The genesis of the war

This story takes place in the same shared universe as many others I have written. This one details the beginnings of a war between all the races

With the attempted assassination of their gods, the angels were left with no choice but to retaliate. Of the six gods, four were left incapacitated by the demonic assassination attempt, while one was nowhere to be found. The people were in a panic; the buildup of military had brought tension; the knowledge of a meeting between the most powerful beings on the planet even more so, and now a demon had gone and ruined everything. But their sole remaining leader, Hattryn, known as Malakath to those close to him, was cautious; more importantly he was patient. He knew that a war between  the demons and angels could bring about the cataclysm he had dedicated himself to preventing, and he knew that, given the unfortunate positioning of their planets, both sides would have no choice but to involve the other races. The angels would be easy enough to convince. The fairies would be more difficult, but he knew they would come around eventually. But both Domiel and Malakath knew that the most important planet of all to conquer, the one that could ultimately decide the fate of all those involved in this war, was the Wildlands.

Populated by a disorganized mess of nomadic gombic tribes, the wildlands had remained largely undeveloped and unconquered (save for a few brief spats) for thousands of years. However with the arrival of humans and their need for a planet before they were able to get one for themselves, settlements had begun to form on the Wildlands. Permanent cities created by the humans who were unsuited for the nomadic lifestyle of the gombs had sprung up across the planet, and despite the eventual creation of a new earth for the humans to go and live on, many chose to stay in these cities. With age came growth, and soon these cites began to develop distinct economies, more importantly, they began to import and export goods, and it was with this that Malakath began his first attack.

He levied tariffs on these cities, stopping trade not only with angels but even with numerous elves and fairies. Some claimed his methods were harsh, and others outright called these an act of war, but for their entire duration Malakath insisted that they were simply a measure of caution in light of the recent attack. However much he insisted this, however, even the gombs could only be so trustful of him, and they had none of the qualms of the angels against war. With encouragement from the Red Church, and in concert with a prophecy of war from Brenn himself, the cities began a military buildup. This was, of course, all part of Malakath’s plan, in which he would have the gombs next go to war with each other, weakening them and allowing for an easy victory. Except, he underestimated their humanity; the Red Church may not condone military buildup, but this religion which every gomb on the planet was at least tangentially involved with preached only two simple goals: constant movement, and the flourishing of life. As a result, the people of the wildlands tend to be very forgiving, and after years of waiting, still no war had broken out. At this point, most would accept failure, but Malakath had something in mind for this situation as well.

“After several unfortunate years of harsh economic sanctions following the tragic attack on the council of gods, it seems that our enemies were indeed working under the influence of no government, and as such we have decided to lift all economic sanctions and tariffs against the Cities of the Wildlands, and, as a show of good faith and in an attempt to curb overpopulation of our cities, we have decided to institute a reward for any person or family who emigrates to the wildlands”

This was the statement officially released by every angelic government. Of course, it was written by Malakath, but the information it contained was true. Rewards began to be given to angelic families emigrating from their countries on heaven  to cities in the Wildlands, and this obviously led to a marked increase in immigration to those cities. They grew, and with them tensions also began to grow. As stated, the Red Church supports two goals above all else: The flourishing of life, and constant movement. The gombs have always been a nomadic race, and as such these large, permanent cities that an increasing number of them were living in sowed the seeds of a conflict with the Red Church.

To put it simply, some religious leaders, members of a group who came to be known as the “Loosers” for their loose interpretation of certain established principles of their religion, believed that movement should be treasured above all else. That these cities would be better if they were left to rot and that it was the responsibility of their immigrants to conform to the gombic way of life, not the other way around. The other group, known as the “Stayists” believed that this shift in their society was itself a change that honored the truth of movement. The believed that these permanent cities were doing a lot of good, and allowing a flourishing of life not previously available on this planet, and as such that the urban way of life should be nourished, not abandoned. But all of this came to a head with the appearance of the creature known as Pitfall

Pitfall is a creature that has never been seen. In fact, for several weeks after its arrival, it was thought that the massive holes in the desert that it created were the result of some natural phenomenon rather than a monster. However, use of seismic sonar was eventually able to determine the existence of several tendrils in the sand, stretching out over an area of several miles, and able to create, through vibrations, pitfalls in the sand from which none had ever returned. It was likely this creature used this method to feed, and it was thought to have been attracted to the large city around which it made its home by the constant loud noise and seismic activity generated by the newly bustling populace. Its main body lay too deep under the ground to detect even with the seismic sonar technology, and it only ever came up close enough to the surface to feed, at which time you would almost certainly be killed if you were within eyesight of it. A blurry photograph of the creature, appearing as a black mass, solid but writhing and covered with mouths, was passed around but was never confirmed as being real. The creature’s tendrils also released a lubricating secretion which would leave the sand around them hardened for a few hours after pitfall had left, making it difficult to even determine the creature’s true location until it struck. The people of this city, Everbreeze, began to fear ever leaving the city, but for the Red Church, this creature could only be an omen of something greater. The stayists argued that since Pitfall only killed those who left the city, that it was a sign from Go’oth that they should stay in their cities, while the Loosers took the more general interpretation that the appearance of a monster like this at a time like this could only mean that they should return to the way things were before all of this civilizing nonsense.

Their differing viewpoints and the appearance of Pitfall could never lead anywhere else but to a schism, and after a series of lengthy debates between the top religious leaders of both parties, the Stayists and Loosers ultimately split off into two separate sects. Now despite their origins on other planets, even most immigrants to the Wildlands end up converting after living for some time on the planet; such is the influence of the Red Church on the planet. And so because of this, most of these cities were taken predominantly by only one sect of the church. While those with a predominantly human population mostly became Stayist and those with a more angelic population tended towards the Looser side of things, these were far from hard rules. However one city that could not seem to make up its mind was the city of Everbreeze.

The people of Everbreeze were fearful of Pitfall, and as such they were fearful to ever leave the city. Because of this, it seemed that Stayist philosophy would triumph here, however this does not account for two things. The first, easier problem was that Pitfall prevented both Stayists and Loosers alike from leaving the city, and as such the balance remained largely the same. The second reason was a lot less obvious. You see the angels have two advantages that the other races often struggle with: for one, their wings allow them to fly almost without even having to use magic, and two, their technology is more advanced than any of the other races. As such, and given that Pitfall lives underground and relies on gravity to bring in his prey, it was the angels who were able to provide lifesaving imports to the people of Everbreeze. The angels were generally more supportive of the Loosers, and as such the balance between the two sects in Everbreeze remained at the tipping point for entirely too long. Tensions between the two groups never boiled over into anything serious, but the issue remained in the back of everyone’s mind, until one night, a problem started, not with a human or an angel, or even a gomb, but with two friends: a demon stayist, and a fairy looser.

This demon and this fairy were young and stupid and decided one night to go out drinking together. Well one thing led to another and the two ended up spending the night outside the city. When the demon woke up in the morning, his companion was gone, taken by Pitfall, but for some reason he remained alive. He wandered back to the city, in a daze and explained what happened to the authorities. He insisted, truthfully, that it was an accident, that he had no reason to want his companion dead. He was given trial, but the primarily human, stayist jury decided that he was telling the truth, that it really had been just an accident. The fairy’s family failed to see it that way however, and a couple of days later, broke in to the demon’s house and kidnapped him, intending to feed him to Pitfall in retribution for what they believed was the murder of the fairy. They were stopped by a demonic, looser police officer on their way out of town, but their argument formed a crowd around it, and this crowd became a full scale riot. Religious and racial tensions finally boiled over and people were getting hurt on both sides. After several hours of this, the riot was finally quelled when the angelic military was called in, and the city was then declared a territory of the angelic nation of Qurya.

Within a month Stayists were forced out of the city, many of them being forced to brave Pitfall in order to reach other cities. This angered a great many people and created further tensions between the two religious sects all across the planet. Then a human named John, with the support of a few unidentified co-conspirators snuck back in to the city of Everbreeze and attempted to assassinate the new mayor, a gomb named Pope who had grown up on Heaven and who was also a colonel in Malakath’s army. While the attempt failed and John was killed, Qurya sent troops into the city John had come from and crushed their defenses, forcibly conquering the city. Quickly, Cities all across the planet realized they needed to either joint the angels or find someone who could defend them from them, and it was at this moment that Domiel chose to make his appearance, offering military aid to any stayist city under threat from the angels. This was the beginning of the war of Creation.