The history of the multiverse is fully detailed below. The history section is divided into roughly six sections, each one that the Cube of Time can access.
FIRST PERIOD – Dawn of the
Multiverse
The whole of the multiverse is a single plane. Reality is fluid, similar to
limbo, but once “set” it does not decay back to formlessness. Time does not
exist: this is the first state of the multiverse, and there was no other state
(not even oblivion) before it.
People are formed into tribes based on ideology and belief rather than anything else. Those who do not believe wander the plane, outcast, and create little “pockets” of planes that will eventually become the prime material planes. All of the people who inhabit this time period are primordial gods, and possess tremendous reality warping and making power. Social functions are backward, and until something has been thought of, it does not exist. Amongst the tribes, some are important:
1. The Clan of Baern They appear as angels with grey wings, somber in expression and often wearing masochistic adornments (black iron crowns in particular). They believe that existence is defined by suffering and desire, and that only through ceasing to care about either can one be defined and transcend the multiverse. They are led by Baern herself, an aloof and isolated figure.
2. The People of the Monolith They appear as human beings, slightly taller and with perfect appearance. They believe that people should accept that the multiverse has a hidden purpose, one which includes every person within it as a vital part. Hence, they tend to be charitable, good, and tolerant. They have no leader, but notable amongst their number is Aoskar.
3. The Lords of Tomorrow They are individualistic in appearance, and together believe that the multiverse must be shaped and improved by the actions of its inhabitants. Their definition of “improved” varies, but the Lords of Tomorrow can be seen as “hero” or “villain” types, constantly striving and using action to achieve their goals. They are headed by Renwar, the greatest among them.
4. The Students of the Word They appear as gnome-like figures. They study the components of the multiverse, in an attempt to comprehend everything about it, which they believe is the key to transcending reality. They see the multiverse as a Word, a Logos. They are led by Theunus and his brother Illsensine.
5. The Serpentine Folk They appear as dragons. They seek to collect the essence of the multiverse, gathering it to themselves so that they can keep it safe. Their instincts are to gather and to protect that within their care.
There are many others.
Key Events at the Dawn of the Multiverse
Creation of the Polariser by
insane members of the Clan of Baern
The Polariser is an artifact that amplifies differences and creates
animosity. Members of the Clan of Baern come to believe that the multiverse
should be destroyed in order to transcend all of existence. They create the
Polariser to destroy the multiverse by fracturing it and leading to endless
strife. Baern realises what her clan has done and leaves them in
disappointment. Time begins when the Polariser is created.
Elemental Planes Created
The Students of the Word believe that they have ascertained every kind of
matter essential for the functioning of the multiverse. They create planes to
study the different kinds of stuff, and these become the Inner Planes, the
planes of Fire, Earth, Air and Water.
Prime Material Planes Created
Various elder gods, some of which are still worshipped, having found no
solid belief in the primordial plane, end up forcing themselves out of it. As a
consequence, they create the Prime Material Planes from the Elemental Planes
and begin their population. The Prime Material Planes are the “ordinary” planes
of mortal life.
The Death of Renwar and
Theunus
Renwar and Theunus (greatest of the Lords of Tomorrow and the Students of
the Word) decide to destroy the Polariser to save the multiverse. They are
split in two by it. Of Renwar, one half becomes Anadice, the Lord of Light, and
the other becomes Harken, the Lord of Darkness. Anadice and Harken hate each
other and begin an insane, ongoing conflict. The first demiplane, Polar, is
created. Their war begins with the first creation of mortal life. Of Theunus,
Primus (the principle exemplar of Law) is made from one half and an unnamed
primeval Chaos of the other. These two ignore each other, instigating the
second phase of the cosmos.
SECOND PERIOD – The Time of
Law and Chaos
In the first great event that shaped the modern Outer Planes (the planes of
the afterlife and of the gods), they are ripped in two by Primus and Chaos, and
their servants. Nirvana and Limbo, the planes of Law and Chaos are created, and
the original primordial plane vanishes. Two camps of entities develop, those of
Law and those of Chaos, and an eons-long struggle begins.
For those primordial god-like beings, much of their sentience is lost at this time, a consequence of the Polariser’s action. They begin to be trapped in a dream-like state, where they are not lucid enough to make fully rational decisions, but rather are trapped in their own ideology.
Key Events at the Time of Law and Chaos
First Worshippers
The gods, who now have a good reason to desire strength so that they can win
battles, begin seeking out the belief of the mortals (who are fully sentient
and lucid, and for some reason have more magical value in their beliefs as a
result) to enhance their power. This begins with the creator gods, but soon
others begin to associate themselves with the creators. Not all of the
primordials do this, but a significant minority.
Creation of the Slaadi and the
Modrons
Although they had unique and powerful servitors before this time, the
principles of law and chaos desire a race of mortal-like beings as servants.
Primus creates the modrons as a servant race of utterly lawful, slavishly
robotic servants. Chaos creates the Slaadi, the toad-like beings who breed only
with other races. These are the first planar races (not powers or mortals). The
first Slaadi can only reproduce by spawning in modrons, and this taint of chaos
remains with the modrons forever, making them prone to error and malfunction.
Mortals Die
Mortals who die in the prime material plane migrate to the outer plane that
identifies with their beliefs, either Nirvana or Limbo. They become
“petitioners”, souls lost in the afterlife, who lose their lucidity in a
similar way to gods. Gods begin appropriating them for worship, but they are
not quite as useful as living mortals.
THIRD PERIOD – Creation
of Good & Evil
The polariser further splits the planes, creating Elysium and the Grey
Wastes, the planes of Good and of Evil. They are both originally intended as
places of rest for those that die on the Prime Material Planes, in very
different ways. The gods see the new planes and most are attracted to one or
the other. The remnants of the Clan of Baern settle on the Grey Waste and make
it a place where desire and suffering are both bled out of people, leaving an
emotionless husk. The People of the Monolith move to Elysium, but generally
find it dissatisfying – they are relatively unaffected by the polariser, their
belief in the essential nature of the multiverse helping to keep them whole.
Key Events At the Creation of Good & Evil
Birth of Kath-Engol
Kath-Engol is created by Apomps, one of the Clan of Baern who helped make the
Polariser. He had grown impatient waiting for the end, and so created a perfect
figure from the Gray Wastes. Kath-Engol is the first Balor, a demon of
tremendous evil and power, who seeks to dominate the multiverse. He turns on
Apomps and mortally wounds him, before beginning a vast war. He is defeated in
unusual circumstances (see Neutral Plane Created, below).
Fiends & Celestials
Created
The Clan of Baern, realising the a war between two philosophies as opposed
as Good and Evil could end the multiverse, decide to begin the creation of
armies of evil and armies of goodness. They mould the first fiends, beings that
exemplify true and absolute evil, created by merging the plane of evil with the
souls of fallen mortals – these creatures are the Qliphoth, the first fiends (some of whom
are later “the ancient Baatorians” and one of whom becomes Asmosdeus, the King
of Hell).
Some among the People of the Monolith respond by creating the first celestials to protect Elysium, in part manipulated by the Clan of Baern. The first celestials are the Sephiroth, feathered snake-dragons with six wings and eyes of fire. In turn, the Sephiroth and the Qliphoth begin to work on the creation of their own armies.
Dragons Split
The host of the Serpentine Folk confronts the polariser in an attempt to
destroy it. Their leader, unlike the previous assailants, keeps his identity,
but his brood is strongly split, never to be one again. The dragons take on
alignments and begin to struggle amongst themselves.
Neutral Plane Created,
Founding of Sigil
Towards the end of this period, the People of the Monolith largely abandon
Elysium, realising that they cannot encompass reality if they restrict
themselves to Good. They force the creation of a neutral outer plane, the plane
of Concordant Opposition. The Spire (their old monolith) they make safe from
the struggles of the other gods by denying them their power. At the summit of
the spire, Aoskar, one of their number, makes Sigil, a place of meetings and of
travel, where enemies can be friends, and all things torn asunder by the
polariser connected and made whole.
Kath-Engol invades the new plane, and seeks to tear down the Spire and destroy Sigil. In a rare show of unity, elder forces conspire to destroy him. This proves impossible, but he is trapped in a pocket of time like a fly in amber. Over the thousands of years, a pyramid is built around his body, and worshippers arrive.
Death and Rebirth of Ilsensine
Ilsensine takes a long time learning what has happened to previous
assailants of the polariser, and, with his vast knowledge, comes up with a
strong plan to destroy the device. He confronts it alone, with none to turn
against, and none to strengthen him. He makes his mind an integral and
perfectly neutral whole, keeping it safe with the force of his will and secret
ways. Regrettably, it is not enough. The device feeds on his isolation, and
twists it into a yearning hatred for the rest of the multiverse. Ilsensine is
changed, and fails to destroy the polariser. The god now buries himself in the
plane of Concordant Opposition and begins to work on a plan to destroy the
entire multiverse.
FOURTH PERIOD – The Illithid Empire
Ilsensine creates the illithid, a race of evil “mind flayers”, extensions of his own mind and will. They begin to colonise and conquer the Prime Material Plane, founding a planar and stellar empire that soon looks like it will control the entire prime material plane. For the time, gods are forgotten by mortals, and fiends and celestials alike strongly rebuffed from entering or manipulating mortal life. The illithid turn their attentions to the Outer Planes, and plan further conquest, hoping to eventually confront demons and angels, gods and powers.
Mortal Refugees Flee to Sigil
Sigil (and indeed, the Outer Planes) for the first time has mortal
residents. Fleeing illithid enslavement, mortals make their way to the Outer
Planes through some of the devices the illithid have made to invade them. They
are accepted by Aoskar, who allows them to settle in Sigil. Some of them found
the first gate-towns, permanent doors between the planes, with Aoskar’s encouragement.
The Flowering of the Planes
The Outer and Inner Planes split time and again, forced partly by the
beliefs of mortals and partly by the polariser. By the end of this period, the
Outer Planes have taken their modern form. Planar races prosper and are created
in force during this period. There are a multitude of heavens and hells, all
slightly different.
Blood War Begins
The tanar’ri (the race of chaotic and evil demons) meet the baatezu (the race
of lawful and evil devils). They dislike each other immediately and begin to
battle instantly. The Clan of Baern settle into hiding with the yugoloths (a
race of pure evil daemons). They call themselves the baernaloths, and begin
manipulating their armies at multiple removes. The Clan of Baern is not unified
in its goals, with some opposing the polariser but others supporting it.
Gith Leads His People to
Freedom
An illithid slave called Gith begins a rebellion that spells the end of the
illithid Empire. Learning their mental powers and using trickery, military power
and ruthlessness, he begins a massive struggle. It lasts hundreds of years and
ends with a massive jihad that sees almost every illithid slain. The illithid
retreat and hide. The race that followed Gith splits into the Githzerai and the
Githyanki, on ideological grounds, and begin an eternal struggle. The polariser
is pleased.
FIFTH PERIOD – The Birth of the Modern World
Life on the planes begins to settle into the form it is at the moment: the Blood War continues, leading to massive pain and loss of life. The baernaloths manipulate the yugoloths, who manipulate the tanar’ri and baatezu. Prime life flourishes, and thousands of years of history take place. The races of the prime material worlds rise, and struggle for life and pre-eminence. Gods die and live, and their religions take on their modern forms. The cube’s entry point into this era is roughly 1,000 years ago. In Sigil, the Lady of Pain is reinforcing her rule using martial Dabu to enforce Her will and Her own personal power to eliminate any opposition. There are hundreds of factions, some quite exotic.
Key Events at the Birth of the Modern World
Aoskar Slain by the Lady of
Pain
The Lady of Pain (in truth, she is Baern, the original and disenfranchised
leader of the Clan of Baern) arrives in Sigil from points unknown, and slays
Aoskar. She shatters his temple and casts out his followers. Sigil remains
largely the same, and the Lady of Pain does not use her position for ambition’s
sake (as far as anyone can tell). This event is soon lost to much of recorded
history, since the Lady does not encourage anyone to talk about it.
The First War of Souls
The celestial races decide to end the Blood War, and through it, the fiends. A
war begins that lasts a short time, during which the celestials are slain in
their multitudes. Evil looks like it will triumph and ravage the multiverse,
leading to its slow destruction. The baatezu and the ta’anaari unite to destroy
their celestial foes.
The Marked
Rilmani (a mysterious race of neutral beings that are the creations of the
remnants of the People of the Monolith) approach some of the remaining
celestials and suggest to them that the Lady of Pain may have an interest in
stopping the War of Souls. Twelve Solars take up the quest, and arrive in Sigil
to discuss things with the Lady. The Lady brutally attacks them and slashes
them all horribly, leaving each one with a distinctive irremovable facial scar
across the cheek. The Solars flee their deaths, believing themselves played for
fools. The Solars become known as the Marked, and begin to fight the fiends.
The fiends, in a cunning plan, trap all of them and leave them on the fields of Twelvetrees, to be tortured for all time. Their torture releases tremendous magical energy, making Twelvetrees very valuable magical property. As a consequence of this, internal struggles in the tanar’ri camp lead to a collapse of their part of the War of Souls. The baatezu believe they have been betrayed and turn on their ancient enemies. The War of Souls ends with the dissolution of the fiendish armies and the resumption of the Blood War.
FIFTH AND A HALF PERIOD – Recent History
The multiverse recovers from the brink of destruction. History continues, with many prime planes unaware that the multiverse came close to unravelling.
Key Events in Recent History
The Rebirth of Renwar
On Polar, the plane itself, so ancient and war-torn, achieves sentience.
Seeking rescue from its form, it opens a portal to Sigil, and lures visitors
through. It manipulates an Angel of Anadice (one of the Anadi) and a Demon of Harken (a Harkense) to true love, and they give
birth to a child. Slumbering in the child is a fragment of the lost spirit of
Renwar, hero of the Lords of Tomorrow, most powerful of all the ancient gods.
Anadice and Harken seek to have the child slain, but in a mix-up, the child
ends up in the hands of a Doomguard weapons salesman who was on the plane. He
flees to Sigil, and the child is taken by the Lady and given into the hands of
a family on her behalf. The child grows up unaware of his background or
origins.
The Second Marked
Several mortals of little renown and less power witness the arrival of the
child from Polar and are scarred by the Lady, in the same distinctive manner as
the Marked. They become connected, even though each is very different in
beliefs as well as actions. They become celebrities in Sigil, sponsored by
Rowan Darkwood, faction head of the Fated (a powerful faction of wealth and
intrigue). They have various misadventures and begin to draw attention from
fiends. One of them slays one of the Solars staked out on the fields of
Twelvetrees. Many of the Abyssal Lords decide that they must die for this. Many
of them are slain confronting a powerful Nalfeshnee. Gra’azt (the Nalfeshnee’s
lord) is slain in return by the reformed group once they gather their strength.
Meanwhile, the General of Gehenna (the leader of the yugoloths) sends two powerful assassins (Mr Croupe and Mr Vandermar, both extremely powerful and extremely evil) to slay them. Rowan Darkwood intervenes and is slain driving off the altroloths. One of the Marked loses an adopted daughter, Kora, to the pair of assassins. They give her to their masters, and she is changed into an creature like them. She is in turn given to Shemeshka the Marauder, an agent of the yugoloths in Sigil.
The Second War of Souls
The war begins as a complicated consequence of the slain Solar on the field of
Twelvetrees. A massive (and unified) fiendish army invades a prime world and
begins to systematically torture and maim its inhabitants, in the cruellest
ways imaginable. The celestials send most of their host to the world. The
fiends destroy the entire plane, wiping out most of the celestial army in the
opening phase of the war.
The Second Marked meet the Rilmani for the first time, who attempt to manipulate them into saving the multiverse. The Second Marked refuse, afraid they’ll meet the same horrible fate as the First Marked. More of the Marked are slain as time goes on. The multiverse comes very close to destruction.
The Gods Die
The gods take a hand in events, and begin to fight amongst themselves. Many are
slain, and many realms vanish. Some planes shift, and some collapse in the
ensuing struggle. Several dozen prime worlds are utterly destroyed. The
remnants of the Second Marked realise that they will soon die, and, at the
exhortation of the Rilmani, begin to gather the most exemplary elements of the
planes – for example, pure snow from the summit of Celestia, a bottled scream
from Pandemonium. They confront the hidden source of the conflict, the
polariser, stealing the scrying scope of Primus to locate it.
There is an awful tormented struggle. The Marked do not fall to the polariser, which does not see them as a threat or use its full power. They use its power for their own ends. Asmosdeus confronts a host of Abyssal Lords in an enormous battle that shakes the multiverse, and both he and the majority of the Abyssal Lords are slain. The fiends split again. The Second War of Souls ends. The Blood War resumes.
NOW
It is twenty years after the end of the Second War of Souls. Many gods are now dead, and many planes are scattered and broken. Sigil remains the same, however, and is soon repopulated. The Sigil Undergound is conceived and about to be built. Godminers Inc., is founded by Raptor Plinth (one of the surviving Marked). Anathema Rust (another of them) founds the Temple to Dead Gods.
SIXTH PERIOD – The Empire
Strikes Back
500 years from now, Ilsensine’s children have repositioned themselves as
friends of many. The Githyanki are nearly wiped out when the Godgolem (a
maniacal creation of Raptor Plinth) fails, and consequently the illithid’s main
opposition is destroyed. The illithid use careful propoganda, so that they are
no longer seen as terrible evils to be feared, and many feed on animal brains,
or brains specially created for the purpose of devouring. Partly as a result,
many illithid are born who are backwards, not as mentally strong as they used
to be, but often physically far more capable.
In a striking maneouver, illithid across the planes take control of key individuals at the same time, and in short order they control the multiverse once more. They do not act quickly or overtly, but begin a slow procedure whereby they are destroying the stars and planes slowly, bleeding them of energy. Members of the new empire are unaware of their position. It is a conspiracy.
Key Events When The Empire Strikes Back
Rebels With a Cause
A rebellion begins of those who know the truth, led by Dariah Majure, a
pirate queen and sorceress. She unifies opposition in a prime material plane
where spelljamming (traveling on magical flying ships) is common, and begins
cross-planar contacts to get the outer planes involved.
Maelvun Chronos Becomes First
King of Sigil
The Hall of Speakers is overthrown by the Revolutionary League, who put a
monarchy in its place. On the throne is Maelvun
Chronos, in reality an illithid puppet. Maelvun lies in thrall to the
ancient aboleth Eld Iercheth. His daily
struggles against his domination are useless, and he feels increasingly bereft
of hope.
The Illithid Turn Off the
Stars
The illithid empire, now in place across the entire prime material plane,
switch off the stars and suns of the mortal worlds simultaneously. Massive loss
of life results. The remaining gods lose their power and are siphoned into
power constructs by the illithid. The illithid, masters of the universe, begin
construction of a vast, artificial Mind, one that will exceed even Illsensine,
their creator and patron.
Illsensine Turns on his
Servants
Illsensine realizes that the Mind his servants are creating will overmatch him.
He begins destroying them, and they turn on him. He is overpowered and the vast
Mind is activated. The qliphoth Eshrel has sabotaged that device, and as it is
destroyed, the illithid are also destroyed. There is very little life left in
the multiverse, and Eshrel begins hunting it all down.
The Multiverse Ends
With all life extinguished, all that remains is the matter, energy, magic, time
and space of the multiverse. The polariser sucks in everything. Eshrel watches
over it, guarding it against time travellers who occasionally try to intervene.
Eventually, he is sucked in and destroyed, too. Once everything is gone, the
polariser destroys itself.
THE PLAYER CHARACTERS –
Saviours of the Multiverse
The player characters in this campaign were a disparate bunch. Each was a
temporal anchor, pulled together by fate and the unconscious struggles of the
god Renwar. Amongst them, Carthwyn D’Aggio held the power of Renwar within
himself, and had a unique affinity with movement through time. Gorvan Doch was
a grey orc (a race of orcs created by a powerful lich to serve as the vessels
of his soul), whose powers of necromancy were used to good ends. Manar Gurn was
a minotaur hermit, a psychic warrior whose tranquil mind granted him power.
Talia was a sorceress who began to change into a half-dragon. Her familiar,
Thurrid (a razor dragon), adopted
her as a mother. Kaden Graze was an ally,
a powerful doomguard warrior, but he became one of their deadliest enemies.
Of this number, several died as a consequence of a botched raid on the illithid city of Naktur, an attempt to assassinate Ielsielacoth. Talia and Carthwyn survived, and gathered around themselves a new group of allies. The blind monk Aisha, who wielded the Jade Dragon Tooth, was a stabilizing force. The Champion of Entropy Drek, a half-orc whose flesh-blade thirsted for blood, eventually betrayed them and tried to control the polariser. The artificer, cleric and loremaster Amon Thul, servant of Thoth, replaced Gorvan as the voice of morality and a source of ideas. This new group battled further and eventually confronted Eshrel at the end of time.
HOW THEY SCREWED WITH THE
FIRST PERIOD
The PCs didn’t do much in the first period of time. It became a source of
information for them, a time when they uncovered the true nature of reality.
They had some minor adventures, but for the most part when they travelled back
this far, they had revelation after revelation.
HOW THEY SCREWED WITH THE
SECOND PERIOD
They didn’t travel to the second period very much at all. Nothing they did
changed history here.
HOW THEY SCREWED WITH THE
THIRD PERIOD
Again, they had adventure set in this time, but they didn’t change any history.
HOW THEY SCREWED WITH THE
FOURTH PERIOD
Manar Gurn was fated to help Gith learn his powers more completely, which would
have weakened the illithid even more in modern life. Unfortunately, he died
before his fate could be assumed.
HOW THEY SCREWED WITH THE
FIFTH PERIOD
The PCs spent a fair while in this period. They successfully stopped an attempt
to create a false angel that would secretly serve Illsensine whilst in heaven.
They also stopped an attempt to free a being called the Alhoon (a powerful
illithid lich) from the Maze of the Dead.
HOW THEY SCREWED WITH THE
SIXTH PERIOD
They screwed quite a lot with the future, since it seemed to be the most
plainly evil time period. They freed Kath-Engol, due to a misunderstanding. He
began battling the illithid empire, but the conflict merely hastened the end.
They convinced Raptor Plinth not to build the godgolem, but as a consequence, a
plague of anti-magical monsters was let loose (they resolved this issue
themselves quite well). They delayed the end, and then with help, confronted
Eshrel as the universe was being consumed. Drek betrayed them, but was rapidly
slain by Amon Thul’s servants. The rest of them kept Eshrel occupied and
distracted while Carthwyn made his way to the polariser through the maelstrom
that surrounded it. He then plunged himself into the thing.
That which had been rent asunder had remade itself whole. Renwar had returned, no longer victim to the polariser. By proving himself stronger than it, he unravelled its power and the universe exploded. The planes became a mess, no longer neatly subdivided. Alignments no longer had an objective reality. Time shifted dramatically to readjust itself to the recreation of the universe. The new multiverse was a shattered place, a confused place, which would take centuries to remould itself into anything resembling civilisation. It would encounter new threats, need new heroes, and they would indeed come forth… but that’s another story.