Before life and light and time there existed a Supreme Being suspended in stillness and perfection. Forever in stasis the Supreme Being desired only for something changing. For an eternity this desire built until it shattered the stillness and perfection, collapsing upon itself and condensing infinite perfection into a single point. From this point exploded all creation, a chaotic multiverse, ever expanding and changing.

The satisfaction that the Supreme Being took from this vital and fragile beauty began to pale as it beheld the entropy of creation and despaired at its fleeting life-span. The Supreme Being chose to oppose the entropy, creating Life to evolve and grow towards greater order. The feat of creating something in opposition to the universal entropy was so great that it fractured the Supreme Being, destroying its perfect balance and neutrality. It split into 8 entities that embody the spectral extremes of Law versus Chaos and Good versus Evil.

These 8 entities became anchored to the material plane at the point where the Supreme Being lit the spark of life. Trapped and yet wholly incompatible with the material plane, the polar Deities sunk through the fabric of reality where they came to rest on the new world, birthing new planes of existence woven into its very fabric.

With each Deity held at the threshold between the material plane and the upper plane, the 8 began bending reality to their own purposes. Each crafted races of powerful creatures to serve as their servants and to act on their behalf.

The 8 discovered that while their creations were able to work great wonders and wield incredible power, their might waned as they sought to spread their influence. The First Born were inextricably linked to their masters and were at their most powerful in their presence. Attempting to extend their influence each Deity in turn created mortals.

The mortal races, while still connected to their creators were far enough removed to allow them to spread across the face of Orbis. Through the influence of the First Born the Deities controlled and guided their mortal creations. It was through the mortal races that the Deities first found each other and inevitably came into conflict.

Mighty wars were fought by the mortal races at the behest of their creators and under the command of their masters, the First Born. For eons the Deities fought, alliances and rivalries forming and crumbling. None could gain the upper hand. It was in the midst of this endless conflict that humanity arose from the natural world. Elevated by unknown power this new mortal race quickly began to spread. Unlike every other race, humanity was truly neutral, owing no allegiance nor claiming any birthright.

At first this anomaly fell beneath the notice of the Deities. Being short lived, humanity developed an obsession with prolonging and preserving life. This lead them to unlock the secrets of undeath, drawing primordial power directly from the outer realms of positive and negative energy. Harnessing this power, humanity spread and advanced at such a frightening speed that the Deities could no longer afford to ignore them.

And thus began a new era in the histories of Orbis. The Time of Founding had begun. Slowly the Deities realized the fate of the material plane was tied to this new race that existed outside of their influence. The endless war of alignment became the battle for the soul of humanity. At the center of the unclaimed lands lies the first free city of Uruk-Bara. It is here that our tale begins...