Post by Zephyros on Jul 27, 2013 18:41:15 GMT -5
In a time that predates recorded history, there was but one world; empty cold and colorless. There was no life: no trees or warm oceans. Just flat, barren rock and ice. One day, Amnitrix rose over the horizon and shined his magnificent warmth over these lands. His powerful golden rays melted the ice and created vast oceans. The waters soften the land and fertilized the world; giving birth to a plethora of plant-life. Father Amnitrix, with brush in hand, painted beautiful vistas and vast expanses. Where water could not reach, he dug deep trenches. Where land seemed scarce he raised high mountains and plateaus.
Father Amnitrix was proud of his work, but he was not sure if it was perfect. He needed a second opinion. He reached out with powerful hands and, using his near-endless cosmic power, he created his brother, Enlil. Enlil was amazed with the work his father and brother had done, though there were a few minor details the new God critiqued. Enlil provided balance and gravity. He shaped Father Amnitrix’s work into a perfect sphere. He caused the sphere to rotate on a slanted axis. This way, the mighty Amnitrix’s powerful rays would not constantly bear down upon his artwork and melt it away. Instead, for half a cycle, the God’s rays would give power and strength to the world, and for half a cycle, Enlil would cool the realm and allow it to rest.
As time progressed, natural processes on the world below lead to the creation of life and evolution of creatures. As the two gods did their best to perfect the environment, many of the new creatures went unattended. Between the two of them, they could not manage their newly created world as well as the living creatures now roaming these vast new lands. Enlil suggested a third brother be created to manage the new life below. So Amnitrix gathered the remainder of his incredible power to summon a third god named Zasmalza.
Zasmalsa, the God of the living, was in control of the many creatures that populated the world below. He enjoyed the creatures, but they were not his. He felt as though everything in this world had been built by his brothers, and he wanted to contribute as well. He wanted his brothers to be impressed with his skills as a god as well, so he convinced his brothers to give him the ability to form creatures that matched their image. Zasmalsa began working on creating creatures that more resembled the three gods themselves. At first, Zasmalsa created Golems from mud, sand, clay, and dirt. These Golems, however, were very poor in detail and structure. Unfortunately, Zasmalsa did not possess the artistic skills as his eldest brother, Amnitrix.
His Golems failed miserably and starved to death for lack of ability to hunt and gather. On his second attempt, the young God did his best to add more details to the Golems. He gave them more maneuverable limbs and a better instinct for hunting and gathering. These beings became known as Ogres. They were large and blood-thirsty. These powerful creatures began hunting and devouring the lesser-creatures of the world with an insatiable hunger. The two gods were deeply disturbed by these blood-thirsty creatures and demanded that Zasmalsa recreate them.
After being scolded by his brothers, Zasmalsa attempted to make a second race. This race would be smaller than the ogres, giving other creatures a chance to defend themselves. He also gave them the strength, smarts, and battle-hungry determination to defeat the Ogres. These creatures became Orcs. Though they lacked the massive size, they were smarter, and were able to form strategic combat tactics. They were able to hold their own against the Ogres and enjoyed the challenge of hunting and fighting so much, that they quickly rose to the top of the food chain.
Still, the Orcs hungered for competition. The other creatures in the world were no match, and the Orcs grew bored, so they divided themselves into separate tribes and began fighting among themselves. These divided Orc clans fought and multiplied, which meant they required more resources, and began over-hunted many of the other creatures of the world. Again, the elder gods were enraged with Zasmalsa and gave him one final chance to prove his worth.
On his fourth attempt, Zasmalsa created a slimmer, faster, and smarter race, who were much more intelligent, yet less bloodthirsty, and able to live in harmony with their environment. They were the Elves. With their intelligence, they were able to easily outsmart the war-hungry Orcs and were incredibly skilled at, well… hiding from them. They were smarter, yes, but lacked the skill or instinct to create better weaponry than the Orcs. They were outmatched, and relied heavily on hiding and setting traps. Though this limited most of the chaos the Orcs caused, Zasmalsa was very disappointed in himself. He could not, for the life of him, create the perfect race.
One night, Zasmalsa prayed to his brother, Enlil, and asked for the wisdom to create a perfect race, but his brother gave him wisdom that was even greater. He explained to Zasmalsa that no one being can ever possibly be perfect. Not even Amnitrix, the Sun, was perfect, which was why he created his two younger brothers.
With this new-found wisdom, Zasmalsa was ready to try again. Instead of creating another race in order to achieve perfection, he decided to create balance, as Enlil suggested. Zasmalsa created a race quite like the elves, but smaller, stockier, and more capable of working the tough land. He created a race with the lifestyle and the means to create weaponry and armaments that would aid the Elves in fighting against the Orcs, and in return, the Elves would protect this smaller race and share wisdom with them; allowing the two to live in harmony with the rest of the creatures of the world. This race became known as the Dwarves.
The Dwarves crafted armor and weapons using the raw materials they could gather and the creative intelligence of the Elves. Now armed, the Elves were able to decrease the population of Orcs that were terrorizing the lands. Finally, balance had been perfected. The Orcs could no longer expand due to the intelligent and crafty Elves, and the Elves were well-armed and able to protect the Dwarves, who shared their equipment and resources.
Both Amnitrix and Enlil were proud of their younger brother, and appointed him as the official God of the Living. Peace seemed to last but only a century after being obtained. Due to the close relationship between Elves and Dwarves, interracial breeding caused an unexpected evolution. The race that evolved from the two were smart, intelligent, and crafty, yet at the same time, they were capable, inventive, and highly adaptable. They became the race known as Humans.
The Humans, feeling far superior to their parents, migrated away to live separate lives. They easily conquered the northern expanse. With their insatiable need to further create, research, and expand, they uprooted many forests, and manipulated the landscape to better serve their own purposes. They over-hunted and domesticated many wild creatures, and the gods were absolutely furious. Zasmalsa was the first to try and step in, but he was forbidden by Amnitrix to have any part in creation. He gave the responsibility to Enlil to restore balance, but Enlil already knew there was only one way for balance to be set, and that was to allow the events to unfold as they were.
Zasmalsa was terribly distraught and felt as though his older brother hated him, but agreed to be nothing more than a watcher and an answerer of prayers. After a while of Enlil not doing anything, Zasmalsa became worried that Man would devastate his eldest brother’s creation, so the God presented himself to the Elves and Dwarves. He told them that they were the only ones who stood a chance against the Humans and had to stop them.
The two races, being given an order by their lord and creator, struggled to come up with a solution. They felt inferior to their evolved spawn, but could not shy away from a direct command from their god, so they waged war against the Humans. This war plagued the continent for ten bloody years, with no clear progression in sight; just mindless slaughter. Infuriated with the turn of events, Amnitrix turned his fire towards his two brothers: Enlil for not stepping in and restoring balance, and Zasmalsa for creating this mess in the first place.
Still, Enlil did nothing: only ensuring that balance would be obtained. Zasmalsa did not take his enraged brother’s words quite as well and began to blame all his creations for the anger of his brother. As the war raged, the Elves and Dwarves grew furious with one-another. They realized just how different they were when trying to come up with solutions. Eventually, after the mounting pressure of their God’s expectation and the need to preserve their own people, something snapped between the two races and they became divided. The Dwarves and the Elves fought among themselves in a bloody-skirmish, but because they were divided, they were easily overwhelmed by the Humans; who quickly ended the war as its victors.
Father Amnitrix was proud of his work, but he was not sure if it was perfect. He needed a second opinion. He reached out with powerful hands and, using his near-endless cosmic power, he created his brother, Enlil. Enlil was amazed with the work his father and brother had done, though there were a few minor details the new God critiqued. Enlil provided balance and gravity. He shaped Father Amnitrix’s work into a perfect sphere. He caused the sphere to rotate on a slanted axis. This way, the mighty Amnitrix’s powerful rays would not constantly bear down upon his artwork and melt it away. Instead, for half a cycle, the God’s rays would give power and strength to the world, and for half a cycle, Enlil would cool the realm and allow it to rest.
As time progressed, natural processes on the world below lead to the creation of life and evolution of creatures. As the two gods did their best to perfect the environment, many of the new creatures went unattended. Between the two of them, they could not manage their newly created world as well as the living creatures now roaming these vast new lands. Enlil suggested a third brother be created to manage the new life below. So Amnitrix gathered the remainder of his incredible power to summon a third god named Zasmalza.
Zasmalsa, the God of the living, was in control of the many creatures that populated the world below. He enjoyed the creatures, but they were not his. He felt as though everything in this world had been built by his brothers, and he wanted to contribute as well. He wanted his brothers to be impressed with his skills as a god as well, so he convinced his brothers to give him the ability to form creatures that matched their image. Zasmalsa began working on creating creatures that more resembled the three gods themselves. At first, Zasmalsa created Golems from mud, sand, clay, and dirt. These Golems, however, were very poor in detail and structure. Unfortunately, Zasmalsa did not possess the artistic skills as his eldest brother, Amnitrix.
His Golems failed miserably and starved to death for lack of ability to hunt and gather. On his second attempt, the young God did his best to add more details to the Golems. He gave them more maneuverable limbs and a better instinct for hunting and gathering. These beings became known as Ogres. They were large and blood-thirsty. These powerful creatures began hunting and devouring the lesser-creatures of the world with an insatiable hunger. The two gods were deeply disturbed by these blood-thirsty creatures and demanded that Zasmalsa recreate them.
After being scolded by his brothers, Zasmalsa attempted to make a second race. This race would be smaller than the ogres, giving other creatures a chance to defend themselves. He also gave them the strength, smarts, and battle-hungry determination to defeat the Ogres. These creatures became Orcs. Though they lacked the massive size, they were smarter, and were able to form strategic combat tactics. They were able to hold their own against the Ogres and enjoyed the challenge of hunting and fighting so much, that they quickly rose to the top of the food chain.
Still, the Orcs hungered for competition. The other creatures in the world were no match, and the Orcs grew bored, so they divided themselves into separate tribes and began fighting among themselves. These divided Orc clans fought and multiplied, which meant they required more resources, and began over-hunted many of the other creatures of the world. Again, the elder gods were enraged with Zasmalsa and gave him one final chance to prove his worth.
On his fourth attempt, Zasmalsa created a slimmer, faster, and smarter race, who were much more intelligent, yet less bloodthirsty, and able to live in harmony with their environment. They were the Elves. With their intelligence, they were able to easily outsmart the war-hungry Orcs and were incredibly skilled at, well… hiding from them. They were smarter, yes, but lacked the skill or instinct to create better weaponry than the Orcs. They were outmatched, and relied heavily on hiding and setting traps. Though this limited most of the chaos the Orcs caused, Zasmalsa was very disappointed in himself. He could not, for the life of him, create the perfect race.
One night, Zasmalsa prayed to his brother, Enlil, and asked for the wisdom to create a perfect race, but his brother gave him wisdom that was even greater. He explained to Zasmalsa that no one being can ever possibly be perfect. Not even Amnitrix, the Sun, was perfect, which was why he created his two younger brothers.
With this new-found wisdom, Zasmalsa was ready to try again. Instead of creating another race in order to achieve perfection, he decided to create balance, as Enlil suggested. Zasmalsa created a race quite like the elves, but smaller, stockier, and more capable of working the tough land. He created a race with the lifestyle and the means to create weaponry and armaments that would aid the Elves in fighting against the Orcs, and in return, the Elves would protect this smaller race and share wisdom with them; allowing the two to live in harmony with the rest of the creatures of the world. This race became known as the Dwarves.
The Dwarves crafted armor and weapons using the raw materials they could gather and the creative intelligence of the Elves. Now armed, the Elves were able to decrease the population of Orcs that were terrorizing the lands. Finally, balance had been perfected. The Orcs could no longer expand due to the intelligent and crafty Elves, and the Elves were well-armed and able to protect the Dwarves, who shared their equipment and resources.
Both Amnitrix and Enlil were proud of their younger brother, and appointed him as the official God of the Living. Peace seemed to last but only a century after being obtained. Due to the close relationship between Elves and Dwarves, interracial breeding caused an unexpected evolution. The race that evolved from the two were smart, intelligent, and crafty, yet at the same time, they were capable, inventive, and highly adaptable. They became the race known as Humans.
The Humans, feeling far superior to their parents, migrated away to live separate lives. They easily conquered the northern expanse. With their insatiable need to further create, research, and expand, they uprooted many forests, and manipulated the landscape to better serve their own purposes. They over-hunted and domesticated many wild creatures, and the gods were absolutely furious. Zasmalsa was the first to try and step in, but he was forbidden by Amnitrix to have any part in creation. He gave the responsibility to Enlil to restore balance, but Enlil already knew there was only one way for balance to be set, and that was to allow the events to unfold as they were.
Zasmalsa was terribly distraught and felt as though his older brother hated him, but agreed to be nothing more than a watcher and an answerer of prayers. After a while of Enlil not doing anything, Zasmalsa became worried that Man would devastate his eldest brother’s creation, so the God presented himself to the Elves and Dwarves. He told them that they were the only ones who stood a chance against the Humans and had to stop them.
The two races, being given an order by their lord and creator, struggled to come up with a solution. They felt inferior to their evolved spawn, but could not shy away from a direct command from their god, so they waged war against the Humans. This war plagued the continent for ten bloody years, with no clear progression in sight; just mindless slaughter. Infuriated with the turn of events, Amnitrix turned his fire towards his two brothers: Enlil for not stepping in and restoring balance, and Zasmalsa for creating this mess in the first place.
Still, Enlil did nothing: only ensuring that balance would be obtained. Zasmalsa did not take his enraged brother’s words quite as well and began to blame all his creations for the anger of his brother. As the war raged, the Elves and Dwarves grew furious with one-another. They realized just how different they were when trying to come up with solutions. Eventually, after the mounting pressure of their God’s expectation and the need to preserve their own people, something snapped between the two races and they became divided. The Dwarves and the Elves fought among themselves in a bloody-skirmish, but because they were divided, they were easily overwhelmed by the Humans; who quickly ended the war as its victors.
