Time of the Dawning

500 P.O.D. to 100 P.O.D. Soon after attaining godhood, the warriors got to work clearing out the infestation of Tanar'ri on the planet. With peace settling across the land, and all the Tanar'ri banished, the gods all found new homes on the plane that suited them best. Only Mikon stayed on the Prime Material Plane. The Supreme charged him with the responsibility of keeping the other gods where they belonged, unless they were needed on the Prime Material Plane to restore balance.

This gave the gods a lot of time to think about creating races for themselves. Each god wanted to be the patron to its own race of beings that would spread about the planet as an extension of their own selves. The gods of good wanted to establish a unified world of peace where all the different races would work together in their goals. This sentiment was not shared by the evil gods, however. These gods each wanted their race to be dominant and enslave the other races, be it blatantly or in concept only. The six gods were squabbling over this point when the neutral gods stepped in and stated that every race should have the free will to establish what it wants. Mikon went on to suggest that they, being very new to godhood, should consult with some more experienced deities in order to find out how they dealt with this problem. Thinking this to be a sensible idea, each of the gods sought to find an older god that had similar ideals.

Gorethar enlisted the aid of Clangeddin, the Dwarven god. Clangeddin told him that he should never fall prey to the imperfect ideals of others, and that he should create a race that will spread goodness and work hard, regardless of what the other gods and races would do. Taking this point further, Clangeddin went on to state that dwarves suited Gorethar's character the best, since they were so hardworking. He insured Gorethar that dwarves would work hard to spread goodness throughout the planet in an effort to make it a better place. So, taking Clangeddin's advice, Gorethar created dwarves in the same way he suggested. To show his gratitude and satisfaction with his new race, Gorethar allowed Clangeddin to teach the dwarven people craftsmanship, and to have a few priests of his own on Avlis. So, being the first race to walk Avlis, the dwarves quickly got started on improving their living conditions and philosophy before anyone else. They also spread out over a pretty sizable chunk of land.

Toran journeyed around his plane to find a strange god that he remembered hearing about once when he was traveling around in his mortal days. Eventually, he found Tobin, who received him in a serious manner when Toran posed his question to him. Tobin told Toran that he would need a numerous, yet organized race that could lend aid to keeping order in the land so that the chaotic designs of some of the other gods would never come through. Tobin added that his own race, the dracon, were well suited for this task because they performed well under pressure. So, Toran created the dracon with the aid of his newfound friend, Tobin. And so, because of Toran's gratitude towards Tobin, he was allowed to hold priests on Avlis. The dracon took well to their new land, and in a very orderly fashion, they set about creating a lifestyle for themselves.

Valok sought the aid of Gruumsh the orc god. Valok wanted a race that would be good in a war of treachery, and at first he doubted the wisdom of Gruumsh's suggestion that he create orcs to do his bidding. However, Gruumsh pointed out that if Valok were to imbue them with some intelligence, they would have the ability to form strategies and make large cities. This would enable them to corrupt and take over, just like Valok wanted. So, thinking this to be a commendable idea, Valok made orcs with surprising amounts of intelligence and ambition. The newborn race settled itself on the east coast of the main continent on Avlis. It was not long before they figured out how to make raiding parties to destroy wandering beings, and how to control their own lands with a cruel justice system that suited their own purposes. This pleased Valok, and he thanked Gruumsh just as the two gods before him, by letting Gruumsh hold a few priests on Avlis.

Mikon found the aid of Ptah when he wanted to create a race. Ptah suggested that Mikon stick with humans because no other race had proved more balancing and wide-ranging as them. Ptah also pointed out that the humans would be more than willing to make the choice between good, evil, or neutrality. This would be a good example to the other gods on how their races should live. Seeing the wisdom in this, Mikon populated the world with humans in order to make a balance. The human race, being the most versatile yet, spread out over the entire planet. Many of them adopted the ways of the already existing races, while others invented their own new cultures.

Aarilax asked Blibdoolpoolp how he should handle the problem that the gods of good and neutrality had with his goals. Blibdoolpoolp suggested that Aarilax make a race that could adapt to the present conditions of the society around them. This would enable them to avoid the wrath of the neutral gods because they could choose to employ either law or chaos in their mission to corrupt the world, and accumulate power for themselves. At the same time though, the good gods would not be terribly enraged because his race would on occasion work with others to accomplish a goal. Lizard men would be a wise choice for his race because they had the ability to further the goals of evil using either law or chaos on their own or with help. The lizard men started a society of their own as soon as they were born. They also set out on foot to intermingle a little with the other races in order to gain some notoriety among their own people.

Corellon Larethian was sought out by Dru'El so that he could ask the god what he should do. Corellon said that Dru'El should father a race of beings that were proud enough to stand up for themselves when they were concerned, and yet were kindhearted enough to try to achieve a peaceful goal in the end. The god suggested that elves suited Dru'El best because they were not afraid to use force in order to preserve their goodness and their society, but at the same time they never sought out a fight. So, eager to try out his new abilities, Dru'El created two varieties of elves, the stunningly beautiful yet tremendously delicate ghost elves, and the tough, rustic, yet elegant Dru'Elian high elves. These proved to be two very successful creations. The two related races worked together and built beautiful cities in the forests. At the same time, they efficiently kept out any unwanted evil races. To show his thanks to Corellon Larethian, Dru'El offered some influence over the planet in return. The older elven god gladly accepted some minor elven followers among the elves of Avlis.

The evil god Maleki was approached by Grolantor the god of the giant-kin. Grolantor told Maleki that all the other evil species combined were not as capable of brutally defying the other gods as any one giant-kin was. Liking this, Maleki made ogres, ettins, and hill giants in order to spread chaos indiscriminately around the globe. This angered all the other gods, but it was not enough for Maleki. He then betrayed Grolantor by not letting him have any power in the sphere.

One of the other gods, Forian, always wanted a highly versatile and unpredictable race. He did not want them to have the unpleasant disadvantage of having only one form all their life. He also did not like the idea of depending on another god's advice when that would just take away from his individuality and originality. So, feeling especially nutty one day, Forian went out alone and created the changelings, a race of beings that can change form. These beings immediately spread much confusion about Avlis. The confusion that they spread was not good, nor was it evil. It was just... well, it was confusing.

O'Ma sought the aid of Titania the fairy goddess when he wanted to create a race. Titania said that no other race was as effective at working with others towards goodness and uncomplicated at the same time as the fairy races. O'Ma liked this idea, but he did not like the fact that a lot of fairy races needed humanoids of other races to reproduce. He didn't want any of his races to be dependent on any other, so he imbued all of the fairy races with the ability to reproduce amongst themselves by making both males and females in every subspecies. Soon after, the planet was populated with nymphs, both male and female, as well as sylphs and dryads of both sexes, among others. Titania was outraged by this act because she thought that O'Ma was criticizing her creations and upsetting a delicate balance in the reproduction of the other eight races. So, in order to set the balance right again, or at least sway it, Titania created some fairy races on a demiplane of her home that could not reproduce by themselves because they were only female, and some fairy races that were just like her old fairy creations, i.e. sprites, nixies, etc. She then gave the fairies the means to travel to Avlis magically by themselves, since she couldn't use her own magic to put them there by herself. Titania did this with neither the permission nor the knowledge of O'Ma. Not knowing what was going on, O'Ma later granted Titania direct access to Avlis in order to ease her anger. The two fairy races existed in different places for a short while, each without the other's knowledge. O'Ma's fairies fit well into the scheme of common goals of goodness that the three gods of good favored.

The Nine Gods at the Time of Dawning

Major Events of this Era

• The Early Kurathene Period.
• The Demonspawn Wars of the Underdark.

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Timeline → Age of the Gods | Time of Dawning | Fairy War | Great War | Age of Immortals | Age of Darkness | Age of Strife | Age of Rebirth (Ongoing)