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When the Greater Gods embraced, they produced gods and goddesses. When gods and goddesses embraced, they produced Demigods. When Demigods embraced, they produced Immortals and when Immortals embraced they produced the Ancients. These Ancients were beautiful to look at, intelligent beyond measure and powerful. They learned from their mighty kin and soon created powerful and great civilisations. Their cities were great and clean with no crime and no poverty. Everyone lived in harmony and created wonders that cannot be bested even today. The most powerful of the Ancients became as the Gods from whom they descended. They began to try and outdo each other, creating marvels, performing mighty deeds and weaving great spells. They found they could summon even the gods to do their bidding. The Air Gods came first because they were weak, then the Gods of the Sky and the Earth. The gods of Darkness came next, summoned from the Underworld, all paid homage to the Ancients. Finally, one of the Ancients found a way to summon beings from beyond the Underworld, from what existed outside the world and this began the downfall of the Ancients. Powerful Demons came and fought with the Ancients who called on the Gods for help. This was the second Gods War and many gods died. Some Gods sided with the Demons and took demonic husbands and wives and their descendants plagued the world afterwards. Eventually, the Gods prevailed and banished the Demons from the world, but the Ancients had paid a heavy price for their victory. Their cities were ruined, their power crushed and many had been killed. The Gods took their power away from them and made them marry normal beings and their children were no longer Ancients, even though they were powerful in their own right. Some of the Ancients had not taken part in the contests and had helped fight in the war and they were allowed to keep their powers but could not take wives or husbands and could not have children.
The Ancients were the children of Demigods and Immortals and they were beautiful and intelligent. But there were many Ancients, as there and many people now. Some Ancients resembled their ancestors, others their brothers and sisters. After many years, they recognised that some Ancients were more alike than others and some Ancients formed groups beyond their immediate families.
The Akershule were sons of the Sky Immortals, descended from the Sky, the Sun and the Moons and Stars. They were tall and fair and beautiful to behold. They were kind and peaceful and could do all things. They built a city where even the buildings were awake and could talk to each other. They built a tower that was so high that it rivalled the great Sky Mountain and could touch the Sky. From the top of the Tower, the great ones of the Akershule watched the world and knew they could command it. One by one, they called the Gods to the Tower and made them bow down to them. Some gods came willingly, others unwillingly and others tried to resist, but the Akershule used great magic to force them to come. Then Trickster came, unbidden, and bowed down low. "Oh, mighty Akershule," he said, "You have great power but only over the world you can see. What about the worlds you cannot see?" The Great Akershule pondered this puzzle and made new magic. They created gateways to places they could not see, to the Underworld and to the land Beneath the World's Rim. From there, they summoned the Darkness that had fled and the Dark Entities spoke to the Akershule of the things they had seen in their long exile. They spoke of the Chaos that separated their world from others and of how to contact those worlds, so the Akershule built more Gates to other worlds. One of the Gates failed and opened to nothing, so the Akershule left it unguarded, but one among them sought power for himself and joined with the Dark and saw the power of the Gate. He turned the nothingness upon itself and demons poured from the void. The Gods fought the demons and the world was ruined. The city of the Akershule was smashed beyond repair and the Akershule were driven to death or worse.
However, slowly, one by one, they returned. Some had hidden, others had changed their appearance, some had died and been reborn in their grandchildren, but they returned. They spoke to the buildings and slowly over the years they rebuilt. The buildings were as strong as before, but the Tower had been blasted into nothingness. The gates survived, but the Akershule were loathe to use them, so they posted guards over them. Over the years, their blood ran thin and they took husbands and wives from other folk, but they called themselves Akershule. Their city became great again and they forgot the lessons of the past. They talked about rebuilding the Tower and reopening the Gates. Then one of them challenged a barbarian magician to a duel and was almost defeated when in desperation he opened the Hell gate and let loose once more the demons. The demons were less powerful than they had been but still swarmed over the Akershule, for they were mere reflections of what they had themselves been. A Barbarian King called Thakyr Ryn destroyed the demons and sacked the city, killing many of the Akershule men and enslaving the Akershule women. Many of the Akershule committed suicide rather than be taken prisoner and retired to their family tombs.
The Ancients took many forms. All were powerful, all were wise and all were beautiful. But, the powerful, wise and beautiful had to eat, had to wear clothing and had to live in beautiful houses. They were too proud to grow food, make clothes or build buildings, so they made servants to do these things. These servants were also powerful, wise and beautiful. One of the servant peoples was the Shea, tall and graceful and expert growers. Their powers grew with the Ancients and many became powerful magicians in their own right. Eventually, they too became proud and created servants of their own. These servants were mankind and served the Shea as the Shea served the Ancients. The Shea wanted to become as the Ancients and when one of the Ancients quarrelled with his fellows, many of the Shea followed him into exile, taking their own servants with them. The Shea took on new powers and magic as they followed Koru-Su and became Lords of Undead, leading twisted armies of men and other creatures. They joined in the Third Gods War, when the remaining Ancients fought for a place in the world but lost and were forced back to their barrows, tombs and places of death. But, they did not die and merely wait for the next Gods War.
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