With Arudain's defeat and the destruction of the Triad, the Fire God's dreams and desire for conquest were finally quenched.  Not only had Arudain been defeated once again by the Goddess of Water when his armies failed to take the Soran city of Izuma, but he had other plans of conquest thwarted not a year later by a band of mortals barely old enough to be considered adults.

 

The full weight of these defeats plunged Arudain into a period of deep introspection, and when his brethren sought to find a suitable punishment for his transgressions the Fire God turned the tables by pointing out how fragile the Balance was with only the Four Gods.  The battles between Siv and Arudain alone were a threat to Planes all by themselves.  There was a need for change, and his brethren saw that.  The gods came into concert, discussing at length how to solve this problem; it was Garrison who finally came to the conclusion that the power of the gods must be spread further out among more entities, so that if one pillar fell the planes would still have the support they needed.  Searching the planes, the Gods sought out the most powerful of their servants and gave each of these new deities a small fraction of their power; these new deities were granted dominion over various aspects of the world and were to answer to the God that granted them their divinity.

 

Among Garrison's chosen were Draco, the Dragon King and Patron of Honor, and Borobon, Patron of Caves and Stone.  As a joint decision with Arudain, Garrison also gave power to the Demon Prince Baf'N'Del, to create the Patron of War and Combat.

 

Lilith chose only the Elf Patron Corellan and the sage Atronus, Patron of the Stars, as her own.  With Garrison's assistance, she raised the Green Man as the Protector of Nature's Balance, and with the assent of the other Gods she granted him autonomy.

 

Under Siv's command came the gods of the Sea, long revered by the races of Water:  Alaia, Patron of Mercy and Saf Harbor; Neptune, Lord of the Open Seas and Currents; the twins Celafin and Aquaria, Patrons of Duality and the Tides; and Sekolah the Shark Fiend, the Lord of Hunger and Patron of the Ocean's Ferocity.

 

Arudain raised the Demon Princes Mephistopheles and Gorgruun, the Patrons of Lies and Pestilence, respectively.  The dragon Typhus, ever Draco's enemy, was raised as the Patron of Hatred and Vengeance.  And as revenge against the Arkians of the Sacred Heart, Arudain forced their patron Solarus into his service; the celestial paragon became the Patron of Redemption and the Sun.

 

In a joint effort Garison and Arudain gave power to Gracius, a paragon of Law, and raised him to be the Patron of Order.  Lilith and Siv similarly gave power to Kurtu, a paragon of Chaos, and raised him as the Patron of Fate and Luck.

 

The energies released in this event did not go unnoticed, and there were several among the planes that stole power for themselves and indebted themselves to none of the Gods.  These were Lloth, the Demon Queen of the drow, Noctum, Empress of the Plane of Shadow, and Mortus, Demon Prince of Undeath.  Through this stolen power they became the Patrons of Poison and Betrayal, Shadow and Murder, and Death Incarnate.

 

And in the ordered chaos that was the flow of divine energy was born Proteus, the Patron of Change, and god of no set form and no lasting allegiance.

 

With the emergence of Proteus, the Time of Change came to an end.  With the end of the Time of Change, the Seventh Age of Beuath, the Age of Rebirth, came into being...