First Age
The third age of existence, and the first age of Korinth, is given many names by many different scholars. Some call it the Age of Handmrick for it was during this age that Handmrick Eaglecrown established his empire that remains still the greatest to ever be upon Korinth. Others call it the Age of Beginning for it was during this age that Korinth would be created. Still others call it the Age of Our Lord for it ends with the story of the Eternal One and his ultimate freedom.
Regardless of what it is called, most scholars agree that this age began when the energies expelled by the jaaren during the purging of their emotions began to coalesce. Originally scattered about this place outside of reality, these energies were drawn in upon themselves, ultimately forming beings of immense power, beings that mortals would call gods. The First Gods numbered in the hundreds, or perhaps even thousands and their first act was that of creation.
In the wake of the Second War of Powers, reality was wounded, and so these First Gods healed that rift. They forged the foundations of existence that remains still. And so sprung into existence the elemental plains of Essence, the clockwork realm of Continuance that–many say–turns the cogs of time itself, and the chaotic flux that is the Edge of All, or more commonly Limbo.
Once the foundations were solid, they gathered the remnant of life that survived the Crisis and breathed new life into them. Each god gave life its own unique form and from these elder beings all the races and species known today evolved.
One of these worlds was called Korinth, and it is upon this world that history began. In the first thousand years following creation, the hero Handmrick Eaglecrown rose such an empire that no part of Korinth was without his touch. All the lands of Niadris, Gaaltic, Maaladorn, and Rameen as well as other, exotic lands spoken of only in oral histories lived under the rule of Handmrick Eaglecrown. Indeed, the empire Handmrick built would stand unchallenged for more than 3,000 years and undefeated for more than 6,000 years – or so tradition says. Little of written records remains of this distant time, but in all the years since no mortal government has reached such a height.
Late in this first age the Eternal One arose in Korinth in the form of the mortal Tanthraxus Dominion. Tanthraxus began life as a champion of goodness but he fell from grace and founded the evil Octocult. With singular determination he led a horde across the face of Niadris, conquering everything. During one cataclysmic battle with his arch-enemies the Company of the Dawn, he was brought to the very precipice of death and there he discovered his true nature: that he was in fact the Eternal One, Creator of all things, betrayed to rot evermore in a mortal shell. As before, as always, the Creator chose not to die.
This time, however, he held his emotions in check, and did not burn himself out in a futile effort to rage against his captors. Knowing he would be unable to move against the jaaren himself, Tanthraxus turned his focus away from conquest and towards freedom. He constructed a spell capable of freeing him from his mortal coil but to fuel it he would need a terrible amount of energy. So he redoubled his efforts to conquer, now towards a much darker end for humanity for in death they would fuel the magic of his spell. But they alone would not be enough and so as he conquered, Tanthraxus turned the farol towards the gods.
As is their way, the farol went among the deities to sow discontent. They whispered to these fledgling deities of beings greater than they. And the gods, fickle always, did as the farol knew they would. They sought out these creatures and discovered the jaaren. Like their makers before them, the gods much desired to be the greatest beings in existence.
So began the Third War of Powers exactly as Tanthraxus had intended. The gods came upon the jaaren and made war with them. In the opening salvos hundreds of gods and more than a dozen jaaren were killed. Certainly Tanthraxus would have succeeded in his true purpose but for the efforts of the Company of the Dawn. While the lord of the Octocult was focused on the destruction of all life so that he might be freed, the Company traveled back through the veil of time and slew him when he was but a child. Yet this death was destined to end differently for the Eternal One.
The Breaking struck Korinth suddenly. And while the actions of the Company of the Dawn were the salvation of the world, they caused a great rift in reality. Time splintered, for what had so far been done could not be wholly undone. Massive shockwaves of energy rocked the planet, magnified by the cast off energy of the dying jaaren and gods. Now the foundations of the new worlds were shattered. When it finally ended the landscape of Korinth was altered forever. Entire continents had sunk beneath the oceans and mountain ranges fell to the ground making way for clear, flat plains.
Nothing was as it had been but, nevertheless, the gods were victorious. Lacking power enough to completely annihilate the jaaren, instead they entombed them in objects that would be called the Armaments of Eternity. Legend holds that should these armaments ever be brought together in the same space and time the jaaren would be free once more. Meanwhile, while millions of mortals died during the Third War of Powers, the larger population survived, and Korinth, though changed, continued.
In the aftermath of this cataclysm, the gods went about setting right the cosmos while the surviving mortals went about recreating their lives in the wake of such destruction.
Yet, the final close of this age did not come until the Eternal One awoke again. The jaaren were gone and with them went their curse. Finally, after so long imprisoned the Eternal One was free. Yet now, as He looked out at the creations of his jaaren, He was not filled with the hate and rage He had so often channeled. Instead, a great care for mortalkind blossomed within Him. Gone was the bloodthirsty drive that was Tanthraxus, replaced by a great burden of guilt. How many lives had He snuffed out callously? And so He withdrew from mortalkind to consider all these events, leaving the world in the hands of the gods.