Prehistory

Historian's note: This is a fragment of a text recovered from the ruins of the Library at Hawk's Peak. It appears to have been written as an introduction to the universe during the time of the Western Empire (about 700 B.C.). Its accuracy cannot be determined. The Congregation certainly won't confirm or deny any of this. Footnotes in the original text have been reproduced in square brackets. The footnote at the bottom has been added, as have section headings.

[Author's note: The following is the best reconstruction that the priests of The Seeker in the Darkness have been able to create based on interviews with dragons, prophets, divine help, etc. Since the only one who witnessed most of these events is bound in the Abyss eternal, all the information herein should be considered second-hand at best.]

Creation

Before time began, the universe/planet/local area was void; all was part of the Dark Beyond. No laws governed the behavior of the unorganized matter and energy. The first being of which the stories tell is only known as The One, the Dreamer. This being, seeing the chaos, laid plans to establish order.

He first created the 8 + 1 Primordials to serve as his lieutenants. Beings of unimaginable power, they each held mastery over one domain. For ease of reference, they will be referred to by their domain titles. Whether they had names is unknown and probably unknowable. The domains of the Eight were:

• Fire (Energies)
• Earth (Solid matter)
• Air (Gasses)
• Water (Liquids)
• Light (Law, Progress)
• Darkness (Memory, Stability)
• Life (Organization, Creation)
• Death (Destruction, Decay)

The domain of the remaining Primordial is unknown. Some theorize that his was change or chaos[1], but this is strongly disputed. All real knowledge of this has been erased by powers far beyond man or god. The last Prince is only known as The Nameless.

The first races

The One gave each Primordial the power to organize out of the primal chaos a host of followers. None of these had the spark of intelligence. The elemental followers are commonly called elementals--the others include animals, plants, shadow creatures, etc. The Primordials of the elements were content with these raw beings.

To coordinate the work of these sub-sentient followers, the One created for Light and Dark a race of intelligent beings. The names of these beings follow:

• Light gained the service of the Lightborn, from which sprang Angels, Infernals, and (later) elven-kind.
• Darkness chose Leviathan, that distributed consciousness living in the light-less depths of the oceans and the depths of the Crystal Sphere, the living memory.

Life and Death were set as directors of the whole work. Each got a servant race, more willful and individual than those of Light and Dark:

• The Titans were bound to the service of Life. Wielding runes they built and shaped.
• The Wyrm were bound to the service of Death. Breaking down unneeded or failed creations, they were the judges of all things.
• The Nameless got a humanoid race known as the Proteans. Flexible and adaptable, they were the speakers of the language of creation and mediated between the Primordials.

This work took untold eons. The Primordials and their followers would move throughout reality, stabilizing the planes and shaping them into a world. It was not without conflict, but all progressed until the work was nearly done. At this point the planes were not separate--all matter and energy coexisted in one.

The Dawn War

Then there was War in Heaven--the Nameless rebelled against the One and against the other Primordials. Why? Some say that whispers from Beyond reality drove him mad--others say it was out of pride and a desire to rule it all himself. Yet others claim that he saw the world approaching stasis with no place for him or his followers. No one knows. Even the eldest beings, the ones that participated in this war, aren't talking. Asking that question is a good way to get struck by the wrath of whichever deity you're talking to [Author's note: approximately 300 scholars died before we learned to stop asking]. Many of the powerful beings (of all races) joined him in his rebellion.

The Dawn War (as it came to be known among scholars) almost destroyed everything. Primordial and Power fought against Primordial and Power. The fighting wasn't just against the Nameless and his forces--there was division among the forces protecting Creation. When all was nearly lost, The One put an end to it. Employing the most ancient Law, the Law of Sacrifice, he broke the planes. The Primordials each became a Plane and was given a purpose in ordering Creation.

• Life merged into the fabric of what we now call the Prime Material Plane, also known as the Mortal Plane.
• Fire, Earth, Air, and Water became the Elemental planes which stabilize the Mortal Plane.
• Light gave herself to form the Astral Plane, home of the Great Mechanism and the gods.
• Darkness gave himself to form the Abyss, a prison eternal for the Nameless and his legions (now called Demons regardless of their race).
• Death became the Shadows, buffering the planes. The spirits of the dead pass into Shadow--only the strongest find a foothold in the Astral. The rest fade into the aetheric background.
• The One became the Great Mechanism which cycles soul-stuff (anima) between the planes and stabilizes reality.
• The Nameless was stripped of his Name and Domain and exiled to the Abyss.

The intelligent followers of each Primordial were given a choice: stay in the Prime and be reduced to a fraction of their selves, becoming mortal; or migrate to the realms formed by the essence of their Primordial. The only ones not given the choice were the Proteans. They were reduced to near-animal levels and bound to the Mortal.

The Dawn War thus ended. Reality was saved at extreme cost.

Note on timelines: All of this happened in deep pre-history. The latest date for the Breaking that ended the Dawn War is approximately 25,000 years before the present day (ybp). Most scholars place it at 30k+ ybp.

[1] This is now confirmed (post Cataclysm) to be correct. During the Cataclysm War, the Nameless was freed from his prison and then dispersed into the rest of the universe, granting all beings free will.