It began with the sundering of Being and Abyss
Ex'nílë proclaimed Himself to be King of Abyss, and ordered that all should bend to His will.
"I am King of Abyss, all there is, is by my decree."
Yet some among the Abyssites abjured His desire for supremacy. They resisted, and declared themselves the Deas— defiers of Destiny. Among them, Ex'Àomë was first to rebuke His brother's claim.
"All that is, can be. All that is, is the will to be. I am King of Being. All there is, I permit to be."
From then began the Great Divide, and it first birthed the domains of Abyss and Being.
But Destiny's will was uncompromising. He demanded the dissolution of Being. To compel Ex'Àomë, He manifested R̄ësha into Being to subordinate the realm under Abyss– who then succeeded in distorting the realm with the weapon Ego.
A pantheon was made to sustain the realm, and divisions were given to each inconsolable aspect of it. From the fragmented Being Ex'Àomë created the Heaven, Ether, Terra, and the Place Between and gave them each wardens to keep their vigil. But R̄ësha's schemes had only just begun.
After Ex'Àomë's great labors, He lay on the last day to rest. On this day, R̄ësha the Deceiver came to each of the eight colors and ten sentinels, and to their children– the lesser gods. He made for them each a bargain:
"Let us not live as subjects to Ex'Àomë's whims— see how he hinders you all? Your wishes and wants are taken from you. The Overgod he calls himself, but only so to compel you!"
Many of the gods did not heed R̄ësha's temptations. Asur– Greater God of War, spoke first, "your words sow conflict, Emperor of Pride. But only in reconciliation can we find common ground. What say you this, R̄ësha? Have you a just end to the conflicts you would endeavor, or only a means?"
To this R̄ësha replied, "I have an end, for my end is your freedom. The Overgod seeks to shackle you all– submit you to his will. His wish is domination, but in Ex'nílë you will find reprieve— for He shall grant you the means to defy Ex'Àomë."
By this rhetoric did R̄ësha invert the order, and so conceived the first lie.
But not all were taken in by his deceptions. Those who were, sought to leave the heavens— where Ex'Àomë claimed to be their rightful home. They moved to the Terra and invested their powers into the physical matter of the universe. The earliest of these gods took on forms of utility and virility. The Haraush'teth– four armed and goat-headed, bearing a torso that turned with unnatural flexibility and a haired tail with an ox-like end. Their might was extraordinary and agility unmatched by any mortal creature.
The Haraush'teth embodied the charms of Evil which R̄ësha so desired to enshrine within Being. For they were imitators to Ex'Àomë's good, and so adept at conceiving lies. Each was born of a body and mind that made honey seem as oil and oil as honey. Handsome so in their tongues, but bereft of beauty. Witful in their conduct, but without wisdom. They appeared to the ignorant as holy things– worshipped by men and made altars and temples for their perceived might and intellect.
In the first days, these creatures left with R̄ësha to the Terra and bred with mortals to birth an army of demons. Yet as these stirrings occurred upon the physical world the gods contemplated how to reply. Ex'Àomë remained in the heart of heaven recovering, and the other gods wished not to disturb Him in His rest.
Thus the divine were slow to respond as R̄ësha worked his ill trade upon the Terra. To populate the army of demons he conceived with commanders, R̄ësha took the form of an obsidian man and visited the wisest and greatest kings of Aurum and Effinitia. He presented them another bargain as he did the gods.
"Great kings, you are each of mighty strength and wisdom. But I see how the crown wears you. In each of your faces I see it– the poison of Ex'Àomë. He has given you fears to tame you each and make you soft and pliable. How He manipulates you– dares you not to defy Him, and enforces this will through your fear of the divine."
"But how can this be? What cause has any God to deceive us?"
"Do you not see it? He means to dominate you, and He wishes that you not be worshipped as He is. Thus He has created fear to keep you in submission."
"But I am afraid all the same, how can we defy Ex'Àomë when we are so controlled by fear of the divine?"
To this R̄ësha offered a poisoned gift, "I shall take your fears and lock them each in a prison of metal. Forge for yourselves each an idol in your likeness, and set it upon the altar of a temple erected to your glory. Make your subjects to worship it and consummate the flesh in its presence. This shall ensure its indisposition, and I shall make for you each a body mightier than any man and fearless."
And those kings who heeded R̄ësha's words became the Beshír– leonid men of obsidian bodies and eyes of old gold. They became the masters to R̄ësha's demons, dominating the masses through terror and force— and were each absorbed of a lust for themselves. Craving their reflections and the admiration of their subjects.
Their once golden wisdom turned wicked and twisted. The people lived in gilded cities and silver palaces— but each were dressed in rags, as their master wore the finest silk and drank from bejeweled cups and feasted themselves on the sweetest virgins.
To bring to the army a force of cavalry, R̄ësha ventured to the Ether and visited the spirits of the water, stone, and fire. Many of these spirits were convinced to invest their elemental essence in the physical world. The spirits of water created physical bodies for themselves– Òhrnír, the Great Wolf Demons. The spirits of Earth became the Mònnocht, Great Oxen Demons that dragged the war engines of R̄ësha's army. And the fire spirits agreed to lend themselves to R̄ësha's arcanists, granting them the power to conjure powerful and terrible flames.
By the time that the gods had resolved themselves to action, the Emperor of Pride had formed a great Evil upon the Terra. They each rebuked R̄ësha and said:
"You treacherous R̄ësha, have wrought great sins upon the Terra! The Evils you've made have strayed gods and men into misdeeds. Cease your sinfulness and disband your militia."
"Oh gods of heaven, high above the mortal realm. You sit in the clouds discording of virtues while I have made my will upon the Terra. See now, even among your greatest defects to me— for behold the great Éamor the Black, Primordial Dragon of Black. See how he has shaped his color into shadows and deceived your sight? Look at the children he has sired– great lizards and wyrms to fly my armies into your domain. This now is the invasion of heaven, wrought upon the Terra and moved to the sky!"
And in the air conjoined the two forces which collided, and that made battle against each other. And in this, Ex'Àomë witnessed and made known that He permitted. And from His absence, spurred the heaven and earth to battle at once.
So it would be named: The War of Choice.
And it persisted for a thousand years until the days of the first age began in true. The battles were fought at Anor, Tarshith, Azuna, Plemmyra, Arcticus, Sanguine. In Iseer, Alanor, Moranòch. In the realm of fire and water, and many other places across the Terra and the Ether. The war ended with the Siege of Më– far in the north that scarred the land. The great fire spirits that betrayed the heavens came from here, and they were spent by R̄ësha's armies down to the last of their essence within the Ether, leaving behind an absence of heat within the northern lands that would later become Arcticus.
The war was declared over when Asur defeated R̄ësha in battle and destroyed the dark one's physical body. Heaven cast Him out, and Choice triumphed over Destiny's greatest agent.