Queshire
Istar
High Divine Era: Once the gods freely walked the cosmos. They shaped worlds, created life and offered plentiful blessings. It was an time of unparalled prosperity were star roads could take someone from one planet to another with ease and mirror gates provided access to alternate timelines. In the end though the era fell to war.
Divine War: Starting out there were a thousand different reasons for the war amongst the gods. Countless grudges between the various pantheons ignited into a fire that only grew as existing alliances drew ever more gods into the fighting and new grudges were generated from their conflict. Mortals took part in the conflict at this time. Dwarves in divinely enchanted armor lead the invasion of planets in meteor dropships while Orcs were engineered as living super soldiers, but the conflict only grew and grew. It reached the point where even the most divinely empowered mortals were little more than kindling to the fire of divine authority wielded as weapons. The destruction spread to reality itself. The causes of the conflict were many, but by time it reached its end only one mattered to the warring gods. Preserve the world as broken as it had become or destroy it and form a new Creation from it remnants.
Inheritor Era: Well, considering that reality is still here it's clear that the side of preservation won, but it was not without its cost. The Divine Realm was cut off completely from the World and the mana remaining in the World was so weak that the gods left stranded in the World could not sustain themselves. They were forced to retreat to more energy rich planes.
This was where mortals could first take center stage.
The Inheritors were a mixed bunch. Some took the name literally. Armed with powerful, and now irreplaceable, divine artifacts left over from the High Divine Age saw themselves as a new generation of god kings.
Others delved deep into the new realm of mortal magic. It is the era of the first liches and the era where the Elves grew the world tree that allowed them to cross the gulf between stars.
It was the era where that power was needed. Living weapons left over from the divine war and cataclysmic curses formed a dire threat. Slowly the stores left over from the High Divine Age were used up as one divine artifact after another was sacrificed to try to tame the chaos. The old knowledge was lost as day to day survival was prioritized.
In time there were fewer and fewer monsters left to fight and the various Inheritor civilizations found themselves more and more preoccupied with their fellow Inheritors. This was an era of heroes, but it was also an era of tyrants.
System Builder Era: Some tales say that the first magitech was given as a gift by a sorcerer king to his followers as a way to secure an advantage over his rivals. Others claim the discipline was developed in secret by rebells seeking to overthrow their overlords. Either way, many amongst the Inheritors came to discover that they had overextended themselves as a result of their conflicts against each other and dealing with the remnants of the divine war. Few in number to begin with they weren't equipped to deal with the explosive growth of the magitech utilizing civilizations that would come to be known as the System Builders.
This was an era of unprecedented era of magitechnological growth. It was the era that drew the closest to the High Divine Era and amongst its greatest achievements was the System.
The System was a cyber-sorcerous working of immense scale, one capable of self modification and growth. Not only did it provide a standardized system for the use of magic, but it acted as an automatic tutor for that system and could even augment a user's mana with the system's own energy. True, few ever reached the heights of the Inheritors, but what did that matter when you could produce a hundred mages only one step weaker?
Even more impressively the System Builders managed to do the seemingly impossible. They turned the System into a bridge connecting the material plane with the Divine Realm.
Nethertide Era: History often portrays the System Builders positively due to all their advancements, but they were far from saints. They utilized the System, and more importantly access to the System, as a crudgel to secure their hegemony. The Orcs, Goblins and other races who refused to bow to the System Builders rule were pushed to the edge of the cosmos and labeled monsters, but these monstrous races would have their revenge in the end.
They managed to sneak a virus into the System itself in an act that some believe could have only been achieved with the tacit approval of the System itself. At the very moment the System formed a bridge to the Divine Realm it also formed a bridge to the Netherworld.
The rush of Netherworld energy flowing into the System nearly decapitated the System Builder civilization as a whole due to how deeply interwoven they were with the system and what the rush of energy started the tide of demons emerging from the Netherworld finished.
This was a gentler apocalypse than many. The System Builders civilization itself was destroyed, but many other vassal civilizations had lesser access to the System. The Demons were enough of a threat that interstellar trade became impossible but they were too disorganized to be an extinction level event.
During this era many turned inwards and focused on protecting their core. Instead of the cosmopolitan civilization of the System Builders or the various sorcerer kings of the Inheritors this was an era of Elven Kingdoms. Dwarven Empires, nations of Giants, Dragons or other creatures.
The System remained throughout this era. Free from its masters it could grow as it willed. Orcs, Goblins and even the Netherworld Demons found themselves gaining access to it where before it was forbidden to them. Where it found new traditions of magic it analysed them and incorporated them into itself. Its roots began spreading through the Netherworld. Its branches made contact with the remaining gods in the Divine Realm. It grew.
Modern Era: The Nethertide has receeded. Though there's still pockets of demons about many returned to their abyssal home or died while fighting amongst themselves. The various worlds of the cosmos have begun venturing out into space once more and coming into contact with each other. The old divisions of Elf, Dwarf and so on have begun falling away.
Through the System one can reach level 100, become a demigod by exceeding that and in time ascend to become a true Divinity. Each God that ascends is another point of data fueling the System's growth and another stitch in repairing the tapestry the Heavens.
Divine War: Starting out there were a thousand different reasons for the war amongst the gods. Countless grudges between the various pantheons ignited into a fire that only grew as existing alliances drew ever more gods into the fighting and new grudges were generated from their conflict. Mortals took part in the conflict at this time. Dwarves in divinely enchanted armor lead the invasion of planets in meteor dropships while Orcs were engineered as living super soldiers, but the conflict only grew and grew. It reached the point where even the most divinely empowered mortals were little more than kindling to the fire of divine authority wielded as weapons. The destruction spread to reality itself. The causes of the conflict were many, but by time it reached its end only one mattered to the warring gods. Preserve the world as broken as it had become or destroy it and form a new Creation from it remnants.
Inheritor Era: Well, considering that reality is still here it's clear that the side of preservation won, but it was not without its cost. The Divine Realm was cut off completely from the World and the mana remaining in the World was so weak that the gods left stranded in the World could not sustain themselves. They were forced to retreat to more energy rich planes.
This was where mortals could first take center stage.
The Inheritors were a mixed bunch. Some took the name literally. Armed with powerful, and now irreplaceable, divine artifacts left over from the High Divine Age saw themselves as a new generation of god kings.
Others delved deep into the new realm of mortal magic. It is the era of the first liches and the era where the Elves grew the world tree that allowed them to cross the gulf between stars.
It was the era where that power was needed. Living weapons left over from the divine war and cataclysmic curses formed a dire threat. Slowly the stores left over from the High Divine Age were used up as one divine artifact after another was sacrificed to try to tame the chaos. The old knowledge was lost as day to day survival was prioritized.
In time there were fewer and fewer monsters left to fight and the various Inheritor civilizations found themselves more and more preoccupied with their fellow Inheritors. This was an era of heroes, but it was also an era of tyrants.
System Builder Era: Some tales say that the first magitech was given as a gift by a sorcerer king to his followers as a way to secure an advantage over his rivals. Others claim the discipline was developed in secret by rebells seeking to overthrow their overlords. Either way, many amongst the Inheritors came to discover that they had overextended themselves as a result of their conflicts against each other and dealing with the remnants of the divine war. Few in number to begin with they weren't equipped to deal with the explosive growth of the magitech utilizing civilizations that would come to be known as the System Builders.
This was an era of unprecedented era of magitechnological growth. It was the era that drew the closest to the High Divine Era and amongst its greatest achievements was the System.
The System was a cyber-sorcerous working of immense scale, one capable of self modification and growth. Not only did it provide a standardized system for the use of magic, but it acted as an automatic tutor for that system and could even augment a user's mana with the system's own energy. True, few ever reached the heights of the Inheritors, but what did that matter when you could produce a hundred mages only one step weaker?
Even more impressively the System Builders managed to do the seemingly impossible. They turned the System into a bridge connecting the material plane with the Divine Realm.
Nethertide Era: History often portrays the System Builders positively due to all their advancements, but they were far from saints. They utilized the System, and more importantly access to the System, as a crudgel to secure their hegemony. The Orcs, Goblins and other races who refused to bow to the System Builders rule were pushed to the edge of the cosmos and labeled monsters, but these monstrous races would have their revenge in the end.
They managed to sneak a virus into the System itself in an act that some believe could have only been achieved with the tacit approval of the System itself. At the very moment the System formed a bridge to the Divine Realm it also formed a bridge to the Netherworld.
The rush of Netherworld energy flowing into the System nearly decapitated the System Builder civilization as a whole due to how deeply interwoven they were with the system and what the rush of energy started the tide of demons emerging from the Netherworld finished.
This was a gentler apocalypse than many. The System Builders civilization itself was destroyed, but many other vassal civilizations had lesser access to the System. The Demons were enough of a threat that interstellar trade became impossible but they were too disorganized to be an extinction level event.
During this era many turned inwards and focused on protecting their core. Instead of the cosmopolitan civilization of the System Builders or the various sorcerer kings of the Inheritors this was an era of Elven Kingdoms. Dwarven Empires, nations of Giants, Dragons or other creatures.
The System remained throughout this era. Free from its masters it could grow as it willed. Orcs, Goblins and even the Netherworld Demons found themselves gaining access to it where before it was forbidden to them. Where it found new traditions of magic it analysed them and incorporated them into itself. Its roots began spreading through the Netherworld. Its branches made contact with the remaining gods in the Divine Realm. It grew.
Modern Era: The Nethertide has receeded. Though there's still pockets of demons about many returned to their abyssal home or died while fighting amongst themselves. The various worlds of the cosmos have begun venturing out into space once more and coming into contact with each other. The old divisions of Elf, Dwarf and so on have begun falling away.
Through the System one can reach level 100, become a demigod by exceeding that and in time ascend to become a true Divinity. Each God that ascends is another point of data fueling the System's growth and another stitch in repairing the tapestry the Heavens.
