History

Gods versus Titans
Although the Astral Realms consists of living beings from countless other realms, it has a rich history of its own. At the dawn of its existence, the Astral was inhabited by Titans. These large and powerful cosmic beings enslaved all the lesser Astral beings, mortals, and immortals alike. They waged war against each other, destroying entire islands in their wake.

Rise of Gods
Tired of the havoc wrought by Titans, the other Astral inhabitants rebelled against their hegemony. Mighty angelic humanoid beings, led by Zeus the Lightbringer, stood up as the beacon of the resistance. Many mortal beings rallied behind them and called them "Gods". One by one, Gods hunted down and slayed the Titans. Since Titans were immortal, the Gods could not kill them. Aries, one of the rogue Titans who sided with the Gods, proposed a solution. He helped Zeus imprison his former brethren in Tartarus, an eternal prison, from which neither a God nor a Titan could escape.

The New Order
Zeus assumed the position of the King of Olympus and sought to create order in the Astral Realms. He ruled that Gods would reside in Heavens, and inhabited the flying mount of Olympus. From there, they would watch over the other realms and maintain peace and stability. Aries and his allies, the Darkspawn, would control the Abyss, a plain of eternal darkness. As for mortals, they would reside in the vast plains of the Middle Lands, across countless flying islands. Aries wasn’t happy with Zeus’s decision. He had grand plans for Middle Lands and believed he deserved them for his major contribution to defeating the Titans. Alas, Zeus remained reluctant. He feared Aries and his accursed allies would corrupt the mortal hearts in the Middle Lands. Aries obeyed but kept a grudge against Zeus and the mortals.

Breaches in Tartarus
Several years later, Chronos, one of the Titans, escaped Tartarus and started wreaking havoc across the realms. Both the Gods of Olympus and the Gods of the House of Aries stopped the Titan and brought him back to his prison. There, they learned a terrible truth - Chronos was able to escape because mortal wardens were unable to resist their whispers. Titans were slowly corrupting them and forcing them to do their bidding. From that point on, Gods would only assign one of their kind to guard Tartarus. But even Gods were not fully resistant to the Titans' whispering. They could withstand them for years, maybe centuries, but would eventually succumb to their corruption. Thus, even Gods needed to be replaced once a century.

Rise of Mortals
The Gods have ruled over the Astral Realms for thousands of years, maintaining the fragile peace between the powerful factions that wrestle for control. Agents of the House of Aries would regularly invade the Middle Lands and attempt to subjugate mortals to their will. At first, mortals had always needed the Olympic Gods to protect them. Over time, they learned to defend themselves on their own. Slowly but steadily, mortals started losing faith in the Gods, so the latter started losing their grip.

Nicola Tesla
The mortals in Middle Lands multiplied in numbers - more and more humans arrived in the Astral from other realms. Among them was Nicola Tesla, a brilliant engineer and scientist who introduced the citizens of the Middle Land to technology. Within the next few decades, his revolutionary inventions improved the lives of mortals across the realm. Tesla built the Ivory Tower, a large complex of universities and research facilities. This way he allowed mortals to attain education and become less reliant on the Olympian Gods.

Attack of Aries
Aries could not let go of his yore for Middle Lands. Watching over humanity for centuries, he mistook their ostracization from the Olympian Gods as a weakness. Believing he would finally reclaim what was his by the right of a victor, he manifested in his pure physical form - a powerful half-titan half-god. Arrogant and convinced of his invincibility, Aries invaded the Ivory Tower. No human armies could stand against him as he slaughtered his way towards the Tower.

Mechabunnicus
Once he reached the Ivory Tower, Aries confronted none but three rabbit golems. He laughed. Was that all the Ivory Tower put against him? But as he raised his weapon against these golems, they combined into a huge mechanical reaver - Mechabunnicus. After a long battle, the giant construct defeated the mighty Titan-God and saved the entire realm. Since Aries could not be killed in the Middle Lands, Mechabunnicus captured the Titan-God and imprisoned him in Tartarus. Thus, once again, the mortals proved that the reign of Gods had come to an end.

Wrath of Olympus
Following the defeat of Aries at the Ivory Tower, the Olympian Gods grew fearful of the mortal influence. They threatened Tesla to dispose of the Ivory Tower if he didn't halt his activities. Zeus claimed that swaying mortals away from Gods might undermine the established order and facilitate the return of the Titans. But Tesla refused to submit. He secretly built an army of mechanoids and prepared to defend the Middle Lands. The Gods of Olympus returned to besiege the Ivory Tower, only to suffer a humiliating defeat at the hands of the mechanoids. The Lightbringer himself fell in battle. Without his physical manifestation in the Middle Lands, he had no choice but to return to Olympus. That was the breakeven point when gods realized they no longer held sway over the Astral Realms.

Modern Days
As years went by, the Gods lost their grasp over the Astral Realms and technologically advanced mortals took over. They started hunting down Gods and eliminating them. The Gods of Olympus have secluded themselves on their flying mount of Olympus, while the dark Gods of the House of Aries burrowed deep in the lower plains. Mortals completely took over the Astral Realms. For the first time in their long history, mortals experienced prosperity without being subjects to some powerful beings. Unbeknownst to them, deep in Tartarus, the Titans started plotting their escape. With no new Gods to replace the corrupted Wardens, no one would stop them from returning to the Astral Realms.