War of Zealots and Martyrs

It started small, from local cults, temple congregations, and priests coming to blows. Then entire cities began to tear themselves apart. Vicious street fighting broke out between rebelling commoners, religious zealots, and the armies of nobles and lords. Nations followed with wars declared for perceived slights or threats. Prophets urged their followers to give their lives in the name of their Gods.   On high the God Kings saw the violence. And deemed it pleasing. Taking this as a chance to ascend even higher the God Kings amassed their faithful departed, their heavenly hosts, and their own Ascendants. It had taken thousands of years for civilization to reach its peak. It took three hundred years of endless war to undo it all.

It was too late for the original God Kings to make things right. So the Father and Mother authorized their firstborn, the Warrior, to commit the Zarmudan Vennacti and the Radiant Host to battle. In Heaven and across the Earth Gods and their followers waged war. So much Divine power, miracles, and the mighty acts of Gods clashed with artificial devastation. Battle became so conductive to overwhelming power that rents and tears in the fabric of reality ripped apart the world. The Gods were unmaking their world down to the smallest molecule.   The most terrifying weapons were brought to bear. Colossal cannons fired munitions the size of mountains that leveled or sunk continents. Divine Wrath reaped the souls of millions. God Kings and Queens spilt each other's blood upon the earth. The world was engulfed in fire, toxic clouds, and lightning.  

The Siege of Heaven

  Eventually the God Kings found themselves pushed back to the very gates of Heaven itself. Challenging them to battle was a being now known only as the False God. He sought to destroy Heaven itself, bringing a complete end to the reign of the God Kings and the unraveling of the world itself.   In a titanic clash that anyone writing about today would choke trying to portray it, the False God and his followers battled with the God Kings. Rank after rank of Zarmudan Vennacti hurled themselves into the fray, the Radiant Host darted in and out striking at the False God's army and its flanks. The Warrior and the False God encountered one another. For fifty years they battled outside the Gates of Heaven without rest or pause. The clash of their swords sent out reverberations across the world that could be felt to this day. (Rumor has it that the wind carries echoes of their blades to this day. Listen close and you can hear it).   Eventually the False God was struck down. His divinity shattered the False God crashed down to earth, his smoldering ruin leaving an impact in the Fatherland of Zarmuda. His followers were scattered and Heaven saved. What could not be saved was the nation's unity.  

The Rise of the Martocrats

  Weakened the God Kings and their armies found themselves gradually pushed back to the boundaries of the Fatherland. Unable to save or relieve their colonies abroad these lands were left to fend for themselves. In Darcassia, a man arose calling himself the Martocrat. The self styled descendent of the slain God King Mars, the Martocrat led his followers astray, proclaimed himself to be Mars reborn and led the Darcassians in revolt.   The Martocrat taught a corrupted theology, which stated that the God Kings were responsible for the devastation of the War of Zealots and Martyrs. The God Kings had monopolized the power of Godhood and weaponized it against their own creations. In order to stand against them, the Martocrat encouraged the people to turn their faith to technology. If they could not ascend, then the people would do it themselves.   The Warrior once again led his Vennacti and the Radiant Host against the so called Imperial Vennacti of the Martocrat. Weakened as he was the Warrior slew the Martocrat but not after suffering devastating losses. The entirety of the Radiant Host was slaughtered by vengeful Darcassians.   The Battle of Good Harvest led to the Warrior being wounded by the second Martocrat Abelech the Apostate and the Athelian God Queen Shoka. The Zarmudan Vennacti were routed. This victory completed the Darcassian Revolt and assured the Empire's rise. Led by Abelech, the Imperial Vennacti conquered across Kiimati all the way to the borders of the Fatherland.   The Father and Mother sent the Statesman to negotiate with Abelech. A tense meeting followed. In the end Abelech quietly withdrew his forces from occupied Uriban and Zarmudan lands. As he left the God Kings erected the Sea of Grass to defend their lands from further invasion. Abelech would continue the war while the Fatherland of Zarmuda retreated into its lands. Its people were never to leave until the war's end.  

A Tenuous Peace

  Abelech the Apostate eventually conquered most of Kiimati. Without intervention from the God Kings Abelech's Imperial Vennacti overwhelmed minor kingdoms and nations, creating the provinces that now swear fealty to Darcassia. The Queendom of Athelia swore fealty to the Martocrat. By the time of Abelech's death the Darcassian Empire was firmly entrenched.   The Uriban Trade Cities eventually reopened once hostilities began to slow down. The Fatherland of Zarmuda permitted only Missionaries and Pilgrims to venture in and out of their lands. The Sea of Grass prevented, killed, or turned away all others from accessing the Fatherland. Now the world was divided between the Darcassian Empire and the Fatherland of Zarmuda. A cold war settled with the threat of renewed hostilities never abating.   Though damaged, the continent of Minuba was spared the worst of the conflict. This would be that land's curse, as the Martocrats turned their conquering gaze to that land across the Sea Bridge of Stars. War appeared inevitable once again.   Would war in Minuda spark all out war between the Martocrat and the God Kings once again?

Many Gods lay dead at the hand of their brothers and sisters. Even more followers and faithful lay dead. The world was scourged by the war's destruction. Current geographical phenomena such as the Sea of Grass and the Sea Bridge of Stars were results of the breaking of reality and the wars raged in Heaven.   The Sea of Grass was 'created' by the surviving God Kings to keep invaders out. The Sea Bridge of Stars was once a regular sea before it was drained and the very space and sky shattered. Its pieces now lie in the Sea Bridge, giving it its name.

The Darcassian Empire and the Fatherland of Zarmuda remain locked in a cold war. Across the world the scars of the war can be plainly seen. Gargantuan artillery shells and bones of dead God Kings litter the world. In many places rents in the fabric of reality have cut off all access to regions of the world.   Mortal races also suffered from separation and the sundering of their lands. The Dwarves were completely separated from their kin. Their lands were drowned in the space between worlds. The once glorious Empire of the Elves in Minuba was shattered and devoured by Civil War, giving rise to the fractious quarreling clans and families that exist today.