Could we perhaps surmise this was a period when the Gods themselves were mortal and fought the epic battles against one another. Has anyone played in this milieu and how did it lead to the next stage when the battles not won carried on their "children".
I was curious where and when this was mentioned before, because I'm working on something that interrelates with the early history of Oerth and I haven't been able to find much information as yet?
The gods of Greyhawk were not necessarily mortals who fought among each other on the Prime Material Plane, during any age.
Here is a possible (and by no means perfect) summary of events:
In the Beginning...
1. The Age before Ages: elemental forces shape the Prime Material Plane, and their immortal minions (the Wind Dukes et. al.) come into being there. The Elder Gods come from the “outer realms” (a.k.a. "who the hell knows where from"), attracted by the coming together of these creative energies. The elder Gods create their own followers; the primeval Elder Races come into being.
2. The Children of the Cosmos (the divine members of the various pantheons as we know them) form and begin to define themselves and the multiverse; they begin to supplant the power of the Elder Gods. The immortal elemental forces form alliances along the lines of Law & Chaos. A titanic war between the opposing forces (the principles being the Wind Dukes of Aqaa and the minions of Mishka the Wolf Spider) erupts, throwing everything into near total ruin.
3. The outer planes are divided to suit the moral/ethical leanings of the various gods (the CotC). The Children of the Cosmos inherit the Prime Material Plane in the wake of the Law vs. Chaos Wars and populate it with their own minions (Insert the creation myths of the humans, elves, dwarves, and the other known races here), who supplant the followers of the Elder Gods- the primeval Elder Races. The Elder Races are either destroyed, leave the Prime, or retreat to the darkest depths of the world (the cause of their disappearance is not known). The Elder Gods, having lost their followers either lose interest in the prime or lose power and retreat back to the unknown. It is speculated that the Elder Races are the progenitors of most of the somewhat anthropomorphic non-human, non-humanoid, and non-demi-human races, such as the lizardfolk, kuo-toa, ettercaps, bullywugs, locathah, thri-kreen and other strange races. These races seek out their own gods due to the silence of the Elder Gods. Well, maybe not all of them.
4. Tharizdun is chained early in the current Age, creating a balance/understanding between the gods and how they will allow one another to influence the prime material Plane- Oerth. And so it continues…
This is cobbled together so far from only a few sources. Most is speculation based on either minor evidence, or the complete lack of evidence of an alternative; most of it is simply speculative. But, it is fun to specualte.
In any case, do what fits the best in your campaign.
P.S.: Blame myself and PSmedger for most of this madness by the way. _________________ - Moderator/Admin (in some areas)/Member -
Awesome summary. I basically agree with your outline. It is how I have been seeing the creation of Oerth and the multiverse. Now that the party is dealing with all things Epic, I think it is time for me to move more into understanding these mysteries. They currently believe the gods have always existed, and the gods like it that way. As they learn more, things may change....
I noticed someone's failed connect in my logs because of the period at the end of the link grodog posted. The correct URL is
http://melkot.com/mysteries/multiverse.html
But thanks for the plug, mtg!
Denis, aka "Maldin"
==========================
Maldin's Greyhawk http://melkot.com
Loads of edition-independent Greyhawk goodness... maps, magic, mysteries, mechanics, and more!
edit: oops! sorry mtg! Don't know how I goofed up the attrib! :-(
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