Terran OverviewAn account from a single historian of Tera
The gods of Tera:
1. receive power from the people of Tera
2. cannot stray too far from the planet without bringing a force of people
3. must attain the high level and be accepted by the gods to become a god
The ritual transformation causes the person to become immortal and gain the powers of godhood allowed by Winterstar, who can control this factor. Being a god sounds wonderful, but there are major drawbacks. The gods receive their power from the people; if the people die, the gods lose power. If the people die out completely, the gods do not die but remain immortal. They become powerless shades doomed to live out eternity unable to move yet seeing and comprehending all. The thing to do, then, would be to protect the people from any harmful agent right? The gods tried this once. The people became complacent and stopped using their magic, becoming weak and sheep-like. The gods felt their power withering away and realized that it was dependent on the magical power of the people. They immediately removed their protection and the people were forced back into fending for themselves. Occasional help is given but only in very cautious amount. Needless to say, if the entire population was threatened, the gods would spring into action.
Unlike the gods of past religions, the Terran immortals are free to choose whether to remain among the people or disappear into seclusion. Many still walk among the towns and villages telling stories of the past and listening to the people. Others explore the vastness of the planet exploring, for no god, even Winterstar, is omniscient concerning the lay of the land, and the primal tweaks are constantly changing things.
Tera is a strange world. Its magic can be controlled and manipulated like an alphabet or a number system, but as with a number system there sometimes appear prime numbers, essentially factorless entities. In magical terms, this equates to what are known as "primal tweaks." The tweaks are rare expulsions of magical force in random places. They can cause an infinite variation of events, from large forest fires to a village of gnomes suddenly changing into vampires. Although the tweaks can be considered rare, the incidence is somewhat less so when looking at the whole planet.
Lord Winterstar a.k.a. Tedo Halmga, troll, one of the first prisoners to be sent through the "door," and possibly the most intelligent troll ever, learned how to manipulate the forces of Tera over the first 40 years of his "imprisonment." Who taught Tedo the magic is unknown. His power grew immense until one day he was the change happened; a primal tweak gave him the powers of a god. However, the planetary population was still under 1000 and struggling to survive. Winterstar's power, while potentially great, was at this moment very weak. He couldn't even teleport himself ten feet away. He crawled behind a rosebush and slept the sleep of dormancy. One hundred years later he awakened with his power increased a thousand-fold. The population had risen to almost 30,000, and many were experimenting with the magic. Over the next 200 years he would learn the way of caution and responsibility to which the gods adhere to the present day. In A. 340, he performed the ritual which gave him a companion in his immortality...
What few gods know, and far fewer mortals have history of, is that Tera is a prison planet. The Thod Empire, starting out as a humble mining colony of Earth in Old Earth Time 2431 (the origin for E.T. 0), quickly forced the known human universe under its wings using a strange new force discovered by the colonizers. This force was a magic very similar, if not exactly the same, as what is found on Tera. The Thod magic was much weaker than the Tera version, probably a combination of a natural weakness and few users allowed to practice the art. Still, the magic, kept very secret, allowed the rulers of the Empire to grip planetary and space station leaders in an invisible death-hold. Within a millennium the Thod Empire controlled a full quarter of the galaxy. Over the next 4000 years, they would gain the other three quarters.
Yet, like all social contracts held over a long time period, the Empire went sour. It fragmented under weak rule, and the fragments began to war. Only some 1700 years later would the galaxy be as one once again; this time under the New Order. The New Order rules with an iron grip and a crushing army made up mainly of completely loyal intelligent robo-soldiers. But that describes the present, and I should now say a bit about how Tera became a prison planet. The Thod Empire, some 300 years before it finally fell, decided that killing political prisoners wasn't very expedient, since they could be either made to give up information over time, or could be conditioned to serve in a counter-operation. The Priests of Thod, a semi-religious organization dedicated to maintaining and seeking out the magic which allowed the Empire to begin in the first place, had recently discovered, through their "Eye of Thod," a magically enhanced portal with which they could "look" about the universe, a new planet. It was to be their doom. However, before the doom part happened, the Empire came on the scene announcing that it was exactly what they were looking for. The Empire forced the Priests to build them their own "eye," which they named "The Door of Reform" (and which has since been named "The Gate of Hell"). In the process of setting up this portal, a primal tweak on Tera happened at the wrong place and at the wrong time. It happened while the Priests (and it needed all the magic of all the High Priests to make the door) were king the final touches to make sure that prisoners who passed through the portal could not take anything with them. They were also setting up the passkey system which would allow retrieval of prisoners. The tweak struck the portal and, in front of the Emporer and Parliament, blew their heads clean off. The first prisoner was sent through less than a month later.
300 years later, the Empire stopped sending prisoners when it was overthrown. The Mector, the home of the Thod Empire Reform Authority or the T.E.R.A., where the "door" was built, was somewhat destroyed, but of course the "door" survived. Nearly a thousand years later, the New Order, although unsure whether they were killing people by sending them through or just putting them naked on an unkown planet (the detailed info disappeared over the years; only legend remained), began using the "door" once again for the same old purpose. And all this brings the story nearly up to date. Further chapters are being worked over by the Guild even as I speak...