But creation so long ago, the Universe has changed many times since. After The Universe was created, gods and people came into being – but no one really knows how. Each race, indeed each nation, have their own ideas – but it is unclear and many cycles ago. What we do know is there has been at other eras before the start of this one, and we know that, in Cosmic terms, we are only just at the start of this era.

After the eternal winter the great snake drank the sea, the wolf ate the sun, cows turned to lions and ate everything. The armies of the righteous, the chosen who had died in battle, those whose hearts were lighter than a feather, and those who had gone into the east with the sun were mustered, and they fought together against the undead legions of the underworlds. Gods, demons and giants fought to the death, then the fire came and the seas rose up. Everything was destroyed. This is known as the Gods War.

Except that it wasn’t the end of the Universe, just the end of that cycle. The Great Powers are beyond the Gods and out of their reach, while the The Tree of Life is indestructible – and life goes on. Some hid within the trunk of the great tree (Ethereal plane), others became as birds and flew to the topmost branches (Astral), others hid in the great mounds and wells around the roots (Elemental Planes). Many small groups survived to repopulate the world when it was healed.

Eventually they returned and the new Era started.

Note 1: Spells like Plane Shift, Shadow Walk, Create Demiplane and Planar Refuge made it possible to escape and wait out the apocalypse. Even some mid-level casters would have been able to escape, and presumably take their entourage with them. Each one is, potentially, a seed for the new tribe.

Even the God Wars were a long time ago, in the reckoning of anything alive now - and stories of the God Wars and The Return are nothing but myths and legends lost in the depths of time. Even the early gods have had a chance to grow, evolve and form themselves into pantheons.