The Third Age: The Age of Faith

The stability of Beuath was shattered after the decimation of the priesthood and the departure of the Four. The High Priests did what they could to regain control and restore order, but their influence was small compared to what the priesthoods had once commanded and left most of the world lawless and wild. In this void of power it became obvious to many that the way of this new Age would be force of arms.

In the wake of Arki's destruction, Arudain made the decision to spurn the planes in favor of the Material, and rather than let his dark influence spread across the whole of Beuath the other gods took up residence on the Material as well. Each took mortal form in the temples built in their honor by the Chosen, and from these temples they personally ruled the Lands, casting down the kings and declaring their own word as law.

From this, the priesthood once again gained power. Where once the priesthood rivaled the power of the kings, it now held complete control.

The Rise of the Paragons

The gods ruled Beuath personally for a thousand years, and during this time their priesthoods grew in power until they controlled every city and township in the known world. It was in this time that those with the skill and knowledge began to traverse the planes, and in some places began settlements for study and research. Some of these settlements attracted planar beings, and the intermingling between outsiders and the beings of the Material resulted in beings of mixed heritage, the aasimars of the higher planes, the tieflings of the lower, and the genasi of the elements. Some of these beings made their way to the Material Plane and took up residence there, and with them came many outsiders.

In time, this travel between the planes caused allowed the priesthood to spread their influence beyond the reach of the Material, and because of this the gods soon found their attentions drawn away from the Material once more. This time, however, rather than try to spread their attentions thin, they appointed outsiders to look out for the welfare of each of the planes. Being creatures of focus and natural alignment, they were not swayed and warped by the powers invested in them, as each merely had their natural powers and tendencies enhanced. Only the layers of Hell and the levels of the Abyss were passed over, for each was already ruled by a powerful Archdevil or Demon Prince.

These being became collectively known as the Paragons, and they were the personification of their respective realms.

The Spirit Tribes

The genasi and elemental beings that chose to reside on the Material Plane found themselves at more of a disadvantage than the other planar beings. While the concepts of good and evil were easily acceptable to the people of Beuath, the deep connection to the elements that composed the world gave the elementals and genasi a mindset too alien for most of Beuath's people to accept. Too stubborn to simply leave but too alone to make a stand where they were, these outsiders separated themselves from the main body of people and created their own society.

Even amongst themselves, however, there was prejudice. Being of elemental nature the outsiders could not bring themselves to associate too much with others outside their own element, and so they slowly split apart from each other until all outsiders had settled in the land of their element.

This separation proved only to strengthen the ties both to the Material plane and the elements, as the genasi began to interbreed with the elemental outsiders. Soon the two had become so blended that they were indistinguishable from each other, and in so doing had created races that were neither genasi nor elemental.

This transition had taken many centuries, and because of their isolation from the humanoid peoples these beings had been forgotten by the people at large. When at last the people came into contact with these elemental beings, they thought them spirits of the land. Though they thought of themselves as Terrans, Ignans, Aquans, and Aurans, the people of Earth, Fire, Water, and Air became known to the people of Beuath as the Spirit Tribes.

As the Four became more and more entrenched in their dealings with Beuath, the priesthoods became ever stronger. They began to see Beuath as an ever-changing game board, and though they agreed not to face each other openly, each found that in order for their own church to continue to thrive they needed to undermine the churches of their brethren.

Powerful though they were, the Four could not perceive everything and focused their thoughts on the larger details. They instead controlled the masses of the priesthoods through their intermediaries, the highest tiers of the faithful, and trusted the words of the highest, with whom they spoke personally.

Wise though they were, they gave commands that were sometimes beyond the means allowed by their tenets.

Careful though they were, there were those who joined the priesthood for greed and power and acted outside the notice of the Four.

Thus began the Corruption.

What began as a few individuals seeking to profit from the prestige of the priesthood slowly turned into a web of corruption and greed. Like a slow disease the corruption spread from the first seeds and their recruits to other members of the faith, until they were too entrenched to purge. As higher and higher members of the faiths took notice, more and more of the dissidents were removed, but where one was removed there were three to replace him. All seemed bleak until the corruption spread high enough to reach the notice of the Four.

It was Garrison who first took notice, as he was the oldest and had the greatest attunement to the forces of Order and was able to sense a trembling in the foundations of his priesthood. When the corruption was brought to light, Garrison alerted the others, and each bent the entirety of their will to the task of rooting out this perversion of faith.

What had taken many decades to grow was wiped from existence in a matter of hours. Swiftly and inexorably the corrupt priests met their collective demise as the Four purified the ranks, and when the purge was complete the Four left the Material Plane. For two years there was no communication between the remaining priests and the Four, though the priests were still granted the power to perform small acts of magic. Then, as suddenly as they had left, the Four returned. Each chose one mortal, the individual in each church who best represented the ideals of their god, and to these individuals a message was given.

The Four were leaving Beuath to its own ends. They would travel the Planes as they chose, and would come to the Material only sparingly and rarely openly. These individuals would be their representatives in their absence, and would lead the priesthoods outisde the reach of age and disease, until such a time as each of the Four found a suitable successor.

Thus were chosen the first High Priests, and the Four left Beuath to take their places among the Planes.