Before man, before the elves, before the gods, and even before time, there was the world. It was here before it all, and it will be here when all else is gone. But in the void, it was alone.

 

And the world wept from lonliness. The tears washed down its face, and filled the basins and valleys, forming the rivers and seas. This was the first time something had moved. Had happened. This is the start of time.

 

This movement of the world, the washing of its tears, cracked the base of reality, and time began washing over it. Pushing everything in its way unendingly forward.

 

Balance and imbalance now became realities. Between the nothing of the void and the something of the world, eddies of chaos swirled about, as anything that was something, was pulled into the nothing. The chaos formed into think strands, spiraling away from the world and out into the void. Some of them became entangled. The condensed into one thick ribbon, which broke away from the rest.

 

This ribbon danced in the winds between the world and the void. It would push matter back to the world one moment only to tear another piece away again immediately after.

 

The world was no longer alone, but it also suffered from it's new neighbor seemingly without end. It was torn, and pulled, and battered. Chaos, the first god had come to be, and while it grew some parts of the world, more than not, it wore it down and tossed pieces into the entropy of the void.

 

Eventually Chaos struck the world with such force; the world split in two, and began to burn. The lower part, still holding pools of its tears eventually burned down, and became the lands we know today. The other half continued burning and became the sun. 

 

 

The world knew it's time was at an end if it did not act. It broke its highest peak off and threw it at the God Chaos. It missed, and became our moon, but in its attempt to dodge the throw, Chaos flew to close to the sun, and began on fire. Flaming bits of chaos flew in every direction, and became the stars we see today.  Some parts rained down to the world below. The world had just traded one god, for dozens.

 

But each of these gods was but a piece of the original. Each with its own agenda, it's own claim to be the real god. And they began to fight amongst themselves.

 

 

But no god saw the pools of water feeding back into the earth. The sun circling above warmed the surface and the moon pulled at the waters washing them back and forth gentling the edges of our world and raising islands, out of the waters. From there the first tree grew. The world sheltered it, and cared for it. 

 

As the tree aged and the winds blew; branches, leaves and seeds fell from it. Some took root and became new trees. Others stood up, and began to walk about on their own. Over time these branches became the elves we knew today.

 

The gods warring above were so caught up in their own ends that they failed to see what was going on below.

 

The elves cared for the tree. Growing it, tending it, taking seeds and planting new trees. For every new elf, a piece of their skin was planted, and a soul tree grew. As long as the tree was healthy, the elf was healthy. The elves prospered, and the world was happy. It was no longer alone, the elves and the woods covered it and took care of it. They worked in shifts.  Some elves caring for the birth of new trees, other's helping them grow strong, others harvesting and tending to aged, and others to come and collect the dead.  With it's new children, the world could rest.

 

But not for long.

 

 

Not all the gods wished for war, the growing and caring pieces of chaos avoided the struggle that waged in the heavens, and hid within the crags and valleys of the world. As elves encountered these hiding gods, they were greeted with different responses.

 

Some helped care, grow and nurture the woods that was springing up. Almost a reflection of the destruction that went on in the sky above. They helped create new plants, and animals, to aid the elves.

 

Others created races to serve them, to keep the elves away while they hid in it's depths.. Dark races, warlike races. The beast men, the goblins, trolls, ogres, and dragons all came from here.

 

The gods that wanted to help care for the world created races to counter the warlike races. Man, dwarves, gnomes and Halflings all came to be, each from different gods, and with different goals. The war many had hoped to hide from now raged on the world with pawns playing their roles.

 

Many of the gods above continued their war, but as the surface of the world sprung to life, they left their fighting to see this new parade below. Eventually, almost all the gods were watching. They stopped fighting amongst themselves, and began using the races below to settle their disputes. Each using its strengths to nudge the surface creatures in different directions.

 

Outlaw Gods

 

This went on for millennia, and the world was unable to stop it.

 

 

Elves were the largest race in the land, building cities, and temples, and studies of magic, technology, and nature. They created great works of art, and song. Even the fighting they were forced into was more of a dance, then a struggle.

 

Time passed, and that was the clue the world needed. It called its favorite children, the first children, the elves back to the first tree.   There the world blocked the flow of time around the island. Even the gods could not enter the sanctuary. For the wash of time eddied and swirled around the protected ones. A god may end up coming out of the stream before he went in, or millions of years later. But those inside remained as they always were. Timeless.

 

The rest of the world went on. With the gods using mortals to settle personal disputes, bets, etc. Eventually, the gods used these games to structure themselves, and declare rights over emotions, actions, people. They built a social structure amongst themselves, and the lawful among them declared rules to the games (which some of the less scrupulous gods do not follow).

 

 

The mortals themselves divided up into small colonies. Often choosing to pay homage to only a select few gods. Governments and armies came from these gatherings of people, but few ever grew larger than a city. Occasionally, one city would war with another over land, resources, or just for sport, but even when victory occurred, they didn't hold the city long before a rebellion would occur.

 

It did happen where one city would bring several under it's command. But not often, and not for long as the other cities would unite before they were taken next.

 

 

Many cities turned to the gods for help. The gods had no concern for the plight of mortals, but with enough sacrifices, and obedience, the gods would sometimes grant them boons. And would punish those not behaving 'appropriately'.