The Age of Gods
Following the war against the Discordant Voice during the Elder Days, the world was in disarray. The Gloriana, who had been sent by the Celestial Choir to aid humans and elves against the forces of darkness, decided to remain in the physical world to help set things right. Their intentions, at least in the beginning, were pure, and some even remained loyal to their charges. However, much as it had the Discordant Voice, the nature of Creation changed the gods, and they began to see themselves as lords of creation and rulers of this broken world.
At first, the elves and humans were glad to have the gods ruling over them. The war had been brutal and devastating, and the gods, in all their majesty and might, returned the world to what it had been before the depredations of the Discordant Voice and the Fell. Yet as time went on, the gods became set in their various forms, and the nature of reality itself began to change.
As consequence of the war, the stars had fallen and the sun itself extinguished. The Goddess Arcadia set the stars back in the eternal firmament while the God Solarion took it upon himself to reignite the sun, returning it to its place in the sky. As time went on, Solarion began to think of himself not only as the God of the Sun, but as the living sun itself. He built a towering fortress and set it high in the heavens, where he could see all the world below him and shine his light upon those who pleased him.
Gaela, Goddess of Life, made both earth and people fertile, while Lord Naius of the Sea calmed wave and storm. Over the centuries, Gods and Goddesses came to contol everything from war to love and all aspects of life in between, leading humans and elves to develop complex rituals and doctrines in exchange for their blessings.
Eventually, the gods wanted even more from their worshipers. One day, Lord Solarion looked down upon the world, saw Azreanna, Queen of the Northern Elven Kingdom, and fell deeply in love with her. He claimed her as his bride, and she married him out of fear that he would cast her kingdom in eternal shadow or burn it to the ground. In time, at least according to myth, she grew to love him, and even bore him a son. Solarius Magnus was the greatest of the demigods to walk among the world. He founded the Southern Elven Kingdom, brought the gift of writing to humanity, and taught the elves the secrets of alchemy.
Not all the children of the gods were so benevolent. Cathaxes, Goddess of War, took a harem of human men and birthed an army of half-divine warriors who conquered the human kingdoms and ruled as absolute tyrants for centuries. It was under the yoke of the Celestrium that the first spark of rebellion was lit among humanity. It didn’t take long for that spark to fan into a raging flame that swept across the world, igniting the desire for freedom and liberation among humans and elves alike. Even the Priori took up arms against their creators.
The Great Rebellion raged for centuries, changing the shape of the land and threatening even greater damage than that caused by the Discordant Voice. In the end, it was Solarius Magnus, through an act of ultimate sacrifice, who caused the gods to be unmade and brought the Great Rebellion, and the Age of Gods, to an end.
Though the world emerged from this war in far better shape than it did the last one, the races of elves and humans did not escape unchanged. The blood of gods flowed through their veins now, altering both races for millennia to come.
Meanwhile, deep beneath the ocean, Umbra, Queen of Darkness, plotted and schemed within her shadowy prison.
