The Lore Giver went to the Gods before his time was through and read to the great beings, both in Heaven and Hell, a manuscript that encompassed a thousand words, yet was recited in but a moment, the length of time a God could contemplate anything.  He made Evil recognize that not-evil consisted of many things, and made him see beyond the veil of perception into the void, filled with many other great things.  Likewise he made Good see the influence of the great many things that filled those places that he was not, and there he recognized what must be overcome so that he might fill those regions with himself.

                He gave this gift to all the gods, but for a moment.  And he also made them recognize the power that mortals had in influencing the world.  They alone could make one god greater than the other, they alone could allow one opposing God defeat another.  And so the gods searched out those beings that held the influence of the Gods great in their souls, and granted them powers so that they might further their cause.  And then the veil descended and the Gods could perceive only their own beings, but they were tormented by their inability to control their own great powers in such a  fashion as to fill the voids that were not of them.

                However through their priest's prayers, they saw the world through their eyes, they saw those places that they did not fill, and they directed their priests to go forward and fill them, and spread their influence so that they might be great in the souls of man.  And so it was that the powers had a goal, to become great in the souls of man and to fill those spaces around them that were not of them.  And they had an instrument to do this through, priests.  And so was born the union of God and Man.

                And Man gave the Gods a gift as well, for man was filled with a great many things and by his nature combined two things into one, and three things into two. And so it was with their god's domains.  Some priests did not just see War, but they saw Strength, Destruction, and Chaos as all part of War, and so War grew greater and knew of more power and became more of the world through this. 

                And so the priests of the Gods looked about the world that was their home and identified those things that should also be of their God, and through their prayers and worship, they were.  And with Beauty came Love, with Freedom came the Four Winds, and so on, until their were far fewer gods and those that were were filled with many great and small things.

                So through the wisdom and power of the ancient Lore Giver, the Gods reflected more of man, and man was compelled to become more like the Gods.  And this was where the history of the Age of Gods began...

 

             I have traveled a great many miles from my home and have seen a great many followers of Gods, both enlightened and barbaric.  One thing that troubles me is how many gods are worshipped by many different people, yet they maintain the same domains as their own province.  I have heard War and Chaos worshipped in the same breath, and I have heard War and Law worshipped by a neighboring man.  Yet both prayers are answered by what must be two different Gods. 

                The Lore Giver tells us that man made two things into one and three things into two.  This must be the case for what I have observed, but how is it that there is more than one God for any given domain?  Perhaps it is that many of these Gods are false beings, much like the stone idols and animal cults that men have been known to worship.  The question then becomes which of the Gods are true?  And how might a mortal of limited abilities such as myself  go about divining the truth?

                May Hajama not look with too great of disfavor upon my tormented soul, but it is his wisdom and will that men pursue those things that are difficult to pursue.  What bliss there must be in the hearts of the men around me that know not of such questions.  And what is the greater disservice, to reveal to them the questions that I have so that they too are thrown into turmoil, or to hold my tongue until I can lead them to the truth. 

                It will take the passing of yet another season before I enter into the lands of the north, I will not disrupt the tranquility of the men around me just yet.  It would be a lonely journey on one's own, here across the sun-baked plains.  May I follow the will of the Fates.

 

Into the Anvil of the North I travel,

Alipour al Malik