VelvetViolet
Adventurer
This is a slight modification of fluff written by rasgon, altered for the Pathfinder background. It's meant to address certain things about the game background like "the gods created the titans, then successfully smacked them down when they tried to rebel. What's the moral of this story? That temperamental spoiled brats who get every advantage handed to them on a silver plate really don't deserve to be in charge?" stuff in complete contradiction to the Greek myth where the Titans created the Gods and were overthrown by them. There's also some inspiration from Exalted and Scion that I can see. Original version: http://www.canonfire.com/cfhtml/modules.php?name=Forums&file=viewtopic&p=60003&highlight=
On the Generations of the Gods
Abd-al-Hazred's Book of Dead Names divides the generations of the gods into several major epochs.
First of all were what Abd-al-Hazred called the Great Old Ones or the Outer Gods. Attested to primarily from the mad carvings of the kytillions, certain mad cults among the drow and derro, and the liturgies of elemental evil, the Great Old Ones were incomprehensibly alien beings who existed in the void before time itself, perhaps invaders from some alien realm. After the dawn of time and the emergence of other gods and powers, a terrible war was fought that finally ended with the Outer Gods electing to wait out the lifespan of the multiverse, going into hibernation deep in the still-forming planes to wake only when all gods and mortals were dead and only the void remained.
Some claim the Dragon Gods awoke after the Great Old Ones went to sleep, having been asleep themselves since the fall of the previous cosmos. Others say the Dragon Gods were the offspring of the Elder Gods, spawned after the creation of the world to aid the Younger Gods in the war against the Titans. Myths, as always, vary.
Next were the Eldest Elemental Lords, also known as the Primordials: entities of raw, formless elemental substance who were born after the primal void but before the creation of the world. These, too, warred with the Elder Gods and their children, battling the creator deities to keep existence in a state of wild chaos and flux. Ultimately they failed and were either chained by the gods or else they resigned themselves to the new status quo, retreating to the newly created Elemental Planes to rule over their own reduced domains, allying or opposing various gods as was their wont. All younger elemental lords and all elementals are ultimately their children.
The Elder Gods constitute their own generation. These were the first beings that could truly be called gods as most mortals understand the term today, the bringers of cosmic order who warred against first the Outer Gods and then the Eldest Elemental Lords so that the world could be made. The Elder Gods were not a single generation: various genealogies have been compiled showing which Elder Gods spawned various others of their kind, but in truth no mortal knows for sure exactly how they relate to one another. But these were the gods whose will brought forth the planes as we know them today. After the creation of the world, the Elder Gods gave birth to two further generations of deities: the Titans and Younger Gods.
The Titans were the first children of the Elder Gods, cherished and protected and tutored in their secrets. They were both incredibly powerful and incredibly spoiled, raised to think of themselves as the rightful inheritors of all the worlds and planes. They treated all other beings as their playthings as they played and conspired with one another and impatiently worked to see their own parents step down from their thrones so that they could rule themselves. Some myths say they succeeded, and the Elder Gods all retreated from the known planes or were killed in a violent war instigated by the Titans. Some say there were two generations of Titans, and it was after the birth of the second Titanic generation that the Elder Gods decided a new generation had to be introduced to contain the threat they posed.
The Younger Gods were born after the Titans: some say they were the Titans' children, and some say they were created by the Elder Gods after they saw their oldest offspring were too willful and selfish to control or contain. The Younger Gods were weaker than the Titans, but more numerous, and with the aid of secrets they gleaned from the Elder Gods and the Dragon Gods they defeated the Titans in a cataclysmic war, establishing themselves as the new rulers of the cosmos and locking the Titans who fought them in the prison of Tarterus. Those few Titans, almost entirely of the younger generation, who sided with the Younger Gods against their parents were spared, and dwell among the gods in eternal feasts and revels. Yet the Younger Gods fear their own offspring, or perhaps mortals who have risen to godhood, may someday depose them, so they play complex games to keep the youngest generations busy among themselves, and look ever to various prophecies so that they can destroy those who might pose a threat to their domination.
The Giants are the eldest mortal race created by the gods (as hinted above, dragons may predate the gods as such). They are the children of the Younger Gods descended from Ymir, the eldest of the Elder Gods of Creation (according to some). They ruled great empires in the Age of Giants, when volcanoes and glaciers and primordial forests covered the world and even the beasts were rougher and far larger than most of the beasts that inhabit the world today. Eventually the Giants fell into decadence, inbreeding, and mutation, retreated into their isolated holds, and were replaced by the younger races as the dominant races of the world. With the passing of the giants, the glaciers, forests, and lava retreated as well, uncovering a world more hospitable to younger and frailer peoples.
Finally we come to what the giants at least lump together as the Younger Races, those who came to dominate the world after the fading of the Giants. Elves would never speak of themselves in such terms, of course, but they are as much the children of the Younger Gods as dwarves, halflings, goblins, orcs, gnomes, and men.
The Book of Dead Names exists in many forms; the various scholars, theologians, and binders who have copied it have rewritten it in hundreds of different ways to suit their own prejudices and philosophies, such that it is impossible to now say how Abd-al-Hazred originally believed the gods to be related, or if it's even possible to speak of the gods in such human terms. Some versions have Ra and Osiris among the Elder Gods, while others have them as among those who overthrew the Titans of the sun and the underworld. Some have Gaia as an Elder God, others as one of the Eldest Elemental Lords who sided with the Elder Gods in the Dawn War. Some elevate their own racial patron to the status of Eldest of the Elder Gods, creator of all others, or even as an entity that preceded them all. Others accept their place as latecomers to creation. The truth, as always, is occluded.
On the Generations of the Gods
Abd-al-Hazred's Book of Dead Names divides the generations of the gods into several major epochs.
First of all were what Abd-al-Hazred called the Great Old Ones or the Outer Gods. Attested to primarily from the mad carvings of the kytillions, certain mad cults among the drow and derro, and the liturgies of elemental evil, the Great Old Ones were incomprehensibly alien beings who existed in the void before time itself, perhaps invaders from some alien realm. After the dawn of time and the emergence of other gods and powers, a terrible war was fought that finally ended with the Outer Gods electing to wait out the lifespan of the multiverse, going into hibernation deep in the still-forming planes to wake only when all gods and mortals were dead and only the void remained.
Some claim the Dragon Gods awoke after the Great Old Ones went to sleep, having been asleep themselves since the fall of the previous cosmos. Others say the Dragon Gods were the offspring of the Elder Gods, spawned after the creation of the world to aid the Younger Gods in the war against the Titans. Myths, as always, vary.
Next were the Eldest Elemental Lords, also known as the Primordials: entities of raw, formless elemental substance who were born after the primal void but before the creation of the world. These, too, warred with the Elder Gods and their children, battling the creator deities to keep existence in a state of wild chaos and flux. Ultimately they failed and were either chained by the gods or else they resigned themselves to the new status quo, retreating to the newly created Elemental Planes to rule over their own reduced domains, allying or opposing various gods as was their wont. All younger elemental lords and all elementals are ultimately their children.
The Elder Gods constitute their own generation. These were the first beings that could truly be called gods as most mortals understand the term today, the bringers of cosmic order who warred against first the Outer Gods and then the Eldest Elemental Lords so that the world could be made. The Elder Gods were not a single generation: various genealogies have been compiled showing which Elder Gods spawned various others of their kind, but in truth no mortal knows for sure exactly how they relate to one another. But these were the gods whose will brought forth the planes as we know them today. After the creation of the world, the Elder Gods gave birth to two further generations of deities: the Titans and Younger Gods.
The Titans were the first children of the Elder Gods, cherished and protected and tutored in their secrets. They were both incredibly powerful and incredibly spoiled, raised to think of themselves as the rightful inheritors of all the worlds and planes. They treated all other beings as their playthings as they played and conspired with one another and impatiently worked to see their own parents step down from their thrones so that they could rule themselves. Some myths say they succeeded, and the Elder Gods all retreated from the known planes or were killed in a violent war instigated by the Titans. Some say there were two generations of Titans, and it was after the birth of the second Titanic generation that the Elder Gods decided a new generation had to be introduced to contain the threat they posed.
The Younger Gods were born after the Titans: some say they were the Titans' children, and some say they were created by the Elder Gods after they saw their oldest offspring were too willful and selfish to control or contain. The Younger Gods were weaker than the Titans, but more numerous, and with the aid of secrets they gleaned from the Elder Gods and the Dragon Gods they defeated the Titans in a cataclysmic war, establishing themselves as the new rulers of the cosmos and locking the Titans who fought them in the prison of Tarterus. Those few Titans, almost entirely of the younger generation, who sided with the Younger Gods against their parents were spared, and dwell among the gods in eternal feasts and revels. Yet the Younger Gods fear their own offspring, or perhaps mortals who have risen to godhood, may someday depose them, so they play complex games to keep the youngest generations busy among themselves, and look ever to various prophecies so that they can destroy those who might pose a threat to their domination.
The Giants are the eldest mortal race created by the gods (as hinted above, dragons may predate the gods as such). They are the children of the Younger Gods descended from Ymir, the eldest of the Elder Gods of Creation (according to some). They ruled great empires in the Age of Giants, when volcanoes and glaciers and primordial forests covered the world and even the beasts were rougher and far larger than most of the beasts that inhabit the world today. Eventually the Giants fell into decadence, inbreeding, and mutation, retreated into their isolated holds, and were replaced by the younger races as the dominant races of the world. With the passing of the giants, the glaciers, forests, and lava retreated as well, uncovering a world more hospitable to younger and frailer peoples.
Finally we come to what the giants at least lump together as the Younger Races, those who came to dominate the world after the fading of the Giants. Elves would never speak of themselves in such terms, of course, but they are as much the children of the Younger Gods as dwarves, halflings, goblins, orcs, gnomes, and men.
The Book of Dead Names exists in many forms; the various scholars, theologians, and binders who have copied it have rewritten it in hundreds of different ways to suit their own prejudices and philosophies, such that it is impossible to now say how Abd-al-Hazred originally believed the gods to be related, or if it's even possible to speak of the gods in such human terms. Some versions have Ra and Osiris among the Elder Gods, while others have them as among those who overthrew the Titans of the sun and the underworld. Some have Gaia as an Elder God, others as one of the Eldest Elemental Lords who sided with the Elder Gods in the Dawn War. Some elevate their own racial patron to the status of Eldest of the Elder Gods, creator of all others, or even as an entity that preceded them all. Others accept their place as latecomers to creation. The truth, as always, is occluded.
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