![Spectral_King[GM] Avatar](http://img203.imageshack.us/img203/9218/watermelon.gif)
Post by Spectral_King[GM] on Feb 14, 2009 14:47:28 GMT -5
The Epic of Sorrow
“Muse, tell through me the words to tell the tale of time,
The tale that even the immortals have long forgotten.
Speak now, with rhythm and rhyme,
About divine deeds most foul and rotten.”
Book I-Apocalyptic Beginnings
“Tell of heroes with great might
Tell them the legendary quest and final fight
Tell when the old world was in its final throes
Tell the tale of Übril’s Sorrows”
Before any of your ancestors had existed, before the world was as it lay before your eyes, and before the cosmos existed as we know them, there was an ancient world. Savage wars had ripped civilization off of its golden throne, and exiled it to the wastes. The thought of apocalypse was as common as the blades of grass in the great wind-swept plains. Man fought the beasts and his former allies, the elves and dwarves, as often as he fought himself. A challenge to them was surviving every minute of every day. The few remaining good-hearted people wished to end this, and dismantled every word in old texts of mythology to find the key to stop their ravenous, blood-vicious kin. Rumors spread, people searched, but the violent hell-fire continued to rain from the ashen-gray sky, swords continued to be plunged into friend and foe alike, and the ever-present reminder of the inevitable doom of all was still thrust like a spear into their tired eyes. Still, they read on.
As fleeting as it tends to be, especially in these times, the phrase “Legendary Power” was an excellent descriptor to the coalition of nine that was sent to find the cure for the feverish world and its diseased rulers. On the hopes of a small group of the good-hearted scholars, they delved and descended to the depths of the dying world. Braving harsh heat, hanging on to harrowing hopes, they reached what is known to us as Muspul, the burning soul and beat-skipping heart of their hopeless world. Only 3 remained alive upon reaching the core, and were stunned and shocked upon what lay before their eyes. It was a vast cavernous maw of rock that engulfed a simple black-streaked white marble pedestal. The last scholar that remained with them was just a bruised, brown-haired girl. Upon seeing the pedestal, and exclaiming that they have arrived at the black heart of the heaving world, she and the others were pushed aside by their fighting-man, Übril, who rushed for the pedestal. An artifact to end everything was what he was looking for, but what rested there from archaic eras was not expected by any. Simple, rugged, but holding unknown power, an axe lay on top. It raged with a red glow, his hand dove for it, ignoring the cries of his comrades. They tried to take it from him, but speed was not with them. Übril had sealed the clanging death knell of the havoc-wreaked cosmos. Whoever had placed it there had done so in such dire times, this was the weapon of the souls of the world before theirs. It was time, however, for this losing horse to be laid to rest, and let things start anew. Consumed by the power of the Axe of A Thousand Eras, he cleaved through his former allies, and tore through the caves like an arrow ripping through sheets of paper. Reaching the surface world, the only way he found he was able to stop two people fighting was to cut down both. He disregarded ethics of one side over the other, none of their trivial concerns mattered, the only goal: End the conflict.
With every one he fought, ten rose against him in vengeance; after ten fell, a hundred took arms against him. None stood in his path, and none were able to escape. There was no mercy, no compassion, only the cloud of crimson mist from the explosion of fallen soldiers as they were obliterated by Übril and his Axe. After the hundreds fell, then they started falling by thousands. His power multiplied tenfold each time until no fighting men opposed him. Next were the children, who would rise to take arms against him when they matured, after they were cleansed off the face of the world, the women who would birth more. Humans, Elves, Dwarves, Goblins, Orcs, and Giants fell before him. Creature after creature became extinct, until only the Gods, the Immortals, and the Dragons remained. They formed an alliance to stop what was inevitable, and were slain despite their valor.
No breathing creature breathed upon the cosmos. Nothing lived but the plants that weren’t drowned by the scared, scarlet rivers and lakes that ran over the land away from him. Übril was alone, but his rage wasn’t satisfied. He began to strike the ground, splitting the planet like a melon under a knife. Then destroyed were the stars in the sky, moons, the planes, and even the homes of the Gods; until there was nothing but dust floating in the void. Übril remained; axe in hand, floating through the black nothing that was all that remained of everything. The apocalypse had indeed ended, its purpose successful - the land cleansed.
“No matter if they are of quick of wit or sleight of hand,
The merciless Übril killed them where they stand.
Not the Gods, Dragons, nor existence can remain,
Just the knowledge which can never be slain.”
Book II – From the Phoenix’s Ashes
“The Void was all that remained;
except for Übril, sickly sustained
by his own mindless rage,
scared by the silence in his endless cage.”
Übril floated through the endless Void, only he and his mighty Axe remained from the old world. Thoughts of his failure driving him mad, he swore in anger against his past actions. Still, nothing happened. Shouting through endless eternity, he lost what sanity he had left. Driven to madness, he began to throw the Axe about, swinging madly.
Most of what happened at this time does not make sense to the rational-minded, but this is the tale as he told it much later. Since it was just him and the Void, when he swung his axe, he split part of the void into concepts of Chaos and Order. Infuriated that he had not destroyed it, he split parts of Chaos off into the endless Night and Evil. Parts of Order were split into Light and Good; and situated themselves in an orderly fashion. Light coalesced into massive stars of pure energy, that burn for an infinite time. Astounded, Übril stopped and looked at what had happened. The destroyer of all could no longer destroy with the Axe, but create by splitting existing things. Excited, he trims his overgrown and dirt-caked fingernails, and throws them into the Night, situating them around the stars like the old world, and they become plates of earth. Shaving his hair, the strands fall off into Order, and are arranged to align the plates into spheres rotating around the fiery stars; generating magic throughout the universe.
Übril reflects on himself, thinking of his past actions, and his horrendous cruelty; and starts to form planes of existence beyond the bounds of the universe. He puts his chaotic and lawless past dreams into a plane co-existent with the universe; to help him have peace in his future creations. We know this realm very well, but we don’t understand it; as it is the Region of Dreams, where our spirits travel every rest. Looking inward, he casts his self-image into an alien place that shows things as they truly are, the Plane of Mirrors. It is even rumored that, in the center, Übril’s own self image resides. He purges his body of the sweat and perspiration from this great action, and it becomes the Ethereal Plane; where all is exactly as it seems; but his tears of reflecting form the Plane of Shadow, a dark and haunting place to all who seek a quick escape from reality.
Still, no life exists in the planes, and Übril is out of parts to shed. Furious, he hefts the Axe yet again (this time at the planets), and splits land into both sky and ground. Parts of the ground are separated into water, and parts of the sky separate into the clouds. Yet, no life exists but Übril’s own. With that realization, he knows he must use some of his life to create others; such as the fingernails and hairs created other objects.
He slams the Axe down on all of his toes, and his left hand, but leaves the right intact. These 15 extremities create the first beings, the Gods of the Second Generation. Each are bound to a single concept, and are proficient in magic, since they were born with this reality’s laws in place. There is one for each of the conceptual forces in the planescape, the elements and alignments: Good, Law, Neutrality, Evil, Chaos, and the 9 combinations thereof. Next, the 6 elemental concepts are formed: Fire, Positive Energy, Water, Earth, Negative Energy, and Air. The Second Generation begins building the Outer and Inner Planes outside the bounds of the existing universe, to provide a more habitable place for themselves.
Book III –Stones from the Crumbling Tower
“Order cannot provide structure
when chaos threatens to rupture.
Bickering and Fighting was necessary,
From it, are cornerstones from the quarry.”
The Gods of the Second Generation had built their planes and homes, but fighting began amongst them; as gods so often do. Übril attempted to mediate the disputes, but only the Goddess, Neutrality, was able to make a temporary settlement. With the erratic time flow of the various planes, fighting was bound to start again soon. With Neutrality’s mediation, the Gods agreed to a fixed unit of time and Übril created the Temporal Energy Plane, spanning the entire cosmos, to standardize it.
With her excellent negotiations, Übril decided that the Goddess of Neutrality would be the one to carry on the knowledge of what had happened before the Second Generation was created. The details of Übril’s home-world remained unknown to her, however. Neutrality then withdrew to the Outlands, her home-plane of corresponding alignment, somewhat in shock of the events that transpired long ago.
With a neutral-balance no longer mediating the other gods, they began to fight again, more viciously than before. Furious at their unwillingness to work together, he wielded his axe again, with only 1 hand, and no toes. Able to control his rage better, Übril cut down only the Gods of the Second Generation, instead of destroying the universe. The blood of the evil and dark gods formed into the River Styx, while the light and good ones spilled to form the River Oceanus. Both encircled their half of the ring that is the Outer Planes, and meet in the Outlands, frothing and boiling as they clash in primeval elemental force.
The small remaining pieces of the Gods of the Second Generation became what we now know of as Archons- the Arch-fiends and Arch-angels, and the “Elemental Archons”. They reproduce, and are the first living, non-divine creatures. They are composed of the forces of their home plane, and there is no distinction between their soul and body- it is one entity.
Neutrality, deciding to exit her retreat, visits the Outsiders and Elementals, teaching them how to access magic, construct civilization, and all knowledge pertaining to their elements. They fashion portals to each plane, and begin to create a city at the center of the Outlands, as a hub. This city, Sigil, is the first, oldest, and most diverse. Beings of all types live here, and some come in and out on a daily basis. The Material Plane, however, remains empty.
Millennia pass, and civilizations flourish on the planes. At the request of Neutrality, the Outsiders migrate to the Material Plane and help sculpt it with the Elementals, to make it habitable. However, in time, they return to their preferred living areas, for the most part, and do not create large civilizations.
The Outsiders, being of divine-blood, are nigh-immortal, but do expire; although only after a long amount of time. The oldest begin to return from the essence they came at this point, and the true, original Archons are no more. Factions split off, but there is typically one breed that is mightier, and controls the rest of their kin. Although not true “Archons” they deem themselves as such.
Book IV- The Lady of Sorrow
Übril still did not understand how to recreate life on the material plane. He and Neutrality are the only two gods, and all that exists are outsiders, elementals, and simple animals and beasts. He watched the outsiders and elementals flourish while the Material Plane, his former home ages ago, remained a desolate, but fertile land. Übril could not create like the other gods could, for his knowledge and beliefs were from his old existence, and not the new. He believed that to create life, there needed to be some kind of pantheon of gods like before, he mates with the Goddess of Neutrality; producing two beings.
Neither the male nor female were what Übril expected. He saw them as pitiful, weak abominations, not a God, but more than human. Neither fit what he wanted to create, and enraged, he set out to destroy them. Knowing that his mighty axe may simply cleave them into more creatures, he hefted a mighty boulder to crush them, after setting his axe down. He crushed the female first, in order to weaken the will of the more powerful male. As the man approached, to see what had happened, Übril waited in hiding. Neutrality was venomous with rage at what Übril had done to her child, and retrieved his axe. She appeared behind him, and swung the mighty axe. It severed his remaining five fingers, causing him to drop the boulder on top of the man. She went for the kill with the next swing, and a surprised Übril was decapitated. After cutting his body in half vertically, then horizontally, she cast his head to the center of the Temporal Plane. The four fingers become the gods of the Elves, Dwarves, Halflings, and Gnomes. The Thumb shatters, becoming the gods of various other races, such as dragons, orcs, and lizardfolk. The four pieces of Übril’s body become the gods of humankind. Each one is awesomely powerful, yet war-like and viscious. They are separated by Neutrality to four separate areas of the Material Plane.
Since they needed dominion over creatures to exist, Neutrality bears two children to each of the new fourth generation of Gods, allowing them to reproduce. The four human-gods, mad with rage that she mated with the “lesser races”, felt superior to the other races. They attack her, but they are unable to kill her. They bind her to the middle of the Material Plane, Muspel, and attempt to create more humans through her, but she bears only monstrous abominations of epic power- such as the Tarrasque. These roam free in the depths of the planet, born of rage and pain. At this point, she removes the title of the Goddess of Neutrality, and takes the name the Lady of Sorrow.
Book V- Genesis of Vengeance
The races on the surface begin to form villages and tribes. The Lady of Sorrow remains trapped in Muspel, until her cries of pain are heard. The first man, Adam, who was crushed by Übril was not killed, but was sent hurdling through the earth until he finally reached the center- Muspel. Adam frees her, and swears vengeance against the four gods. She teaches him the secrets of the gods, of magic and divine power. The Arch-Outsiders and Archons grant this human magical artifacts and equipment to aid him; and train him in combat.
He launches an assault on their fortress they set up on Sigil. The first one he faces beats him like he was nothing but a fly swatting at him. The Lady of Sorrow whisks him away before he is slain; but the loss of blood would overtake him soon. She replenishes his blood by feeding him her own. His power is multiplied exponentially with her divine blood, yet he is not dead, nor truly alive.
Returning to Sigil, the gods did not know of what he was, neither dead nor alive, they could not kill him. He rounds them up, and imprisons them in Tartarus with the help of Archdemons. Secretly, he desired more power, the lust for it had consumed him. He drains some life from the gods, increasing his own, and sustaining his existence. As the Lady of Sorrow arrives with the axe to destroy the four gods, she sees what Adam has done. His state of half-life had corrupted his mind, and she banished him to the darkness forever for his vile gluttony and greed. He curses the name of the gods in return; refuses to ever be their subject, defy them at every chance, and feed upon their creations. He turns those he feeds into more of his kin by giving them some of his strength.
The Lady hefts the axe, and reduces the four gods into the first part of the fifth generation. They reign over small territories of humans, as before. Four are sent to the continent of Vorath, and do not directly intervene in mortal affairs, by the request of the Lady of Sorrow. She returns to Sigil, and rebuilds; while Undead spread slowly in the depths of the night.
Book VI- The Apocalyptic Wars
As the civilization of the Anaurahn collapsed, the Apocalyptic Wars began, sending Vorath into darkness. The Gods of Vorath eventually disobey the Lady by descending to the Material, help their respective nations in the war, which prolongs and intensifies the combat. She is furious with their disobedience, and banishes them to stay in the Material until they are slain, subduing their godly powers. Mortals, Undead, and Outsiders all flock for the chance to take a god’s power, and the gods are overcome and slain. The Mortals and Outsiders who were victorious have immense power, and form an organization by the Lady’s request. They are given a demiplane, and magic items worthy of their power. They are the Interplanar Police, who ensure the boundaries and code of laws the Lady of Sorrow established are followed.
With the remains of the gods, the Lady re-establishes the fifth generation with gods based on ideology, not for territory or humans. Creatures of any kind worship these gods, except for undead, who only revere their original progenitor. Other gods of races form pantheons for their sub races, after the deep races descend, and the races evolve into new sub races.
It is said that the Lady of Sorrow never leaves the Outlands, and most likely never will. She masks her identity, and her true form is forgotten to time. The Lady of Pain, her avatar and watcher of the city, some say can be seen in the City of Doors, and that the Goddess herself resides in the tower in the middle. No one has confirmed this though, and anyone powerful enough to find out has the wisdom that comes with experience to not meddle in the affairs of Gods.
“Muse, tell through me the words to tell the tale of time,
The tale that even the immortals have long forgotten.
Speak now, with rhythm and rhyme,
About divine deeds most foul and rotten.”
Book I-Apocalyptic Beginnings
“Tell of heroes with great might
Tell them the legendary quest and final fight
Tell when the old world was in its final throes
Tell the tale of Übril’s Sorrows”
Before any of your ancestors had existed, before the world was as it lay before your eyes, and before the cosmos existed as we know them, there was an ancient world. Savage wars had ripped civilization off of its golden throne, and exiled it to the wastes. The thought of apocalypse was as common as the blades of grass in the great wind-swept plains. Man fought the beasts and his former allies, the elves and dwarves, as often as he fought himself. A challenge to them was surviving every minute of every day. The few remaining good-hearted people wished to end this, and dismantled every word in old texts of mythology to find the key to stop their ravenous, blood-vicious kin. Rumors spread, people searched, but the violent hell-fire continued to rain from the ashen-gray sky, swords continued to be plunged into friend and foe alike, and the ever-present reminder of the inevitable doom of all was still thrust like a spear into their tired eyes. Still, they read on.
As fleeting as it tends to be, especially in these times, the phrase “Legendary Power” was an excellent descriptor to the coalition of nine that was sent to find the cure for the feverish world and its diseased rulers. On the hopes of a small group of the good-hearted scholars, they delved and descended to the depths of the dying world. Braving harsh heat, hanging on to harrowing hopes, they reached what is known to us as Muspul, the burning soul and beat-skipping heart of their hopeless world. Only 3 remained alive upon reaching the core, and were stunned and shocked upon what lay before their eyes. It was a vast cavernous maw of rock that engulfed a simple black-streaked white marble pedestal. The last scholar that remained with them was just a bruised, brown-haired girl. Upon seeing the pedestal, and exclaiming that they have arrived at the black heart of the heaving world, she and the others were pushed aside by their fighting-man, Übril, who rushed for the pedestal. An artifact to end everything was what he was looking for, but what rested there from archaic eras was not expected by any. Simple, rugged, but holding unknown power, an axe lay on top. It raged with a red glow, his hand dove for it, ignoring the cries of his comrades. They tried to take it from him, but speed was not with them. Übril had sealed the clanging death knell of the havoc-wreaked cosmos. Whoever had placed it there had done so in such dire times, this was the weapon of the souls of the world before theirs. It was time, however, for this losing horse to be laid to rest, and let things start anew. Consumed by the power of the Axe of A Thousand Eras, he cleaved through his former allies, and tore through the caves like an arrow ripping through sheets of paper. Reaching the surface world, the only way he found he was able to stop two people fighting was to cut down both. He disregarded ethics of one side over the other, none of their trivial concerns mattered, the only goal: End the conflict.
With every one he fought, ten rose against him in vengeance; after ten fell, a hundred took arms against him. None stood in his path, and none were able to escape. There was no mercy, no compassion, only the cloud of crimson mist from the explosion of fallen soldiers as they were obliterated by Übril and his Axe. After the hundreds fell, then they started falling by thousands. His power multiplied tenfold each time until no fighting men opposed him. Next were the children, who would rise to take arms against him when they matured, after they were cleansed off the face of the world, the women who would birth more. Humans, Elves, Dwarves, Goblins, Orcs, and Giants fell before him. Creature after creature became extinct, until only the Gods, the Immortals, and the Dragons remained. They formed an alliance to stop what was inevitable, and were slain despite their valor.
No breathing creature breathed upon the cosmos. Nothing lived but the plants that weren’t drowned by the scared, scarlet rivers and lakes that ran over the land away from him. Übril was alone, but his rage wasn’t satisfied. He began to strike the ground, splitting the planet like a melon under a knife. Then destroyed were the stars in the sky, moons, the planes, and even the homes of the Gods; until there was nothing but dust floating in the void. Übril remained; axe in hand, floating through the black nothing that was all that remained of everything. The apocalypse had indeed ended, its purpose successful - the land cleansed.
“No matter if they are of quick of wit or sleight of hand,
The merciless Übril killed them where they stand.
Not the Gods, Dragons, nor existence can remain,
Just the knowledge which can never be slain.”
Book II – From the Phoenix’s Ashes
“The Void was all that remained;
except for Übril, sickly sustained
by his own mindless rage,
scared by the silence in his endless cage.”
Übril floated through the endless Void, only he and his mighty Axe remained from the old world. Thoughts of his failure driving him mad, he swore in anger against his past actions. Still, nothing happened. Shouting through endless eternity, he lost what sanity he had left. Driven to madness, he began to throw the Axe about, swinging madly.
Most of what happened at this time does not make sense to the rational-minded, but this is the tale as he told it much later. Since it was just him and the Void, when he swung his axe, he split part of the void into concepts of Chaos and Order. Infuriated that he had not destroyed it, he split parts of Chaos off into the endless Night and Evil. Parts of Order were split into Light and Good; and situated themselves in an orderly fashion. Light coalesced into massive stars of pure energy, that burn for an infinite time. Astounded, Übril stopped and looked at what had happened. The destroyer of all could no longer destroy with the Axe, but create by splitting existing things. Excited, he trims his overgrown and dirt-caked fingernails, and throws them into the Night, situating them around the stars like the old world, and they become plates of earth. Shaving his hair, the strands fall off into Order, and are arranged to align the plates into spheres rotating around the fiery stars; generating magic throughout the universe.
Übril reflects on himself, thinking of his past actions, and his horrendous cruelty; and starts to form planes of existence beyond the bounds of the universe. He puts his chaotic and lawless past dreams into a plane co-existent with the universe; to help him have peace in his future creations. We know this realm very well, but we don’t understand it; as it is the Region of Dreams, where our spirits travel every rest. Looking inward, he casts his self-image into an alien place that shows things as they truly are, the Plane of Mirrors. It is even rumored that, in the center, Übril’s own self image resides. He purges his body of the sweat and perspiration from this great action, and it becomes the Ethereal Plane; where all is exactly as it seems; but his tears of reflecting form the Plane of Shadow, a dark and haunting place to all who seek a quick escape from reality.
Still, no life exists in the planes, and Übril is out of parts to shed. Furious, he hefts the Axe yet again (this time at the planets), and splits land into both sky and ground. Parts of the ground are separated into water, and parts of the sky separate into the clouds. Yet, no life exists but Übril’s own. With that realization, he knows he must use some of his life to create others; such as the fingernails and hairs created other objects.
He slams the Axe down on all of his toes, and his left hand, but leaves the right intact. These 15 extremities create the first beings, the Gods of the Second Generation. Each are bound to a single concept, and are proficient in magic, since they were born with this reality’s laws in place. There is one for each of the conceptual forces in the planescape, the elements and alignments: Good, Law, Neutrality, Evil, Chaos, and the 9 combinations thereof. Next, the 6 elemental concepts are formed: Fire, Positive Energy, Water, Earth, Negative Energy, and Air. The Second Generation begins building the Outer and Inner Planes outside the bounds of the existing universe, to provide a more habitable place for themselves.
Book III –Stones from the Crumbling Tower
“Order cannot provide structure
when chaos threatens to rupture.
Bickering and Fighting was necessary,
From it, are cornerstones from the quarry.”
The Gods of the Second Generation had built their planes and homes, but fighting began amongst them; as gods so often do. Übril attempted to mediate the disputes, but only the Goddess, Neutrality, was able to make a temporary settlement. With the erratic time flow of the various planes, fighting was bound to start again soon. With Neutrality’s mediation, the Gods agreed to a fixed unit of time and Übril created the Temporal Energy Plane, spanning the entire cosmos, to standardize it.
With her excellent negotiations, Übril decided that the Goddess of Neutrality would be the one to carry on the knowledge of what had happened before the Second Generation was created. The details of Übril’s home-world remained unknown to her, however. Neutrality then withdrew to the Outlands, her home-plane of corresponding alignment, somewhat in shock of the events that transpired long ago.
With a neutral-balance no longer mediating the other gods, they began to fight again, more viciously than before. Furious at their unwillingness to work together, he wielded his axe again, with only 1 hand, and no toes. Able to control his rage better, Übril cut down only the Gods of the Second Generation, instead of destroying the universe. The blood of the evil and dark gods formed into the River Styx, while the light and good ones spilled to form the River Oceanus. Both encircled their half of the ring that is the Outer Planes, and meet in the Outlands, frothing and boiling as they clash in primeval elemental force.
The small remaining pieces of the Gods of the Second Generation became what we now know of as Archons- the Arch-fiends and Arch-angels, and the “Elemental Archons”. They reproduce, and are the first living, non-divine creatures. They are composed of the forces of their home plane, and there is no distinction between their soul and body- it is one entity.
Neutrality, deciding to exit her retreat, visits the Outsiders and Elementals, teaching them how to access magic, construct civilization, and all knowledge pertaining to their elements. They fashion portals to each plane, and begin to create a city at the center of the Outlands, as a hub. This city, Sigil, is the first, oldest, and most diverse. Beings of all types live here, and some come in and out on a daily basis. The Material Plane, however, remains empty.
Millennia pass, and civilizations flourish on the planes. At the request of Neutrality, the Outsiders migrate to the Material Plane and help sculpt it with the Elementals, to make it habitable. However, in time, they return to their preferred living areas, for the most part, and do not create large civilizations.
The Outsiders, being of divine-blood, are nigh-immortal, but do expire; although only after a long amount of time. The oldest begin to return from the essence they came at this point, and the true, original Archons are no more. Factions split off, but there is typically one breed that is mightier, and controls the rest of their kin. Although not true “Archons” they deem themselves as such.
Book IV- The Lady of Sorrow
Übril still did not understand how to recreate life on the material plane. He and Neutrality are the only two gods, and all that exists are outsiders, elementals, and simple animals and beasts. He watched the outsiders and elementals flourish while the Material Plane, his former home ages ago, remained a desolate, but fertile land. Übril could not create like the other gods could, for his knowledge and beliefs were from his old existence, and not the new. He believed that to create life, there needed to be some kind of pantheon of gods like before, he mates with the Goddess of Neutrality; producing two beings.
Neither the male nor female were what Übril expected. He saw them as pitiful, weak abominations, not a God, but more than human. Neither fit what he wanted to create, and enraged, he set out to destroy them. Knowing that his mighty axe may simply cleave them into more creatures, he hefted a mighty boulder to crush them, after setting his axe down. He crushed the female first, in order to weaken the will of the more powerful male. As the man approached, to see what had happened, Übril waited in hiding. Neutrality was venomous with rage at what Übril had done to her child, and retrieved his axe. She appeared behind him, and swung the mighty axe. It severed his remaining five fingers, causing him to drop the boulder on top of the man. She went for the kill with the next swing, and a surprised Übril was decapitated. After cutting his body in half vertically, then horizontally, she cast his head to the center of the Temporal Plane. The four fingers become the gods of the Elves, Dwarves, Halflings, and Gnomes. The Thumb shatters, becoming the gods of various other races, such as dragons, orcs, and lizardfolk. The four pieces of Übril’s body become the gods of humankind. Each one is awesomely powerful, yet war-like and viscious. They are separated by Neutrality to four separate areas of the Material Plane.
Since they needed dominion over creatures to exist, Neutrality bears two children to each of the new fourth generation of Gods, allowing them to reproduce. The four human-gods, mad with rage that she mated with the “lesser races”, felt superior to the other races. They attack her, but they are unable to kill her. They bind her to the middle of the Material Plane, Muspel, and attempt to create more humans through her, but she bears only monstrous abominations of epic power- such as the Tarrasque. These roam free in the depths of the planet, born of rage and pain. At this point, she removes the title of the Goddess of Neutrality, and takes the name the Lady of Sorrow.
Book V- Genesis of Vengeance
The races on the surface begin to form villages and tribes. The Lady of Sorrow remains trapped in Muspel, until her cries of pain are heard. The first man, Adam, who was crushed by Übril was not killed, but was sent hurdling through the earth until he finally reached the center- Muspel. Adam frees her, and swears vengeance against the four gods. She teaches him the secrets of the gods, of magic and divine power. The Arch-Outsiders and Archons grant this human magical artifacts and equipment to aid him; and train him in combat.
He launches an assault on their fortress they set up on Sigil. The first one he faces beats him like he was nothing but a fly swatting at him. The Lady of Sorrow whisks him away before he is slain; but the loss of blood would overtake him soon. She replenishes his blood by feeding him her own. His power is multiplied exponentially with her divine blood, yet he is not dead, nor truly alive.
Returning to Sigil, the gods did not know of what he was, neither dead nor alive, they could not kill him. He rounds them up, and imprisons them in Tartarus with the help of Archdemons. Secretly, he desired more power, the lust for it had consumed him. He drains some life from the gods, increasing his own, and sustaining his existence. As the Lady of Sorrow arrives with the axe to destroy the four gods, she sees what Adam has done. His state of half-life had corrupted his mind, and she banished him to the darkness forever for his vile gluttony and greed. He curses the name of the gods in return; refuses to ever be their subject, defy them at every chance, and feed upon their creations. He turns those he feeds into more of his kin by giving them some of his strength.
The Lady hefts the axe, and reduces the four gods into the first part of the fifth generation. They reign over small territories of humans, as before. Four are sent to the continent of Vorath, and do not directly intervene in mortal affairs, by the request of the Lady of Sorrow. She returns to Sigil, and rebuilds; while Undead spread slowly in the depths of the night.
Book VI- The Apocalyptic Wars
As the civilization of the Anaurahn collapsed, the Apocalyptic Wars began, sending Vorath into darkness. The Gods of Vorath eventually disobey the Lady by descending to the Material, help their respective nations in the war, which prolongs and intensifies the combat. She is furious with their disobedience, and banishes them to stay in the Material until they are slain, subduing their godly powers. Mortals, Undead, and Outsiders all flock for the chance to take a god’s power, and the gods are overcome and slain. The Mortals and Outsiders who were victorious have immense power, and form an organization by the Lady’s request. They are given a demiplane, and magic items worthy of their power. They are the Interplanar Police, who ensure the boundaries and code of laws the Lady of Sorrow established are followed.
With the remains of the gods, the Lady re-establishes the fifth generation with gods based on ideology, not for territory or humans. Creatures of any kind worship these gods, except for undead, who only revere their original progenitor. Other gods of races form pantheons for their sub races, after the deep races descend, and the races evolve into new sub races.
It is said that the Lady of Sorrow never leaves the Outlands, and most likely never will. She masks her identity, and her true form is forgotten to time. The Lady of Pain, her avatar and watcher of the city, some say can be seen in the City of Doors, and that the Goddess herself resides in the tower in the middle. No one has confirmed this though, and anyone powerful enough to find out has the wisdom that comes with experience to not meddle in the affairs of Gods.
