need help with ideal-anchored gods

[Garanth]

The basic theme of the campaign world I'm working on is that there is no black and white, no true good and evil, and everything is relative to one's perception.

Carrying this into my pantheon, I want to get away from alignment-based gods, and move more towards ideal-based gods. Each god will represent a different segment of human nature, and will thus encapsulate both how that ideal can be used for benevolent or selfish means.

This will be tied into the source of power in this world, which stems from direct worship of gods, and following a gods prescribed behaviours or principles. This tends to manifest itself through small gifts of courage, strength, or tidbits of knowledge, though through magic spellcasters can pierce the veil between the realm of the gods and this world to draw power more directly. Gods, on the other hand, gain power en-mass through the sheer number of people subscribing to their behaviours and principles.


Here are the gods I have so far:

Ishtar (god of war) is as much the god of martial honour and valour as he is the god of slaughter and bloodshed.

Anshar (god of wisdom) is the patron of scholarly study and teaching, as well as of  unethical experiments, forbidden knowledge, and dark magics.

Marduk (god of order) is the god of justice and order, but he lumps everything into black and white extremes and thus promotes intolerance, harsh judgements, and oppression in the name of law and order.

Eridu (goddess of protection) is the opposite of Marduk, and fights injustice and oppression wherever it is found, often causing disorder and chaos in the process.

Innana(goddess of beauty) is the mandatory god of love, who is the patron of both the more "pure" form, as well as of lust, perversity, and depravity, with nothing but an arbitrary division between the two



Those are the only ones who are somewhat set in stone. I don't feel I have the full range of human character though, but I'm not entirely sure what I'm missing.

A few more ideas that I've been toying with:

Metis - god of commerce perhaps? could be the patron of progress, wealth, prosperity, but also of greed and material excess.

Zephyrus - god of trickery, cleverness, or intelligence... Would be the patron of thieves, illusionists, conmen, diplomats, monarchs, etc. God of diplomacy, riddles, mind games, and deception.
Is this too close to metis though? I suppose Zephyrus could be more "intellect/deception" while Metis is more "prosperity/greed"

I'm also not sure whether I need a god of fertility/mothering/families/whatever, as I don't know how to push that into human nature without encroaching on Innana's bounds. There will also be lesser gods, some more akin to elementals (for instance Menthu, god of oceans, and perhaps a goddess of wilderness).

Any critiques, advice, or suggestions would be greatly appreciated. If anyone needs more backstory I'd be happy to give it (tried to keep it down otherwise this post would end up being a book).

[Ghostman]

Eridu (goddess of protection) is the opposite of Marduk, and fights injustice and oppression wherever it is found, often causing disorder and chaos in the process.

Might be better phrased as the goddess of defiance: opposed to all authority (whether oppressive or not), nurturing revolutions, vigilanteism, taking justice to one's own hands etc.

I'm also not sure whether I need a god of fertility/mothering/families/whatever, as I don't know how to push that into human nature without encroaching on Innana's bounds. There will also be lesser gods, some more akin to elementals (for instance Menthu, god of oceans, and perhaps a goddess of wilderness).

Certainly a god of marriage/family/fertility/offspring could be worked in. After all, marital sex doesn't have to have anything to do with either love or lust, and infertility in a person doesn't necessarily say anything about their sexual drive or ability. In premodern societies plentiful offspring is desireable to ensure you have heirs (in the case of upper classes) or to make sure there's someone to take care of you when you grow old and weak (in the case of lower classes). To say nothing of infant mortality rates in the absense of modern-age medicine.

Of corse, successive years of good harvest coinciding with a lull on disease epidemics and wars might result in rapid overpopulation and all the problems it brings...

[LordVreeg]

I'll be on this later today.  My kind of thread!

[Ravenspath]

Very nice idea. Can't wait to see how it develop. Religions are one of my favorite things in world building.

One thing jumped  out at me. You mentioned no black and white morality but rather shades of gray based on perception (yeah for perception).

following a gods prescribed behaviours or principles

My question is how the there be prescribed behaviours or principles if everything is based on perception of the moment?


Take two followers of Ishtar. One is the sworn defender of a small child, the other has been hired to kill the child. One is following the valour path while the other is following the bloodshed path. The one protecting the child cheats in the fight, so is not honorable, but fufilled their obligation so they are valourous. At the same time the battle fills them with a joy of bloodshed. The killer also cheats to win the battle, but is honorable as he is following the agreement he made with someone.

I don't think there can be any behaviours or principles that are off limits if you are going based on a character's perception. If it fits the ideals of their god than it is an okay act. Perception is a very trick thing and two people may look at the exact same situation and see it to be completely differently.

The old 'glass half full/empty' example.
Standard: half full-optimist, half empty-pessisment.

But what about this situation:
If you need the glass to be empty then saying it is half full would be pessimistic statement and the half empty would be an optimistic statement.

 

[LordVreeg]

I like this direction, though this will not surprise too many of the Celtricia readers.

Let me ask a few questions.  IS this Pantheon the only one in the whole setting, or are there others?

What does it mean to 'subscribe to the principles and behaviors' of a God?  Does a worshipper of Ishtar not believe in Marduk?  Are their separate temples for each gods, or pantheonic shrines, or both?

I'm noticing a dualistic modality for each deity, sometimes based on a level of coomon sense.  Is this represented in the deities on behaviors/personality, and the specific churches reflect this, or is this a human-influenced lack of understanding of powerful beings too complicated for the human mind to comprehend?

You seem to have this pantheon competing for worship.  If so, this
[blockquote=Garanth]I'm also not sure whether I need a god of fertility/mothering/families/whatever, as I don't know how to push that into human nature without encroaching on Innana's bounds[/blockquote] should not be a problem.  The Gods will gladly encroach onto each others spheres (unless you have a good reason why not).  Such is the normal case with religions.

Can I tell you how happy I am not to see a 'god of evil'?  

[Seraph]

I agree with Vreeg.  Gods of evil make no sense.  By nature they'd have to look at things in terms of their evilness.  But no one really thinks of themselves as evil; the villain is the hero of his own story.  Their actions are totally justified in their minds.  People can justify a lot of things, but "evil" is not one of them.  No one would worship a god of evil.  Keeping the gods to ideals (and ideals that can be twisted in more than one way) is a much better situation.  

[Llum]

Looks pretty good, everything seems to have a nice duality to it (something I'm fond of) however

Anshar (god of wisdom) is the patron of scholarly study and teaching, as well as of unethical experiments, forbidden knowledge, and dark magics.

This to me seems more like a God of Knowledge not wisdom. Wisdom is traditionally defined "as knowledge of what is true or right coupled with just judgment as to action". This directly counters one part of the duality. So its a great idea for a god, just I think the naming could be a bit different.

[Garanth]

Very nice idea. Can't wait to see how it develop. Religions are one of my favorite things in world building.

One thing jumped  out at me. You mentioned no black and white morality but rather shades of gray based on perception (yeah for perception).

following a gods prescribed behaviours or principles

My question is how the there be prescribed behaviours or principles if everything is based on perception of the moment?


Take two followers of Ishtar. One is the sworn defender of a small child, the other has been hired to kill the child. One is following the valour path while the other is following the bloodshed path. The one protecting the child cheats in the fight, so is not honorable, but fufilled their obligation so they are valourous. At the same time the battle fills them with a joy of bloodshed. The killer also cheats to win the battle, but is honorable as he is following the agreement he made with someone.

I don't think there can be any behaviours or principles that are off limits if you are going based on a character's perception. If it fits the ideals of their god than it is an okay act. Perception is a very trick thing and two people may look at the exact same situation and see it to be completely differently.

The old 'glass half full/empty' example.
Standard: half full-optimist, half empty-pessisment.

But what about this situation:
If you need the glass to be empty then saying it is half full would be pessimistic statement and the half empty would be an optimistic statement.

 

The "dualism" is simply me trying to illustrate how one might perform "good" or "evil" in service of any given god, as each simply represents an ideal rather than an alignment.

It appears that I should have gone into more detail on the setting/pantheon after all. I cut it way back because I was worried nobody would want to read the <wall of text> i had written out before lol.

All of this has to do with magic and power. There are three planes in this universe. On the first plane reside the gods, along with their host of immortal followers. The second plane is the material realm, where mortals exist. The third and final plane (which may be amalgamated into the first) is the realm of the dead.

Each plane is separated by a sort of membrane (called the Veil), through which energy is able to pass (somewhat akin to how gases are exchanged within the alveola in the lungs). Each god is a manifestation of some aspect of human nature, and when a being in the material realm acts in accordance with that aspect some energy passes through the Veil to the god. In exchange, a different sort of energy passes across the other way.

This energy is opposite (so combining the energy from the mortal with that of the god would cancel each other out), and is of such small magnitude that it is rarely noticed. Gods achieve their divine power by harvesting on a very wide scale, while most humans rarely notice the power they receive through the Veil. This transfer is referred to as "worshiping" or "following" a god, though it need not be explicit or even conscious worship. Most people knowingly or unknowingly worship the entire pantheon through the course of their daily activities, though different nations explicitly worship certain members of the pantheon (adding more greatly to that gods power).

However, a person trained in the Arts can pierce the Veil, and gain access to a more concentrated stream of energy. Warriors can tap into the power of the immaterial realm to perform amazing feats of strength, while wizards memorize complex spells that can draw power from the realm and shape it into different forms (ie fireballs, lockpicking spells, lightning bolts, etc). This is not a true transfer in the way that worshiping is, and is much more of a 'bleeding' of energy between the realms until the hole in the Veil closes up.

Both mortals and gods are like giant balloons that hold the power they have accumulated over their lifetime. When a mortal dies, that energy is suddenly expelled, where it passes back into the immaterial realm and combines with its counterparts to nullify each other. Because of this, gods draw power only from their living subjects. However, some small part of the deceased mortal remains. This is their life force, or will, and this energy passes across a different veil into the realm of the dead.

Here they meet Anakes. He is an outsider amongst the other gods, who became disgusted by the petty jousting of the other gods for influence over mortals and power over their peers. He abandoned his peers and home plane and took up residence in the plane of the dead, where he became the silent arbitrator of the souls of mortals. Each soul passing across the Veil (which needs to be renamed to distinguish itself from the other Veil) is judged by Anakes, and sentenced to a fate deemed fair by this cold, calculating god. He has no favourites, and none are spared his judgement.

It should be noted that magic performed by piercing this veil is still possible, but is much less pleasant and has a far more negative affect on the caster than does regular magic. This dark magic twists its users, and has a draining effect on their lifeforce.



Anakes is not the only god who does not reside in the immaterial realm however. The two eldest gods, Reshep and Loki, both reside on the material plane...though for different reasons. Reshep, the weeping god (long story, derived from the story of creation), lives in the centre of the earth, and is the god of the elements. His sobs cause earthquakes, volcanoes, and other natural disasters. His brother Loki is the god of life, and is responsible for all living creatures in the material realm (though many not in the forms they exist as today)

Loki is the central figure of this campaign, though the players will likely not learn of his influence until much later. Loki was cast out of the immaterial realm in a conflict that left this once great god with barely a shadow of his former power. Banished to the material realm to live amongst the life he created, he has grown wicked and spiteful. His most prided children, man, has been twisted and warped by the worship of his siblings.
Loki is now the embodiment of hatred, vengeance, and spite. However, without access to the power the other gods receive through the veil, his reservoir of power is finite and extremely limited. Thus, his only means of seeking vengeance is through an infinitely complex and masterfully crafted plot that is just (and conveniently) coming to fruition now.

My story of creation is pretty cool, though also wicked long. I'd be happy to post it if anybody wants to read it. Congradulations to everybody who actually read this far by the way :P

[Garanth]

Looks pretty good, everything seems to have a nice duality to it (something I'm fond of) however

Anshar (god of wisdom) is the patron of scholarly study and teaching, as well as of unethical experiments, forbidden knowledge, and dark magics.

True enough. I usually refer to him as the god of knowledge. The theme I want for him is one of a relentless pursuit of knowledge, which if unconstrained by moral guidelines can become twisted should the pursuer become so obsessed that he is willing to sacrifice anything and go to any lengths to uncover what he seeks. Think of a doctor who wishes to find a cure for a disease that is killing his beloved wife. While a noble cause initially, it would not remain so if he began abducting orphans off the street to experiment on or to sacrifice in evil rituals to prolong his wife's life.

 Anshar is actually one of the gods I've developed the most, and will be one of the most prevalent within society. One nation in particular will be dedicated to his worship. It's a pseudo-roman empire centred around a church named the Ecclesia. This church is dedicated to the One True God, though in truth they are dedicated to the worship of Anshar within, and Marduk to the populace. In their relentless pursuit of knowledge, the priests of the Ecclesia have uncovered many dark magics and secrets that should never have been unearthed. They delved especially deeply into necromancy, which they have used to create a truly fearsome elite infantry unit called the Eternals (so named for their 'eternal' service to the Emperor).

[Garanth]

If anybody is interested, I just completed a rough draft of my story of creation, telling of the birth of the world and the gods, the creation of the veil, and the fall of Loki.

I'm quite proud of it (though the writing style is rather dry, but that was a thematic choice). Be forewarned though it's quite LONG.

[spoiler=the Tale of Creation]In the beginning, the universe was made simply of two elements: Ice and Fire. From the fire awoke Dracos, who with his breath created time. He soon became lonely, and so from the ice he carved a companion, whom he named Vritras and took as his wife. Through their couplings, Vritras gave birth to three eggs, whom she named Gaia, Reshep, and Loki.

Reshep was the first to hatch, and Vritras was filled with immense love for her first child. Second to hatch was Loki, who almost immediately began to quarrel with his brother for his mother's attention.

Dracos was quickly angered by this nuisance, and rent the world in universe in two, casting his children into the newly created realm.

The violence of Dracos actions cracked Gaia's unborn egg, and she never hatched from it. Filled with sadness for his lost sister, as well as from separation from his beloved mother, Reshep began to smooth the cracks in Gaia's shell, and slowly the world began to take form. Loki was intrigued by his brother's work, and began studying the world that was slowly taking form. He was surprised to find that Gaia was in fact never killed, but merely shattered into innumerable pieces that had each taken on a life of their own.

With these shattered bits, Loki began to cover the surface of the world with life. At first, these took simply shapes. However, as the life forms began to grow and reproduce, they became increasingly more complex under Loki's tender guidance. Soon the world was covered in dense forests and jungles, expansive grasslands, each teeming with all manner of life. Loki named the world Gaia, in honour of their sister upon whose body it grew.

Reshep, unlike Loki, could care less what his brother was doing, and once bored with his shaping of the world continued to sulk over the separation from his mother. Perhaps feeling her son's pain, Vritras slipped through the barrier between the two planes whilst Dracos slept. Finding Reshep, now fully grown, the two were overwhelmed with emotions of love after their separation. They made love, and Vritras gave birth to seven children, whom she named Marduk, Eridu, Ma'at, Anshar, Ianna, Metis, Naiada, and Thoth.

Fearing the wrath of Dracos, however, Vritras deceived her new children into believing that Dracos was their father. They had no reason to question this, and Dracos himself was too proud to even consider these children were not of his own loins. Only Loki knew the truth, but he kept the secret to himself.

As the younger gods matured, they wandered throughout the world that Reshep and Loki had created, and marveled in multitudes of life forms that Loki had lovingly tended to. Marduk was inspired by the methodical structure of nature, and the rules that governed everything from the tiniest insect to the largest mountains. His twin sister Eridu, conversely, saw the world as a swirling, confused chaos that was somehow miraculously kept in balance.

Deigning to make a creation of their own, one that would surpass any of Loki's in their power and complexity, the young gods stole away some of Loki's creations and began to mould them to their own liking. To these new creatures they gave scales as hard as iron, huge leathery wings, a mouthful of teeth as sharp as razors, and an intelligence that surpassed that of living things save for the gods themselves. They proudly named these beings dragons, in honour of their father.

When the young gods unveiled their new creations, they were met with marvel from Reshep and Vritras. Even Dracos seemed pleased of these creatures that bore his name, and granted them with great knowledge, power, and magical fiery breathe, and declared their dominion over all living creatures.

Behind them all, Loki seethed with fury. To him these creatures were abominations, clashing with all other forms he had populated the world with. They lorded over his creations with casual disdain, treating Loki's beloved children as if they were nothing more than expendable goods, to do with as they pleased. Perhaps worst of all though, these intelligent beings held his bastard siblings in adoring reverence, something that none of Loki's children were able to do.

In answer to the dragons, Loki set about shaping an intelligent race in his own image. He gave them wits to match the dragons, but forwent the latter's power physical attributes knowing that reliance on these would weaken their character. As a crowning stroke, Loki gave man an indomitable will, and the ability to adapt and persevere in the face of any obstacle. Glowing with pride in his creation, Loki introduced man into the world.

Compared to the mighty dragons, man seemed inconsequential by comparison. The gods scoffed at these new creatures, and Loki flew into a rage. However, also compared to the mighty dragons, who reproduced very rarely, man multiplied like wildfire. Their determination and versatility allowed them to rapidly spread across the entire world, inhabiting even the most inhospitable regions.

The young gods soon became vastly amused by these intrepid beings, and grew immensely fond of them. Many of the gods began to live amongst man, teaching them the ways of the world. Marduk showed man how to build societies, and how best to structure them so as to maintain order and peace. Anshar taught man much of the wisdom he had achieved, and was the first to introduce them to the Arts. Ianna taught man how to create beautiful paintings and sculptures, how to sing and make music, and how to make love. Ma'at showed them how to hunt like the best ferocious predators of the wild, and how to fashion weapons to counteract mans physical weaknesses. Metis taught them commerce, and showed man how to mint coins to facilitate trade. Naiada was vastly amused by man's quick wit and intellect, and taught them how to use those qualities to advance their own interests. Eridu taught man the secrets of nature, and taught them to stand up against injustices, and for those things they believed in.

Man felt truly indebted to these divine beings for the gifts they had given them, and began to build shrines and statues in tribute to them. Many even began to worship them, hoping to curry favour from these powerful beings.

This angered Loki, who saw his children being stolen away from him. He saw the young gods moulding man, as they had done with his children whom they stole and warped into the dragons. In his mind, his children were being twisted and turned away from him by the bastard children of Reshep, and this threw him into a fury.

Loki confronted Reshep, and demanded that he reign his children in before they corrupted his children any further. Reshep laughed, thinking Loki a spoilt infant simply jealous of the attention man heaped onto the young gods rather than on him. This made Loki even more furious, and he cursed Reshep and the bastard offspring of his incestuous paring with Vritras.

It was now Reshep's turn to become enraged, and he struck Loki with such a blow that the very earth itself shuddered. The two fought for thirty days, in a battle that scarred the world and caused many of the animals and beings near them to flee for their lives. Finally, Reshep pulled away laughing. He called Loki a fool, saying that man was simply a reflection of his own twisted, jealous, and fickle nature. The corruption of man's soul was not the doing of his children, but simply a passing of Loki's own corruption from a father to his offspring. He then turned and left, leaving Loki to smoulder in savage fury and resentment.

Loki's brooding soon turned to scheming. He knew that he was nowhere near powerful enough to take on Reshep and his offspring alone, especially when Vritras inevitably stepped in to take the side of her favoured son. In order to do so Loki would need a weapon so powerful that it would swing the balance in his favour, and the only thing more powerful than any of those was Dracos himself.

Loki used his great powers of flattery and deception to lure Dracos into the mortal realm, where he was conveniently ushered to the place where Reshep and Vritras lay in passionate coupling. The wrath of Dracos was like none the universe had seen before. With a flick of his wrist he shattered Reshep's physical frame before descending upon Vritras. Before even giving her a chance to speak, Dracos rent her head from her body then tore her body in two, casting the two pieces of her body to opposite ends of the earth. As Vritras' blood ran into the earth, its intense cold froze ground and water, spreading until it transformed the entire planet into a frozen waste. Dracos took her head and fixed it permanently to the heavens, where it would be seen daily in all corners of his son's world as the heavens rotated around the earth.

When Dracos returned again to his home, Loki travelled victoriously to his brother's children. Putting on a mask of profound sorrow and despair, Loki told them the truth of their parentage, and gave them account of the brutal slaughter of their parents. The young gods were shocked to learn that it was in fact Reshep who was their father, but were even more horrified though at the savage retribution that Dracos had exacted on them. Weeping over the loss of their parents, the gods let Loki lead them to the place where Reshep's body lay.

The gods despaired when they saw their father's broken form, and fell to their knees in anguish. All were so engrossed in their sorrow that only Naiada chanced to look up as Loki's mask of mourning flickered, betraying his inner elation. When the other gods finally rose to carry Reshep's body away to be buried, Naiada secretly took the form of a sparrow and followed Loki as he wandered away from the others.

Loki travelled deep into the wilderness before letting down his guard. When he finally felt none were watching, he dropped his façade and began dancing gleefully in circles. A small number of forest creatures happened to notice him, and Loki joyfully danced to them. To the great horror of the watching Naiada, Loki gloatingly detailed his plot, and swelled with pride as he described how he had repaid his arrogant brother.

Naiada rushed back to her brothers and sisters with news of Loki's betrayal, where she was stunned to learn that Reshep somehow still lived. As he recovered, the gods all discussed how they could possibly bring Loki to justice, and avenge their mother's death. When Reshep finally awoke, they told him all that had transpired. The news of Loki's betrayal infuriated him, and his anguish over his mother's death stoked his hatred for his father into a towering inferno. Yet, he despaired knowing that in this crippled state he did not have the power to confront Loki, and certainly could not stand before the awesome might of Dracos.

It was Anshar who finally devised a plan to defeat their enemies. Through his studies of the Arts, Anshar uncovered a mechanism by which they could harvest power from mortals. Guided by Anshar's steady hand, the gods bowed the fabric of the universe, finally tearing away a section of it to create a new plane of existence. These two planes were reflections of each other, the Material Plane was that which held Gaia and all the life that lived upon her, whilst the newly created one was the immaterial. He then connected the two planes via a magical barrier he named the Veil.

The Veil, he explained to Reshep and his siblings, acts like a kind of membrane. Actions of mortal beings in the material realm are reflected in the immaterial. Each action produces an energy that exists only in that realm, and that are opposite to each other. Through the Veil, each action is linked with its counterpart, and the energy created bleeds from one realm into the other. While energy created in one realm does not abnormally affect its surroundings, the energy bled from its counterpart in the other realm does.

Anshar then showed the gods how to harness the power bled from the material realm into the immaterial. Having all of them grasping for the energy at once proved impossible, so they set about divvying up the source of this power, the nature of the mortal beings who created it, in a more organized fashion.

Anshar picked the pursuit of knowledge, and all things to do with learning, becoming the God of Knowledge

Marduk took the maintaining of law and order, and all things to do with the suppression and eradication of chaos, becoming the God of Order

Eridu, ever defiant of her twin brother, chose the battle against injustice and persecution at the hands of authority, and the protection of the less fortunate, becoming the Goddess of Defiance.

Ma'at chose the execution of war and violence, and everything to do with fighters and warriors, becoming the God of War

Ianna became the patron of the arts and of music, of pleasures of the flesh, and the pursuit of all things beautiful, becoming the Goddess of Love.

Metis dubbed himself the God of Commerce, and took everything to do with trading and bartering.

Naiada choose to become the deity of cleverness and mischief, taking as her own the practice of wit, deception, cunning, negotiation, and subtlety, becoming the God of Trickery.

Thoth wanted nothing to do with the power of the immaterial, and denounced his peers for permanently altering the face of the universe in pursuit of power, proclaiming that the ends should never be used to justify such blatant abuse of strength and knowledge. The other gods were discouraged at his refusal to participate in their plan, and suggested that he could perhaps guard the Veil against Loki's tamperings should he happen to uncover their plans, a post that Thoth grudgingly accepted.

By harnessing the power of the Veil, the gods grew to be infinitely more powerful than before. Once healed from his wounds, the gods fed Reshep power until he too was many times stronger than he had been before, and would perhaps be able to rival the might of Dracos. When they deemed themselves ready, the gods donned armour crafted of brilliant metals, and imbued with magic powers. Reshep himself wore a suit of radiant blue steel, embossed with the likeness of Vritras. In his right hand he carried a massive golden hammer, and in his left a magical silver shield that had been buffed into a perfect mirror.

Stepping across the barrier into Dracos' realm, they found the mighty god had already anticipated their arrival. He stood in wait for them, a towering, blazing inferno, and all but Reshep trembled before him.

'You come to me at the head an army' Dracos sneered, 'I too can have an army,' and with a thought brought into being a might army made of demons, angels, and all manner of other beings, all mocking caricatures of Reshep's children.

'You think to channel the power of mortals to defeat me?' He laughed'¦then spat, 'well I too can call mortals to my bidding.' He then breathed in, and drew to him all those mortal beings who had died, whose spirits walked the mortal realm. Suddenly he was surrounded too by an army of the ghostly visages of men, dragons, and beasts.

 Dracos' form exploded into a swirling storm of fire before coalescing into the figure of a fearsome, fiery parody of Reshep, carrying a huge blade of molten iron and a shield bearing the broken bleeding body of Vritras.

'Vritras died a whore, a simpering pathetic slut, but even that death carries more honour than the fate that shall befall you.'

Unable to bear the taunting any longer, Reshep threw himself at Dracos, and the two battled with such a ferocity that the universe itself quaked and shook. Dracos' legions fell upon the gods, and it took all their strength to keep from being drowned beneath a seething tide of enemies.

Even with his own incredibly enhanced power, Reshep was still no match for his father, who had created the universe with a though. Many times, it seemed as though Reshep had been defeated and Dracos was again victorious. Yet each time Reshep got back up, and Dracos grew more enraged that he was unable to overcome his petulant spawn.

Finally, Dracos knocked Reshep down with a mighty blow that for a moment stopped time itself. The battle raging all around them froze, and all turned to watch as Dracos towered above his son, readying a final coup-de-grace. Dracos gathered every ounce of his power, and aimed it in a concentrated blast at his son, seeking to burn Reshep entirely out of existence.

But Reshep was not done, and when Dracos unleashed his power Reshep lifted his mirrored shield. The beam of power was reflected back, and smote Dracos to the ground. Reshep then rose and descended upon Dracos, who lay dying. He cast him into the mortal realm, where he held his body aloft and beat it with his hammer, splattering his blood over the heavens where it would burn as tiny specks in perpetuity. He smote Dracos with blow after blow, until finally Reshep's mighty hammer shattered under the strain. He then fell upon his father with hands and fists, shredding Dracos body into a million pieces. Finally, he tore off Dracos' head, and fixed it into the sky as a final act of vengeance.

Drawn by the sounds of the cataclysmic beating, Loki had arrived just in time to witness his father's final moments. So transfixed was he by the site of his brother's brutal execution of retribution that he did not think to flee as Reshep finished off his father before turning to him. Whilst Reshep had been unable to match the power of Dracos, he stood as a mountain before an insect when compared to Loki.

When his brother's fearsome gaze fell upon him, the spell that had held him in place shattered, and Loki fell to his knees begging for forgiveness.

Reshep raised his fist to destroy Loki, but could not bring himself to kill his own brother in cold blood.
'Is your love for man truly so great that you would plot the deaths of your own mother and brother?' Reshep shook his head. 'So be it, if your love for mankind is so great that it transcends ties of flesh and blood, you may then live amongst them forever. May you come in time to see how the corruption in their souls mirrors the corruption in thine own.' And with that, Reshep tore from Loki his divine power.

The last of his anger expelled, Reshep was finally overcome grief over the death of his beloved Vritras. He wailed, looking to the heavens where his mother's head hung, a lasting legacy of Dracos' crimes. Unable to look upon it any longer, Reshep burrowed into the heart of the world to spend the rest of eternity in agonized mourning, his sobs shaking the very earth and his despaired cries causing the earth in places to bubble and erupt in molten lava.

On Gaia, the heat from Dracos eternally burning head finally thawed the freezing caused by the blood of Vritras, except where the blood ran fresh from her body at the extreme ends of the earth. Life was awoken from its winter slumber by the jarring sobs of Reshep, and found a world whose face had been changed much since they had left it. The war of the gods no longer walked amongst them, and absent their mindful guidance much of civilization descended into chaos.

In the realm of Dracos, the hordes the fallen god had summoned now submitted themselves to the gods. The ghostly spirits of mortals continued to arrive though, and it soon became apparent that Dracos' spell had not simply compelled those existing spirits here, but was also drawing all spirits of those who died in the material realm. Thoth volunteered to stay behind and serve as the master of this realm, which he dubbed Khanu'gaia, the Land of the Dead. The other gods each chose from amongst the armies of Dracos followers who would serve them in the immaterial realm, and left the rest to aid Thoth in managing his new domain.

Arriving back in their new home, and without Reshep to lead them, the gods bickered over who should lead them in the arduous task of healing the malignant influence of Loki in the world. Anshar felt that he should be, as it was his wisdom that allowed them to prevail over Loki and Dracos. Marduk disagreed, and felt it should be him who lead, since his expertise in applying order and law should would make him the best leader. Each other god too felt that their particular strengths made them the only one fit to rule, and their arguing soon escalated to blows. But when none of them proved strong enough to forcibly bow the others to their will, they grudgingly conceded that a leader should be picked only once one proved strong enough to do so. Each then set about carving out his or her own kingdom within the Immaterial Plane, where they schemed over ways to win the hearts and minds of all mortals, increasing their power to where they might force the others to their will and together set the world aright.

So ended the First Age, and began the second'¦
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