A Box of Gods (Purely Public, no mods)

Gorthaur:

Gorthaur and his bride praised Reidan and went forth into the southern desert as he commanded. Gorthaur named his bride Orchilda. Gorthaur built in the desert a small village called Orcfriend. In Orcfriend Gorthaur and Orchilda had many children and the children matured fast. The Orcs multiplied quicly again until they were a small tribe and Orcfriend turned from a town into a small city.

All this Gorthaur achieved withing a few short years while the Dwarf King Formair still lived. The Orcs made alliance with the dwarves and there was trade between the two races. Gorthaur built a temple to Reidan and a temple to Hydraeus and also a temple to the Egg Godess that Reidan was fostering.

One day as Gorthaur was out in the desert hunting he came across a travelling band of Demons who were exploring the continent far away from from their homeland Cocytus in the eastern most part of the continent. The Demon explorers marvelled at Gorthaur and slew him. They brought back his body far over the land to Cocytus.

Even though Satan had created the Orcs he found he was unable to send Gorthaur's soul to Damnation no matter how hard he tried. So Gorthaur ascended to Paradise. In Paradise Gorthaur created a gold palace with his friend King Trorroth. In the golden palace Gorthaur, many dwarves, Mer, and Trerroth lived out eternity having feasts and shows and all manenrs of happy things.

Orchilda became the Queen of the Orcs when the Orcs reported Gorthaur dead. She was still very young and ruled the Orcs wisely and justly continuing the foundation of laws and practices Gorthaur had laid down.

Hydraeus was considering Satan's offer. Finally, he agreed. "Satan, as you were the one to wake me up, I rightfully call you the most powerful of my brethren." Hydraeus returned to earth, and saddened by Gorthaur's death, calmed the seas for a week. Then, calling upon the great sea serpent Genevus, he told it to go up the rivers into the land of demons and soak it. Hardening the lava and quenching the forges, this left the demons floundering in failure.

It had been some time now since the small goddess had hatched from her egg with the intellectual level of a very young baby. Since that time Reidan had raised her; not brilliantly but not terribly either. She’d spend her time crawling, then toddling and finally making short flights around his home, only ever seeing the outside world when she clambered up to the windowsill to soak up the morning sunlight; perhaps she was getting the energy for the day to come or perhaps she just liked to watch the sunrise. She never watched the sunset, ever.

When Reidan did things she wouldn’t be far away, either on his shoulder or sitting on a surface nearby watching what he did. She was like a sponge, soaking up information without rest, remembering most of the information she gained. Sometimes she was plain annoying and was constantly getting underfoot, sometimes literally with Reidan’s size, but other times she was good as gold, if you don’t mind that bit of Dwarfish.

Despite her body never growing from its small size her mind had advanced far enough to be ready to see the outside world more often. These last few months she’d been pestering Reidan almost constantly to let her go outside with him next time he went.

Reidan hummed a tuneless song, causing the area around him to shake a little. He was walking through his rather roughly hewn palace in Paradise, raised from the ground to look like a huge granite mountain. The insides were beautifully decorated with huge gem stones in amazing formations. This was where Reidan had taken the small one and raised her, making sure she would know what to do. Reidan suspected she was a goddess of some sort, he just wasn't sure what she was a goddess of. She learned quickly, and had been pestering the giant god to take her out into the world. Reidan had been hesitant, but he had promised her that he would take her the next time he went down... And it was once again time for Reidan to visit the dwarves.

"Daughter!" Reidan rumbled, and began shrinking down to the six foot, bearded man he walked around as while visiting the world. He swung his hammer up on his shoulder, and readjusted his pack. From this vantage point, his palace halls were vast tunnels that even the most claustrophobic person could walk through and almost not notice the fact that they were in a tunnel. "Are you ready to go?"

“Daughter! Are you ready to go?” Even in his smaller-tall form, everything was on a giant scale for her, Reidan’s voice carried through his immense home with the undeniable force of an earthquake. She was so very excited to finally be able to see the world, instead of being stuck in this underground palace, there was only so much time you could spend here without getting a little restless and desiring things your own size. Unfortunately, she was never organised and was always floundering about looking for things at the last minute. She didn’t have a name yet, she’d never thought about one and Reidan had never really gotten round to giving his adopted daughter one either, simply referring to her as daughter all the time, or if he was annoyed; you.
She wore a plain white, belted smock, cut low at the back to allow her wings freedom as they tended to tear out the back of clothing that restricted them, she also wore plain laced sandals. There wasn’t really much point to her clothing as a being such as her had no such need for it but creatures like dwarves had values such as decency and these rubbed off onto their god and in turn onto his daughter who saw clothes as a necessary part of life. The plain clothing struck a stark contrast to her form, something she didn’t really appreciate and never really thought about in depth.

She let out several flustered sounds as she ran about her messy room, which was in fact a very large box which had been converted since everything else was on a scale which was very much unsuitable for her. She couldn’t think of what it was she was now looking for; all this time preparing for her first trip to the world and she’d already started messing things up. It would be ages before she was allowed out again.
With a grudging cry she hurried out of her room, she could almost hear that silent impatience of her father, visiting the dwarves was one of the few things he was impatient about. Spreading her wings she leapt off the desk where her room was placed and glided to the floor; she hadn’t quite mastered proper flight yet. Then she ran as quickly as she could manage to the front entrance and her father with desperate cries of she was coming.

Reidan chuckled as he saw the small form of his adopted daughter. He figured that she would eventually name herself, and at that point, Reidan would refer to her as... Well, he would probably still call her daughter. He lifted his hammer off his shoulder, and spun it in one large hand before once again returning it to his shoulder. As the little goddess reached him, Reidan smiled, and then mentally opened the massive obsidian doors that were the entrance to his mountain palace. He looked down at his little daughter, and raised one thick brown eyebrow. "Can you shift to another form?" the god asked. It wasn't really necessary, but he still felt that taking on a less godly form when dealing with mortals was just... Right.

She was more than a little flustered now, some of the rock faces on this floor were very slippery and she wondered if her father found the fact that she struggled to cross them amusing or if it was something else, those mysterious smiles always had the sort of humour only the earth itself could appreciate in them.
He asked her if she could change form, it was the first time he’d asked that question although she had an inkling that he disliked over-aweing the dwarves. Then again, she was smaller than them so it might be for that reason.

“I can’t change shape like you can Father!” She replied morosely, looking eagerly at the obsidian doors which were opening before him.

Reidan stroked his beard, a little disturbed by that. Perhaps it was an age thing? Reidan had awoken only a short while ago (in the long run), but he had a feeling he had existed long before then. Perhaps this was a new goddess, without all her powers yet? Nonetheless... Hmm. Reidan resolved to test her powers a little more when they went down. The god then smiled, and snatched up his adopted daughter, resting her on his broad shoulders, legs around his muscular neck. He smiled, and then set out through the door, teleporting the two of them to the earth.

Reidan looked at his surroundings after the brief moment of bright light that accompanied teleportation. They stood near the edge of a forest, surrounded by young trees. Reidan put his daughter down on the ground, and then set down his hammer. "Can you..." Reidan started, and then stopped, thinking. "Can you make that tree grow another branch?" he asked, pointing a finger at a small tree off to their left. As if to demonstrate what he wanted to do, the tree sprouted another branch which quickly reached the same length as the few others around it.

She was a taken by surprise when he lifted her onto his shoulders and even more so when the light flashed as they were teleported to the world itself but when she managed to blink away the light blur she gave a gasp in astonishment. The world was amazing, strange and beautiful, she’d never seen plants so close to each other or felt a fresh breeze whistle through her wings as she spread them slightly to catch the feeling.
Then her father put her on the ground and everything went back into proportion and things seemed to get a whole lot bigger, rethinking things the world seemed a little more scary from down here. She shifted a little closer to Reidan’s leg.

She stared in awe as he made a tree grow another branch with just a point of his finger, he could do so many amazing things. But then he asked her to try and do what he had just done and after several ways of trying to get the tree to oblige she gave up; having failed to do anything to it.
“Is this another test?” she asked Reidan glumly, “Because at this rate… I’m going to fail.”

Reidan watched his little daughter's expression change to a sad one (which was never good, gosh darnit!), and then he picked her up. He held her in front of his face, staring into her eyes. He raised an eyebrow, and then set her down. "Of course it's a test. But you haven't failed, nor are you heading in the direction of failure. We just haven't found what you're good at yet."

Reidan then stopped his talking, and began pacing for about a minute. He stopped, and looked at the little one. "What and who are you?" he rumbled, shaking the earth so bad you could hear and see tress crack and creak, falling over.

After being set back down again she looked up at her father with a mildly hopeful look on her face. Then he began pacing back and forth, never a good sign in him. That’s when he came out with his earth shaking question, which physically rattled her; jarring her to the core.
The question stung and she gave him a hurt look, clearly not happy with it. A sudden wind rushed through the leaves of the surrounding trees creating a strangely angry murmur as it did so. Overhead a cloud swirled out of control as it was buffeted by winds.

Reidan looked to the sky, and smiled as it clicked. He looked down at his daughter. "I think... Yes. Reach out, and use the fickle magic. Hit me with all you can muster!" he boomed, and then waited.

She stared at him in utter confusion, completely unable to comprehend what he was talking about. She really didn't understand what he was going on about, hitting a giant made of the earth itself was about as effective as... Well she couldn't think of anything more ineffective.
She obliged him though and balling her hand into a fist punched his leg, it was a pretty paltry punch but she rubbed her hand regardless as it now smarted.
"That hurt!" She complained at him.

Meanwhile the cloud above stabilised and began to drift along as it had before. The threatening wind in the trees died away as well, almost seeming to tut at Reidan right before they vanished, leaving behind the mild breeze which had been there when they arrived.

Seeing the new little sister and Reidan out exploring the world, Hydraeus decided to make himself acquainted with them. He arose from the sea, and changed himself into his new "Avatar" form, an old fisherman with gray hair and a beard. He walked up to Reidan and asked "Are youa child of the one true god?"

Reidan chuckled at her, and then looked up at the air with an unreadable look. He cracked his knuckles, and then looked down at his little daughter again. "Until further notice, we will call you Ventus. Is this okay with you?" he said, getting down on both his knees to look at the little girl.

And then a shifting presence, like the ocean itself, approached, asking Reidan a question. The god turned to look at the other, and then smiled. "Of course, brother. This is my adopted daughter, who I assume is a goddess herself. The name is Reidan. And you?"

Ventus was happy with her new name, it was serviceable and it was a name, finally.
It was then that the ocean surged and spat out another person, whom Reidan greeted as a god. He was... Suspicious to say the least and Ventus wasn't sure she liked him, first impressions heavily affected her unfortunately.
And so it was she egded behind Reidan's legs in search of extra protection.

"I am Hydraeus, lord of the Mer." he said, smiling. He knelt down and said "Hello little one, how are you?" His blue eyes laughed at his little sister. She would be powerful, alright.

Ventus didn't say anything to him but stared back warily with her red eyes, the exact opposite of his. Her wings shifted slightly and then she informed him quietly that she was okay.

Reidan laughed silently as Ventus his behind his leg, and then watched the two interact. "So what brings you to us, brother?" the god asked, shifting his weight from one leg to another. "I am here because the little one requested, numerous times, for me to bring her here. I always got a small laugh out of the dwarves' saying, 'it could try the patience of a rock', but this one," Reidan gestured to Ventus, "really can!"

He laughed at his own little joke.

Satan:

Now for many years the Earth was relatively peaceful as Satan dwellt in the gloomy halls of Damnation. However, after many years following the death of Gorthaur Satan began to notice a steep decline in souls coming to Damnation. Disturbed by the turn of events the dark lord shut his eyes one day and appeared on Earth in the land of Cocytus where the demons dwelt.

He saw the great sea serpent flooding the once polluted ash lands. Taking the sea serpent Genevus by the tail he twirled it over his head and tossed it mightily far off into the distant ocean. Raising another hand he made all the rivers and lakes flowing through Cocytus to dry up and become barren.

A group of demon beheld this feat and they bowed down to him praising his name.
"Our lord Satan hath returned and he saved us from the terrible monster!" They cried and were happy.

"Silence weaklings!" Satan yelled and with the snap of his finger they began to choke and sputter. Clenching at their throats they writhed about the ground until they suffocated and perished.

Then Satan went forth to the capital city of Cocytus called Spire which was situated at the base of the volcano he created long a go. Here he found the strongest demon he could. This demon was called Baal. Satan gave the Baal all sorts of magical powers, great strength, and also he made Baal impervious to aging. Satan made Baal the King of Demons and commanded him to repollute the land of Cocytus. With this Satan sunk into the Earth until he sunk so low he passed through the bounds of the Earth and was again back in Damnation upon the Burning Throne.

Baal:

With his powers Baal became a great tyrant of the demons and set them forth laboring hard day and night even to the point of starvation to recreate Cocytus to its former defilement. Many demons perished through starvation and the whips of taskmasters in their labors. He pushed the demons further and further to build his empire until at last even the foul race of demons could take no more punishment.

Thus the demons protested their work and came before Baal. They pleaded with the demon king that he was the most powerful mortal in all of Earth. They said he had the powers of a god and as such he should create for the demons a race of slaves to toil and do their work for them. Unsure if he could create new mortals, Baal bent low and gathered up some dust. With a terrible breath he gave live to the dust. The dust formed and it became the human race that was much like the Man and the Woman that One True God had made so long a go.

Baal was pleased and multiplied the human race. He cast them all in chain and gave to each demon citizen of Cocytus no less than five human slaves. The demons once again content with the rule of Baal put the human slaves to their labors. Long the human toiled in Cocytus cursing every day they lived, cursing their birth, and wishing for freedom.

After many years of toil the land of Cocytus was once again in its former glory and many cities arose. In fact Cocytus became even more powerful than it had been before as the demons lifespans increased and their population increased ten-fold. Baal regulated the human population with sacrifice, brutal punishment, and he made it forbidden to let them breed. Whenever a demon used up his supply of humans new humans were simply created by Baal as a replacement. So it was that the race of mankind was little more than objects and tools and the demons gave no regard to their lives.

Ventus stood there and waited for Reidan to finish his joking, it was best if you didn't give him the impression that his jokes weren't humorous and his latest one Ventus certainly didn't find amusing at all. Once he'd finished joking she tugged on his arm; eager to go elsewhere, see more things and be rid of this perturbing old 'God'.

Baal:

Baal enthralled with his ever growing powers given to him by Satan made a test for himself and travelled to the far northeast of the Continent above the lands of Cocystus. Rasing his clawed fist a vast bitter tundra and mountains rose up connected to Cocystus on the Continent. This land he called Frost.

Baal through sick twisted tests with his new powers sundered the Demon race. A part of his own people the demons he twisted their genetics making them a dark purple colors, four armed, winged, and with powers of ice. These people were simply called Ice Demons and they were sent to found colonies in the wastes of Frost.

Baal also created a small elite race of Demons called the Fire Demons who dwelt in the capital of his lands near the volcano. They were deep red possed the likings of reptiles, hands wings and many horns.

Now as time drew past Baal became ambitious and it was known to the demons that there was another race on the Continent far to the southwest in the deert. Baal summoned his legions of Demons, Fire Demons, Ice Demons, and even Human slaves. Being industrious as ever they had created cruel tools of war. To his most elites generals iof the Fire Demons Baal gave enchanted blades of Madness that with one strike would make the victim if they survived mentally insane for the rest of their ill fated lives.

Baal's hordes came in the winter times when least expected upon the settlement of Orcfriend an there was no fight at all. The Orcs had become a peaceful people. They had no weapons, no army. They had never even given thought to such things. It was by luck alone that a small contingent of Orcs including the aging Queen Orchilda managed to escape the slaughter of Orcfriend. They travelled in the wilderness to the land of the Dwarves in haste to bring the grim news of the evil spreading throughout the land.

60% of the Orc population was killed on the spot. The rest that did not escape were captured and taken away to Cocytus to be warped and twisted by Baal into a new fell race of soldiers that would be called the Goblins. They were smaller in stuature than the orcs, roughly 5'5". However, they were meaner and more cunning and agile and fast. Unlike the Orcs that only sued for peace the Goblins were twisted and sadly intelligent and cunning.

Then Baal's generals sent forth their scouts to the north for they had heard rumor that there was another race that dwelt on this island...

"King Foramir!" rang a dwarf's voice through the marble hall. The dwarf king, his beard now white, sat in his throne, looking rather bored and uncomfortable. However, he sat up at the call. "King!" The messenger bowed, and then resumed talking. "We have received dire news from the Orcs. It seems that we must go to war with another race, hailing from the east. ((Sorry if I'm incorrect there.))" Foramir sat up in his throne, his right hand going to the war axe on his side.

"Prepare the dwarves for war." Foramir said after a minute, and the messenger ran out of the hall.

Like the orcs, the dwarf's were a race that had strived for peace. Unlike the orcs, however, the dwarves had prepared for the possibility of war, although they had expected it to come from within, not outside. So they had beautiful but dangerous weapons; axes and pikes and shields and hammers. Their armor was their pride and joy, with every high-ranking dwarf having steel plate armor with gold and platinum designs seemingly etched in. And so, sharpening their blades and strengthening their defenses, the dwarves were prepared for the oncoming attack. Their above-ground cities gates were closed and reinforced many times over, and their below-ground cities sealed off their tunnels.

The humans lamented under their demon masters for years. No god had created them and no god would come to their aid. And so the humans toiled away. Over time they began to console themselves. While working in the fields they began to make noises unheard of before by any race. They worked in a steady rythm and their voices began to mix and harmonize as they lilted between pitch. The humans, unable to speak and forever unhappy, had begun to sing.

This outflowing of emotion and music had never before been heard on the Earth. It was quickly put down by the ferocious demons, but it would soon rise again in other humans. No matter what the demons did, they could not stop the humans' song.

Then a man appeared among these pitiful slaves and wondered at the sound they had created. He dwelled among them for a small time before the demons began to take notice. They tried to force him to work but whips had no effect upon his back. Spears and swords went through him but left no wounds. When the demons attacked him they were striken with terrible madness and began to attack their brethren He rallied the humans, they were to never be playthings and slaves again. Instead, they were to sing and be merry, they would become a race of their own.

The humans, enthralled by this man, followed him out of the land of the demons. They sang and were joyful as the demons were powerless to hurt them. They struck at the humans with their weapons but the weapons glanced off of their bare flesh. The man looked at the demons and they fell to the ground writhing in fear and misery as they felt the torment of a thousand years of slavery inflicted upon them in mere seconds.

The humans marched south, singing and laughing as they made instruments from any materials they could find. Loud music echoed across the land and the man smiled.

"I have three commands for you." He said as he changed form. He became taller and more beautiful than any human they had ever seen. "First, you must never take root. Wander and be free spirited. Second, multiply and cover all of the lands of the Earth so that your light cannot be extinguished. Third, sing and bring music and laughter and joy wherever you go. If you do this then your enemies will fall before you and you will not have to raise a finger to fight them. Obey my command and paradise shall be yours."

Thy prostrated themselves before their god and pleaded to him. "What shall we call you and how do we worship you?"

He smiled and lifted their chins to him. "I am The Bard. Praise me with song." With that he vanished from their sight, but remained with them in the form of their own music.

The humans spread across the land, unhindered by their enemies who would fall asleep when they heard the humans' songs. The humans' allies were amazed at the music they played and the humans were venerated among all races. Who could stand before them?

Baal:

Baal's demon army succeeded quite easily in overrunning and capturing the vast beautiful parts of the outside dwarven cities. However, the even more complex and vast insides of the dwarven cities built into the great mountains of the Northwest proved rather unassailable. One contingent of demons after much bitter fighting and loss had managed to break one of the great dwarf doors and proceed into the vestibule of the great dwarf fortress. This is as far as they got as the dwarves had methodically sealed their great subterranean empire level by level. Deadly booby traps, thick powerful stone doors, mazes, all manners of defense. The dwarf army had taken the loss of their above ground dwellings and withdrew the bulk of their forces inside.

Then the terrible year for the demons happened when a new God had awoken and and had freed and led all the human slaves away from Cocytus. There were still hundreds of humans still conscripted into the armies fighting in the far distant dwarflands. Baal was now in a fuy and a dillema. He must choose whether or not to go off and crush the dwarves or to pursue these freed Humans on their exodus. This was a tricky position for Baal new if he went forth personally to lead his forces and swiftly crush his foes that the other mortals might call forth their Gods. Though Baal possessed powers like a God given to him by the God of Evil Satan, he was not a God and he knew that only a God could kill him.

So in his stead he created more foul monsters to go off and pursue to the humans for him. He created a race of giants, 14 feet tall. They were shaped like the humans, but they had one eye and were called the Cyclops. They possessed great strength, and furthermore they could never sleep. They lacked eyelids and thus no matter how hard they tried sleep never visited them, not even for a second. They made perfect replacement slaves being superior of strength. Their sleepless temperment made them also great warriors. These and a contingent of Ice Demons and Goblins Baal sent south after the human refugees.

Ball greated also a powerful huge monster like a reptile. It could fly and shoot fireballs so hot and powerful they could melt rock and metal alike. These beasts had great claws and thick armored scales. Perfect for digging. They like the dwarves under Satan's curse had a great greed and thirst for gold and shiny things. In fact they consumed them and the precious metals and jewels only made them stronger. Unlike the dwarves they desired not to craft and make beautfiul things, but simply to possess and consume the luxuries. These terrible beast ranged anywhere from 15 to 20 feet long. Baal called them the Dragons.

The Dragons Baal sent with haste to the dwarflands to reinforce his terrible armies. He promised the dragons with tales of rich dwarven vaults filled with treasures more valuable than any other in the world. Consumed with their greed the Dragons from their conception had a particular enmity for the dwarves.