| Religion is not viewed seriously by the Humans of the Treene Empire.
Those who are religious within the Empire are viewed as somewhat odd. Nevertheless,
the Human "myth" of creation that follows remains well known.
Since before the dawn of time, there have existed in the cosmos immortal
beings of enormous power that we know as Gods. The world was formed by
two such gods; the brothers Coper and Helios. They both loved the same
woman, Gondar. She was a beautiful goddess, sister of Khara and she loved
both Coper and Helios. However, over time the brothers could not contain
their contempt and jealousy for one another. They fought over Gondar, and
the collisions of the great magics they unleashed caught her amidst the
fury. From her body, the planet was born and around her the twin suns of
Coper and Helios will spin forever.
The two great continental masses of the planet were once joined and
formed the face of the Gondar. However, Quetass, a young and vain deity,
became jealous of its beauty. She worked her charm upon Coper. She promised
and alliance between his light and her darkness that would give him the
power to defeat Helios once and for all. All that Coper had to do was to
split the face of Gondar so that Quetass became the most beautiful goddess
in the pantheon. Coper, his greed for power and the magic worked by Quetass
blinding him, was persuaded and worked the great and powerful magic needed.
The face of Gondar was cleaved in two and Gondar’s beauty was lost forever.
In her grief Khara cried for the loss of the last reminder of her beloved
sister. Preta, the goddess of love, gathered Khara’s tears and scattered
them across the planet. So strong was Khara’s love for her sister that
where the tears fell, life began, and the people, animals and plants that
grew became a wondrous gift to Gondar for all time.
Helios was sent into a rage by Coper's actions and went to Khara, who
though grieving for the loss of last reminder of her sister, calmed him.
Together they confronted Coper with what he had done. He had no recollection
of the act and was grief stricken himself. However, he remembered the visit
from Quetass and her jealousy. Quetass was banned from the pantheon, and
through the might of their combined magics the Gods imprisoned her within
the Underdark never to return.
The Gods are now reluctant to have much direct influence over the peoples
of Gondar. This is out of respect to Gondar herself, and also because there
is a danger that the use of strong godly magic may loosen the bonds that
hold Quetass within the Underdark.
Thus, all life is a gift from the gods in honour of the beauty of the
planet Gondar. All life on the planet must guard against the release of
evil in the universe. Evil in all its forms must be kept in check or else
Quetass will escape her prison and will take her revenge in the destruction
of Gondar. Those who honour the gods and Gondar are to be reborn to live
as mortals once again. Those fail to honour the gods are cast from the
physical world, thus weakening the power of the gods on Gondar which imprisons
Quetass and making the release of evil into the universe more and more
likely. |
