What better point to begin laying out the world, or in this case worlds, that this project aims to explore than to start with the cosmology. Where did it all come from? What powers control the Divine Realms and to what ends? To answer that, we'll have to do a little bit of exposition on the cosmic forces of what is collectively called 'Creation'.
'Creation' in the Divine Realms refers to the galaxy that all of the realms exist within, a beautiful spiral of stars dancing around a singular point. While the Divine Realms span a galaxy, it is important to note that there is (as of yet) no space faring civilizations - With technology generally residing around the Medieval Era, if not closing in on Renaissance.
At the center of Creation reigns the origin of all things, the Progenitor deity; Anathriem, the Soul Harvester. Anathriem is a genderless, raceless force in the cosmos the reaches out from the supermassive black hole at the center of the galaxy. It is a common belief among mortals that the Progenitor alone holds domain over Life and Death, but in truth they hold immeasurable control of creation and destruction in all forms. Anathriem has no true physical form, their consciousness sourced from within the black hole itself. With that said, it has been proven that the Progenitor is fully capable of manifesting physically if they so choose.
Out of boredom, or perhaps loneliness, Anathriem created what is now known as the Elder Pantheon. Similar to the Progenitor, this trio of deities holds no physical form of their own- Instead existing as dark, churning nebulae-like storms moving about Creation. The trio's combined control over creation and destruction rivaled that even of the Progenitor, capable of spinning entire solar systems into reality from the roiling darkness that encompassed their consciousness It was not until it was far too late that Anathriem realized that this pantheon held nothing but malice for the worlds they were breathing life into, heartlessly tearing apart that which would not bend to their will.
Try as the Soul Harvester might, they quickly came to the realization that giving these malevolent beings no physical form prevented the eradication of their dark energy. In hopes to at least lock the Elder Pantheon, Anathriem brought about the second (and current) pantheon of deities known as the Divines. Like the Elder Pantheon, the Divines' power is sourced within grand nebulae that move within Creation. The key difference in these new deities was a true, physical form that drew on the nebulas' power. This allowed the Divines to create and destroy as they needed, but left an opportunity for Anathriem to usurp them if necessary.
The Divines, with the Progenitor as their leader, spent their first millennia pushing the Elder Pantheon to the far reaches of Creation and bound them each into massive stars that rippled and churned with the defeated pantheon's fury. Their next countless millennia were spent cleansing worlds of the Elder Pantheon's corrupting touch, freeing what civilizations they could from the dark influence and with sorrow culling those that would pose a threat to the imprisonments they just fought so hard to implement.
In their wake, the Divines left each of the cleansed worlds with a set of powerful, fist-sized gems known as the Essences of Creation. These essences were pure, highly condensed elemental energy in its most raw form that networked each of the newly founded realms magically. This network peaked at Morkantis, the Prime World and manifested a powerful shield against the threat of the Elder Pantheon that might never arrive.
The Essences of Creation came with an unforeseen, but not entirely unwelcome consequence. As years passed and their power seeped into the realms, the essences eventually attached to beings nearby and brought about the rise of the third and final 'pantheon' - The Lesser Deities. These beings, whether birthed from spirits empowered by the essences or mortal beings that took up the essences themselves. These lesser deities held tremendous power over their own realms, but found themselves limited in unleashing this power; requiring years of rest after too grand a display. Unknown to most mortals, the cosmic network that gave life to the Lesser Deities also allows them to communicate amongst each other, even being a galaxy apart...
So, there you have it. An explanation as to the origin of the Divine Realms. In the next post, I'll go into some detail as to where each of the races originates from as well as the life & death cycle of Creation but... This post is already a lot longer than I'd expected it to be. I really hope you enjoyed this cosmic exposition and would love to hear your thoughts, be they here in the comments or over on my Twitter. Thanks for stopping in.
