Magic is one of the three primal forces of the universe. The other two being life and death. Every wizard taps into a font of magic, learning how to unlock the mysteries of such power. Clerics don’t learn how to unlock it, rather they request a spell or miracle from their god, who channels that font for them.
And that brings us to the subject of this post. The divine hierarchy of Duir’Aion. At one point I sat down and tried to copy/rename gods from popular settings to suit my purposes (Forgotten Realms and Dragonlance mostly). As I got more entrenched in world building I realized I didn’t want copycat gods. I needed to create them as well.
When creating a pantheon you need to decide whether or not you actually need one. There are also fun questions that come up like “Is the elf god of war the same as the dwarf’s or orcs or giants?” These are actual important, because on the one hand you can make it complex, each race has it’s own pantheon. Then you have to decide how each pantheon reacts with others. Going simple doesn’t make it any easier. Using the above example, if the elves and dwarves worship the same war god, why would that god allow them to battle (as is tradition across countless settings) and kill each other. That would be counterproductive.
I decided on one pantheon. Well technically two, but I’ll cover the dark powers on another post. When I did that I also created quick backstories for said gods and my world got even more detailed.
The current pantheon is not the original. The original gods were called Exarchs. The twelve Exarchs created Duir’Aion and the surrounding universe.Where the Exarchs came from is unknown, but it is believed an overgod birthed them. The Exarchs were opposed by the Elemental Overlords who believed in reducing the Exarchs’ creation into it primal elemental components from which they were made. Both factions were opposed by Primal Chaos, a force of absolute darkness that wished to return the universe to a state of nothing. For in that nothing, it felt no pain from the light that the gods had birthed.
After a cataclysmic war, the Chaos was shattered with a blow so mighty it carve a massive pit in creation. The Pit, is where demons, devils and worse reside. The Overlords were killed, and the Elemental Princes took to fighting among themselves. All but one of the Exarchs died. On dying though, the Exarchs took their dwindling divine spark and birthed a new god. These were known as Elder Titans, and their children were known as Titans. The titans resembled the dragons that exist today. In fact, the dragons were created to be an homage of the titans power.
The current gods are a shadow of the former glory. While still gods, they no longer command the awesome power of the Elder Titans. Except for two, children of the last Elder Titan.
The gods treat each other as family for the most part. They fight, they make up, but they can usually be counted on to stand together if the threat is great enough. Typically they are usually happiest indulged in their particular portfolios. As long as no one interferes with their interests, arguments rarely arise, and conflict is an even rarer occurrence.
Next post I’ll discuss the major gods of Duir’Aion
A Darkness Rising 