Slann
Scalenex
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So anyway, ages ago I started creating a fantasy setting. I will likely never run an RPG in this setting because I just can't stop writing fluff for this. Also, I find building crunch for this somewhat tedious. By the time I had a good chunk of 3.5 ed crunch done, 4th edition debuted, people rebelled against 4th ed and turned to Pathfinder (the Kings of War to D&D's Age of Sigmar) and now D&D has 5th edition. Whatever. My setting is flexible enough to work for many different fantasy setting.
So I’ve never been particularly thrilled with the D&D gods. Since I was 13 or 14 playing 2nd edition I started making my own. They weren’t that different from the official D&D gods. Then I did a lot of reading on mythology. Rather than make up a D&D god that was an ersatz of Thor, why not make a god Thor. I ended up populating a pantheon of 18 cherry picking deities from Pacific Northwest Native Americans, Norse, Greek, Hindu, and Egyptian gods with a few pulp fiction entries from my favorite comics.
I still wasn’t satisfied. I really enjoyed reading about real-world mythologies, but I could never transfer that joy to D&D pantheons. At first I thought I was bugged by the needless variety. Okay so Elves, Dwarves, Drow, Goblins, Kobolds, etc etc each get their own god. Then you have gods for categories like smithing, war, death, the ocean. Often you had multiple gods for each race or multiple gods for natural forces. Example, there might be a benevolent sun god who makes crops grow and warms the planet and a malevolent sun god who causes heat stroke and thirst in arid environments.
What really bothered me wasn’t the abundance of redundant niches. It’s that when writers develop a fantasy world. Doesn’t matter it’s a novel, tabletop minis game, RPG, video game, or movie they start with basic things they want (Elves, dwarves, sea epics, hot chicks in impractical armor, etc) and then once they are mostly done with the world, throw in the gods as an afterthought. The gods seemed ad hoc. Kobolds and Gnomes hate each other because of a rivalry between their gods. Fine, why is there a god for Kobolds and a god for Gnomes? If every race has a patron god, where do these race founders come from? In a pantheon of two dozen gods, may two or three pairs are siblings or lovers. Four or five pairs are rivals, but they aren’t interrelated.
Norse mythology. When the gods wanted to chain the Fenris wolf, they had to trick him. They promised not to chain him, but Fenris wanted one god to stick his hand in his mouth as assurance. The god that volunteered was Tyr. They chained Fenris anyway and Tyr became known as the one-handed. The gods broke an oath, and Tyr, the god of laws and oaths paid the price. See? You never see that kind of depth in a fantasy setting. That’s what I want.
So I decided to start with some gods then work my way down to the mortals. Now I have the goal of making it a viable D&D (or Pathfinder or whatever) setting, so I have some end goals in mind, but I have a rule. If it doesn’t make sense, it won’t be included. For instance I don’t see the monk PC class evolving unless you have a substantially large class of people that are restricted from using conventional weapons and armor, in dire need of sElf-defense, and somehow unable to take up another class that gets around restrictions (like Rogue). I don’t care if Eastern settings need monks. I need monks even less if the setting is based on medieval Europe.
Let’s begin with the world of Scarterra!
If you aren’t familiar with D&D or Pathfinder, you should be able to follow part one if you should be able to follow this okay with a WHF background, but I recommend reading this Wikipedia article on the nine alignments. Or just stop reading now and save yourself the headache.
Part One: Basic Divine History.
The Age Before Ages
Turoch created the world and all beings upon it. He fashioned worshippers for himself and fed on their spiritual power in order to fatten them up metaphysically speaking. Later he would consume their souls when they were “ripe.” As time passed the world became too great and complex to manage alone (some say Turoch grew fat and lazy). Turoch was forced to create powerful servants to help manage his creation farm. The number of these servants was ten. For an age the Ten managed the world and delivered all the souls to Turoch, farming them as mortals herd livestock today.
Turoch’s plan was to create servants who couldn’t get along with each other, so they would not be able to unite against him. Hallisan: Lawful Good (male). Phidas: Lawful Evil (male). Khemra: Lawful Neutral (female). Zarthus: Chaotic Good (male), Maylar Chaotic Evil (male), Nami Chaotic Neutral (female), Mera: Neutral Good (female), Korus: True Neutral (male), and Greymoria Neutral Evil (female). The gods, henceforth known as the Nine, all had a hand in shaping the world so their moral codes are imprinted on the souls of all mortals.
Note you will probably want to reference the Nine’s specific alignments a lot as you read further.
The tenth deity had both his/her name, sex, and moral code expunged from all historical records. The tenth deity is only known by its title, the Traitor (despite the fact that she would be more accurately called the Loyalist). Sometimes the tenth deity is known as the Whore of Turoch. Many Scarterran theologians guess that the Traitor was female making the original batch of gods equally split along gender lines. Some say the fact that male gods now outnumber female ones 5:4 is the reason why patriarchies are more common than matriarchies. (Yes, I stole that from Greek mythology. After Hestia yielded her seat on the Olympian council to Dionysus, the council was split 7:5 paving the way for patriarchal society).
Notice that I made the extremist deities all male. This is deliberate. I’m not saying men are more extremist or anything, but I wanted romantic rivalries. See both Hallisan (LG) and Zarthus (CG) squabble over the affections of Mera (NG). Hallisan and Phidas compete over the affections of Khemra (LN) and so forth and so on. Korus being one step removed from all four female deities is sort of a ladies’ man, but for the most part Khemra prefers the Lawful men, Mera prefers the Good men, Nami prefers the Chaotic men, and Greymoria prefers the Evil men. Think of Korus as the god of rebound guys.
Eventually the Nine rebelled against Turoch’s brutal reign. Tensions were building for centuries. Some of the Nine had empathy for the destroyed mortals. Others coveted Turoch’s power. Some felt both motivations. The Nine were not willing to act until Korus, who was the most widely liked among the Nine (by not offending anyone), shared a divination he had received that Turoch was planning to eventually consume them and create new servants fearing that his ten servants were growing too powerful. Mutual annihilation in the face of a shared enemy will help disparate people work together. The tenth servant of Turoch, known as the Traitor, merely pretended to go along with the others. S/he eventually reported on his/her sibling’s activities to Turoch. The motives are unknown though it widely believed that the Traitor sided with Turoch in order to bargain for his/her life. The Nine managed to defeat Turoch despite the Traitor’s interference.
The three integral parts of the plan were poisoning Turoch through his tribute of souls, convincing some of the strongest souls to fight for their own freedom alongside the Nine, and tricking the Whore of Turoch with false information.
Korus mystically shielded the Nine’s conspiracy from Turoch. Khemra came up with the Compact, a set of agreements to let the Nine (and theoretically the Ten) put aside their disagreements long enough to depose Turoch and share rule of the world after.
Hallisan took the bravest souls and personally led them in a frontal assault against Turoch.
Greymoria took the weakest of the souls and tortured and mutilated them until they were poisonous to Turoch when consumed.
Mera took the greater portion of the world’s souls and sheltered them so that they would not be destroyed during the fighting of the Rebellion, allowing the world could be remade anew.
Zarthus is credited with coming up with the idea of poisoning Turoch (though not the horrific method). Zarthus greatest contribution is said to be taking out the Traitor in personal combat once his/her deception was known.
Phidas told the clever lies to disarm Turoch’s suspicions casting doubt on the Traitor’s reports, so that Turoch didn’t fight back until he was already poisoned. Turoch took Phidas’ betrayal the most personally, and Phidas suffered the most severe wounds of any of the Nine as a result of this. While he is mostly healed, to this day his face is ruined.
Nami deliberately altered the battle plan at the last minute which coincidentally (or purposefully) backed up Phidas’ lies because the Tenth’s information appeared false to Turoch. Thus Turoch didn’t respond to the Rebellion until he was already poisoned.
Maylar hung back for most of the battle. When his siblings were all but incapacitated, Maylar faked falling from a minor blow and then struck the final blow against Turoch when Turoch’s back was turn at the moment when Turoch was proclaiming himsElf victor and about to finish off Phidas.
After the battle each of the Nine took a portion of Turoch’s corpse and fashioned it into a weapon or tool. A great many of the Nine’s favored weapons and/or holy symbols are representations of these items.
Maylar was first to claim a trophy; Maylar forged Turoch’s heart into a spear. Phidas ripped the skin off of Turoch’s face and forged a mask to cover up his own now hideous face. Khemra took Turoch’s eyes and forged them into a shield. Hallisan crafted a battle axe from one of Turoch’s legs. Greymoria fashioned Turoch’s skull into a helmet. Korus crafted the bones and sinew of one of Turoch’s arms into a flail. Nami wove a bag out of Turoch’s hairs, out of which she pulls out all weather and a number of things you wouldn’t expect out of a fiber bag. The forerunner of Bags of Holding. Mera was the last to take a part of Turoch, aghast at the grisly idea, though she eventually took Turoch’s liver and fashioned into a comb, which can heal and remove spiritual poisons.
Because the Nine all gained a portion of Turoch’s power by destroying them, the act imprinted itself on the cosmos. From now, all beings would become incrementally stronger by defeating challenging foes. The mortal souls that fought beside the Nine and lived gained a portion of Turoch’s power, becoming the first Dragons. On a related note, this is why modern mortals gain experience and levels from fighting things and overcoming obstacles. The mechanic is literally built into the fabric of Creation.
With his body destroyed, Turoch was no longer a sapient being, but his strongest aspect: his all consuming hunger remained. His essence fuels the Void. A parallel plane of existence to Scarterra that seeks to consume everything.
The Nine had agreed that they would share the management of the world in Turoch’s passing, each taking responsibility for creating and maintaining and element of nature. Each would also take one ninth of the surviving souls to fashion them into worshipers. The few souls that Hallisan led against Turoch that survived are said to have been the progenitors of the first dragons. These were divided equally among the Nine. The souls that Mera sheltered were also divided evenly between the Nine, or at least they would be when they were re-released. Most were kept in stasis. When a new race is fashioned they use some of these sheltered souls as “seedlings.” It is not known whether any of the souls mutilated by Greymoria survived. It is widely rumored that they became the progenitors of the undead and the foulest races.
Hallisan had dominion over earth, specifically the minerals and resources therein. He valued the stability of stone and wanted to shepherd the resources of the world fairly.
Khemra had dominion over the sun. This let her watch over all her eight siblings. As the architect of the compromises of the Compact, she allows the sun to set every day to limit her power.
Phidas had dominion over the Barrier. The Barrier was erected by all the Nine but maintained by Phidas in order to prevent the Void from consuming Scarterra. Given that Turoch hated Phidas above all others, Phidas fears Turoch’s hunger more than all others.
While the Barrier totally prevents the Void from sucking the life out of Scarterra, it does not prevent the Void from sucking heat out of Scarterra. The Void touches Scarterra on the poles of the world (which is cylinder not globe shaped). Because of the heat sink that is the Void, the climate near the poles is colder than the climate near the equator. The Barrier thins near the anniversary of the Rebellion every year (around the Winter solstice) than gradually strengthens afterwards (peaking at the Summer solstice) creating seasonal climate variations.
Zarthus had dominion over the moon. Zarthus chafed at the compromises of the Compact believing it allowed the evil siblings too much leeway. When Khemra puts out her light, Zarthus stands ready to light up the darkness and illuminate the evil there for all to see.
Nami had dominion over the weather. While Nami reluctantly admits that broad patterns are necessary for life to flourish, she greatly enjoys randomizing the weather for fun.
Maylar had dominion over disease and decay. While he makes a big talk about their role in renewal, on some level he likes to watch things die.
Mera has dominion over water, the essential element for all life. She wanted control of this because she values the well being of all.
Korus has dominion over the cycles of the natural world: plants and animals. Korus was saddled with this huge responsibility because none of the rest of the Nine actively disliked him much. No one else was universally trusted with this, so he was sort of a compromise candidate.
Greymoria has dominion over the ebbing and flow arcane magic of Scarterra. Since experimenting with souls, she has become obsessed with tinkering with the fundamental elemental of all creation.
With the threat of Turoch gone, the Nine no longer could force themselves to agree to even simplest decisions involving running the world. While there was talk of empowering the souls of the new mortals with Gifts, it was nigh impossible to get two or three to agree on what to give the dragons much less all nine. In the midst of this stalemate, Nami decided to act unilaterally.
Nami gave all mortals the gift of free will, ostensibly, so that they would not be puppets, playthings, or food for the gods. This angered some of the other Nine and delighted others. With free will the gods were no longer guaranteed an equal share of the world’s worshippers, or even any worshippers at all. The two trinities of Good-Neutrality-Evil and Law-Neutrality-Chaos remain as a legacy of the values that cut across the Nine. The alignments are impossible to snuff out so each of the Nine has some indirect influence since the alignments are based off of themselves, allowing them indirect influence. Still with free will mortals can choose how they act.
Khemra was horrified beyond the others at the potential destabilization Nami had wrought. She was the next deity to act. She taught the now increasing populations of mortals writing. This way, they could keep records of what has happened (and what rules and laws they have), so that each generation could have some continuity in face of the potential change Nami wrought.
Mera was pleased that a third of the souls of the world now had the choice to deny their evil patrons. She taught them how to control fire so that they may be able to appreciate the warmth and safety it provides and to hold the darkness at bay.
Korus gave the next Gift. He mainly wanted to give the mortals the chance to thrive, so he taught them the rudiments of agriculture. This let them settle more areas and support larger populations, provided they work with nature instead of against it.
Maylar has always held a dark Darwinist view of creation: He believed that the strong should be destroy the weak. Those who prove strong must be continuously tested in order to stay strong. He surprised most of his siblings by giving a seemingly benign gift, the rudiments of animal husbandry and hunting. He taught mortals how to use as many parts of the animals as possible. This was done so as to subtly plant a link between killing and personal gain.
After much thought, Hallisan provided the next Gift. He taught some mortals the knowledge of mining so that they may utilize the fire they have been taught to control so as to forge lasting tools to better themselves through hard work.
Zarthus watched the farmers numbers grow and saw how many took up various crafts based on Hallisan’s Gift. So that they were not consumed by work and could enjoy themselves and the products of their labor, Zarthus gave the mortals the concept of art (especially music) to inspire them and spread joy.
Phidas believed then, as he does now that he deserved a larger share of the spoils of the Rebellion on account of the wounds he suffered during the Rebellion. So that mortals could better understand the value of what the Nine did for their benefit (and what he did especially), he gave mortals the concept of currency for his Gift. This was also intended to counteract Zarthus’s gift giving mortals a reason to work beyond mere sustenance, and to allow him a measure of control over Korus’ and Hallisan’s Gifts.
After Nami’s Gift of free will, it was not long before Greymoria had the fewest worshippers of any of the Nine (they were horrified by what she did during the Rebellion). Out of spite she withheld giving a Gift to mortals for a very long. This caused her to lose more worshippers as appreciation for their Gifts drove converts into each of the other eight deities’ faithful. As time progressed, the most devout among the worshippers of each of the Nine had go-betweens who could channel divine magic. Greymoria had the least of these clerics by far. Much later, Unable to tolerate her low number of worshippers, she taught a small number of her worshippers how to control arcane magic and become the first wizards. This knowledge was quickly disseminated beyond Greymoria’s faithful (as she knew it would), until some followers of all the gods had become wizards, thus reducing the power and recruitment potential of her rivals’ priesthoods.
The First Age: The Age of Dragons
The world Turoch created was mostly featureless, but very fertile. It was said that all the land was flat and the shallow oceans were full of fresh water. During the Rebellion the terrain of the world was ravaged creating higher and lower elevations making water bodies less regular. As the blood of Turoch spilled over the world, his blood became salt. Because Turoch was the original architect of creation living beings need some salt to live. Because Turoch set out to destroy everything he created, living beings become sick or die with too much salt.
Salt is antithetical to the Nine. While the Nine themselves cannot be hurt by mere salt, most of their spirit servants cannot cross a pure line of salt. In addition to salt which is believed to be Turoch’s blood, iron ore is believed to be remnants of Turoch’s bones. While the process of making steel burns away Turoch’s spite from the ore, wrought iron weapons (commonly known as cold iron) will overcome the damage reduction of the Nine’s spirit servants.
While the special properties of silver was not immediately apparent to the mortals of the First Age, silver was created by the Nine as an antithesis to iron ore. Silver throughout Scarterras helps anchor the world and relieve tension on the Barrier. Dragons just liked it because it was shiny when polished, but this caused no problem. Silver provides the same mystical anchoring effect whether as ore or when refined.
Most of Turoch’s blood fell on the ocean turning it all into salt water. Mera was able to purify the rivers and lakes to allow bodies of fresh water. Scarterra had one continent then like Pangea. In the dead center of the continent was a large body of water known as Mera’s Lake which served as the source waters for almost every river. She worked with Korus to help aquatic creatures adapt to living in salt water. Nami aided things further on land by converting salt water to fresh water via rain.
Other changes to the world occurred as they Nine took turns shaping pieces of it. It is often said that a lot of the irregular features were created by Nami’ desire to make things more interesting, and that the rules of nature were applied by Khemra to keep things more consistent (water always flows towards lower elevations, trees stop growing past certain elevations, etc). It has been speculated by some that many of the irregular features of the world were created by accident rather than deliberate design due to a result of the Nine’s relative inexperience in shaping the world. Even then compared to the Second and Third Age, Scarterra’s land features were pretty unremarkable.
Most of the souls saved during the battle were still kept asleep in sub realms of the Nine waiting for the world to be tame enough that they could thrive in the world rather than merely survive it. The mightiest souls who had helped slay Turoch were able to thrive almost immediately as did their descendants. These were the first Dragons. They were strong, highly intelligent, and long-lived. While not all Dragons now can burrow or swim especially well today, the first dragons had were the equal or superior in all forms of locomotion to modern dragons. The Dragons enjoyed the main Gifts of most of the Nine. Greymoria had not yet taught any mortals wizardry, but the dragons had mighty sorcery that they were able to wield arcane magic innately. Greymoria either could not or would not remove Dragons from this ability, so wizardry was quite unnecessary at the time. With the Gift of free will, many of the Nine worked hard to increase their share of worship and they showered lesser gifts and secrets upon the Dragons. The Dragons built powerful kingdoms on mountain tops, in forests, at the bottom of the sea, underground, even magically floating in the sky. Dragons existed for an age as the undisputed masters of creation.
Over time, divisions began to arise in the dragon empires. First there were divisions based on what gods they worshipped. Then they began competing over living space. While dragons can survive almost anywhere, as their numbers increased the more comfortable places became scarce. Competition over magical items and treasure was just as fierce. They fought over differing opinions on how to deal with the lesser sapient races the Nine began releasing. Feelings of Dragon superiority eventually led to dragons claiming their own bloodlines, physical attributes, magical aptitude, or even geographic locations made them superior to other Dragons as well as other creatures. Eventually competition went from arguments and displays of power to outright violence and inevitably all-out war.
Greymoria was fuming at her lack of worshippers and chose this time of dragon disunity to take her revenge on them. While most of the Nine had been creating their own new races to share the world with the Dragons, Greymoria had created the most. She had been quietly creating a number of creatures with which to challenge the Dragons for ages. In this regard she is said to have worked with Maylar a number of times, but legends speak of her creating monsters with all of the Nine, ranging from friendly partnerships to various forms of trickery and subversion. She unleashed most her children at roughly the same time. While few were any match for dragons, their numbers were great. Beset on all sides and fearing the loss of their powers and nigh immortal life spans, the dragon leaders of the various kingdoms ordered the younger generations to fight these hostile lesser for them. Naturally the young Dragons resented risking their lives to defend the lives of the people depriving them of the best treasure and territory. The rising generational divisions within dragon kingdoms gave rise to underground cults. While Greymoria and Maylar had some of the most powerful and feared cults, even something seemingly benign as a Mera cult could bring down an empire from the inside without meaning too by preventing a kingdom under Phidas’ sway from acting cohesively.
All the conflicts and divisions wore the dragons down till the population was a fraction of what it was at the prewar peak. Cities were destroyed and lore was lost. The end result of the Dragon Wars was decided, all the Dragons lost. The linchpin in their decline was when a Dragon sorceress attempted to harness the elemental power of Mera’s Lake for her own devices. The spell did not work as she intended, instead unleashing thousands of elementals. Mostly water and earth elementals at first, but they quickly began awakening fire and air elementals in their wake.
The First Unmaking
The elementals battled each other and reshaped the landscape for inscrutable reasons, attacking any living being who interfered. With the dragons so divided by their warring factions, they couldn’t coordinate an effective defense for their cities, monuments, and farms. It’s also unclear how even a might dragon can “fight” a hurricane or volcano. Most of the non-Dragons didn’t bother trying to fight the elementals and simply sought shelter wait out the storm.
Water and Earth elementals fighting split Scarterra’s mega continent into smaller land masses. The split’s epicenter was on Mera’s Lake. Mera desperately tried to hold onto her sacred lake. While much smaller than it once was, Mera’s Lake exists today right in the middle of the ocean. In the Second and Third Age, sailors would often navigate routes over Mera’s lake so they could pick up fresh water in the middle of the ocean. The water from Mera’s Lake is rumored to have healing powers but that is a misnomer. Many of Mera’s spirit servants live in and around the lake and will heal the worthy. Since these spirits servants are invisible, the Lake is given credit for the healing.
The reason Scarterra’s mountains are usually in linear ranges is because these represent the paths of the largest marches of earth elementals during the First Unmaking. When they battled water elmentals inland the battle’s wake often lead to underground rivers and aquifers. Where earth elementals battled fire elementals, volcanoes were formed. Rarest of all were the floating islands created where earth elementals battled air elementals. Most of these islands have gradually sunk from the sky landing across Scarterra. When a large mountain is present in a mostly flat area, it’s usual one of the former floating islands of yore.
Where fire and water elementals fought, are geysers and hot springs. Where water and air elementals fought are now areas of perpetual or near perpetual rain. Only one place remains in the Third Age marking where fire and air elementals fought. The inhospitable and aptly named Fire Plains periodically have fire rain from the sky, though thankfully not constantly.
By the time the last elemental receded back into its dormant element. Only a fraction of a tithe of the Dragons lived and most of their cities and structures were in ruins. The Nine decided the Dragons had their chance and it was time for a new race of mortals.
The Second Age: The Age of Elves
As the dragon conflict was winding down, the Nine issued the first release (or at least the first mass release) of the souls sheltered by Mera during the Rebellion. This was done with more forethought than when the dragons were released. In the leadup to the First Age, the pressing issue was defeating Turoch, and how to handle the mortals afterwards was almost an afterthought. Now, the state of the mortals in the world was the only thing on the agenda.
The Elves were created when it became clear to the Nine that the dragon civilization was on its last legs. Khemra called a meeting with her siblings. Maylar chose not to go since it was relatively obvious what the meeting was about. Maylar didn’t believe in coddling mortals. Khemra wanted to create a replacement race of weaker mortals to inherit the world and worship the Nine and Maylar wanted no part of it.
Of the eight gods who attended, all but Greymoria agreed that they should create new worshippers. Despite losing the vote to create a new race, Greymoria stayed on the “divine committee” in order to have a continued say in the creation of these new mortals. All but Nami agreed on setting more exacting parameters on this next batch of mortals both because they believed (or hoped) that they could prevent another civilization ending cataclysm though Greymoria was hoping the exacting parameters would make them easier to control.
The Elves were created to be physically weaker than dragons and with less innate magical power.
-Khemra created what became the party line stating that they would have a more stable community less rife with power struggles if the Elves had less power to be tempted with.
-Mera believed that if the Elves they were weaker than dragons, they’d have less ability to fight each other and more incentive to work together.
-Phidas heartily agreed with both Khemra and Mera, but it is widely believed that Nami and Hallisan more accurately gaged his intentions. Phidas wanted more easily controlled mortals and a dependant populace.
-Greymoria agreed with this without explanation. It is believed that she wanted to keep the Elves as weak as possible, believing that they would forsake her like the dragons before them and deserved to be weak.
-Zarthus agreed to weaken the Elves as well. He stated that power corrupts. Then after a dramatic pause, he finished the cliché and said “and absolute power corrupts absolutely” for the first time in history. Then he looked at all his siblings darkly.
-Hallisan opposed this claiming that a lack of power leads to corruption more than power.
-Nami opposed this as well, claiming the other deities wanted their new flock of worshippers to be overly dependent on them.
-Korus pointed out that the souls they were using as the base to create the Elves were weaker than the progenitors of the dragons, so that the Elves would be weaker than the dragons by an incalculable degree making any discussion about making sure they are weaker than dragons completely moot.
The Elves were given a life span of centuries rather than living until violence, disease, or accidents claimed them.
-Hallisan supported this claiming that this would lead to more bravery if people knew life was short.
-Zarthus supported this putting a de facto limit on the term of office of even the worst tyrants, eventually they’d grow old and die.
-Greymoria supported this with no explanation. It is widely believe she wanted to further weaken the Elves because she was opposed to them being created in the first place.
-Nami supported this citing that there would be more room for generational change.
-Korus supported finite life spans because all the other living creatures had them but was indifferent as to how long the Elves could live as long as it was less than forever.
-Phidas tried advocated variable life spans based on the piety of the individual giving loyal worshippers several millennia and the most impious less than a half a century.
-Mera opposed this, stating that living peacefully should be rewarded with long life and living forever should be a theoretically achievable goal.
-Khemra opposed this, wanting finite life spans to prevent corrupt or anachronistic leaders becoming permanently entrenched, but she wanted life spans to be millennia long to promote more stability.
The actual size and physical form of Elves took a lot longer to decide upon since pretty much all eight had different ideas and the Compact established earlier stated that at least five had to agree on something for a change in Creation of this magnitude. Eventually the humanoid mammalian form with pointy ears was decided on.
Some of Mera’s stored souls were shaped into the first Elves. Then they were bestowed with the eight Gifts given Dragons and most other mortals. Once again the Nine gave gifts and lore to the Elves to both encourage their worship and to help them thrive in the world though they were somewhat less hospitable than what the Dragons once had.
The history of the Nine was taught to the Elves. Once again Greymoria was reviled for her past deeds. Finally, she gave mortals her Gift. Though some Elves claim that Elves invented wizardry, it was Greymoria who taught the first handful of Elves how to control arcane magic externally. Most credit her gift as an attempt to weaken the power of her rivals’ churches, but at the time she and the first wizards claimed it was so the Elves had the means to fight dragons. For though the dragon empires were all but destroyed, the surviving Dragons were still a force to be reckoned with at the beginning of the Second Age and many wanted to prevent the Elves from rising to prominence.
Unfortunately, similar divisions that the Dragon empires faced eventually plagued the Elves once they had subdued most of the landscape and either killed, driven off, or made peace with the remnants of Dragonkind. Elves divided by nation, clan, ideology and religious creed. They fought over land, wealth, and magic. Once again their internal disputes were exacerbated by external threats. Greymoria never stopped creating monsters. Just like she created hostile races to punish the Dragons for not loving her enough, so she created new races to plague the Elves. The other Nine had also created a number of sapients such as the Dwarves, Centaurs and Saytrs among others. Even generally good natured races sometimes warred with the Elves.
While the Wars of the Second Age were terrible things they did not devastate the landscape on the scale of the Dragon Wars. What really sealed the Second Age’s fate was an overly ambitious foolish Elven king who wanted to become a god and force his way into a powersharing agreement with the Nine.
The Nine fashioned weapons and tools out of Turoch’s body parts. A leg, an arm, his heart, his skin, etc, but most of Turoch’s body remained unaccounted for. The king concluded that if he could enter the Void and reconstitute a portion of the Void into one of Turoch’s unclaimed body parts, he could fashion it into a weapon and through that act gain divinity.
Between his own magical power and those of his lieutenants he was seemingly able to mystically bind and carry a piece of Turoch’s essence out of the Void and into Scarterra. He died while attempting the ritual to forge that essence into a weapon. The site of this foolish became irreparably tainted, now known as the Black Water Wastes. Drinking “black water” does not kill but will inexorably mutate the drinker, causing hideous deformities and a malevolent disposition. While terrible, the Black Water Wastes did not create the Second Unmaking.
The Second Unmaking
Beyond the Barrier, Turoch’s essence began birthing demons not long after his death. Unlike the Demons of most fantasy games (and Judeo-Christian and most Eastern philosophies) the Void Demons had no interest at all in spreading corruption. They simply wanted to kill everything. Consume every soul. During the waning points of the Barrier brief temporary holes appear and disappear but they are too small for Demons to safely cross. If a hole closes while a Demon is halfway through it they will be slice into two. During the Second and First Age Demons rarely crossed the Barrier, always the smallest and weakest and never in large groups.
The Barrier does nothing to mortals. To mortals it seems like a band of wind. Thus protected with negative energy resisting spell the king and his entourage crossed the Barrier easily. Once a piece of Turoch’s direct essence was carried by mortals through the Barrier, it effectively breached the Barrier allowing unprecedented numbers of lesser Demon to cross en masse. There were breaches large enough to allow the most powerful Demon Lords to cross.
Over roughly a century, perhaps two the eight Demon Lords ravaged Scarterra. After the last Demon Lord was destroyed, the Nine were able to repair the Barrier, at least enough to prevent major Demons from crossing. Despite these repairs the Barrier is weaker in the Third Age than ever before. The pin prick holes that popped up before now pop up larger and more frequently than in the past allowing a slow trickle of lesser Demons through all year long. Around the Winter solstice when the Barrier is at it’s weakest point, medium level Demons sometimes sneak through.
Demons communicate with each other telepathically. If they have names among their own kind, they are unknown to mortals. The eight Demon Lords were given titles by mortals based on their actions.
The Demon Lords did not seem cooperate to a noticeable degree, but they did not seem to oppose each other’s efforts to a noticeable degree either. They were okay with everyone taking their own path to their shared goal. Lesser demons just took directions from the nearest Demon Lord they could find until their Lord died in which case they would disperse to their own devices or join the next nearest Demon Lord.
The Demon Lords did not all walk the material plane at the same time. Accurate records dating the presences of Demon Lords were not kept given that most people were concerned with fighting for their lives and souls than chronicling events for posterity. Historians have constructed a rough timeline. The Demon Lords are listed in their order of arrival (not death). The Harbringer, Defiler, Extinguisher, and the Successor had relatively short reigns of terror. The Ravager, Annihilator, Vandal and the Corruptor had relatively long reigns of terror. I have yet to decide if a “long” reign of terror means years, decades, or a century.
Some Unmaking historians theorize that there was Demon Lord to represent an anti-thesis to each of the Nine. The fact that there were only eight Demon lords is ominous. Did one cross in secret or is there a ninth Demon Lord still hoping to cross the Barrier. Optimists believe that there exists or once existed a Demon Lord equivalent to the Traitor who actually wants to protect mortals. Pessimists believe that the Demon Lords cannot be permanently destroyed and all eight are waiting in the Void for a second chance right now.
The Harbringer: The Harbringer was the first Demon Lord to arrive. Despite being the first Demon Lord to fall, it was arguably the most powerful. It lead its army straight for the strongest Elven nation and brought it to ruin. The Harbringer’s difficulty is that as the first demon, it faced a fresh enemy. While the Harbringer benefited a bit from the fact that Scarterras nations were all reeling from their constant wars, the Elven Wars did not last much longer. Once the Elven nations realized the scope of the Unmaking they united against the Harbringer, its army was brought to heel and he was destroyed by titanic magic that split a continent in two with a narrow body of water, now commonly called the Strait of the Harbringer..
The Corruptor: Very few mortals were insane enough to join the infernal (mostly wizards who experimented with Void magic before the Unmaking), but most of demon collaborators ended up following the Corruptor. The Corruptor also recruited most if not all of the world’s dopplegangers to its side. Dopplegangers ability to change their form could not fool the Demons, so they sided with the Demons in return for clemency.
Doppleganger infiltrators brought a lot of fortified holdings low, until one day a Doppleganger betrayed the Demons and led a small party of legendary Elves towards the Corruptor itself. After the Corruptor was destroyed, his demon army struck back indiscriminately against every Doppleganger they could find in retaliation for the treachery and then dispersed to join other Demon Lords. Thus the Corruptor was the only Demon Lord to die outside of a large scale battle. It wasn’t pieced together until much later, but the Corruptor experimented with Doppleganger and Elven test subjects to create the first lycanthropes. Thus the Corruptor left the strongest legacy of any of the Demon Lords. Like the demons who created them, lycanthropes are vulnerable to silver, the holy metal of the Nine.
The Defiler: The Defiler not only attack beings with souls that it could find, but it attempted to burn and level every forest and taint every aspect of the lands it touched so nothing could live there again. The main thrust of the Defiler’s offensive was attempting to spread the Black Water Wastes across the entire world. While the damage it inflicted was unspeakably awful, the Defiler’s reign of terror was actually the shortest of any demon lord. An alliance of Korus spirits and various fey creatures engaged his army and slew the Defiler. Mera’s spirits intervened to prevent a new Black Water Waste from forming, the Defiler’s legacy remains in the form of several new deserts. Not quite lifeless but a far cry from what they once were.
The Vandal: The Vandal’s army claimed relatively few souls, but the Vandal was the last Demon Lord to fall. While other Demon Lords sought out the most populous lands to ravage, the Vandal focused on already defeated lands to harry the survivors and refugees. The Vandal ordered it’s minions to destroy ever artifact of civilization and level every building they could find. This predictable behavior allowed a small number of dragons and their allies to pick off the Vandal’s minions with hit and run tactics. When the Vandal was finally taken down by a combined army of battle-hardened survivors from its previous attacks, it was the smallest last stand of any demon lord. Vandal’s legacy is what is missing. The areas the Vandal roamed have far fewer artifacts of the First and Second Age intact than anywhere else
The Extinguisher: The Extinguisher sent its armies to capture sites of latent magic power. After years of preparation the Extinguisher directed it’s minions in a massive magical and psionic undertaking and managed to summon shadowy clouds to block out the sun and moon over an entire continent for about three months before mortals figured out where it was drawing the power for the effect and attacked the Extinguisher’s minions who were harnessing the magic, thus killing the tainted eclipse. The Extinguisher put enough personal power into the effect that this weakened him enough to let himself be destroyed by the same mortal army shortly thereafter. The Extinguisher consumed relatively few souls, but caused a greater death toll than most of its peers by creating famines by starving massive amounts of plants of sunlight leading to unprecedented famines. The Extinguisher may have done more harm than good to the Demonic cause. After defeating the Extinguisher the army that beat him became a core of resistance for all other remaining Demon Lords.
The Annihilator: Most demons focused on the Elves who dominated the world, but the Annihilator focused on the smaller less populous races, singling them out for complete destruction. It’s unknown how many races went extinct due to the Annihalor’s rampages. The Annihilator and its army was finally defeated once and for all by an army made up of Kobolds, Spirits, and the last scions of Nine countless forgotten races in what is now called the Desert of Tears. Sometimes called the Great Salt Wastes (since Demons turn into salt when they die).
The Successor: Eons ago, Turoch farmed the world for souls. Most the Demon Lords spawned from his essence simply seemed to want eradicate all sentient life. The Successor seemed to be planning long-term attempting to capture settlements intact and turn them into giant prison camps with forced breeding for a sustained harvest of souls. Because the Successor tried to consolidate holdings rather than just destroy things and move on, the Successor’s enemies had time to mobilize. Massive Goblin-led prisoner revolts ultimately gave outside armies the opening they needed to destroy the Successor. Even though most of the former prisons of the Successor are demolished, the ruins of its prisons are cursed haunted places where the broken stones are said to cry out in pain and fear nearly every night.
The Ravager: The Ravager was the Demon Lord’s Demon Lord. By the time the Ravager arrived, the entire mortal world had put aside to differences to unite against the Demon threat, but their populations were very low. Like the Harbringer it sought out the largest population concentrations it could find, but as one of the latter Demon Lords to arrive the population centers were not as large. After devouring swaths of mortals on every major continent. The Ravager turned towards the Isle of Lunatus and was ultimately defeated by the ancestors of the modern Elven Empire. No other Demon Lord had a longer geographic reach.
The Third Age
Elven civilization was in ruins and the vast majority of the Elven population was slain. A small number of Elves held out with their kingdom mostly intact on the island of Lunatus. A small number of Elves managed to survive by hiding in deep forests and allying with the supernatural creatures living there, a small number of Elves had made a pact with Greymoria for extra mystic power that allowed them hide in plain sight amongst the ruins of where the Harbringer first attacked.
Yes, I am aware that I have created ersatz versions of High Elves, Wood Elves, and Dark Elves. It’s not like Games Workshop invented those ideas first. For that matter I'm aware that I have malevolent forces spewing out of the poles too.
The Nine could have let these survivors expand but they didn’t feel like the Elves deserved to rule the world after one of their number caused the Second Unmaking. It was time for a new race to rule the world with the Nine’s blessing. Much like before the Nine met together (this time Maylar did not abstain) and together they eventually came up with the criteria they would use for the new race: Humanity.
The Humans began expanding into larger tribes and kingdoms and are now the dominant race on Scarterra. Cue your basic fantasy setting. Mostly Humans but a fair number of other fantasy races scattered here and there.
Now if you like psionics here's an story option. Before the Third Age, only Void Demons had psionics. After the Second Unmaking, creatures began to develop psionic potential in rare cases. Only races whose genesis happened during or after the Second Unmaking may develop this potential. Naturally this leads to paranoia and suspicion. Conventional magic users are especially threatened by emerging psions and wilders. Many psions decide to keep their abilities secret to avoid being accused of Infernalism.
And if you want to run an epic campaign, you can always throw in a Third Unmaking. You know you want to...
And Now For Something Completely Different...
Did you expect ever mortal to agree with version of event above? Hah!
Core Story
Turoch created Scarterra to feast on the souls of everything on it. He eventually created servants to aid him in managing his larder, but they turned on him and split the managing of the world between them. Nine of his servants stood against him and their names were Greymoria, Hallisan, Khemra, Korus, Maylar, Mera, Phidas, Nami, and Zarthus. A tenth sided with Turoch as was slain, his/her name and identity are unknown, now called the Traitor.
The Rebellion against Turoch began when….
-Mera decided the souls of the world deserved better.
-Korus foresaw that Turoch would eventually consume his servants because he was good at reading people.
-The Traitor orchestrated the Rebellion in order to eliminate his/her siblings.
-Maylar decided he wanted to replace Turoch.
-Maylar foresaw that Turoch would eventually consume his servants and create new ones because that’s what he would do if he were Turoch.
-Phidas foresaw that Turoch would eventually consume his servants because Phidas was closest to Turoch and knew him best.
-Nami thought the world might be better off without Turoch.
-Zarthus’ moral outrage overrode his self-preservation instincts.
-Turoch subtly encouraged the Rebellion because his self loathing made him subconsciously want to die.
-Turoch subtly encourage the Rebellion because he knew he had to be destroyed to reach a higher state.
-Turoch subtly encouraged the Rebellion to see which of his servants were truly loyal and underestimated how many rebels there would be.
-Turoch subtly encouraged the Rebellion because he wasn’t truly immortal, merely long-lived. He sought to die in battle for a more fitting end for himself.
During the Rebellion Greymoria…
-Poisoned Turoch by torturing souls meant for his tribute so severely that they could not be safely consumed
-Created several monsters to aid the Nine in battle, most of whom were destroyed
During the Rebellion Hallisan…
-Led the frontal assault against Turoch backed with the strongest mortal souls.
-Organized several mortal souls into a fighting force and sent them in first as expendable pawns.
-Courageously fought Turoch by himself.
-Struck the death blow to Turoch
During the Rebellion Khemra…
-Drafted the Compact so the Nine could put aside their differences long enough to overthrow Turoch.
-Threatened to side with Turoch if her siblings didn’t accept her Compact
-Was the last of the Nine to take up arms against Turoch, originally siding with the Traitor but the Traitor made Turoch believe that Khemra was also rebelling and forced her hand.
During the Rebellion Korus…
-Fought bravely besides his siblings.
-Fought tepidly besides his siblings being almost indifferent to the whole outcome.
-Shielded his siblings pre-battle deliberations from Turoch’s detection.
-Managed to pick a site with favorable terrain for the battle.
During the Rebellion Maylar…
-Hung back for most of the battle and cunningly took a dive when struck so as to strike Turoch
-Struck the death blow against Turoch.
-Fled the battle after receiving his first wound.
-Briefly sided with Turoch when it looked like the Nine were losing.
-Overestimated the extant of his siblings injuries and attempted to replace Turoch by slaying and/or dominating his siblings after the battle
During the Rebellion Mera…
-Sheltered the bulk of the world’s souls so they’d survive the battle against Turoch.
-Sheltered the bulk of Scarterra itself so it wouldn’t be destroyed.
-Was the most minor participant fighting poorly and timidly.
-Refused to engage Turoch violently at all, relying on her siblings to do the fighting.
-Slept with the Traitor beforehand to prevent him/her from warning Turoch.
During the Rebellion Phidas…
-Was the last to join the Rebellion, only joining when he was sure all the others were doing so (the Traitor lied).
-Took the most damage in the battle because he fought the most courageously.
-Took the most damage in the battle because he fought with the least skill.
-Took the most damage in the battle because Turoch was most personally mad at him.
-Took the most damage in the battle because Zarthus left him high and dry.
-Was the one who personally delivered the poisonous souls to Turoch
-Feigned siding with the Turoch so as to be able to get into position to eliminate the Traitor who he knew all along wasn’t on their side.
During the Rebellion Nami
-Flipped a coin to see if she would fight Turoch or not.
-Wavered between which side to take for a long time
-Fought the most bravely because she cared little if she lived or died
-Fought the most effectively because her strategies were unpredictable.
-Fought the least effectively of the Nine because her strategies were irrational.
-Discrediting the Traitor’s warning to Turoch accidentally by altering the battle plan
-Deliberately misled the Traitor to make his/her information appear worthless
-Threatened to side with Turoch unless the Compact was revised
During the Rebellion Zarthus…
-Came up with the plan for poisoning Turoch but not the method.
-Took the Traitor out single-handedly.
-Was nearly beaten by the Traitor before another sibling saved him.
-Was formerly best friends/lovers with the Traitor.
During the Rebellion the Traitor…
-Planned to betray his/her siblings all along.
-Joined Turoch mid-battle only after believing the cause was lost.
-Actually did help take out Turoch, the Traitor only became a Traitor after the Rebellion when s/he tried a coup.
-did not exist, there was no tenth servant of Turoch.
-There was more than one deity who sided with Turoch.
-not really a Traitor, s/he died battling Turoch and the Nine lied about it later to justify letting a sibling die.
Greymoria’s Dominion is…
-Partitioning out Scarterra’ mystical energy
-Preventing Scarterra’ mystical energy from ripping the world into bits
-Death
Hallisan’s Dominion is…
-The seasons, so as to put stability into the world’s cycles.
-The responsibility of preventing Scarterra’ landmasses from sinking into the sea.
-Making sure the element of Earth is in proper balance.
Khemra’s Dominion is…
-The movement of the sun everyday.
-Warming Scarterra. She isn’t moving the sun, she is the sun.
-Linear time.
-Making sure the element of Fire is in proper balance.
Korus’s Dominion is…
-Managing the relationships that govern Scarterra’ ecosystems.
-Managing Scarterra’ plants.
-Managing Scarterra’ non-sentient animals.
-Making sure all four elements are in proper balance.
-Death.
Maylar’s Dominion…
-Decay and Disease and Renewal.
-Decay and Renewal.
-Decay.
-Renewal.
-Death.
Mera’s Dominion is…
-The seas.
-All bodies of water.
-All fresh water bodies.
-Making sure the element of Water is in proper balance.
Phidas’ Dominion is…
-Maintaining the safeguards that prevent the Void from consuming Scarterra.
-Karma.
-Making sure the element of Earth is in proper balance.
Nami’s Dominion is…
-The weather.
-Creating necessary chaos for the universe to function.
-Karma.
-Making sure the element of Fire is in proper balance.
Zarthus Dominion is…
-The moon and stars.
-The moon.
-All light.
-Karma.
-Making sure the element of Air is in proper balance.
Greymoria’s Gift to mortals was…
-Wizardry, so the dragons and clerics wouldn’t have a choke hold on magic
-Wizardry, so as to try to make the clerics of the other Nine irrelevant.
-Nothing, the mortals who forsook her deserve it.
-the capacity for any controlled magic.
Hallisan’s Gift to the mortals of Scarterra was…
-Metalworking so as to make weapons to defend themselves against the Unmakings.
-Metalworking to aid mortals in creating greater works.
-the courage to overcome their fears.
Khemra’s Gift to mortals was…
-Writing, so no knowledge need be forgotten
-Writing, so as to allow more complex and less varied laws.
-their memories.
Korus’ Gift to mortals was…
-agriculture so they could learn to work with the land.
-agriculture because he wanted them to have as much food as possible.
-ability to adapt to new environments.
Maylar’s Gift to the mortals of Scarterra was…
-animal husbandry to teach them to advance themselves through killing.
-animal husbandry, so they could test their mettle against lesser creatures and become stronger.
-animal husbandry, so he could humiliate Korus
-Weaponry, to make mortals more dangerous.
-disease, he calls it a Gift to be ironic.
-murder, he calls it a Gift because he believes only the strongest deserve to survive.
-the capacity for anger.
Mera’s Gift to the mortals of Scarterra was…
-control of fire so mortals could be warm and safe
-control of fire so as to tame its destructive aspects.
-secrets to building boats, so they wouldn’t drown.
-the ability to recover from injury.
-the capacity for love.
Phidas’ Gift to the mortals of Scarterra was…
-the concept currency so they’d know the value of their work and what the Nine did for them.
-the ability to keep vows.
Nami’s Gift to the mortals of Scarterra was…
-the concept of shelter, so they wouldn’t be destroyed by some of her more violent weathers.
-the secrets of brewing alcohol, to liberate their minds.
-free will.
Zarthus’ Gift to the mortals of Scarterra was…
-music, so mortals could alternatively celebrate and relax
-art, so mortals could strive for more than mere survival.
-a sense a humor.
So I’ve never been particularly thrilled with the D&D gods. Since I was 13 or 14 playing 2nd edition I started making my own. They weren’t that different from the official D&D gods. Then I did a lot of reading on mythology. Rather than make up a D&D god that was an ersatz of Thor, why not make a god Thor. I ended up populating a pantheon of 18 cherry picking deities from Pacific Northwest Native Americans, Norse, Greek, Hindu, and Egyptian gods with a few pulp fiction entries from my favorite comics.
I still wasn’t satisfied. I really enjoyed reading about real-world mythologies, but I could never transfer that joy to D&D pantheons. At first I thought I was bugged by the needless variety. Okay so Elves, Dwarves, Drow, Goblins, Kobolds, etc etc each get their own god. Then you have gods for categories like smithing, war, death, the ocean. Often you had multiple gods for each race or multiple gods for natural forces. Example, there might be a benevolent sun god who makes crops grow and warms the planet and a malevolent sun god who causes heat stroke and thirst in arid environments.
What really bothered me wasn’t the abundance of redundant niches. It’s that when writers develop a fantasy world. Doesn’t matter it’s a novel, tabletop minis game, RPG, video game, or movie they start with basic things they want (Elves, dwarves, sea epics, hot chicks in impractical armor, etc) and then once they are mostly done with the world, throw in the gods as an afterthought. The gods seemed ad hoc. Kobolds and Gnomes hate each other because of a rivalry between their gods. Fine, why is there a god for Kobolds and a god for Gnomes? If every race has a patron god, where do these race founders come from? In a pantheon of two dozen gods, may two or three pairs are siblings or lovers. Four or five pairs are rivals, but they aren’t interrelated.
Norse mythology. When the gods wanted to chain the Fenris wolf, they had to trick him. They promised not to chain him, but Fenris wanted one god to stick his hand in his mouth as assurance. The god that volunteered was Tyr. They chained Fenris anyway and Tyr became known as the one-handed. The gods broke an oath, and Tyr, the god of laws and oaths paid the price. See? You never see that kind of depth in a fantasy setting. That’s what I want.
So I decided to start with some gods then work my way down to the mortals. Now I have the goal of making it a viable D&D (or Pathfinder or whatever) setting, so I have some end goals in mind, but I have a rule. If it doesn’t make sense, it won’t be included. For instance I don’t see the monk PC class evolving unless you have a substantially large class of people that are restricted from using conventional weapons and armor, in dire need of sElf-defense, and somehow unable to take up another class that gets around restrictions (like Rogue). I don’t care if Eastern settings need monks. I need monks even less if the setting is based on medieval Europe.
Let’s begin with the world of Scarterra!
If you aren’t familiar with D&D or Pathfinder, you should be able to follow part one if you should be able to follow this okay with a WHF background, but I recommend reading this Wikipedia article on the nine alignments. Or just stop reading now and save yourself the headache.
Part One: Basic Divine History.
The Age Before Ages
Turoch created the world and all beings upon it. He fashioned worshippers for himself and fed on their spiritual power in order to fatten them up metaphysically speaking. Later he would consume their souls when they were “ripe.” As time passed the world became too great and complex to manage alone (some say Turoch grew fat and lazy). Turoch was forced to create powerful servants to help manage his creation farm. The number of these servants was ten. For an age the Ten managed the world and delivered all the souls to Turoch, farming them as mortals herd livestock today.
Turoch’s plan was to create servants who couldn’t get along with each other, so they would not be able to unite against him. Hallisan: Lawful Good (male). Phidas: Lawful Evil (male). Khemra: Lawful Neutral (female). Zarthus: Chaotic Good (male), Maylar Chaotic Evil (male), Nami Chaotic Neutral (female), Mera: Neutral Good (female), Korus: True Neutral (male), and Greymoria Neutral Evil (female). The gods, henceforth known as the Nine, all had a hand in shaping the world so their moral codes are imprinted on the souls of all mortals.
Note you will probably want to reference the Nine’s specific alignments a lot as you read further.
The tenth deity had both his/her name, sex, and moral code expunged from all historical records. The tenth deity is only known by its title, the Traitor (despite the fact that she would be more accurately called the Loyalist). Sometimes the tenth deity is known as the Whore of Turoch. Many Scarterran theologians guess that the Traitor was female making the original batch of gods equally split along gender lines. Some say the fact that male gods now outnumber female ones 5:4 is the reason why patriarchies are more common than matriarchies. (Yes, I stole that from Greek mythology. After Hestia yielded her seat on the Olympian council to Dionysus, the council was split 7:5 paving the way for patriarchal society).
Notice that I made the extremist deities all male. This is deliberate. I’m not saying men are more extremist or anything, but I wanted romantic rivalries. See both Hallisan (LG) and Zarthus (CG) squabble over the affections of Mera (NG). Hallisan and Phidas compete over the affections of Khemra (LN) and so forth and so on. Korus being one step removed from all four female deities is sort of a ladies’ man, but for the most part Khemra prefers the Lawful men, Mera prefers the Good men, Nami prefers the Chaotic men, and Greymoria prefers the Evil men. Think of Korus as the god of rebound guys.
Eventually the Nine rebelled against Turoch’s brutal reign. Tensions were building for centuries. Some of the Nine had empathy for the destroyed mortals. Others coveted Turoch’s power. Some felt both motivations. The Nine were not willing to act until Korus, who was the most widely liked among the Nine (by not offending anyone), shared a divination he had received that Turoch was planning to eventually consume them and create new servants fearing that his ten servants were growing too powerful. Mutual annihilation in the face of a shared enemy will help disparate people work together. The tenth servant of Turoch, known as the Traitor, merely pretended to go along with the others. S/he eventually reported on his/her sibling’s activities to Turoch. The motives are unknown though it widely believed that the Traitor sided with Turoch in order to bargain for his/her life. The Nine managed to defeat Turoch despite the Traitor’s interference.
The three integral parts of the plan were poisoning Turoch through his tribute of souls, convincing some of the strongest souls to fight for their own freedom alongside the Nine, and tricking the Whore of Turoch with false information.
Korus mystically shielded the Nine’s conspiracy from Turoch. Khemra came up with the Compact, a set of agreements to let the Nine (and theoretically the Ten) put aside their disagreements long enough to depose Turoch and share rule of the world after.
Hallisan took the bravest souls and personally led them in a frontal assault against Turoch.
Greymoria took the weakest of the souls and tortured and mutilated them until they were poisonous to Turoch when consumed.
Mera took the greater portion of the world’s souls and sheltered them so that they would not be destroyed during the fighting of the Rebellion, allowing the world could be remade anew.
Zarthus is credited with coming up with the idea of poisoning Turoch (though not the horrific method). Zarthus greatest contribution is said to be taking out the Traitor in personal combat once his/her deception was known.
Phidas told the clever lies to disarm Turoch’s suspicions casting doubt on the Traitor’s reports, so that Turoch didn’t fight back until he was already poisoned. Turoch took Phidas’ betrayal the most personally, and Phidas suffered the most severe wounds of any of the Nine as a result of this. While he is mostly healed, to this day his face is ruined.
Nami deliberately altered the battle plan at the last minute which coincidentally (or purposefully) backed up Phidas’ lies because the Tenth’s information appeared false to Turoch. Thus Turoch didn’t respond to the Rebellion until he was already poisoned.
Maylar hung back for most of the battle. When his siblings were all but incapacitated, Maylar faked falling from a minor blow and then struck the final blow against Turoch when Turoch’s back was turn at the moment when Turoch was proclaiming himsElf victor and about to finish off Phidas.
After the battle each of the Nine took a portion of Turoch’s corpse and fashioned it into a weapon or tool. A great many of the Nine’s favored weapons and/or holy symbols are representations of these items.
Maylar was first to claim a trophy; Maylar forged Turoch’s heart into a spear. Phidas ripped the skin off of Turoch’s face and forged a mask to cover up his own now hideous face. Khemra took Turoch’s eyes and forged them into a shield. Hallisan crafted a battle axe from one of Turoch’s legs. Greymoria fashioned Turoch’s skull into a helmet. Korus crafted the bones and sinew of one of Turoch’s arms into a flail. Nami wove a bag out of Turoch’s hairs, out of which she pulls out all weather and a number of things you wouldn’t expect out of a fiber bag. The forerunner of Bags of Holding. Mera was the last to take a part of Turoch, aghast at the grisly idea, though she eventually took Turoch’s liver and fashioned into a comb, which can heal and remove spiritual poisons.
Because the Nine all gained a portion of Turoch’s power by destroying them, the act imprinted itself on the cosmos. From now, all beings would become incrementally stronger by defeating challenging foes. The mortal souls that fought beside the Nine and lived gained a portion of Turoch’s power, becoming the first Dragons. On a related note, this is why modern mortals gain experience and levels from fighting things and overcoming obstacles. The mechanic is literally built into the fabric of Creation.
With his body destroyed, Turoch was no longer a sapient being, but his strongest aspect: his all consuming hunger remained. His essence fuels the Void. A parallel plane of existence to Scarterra that seeks to consume everything.
The Nine had agreed that they would share the management of the world in Turoch’s passing, each taking responsibility for creating and maintaining and element of nature. Each would also take one ninth of the surviving souls to fashion them into worshipers. The few souls that Hallisan led against Turoch that survived are said to have been the progenitors of the first dragons. These were divided equally among the Nine. The souls that Mera sheltered were also divided evenly between the Nine, or at least they would be when they were re-released. Most were kept in stasis. When a new race is fashioned they use some of these sheltered souls as “seedlings.” It is not known whether any of the souls mutilated by Greymoria survived. It is widely rumored that they became the progenitors of the undead and the foulest races.
Hallisan had dominion over earth, specifically the minerals and resources therein. He valued the stability of stone and wanted to shepherd the resources of the world fairly.
Khemra had dominion over the sun. This let her watch over all her eight siblings. As the architect of the compromises of the Compact, she allows the sun to set every day to limit her power.
Phidas had dominion over the Barrier. The Barrier was erected by all the Nine but maintained by Phidas in order to prevent the Void from consuming Scarterra. Given that Turoch hated Phidas above all others, Phidas fears Turoch’s hunger more than all others.
While the Barrier totally prevents the Void from sucking the life out of Scarterra, it does not prevent the Void from sucking heat out of Scarterra. The Void touches Scarterra on the poles of the world (which is cylinder not globe shaped). Because of the heat sink that is the Void, the climate near the poles is colder than the climate near the equator. The Barrier thins near the anniversary of the Rebellion every year (around the Winter solstice) than gradually strengthens afterwards (peaking at the Summer solstice) creating seasonal climate variations.
Zarthus had dominion over the moon. Zarthus chafed at the compromises of the Compact believing it allowed the evil siblings too much leeway. When Khemra puts out her light, Zarthus stands ready to light up the darkness and illuminate the evil there for all to see.
Nami had dominion over the weather. While Nami reluctantly admits that broad patterns are necessary for life to flourish, she greatly enjoys randomizing the weather for fun.
Maylar had dominion over disease and decay. While he makes a big talk about their role in renewal, on some level he likes to watch things die.
Mera has dominion over water, the essential element for all life. She wanted control of this because she values the well being of all.
Korus has dominion over the cycles of the natural world: plants and animals. Korus was saddled with this huge responsibility because none of the rest of the Nine actively disliked him much. No one else was universally trusted with this, so he was sort of a compromise candidate.
Greymoria has dominion over the ebbing and flow arcane magic of Scarterra. Since experimenting with souls, she has become obsessed with tinkering with the fundamental elemental of all creation.
With the threat of Turoch gone, the Nine no longer could force themselves to agree to even simplest decisions involving running the world. While there was talk of empowering the souls of the new mortals with Gifts, it was nigh impossible to get two or three to agree on what to give the dragons much less all nine. In the midst of this stalemate, Nami decided to act unilaterally.
Nami gave all mortals the gift of free will, ostensibly, so that they would not be puppets, playthings, or food for the gods. This angered some of the other Nine and delighted others. With free will the gods were no longer guaranteed an equal share of the world’s worshippers, or even any worshippers at all. The two trinities of Good-Neutrality-Evil and Law-Neutrality-Chaos remain as a legacy of the values that cut across the Nine. The alignments are impossible to snuff out so each of the Nine has some indirect influence since the alignments are based off of themselves, allowing them indirect influence. Still with free will mortals can choose how they act.
Khemra was horrified beyond the others at the potential destabilization Nami had wrought. She was the next deity to act. She taught the now increasing populations of mortals writing. This way, they could keep records of what has happened (and what rules and laws they have), so that each generation could have some continuity in face of the potential change Nami wrought.
Mera was pleased that a third of the souls of the world now had the choice to deny their evil patrons. She taught them how to control fire so that they may be able to appreciate the warmth and safety it provides and to hold the darkness at bay.
Korus gave the next Gift. He mainly wanted to give the mortals the chance to thrive, so he taught them the rudiments of agriculture. This let them settle more areas and support larger populations, provided they work with nature instead of against it.
Maylar has always held a dark Darwinist view of creation: He believed that the strong should be destroy the weak. Those who prove strong must be continuously tested in order to stay strong. He surprised most of his siblings by giving a seemingly benign gift, the rudiments of animal husbandry and hunting. He taught mortals how to use as many parts of the animals as possible. This was done so as to subtly plant a link between killing and personal gain.
After much thought, Hallisan provided the next Gift. He taught some mortals the knowledge of mining so that they may utilize the fire they have been taught to control so as to forge lasting tools to better themselves through hard work.
Zarthus watched the farmers numbers grow and saw how many took up various crafts based on Hallisan’s Gift. So that they were not consumed by work and could enjoy themselves and the products of their labor, Zarthus gave the mortals the concept of art (especially music) to inspire them and spread joy.
Phidas believed then, as he does now that he deserved a larger share of the spoils of the Rebellion on account of the wounds he suffered during the Rebellion. So that mortals could better understand the value of what the Nine did for their benefit (and what he did especially), he gave mortals the concept of currency for his Gift. This was also intended to counteract Zarthus’s gift giving mortals a reason to work beyond mere sustenance, and to allow him a measure of control over Korus’ and Hallisan’s Gifts.
After Nami’s Gift of free will, it was not long before Greymoria had the fewest worshippers of any of the Nine (they were horrified by what she did during the Rebellion). Out of spite she withheld giving a Gift to mortals for a very long. This caused her to lose more worshippers as appreciation for their Gifts drove converts into each of the other eight deities’ faithful. As time progressed, the most devout among the worshippers of each of the Nine had go-betweens who could channel divine magic. Greymoria had the least of these clerics by far. Much later, Unable to tolerate her low number of worshippers, she taught a small number of her worshippers how to control arcane magic and become the first wizards. This knowledge was quickly disseminated beyond Greymoria’s faithful (as she knew it would), until some followers of all the gods had become wizards, thus reducing the power and recruitment potential of her rivals’ priesthoods.
The First Age: The Age of Dragons
The world Turoch created was mostly featureless, but very fertile. It was said that all the land was flat and the shallow oceans were full of fresh water. During the Rebellion the terrain of the world was ravaged creating higher and lower elevations making water bodies less regular. As the blood of Turoch spilled over the world, his blood became salt. Because Turoch was the original architect of creation living beings need some salt to live. Because Turoch set out to destroy everything he created, living beings become sick or die with too much salt.
Salt is antithetical to the Nine. While the Nine themselves cannot be hurt by mere salt, most of their spirit servants cannot cross a pure line of salt. In addition to salt which is believed to be Turoch’s blood, iron ore is believed to be remnants of Turoch’s bones. While the process of making steel burns away Turoch’s spite from the ore, wrought iron weapons (commonly known as cold iron) will overcome the damage reduction of the Nine’s spirit servants.
While the special properties of silver was not immediately apparent to the mortals of the First Age, silver was created by the Nine as an antithesis to iron ore. Silver throughout Scarterras helps anchor the world and relieve tension on the Barrier. Dragons just liked it because it was shiny when polished, but this caused no problem. Silver provides the same mystical anchoring effect whether as ore or when refined.
Most of Turoch’s blood fell on the ocean turning it all into salt water. Mera was able to purify the rivers and lakes to allow bodies of fresh water. Scarterra had one continent then like Pangea. In the dead center of the continent was a large body of water known as Mera’s Lake which served as the source waters for almost every river. She worked with Korus to help aquatic creatures adapt to living in salt water. Nami aided things further on land by converting salt water to fresh water via rain.
Other changes to the world occurred as they Nine took turns shaping pieces of it. It is often said that a lot of the irregular features were created by Nami’ desire to make things more interesting, and that the rules of nature were applied by Khemra to keep things more consistent (water always flows towards lower elevations, trees stop growing past certain elevations, etc). It has been speculated by some that many of the irregular features of the world were created by accident rather than deliberate design due to a result of the Nine’s relative inexperience in shaping the world. Even then compared to the Second and Third Age, Scarterra’s land features were pretty unremarkable.
Most of the souls saved during the battle were still kept asleep in sub realms of the Nine waiting for the world to be tame enough that they could thrive in the world rather than merely survive it. The mightiest souls who had helped slay Turoch were able to thrive almost immediately as did their descendants. These were the first Dragons. They were strong, highly intelligent, and long-lived. While not all Dragons now can burrow or swim especially well today, the first dragons had were the equal or superior in all forms of locomotion to modern dragons. The Dragons enjoyed the main Gifts of most of the Nine. Greymoria had not yet taught any mortals wizardry, but the dragons had mighty sorcery that they were able to wield arcane magic innately. Greymoria either could not or would not remove Dragons from this ability, so wizardry was quite unnecessary at the time. With the Gift of free will, many of the Nine worked hard to increase their share of worship and they showered lesser gifts and secrets upon the Dragons. The Dragons built powerful kingdoms on mountain tops, in forests, at the bottom of the sea, underground, even magically floating in the sky. Dragons existed for an age as the undisputed masters of creation.
Over time, divisions began to arise in the dragon empires. First there were divisions based on what gods they worshipped. Then they began competing over living space. While dragons can survive almost anywhere, as their numbers increased the more comfortable places became scarce. Competition over magical items and treasure was just as fierce. They fought over differing opinions on how to deal with the lesser sapient races the Nine began releasing. Feelings of Dragon superiority eventually led to dragons claiming their own bloodlines, physical attributes, magical aptitude, or even geographic locations made them superior to other Dragons as well as other creatures. Eventually competition went from arguments and displays of power to outright violence and inevitably all-out war.
Greymoria was fuming at her lack of worshippers and chose this time of dragon disunity to take her revenge on them. While most of the Nine had been creating their own new races to share the world with the Dragons, Greymoria had created the most. She had been quietly creating a number of creatures with which to challenge the Dragons for ages. In this regard she is said to have worked with Maylar a number of times, but legends speak of her creating monsters with all of the Nine, ranging from friendly partnerships to various forms of trickery and subversion. She unleashed most her children at roughly the same time. While few were any match for dragons, their numbers were great. Beset on all sides and fearing the loss of their powers and nigh immortal life spans, the dragon leaders of the various kingdoms ordered the younger generations to fight these hostile lesser for them. Naturally the young Dragons resented risking their lives to defend the lives of the people depriving them of the best treasure and territory. The rising generational divisions within dragon kingdoms gave rise to underground cults. While Greymoria and Maylar had some of the most powerful and feared cults, even something seemingly benign as a Mera cult could bring down an empire from the inside without meaning too by preventing a kingdom under Phidas’ sway from acting cohesively.
All the conflicts and divisions wore the dragons down till the population was a fraction of what it was at the prewar peak. Cities were destroyed and lore was lost. The end result of the Dragon Wars was decided, all the Dragons lost. The linchpin in their decline was when a Dragon sorceress attempted to harness the elemental power of Mera’s Lake for her own devices. The spell did not work as she intended, instead unleashing thousands of elementals. Mostly water and earth elementals at first, but they quickly began awakening fire and air elementals in their wake.
The First Unmaking
The elementals battled each other and reshaped the landscape for inscrutable reasons, attacking any living being who interfered. With the dragons so divided by their warring factions, they couldn’t coordinate an effective defense for their cities, monuments, and farms. It’s also unclear how even a might dragon can “fight” a hurricane or volcano. Most of the non-Dragons didn’t bother trying to fight the elementals and simply sought shelter wait out the storm.
Water and Earth elementals fighting split Scarterra’s mega continent into smaller land masses. The split’s epicenter was on Mera’s Lake. Mera desperately tried to hold onto her sacred lake. While much smaller than it once was, Mera’s Lake exists today right in the middle of the ocean. In the Second and Third Age, sailors would often navigate routes over Mera’s lake so they could pick up fresh water in the middle of the ocean. The water from Mera’s Lake is rumored to have healing powers but that is a misnomer. Many of Mera’s spirit servants live in and around the lake and will heal the worthy. Since these spirits servants are invisible, the Lake is given credit for the healing.
The reason Scarterra’s mountains are usually in linear ranges is because these represent the paths of the largest marches of earth elementals during the First Unmaking. When they battled water elmentals inland the battle’s wake often lead to underground rivers and aquifers. Where earth elementals battled fire elementals, volcanoes were formed. Rarest of all were the floating islands created where earth elementals battled air elementals. Most of these islands have gradually sunk from the sky landing across Scarterra. When a large mountain is present in a mostly flat area, it’s usual one of the former floating islands of yore.
Where fire and water elementals fought, are geysers and hot springs. Where water and air elementals fought are now areas of perpetual or near perpetual rain. Only one place remains in the Third Age marking where fire and air elementals fought. The inhospitable and aptly named Fire Plains periodically have fire rain from the sky, though thankfully not constantly.
By the time the last elemental receded back into its dormant element. Only a fraction of a tithe of the Dragons lived and most of their cities and structures were in ruins. The Nine decided the Dragons had their chance and it was time for a new race of mortals.
The Second Age: The Age of Elves
As the dragon conflict was winding down, the Nine issued the first release (or at least the first mass release) of the souls sheltered by Mera during the Rebellion. This was done with more forethought than when the dragons were released. In the leadup to the First Age, the pressing issue was defeating Turoch, and how to handle the mortals afterwards was almost an afterthought. Now, the state of the mortals in the world was the only thing on the agenda.
The Elves were created when it became clear to the Nine that the dragon civilization was on its last legs. Khemra called a meeting with her siblings. Maylar chose not to go since it was relatively obvious what the meeting was about. Maylar didn’t believe in coddling mortals. Khemra wanted to create a replacement race of weaker mortals to inherit the world and worship the Nine and Maylar wanted no part of it.
Of the eight gods who attended, all but Greymoria agreed that they should create new worshippers. Despite losing the vote to create a new race, Greymoria stayed on the “divine committee” in order to have a continued say in the creation of these new mortals. All but Nami agreed on setting more exacting parameters on this next batch of mortals both because they believed (or hoped) that they could prevent another civilization ending cataclysm though Greymoria was hoping the exacting parameters would make them easier to control.
The Elves were created to be physically weaker than dragons and with less innate magical power.
-Khemra created what became the party line stating that they would have a more stable community less rife with power struggles if the Elves had less power to be tempted with.
-Mera believed that if the Elves they were weaker than dragons, they’d have less ability to fight each other and more incentive to work together.
-Phidas heartily agreed with both Khemra and Mera, but it is widely believed that Nami and Hallisan more accurately gaged his intentions. Phidas wanted more easily controlled mortals and a dependant populace.
-Greymoria agreed with this without explanation. It is believed that she wanted to keep the Elves as weak as possible, believing that they would forsake her like the dragons before them and deserved to be weak.
-Zarthus agreed to weaken the Elves as well. He stated that power corrupts. Then after a dramatic pause, he finished the cliché and said “and absolute power corrupts absolutely” for the first time in history. Then he looked at all his siblings darkly.
-Hallisan opposed this claiming that a lack of power leads to corruption more than power.
-Nami opposed this as well, claiming the other deities wanted their new flock of worshippers to be overly dependent on them.
-Korus pointed out that the souls they were using as the base to create the Elves were weaker than the progenitors of the dragons, so that the Elves would be weaker than the dragons by an incalculable degree making any discussion about making sure they are weaker than dragons completely moot.
The Elves were given a life span of centuries rather than living until violence, disease, or accidents claimed them.
-Hallisan supported this claiming that this would lead to more bravery if people knew life was short.
-Zarthus supported this putting a de facto limit on the term of office of even the worst tyrants, eventually they’d grow old and die.
-Greymoria supported this with no explanation. It is widely believe she wanted to further weaken the Elves because she was opposed to them being created in the first place.
-Nami supported this citing that there would be more room for generational change.
-Korus supported finite life spans because all the other living creatures had them but was indifferent as to how long the Elves could live as long as it was less than forever.
-Phidas tried advocated variable life spans based on the piety of the individual giving loyal worshippers several millennia and the most impious less than a half a century.
-Mera opposed this, stating that living peacefully should be rewarded with long life and living forever should be a theoretically achievable goal.
-Khemra opposed this, wanting finite life spans to prevent corrupt or anachronistic leaders becoming permanently entrenched, but she wanted life spans to be millennia long to promote more stability.
The actual size and physical form of Elves took a lot longer to decide upon since pretty much all eight had different ideas and the Compact established earlier stated that at least five had to agree on something for a change in Creation of this magnitude. Eventually the humanoid mammalian form with pointy ears was decided on.
Some of Mera’s stored souls were shaped into the first Elves. Then they were bestowed with the eight Gifts given Dragons and most other mortals. Once again the Nine gave gifts and lore to the Elves to both encourage their worship and to help them thrive in the world though they were somewhat less hospitable than what the Dragons once had.
The history of the Nine was taught to the Elves. Once again Greymoria was reviled for her past deeds. Finally, she gave mortals her Gift. Though some Elves claim that Elves invented wizardry, it was Greymoria who taught the first handful of Elves how to control arcane magic externally. Most credit her gift as an attempt to weaken the power of her rivals’ churches, but at the time she and the first wizards claimed it was so the Elves had the means to fight dragons. For though the dragon empires were all but destroyed, the surviving Dragons were still a force to be reckoned with at the beginning of the Second Age and many wanted to prevent the Elves from rising to prominence.
Unfortunately, similar divisions that the Dragon empires faced eventually plagued the Elves once they had subdued most of the landscape and either killed, driven off, or made peace with the remnants of Dragonkind. Elves divided by nation, clan, ideology and religious creed. They fought over land, wealth, and magic. Once again their internal disputes were exacerbated by external threats. Greymoria never stopped creating monsters. Just like she created hostile races to punish the Dragons for not loving her enough, so she created new races to plague the Elves. The other Nine had also created a number of sapients such as the Dwarves, Centaurs and Saytrs among others. Even generally good natured races sometimes warred with the Elves.
While the Wars of the Second Age were terrible things they did not devastate the landscape on the scale of the Dragon Wars. What really sealed the Second Age’s fate was an overly ambitious foolish Elven king who wanted to become a god and force his way into a powersharing agreement with the Nine.
The Nine fashioned weapons and tools out of Turoch’s body parts. A leg, an arm, his heart, his skin, etc, but most of Turoch’s body remained unaccounted for. The king concluded that if he could enter the Void and reconstitute a portion of the Void into one of Turoch’s unclaimed body parts, he could fashion it into a weapon and through that act gain divinity.
Between his own magical power and those of his lieutenants he was seemingly able to mystically bind and carry a piece of Turoch’s essence out of the Void and into Scarterra. He died while attempting the ritual to forge that essence into a weapon. The site of this foolish became irreparably tainted, now known as the Black Water Wastes. Drinking “black water” does not kill but will inexorably mutate the drinker, causing hideous deformities and a malevolent disposition. While terrible, the Black Water Wastes did not create the Second Unmaking.
The Second Unmaking
Beyond the Barrier, Turoch’s essence began birthing demons not long after his death. Unlike the Demons of most fantasy games (and Judeo-Christian and most Eastern philosophies) the Void Demons had no interest at all in spreading corruption. They simply wanted to kill everything. Consume every soul. During the waning points of the Barrier brief temporary holes appear and disappear but they are too small for Demons to safely cross. If a hole closes while a Demon is halfway through it they will be slice into two. During the Second and First Age Demons rarely crossed the Barrier, always the smallest and weakest and never in large groups.
The Barrier does nothing to mortals. To mortals it seems like a band of wind. Thus protected with negative energy resisting spell the king and his entourage crossed the Barrier easily. Once a piece of Turoch’s direct essence was carried by mortals through the Barrier, it effectively breached the Barrier allowing unprecedented numbers of lesser Demon to cross en masse. There were breaches large enough to allow the most powerful Demon Lords to cross.
Over roughly a century, perhaps two the eight Demon Lords ravaged Scarterra. After the last Demon Lord was destroyed, the Nine were able to repair the Barrier, at least enough to prevent major Demons from crossing. Despite these repairs the Barrier is weaker in the Third Age than ever before. The pin prick holes that popped up before now pop up larger and more frequently than in the past allowing a slow trickle of lesser Demons through all year long. Around the Winter solstice when the Barrier is at it’s weakest point, medium level Demons sometimes sneak through.
Demons communicate with each other telepathically. If they have names among their own kind, they are unknown to mortals. The eight Demon Lords were given titles by mortals based on their actions.
The Demon Lords did not seem cooperate to a noticeable degree, but they did not seem to oppose each other’s efforts to a noticeable degree either. They were okay with everyone taking their own path to their shared goal. Lesser demons just took directions from the nearest Demon Lord they could find until their Lord died in which case they would disperse to their own devices or join the next nearest Demon Lord.
The Demon Lords did not all walk the material plane at the same time. Accurate records dating the presences of Demon Lords were not kept given that most people were concerned with fighting for their lives and souls than chronicling events for posterity. Historians have constructed a rough timeline. The Demon Lords are listed in their order of arrival (not death). The Harbringer, Defiler, Extinguisher, and the Successor had relatively short reigns of terror. The Ravager, Annihilator, Vandal and the Corruptor had relatively long reigns of terror. I have yet to decide if a “long” reign of terror means years, decades, or a century.
Some Unmaking historians theorize that there was Demon Lord to represent an anti-thesis to each of the Nine. The fact that there were only eight Demon lords is ominous. Did one cross in secret or is there a ninth Demon Lord still hoping to cross the Barrier. Optimists believe that there exists or once existed a Demon Lord equivalent to the Traitor who actually wants to protect mortals. Pessimists believe that the Demon Lords cannot be permanently destroyed and all eight are waiting in the Void for a second chance right now.
The Harbringer: The Harbringer was the first Demon Lord to arrive. Despite being the first Demon Lord to fall, it was arguably the most powerful. It lead its army straight for the strongest Elven nation and brought it to ruin. The Harbringer’s difficulty is that as the first demon, it faced a fresh enemy. While the Harbringer benefited a bit from the fact that Scarterras nations were all reeling from their constant wars, the Elven Wars did not last much longer. Once the Elven nations realized the scope of the Unmaking they united against the Harbringer, its army was brought to heel and he was destroyed by titanic magic that split a continent in two with a narrow body of water, now commonly called the Strait of the Harbringer..
The Corruptor: Very few mortals were insane enough to join the infernal (mostly wizards who experimented with Void magic before the Unmaking), but most of demon collaborators ended up following the Corruptor. The Corruptor also recruited most if not all of the world’s dopplegangers to its side. Dopplegangers ability to change their form could not fool the Demons, so they sided with the Demons in return for clemency.
Doppleganger infiltrators brought a lot of fortified holdings low, until one day a Doppleganger betrayed the Demons and led a small party of legendary Elves towards the Corruptor itself. After the Corruptor was destroyed, his demon army struck back indiscriminately against every Doppleganger they could find in retaliation for the treachery and then dispersed to join other Demon Lords. Thus the Corruptor was the only Demon Lord to die outside of a large scale battle. It wasn’t pieced together until much later, but the Corruptor experimented with Doppleganger and Elven test subjects to create the first lycanthropes. Thus the Corruptor left the strongest legacy of any of the Demon Lords. Like the demons who created them, lycanthropes are vulnerable to silver, the holy metal of the Nine.
The Defiler: The Defiler not only attack beings with souls that it could find, but it attempted to burn and level every forest and taint every aspect of the lands it touched so nothing could live there again. The main thrust of the Defiler’s offensive was attempting to spread the Black Water Wastes across the entire world. While the damage it inflicted was unspeakably awful, the Defiler’s reign of terror was actually the shortest of any demon lord. An alliance of Korus spirits and various fey creatures engaged his army and slew the Defiler. Mera’s spirits intervened to prevent a new Black Water Waste from forming, the Defiler’s legacy remains in the form of several new deserts. Not quite lifeless but a far cry from what they once were.
The Vandal: The Vandal’s army claimed relatively few souls, but the Vandal was the last Demon Lord to fall. While other Demon Lords sought out the most populous lands to ravage, the Vandal focused on already defeated lands to harry the survivors and refugees. The Vandal ordered it’s minions to destroy ever artifact of civilization and level every building they could find. This predictable behavior allowed a small number of dragons and their allies to pick off the Vandal’s minions with hit and run tactics. When the Vandal was finally taken down by a combined army of battle-hardened survivors from its previous attacks, it was the smallest last stand of any demon lord. Vandal’s legacy is what is missing. The areas the Vandal roamed have far fewer artifacts of the First and Second Age intact than anywhere else
The Extinguisher: The Extinguisher sent its armies to capture sites of latent magic power. After years of preparation the Extinguisher directed it’s minions in a massive magical and psionic undertaking and managed to summon shadowy clouds to block out the sun and moon over an entire continent for about three months before mortals figured out where it was drawing the power for the effect and attacked the Extinguisher’s minions who were harnessing the magic, thus killing the tainted eclipse. The Extinguisher put enough personal power into the effect that this weakened him enough to let himself be destroyed by the same mortal army shortly thereafter. The Extinguisher consumed relatively few souls, but caused a greater death toll than most of its peers by creating famines by starving massive amounts of plants of sunlight leading to unprecedented famines. The Extinguisher may have done more harm than good to the Demonic cause. After defeating the Extinguisher the army that beat him became a core of resistance for all other remaining Demon Lords.
The Annihilator: Most demons focused on the Elves who dominated the world, but the Annihilator focused on the smaller less populous races, singling them out for complete destruction. It’s unknown how many races went extinct due to the Annihalor’s rampages. The Annihilator and its army was finally defeated once and for all by an army made up of Kobolds, Spirits, and the last scions of Nine countless forgotten races in what is now called the Desert of Tears. Sometimes called the Great Salt Wastes (since Demons turn into salt when they die).
The Successor: Eons ago, Turoch farmed the world for souls. Most the Demon Lords spawned from his essence simply seemed to want eradicate all sentient life. The Successor seemed to be planning long-term attempting to capture settlements intact and turn them into giant prison camps with forced breeding for a sustained harvest of souls. Because the Successor tried to consolidate holdings rather than just destroy things and move on, the Successor’s enemies had time to mobilize. Massive Goblin-led prisoner revolts ultimately gave outside armies the opening they needed to destroy the Successor. Even though most of the former prisons of the Successor are demolished, the ruins of its prisons are cursed haunted places where the broken stones are said to cry out in pain and fear nearly every night.
The Ravager: The Ravager was the Demon Lord’s Demon Lord. By the time the Ravager arrived, the entire mortal world had put aside to differences to unite against the Demon threat, but their populations were very low. Like the Harbringer it sought out the largest population concentrations it could find, but as one of the latter Demon Lords to arrive the population centers were not as large. After devouring swaths of mortals on every major continent. The Ravager turned towards the Isle of Lunatus and was ultimately defeated by the ancestors of the modern Elven Empire. No other Demon Lord had a longer geographic reach.
The Third Age
Elven civilization was in ruins and the vast majority of the Elven population was slain. A small number of Elves held out with their kingdom mostly intact on the island of Lunatus. A small number of Elves managed to survive by hiding in deep forests and allying with the supernatural creatures living there, a small number of Elves had made a pact with Greymoria for extra mystic power that allowed them hide in plain sight amongst the ruins of where the Harbringer first attacked.
Yes, I am aware that I have created ersatz versions of High Elves, Wood Elves, and Dark Elves. It’s not like Games Workshop invented those ideas first. For that matter I'm aware that I have malevolent forces spewing out of the poles too.
The Nine could have let these survivors expand but they didn’t feel like the Elves deserved to rule the world after one of their number caused the Second Unmaking. It was time for a new race to rule the world with the Nine’s blessing. Much like before the Nine met together (this time Maylar did not abstain) and together they eventually came up with the criteria they would use for the new race: Humanity.
The Humans began expanding into larger tribes and kingdoms and are now the dominant race on Scarterra. Cue your basic fantasy setting. Mostly Humans but a fair number of other fantasy races scattered here and there.
Now if you like psionics here's an story option. Before the Third Age, only Void Demons had psionics. After the Second Unmaking, creatures began to develop psionic potential in rare cases. Only races whose genesis happened during or after the Second Unmaking may develop this potential. Naturally this leads to paranoia and suspicion. Conventional magic users are especially threatened by emerging psions and wilders. Many psions decide to keep their abilities secret to avoid being accused of Infernalism.
And if you want to run an epic campaign, you can always throw in a Third Unmaking. You know you want to...
And Now For Something Completely Different...
Did you expect ever mortal to agree with version of event above? Hah!
Core Story
Turoch created Scarterra to feast on the souls of everything on it. He eventually created servants to aid him in managing his larder, but they turned on him and split the managing of the world between them. Nine of his servants stood against him and their names were Greymoria, Hallisan, Khemra, Korus, Maylar, Mera, Phidas, Nami, and Zarthus. A tenth sided with Turoch as was slain, his/her name and identity are unknown, now called the Traitor.
The Rebellion against Turoch began when….
-Mera decided the souls of the world deserved better.
-Korus foresaw that Turoch would eventually consume his servants because he was good at reading people.
-The Traitor orchestrated the Rebellion in order to eliminate his/her siblings.
-Maylar decided he wanted to replace Turoch.
-Maylar foresaw that Turoch would eventually consume his servants and create new ones because that’s what he would do if he were Turoch.
-Phidas foresaw that Turoch would eventually consume his servants because Phidas was closest to Turoch and knew him best.
-Nami thought the world might be better off without Turoch.
-Zarthus’ moral outrage overrode his self-preservation instincts.
-Turoch subtly encouraged the Rebellion because his self loathing made him subconsciously want to die.
-Turoch subtly encourage the Rebellion because he knew he had to be destroyed to reach a higher state.
-Turoch subtly encouraged the Rebellion to see which of his servants were truly loyal and underestimated how many rebels there would be.
-Turoch subtly encouraged the Rebellion because he wasn’t truly immortal, merely long-lived. He sought to die in battle for a more fitting end for himself.
During the Rebellion Greymoria…
-Poisoned Turoch by torturing souls meant for his tribute so severely that they could not be safely consumed
-Created several monsters to aid the Nine in battle, most of whom were destroyed
During the Rebellion Hallisan…
-Led the frontal assault against Turoch backed with the strongest mortal souls.
-Organized several mortal souls into a fighting force and sent them in first as expendable pawns.
-Courageously fought Turoch by himself.
-Struck the death blow to Turoch
During the Rebellion Khemra…
-Drafted the Compact so the Nine could put aside their differences long enough to overthrow Turoch.
-Threatened to side with Turoch if her siblings didn’t accept her Compact
-Was the last of the Nine to take up arms against Turoch, originally siding with the Traitor but the Traitor made Turoch believe that Khemra was also rebelling and forced her hand.
During the Rebellion Korus…
-Fought bravely besides his siblings.
-Fought tepidly besides his siblings being almost indifferent to the whole outcome.
-Shielded his siblings pre-battle deliberations from Turoch’s detection.
-Managed to pick a site with favorable terrain for the battle.
During the Rebellion Maylar…
-Hung back for most of the battle and cunningly took a dive when struck so as to strike Turoch
-Struck the death blow against Turoch.
-Fled the battle after receiving his first wound.
-Briefly sided with Turoch when it looked like the Nine were losing.
-Overestimated the extant of his siblings injuries and attempted to replace Turoch by slaying and/or dominating his siblings after the battle
During the Rebellion Mera…
-Sheltered the bulk of the world’s souls so they’d survive the battle against Turoch.
-Sheltered the bulk of Scarterra itself so it wouldn’t be destroyed.
-Was the most minor participant fighting poorly and timidly.
-Refused to engage Turoch violently at all, relying on her siblings to do the fighting.
-Slept with the Traitor beforehand to prevent him/her from warning Turoch.
During the Rebellion Phidas…
-Was the last to join the Rebellion, only joining when he was sure all the others were doing so (the Traitor lied).
-Took the most damage in the battle because he fought the most courageously.
-Took the most damage in the battle because he fought with the least skill.
-Took the most damage in the battle because Turoch was most personally mad at him.
-Took the most damage in the battle because Zarthus left him high and dry.
-Was the one who personally delivered the poisonous souls to Turoch
-Feigned siding with the Turoch so as to be able to get into position to eliminate the Traitor who he knew all along wasn’t on their side.
During the Rebellion Nami
-Flipped a coin to see if she would fight Turoch or not.
-Wavered between which side to take for a long time
-Fought the most bravely because she cared little if she lived or died
-Fought the most effectively because her strategies were unpredictable.
-Fought the least effectively of the Nine because her strategies were irrational.
-Discrediting the Traitor’s warning to Turoch accidentally by altering the battle plan
-Deliberately misled the Traitor to make his/her information appear worthless
-Threatened to side with Turoch unless the Compact was revised
During the Rebellion Zarthus…
-Came up with the plan for poisoning Turoch but not the method.
-Took the Traitor out single-handedly.
-Was nearly beaten by the Traitor before another sibling saved him.
-Was formerly best friends/lovers with the Traitor.
During the Rebellion the Traitor…
-Planned to betray his/her siblings all along.
-Joined Turoch mid-battle only after believing the cause was lost.
-Actually did help take out Turoch, the Traitor only became a Traitor after the Rebellion when s/he tried a coup.
-did not exist, there was no tenth servant of Turoch.
-There was more than one deity who sided with Turoch.
-not really a Traitor, s/he died battling Turoch and the Nine lied about it later to justify letting a sibling die.
Greymoria’s Dominion is…
-Partitioning out Scarterra’ mystical energy
-Preventing Scarterra’ mystical energy from ripping the world into bits
-Death
Hallisan’s Dominion is…
-The seasons, so as to put stability into the world’s cycles.
-The responsibility of preventing Scarterra’ landmasses from sinking into the sea.
-Making sure the element of Earth is in proper balance.
Khemra’s Dominion is…
-The movement of the sun everyday.
-Warming Scarterra. She isn’t moving the sun, she is the sun.
-Linear time.
-Making sure the element of Fire is in proper balance.
Korus’s Dominion is…
-Managing the relationships that govern Scarterra’ ecosystems.
-Managing Scarterra’ plants.
-Managing Scarterra’ non-sentient animals.
-Making sure all four elements are in proper balance.
-Death.
Maylar’s Dominion…
-Decay and Disease and Renewal.
-Decay and Renewal.
-Decay.
-Renewal.
-Death.
Mera’s Dominion is…
-The seas.
-All bodies of water.
-All fresh water bodies.
-Making sure the element of Water is in proper balance.
Phidas’ Dominion is…
-Maintaining the safeguards that prevent the Void from consuming Scarterra.
-Karma.
-Making sure the element of Earth is in proper balance.
Nami’s Dominion is…
-The weather.
-Creating necessary chaos for the universe to function.
-Karma.
-Making sure the element of Fire is in proper balance.
Zarthus Dominion is…
-The moon and stars.
-The moon.
-All light.
-Karma.
-Making sure the element of Air is in proper balance.
Greymoria’s Gift to mortals was…
-Wizardry, so the dragons and clerics wouldn’t have a choke hold on magic
-Wizardry, so as to try to make the clerics of the other Nine irrelevant.
-Nothing, the mortals who forsook her deserve it.
-the capacity for any controlled magic.
Hallisan’s Gift to the mortals of Scarterra was…
-Metalworking so as to make weapons to defend themselves against the Unmakings.
-Metalworking to aid mortals in creating greater works.
-the courage to overcome their fears.
Khemra’s Gift to mortals was…
-Writing, so no knowledge need be forgotten
-Writing, so as to allow more complex and less varied laws.
-their memories.
Korus’ Gift to mortals was…
-agriculture so they could learn to work with the land.
-agriculture because he wanted them to have as much food as possible.
-ability to adapt to new environments.
Maylar’s Gift to the mortals of Scarterra was…
-animal husbandry to teach them to advance themselves through killing.
-animal husbandry, so they could test their mettle against lesser creatures and become stronger.
-animal husbandry, so he could humiliate Korus
-Weaponry, to make mortals more dangerous.
-disease, he calls it a Gift to be ironic.
-murder, he calls it a Gift because he believes only the strongest deserve to survive.
-the capacity for anger.
Mera’s Gift to the mortals of Scarterra was…
-control of fire so mortals could be warm and safe
-control of fire so as to tame its destructive aspects.
-secrets to building boats, so they wouldn’t drown.
-the ability to recover from injury.
-the capacity for love.
Phidas’ Gift to the mortals of Scarterra was…
-the concept currency so they’d know the value of their work and what the Nine did for them.
-the ability to keep vows.
Nami’s Gift to the mortals of Scarterra was…
-the concept of shelter, so they wouldn’t be destroyed by some of her more violent weathers.
-the secrets of brewing alcohol, to liberate their minds.
-free will.
Zarthus’ Gift to the mortals of Scarterra was…
-music, so mortals could alternatively celebrate and relax
-art, so mortals could strive for more than mere survival.
-a sense a humor.
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