Alright, after the unfortunate no-show Friday night, we spent a great deal of time talking about the Death Campaign and working on characters for it.  After reviewing a bit, it seems that a lot of the history has gone forgotten due to OOC time past.  I'll refresh you on what I remember as pertinent and what I've revealed.  As a caveat, let me add that I don't have my DM tome here, so I don't have the record of what I've revealed and not revealed, so I may be playing it safe and not adding a few things.  Let me know if there's anything I either legitimately forgot or conveniently left out.

**A group of immaculate pieces of parchment have been neatly curled with each other and tied on one end with a red ribbon met in the middle by sealing wax.  The seal is one that you do not recognize and are quite sure you've never seen.  Unrolling the pieces, you read the following in flowing cursive penmanship:**

A HISTORY OF GAMADA - THE CONTINENT OF THE DEATH CAMPAIGN

    [as recorded by the Light Elf Brillithoralin -Initiate- seeking a name before the Council]

   Creation of a Pantheon

Gamada was formed by the Creator, the god of good, Austinian.  Austinian was pleased with the world he formed, but he grappled inside with a desire for more.  The gnawing desire began to dangerously crescendo, and, recognizing the new threat, Austinian tore the desire out of him and cast it into a realm of darkness.  Over time, the parasitic desire grew and grew like a malignant tumor independent of a host.  This desire caught the eye of Austinian, but not before it forged a consciousness of its own.  Rancor was born that day.  Rancor recognized Austinian's decision as a show of favoritism for his creation more than Rancor himself, so he boiled with jealousy and hate.  A ravenous desire to change, destroy, or subjugate everything his former host once took pleasure in devoured every thought of this new superpower.  Austinian saw an imminent battle for superiority beginning to boil, so he acted quickly.  He created a being of nearly infinite intellect to serve as his counselorr.  He created Procion.  Intellect incarnate becomes naturally neutral, though, so Procion showed no favoritism.  Nonetheless, he advised Austinian on his next, move.  A checkmate.  In an act of amazing wisdom, as suggested by Procion, Austinian preserved his power, his essence, in a race in his newly formed world.  Austinian created the race of Men.  Passionate in their pursuits, and desirous to serve something greater than themselves, Men flourished on Gamada.  They secured Austinian's future indefinitely.  He could now never be defeated so long as he held the hearts of Men.

Rancor writhed in jealousy, but, being entirely void of creative powers, he looked to corrupt Austinan's power source -- the faith of Men.  He called out to the neutral ear of Procion and begged for guidance, of which he was granted.  Procion knew no faction, nor will he ever, so he willingly imparted the most logical course of action in their epic chess game.  The weakness of Austinian's creation was his dependency on free will.  You see, his servants had to choose to worship him or there was no power derived at all.  Therefore, the course was clear.  According to Procion's advice, Rancor overtly submitted to Austinian in an act of deceit, while tugging at the doubts of Austinian's favored race in the background like a macabre marionette act.  Men began failing in their beliefs and turned to Rancor's empty promises.  In a rage, Austinian became apalled and cast away the spoiled fruits of his creation to the southern extremities of Gamada.  He then turned his back on this land, which gave Rancor the foothold he so overwhelmingly desired.  The land itself turned in on itself and split.  Fissures marred the surface, and every living thing dried up and withered away.  From this terrible act, a newly found deity took form in Gamada.  A power of decay and death lead to the birth of this goddess.  Raithorinne (pronounced raeth-OR-inn) was born.  She plays no major role in the realm of Gamada other than setting an end to the immortality of all created things in the realm.  An alliance of convenience was formed between Rancor and Raithorinne.

Austinian saw what took place and knew he must call upon an ally to neutralize the terrible power of death.  A cycle had to be formed -- a cycle of life.  Austinian created this cycle and gave that power a name.  The goddess Persephone was born.  Persephone allied with Austinian to battle the new force of evil in the land.  This battle is still being waged in the divine realm, manifest in Gamada even today.

[ As a side note, every deity has one Champion (think Gabrielle from the Bible).  Austinian - Galadriel (now Aknor);  Persephone - The Tree of Life (actually a dormant Ent);  Procion - refused this right, preferring to meddle in affairs himself in dragon form;  Raithorinne - Grim Reaper (ferries bodies across to Thay day in and day out); and Rancor - Mord Ignon (his insurgency to take over Rancor's spot has been all but defeated by the heroes) ]

  The History of Thay and the Other Races

Upon seeing this cycle of life and death set into motion, Austinian and Persephone saw the need for a place of rest for the deceased.  In an act of pity for even his fallen creatures, Austinian offered his divine plan up to Rancor to lay his twisted servants to rest as well.  Rancor refused adamantly and mocked Austinian, seeing the offer as a sign of weakness.  With a heavy heart, Austinian worked together with Persephone to create Thay, a peaceful and good resting place for all those who refused the path of evil.  Their souls would live on forever in this place.  As guardians of this place and the keepers of the secrets of the world, Persephone, with the help of Austinian, created her very own race -- The race of Elves. 

She dispersed them equally among Thay and the northern Mystic Woods where they would stay hidden from all the warring that had begun among the two factions of Men to the south.  Her reasoning for distributing a faction of elves on the main continent of Gamada was to chronicle the actions of the gods and men so as to preserve their histories forever.  Every living thing could benefit from the ardent pursuit of wisdom by searching the events of the past, so she wished to grant access to those in Gamada as well.  These elves were to be the shining light in a darkening world, so she dubbed them Light Elves.  Not even these bastions of aloofness were immune to the consequential reasoning power of free will, though, and they began to split in their beliefs as well -- but we will discuss this with later events.

The men who followed Austinian and the men who followed Rancor warred to the south, driven by their god-given passion.  Each side adamantly proclaiming their side as the greater, they rended flesh from their once-beloved brethren in the name of their respective gods.  During this time, a splinter group of men turned from the bloody front of the war and fled to the mountains to the Northwest.  In time, after withdrawing into the caves and living off of the land, they were slowly changed through natural means into the dwarves of today, but that is another story entirely.

(( more to come later ))