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The Dawn War - The First War; The Enders War[]

Though the planes knew not what evil was, certain gods still had ambition. One of these gods who's name is forgotten by most and not uttered by the intelligent, was unsatisfied with Firstone and The Astral Sea. This god tried to breach the planar veils, and in doing so he discovered that he could travel to the Elemental Chaos. Previously Ioun had said that it was impossible to cross the veils of any plane besides the mortal realm. This awoke a mad curiosity in the future Chained God. While the gods were busy with the creation of Firstone he explored the depths of The Elemental Chaos, the farthest extremities from Firstone in the mortal plane and the highest points in The Astral Sea. No-one knows where, some even think he may have breached a new and unknown plane, but somewhere during his exploration he found a crystaline shard. Many scholars debate what exactly the shard was, some argue it was the last remaining peace of the monster from the beginning of time, others say it was given to him by a star in the mortal realm, the mad believe it was a gift from a prior universe, there are those that believe the universe needed evil and created it itself and some even theorize that it was spawned by the Author of Wickedness himself. Regardless, This shard was pure concentrated evil and upon touching it he immediately went mad as his entire character was devoured with the ability to commit evil.

Tharizdun symbol

The Holy Symbol of The Chained God

At this point little is known, but there are those that say that the Father of Elder Evils then battled the universe itself for control of the shard, though where this theory comes from, none know. The future Chained God wanted to plant it in the Astral Sea, but knew that the gods would react and stop him before he could fully harness its power. So instead he planted it at the bottom-most region of the Elemental Chaos, where primordials would go to die when their power had reached its end. He had hoped to take control of the region and launch an asault on the Astral Sea from there. He knew that the gods would notice his absence, so he ordered seven of his most loyal and powerful angel servitors to guard the shard while he went back to his home plane. No longer armed with the shard, he went back to the Astral Sea and awakened the evil in other gods. Everywhere he stepped evil would spread slowly taking over whole Astral Dominions; and when he went back to the mortal plane the entirety of the plane was infected with evil. Where previously there had only been peace, the mortals started to war with each other as concepts like greed and hate were introduced to there moral minds.

The Abyss and the anger of The Elder Elemental Eye[]

The Evil introduced by The Author of Wickedness seeped through the ranks of the chaotic primordials quicker than it did the gods. Many who previously had worked with the gods became swollen with evil and attacked. Baphomet and Yeenoghu attacked Melora in the mortal realm with an army of minotaurs. It was easy for Melora to repel them and her might made Yeenoghu fear for his life so ran back into the depths of the Elemental Chaos and Baphomet, who knew that he could not stand to the goddess without his ally retreated, pursuing the coward. Many episodes like this erupted all over Firstone, being one of the first signs that something terrible was soon to occur.

Normally the primordials worship nothing but themselves, being as powerful, if not more so, than the gods. The only exception was The Elder Elemental Eye, little is known of the Eye except that he was worshiped as the first primordial by the five Princes of Elemental Evil; the rest of the primordials feared him greatly, thus worshipping him by neccesity. When The Chained God planted the shard of evil at the bottom of The Elemental Chaos many primordials went to see what had occured. The elder elemental eye told his devoted to stay away from its churning depths but those who thought lowly of the eye, or were even suspicious of him went to see its growing expanse. The primordials Demogorgon, Orcus, and Garash were among the many who went their of their own accord and found that it had already been digging its way downward for years now. It called to them and they entered it. The Elder Elemental Eye told their fellow priomordials to abandon them, for they had caused their own undoing.

The Birth of The Demon Princes[]

Baphomet pursued Yeenoghu all the way to the great maw of the The Abyss and they both entered. The others who had ventured their willingly crossed into the abyss, hearing the shards call. They traveled until they discovered a great blood ocean. In the center hung the Shard of Evil (where the Ebon God's seven guards were, none can be certain) Demogorgon and Garash, wanting nothing more than to possess the shard lept into the ocean and immediately began to take on a demonic visage, but before they could reach the shard Dagon appeared and fought for control of the shard himself. On shore Baphomet and Yeenoghu fought hard because of the battle on Firstone, but the longer they fought the more they wanted the shard and a chance to get at it, so no-one noticed Orcus take to the sky, flying for that which all of them yearned. Before he got to it though, another entity named Obox-ob lept from the great blood ocean and grabbed hold of the shard becoming the first Prince of Demons. Orcus, Demogorgon, Baphomet, Garash and Yeenoghu then made a short-lived allience against Dagon and Obox-ob. In the ensuing battle Dagon abandoned his ally and the primordials defeated Obox-ob. The battle ripped a whole in the first layer of the abyss (called Pazunia) and a great rift opened up under the blood ocean. Obox-ob and the shard fell deeper into the abyss and the demonic primordials; followed all the while continuing their battles amongst themselves. Eventually Yeenoghu defeated Baphomet, who in response retreated deeper into the abyss. The other trecked on attempting to follow his paths and portals but could follow no further for fear of that they would never return but Garash deemed his brethren weak and continued his mad descent until his mind could no longer keep up with his limbs. Garash fell into the void; never to be seen again.

No-one can be sure of what exactly Obox-ob or Dagon might have been, but the other future Demon princes were primordials; and though he was already far from it The Ebon God still had much control over the shard. Understanding that the entropic primordials would not play into his hands once altered by the shard, he took it upon himself to shape them from a distance, making them like the beasts he had put on Firstone. He tried to give them order out of the chaos they were made from; which is part of the reasons the initial lords are more rational, less elemental and more powerful than the later abyssal lords.

The War of the Demons[]

The Elder Elemental Eye had said that those primordials that ventured into the Abyss were to be forgotten, but as time passed it became apparent that the primordials that had entered the abyss had become creatures of great power. He sent a group of powerful primordials lead by Miska to investigate the hole. Miska was the most powerful of the primordials and had full confidence that he could slay the demon princes. When the initial battle against them took place almost all of Miska's primordial soldiers had died. Miska had suffered almost no damage.

The Father of Elder Evils saw how powerful Miska was and realized that Miska alone may stand a chance against the combined forces of the demonic primordials. In his madness and paranoia he was beginning to want the same thing that the Primordials craved, but on a larger scale. Now hating all that which was immortal, save for his most powerful angel Exarch; Chorzigaut. He wished for nothing more than to destroy the entirety of creation.

He could not destroy existence without the shard, which he feared the Demon Princes now posessed. So he decided to offer Miska a deal he could not refuse. If Miska swore fealty to him, The Ender would give him a shape that would prevent his transformation into a demon by the madness of the abyss and would make him unimaginably more powerful. Miska bowed and felt the power of the Ebon God surge through his body as flesh flowed over his elemental form and eight hulking legs ripped out from under his newly formed abdomen. The Ebon God then charged Miska with one task. Bring the shard back to the Ebon God. Miska the Wolf-Spider understood his new assignment, but then it was sweetened. The Father of elder Evils would let Miska rule the next universe, left behind in the wake of the destruction of the current one.

Thus began the War of the Demons. The Abyss versus the Elemental Chaos. Miska rallied many primordials to battle in the abyss assuring them and The Elder Elemental Eye that if they could reach the shard they could destroy the entire abyss and then using the shard as a weapon they would have no qualm destroying the gods and their mortal creations, so that The Eye and the primordials could make entropy rule all that which exsisted.

All the while keeping his secret oath to his new master; The Ender. Once he found the shard he would deliver it to him, and let him end that which the Gods and the Primordials had created.

Gruumsh Raids Arvandor[]

When the gods first got a taste of evil, Gruumsh was one of the first to fully embrace it. He told his Orcish children to take what they needed and to enslave and kill those that were weaker than them. Gruumsh saw the death and destruction spreading out amongst the world and realized that as his children should be rulers of the earth, he to should be ruler of the heavens. No god had ever been killed before but Gruumsh saw to change that. He and Correllon had always shared an enmity due to their opposing natures but with the introduction of evil in the world it had evolved into a hatred of eachother. Gruumsh wished for the orcs to raid the Feywild and take that which belonged to the Tel-quessir, but he new that with Arvandor almost finished, it would be impossible. He Who Watches then lead an assualt on the unfinished Arvandor, his orc exarchs and evil angels slaying the fey creatures that called it home. Sehanine, Lolth, and Correllon looked on in horror as he tore their beautiful dominion to oblivion. Lolth and Sehanine went to intervene but Correllon held his sisters back and challenged Gruumsh to a one on one fight. Gruumsh accepted, he evacuated his army from Arvandor and did battle with the First of the Seldarine. During the conflict Corellon shot out Grummsh's left eye using a magical arrow. Gruumsh retreated from Arvandor and stills bears a grudge against the Tel-quessir today.

The Fey gods retreated back into the feywild, using this as an example proving that the other gods were not to be tollerated and that their races were pitiful compared to that of the fey.

The Slaying of Aurom and Apothesis of Nerull[]

The flow of time is viewed far differently by an elder being than it is by a mortal. Though in the grand scheme of things, the Abyss had exsisted for a fraction of a second, in the mortal world Obox-ob, king of demons and the the newly crowned demon princes were already gaining their first followers. The Demon Prince Orcus, being the universes first undead, had naturally sired more undead and had become the king of all that once lived, he gained many followers who were baited by his offer of eternal life as an undead and were scared of Aurom's cycle of life and death that had ruled exsistence for so long. One of these first followers was a man named Nerull.

Nerull was first and foremost the world's greatest wizard. He never had a reason to worship the gods because he felt that if he acquired enough arcane might he could be his own god. The war that had ravaged Firstone since the introduction of evil into the universe had turned countless generations of powerful arcane sages into warriors, Nerull was one of these, and as he became one of the first war wizards he learned of his fascination with death. Nerull realized that no amount of arcane might could conquer death, but he wouldn't accept it. He researched into the source of magic itself and learned that all arcane energies trace their origin to the Elemental Chaos spoken of in legends. He had heard of the cults of the demon princes but now he realized that because their origin was also elemental they were greatly in tune with magic itself. Orcus had conquered death. All Nerull had to do now was make Orcus teach him how.

Nerull

Nerull

The specifics are murky but somehow Nerull gained an audience with The Prince of Undeath, Orcus taught him the art of necromancy making Nerull the first true Necromancer. In return Nerull was to slay the god that precided over death and give her power to Orcus.

Nerull amassed an undead army, all the while learning how to control the dead far beter than Orcus ever had and he invented many rituals that are still used to reanimate the animus within a corpse today. While creating these rituals he learned how to breach the planar veils and with this new ritual he and his undead stormed Pluton, Aurom's astral dominion, and before the fight even began Nerull slayed the Shattered One. Aurom had been god of the entire cycle of life, from birth to death to rebirth, but Nerull had no interest in the cycle, save for death. Instead of giving her dominity to Orcue as he had promised he absorbed Aurom's death domain and Pluton transformed into the Gray Wastes, here he cut off the cycle of death.

Nerull had forever altered what happened when an entity died. The soul would still leave the body behind traveling to the shadowfell before taking its due course to Pluton, but now instead of taveling to it's god's domain or passing on into the great beyond it would stay, never getting the sweet release of true death or the reward of exaltation. For each soul acquired he became more powerful. Orcus could not stand up against the Reaper and very quickly he became amongst the strongest of the gods so none could oppose him and free their exalted. He then erased the memory of Aurom and killed all that remembered him/her so that none would remember that death hadn't always ended in the gray waste of misery. Nerull ruled as The Reaper, god of the dead for thousands of years all the way into the Dawn War.

The Enders War - The First War[]

The gods that remained unaffected eventually saw the evil that had been spreading for the past century and were greatly offended by what was happening in the mortal plane. The attack on Arvandor sobered the good gods and made them understand that many of there siblings were now evil. The slaying of Aurom was one of the first immortal deaths and it shook the pantheon as they tried to figure out what had caused it. Then Ioun saw what was happening in the bottom of the chaos and warned the pantheon that The Ebon God not only had introduced evil into the multiverse but that he was planning to destroy all of existence. He Who Was had a call to arms calling Pelor, Amoth, Tuern, Haramathur and Io. Where they decided that something had to be done, Io stood opposed claiming that evil and good were both wrong ideals and that only their perfect harmony could hold the universe intact, as it had always done prior. The other gods disagreed, fearing that evil would take the whole universe, even then the Abyss was already swelling, eating, slowly at the boundries of the universe. The Anathema could not regain the shard.

The Good and most of the unaligned gods launched assaults against the soon to be Chained God and his dominion, Pandemonium, trying to keep him from making it back to the Elemental Chaos. Initially he had the other evil gods on his side but during the eons of conflict he went madder and madder until not even the Evil gods could stand back and watch as he attempted to destroy the entire planescape. The Patient One did not wish to lose anymore angels or allies to the other side, so he transformed his remaining angels into Astral Dreadnoughts, which were to mindless to become turncoats. Eventually his only allies were these Astral Dreadnoughts, the demon prince Tantagaras and Chorzigaut because Miska's assault on the abyss made the Wolf-spider absent during these astral battles.

Tantagaras tore many gods limb from limb during his assault on the Astral Sea, but eventually he fell upon the newly born son of Kahla; a god named Kord. Kord did not yet have an army of angels or exalted to command, so Tantagaras rushed at the god on his own, without the aid of demons. The battle was short lived; as Kord and the mighty demon swapped blows, Kord started to smile and then to laugh. He enjoyed this contest of strength more than he had ever enjoyed anything before, but when he had felt that it had gone on long enough he summoned a bolt of lightning that tore Tantagaras asunder. The victory gave a great morale boosts to the gods of order and Kord earned his domain and name as the Lord of Battle.

The gods thought that they may win, but then Chorzigaut called on all the angels of corruption, who served under all the evil gods. These angels of corruption saw what The Author of Evil was doing as the most perfect corruption, so they joined his side in the conflict becoming the zovuut and suddenly he had the upper hand. All the gods, even the evil aligned and there angelic armies fought against his will and army, and after a great time they saw that even with only one true remaining ally, The Ender would win this war.

The Apothesis of Bane[]

Far after the rise of Nerull but still during the battles of the Chained God's War, the children of Firstone were still fighting a war of their own against eachother. One mortal in particular was better at warring then most, his name was Achra. This was during a time before the gods other than The Ebon God had exarchs, and with no earthly ambasadors the races of firstone had no way of knowing why their gods had abandoned them. Most turned towards demons or Primal Apirits but Achra had never lost faith, he worshipped Tuern the god of war. Achra saw the huddled masses of firstone and wondered why they didn't unite and defend themselves from evil. He wondered why the punishments for wrongdoing weren't made harsher. He realized that he could save them from themselves. He turned to Tuern and prayed for strength, so that his victories could unite firstone. So that someday all the peoples of the earth would bow to the black helmet. He conquered vast territories and carved out civilization out of the wilderness in the name of Erathis; but when he looked down upon his people he realized that his gods were not listening. The troubles that had existed before his wars still plagued the people. Not knowing that the ancient god of death, Nerull had already beaten him to it he decided to be the first mortal to acheve godhood and so he set off to challenge the god of war.

Bane

The Iron General In a Human Form

Achra amassed his armies and when he was ready he breached the barriers of the astral sea. The gods were too busy with their war against the Anathema to notice that which had been accomplished. Achra marched his armies into the astral domain of Tuern and demanded an audience. Almost all of Tuern's armies were fighting the Author of Wickedness and Tuern, being the god of war had orchestrated most of the battles and fought on the front line. Achra saw that he was not there and positioned an ambush.

When Tuern arrived back from combat he had already exhausted most of his abilities. When he marched into his astral citidale he found Achra waiting for him. Achra warned Tuern that it was pointless to call his armies, for his own troops were already slaying them as they returned. He told him that it was pointless to fight him because he had already grown stronger than him. Then he ordered Tuern to stand down because the world had already been unified under the Black Helmet of Achra and it no longer needed a god of war. Tuern drew his blade and swords clashed. Achra's and Tuern's armies wiped eachother out and then eventually Tuern fell to Achra's sword.

Achra absorbed Tuern's godhood and his knowledge. He knew he was not as powerful as the other gods, because he had slayed Tuern while he was already in a diminished state. He also knew that it wouldn't matter, he would never get a chance to unify the world if The Ender won. He saw that the gods could not win so long as they continued to work as seperate entities but knew that if he united them they could work together to slay the man who had killed their fellow god. He knew that if he was strong enough to stand against the gods after the war he was certainly tactical enough to lead the angels against the Chained God. So Achra decided to do something risky, he would steal another god's godhood.

Achra saw that of all the gods there were but two who he could defeat while in his current demigod state; Maglubiyet, god of goblins and Gorrelik, god of gnolls. Maglubiyet was far more powerful than Gorrelik, but he was also more intelligent, which Achra knew he could exploit as a flaw. If he confronted Gorrelik he would have to win in combat because any trick would just anger him; and Gorrelik's armies were helping far too much in the war against the Chained God. Maglubiyet on the otherhand might listen to reason and thus he could be tricked. Achra used his newly earned god powers to create a new race of perfect warriors, the Bladelings. He marched ahead of his bladeling army into Maglubiyet's domain and demanded council. Maglubiyet answered and saw the millions that stood before him. Achra yelled up and told him that it was he who had killed Tuern and that he had come to do the same to him. Maglubiyet's hobgoblins were already hiding around the perimiter and ready to attack, so he readied his weapon and prepared to jump, but suddenly realized that Tuern was one of the most powerful of the gods, powerful enough even to rival Io or He Who Was. If this man could kill Tuern he most certainly could kill he. He signaled for his goblins to stand down and Maglubiyet yelled down to the man-god "What wish you of me? if not to spill mine blood in combat?" Achra replied "That thou bow before me, bestowing your godliness to me so that we may spill the blood of your enemes together." Needless to say Maglubiyet bowed and Achra became a greater god.

The Chaining[]

The greater gods noticed that Tuern was no longer fighting The Ender, so each one sent their most powerful angel to Chernoggar in order to see what had happened. This adventuring party led by the powerful general of He Who Was, Asmodeus, arrived in Chernoggar to see that Tuern's throne had been replaced and that Chernoggar's fires had been quelled or were being used to forge weapons. Asmodeous knew instantly that Tuern had been slayed. He pulled his burning blade from his ruby scabbard and before he could tell the others to attack, Maglubiyet appeared before him. Achra yelled down from his thrown, "If you believe, that you can slay two gods, than do it." Asmodeus not knowing that Maglubiyet had been stripped of his godhood, put away his blade and bowed. Achra told the general to return to his god and for the others to do the same. If they wanted to destroy The Undoer than they would need someone who could employ strategy, something Tuern was never capable of. He told them to return with their god's replies, and when they said that they needed his help he would aid in their losing struggle.

The gods who were not fighting held a great council and Ioun showed them Achra's past campaigns on Firstone. They squabbled for some time, the good aligned gods said that it was to risky to entrust their armies to an obviously power hungry ex-mortal, Gruumsh said that he could destroy the Ebon God on his own and that Achra would just be a burden while the rest of the evil gods believed that in order to survive they would need Achra's skills. The problem was brought to the maruts and they agreed. In order to save exsistence Achra would need control of the angelic hosts.

Instead of their angels, the gods themselves went to Chernoggar and they bowed to Achra begging for his services. He agreed to command their armies, but he had one stipulation. If he were to fight on their behalf he would need each god's greatest warrior as an advisor. Each god gave up his greatest, but He Who Was did not wish to give up one of his seven greatest or most beautiful angels, so he gave him his general Asmodeus.

Achra commanded his new armada like an archlich commands a wand. In just two battles the gods were on the winning side again. Achra, who had always thought of the larger picture felt no injustice was being served when mortals or others fell during his campaings. Angels who previously only knew good, were slaying the works of evil without care for the collateral damage, delt out as death to thousands of mortals. He Who Was could not stand idely by and watch one of his beautiful children commit such atrocities; so he called Asmodeus back to Baathion. He Who Was warned Asmodeus that if he continued to commit such evils he would be punished. Asmodeus, who loved his god, explained that there was no other way of winning the war with an insane god, but He Who Was remained resolute, promising to exile Asmodeus if he were to continue. Asmodeus returned to Achra's side and explained what had occured, resent echoing behind his words.

Achra and the gods fought the Chained God across all the planes, sewing chaos and strife everywhere the battles occurred. During the final battles Achra held off the mad armies using the forces of the gods, while Moradin, Torog, He Who Was, Gruumsh, the Fey Triplets and some of the gods most faithful fought The Ebon God himself. After some time it was finally Torog and Lolth that bound him, and it was Asmodeous who struck the final blow. The Chained God fell, and then he earned his name. Moradin, Lolth and Torog bound him in unbreakable chains and Haramathur, Torog, Ioun and Pelor, hid The Chained God away from all. Each god who participted in the final cataclysm gave up one angel to stand guard over the Chained God as a divine jailer. He Who Was, picked Asmodeus to be his jailer. Asmodeus took the job with pride, not knowing this was his punishments for the evil's he had committed during the ordeal. Ioun then plucked the knowledge from the gods that hid him so that none may find him and break his chains.

When Torog and Erathis set out to punish the angels of The Chained God, they found that it was impossible. The Astral Dreadnoughts transformations were permanent, and most had already escaped into the vastness of the astral sea. As for Chorzigaut and the Zovuut; they had simply vanished, Ioun speculated that they had traveled into the abyss to find the seven guardian angels of the shard.

Even though the gods were victorious the damage that The Chained God had done was irreparable. An uncountable number of the gods had fallen in the conflict and even more gods had became evil during the fight. Any god who had previously contained only the slightest hint of evil, would now become corrupted due to his influence. Every great act of wrongness to ever occur in the universe is direct fallout from the Author of Wickedness' assualt on existence.

Even after the chaining Miska continued his mission; he believed that if he could attain the shard he could find and free his master, and attain the power which he craved. After years and years of assault on the Abyss Miska stopped hearing the mad ravings of The Chained God in his head. Even then, without aid or proof that his master still exsisted he Battled onward.

Eventually the patience of the Elder Elemental Eye grew thin, and he ordered Miska to stop his tirade against the Abyss. Miska refused to, for fear that The Patient One would become free and punish the Wolf-Spider for disloyalty. Instead of punishing Miska for refusing to follow his order The Elder Elemetal Eye asked one thing of him. That when the war with the gods began Miska would still fight for chaos. Miska happily agreed.

Scholars point out that if the gods could have destroyed the abyss sooner, it may have been possible to restore the universe back to how it was when it knew no evil. That is the genious of The Anathema's plan, by fighting them on all the planes but the abyss, while having his exarch Miska fuel a war in that plane, he guarenteed the shard would grow in power without the gods being able to intervene. Even today the shard has never lost any potency, spreading its infinite layers ever deeper, slowly eating away at the fabric of realty itself, until eventually all that exist will exist within the abyss.

The Elder Elemental Eye Demands War[]

The Eye and his children, The Princes of Elemental Evil, believed that the war against the abyss was apt to be fruitless, and they held the gods in great contempt for what they had done to the world that escaped them. The Elemental Princes called upon all denizens of the chaos to take arms against the gods. The Princes of Elemental Evil spoke for the Eye telling of how the gods had stolen Firstone from them, and seeded it with their own, as if it had been theres to begin with. Ogremoch spoke of how beings like Torog, Haramathur and Moradin claimed they were sole proprietors of the domain of earth. Of how Tuern had stolen Flame from Imix, and Melora stole the oceans from Solkara. The primordials were outraged by what they heard. Balcoth then assured them that they would have no trouble dispatching the mortals of Firstone, he had already been watching them for eons now; fascinated by the corruption of their minds. Balcoth had already killed many mortals, entire races even, all in the course of his experiments. Balcoth assured the primordials that their would be no reason to organize against the gods. There were more primordials, the primordials were stronger, and the mortas could be dispatched with little or no trouble at all.

The primordials already had trouble understanding creatures who were embodied ideas, but the fact that these terrible beings would plant the Abyss in their home, than steal and cultivate something that they had created, something they had intended to destroy, that was too much for the denizens of chaos to bear. Balcoth began then corrupting the minds of good aligned creatures on Firstone, so that the gods would have less servents during the war; he even won over a few evil angels; this is how the primordial cults first started. It was then that The Princes of Elemental Evil and their deity The Elder Elemental Eye declared war on the immortals. The Elder Elemental Eye demanded that the planescape return to its building blocks in the Elemental Chaos, that nothing was permanent, and that entropy would rule again.

A Time Of Peace[]

For seven years the gods of the Astral sea knew peace. After the Chaining no god wished to war with eachother, or even quarrell for that matter, but when they looked down to firstone they saw that the thousand year war was still rolling onward. The gods and their angels went back to firstone and introduced the new smaller pantheon. Many mortals that had forgotten about the gods called their names again, and the followers of the spirit way viewed the gods simply as cousins to the Primal Spirits, simply powerful creator spirits, outside of the scope of mortal understanding. Achra, and Erathis attempted to qwell the wars of Firstone during this period, but the evil had spread into the likes of the elemental ilk; and the titans and giants of the mortal plane would not let go of their hold on their vast empires. Followers of Gruumsh and even Achra were far to wrapped up in their wars to acknowledge the gods, or bother quelling their skirmishes. Erathis suggested erasing the warring figures from the surface of firstone. It was an angel named Deva and Avandra who came up with an alternate solution. The gods could not always be on Firstone, so they would need messengers who could act on their gods will. The Gods took their first Exarchs during this time, modeling themselves after The Chained God, who had already used exarchs for at least a millienia. Gods who were more trusting of their mortal followers instead granted divine power to the first invokers. It was during this time that Moradin first noticed the evils of the primordials and their elemental children. The mortals of Firstone all feared an entity known as the Groaning King and Moradin saw that a primordial of earth and fire named Gargesh lived in the Underdark kidnapping and torturing the children of the gods. The AllFather looked for his dwarves only to see them enslaved under the giants. During this Age of Chains the dwarves had been slaves to the Giants for untold decades, and with the seed of evil's involvment in the universe, the Giants had been cruel and careless masters. Many Dwarves were already mutated beyond the point of no return, becoming Azers, Eisk Jaats, and Galeb Durhs. Those dwarves that remained unaffected slaved away under the rule of the titans, unable to defend themselves from such powerful masters.

The Exarchs ended the mortal's wars; not just against eachother but even against the elemental hosts holding the dwarves captive. Moradin attempted to have a call to arms against the creatures that had betrayed his people during his involvment in the War of Chains. Io once again declined to participate in such a war, saying that acting to oppose evil would only introduce more evil in the universe. Moradin thought Io was a coward and began to plan his assault anyway, but then Achra and The God of the Word held him back; warning him of the titan's primordial masters, which were far more powerful than the gods. Moradin, began crafting great weapons of war, which he planned to use on the giants that had his children. He gave the gods one decade. If they did not act by then he would take them on himself.

The gods of earth were stubborn and prideful as the mountains they created; and Torog would not sit idly by, knowing that Gargesh was sitting in the Underdark, torturing the mortals of the world. So Torog left the Astral Sea, traveled to Firstone, and then ventured into the Underdark. No god would ever see Torog again.

The gods and mortals had felt peace for less than a decade when the Dawn War suddenly began.

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