields and through those places they had wished to place mining camps and places to escape, often to their doom. One such place of particular devastation she had met this man of burning force, who radiated power and prestige, who had the physical strength she did not possess, and he spoke to her thus:


"Kowan.....though we have just met, your beauty and inner spirit have enraptured me. Will you please be mine to have and hold for our eternal lives?"

In that moment, Kowan was enraptured by his words. Not only this, but also the ring he gave her radiated a fury towards those Titan-Made creations, and thus empowered her hunt. Kowan agreed upon the spot. She floated the ring before her and wreaked terrible Anguish and Judgement on the Esh that had once been able hurt so many others yet flee from her influence. No Titan-made tools would ever escape her notice; no titan-forged Mine would ever escape her searching gaze...

But still, a remnant of a remnant remained. It was rumored that in the great depths of the greatest volcanoes and mountains, the Esh bid their time until their numbers were too great, and their generations had become so far past, that they could no longer be judged by Kowan any longer. But still she searched...

[~Corvus~]

Kowan flipped the mighty wedding-band in her hand. What had been just a ring at first had demonstrated remarkable psychic and soul-binding power. Its greatest use had been put to work on the Eshen crafters. She thought again of the conflict as she admired the impressive ring.

Sibilant singing and steady bass voices traveled above the primitive stone-and-mud metropolis. The volume rose with the morning sun, and as the cool air still crisped their cadence, drums banged life into the city. No birds chirped here, exulting in the day's promise; instead, Eshi men dressed in myriad strips of cloth, feathers, and necklaces of leather, bead and bone wandered among people to spread paint made of ash, milk and blood. They reassured their people,
We are invincible, here and now;
Stand tall, bellow Loud
Hold your heads, bold and proud
Firm your mind where you are

Beat your chest and your drums
Shake tired bones again
Your weapons out, breathe in
Hold your minds to firmament!

They will tell of when we win,
As your marked, hold your grin,
Keep your mind-armor thick,
Until Zhind's body sticks...

Kowan had heard of the other six cities, of the millions they'd made into an Binding-circle, a massive array that positioned all the people and the cities just so, and tapped into the primordial, world-altering patterns of great magic. But this place, of beating drums and musical power, resonated into the Pulse of Creation. The Esh had found a way! They had made a god, stolen secrets and now their warriors, even slain or decapitated, would rise to fight again: Zhind, with body of Eternal Energy and Brightness had been bound to this Altar, at the centre of the Array to fuel eternal life for all Esh warriors. The Esh sought, now, to make Zhind into a greater God, and this city was was the focus; should they have succeeded, all the Esh would remain, effectively, invincible and immortal. But she'd had a few edges the Esh hadn't known of.

Casimir's whispers, just before he'd been silenced, let her know he was not mortally wounded, but he would seal his writings from the Esh; her duel a success, Kowan had forbidden them further profane access to their enemies. And now she would, using the might of this ring, channel away their energy.

The drums increased their tempo; the chanting urged the ululating women forward, and the entire city surged in stentor of song, and the Shamans shouted their Arcane words...and Kowan pulled with her mind on the ring. For a moment, the Shamans and the Esh waited. The ring, too, pulsed absorbed the song, and shone, as it rose above its tallest tower. A magical pulse that encompassed nine thousand miles thrummed on a single, pulsing note...and then ended in rapturous silence.

Zhind rose from the altar at the heart of the metropolis, and it exploded in a massive cloud of blood, gore and bone. The Eshi cities, all linked in arcane space, turned black and foul, and as sound restored, the people cackled and gasped and rasped with breath; their lives forfeit, their minds undone, they'd been turned to un-life, death....Judged for their ambitions, the Esh became the twisted un-life they feared most.

As the ring fell back towards Kowan's waiting hands, once again red-hot, she saw the walking corpse of one weaver, beautiful even in un-life, and took the memory of all that sound, all the music, all the power, and shoved.

And thus, with Athiarias' gift, Casimir's Knowledge, and the Eshi ambitions, Zend was slain and reborn, forged from an enemy to gain its great and powerful new form.

[ShadowImmor]

3. There were monstrosities made by the Titans during the God War. All know of The Corpse Dragon. Name one, and where it prowls.

There is one monstrosity that still drives fear into the hearts of others... it prowls at the edge of your sanity, flickering in and out causing madness and worry. It only appears when there are souls for it to consume and it wanders seeking all those who it can devour.

The monstrosity is a terribly thing, it looks like a small being, of short stature and unclean, it speaks with a high voice not dissimilar from a youth. It wanders throughout Creation, looking for those who are weak and tears them from their lives, torturing them with fear until madness sets in and then it consumes their now prepared souls. It was used in the God War as a Warrior who drove their enemies from them, driving it's opponents to froth and attack those closest to them.

During the God War this monstrosity was greatly feared among both sides, as after the Titans created it, even they came to fear it as it became more and more indiscriminate in it's killing, slaying both those for and against the Titans, with little to no regard to who it was fighting for or why. The creature would appear on the battlefield without warning, just out the corner of the eye of one of the warriors, then another, then another, then another making them believe they were mad, until the fear began to grip them, knowing that anyone of them may be it's next target.

They say it was forged out of the Dreams of Those Who Came Before, but no one is quite certain how the Titans created it... all people are certain of is that it was a dangerous foe, just as likely to kill those on it's side, than on it's enemy's.

It currently resides in the dreams and dark thoughts of Those That Are.

The only other thing they agree on is it's name... given to it at some point during the War, as it was not named by the Titans, but named by some warrior during the war, on which side, no one can be certain.

It's name is The Nightmare Child

[Razade]

Sutra which Speaks of Gilded Chains
Verse Two

It was Zend, clever and many in one, who laid the Foundation.
Upon it Zend built the Divine Realm where all Gods reside.
Not of love, not of comfort but of fear.
Fear of Bora, who claimed the Titan's Five. Fear of the Weapons, forged in war.
Thus was the Divine Realm, Titan Made.
Thus the Gods did dwell in memories made.

The Planes expanded, the Chaos was soon at an end.
Yet still Chaos ebbed, for the war was at a close but Creation had not been made.
Just Kowan was not done with her task, born to right the wrongs that came before and clean the slate anew.
Gods of Many remained to be Judged, their crimes unspeakable in the world that was to come.
Those Forgotten fled, fearful of their punishment. Who named them, but the Titans themselves.
Far and afield they fleed, yet the Gods whisper, deep in the darkness, some might yet remain.
Eager to rise once more, to Judge the Judge herself.

What of the Monsters, Titan Made? How many were judged, how many escaped?
Casmir knows, for Casmir Thought.
Counted among the Monsters was Oslogolon the Corpse Beast, prowling in the Dark of the Divine
But what of the Fearful Nightmare Child?
Casmir Thinks it dwells in the Dreams of Gods
For the Titans made the Gods of their own Dreams, so too Titan Made Nightmares might remain.

What dreams are there of the Gods lost to the War?
No Sutra sings for Glad Heated Milost, last of the Children of Skall.
So beautiful was he, the Dark they say feared him.
Cruel Aurora, whose being burns in the Sun Above Creation, struck the second blow.
But where came the first?
Even these Verses cannot say.
For slain by a lie, what truth can there be found?

Yet slain Milost was, and many Gods whose names were lost.
Titan Made Weapons remained and while the many Gods remaining grieved.
Athiarias toiled.
In the songs of sorrow, Athiarias walked the final battle fields and gathered what he could.
Athiarias toiled for a future to come. For in these weapons he forged a ring.
And to Kowan, he was wed. In sorrow there is joy. In joy, sorrow shall return.
For many were the Gods who schemed, and who can say how many weapons slipped through the fingers of the Betrothed?
How many had lied to Zend the Many, when they made the many Planes?
Perhaps Thalia, Whose Words are Honey?

No, for her task was not to count the lies but to bear Standard for Bora.
The Gods knew the Storm's thoughts, but scrambled to place their own hands on the last of the Titan's Song.
And so it was Bora, with Titan Made Essence, who sent his daughter to whisper those words in the ears of the Host.
With Titan Made bodies, Bora wove the world. He Sang the Song of Creation and with the last of the Chaos his work was done.
The First World and the Void above was all that remained.
Bora bore the Balance.
And this is what they say of how the war was ended, the enemies of the Gods refrained and the First World came to pass.

But Bora's Creation would not be Balanced forever. For upon its surface, the Gods conspired.
They made simple things, the dirt and the grass, the beast and the bird
Before the mighty Gods might notice.
It was Six, not Five, that made life.
It was the Six, not Titans, that would emulate their Masters.
The called them Mortals. These are their numbers.






- - - - OOC stuff - - - -

Alright everyone. Mortal Time. It's heavy so I won't spoil the OOC stuff until we're out of this session.

Humans exist, they will come last of the mortals.
The Pantheon has one free race, shared among them.

Each God has 3 points to spend on the following perks. You may pool your points. If there isn't something on this list and you want it, ask me in the Discord and we'll come up with a price.

1 Point

Industrious
Clever
Edatic Memory
Many in number
Can live underground
Can live in the Arctic safely
Limited flight


2 Point

An Additional Race Slot
Strong with Magic
Can live in any climate
Skillful in Warfare
Powerful Wings and Flight
Expert craftsmen
Long lived
Can speak with animals
Can live in the water


3 Point

Ageless
Embodiment of Nature/Spirit Like
Neither needs to eat or drink
A well tuned creature of war



Each God has 2 Flaws they may spend, 1 to 1, for an extra Perk. The Gods may apply their Flaws to any of the Mortal Races, not just their own. Be respectful, talk it out if that's your plan.

Flaws

Sensitive to Sunlight
Simple Intelligence
Highly Superstitious
Small in size
A strong allergy or aversion to common materials
A lack of magic
Monstrous appearance
Few in number
Belligerent
Vast in size

[Malexia]

From the moment life bloomed on the world crafted by her father, Thalia was transfixed. Something about this new creation, this life even further removed from the Radix, enthralled the God of Trickery.

Thalia was the first to begin the process of creating sapient life - thinking, feeling Mortalkind - but she was not the first to finish her work.

The Muse wove a lie, and that lie was met with a lie, and that lie of a lie twisted into truth. An unfounded existence brought to life by contradiction. And yet, contradiction proved the undoing of her first creations. Each time her lies birthed mortal life, that life inevitably was consumed by its own paradoxical existence. There was a spark of sincerity missing. A lie on its own could not, it would seem, sustain a coherent Creation. Not without a Creator.

In the dark below she had spun her web and fashioned her workshop, but she ventured out from the dark to see what the Pantheon had created in her absence. As she beheld the world above, she was reminded of her father's role in it, and so she came to Bora and asked for his help in completing her project. With his assistance, Thalia was finally able to complete her work and create life that truly resonated with the world, rather than defying the world and thus itself.

The Creation she shared with her father was that of the Kobolds, a race of short, scaly bipeds. She fashioned them to be cowards and connivers, liars and thieves, with cunning cleverness and industrious habits. They were to be many in number and capable of living underground, but sensitive to sunlight, small in size, and monstrous of appearance. Lastly, she gifted them with a touch of her own divine authority, in the form of an affinity for crafting magical illusions.

And so her contributions to Mortalkind were complete, and she retreated to the Divine Realm to watch the rest of the Pantheon toil.

Small in size
Additional race slot
Clever
Affinity for Illusions
Many in number
Industrious
Sensitive to Sunlight
Live in the underground
Monstrous appearance

2 flaws from Thalia and 1 from Bora
3+2 points from Thalia and 1+1 from Bora

[Captain Jak]

For lo, after his toil at engendering all of Creation, Bora was tired, and he set himself to rest. Until his Daughter came to him, and implored that he aid her in creating lesser creatures to amuse herself. He indulged his Daughter, helping infuse them with Life to allow them to be – although he insist on making them small, easier for her to handle.

As she happily went off to tinker with her creation, Bora once more sought his rest. And once more, one of his fellows came to him with a request to aid in their creation. And then yet another. And so by the time that the entire group of his immediate peers gathered around to assemble a race as joint effort, he had already graced the feathered ones and the tentacled ones with the spark of life, and he was weary.

By now the others seem to have figured out Life...of sorts...and so he was not required to exert himself on that regard. The ferocity of the little ones being designed by the others concerned him, however, and he stretched forth his hand to limit their numbers, lest they overwhelm all of his Creation.

Wearied now beyond measure, Bora withdrew from any further creations by the Divinities – after all, how badly could the absence of his input really turn out in the end?

[Ramsus]

Zend saw that after the planes were made, or even while they were being made, others were already putting little lives on Creation. Little lives which would end and go, if not elsewhere, to Zend's realm. This interested Zend immensely. Like others, they sought out Bora to bring their creation to life. Something they thought would be pleasing to the others.

A race to go many places. On land like some of the other intelligent races that were being made, yes they could go there but it would not be where they called home. No, the fast and deep waters. All the way to the deeps. And adapted to live anywhere hot or cold so they could share their stories from all over. Knowing they would have to face all sorts of dangers to range so far, Zend thought of Athiarias who stood apart not participating in the flurry of creation of life. And so made them strong and fierce. With many limbs with which to struggle against the struggles of their world.

This race, these Ocilarians, however were strangely effected by Bora's limitation on their numbers. They would not come in male forms. This would not do. They would all join Zend immediately and their story would end right away. So Zend granted them a gift of fertility, so that they might take males of other races as their mates. Zend was pleased. This would limit their numbers as Bora wished for, would lead to conflict to please Athiarias, and would result in interesting lives to please Zend.

Some of their truths eventually reached the Ocilarians themselves. As Zend would spend time with their dead and these dead their necromancers would call upon to speak with. The Ociliarians were confounded to be the people given life by death and took this knowledge in many different ways. As a whole, this lead them to be a superstitious people, believing in sign and portents and hidden meanings.


Ocilarians
Additional Race Slot
Can live in the Arctic safely
Can live in the Water
Skillful in Warfare
Highly Superstitious
Few in Number

[ShadowImmor]

The Thought itself began to think of others... as Casmir was birthed from Thought, perhaps he could do the same?

He Thought, long and hard, and used his Magic to bleed into Creation as it was. He wanted a race that would be Strong in Magic... like him. He Thought with them and shared some of his Arcane power with the very soul of the species, blessing them even the weakest and most feeble of them with the ability to do Magic.

And Casmir saw that it was good. He Thought about them more, and poured his Arcane power further into them, spreading it throughout his people. But it quickly became apparent that the Magic in them would not be strong enough. They're bodies weren't meant to contain that much power... he sighed and began again.

The second form of his creation were more similar in form to him. However he blessed them with Wings so they could move at the Speed of Thought and not be hindered by having to walk or swim everywhere. He wanted his creations to be free, and not... limited. He instilled in them more concentrated magic, but made less of them so the Power was not spread so thin amongst them, and that his Gift was not Diluted.

He made them Few In Number, and with great feathered wings allowing them free movement, and helped them make their homes in the skies, based out the Tower of Clouds, their main home and the central government. A great tall Tower that some how stays up on the clouds, the only answer is Magic. They were fairly unique in shape, arms, legs, two of each, a head, large feathered wings giving them incredibly flight powers. Three fingers on each hand, with an opposable thumb, and matching digits on the feet, no hair on there bodies, which were almost always smooth.

He saw his children and called them Arcs. He Thought, and his Thoughts were good...


Additional Race Slot
Strong With Magic
Powerful Wings and Flight
Few In Number

[ChaoticHarmony]

As time would pass, many a religious mortal would question why Atharias did not create life on the First World as his brethren did. His very nature should have dictated such actions a challenge and competition worthy of him.

Some philosophers say that the Pantheon feared whatever violent abominations he may create would destroy their new children, so they gathered together and bound him in Kowan's chains until he swore never to create a living thing.

Others claimed that Casmir convinced Athiarias that a mortal race should earn his favor, rather than be made superior. What fun would Conflict be if the winner is clear from the start?

And still others claimed that Athiarias did indeed make a race, but after losing a bet with Zend, wiped the clean from the planet as consequence.

But in truth, as the Gods know it, Athiarias simply did not know of the inhabitants of the new World. He spent many a day consummating his marriage with his new wife. By the time he looked out from his throes of passion, the land was populated with new life.

[Razade]

Which Walked Creation
Verse Three

Creation complete, the mists rolled past.
Mortal born, by God's hand, Creation was no longer quiet.
It was father and daughter, Bora and Thalia that spread the lie.
In the depths of The Titan of Earth walked Kobolds.
Clever like their creator, too fearful of the light.

But Bora, with Zend's own hand, was not to be done.
In the waters and the waves came tentacled things
Whispers of the drowned, who did alight on the shores
Of cities wide and deep, these Ocilarians keep.
In the benthic depths, they worship the Pantheon.

Cunning Casamir was not to be outdone.
With wings to take to the air, his kind did grow.
But power is proactive, few would sing in the skies
Cunning Casamir, lord of Magic, was lord of the miniscule as well.
The Arcs were thought of as good, but good is not great.

All hands came forth to touch the mighty glades, where the Song of Creation lingered.
These Fae, formed of the woods themselves, favored among the Pantheon.
But the other Gods grew jealous, they too wished to make as their creators had made.
To the Pantheon, these mighty six, they stood.
The Divine Realm was loud with their cries.

So it was that Man was made.
Not so cunning as the Kobolds.
Not so worshipful as the Ocilarians.
Not so strong the as the Archs.
Not so loved as the Fae.

But Man was not without its gifts.
They bred true.
They sang the Song of Creation.
They worked with their hands.
They knew the Gods.
And they envied.
Thus was Creation. A Mortal's Realm for the Gods to oversee.

The five of you have only one question remaining in these quiet times.

What is the name of your Pantheon.

[ChaoticHarmony]

The hated Kyojin, the greedy Akuto, the forgotten Esh. Each of a godly nature wrought by the powerful Titans. Each member a being equal in power to all of their deific brethren. Each a group defeated by the masters of the First World. Each name, forgotten and unknown by the mortals life now living on the Great Titans corpses.

But what was the name of the good Gods? What word was born to name those who fought for freedom and creation? For those who battled on the front lines to dispatch their creators and former masters? For those who believed in the spirit of the First God Skall?

The Eternum.

The winners of the war, every God great and small, was an Eternum, the golden heralds of Creation who shall rule for eternity. But as their enemies names faded from thought, so too did the true scope of the Eternum. The mortals, in their limited comprehension of their creator's lives, only know the 6 rulers Athiarias, Zend, Bora, Casmir, Kowan, and Thalia as the Eternum.