The Second Age (approx 9000 years)

The Second Age began when the first humanoid races were created, and placed in the PMP, each with
a single instruction from their home plane.

Name Race Instruction

The Diamond Metallic
Protect
Dragon Dragonborn

The Feathered Sky Aarakocra Cultivate

The Wistful Dream Elf Learn

The Playful Tide Whalefolk Vocate

The Ever-changing
Genasi Risk
Spark

The Scattered Kenku Adapt

The Demon Lord Orc Intuit

The Creeping Death Goliath Kill
The Modron Titan Dwarf Invent
The Imprisoned Halflings Endure

The Noble Knight Aasimar Train

The Divine Sunshine Gnome Care
Chromatic
The Prismatic Death Horde
Dragonborn
The Slave Driver Goblin Exploit

The Devil King Tieflings Manipulate

The Spider Queen Drow Lie

It was here that the first humanoids began to build, grow, and thrive. The Gods were given almost no
influence over them, post-creation, besides the word that they imparted, and the location on the
Planet Notio, on the super-continent PANGAIA. The Second Age was called the Age of Creation.
The location, settlement, and society, that each race created/adopted were as follows:
Metallic Dragonborn: Orefullerine Peaks, Scarbon
The Diamond Dragon created a race with a heart to protect those who cannot protect
themselves. The Metallic Dragonborn took after their God, and stood as beacons of faith, duty, and
goodness. The strongest became warriors and paladins, though any Dragonborn could muster the
skills to undertake almost any task, with their mindset, they quickly became ‘Jack of all Trades’. They
may not have been the masters of any particular craft, but they would often explore many facets of
life, prioritising mental happiness and joy, in all peoples.
The Orefullerine Peaks, provided for the group, giving them protection, pastime, imagination,
exploration, and inspiration. Driven by faith, the clergy led the society through Theocracy, helmed by
a ‘Jewel’, or head of the religious sect, who sought to guide the group to joyful enlightenment.
Aarakocra: Floating Fields, Lena
Avia was eager to allow her creations to experience the thrill of flight, and the eagerness of the
hunt, and so on the coast lies the rocky outcropping used by the Aarakocra, as home. Large natural
pillars rise from the sea, and strike up from the land. The flat peaks of these pillars are used as
farmland, while the indents and caves surrounding each land protrusion are used as nests and other
homesteads.
Spartan in their limited architecture, Aarakocra’s devoted time to hunting, growing, and
harvesting, as per their interpretations of Avia’s command. Due to their mostly self-sufficient lifestyle,
their have no ‘leader’ as such. Rules are observed out of expectation, and enforced by those who wish
to see the peaceful society continue.
Elf: Oghma’s Forest, Llyfrgell
Eager to have his creations exposed to the world to learn as much as possible, Oghma sent the
elves deep into a forest, believing that nature would protect and provide for them. Llyfrgell is a
treetop settlement, the elves using all dimensions in their building and harnessing of the forest’s
structure.
The Elves were receptive to the abundant stimuli, flora and fauna, and quickly began to learn,
investigate, probe, and understand the world they had been placed in. The wisest of them rose to
lead them, a Meritocracy. They lived in harmony with nature, sometimes breaking away from the
sciences to honour Oghma with the art, creating beautiful paintings, songs, and patterns, hoping to
both understand and solidify, their place in the world.
Whalefolk: Mana’s Cove, Tuhinga o mua
Manannan placed his creations next to his domain. They could look out upon his pride and joy,
and be inspired to create something just as masterful, and take joy in doing it. Nestled away in
nature’s natural protection from the weather, Tuhinga o mua is situated under a large crag, stretched
across a large crescent beach.
The bay provided a food source, cover, and an identity for the Playful Tide’s race. Due to their
God’s command, the Whalefolk found great joy and fulfilment in work, craft, and mastery of said
craft. Homes were made of hides and driftwood, with time in the society delegated to both benefiting
the tribe and furthering one’s own vocation.
Whalefolk are often solitary dwellers, coupling only for parenting, falling in love with their craft,
and mating to grow and benefit the tribe, rather than for love in the same sense as some other races.
The tribe is run by a board of Elder’s, who aim to act for the benefit of the Whalefolk, usually, though
not always, their chosen vocation of leadership.
Genasi: Desert Oasis, Wahat Al’khatar
Thor-Kur, in her elemental chaos, actually created a race with varying physiology within the race
itself. The Gensai were formed with help from the Elemental Gods, creating a Fire, Water, Earth, and
Air sub-race, of Thor-Kur’s design.
She chose to place them next to a desert oasis, knowing that they would have to rely on each
others natural resistances to help them conquer the tough environment. Fire Genasi’s would cope
well with the extreme heat during the day, while the Water Genasi could handle the chills that night
brought with it. The Earth Genasi could navigate the deserts easily, while the Air Genasi could retrieve
resources from the deep wells of water that the oasis provided.
They very quickly adopted a society of anarchy, as Thor-Kur would have wanted. This led the
Genasi to great successes and catastrophic failures, though they knowing accepted the consequences,
whilst simultaneously assured that the same plan would yield a different result, this time.
Kenku: Silent Swamp, Adapt
 The confusing mind of Persona was evident in the Kenku’s. They had cursed their creations by
being unable to speak with their own voices, only to imitate the sounds around them. Placing them in
a swamp, they were truly given the challenge to adapt. Wildlife became their language, food source,
and home, using whatever they could find to build nests and other shelters for themselves.
Kenku’s behaved more like a hive mind than any of the other races, supporting each others
young, looking after their injured, and hunting together. Hard-working in the face of their creator’s
imposed adversity, the bird people were shaped into skittish but nimble creatures, evading the
harsher denizens of the swamps, and collecting many leftover objects from the first age, shared out
among the collective.
Orc: Estuary Caves, Klan’Xio’Lin
Driven by impulse and beastly nature, the Orcs were Baháʼrí’s most sophisticated creation
imbued with his most base desires. Limited intellectually, the Orcs fell under the leadership of a
chieftain, in a somewhat autocratic tyrannical rule, that encouraged the splintering of the original
tribe, to spread out into their mountain-scape as quick as possible.
Huts were constructed from stone usually, but the Orcs were intuitive, a could create and
innovate when the desire took them.
The terrain hardened the Orcs, making hunters and fighters out of them, but also maintaining a
strong connection to their animalistic patron, so nature and it’s critters were a well respected part of
Orcish culture.
Goliath: Pox Claw, Avars
When the Lady of Pestilence created the Goliaths, she intended for them to be another form of
plague to the other Gods. To her surprise, a fairly well-functioning society was born, amongst the
roaming nomadic race.
Her command may have been intended to be directed to the other Gods’ races, the Goliaths
became great and powerful hunters and fighters, oft times coining the title of ‘barbarian’ as a mantle.
Leaders were determined in a ‘survival of the fittest’ manner, the victor directing the tribe to their
next location, normally towards a wealth of natural resources which they would then deplete rather
rapidly, or as time drew on, towards other settlements, to rape, raze, and pillage, as Larsulrich had
better intended.
Goliaths kept few possessions, took what they wanted, and only let the fittest of their brood
survive, honouring their Goddess through the sacrifice.
Dwarf: Spearpoint Mountain, Axehead
Nestled, or rather, embedded into the Threaded Mountain Range, the Dwarves found a home
with stone. Archim granted unto them an innate skill for mining, forging, and creating, and so the first
engineers were made. Hardy, strong, and smart, the mountains and dwarves soon began to draw
obvious parallels.
The Dwarves sought to master and control most everything they could comprehend, believing
that it would help them overcome the chaos within their inevitable enemies, the Gensai, and Thor-
Zur, beings that relished in the not knowing, risk taking, and limitless foresight.
Their need for law and order realised the first Monarchy, and a Feudalism society sprung from
that.
Halflings: Frozen Scape, Angakkuq
In order to cultivate a hardiness within their race, Ilmatar sent the Halflings to a place ignored by
most of the other Gods, the Frozen Scape. Forced to toughen up and endure from their conception,
the Halflings became masters of the icy planes. Hunters and Rangers grew up on the winter beasts
that prowled around, while they always found time for songs and respite, around the closely packed
fires.
The Halflings adopted an early version of democracy quite quickly. An informally elected leader
held responsibility for the community as a whole, settling matters when they arose, and ensuring the
camps were stocked and guarded. Little else can be said of them; they suffer though life, finding and
clinging onto the joys that they create, constantly reminding them of the struggle that their God
endures, and how they allow Ilmatar joy, through their deeds.
Aasimar: Fleetfoot Jungle, Sentineli
A warrior God did surely create a warrior race; gifted swordspeople, skilled tacticians, and
disciplined subjects, the Aasimars rose to the challenge of the rainforest and allowed it to shape them
as people. Abiding by the constant need for self-improvement, the angelic race trained in all manner
of survival crafts, culminating in a guerilla approach to hunting, war, and protection.
 The society was a militocracy, tough but just, organised and dutiful, the final word. Talion had
given her creations a natural training ground with the beasts, plants, and diseases of the jungle, and
the product of such a combination, led to a hardy but untrusting, often socially inept, and objective
without proper thought. They would always look after they own, but their was strength in the trials
that life would throw, and overcoming such trials made one better.
Gnome: Rebirthing Lakes, Azuma
Imbued with the healing that Nihon brought into the world, the Gnomish people settled around
the lakes that granted them advanced knowledge on medicine, herbalism, and anatomy. Gathered
around the bodies of water, fisheries arose, the gnomes adopting a strictly sustainable pescetarian
diet, tending to many of the animals that come to drink, and receive the boons that they could tame.
Watched over by to ruling families, a Patron, whose male head leads with the female head of
another families, a Matron, basically duel royal families, though only the Patron and Matron are
formally acknowledged.
Defenders of life, usually creates clerics, and distaste for the undead creates paladins. Along with
that their caring nature created rangers. A content race, satisfied to simply be, and enjoy life.
Chromatic Dragonborn: Scaled Canyon, Pretur
In a demonstration of heritage, power, and vision, Tiamat placed the ‘Chromats’ in a large, and
harsh canyon. It had been a place of battle between herself and Diamantaire, and hundreds of their
dragon creations during the First Age; the husks of which now littered the canyon.
The environment would experience the extremes of weather and climate. Hot days, cold nights,
droughts, snow cover, Tiamat’s logic was to fashion a race with the strength to survive, and to do so
with pride.
Shorty after, the Chromat’s had re-purposed the skeletons as buildings and shelters from nature.
With time, mud and stone, were used to provide structure, but also beauty, often carved into
wonderful shapes and scales; a dragonkind proud of their appearance, already believing themselves
to be superior to any of the other creatures that inhabit the land. They cultivated little due to the
conditions, so ate mostly what they could hunt, beasts who also represented the tough conditions of
Scaled Canyon, another challenge that Tiamat had put in-front of them, but they did overcome it, and
were stronger for it. The tribe was led by the strongest member of the group.
Goblin: Submitted Tundra, Yariloperun
In a want to allow his creations to feel the power that Hammurabi himself feels, driving slaves,
the Goblins were heralded as great tamers of beasts, and well documented subjugating weaker
beings, kobolds and Xvarts were common working prisoners.
Infrastructure was never a large part of Goblin life. Most time was spent infighting, try to
become the next lord, or attempting to steal from those who have, or defend from those very same
Goblins. They were not a kind race, and although they fought with each other often, as a united force
they were industrious and deadly.
They tended to bite off more than they could chew; part of Hammurabi’s teachings were meant
to teach restraint and wisdom, though few Goblins actually picked these up, and fewer survived the
grooling dagger and bow filled life in a slavery-built, tribal autocracy.
Tieflings: Post-Pangaia Straight, Sreni
Asmodeus, ever forward thinking, sent his creations to a would-be-central part of Pangaia,
where the super continent narrowed and would eventually form a funnel point on one of the smaller
continents, but in the future he knew that controlling the straight would provide great wealth and
power to the Tieflings.
Their society was built upon a democracy, though the leaders and representatives were often
corrupt and liable to bribes. Power and money were the driving factors in their evolution, preferring
to take by words and contracts, than by force, believing correctly that Asmodeus prefers the certainty
of honour and law, than the unpredictably of brute force.
The Tieflings were smart and silver-tongued, were quickly able to manipulate the surroundings
to aid them in their growth, though they were not adverse to manual labour themselves.
Drow: Underdark, Drizzt’essia
Already paranoid about protecting her race, Lolth placed the Drow deep underground, trusting
in her children’s guile to help them overcome the dangers of the Underdark. Her trust was well-
placed; soon the race of elf-esque Drow, had tamed spiders, Umber Hulks, and all different manner of
Underdark denizens left over from the First Age.
 Promising these creatures gifts, rewards, and other incentives, they were able to use the
domesticated creature to assist them in their settling. As such, Drizzt’essia grew larger, and quicker,
than most of the other societies. Stone, reinforced with spider silk, and large scale excavations,
provided a unique, and eerily gothic beauty to the settlement.
To honour Lolth, Drow society quickly adopted a matriarchy, males subjugated for menial work,
breeding, and combat, unable to hold any position of power, whilst the females ran the show, called
the shots, and began to dream big for the Drow.

Key Events during this Age:

Formation of the Apex Council

As the Second Age continued, after the initial first contacts, and unsteady alliances and truces,
the strange position of the PMP began to effect the alignments of the creations. Whereas each God
had given a portion of their ethos to their race, they still could not account for the power that
Thought had left in the Verse. After a long passage of time, the ability of each race to develop its own
path and principles, caused anomalies in the divine planes.
When a creature died, it’s soul was returned to its creator’s plane, to be reassigned by their God,
however, when an Elf returned to Oghma intent on murder, or a Drow stood defiantly before Lolth, it
became quickly apparent that their creations were developing independence, and a new system of
afterlife would have to be employed, and the logic of merely ‘sorting-by-race’ designed and
maintained by Archim, would have to be replaced.
During this period of unknown, Gods could not swap the souls of their creations, the murderous
elf wouldn’t be traded for the knowledge-seeking Orc, and the logistician Gensai couldn’t be
exchanged for the rebellious Dwarf, as the Gods were forbidden from contacting Gods more than one
plane away from them. This was also the sentiment on the PMP, as outcasts and wanderers,
disrupted the plans of civilisations, and people began to lose their faith in Gods as kingdoms began to
change and integrate with other races.
From this desire for souls to be free, and for the Gods to release the spirits of their unwilling, a
seventeenth God manifested, named Cognati, The Judgement Oracle, who after creation had called
them to existence, began by creating a new race. Humans. Humans were sent to the PMP to
practically every other race, in order to spread the words of Cognati, The Judgement Oracle,
preaching tolerance, compromise, and sacrifice. To help them with this task Cognati, The Judgement
Oracle, equipped them with a power called Aura, a direct link to the remnants of Thought, that would
allow them to mould, judge, and influence when necessary. They also set the planes in motion,
creating a orbital system that would allow for each plane to pass by the other planes, allowing souls
to be transferred, and conceding a small amount of contact between rival Gods.
Another issue was raised when it became clear that Cognati was trapped on the wrong side of
the Divine Shield since they had been called into existence post-First Age. Cognati was a large and
powerful Will-o-wisp type being, thought to be made from pure aura, and who some of the Gods
perceived as Thought itself, such was Cognati’s strength it critically weakened the divine shield
enough for it to escape and create its own plane. The consequence of this was that a more clearer line
of communication could be garnered between, the Gods and the Races, a communication which
coincided with the end of the Second Age.
Upon the enacting of this new system the Second Age was brought to a close. The weakening of
the Divine Shield had taken a serious toll on the physical structure of Notio as Pangaia, was forcibly
spilt into its major and minor continents.