The Evolution of Vastonia!

In the beginning there were five!

All That Is Our Yesterday

Imagine if you will, for a moment, that like all Beginnings...there is something before that marks what IS the Beginning. Imagine a spark, something so small so insignificant in the blackness of the Great Nothingness that came before. This tiny point of light, nearly invisible in all that was the Great Nothingness "the lifeless void". This infinitesimal pinprick of fire, that seems to float there in the Great Nothingness, there in the silence of the void. Slowly this tiny ember, floating in currents that would not cause ripples in the calmest of lakes, it rises and falls. Thus, within even the greatest of fires it cools.

Now imagine, that one such spark does not cool and go out, this flame remains in the Great Nothingness, thus creates the first something where there was nothing before. For the first time that which governs and makes up all of creation has in this small flame arisen and defied the Great Nothingness, at that very moment the spheres of Matter, Energy, Time, Thought and Entropy have coalesced. For the first time in that one tiny little spark of a flame, Energy produced a spark, Matter gave it form, Time watched it burn marking its existence, Thought contemplated its reality, and Entropy attempted to limit it, as it did with the sparks.

As the Sphere's came into their own awareness simply by watching this magnificence in the darkness of the Great Nothingness, they looked around and Energy was the first to "speak"

"Brothers we have done a wondrous thing here." Energy said to his fellow Ancients.

Then Matter rose to the occasion, "Yes we have, let us do more." Matter spoke.

"Only this time let us think on a more complex deed." Thought said.

"Yes something which I can measure in larger units." Time said.

"Let us not forget our place of birth the Great Nothingness needs a place too." Entropy said.

They all agreed. They each began to weave their ideas into one another and created the very first song, the Song of Creation. Even Entropy had a chorus to sing in this as without him, Time would have no meaning and matter would have no reason, and energy would know no bounds. Thus, the multiverse could not be formed into the physical manifestations of the Collective Divinates. With not so much of a thought the Collective Divinates willed the multiverse into existence, which leads us to the next part of this story.... In The Beginning.

The Ancients

In the beginning there were the Ancients (entities of divine existence), with each entity representing a single sphere or power of the eternal multiverse. These five sphere's of power are known as the Collective Divinates, they are "Matter, Energy, Time, Thought and Entropy". Everything in the multiverse, in one way or another, are composed of a combination of all five of these components in varying proportions. Each of these foretold beings exist to increase or influence the multiverse, or perhaps to maintain an equal balance throughout. In each of Matter, Energy or Time one alignment dominates, while in Thought and Entropy no alignment is significant.

The Ancient known as "Matter" thus created the elemental plane of earth, which represents stability and sturdiness, while making destruction and decay the primary purpose in the existing multiverse. Matter dictates law and order! "Order and form in all" thus creating lawfuls.

The Ancient known as "Energy" thus created the elemental plane of fire, seeking to alter or transmute things, slowing time and manipulating thoughts to create new energy. It's primary purpose being the creation of new activity and vibrant energy. Energy commands that disorder, uniqueness and creativity are supreme in the multiverse, thus creating chaotics.

The Ancient known as "Time" thus created the elemental plane of water, which represents aging and rebirth a form of everlasting recycling. It's primary purpose within the multiverse being the promotion change in all things and to maintain the flow of time. Time suggests that change and creativity are equally important as stability and order throughout the ages, thus creating neutrals.

The Ancient known as "Thought" thus created the elemental plane of air, it seeks to better itself through realization, philosophy and understanding. Thought's primary purpose is to categorize all existence and to make all other spheres subservient to itself. Thought represents non alignment, and combines all alignments into one grand compromise. Thought opposes the chaotic dictation's of Energy and seeks to manipulate the presence of Time to create order and form in Matter.

Finally the last Ancient known as "Entropy" or Death, which represents no elemental plane but makes it's primary purpose the ultimate destruction of the multiverse. Rot, weathering and dissipation being the cornerstone of it's existence. The four other collective divinates oppose Entropy but realize the importance of it's existence and functionality within the other Spheres of Power. Well in the same time Entropy cannot exist without the presence of the other Spheres of Power, so it seeks first to subjugate before bringing upon utter oblivion.

The multiverse is best represented by all of the Spheres of Power and if ever one should dominate the others only Entropy would be victorious, for having an equal balance between all Collective Divinates is necessary for harmony. Thus while each individual Sphere of Power strives to better itself and to grow the others Spheres of Power try to maintain balance by suppressing or countering the impending growth.

The Ancient's relentlessly fought against one another for a thousand millennia. This never ending struggle grew more and more devastating as time would pass, leaving each of the Ancients suppressed in their own hopeless destruction. The Ancients would now have to seek other alternatives to improving their Sphere's status amongst the multiverse, a way to end or unbalance this eternal stalemate. The ultimate conclusion of this was to create other divine beings. Ones to replace themselves amongst the multiverse as their very existence was soon to be at an end. The Ancient's used their remaining power's to bring forth five more divine beings, one to represent each sphere and thus became the Archons. Immortal beings of divine creation.

The Age of Immortals

The birth of these new elemental planes of existence brought about the intervention of Immortal Beings, overseers of the Sphere's of Power and protectors of each. These individuals served each Sphere of Power with strict, unswerving guidelines. Each of these Immortal Beings had been given divine powers from the Ancients, which were to be used to gain personal power and to advance the influence of his or her sphere. These first individuals are known as:

Mythos (representing the sphere of Energy), Lehgentis (representing the sphere of Time), Ethos (representing the sphere of Matter), Calwaithe (representing the sphere of Thought), Des'mentcious or Dez (representing the sphere of Entropy). They were given the title of "ARCHONS". The most powerful beings to ever exist, next to the Ancients themselves. These beings would never cease to exist short of total inhilation from an opposing Immortal kin, thus being granted eternal life. They were given all the cosmic powers and would use them to create other divine beings to help gain dominance over their opposing sphere's.

The Archons created all that would come to exist, including all the outer planes of existence. These Planes would now be referred to as the following;

Astral Plane, Seven Heavens, Twin Paradises, Elysium, Happy Hunting Grounds, Olympus, Gladsheim, Limbo, Pandemonium, Abyss, Tarterus, Hades, Gehenna, Nine Hells, Acheron, Nirvana, Arcadia and Concordant Opposition.

It is within these planes of existence where the Archons would create other divine beings. One's to further their sphere's power and to hopefully gain a threshold over the multiverse. The beings created were also given powers of Immortality, yet were less powerful than any of the Archons. These beings were given titles to reflect their creator's, one's to suit their positions within the planes. Each of these beings came to be known as Gods

These beings possessed many unique powers and capabilities, but would NOT be able to create other immortals in the same manner as the Archon's. It would now require the conjunction of two Gods to create another. A much slower process, but little energy would be diminished from the Sphere's of Power. This act became known as "Promensia - Creation", which eventually was shortened and referred to as procreation. The very first of these beings were known as;

Odin, Frigga, Av'Thon, Ukko, Loviatar, Kronos, Rhea, Corellon Larethian, Enlil, Inanna, Gladriel, Gruumsh

Over time these legendary Immortals gave birth to several others through the act of procreation. This eventually brought about hundreds of other similar divine beings, each learning to harness unique powers of their spheres. All of these Immortals constantly battled throughout the planes, hoping to gain a threshold over another's existing Sphere of Power. Which inevitably would lead to the total extinction of the sphere in question.

These battles would rage on for countless millennia with neither Sphere of Power getting the upper hand over another. Hundreds of Immortal beings now struggled for supremacy, with immortal life becoming a shortened existence in every battle. Each of the Archon's awaited victory over the opposing sphere, but soon noticed an all to common dilemma "battles would never cease, and no Sphere of Power would ever reign supreme". The Archon's would soon realize the importance of a unique environment which would pose as an equal opportunity battle ground. A place where Immortals could do battle without suffering the disadvantage of an opposing sphere's powers.

The only location which would serve this purpose was the very center of the of the Elemental Planes of existence. It was here, within the inner planes that an equal balance of power naturally conformed. Thus the Archon's created a new heavenly body called the "PRIME MATERIAL PLANE". Here Immortal beings would clash in definite victory over another, thus leaving either one Sphere of Power increasing it's existence over an opposing Sphere of Power. However this new plane had a very powerful effect on Immortals, for it negated certain powers they would normally possess on their home planes. Yet the plane remained the chosen battleground of the divine.

The Archon's had weakened into a somewhat unrecoverable state and soon compromised their remaining powers into an agreement of granting victorious Immortals an eternal reward of absorbing the powers of their personally defeated Immortal opponent's. This gift of divine acquisition was called a (Quickening), which would inevitably allow for one Sphere of Power to reign supreme over all others, thus leaving the fate of the eternal multiverse in the hands of their Immortal brethren. The enactment of this eternal power utterly destroyed the Archon's and removed their presence from the multiverse for all eternity. A strict code of dictation's called the ("Pact of Eternal Life"), which all Immortals would hereafter follow honorably, was forever carved into the passages of time. No Archon would ever intervene with an Immortal Being's presence hereafter.

Over the next few passing centuries Immortal beings would diminish rapidly. Some Immortals would claim hundreds of victories, rising in strength and power. While others would fall in defeat to those powerful enough to take their heads. Battle after battle their, "what seemed like infinite numbers" became no more than a few hundred individuals.

These remaining Immortals used their powers to create beings of somewhat insignificant power next to their own, but could perhaps swing the tide in combat against opposing sphere representatives. These beings became known as the "ELVES" or were sometimes referred to as "Immortal slaves". These beings were easily killed by any of Immortal status and thus were referred to simply as Mortals. However, as time passed the Elves became invaluable to the Immortals, for which although inferior to themselves could create life without a drain on the multiverse. The Elves would increase in number over the next few millennia, while the Immortals fell to one another leaving only but a few dozen representatives of each individual Sphere.

During these times of desperation the few remaining Immortals created many new beings, some superior in many ways to the Elves, while some evolved into terrifying abominations. The more vast of these beings, yet separate racial creations became known as the "DWARVES", "HUMANS" and "ORCS". All of these new races possessed the same ability to create life as the Elves and thus flourished in number over the next few passing centuries. Some of these mortal races raged war against one another while other mortals were passive and used intellect to overcome their enemies.

Seeing this uniqueness the remaining Immortals returned to the outer planes where they vowed a sacred oath "Direct Action Against Mortals Is Forbidden" leaving Mortals to decide the fate of which Sphere's of Power would reign supreme. While Immortals would attempt to manipulate the balance from beyond without breaking the sacred oath. A common way of doing this was to guide Mortals through the use of a technique called praying, which could sometimes allow the Immortal in question a chance to communicate with his/her follower. Other methods involved the use of messengers (priests), avatars, and other servant's of the divine, to be used as direct advisors. Thus came about religions.

Occasionally an Immortal would break the oath by venturing to the Mortal plane and continuing to slay Mortals, but this was almost always seen by another Immortal, thus ensuring an Immortal confrontation. Which would allow any representative of an opposing sphere a glorious opportunity to tip the balance of power in their favor.

The Way To Ascension

The multiverse was now left to be decided amongst the remaining Immortals and their own creations. Upcoming battles would far out weigh the importance of any previous Immortal clashes. For each immortal would more than likely have to face an enemy by oneself, and losing such a contest would put the opposing Sphere of Power one step closer to ultimate supremacy.

With this at hand, Immortals often sought out ways to gain an advantage over the other Sphere's of Power. This could only be done in one way other than religion, without breaking the sacred oath. This was to grant divine powers to Mortal beings, thus creating beings of superior capabilities like themselves. These powers of course were rare and could only be given to Mortals who proved worthy of such divine status. This would pose a great problem to some Immortals, the induction of such powers would drain them to a very weak state. Thus allowing themselves to be utterly destroyed in the process. Only the most dominant and wise Immortals would possess enough power to give this gift of divinity.

The first great Mortal excepted into Immortal status was a human warlord named Rastameir. He would be granted the powers of an Immortal by a representative of the Sphere of Time named Odin. This somewhat inferior Immortal being still possessed the Mortal ability to create life without a drain on the Multiverse but still retained many of the Immortal sponsors qualities. The main quality Rastameir possessed was eternal life, he would always exist in the Multiverse as his Immortal sponsor but in extreme circumstances could be erased from existence. Rastameir could influence mortals in many different ways, but soon found out that by entering his former Plane his powers we're drastically reduced in potential, like that of any other Immortal being. Thereafter his followers would only be rewarded with his presence in times of great need.

A short time later the second of these beings would be excepted by "Galanalese" who represented the sphere of Energy, this being was called "Razud". Razud possessed the same gift of life as Rastameir but retained many different attributes than his counterpart. Hereafter this transformation of Mortal beings into Immortal beings became collectively known as the path to Immortality. Over time very few Mortal beings would make the almost impossible journey to Immortality, although all of which fell victim to the Prime Material Plane's curse of Psionic depletion and other various restrictions.

Within the heavens, Gods and other Immortals possessed great powers of unmatchable proportions, from here they could still protect their followers but in a less direct way. Some chose to send powerful creations (monsters) to do their bidings while other Immortals granted minor powers to deserving worshipers (spell casting ability and such). From this point on Immortals would frequent the Prime Material Plane only on rare occasions, for their presence amongst the Mortals would cause other Immortals to destroy needless numbers of Mortal life. Of course a few of Immortals bend the rules and still journey to the Prime Material Plane but always in an unrevealing Mortal form and usually only long enough to give or retrieve an item from a Mortal. However,there is one major exception to this rule, which all Immortals are bound to by the Pact of Eternal Life "confrontations of Immortality". The Battles between rival Immortals....

Dawning of Mortals

Now that mankind was virtually left to fend for itself. The ultimate test of salvation would arise. Which sphere of energy would now hold the multiverse in it's grasp. The passive Elven peoples would flourish through intellect, wit and cunning. Humans seemed to prosper through a complexity of anger, intelligence, creativeness and trickery. The stout Dwarven race held there own by utilizing strength, inventiveness and courage. The unyielding Ogre race sought after aggressiveness, intimidation and apprehension and the Orcish race gained advantage through betrayal, dishonesty and destruction.

As centuries would pass, procreation took hold of all these mortal races, soon thousands of mortals would inhabited the Prime Material Plane. Interracial relationships and forced breeding also became common. Thus many new strange beings evolved and would eventually become separate races. The more common of those races were known as "OGRES", "GNOMES", "HALF ELVES", "HALFLINGS" and "HALF-ORCS". These new beings we're often viewed as outcasts and shunned by other mortal races. They often sought after kinsmanship with the other mortals and would practice invaluable skills to prove their worth.

Many of the mortals still remained bent on conquering their enemies and often betrayed their fellow race to gain even the slightest advantage. The race for supremacy now meant conquering the Material Plane. No longer did the Sphere's of Power concern the mortals, for dominance and/or survival would be the only objective.

Now after almost 300 centuries passing since the creation of the Prime Material Plane. The largest earthly body (a world called Vastonia by the Humans) within the Plane would host nearly 14,000,000 mortal inhabitants and literally billions of unexplained creatures which were commonly referred to as animals or insects.

The origin of animal kind derived mainly from natural phenomenon but some were purely accidental and thought to have been magically created. Humans now, by far outnumbered any other mortal race proving to be the most versatile and tolerant of all. Although greatly outnumber the other mortal races would find salvation in knowing the Humans were somewhat passive and could generally be bribed or convinced into living a peaceful existence. This left the other races to fight for regions that Humans cared not to rule. Savage wars would still rage on. First one race gaining an advantage over another, but then losing way to the next.

Eventually great civilizations formed across Vastonia collectively referred to as Kingdoms and/or empires and yet smaller unified sections became known as Settlements and/or Cities. Most of these great regions would soon find a need for rulership and thus adopted the use of meaningful order (laws) or at least guidelines of leadership. The rulers of each Kingdom and/or region we're determined through either battle, physical dominance, intelligence or overall skill in the most valued asset to the local inhabitants. Once leaders were determined, lesser officials and/or figureheads became a necessity to help the leaders enforce their dictation's. These people would be given various tasks to accomplish throughout their communities and were expected to keep order within the general population.

Time would pass with development, laws and leadership becoming more defined amongst the more intellectual races. Leaving combat, physical presence and bribery to decide leadership between the more aggressive cultures. For the next 50 years mortals would prosper in many different ways and civilizations would continue to grow across Vastonia's furthest reaches.....

The Rise of Humanity

For the next 200 centuries, humanity continued to flourish. Many wars took place, with great rulers, powerful kingdoms and promising religions falling to one another's relentless struggle for world domination. A cosmic blast separated the once massive land formation into five independent land masses, now called continents. Each continent having it's own unique distinction, cultures and history...

Tis now the early 600's. Dozens of individual mortal races inhabit the world with little knowledge of either their ancestors accomplishments or the presence of Immortals walking amongst themselves. Immortal beings and their history's have been long swept away, with only the oldest civilizations having any recollection of their existence. Only peace and unity will keep Vastonia from disappearing into the infinite cosmos of the multiverse.....DO YOU HAVE WHAT IT TAKES?