dada

The Primordial

In the beginning, there was but two essences that flourished in the vast land of nothingness. The endless void of nothing, the Darkness, and its very opposite; Light.

They both represented their own tenets and might, yet they were perpetually forced to contest one another, for Light may not exist without Darkness. 

Neither would yield. Where Light pressed forward, it scorched the edges of the void raw, and the Darkness closed over the wound like ink upon parchment. Where the Darkness crept in, Light thinned to a sputter, held. Ages passed in this manner. 

It was a war with no ground to win. Every blow one struck was struck, in part, against itself, for each span of shadow carved away left Light with less to stand against, and less cause to stand at all. There was nothing else to do, and nothing else to be. Such was the way of the Primordial forces. 

todo: describe the clash a bit more, make it a bit more aura and shit. Fragments of a conscience came to be, as their forms were ripped and reshaped.

And in the grinding of the two, something finally gave way. A remnant; ash where the Light had guttered out and cold where the Darkness had been scorched away, and between them a seam of matter that belonged to neither. It was ugly, and it was heavy, and it would not burn like they would.

From that refuse, the world was made. 

Both Dark and Light peered upon this new mass that had intruded upon their inevitability; it was a sign of a diversion, that the path could be nudged away and naturally did greed come to envelop them both. They saw this as the key to end their ageless conquest, and be their crown to wear in triumph should either claim it.

Yet strangely, it proved not so simple for either of them for the creation and material it stemmed from hailed traits from both sides, the Light which allowed plants to rise and the time which claimed them to return to the land's resource was Dark. It all fell into a perpetual cycle, wherein the both of them saw their traits used in various manners.

Life was born yet it was not so easily swayed by the both of them.

For the both of them had fused in their own matter, and created a new element with their very touch but why would this force listen to its creators? They threatened all it was, and that was not hard to see for this new mote.

Though the touch of the primordial had been made,  and into their perpetual loop did they return though their attempted hand upon this new entity was not to be avoided and frequently would it come.

In this time, their battle continued to sputter out more, and more of their own into fragments of what could even come close to life; stars drew themselves across the dark cloud while planes unseen ripped themselves into existence. 

The Spawn from the Primordial

For countless ages, immeasurable, did the two Primordials persist in their eternal struggle; with every single clash did the Aethos grow. Torrents of might were torn asunder, cast into the expanse and drifting among the stars and through the hollows between their creation, carrying the scars inflicted upon one another. The violence of their separation had wrought a change upon the discarded fragments, with their form whole, the impressions upon its form was carved into it and the first crude vestiges of thought began to stir within those scattered remains, born from the ceaseless mutilation.

While some of these sought to return to their creators, which would merely result in them being consumed and dispersed anew, others wandered into the furthest reaches of the Aethos where many connected in great concentrations and were drawn together to become one. This is where the first God was conceived, the first-born of the Primordial which was soon followed by more.

Their births were all different, yet far from gentle nor deliberate. As the moats coalesced they naturally struggled against each other and they were imperfect forces from which they had been severed. Their form contorting and swelling, devouring those lesser fragments until sufficient essence had gathered, becoming its own independent entity.

Darkness birthed its progeny in the cold recesses beyond the stars, swallowed by the void surrounding while those of the Light emerged in smouldering brilliance from its distant creator. They were both possessed of dispositions that neither creator could comprehend. Unlike their forebearers, these beings possessed conscience. They could contemplate, perceive, experience time, and suffer the torment of knowing themselves to be alive in this eternal state.

Though brought to life from the Primordials, they were much diminished in stature, as their existence had been wrought from fractions of the original powers. Yet what they lacked in immeasurable might, they possessed in freedom of thought and certainly they would be vastly superior to any other being. Each grew distinct from its brethren, shaped by the particular sufferings and impressions borne within the essence of its conception.

Some of them took delight in the burgeoning world and its curious inhabitants who were springing to life, whilst the others regarded all that had arisen from the primordial conflict with grave content and displeasure. There were even those who coveted authority of their progenitors, seeing them as leadership figures, and those who sought to only distance themselves from the quarrel that had granted them life.

For the first time, the skies above Life saw stars scatter its night sky, and eyes of immeasurable might meeting the gaze of those who sought to peer.

The Formation of the Pantheon

The children of the Primordials wandered the Aethos for ages, where the struggle between their forefathers were observed. Stars extinguished beneath their hand, soon to be ushered forth with the breath of Light's embrace to imbue it for purpose -- only to discard it once more when its purpose was fulfilled. Destruction of worlds unborn seen, and the violent contortion of the planes as they ripped through the fabrics of existence with unrivalled might.

With time, the Gods came to understand the nature of their inheritance, they were born from conflict, and their existence depended upon the remnants of the conflict, however the continuation of its purpose would certainly consume all that had been born by it. 

Neither could be reasoned with, though the emergence of conscience had begun with their forms, the greater masses cared not for such an idea. Light sought to dispel Darkness, and Darkness sought to snuff out the Light; they would never possess the capacity to conceive of an existence where the other might suffer to remain.

The eldest amongst the Gods approached their progenitors, beseeching them to relinquish their great conquest, if only for a mere age. Their supplications were answered with indifference and their presence obstructed the advance of either force, they were cast aside with such might that tore their essence apart, crushing their very existence with a glance. Those who caught a glimpse of such a response knew that their creators would never afford them protection.

This prompted many of them to reflect upon their position and the discontent that followed and bellowed within all, and those who were more ambitious saw an opportunity for a mutual destruction. A bitter but desperate dispute lasted, with some maintaining they were far beyond any form of reproach as they were the very foundations upon existence while others argued that no creation could endure while they sought to lay it asunder.

It was amongst these deliberations that another course was conceived and the Primordials would be subdued, their consciousness, however primitive, forced into an eternal slumber. Their essence would endure, sustaining the principles upon which existence depended, whilst their capacity to wage war would be shackled for eternity. However, such a task demanded strength that none of them possessed.

Thus, the Pantheon was created between the divine children to set aside enmities and unite their ilk against their creators, where their powers gathered. But this rebellion would prove to not be a swift affair.

The heavens suffered grievously beneath the ensuing struggle, for the Primordials responded to the assault with all the terrible might that had shaped creation, and they were no match for such. Their children were torn from their forms, their essence scattered amongst the stars. Others were consumed outright, returning to the very progenitors they had sought to overthrow. (make this more significant)

However, they had the advantage of conscience; they could deceive, conspire, act in collection, and direct their lesser powers toward a singular purpose and through a terrible battle of attrition, the Gods prevailed. They bound the Primordials within the deepest reaches of the Aethos where their forms were condemned to a slumber from which neither might willingly awaken. There, Light and Darkness remained.

The surviving children stood amidst the aftermath of their victory, vastly diminished in number and strength. Their triumph had cost them brethren beyond remembrance, whilst much of the creation they had sought to preserve lay broken beneath the violence of their undertaking and lost to time. However, for the first time since its beginning, the Aethos would know peace.

The Succession of the Primordial-Born

With the Primordials subdued, the Gods turned their attention towards the creation left in their wake. The Aethos had grown vast beneath the violence of its makers, and though their struggle had ceased the innumerable consequences remained and needed to be tended to. The world continued to flourish and decay, the stars persisted in their distant courses with peculiar manifestations of primordial essence lingering amongst the planes. 

The children soon realized they had taken upon a mantle in their imprisonment of their progenitors, conferring upon themselves an obligation few anticipated; the works born of their conflict required a guiding hand lest they return to the formless ruin from which they had arisen. They were to be shepherds for creation, its stewards.

Each claimed some aspect of creation, drawing into themselves the lingering essence tied with its nature. Those who had been conceived amidst the furious conflagrations of Light found affinity with flame, sparks of lightning and the burning stars. While others born from the cold influence of Darkness assumed dominion over the inevitable passage of all living things, with silence and decay.

Beneath their stewardship, the world saw itself to prosper. The first mortal peoples multiplied, and time permit the Gods to be known amongst them by innumerable names. The long-lived elves sought understanding in the stars and the mysteries of creation where the arcane arts lingered, whilst the dwarves found divine presence in gem and the depths of the earth. Men raised temples and offered supplications for protection and deliverance from death's grasp. The orcs, amongst others, would come to honor those powers whose authority was made manifest through strength and the trials of existence.