christian-kesler
commented
3 years ago The gods had many Genie children with each other over the eons before the event known as The Binding. Mortalkind had been in its infancy, but the Genies did not care for Gondarin's new creations. They attempted to enslave all mortalkind, and when they were met with resistance, all mortals were slain. This enraged Gondarin.
Prior to this event, the other three gods had grown worried that the Genies would continue to grow in power and overthrow the Greater Deities through sheer numbers. The proposed solution was to bind all Lesser Deities to physical vessels, preventing them from acting of their own agenda or growing in power. Gondarin despised the idea of imposing such a restriction, and Deliklese thought it far too cruel a fate.
The slaughter of the first races prompted the Greater Deities into action. Gondarin was all too eager to bind the Lesser Deities to vessels, but Deliklese still disliked the cruelty of it. They reached a compromise that would allow any bound Genie to free themselves, but only by giving up their godly powers and becoming mortal themselves. In order to facilitate this exchange, a magical ward of unimaginable power was forged. The magic behind The Binding was built around this divine law known as the Edict, and it still serves as the foundation of oaths and vows to this day.
Afterwards, Gondarin began mortalkind anew. These new mortals had the right to swear on the Edict as they saw fit, binding themselves much like the Genie with their word. Initially, none of the Genies chose to become mortal. The first Genie to do so waited nearly a thousand years before choosing freedom. He became the first member of the Genasi race, and he sought out other Genie vessels to convince his kind to choose life. Very few chose to join him, but those that did ended up forming small colonies and having mortal children of their own. Other mortals were wary of the Genasi due to their past crimes. The descendants of the Genies still persist as Genasi to this day, but many Genies still hold onto their power and immortality, biding their time.
The Lesser Deities are beings whose parents are both Greater Deities with adjacent domains. If the parents have adjacent domains, then a Genie of the overlapping element is created. For example, if Gondarin and Deliklese were to have a child together, it would be an Earth Genie, also known as a Dao. If the parents were not of adjecent planes, then the child would become a formless shapeshifting entity that came in two varieties: Mimics and Changelings. Each of these beings are detailed in other pages. While they are of divine heritage, they are not categorized as Lesser Deities or Demigods.