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=begin comment |
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This is the source for some of the books in crossfire, at least, it should become one. |
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Authors: |
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Gorlin <gorlin@freibier.htu.tuwien.ac.at> |
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Mark Wedel <mwedel@scruznet.com> |
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Marc Lehmann <crossfire@schmorp.de> |
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Each =head1 should become its own book. |
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=end comment |
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=head1 Ancient History, by Khalis, Volume I |
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In the beginning the land was barren. No life yet moved upon the large |
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continents and islands that lay empty between the seas. In the seas, |
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nothing moved as well. The world itself held its breath while the Creator |
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rested. Then, a spirit from outside, serving the Most High, entered the |
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world, and she saw a place yet empty of life. So she began to create grass |
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to cover the face of the earth, and trees and other plants. Other spirits |
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from outside watched, and agreed that Gaea had wrought wonders upon the |
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devoid place. Since she was by far stronger than the others, those lesser |
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spirits asked her for leave to join in her work. Gaea accepted their |
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offer, and so the spirits of the Elements of Fire, Air, Water and Earth |
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began their work as Gaea's servants. It can be assumed, that outside the |
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world, the Creator watched and approved. |
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In time, the elemental spirits came before Gaea, and beseeched her to |
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help them create beings able to move of their own free will, living among |
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the plant world. And Gaea saw that without animals, the green world would |
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still miss a vital element, so she in turn went before the Creator. What |
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happened between them noone knows, but soon afterwards living beings began |
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to populate the land. Fish swam in the seas and rivers, birds flew their |
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first flights through the air, and other species moved on the land. The |
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cycle of Nature seemed complete, and Gaea was content. |
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Already, however, other spirits had noticed what Gaea had done. Dark were |
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they, and they treasured still the image of the empty world. To them, a |
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place devoid of life seemed far better, far more perfect, and so they |
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entered the world to return the world to its past. Sicknesses and |
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poison began to spread among the animals, that threatened to extinguish |
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entire species - yeah, indeed several of them might have died during that |
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time, of which we have next to no information. Bones in the ground seem to |
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indict that there were large animals which do not exist anymore, and |
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sadly, we may not meet them evermore. In anger, Gaea named these dark |
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spirits the Devourers, since they were those who devoured all life, and |
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she and her Elemental allies fought them back, and tried to heal what they |
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could. |
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=head1 Ancient History, by Khalis, Volume II |
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In that time it also happened, that a great many of the creatures the |
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Fire Elementals had helped to make were betoken of great madness, and |
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started to rampage among the other beings. In time Gaea and her allies |
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found out the truth, that one of the greatest Elementals of Fire, Ruggili, |
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had turned against them, perhaps on order of the Devourers. Yet, Ruggili |
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now served neither Devourers nor Gaea, instead he sought to increase his |
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own power, and spread madness and chaos upon the world, and he became |
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mightier than any other Elemental in existence. |
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The other Elemental beings came to Gaea, and spoke, "With both renegade |
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Ruggili and the Dark Ones to fight, we need others to assist us. Some of |
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the beings we created are already strong enough to do their part, such as |
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the unicorn or the sphinx. The strongest of them, however, the dragons, |
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have switched their support to Ruggili. We need allies, or this world will |
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become either a place of eternal fire or one of darkness." Gaea was |
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clearly troubled by this, and again left the world to commune with the |
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Creator. Shortly afterwards, new, more intelligent races emerged on the |
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world, among them the dwarves, elves, trolls, goblins, humans, halflings, |
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lizardman, any many others, and they joined the fight on the side of Gaea |
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and the Elementals. |
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During this time, which we now call the Second Age, cultures grew and |
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were destroyed, races rose to prominence and disappeared again, mighty |
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magics were found and forgotten. Ruggili#s followers were beaten back at |
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great cost, and the forces of Gaea could again concentrate on the fight |
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against the Devourers. The fight went on for a long time, but it seemed |
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that the Nature Goddess was able to reform the world into a place of Life. |
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The mortal races assisting her had become weary of the fight, however, and |
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spoke to her thus: "The fight has clearly been won, the death spirits and |
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the Fire God are in retreat. We wish to fight no more, but to settle down |
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in peace. Though we still respect you and always will, we can give you our |
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support no longer." Gaea accepted in silence, even though she knew that |
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this meant that the war would not have a definite ending. Neither the |
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Devourers nor Ruggili would be defeated be her alone. |
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The Devourers and Ruggili watched the retreat of the mortals, the |
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Devourers planning to attack and destroy them now that Gaea was not near, |
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and then to use their own dead spirits against the Nature Goddess. Ruggili |
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instead bided his time, sending down dragons to burn mortal cities and |
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Devourer strongholds both. The Elementals serving Gaea assisted the |
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mortals still, and gave some protection to them so that the Devourers |
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would not destroy them. During this, Third, Age, the mortals segregated |
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according to their nature. The dwarves moved into the mountains, and with |
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the help of Earth Elementals began their first kingdoms underneath the |
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face of the earth. The elves moved into large woods, the lizardmen into |
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swamps. Wars broke out between some of the races, none however anywhere in |
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that measure as the Great War of the Second Age. |
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=head1 Ancient History, by Khalis, Volume III |
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In the Third Age it also happened, that spirits from the outside, who had |
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been content to watch until that time, took pity on some of those races. |
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The goblins, orcs, trolls and giants began to serve a being called Gnarg, |
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who had promised to raise and protect them. He helped them build up |
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protection against the many poisons which still plagued the lands, and in |
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time they began to use poison as a weapon against their enemies. Their |
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most hated enemies were the dwarves and the elves, who each had been |
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stronger than them before the coming of Gnarg. Now, stronger than ever |
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before, they attacked them and sought to utterly destroy them. First they |
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moved against the elves. They burned down forests and elven cities, until |
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the being Lythander came to guide the elves and to oppose Gnarg. He sent |
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confusion to the goblin races, and cursed them to utter stupidity. this |
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curse is still active even now, there are fewer orcs or goblins who |
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possess high intuition, intellect or magical affinity then in any other |
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of the mortal races. During the time the curse was first spoken it was |
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much worse. The orcs fell down muttering insanely, the giants and trolls |
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clubbed each other senseless, and the goblins jumped down high cliffs to |
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escaped the voices in their head. The goblin attack faltered, and all the |
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goblin races and giantkind returned - after a few accidents and wrong |
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turns - to their homes. They also immediately stopped their plans to |
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attack the dwarves. |
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The dwarves, however, had other problems. The dragons also claimed the |
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mountains, and the followers of Ruggili sought out the dwarven cities and |
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the treasures they offered. The pitiful cries of the dwarves, and the many |
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deaths among dwarvenkind, roused the spirit being Mostrai, who entered the |
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world and came to the dwarves. He showed them how to create magical |
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weapons which might wound even the greatest of dragons, and he also helped |
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them to withstand the dragons' fire. As was Gnarg to the orcs and goblins, |
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and as was Lythander to the elves, Mostrai became god to the dwarves, |
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protected them as they worshipped him for it. |
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The most numerous of the mortal races had no god of their own, and they |
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despaired, seeing that others had gods of great power to call upon for |
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assistance. In their fear of being destroyed, in their anger for being |
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left out, and their hatred for those who left them alone, they cried out |
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for help. And in the darkness, someone heard them. Far away, in another |
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dimension most probably, dwelt beings of great power. Endless torment was |
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their desire, hatred, fear and anger the ways to their dark hearts, and |
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fire their most potent weapon. When the humans had cried long enough, the |
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doorway was opened, and the demon host went through. The demon lord Gorokh |
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led those who entered the world, and he offered the humans many riches and |
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great power in exchange for their worship and for sacrifice. many humans |
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fell, and began to serve the powers of darkness. Others sought redemption, |
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and a pure spirit called Valriel came to their aid. Others again returned |
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to the worship of Gaea, hoping that the forces of Life would protect them, |
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a few humans even went to the goblin, elven and dwarven gods for help. |
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=head1 Ancient History, by Khalis, Volume IV |
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As the human worship began to spread out among all the gods and beings of |
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power who had entered the world, a small group of them who wished not for |
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the blessings of Nature but the power of the elements as weapons spake to |
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one of the Elemental Lords following Gaea. And as Ruggili long ago, Sorig |
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left Gaea's path and accepted the mortal's worship, teaching them the way |
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of lightning and thunder in return. Other small sects began to emerge, and |
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then the one things noone had foreseen happened. Some humans began to |
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worship the powers of Death, who until then never had living followers. |
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Those poor deranged people believed that in death they would be truly |
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free, and the Devourers gladly accepted their help. When those humans |
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died, the most mighty of the Undead were finally created - those who |
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joined the Devourers of their own free will: the vampires, the spectres |
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and the liche. |
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And so the world lies before us today, turmoil and chaos has spread among |
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the many gods who have entered the world. The fights are numerous, but at |
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least we can be called lucky that no single faction has power as great as |
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during the Second Age - for another Great War would probably destroy the |
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world itself. In the First Age only the spirit being existed, in the |
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Second Age we mortals served the forces of Life to survive, in the Third |
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Age we left them and began to worship other Gods. This then is the Fourth |
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Age, in which we hope the ceaseless fighting and wars will finally end, |
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and we will be allowed to live in peace. But whose peace will it be, which |
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gods, which peples will lead and which will follow? |
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Khalis, |
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Grand Hierophant, |
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Servant of Gaea |
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=head1 History for the Impatient |
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Written by Maris the Scholar, a student of Khalis whom he opposed much |
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later in his life. |
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Gaea created the world. However, for things to thrive, rain is needed |
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so Sorig came along, and provided the rain and lightning. The lightning |
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created fire, and so Ruggili was born. |
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Gaea is the source of all nature and life, without any great need for |
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followers, as the natural world itself gives her power. She gave life to a |
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number of sons, all gods of their own. |
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Her son Mostrai saw a flat and uninteresting world and created massive |
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mountains and deep dungeons. |
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Her other son Lythander was bored and created some animals. |
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Gnarg saw that and created the goblins on the world for some reason we no |
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longer know. |
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Lythander, disgusted what the goblins where doing to the beautiful |
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forests, created the elves and halflings to help protect the forests from |
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uncontrolled goblin destruction. |
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Mostrai, seeing what was happening to the forests, decided to take |
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pre-emptive measures and created the dwarves to live deep within the |
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mountains he created. |
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Then Gaea created the humans, to protect and provide balance in the plains |
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and along the coasts. |
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With the constant battles for balance, many of these new life forms died. |
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The gods that created them did originally see the souls that these new |
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life forms had, but the gods Gorokh and Valriel did. They took the worst |
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(and best) of these departing souls in order to create creatures for their |
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own desires. |
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The souls that neither claimed became the domain of the devourers. What |
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the god of devourers lacked in the strength of individual souls, he gained |
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in the sheer number of souls he controlled, and with these he created |
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wights and vampires to give him even more souls. Some of the powerful |
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humanoids worshipped him in hopes of eternal life. For some of these, |
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they gained this eternal life in the form and lichs and demilichs. |
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The Red Dragons were created by Rugilli because he wanted some worshippers |
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of his own. It is believed that the other dragons eventually resulted from |
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those by the constant in-breeding experiments Ruggili made. |
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Nobody knows where the nearly god-like titans came from. Some scholars |
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claim they could be descendants of some of the forgotten gods so little i |
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known about nowadays. |
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