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This world is known by many names: Under Heaven, Midguard, and Middle Earth to name a few. But the most common and least understood name is Roneleven, a name earned long ago when the world was remade. Before Roneleven, the world was called Peraka, “Magic Park” in the language of the gods. A council led by five gods created Peraka and brought many mortal races from other realms to tend the lands they had made. Such were the Dwarves, Elves, Goblins, races of Men, and many others brought to this world, each with their own language and names for the lands they were given.
One day a great evil fell from the sky, and the gods renamed their world Roneleven to signify their intention to fight the invader to the last of their strength. They lost, and the world as it exists today was created. Six thousand years later, a few of the surviving powers continue to fight, while others have chosen to accept the enemy and move on. Still more divine spirits have since been born.
Peraka was the home of many historic cultures, both real and imagined, sharing only their pre-technological nature and a common access to the world's inherent magic. Many of these cultures survived the creation and still exist on Roneleven to this day. The Norse lands border the North Sea, the Chinese cultures of Under Heaven lie to the East, Arab and Egiptian lands cover the South, and native American civilizations can be found on a continent far across the Western ocean. The gods, language, and culture of each land is native to that land, and little changed from the time of their founding when the world was young. Lands having no correspondence to any true historic culture also exist, and represent the historic fantasies of men long dead. When evil fell and Peraka was remade into Roneleven, each culture was left largely unchanged except for a general darkening of spirit. Simple clans and kingdoms slowly turned into decadent empires, which warred upon and lay waste to the many lands of their enemies.
One land is key to the future of Roneleven, and is known simply as Empire. This land is much like Europe of the Middle-Ages, or Middle Earth of Tolkien's writing, or many of the other common fantasy realms. It is a great conglomeration of many small kingdoms following a 1,500 mile long river, which runs from the mountains to the sea. An all-powerful emperor rules from the hidden capitol city, Drussus Nier, with uncanny knowledge and a fell power to command from afar.
The world was originally formed by a council of five gods. Of the five, only three are still involved in the mortal world: Xavier (god of knowledge and discovery), Janier (protector of nature), and Gauss (the evil sea goddess). Of the other two creator gods, one was utterly destroyed in the cataclysmic recreation of Roneleven, and the last was simply lost and never found.
It is said that Macon Black, who is now the absolute master of the mortal world, was created by Xavier. Then Janier designed the balance of nature for all the lands, and Gauss designed and continues to rule the oceans and seas. The civilized realms and the spirit world were the domains of the other two creator gods, and have since passed into the control of newer gods.
Macon Black (greater god), Lyso (goddess of healing), and Cogen Rel (maker of monsters) all existed as divine spirits in Peraka. After the fall and the world's recreation, each spirit was changed, gaining true godly powers and taking a greater roll in control of Roneleven.
The god Maxwell (lord of chaos) and the goddess Inos (mistress of thieves) appear shortly before the fall. When evil fell on the world, these two, and many others now dead, formed the heart of Roneleven's resistance forces. Although this war was lost almost six thousand years ago, they continue to wage a war of stealth and intrigue against the enemy.
Ademis ascended to his current position as ruler of the gods during the creation of Roneleven. Nothing is known of him from before that turbulent time. He now controls much of the civilized world with his “Rules of Civilized Behavior.”
The goddess Athena (patron goddess of paladins) is a latecomer to this pantheon. She is the most powerful of several spirits who have gained divine ascension since Roneleven was created. Her Ascension is only 3,500 years past, and she has only risen to demigod-hood in the last 800 years.