Creation

In the beginning, the multiverse was without form and void, suspended in the Astral Plane. In a burst of light and energy, the darkness and the light were divided. The Positive and Negative Elemental Energy Planes were drawn into their separate boundaries and the light made war upon the darkness. At this point the darkness gave birth to the illithid. During the titanic clash energies intermixed and tore apart new creations form the Astral fabric. The Elemental planes of Air, Earth, Fire, and Water were created and the Elementals, incarnations of the plane itself, made war upon one another. During one of their great battles, fate would have it that the forces of Air, Earth, Fire, Water, Light, and Darkness, all met on the field of battle. Their titanic clash resounded throughout the Astral space. From the turmoil of their conflict in that place was born the Material Plane, with the steam burned off by the clash between the elementals creating the ephemeral Ethereal Plane. . Now, in the beginning magic was not constrained; divine magic, arcane magic, and psionics were not distinct—instead power was channeled as a direct expression of sentient Will. The illithid were masters of using their Will to bend reality to their desires. They made war and captured great tracks of the Astral plane and Elemental Planes. They forged mighty artifacts, the Rings of Elemental Control and Mastery, and made them bend their knees to the throne of Illesine (goddess of the Illithids). Perhaps greatest of all, they extended their clawed grasp to the newborn material plane. Only the titans, great embodiments of primal forces, also born in the first birth of Albuanon (the world we now call home), were able to resist. The illthid enslaved another early race, the Gith. The hold of the Illithid was absolute for millennia, and darkness covered the multiverse. But the light gathered allies. A new race of creatures, the elves, were emerging from their sylvan slumber in the forest, and with their Will came into being their patron Corellon Larethian. They mastered the martial and magical arts and began to fight against the illithids. They were joined by the dwarves and their god Moradin a few centuries later. The gnomes also emerged from the caverns of Albuanon, led by Garl Glittergold, to fight against the illithids and the darkness. The gith rebelled and fled the crumbling Illithid Empire. The dwarves, elves, and gnomes struck deep into the heart of the Illithids, shattering their power and dispersing them to all parts of the multiverse. Wounded, the darkness slithered into the caverns and dark places of the multiverse. Each race went their own way and lived in a glorious and holy peace for some time. The Gith split into two races, the Githzerai and Githyanki, and wandered the Astral Plane separately (where they had come after escaping from the Ilithid’s capitol). Soon, however, a new race was to appear which would forever change the multiverse. The first humans appeared and not long after the Halflings and their goddess Yondalla. They were a race of destiny and they founded a powerful kingdom in the wild lands of ancient Albuanon. They worshipped the light and called it Pelor. Being a diverse race, there Will created many new Gods—Kord, Heironeus, and the rest of the pantheon (with the exception of Tiamat, Bahamut, Vecna, St. Cuthbert). The race of men carved out kingdoms in the wilderness, fighting for survival against the monsters of Albuanon. In one nation, a great king Gilgamesh, a follower of Kord, and his companion Merlin, the Archmage, set out to forge a mighty Kingdom of Men. He began the first Draconic War against the dragons, back when they were naught but great beasts, in an attempt to protect his kingdom from the powerful creatures. The Goddess, Ehlonna the huntress, gave Gilgamesh a great Spear of Destiny, with which he, Merlin, and his faithful companions, the first Dragonknights, fought against the dragons. Merlin bound the essence of the slain dragons in the Orbs of Dragonkind and the war was turning in favor the humans. The war ended in a titanic battle between Gilgamesh and a great wyrm, Bahamut. The fight was great, but in the end Gilgamesh overcame the dragon. Before delivering the final blow, however, Gilgamesh paused. Seeing that if the dragons disappeared man would have no natural enemy, no challenge, and would become lazy and weak, he prayed to Kord. Kord healed Bahamut and raised him to a deity. The dragons under Bahamut (no longer beasts) and the Kingdom of Solus (Gilgamesh’s kingdom) made a peace agreement. However, Bahamut’s mate Tiamat, was corrupted by the darkness. She led the chromatic dragons away and vowed to destroy humans and the other races. Time passed and the Kingdom of Solus grew ever greater. But the darkness had not disappeared. Its corrupting influence crept into the hearts and minds of some of the common races, creating the Drow, the gray elves, and corrupting many men, as well as giving birth to the Orcs. The dark cults swelled in number and their Gods became known and feared, Erythnul, Hextor, and more. The greatest, however, was the embodiment of the darkness—Nerull. Man’s greatest weakness, his lust for power, drove a powerful kingdom of humans, called the Netherilese (from Netheril) to bend the Will in ways never done before or since. Their power was so great even the deities trembled. They were corrupted by the darkness and began a war unlike any ever seen before. Sides were drawn and a war without neutrality began. It was so great that it carved the landscape into what it is today and created much of the magic and creatures one sees in Albuanon. In a desperate attempt to save Albuanon the Kingdom of Solus used all of its magic and the Spear of Destiny to write the Eternal Codex, a series of laws and tablets which bound the way in which the Will could be utilized and greatly weakened the power of mortals as well as putting into place many laws to ensure peace and order. The Outer Planes took shape and the deities retreated to them. The Netherilese were banished with much of the other forces of darkness (undead, etc.) to the shadow plane, which was then partitioned off from Albuanon. The Eternal Codex created the rules by which arcane magic is accessed today, divine magic was channeled from the Will of deities who are direct manifestations of the collective Will of their followers, and psionics remains the direct (although weakened) manifestation of Will. The Kingdom of Solus faded and the world aged into a comparative peace...