Not long after they began to form the world and set life upon it, the original gods of creation made assistants of their own, various creatures and beings that were immortal. After the souls of mortals starting going to either the paradises or the Hell a number of the gods, both original and birthed, rewarded some of their followers by making that soul an assistant in some fashion. The gods of Malice were allowed to create immortal assistants, but the assistants could not leave the Hell nor harm mortals (could harm/torture the souls; after the Treaty the divine assistants of the gods’ of Malice are allowed to travel with their gods to the Demi Plane – still can not harm mortals or any living thing, no instigation of violence). The gods of Malice were not allowed to turn the souls of their followers into divine assistants as their followers usually had done wrong in life and thus had to face eternal punishment. This was one of the arguments brought up in the War, albeit another one the gods of Malice knew they would lose.
Not long after the Treaty, Teoheon, chief of the gods of Ill Desire, cautiously decided to exploit two loopholes in the Treaty: nowhere in the Treaty did it say when the souls were to arrive in the Gray Waste; or when the eternal punishment was to begin. The Treaty did say, as was the rule before the War, that the gods of Malice could not turn the souls of their followers into divine assistants. With all this in mind Teoheon selected one of his most devoted mortal followers and had one of his clerics teach the follower how, upon death, to have one’s soul clutch the Mortal Plane with all that soul’s might. When this mortal died their body expired yet their soul stayed bound to the Mortal Plane as Teoheon had hoped. The follower’s soul was then free to do as it saw fit, but it had been suggested by the cleric not to do anything to draw attention.
The gods knew that mortal souls did not always automatically make their way to the Divine Plane upon the mortal’s death depending on how the mortal died and if that mortal’s will was so strong that they could stay bound to the Mortal Plane to take care of some unfinished business. This had been going on since the beginning. Eventually the soul would find it’s way to the afterlife, although in some cases after many centuries. Most gods did not concern themselves with this too much as what was several centuries to beings that have lived for tens or hundreds of thousands of years?
Teoheon knew that if his follower’s soul stayed in the Mortal Plane it may just be seen as the soul still holding on, but eventually would leave. None of the gods should be too suspicious of this. And after some centuries of the mortal being dead or presumed dead, who would be looking for them, assuming anyone was looking for them in the first place.
A few centuries went by. None of the other gods seemed to know what had taken place. Teoheon then experimented more and repeated this experiment with a few more of his followers. Some of the souls were able to stay in the Mortal Plane, but not all.
The souls that did manage to stay in the Mortal Plane “happened upon” some of the cracks between the Demi and Mortal Planes. These souls however could not pass into the Demi Plane lest they would have to let go of their grip to the Mortal Plane and thus find their way to the Divine Plane and their punishment. So Teoheon tried this experiment with his mortal followers in the Demi Plane and replicated his success, this time with his followers’ souls “happening upon” the cracks between the Demi Plane and Mortal Plane and also between the Demi Plane and City of Second Chances, and the suspected cracks between the Demi Plane and Gray Waste. The gods of Malice and their immortal assistants had been looking for these cracks for centuries with less than ideal results, but something about the nature of souls was able to succeed where divinity failed. Once the weak spots were found Teoheon then went to his most trusted lieutenants and informed them of his centuries-long works. With great restraint, very selectively, this small group of gods of Ill Desire began to choose from amongst it’s most savvy, devoted followers and indirectly found ways of sharing information with the followers that could help these select few hang onto the Mortal Plane and at least for a while to escape their fate and continue to carry out works on behalf of their god(s) – indirectly of course.
It took some time but the general host of gods found out what Teoheon and his lieutenants had done (in regards to helping the souls stay bound to the plane the mortal died in, not in regards to finding portals). As outraged as they were most of the other gods did not want to start another war, and as some of the gods of justice and law pointed out this did not technically violate the terms of the Treaty as the souls had not been changed in anyway – no special powers as typical divine assistants were given – such as traveling between the planes at will. These souls had to stay in the plane they died in and had no powers beyond that of any other soul. These souls had not done harm or incited harm. These souls had simply been given information, information that some number of Gifted and other mortals across the religious spectrum had sought to stay in the Mortal Plane beyond their deaths, and not every soul was able to stay in the Mortal Plane upon that mortal’s death.
To ameliorate the situation Teoheon suggested that just like each god could “grace” so many mortals, each god could have so many “divine agents” and this would be verified on a regular basis in the same manner as the numbers of prophets (clerics), Tasked (paladins), and god-touched were. These divine agents were under strict rules and limited to be messengers, guides, givers of information, information seekers, and they were to commit no harm to any living thing or incite violence.
Begrudgingly, a slim majority of other gods agreed. Teoheon was quietly surprised and pleased at what seemed like such capitulation by some of the other gods. Even though several centuries had passed since the War many gods and their followers still hurt from the losses of that conflict. And in the memory of a god, what’s a few centuries? Yesterday. Teoheon had actually been willing to go so far as to give into the demand that the malicious gods’ divine agents would have to face their punishment after some allotted time in the Demi or Mortal Plane and that their time as a divine agent was only a brief reprieve or delaying of the inevitable. More than that, he was willing to accept that his agents would automatically have to go back to the Gray Waste for punishment and that he and his lieutenants would have to lose something, say their number of mortal representatives. In his mind, this would have all been worth it as he found out what he and his brethren had been quietly seeking for millennia – where the cracks between some planes were and how to find more. Now, one of his hopes might be fulfilled: that from time-to-time a soul in the Gray Waste would find one of the cracks or pathways and find it’s way back to the Demi or Mortal Plane. And who would the soul thank for that? These divine agents of the gods of Malice became known as Malacenes, whereas the divine agents of the gods of Benevolence were known as Benevocenes, or Bennies.
Now that everything was out in the open, it was actually easier for the gods of Malice to move forward with some of their plans – such as more easily rewarding their most loyal followers. Knowing where the cracks, portals between the Demi and Mortal planes were meant that Teoheon and other gods of Malice could have their Gifted worshipers reincarnate select followers of the gods of Malice and the mortal would be ushered directly into the Demi Plane, or the follower could be guided from the Mortal Plane into the Demi Plane or vice versa for other useful purposes. This resulted in at least a few cities in the Demi Plane being full followers of various gods of Malice. The other gods should have known better as to what they were agreeing to. Some did, but they were out-voted. Not all wars have to be fought with swords and spears.
Up Next: the Chosen of the Gods & the Physical Aspects and Nature of the Demi Plane
