Patriarch Marcus slowly climbed up to the podium and turned to look at the congregation gathered in the Temple of the Pantheon. Well before the break of day, all of Rome's greatest were gathered in their finest clothes to celebrate Birthright Day. Bowing to Caesar, Marcus raised one hand for silence. The priests extinguished all of the torches until only the Patriarch was lit by a solitary torch.

"In the beginning there was only Feretrius! Alone with only his own dank company he desired companionship. With great effort he turned his dread power towards creation for the first and only time. He created Vitula! For this one action we give thanks to the Lord of the Gods.

"Vitula found the barren plain that Feretrius lived in offensive, so she sort to create also. She let her lifeblood fall to the ground and where each drop struck, plants grew. Thus were the beautiful gardens of Felspa formed.

"Vitula's blood was not all absorbed into the ground, but regenerated into a god. Thus were the next generation of gods born adult. When Feretrius saw what Vitula had done he was overjoyed. He proclaimed himself Lord of the Gods and commanded that the new gods serve him as Master or be destroyed. Some chose to challenge Feretrius, but quickly fell. Thus the Pantheon accepted the tyrant as their leader.

"Feretrius looked at the gardens. Awed by their beauty he set off to explore them. With the lifeblood removed from the barren ground the gardens had no nourishment and started to wither. Vitula was saddened by the loss of life and foreseeing only barrenness where there had once been life she cried tears of loss. Her tears struck the ground and pooled into rivers which nourished the plants.

"Vitula found that the plants in her garden did not last for ever. She arranged for them to reproduce themselves, but found that they did not spread to the ends of the garden. After some thought she decided to create a second kind of life to help spread the seeds of life. For a second time she let her lifeblood fall. From one drop, the birds sprang and flew through the air feeding on nectar and carrying with them the seeds. From another drop, mammals sprang brushing against the plants and spreading the seeds. From another, insects flew to feed the birds and another, fish grew to feed the mammals. Thus Felspa was full of life.

"Satisfied, but exhausted, Vitula slept. While she slept Quillan crept near her and used his magic to pervert her creations. He took mammals and made some plant eaters and made others eaters of mammals. He took some fish and turned them into lizards which hunted the birds. Satisfied with his mischief, Quillan left.

"Waking, Vitula saw what had become of her creations and was dismayed. Searching the gardens for the cause of the changes, she discovered some strange prints. The prints were in the shape of a god's foot, but the imprint was flat rather than that of a foot.

"Believing she had found the cause of the changes Vitula tracked the footprints. The tracks led to a strange young god. He covered himself with a toga and wore sandals on his feet. Enraged, Vitula challenged him with distorting her creation. The new god protested his innocence and asked what had happened. The god, Jonah, listened and told Vitula that perhaps the changes were good. The animals and plants would form a balance which, while constantly changing, would continue and reduce the work that needed doing.

"Jonah complimented her on the gardens and suggested that she could greatly improve them by having gardeners to constantly tend them. Intrigued Vitula followed Jonah to Lake Savana. Looking at their reflections, Vitula realised how she could create gardeners. For the third and last time she let her lifeblood fall. The lifeblood landed on their reflections which came to life. Thus man and woman were born out of the water.

"Feretrius assumed that Jonah was one of the new gods formed when the animals were created and intrigued by his wisdom he made him his entertainer. Man worked in the gardens away from the gods and the gardens became even more beautiful. Thus it was many years before foul Feretrius deigned to notice man. He found that the new creatures were as fair as the gods, yet did not possess the divine power. To Feretrius's eyes this was a great insult and he sought to slay them! The gardeners of Felspa fled in terror and much of Felspa was despoiled in Feretrius's rage. A group of gardeners were hiding when Jonah appeared before them. He promised them the possibility of escape and revealed a portal to another plane. With gratitude the gardeners fled down the portal to Albeit-Felspa, which in the old tongues means Shadow of Paradise. Thus man reached our world for the first time.

"Albeit-Felspa was but a shadow of the beauty of the gardens of Felspa. The gardeners thanked Jonah and set about improving Albeit-Felspa, spreading across the new world.

"Eventually Feretrius's rage calmed and he realised that some of the gardeners had escaped. He frantically searched for them and found Albeit-Felspa. Feretrius was preparing to destroy Albeit-Felspa when Jonah complimented him on his mercy. Intrigued Feretrius asked how he thought it was a mercy to destroy them. Jonah replied it would be mercifully brief. After some thought Feretrius decided to make the gardeners suffer. Thus were we saved again, but at a price.

"Feretrius lowered the temperature of the world so that water turned to ice and snow covered the land. The gardeners were dismayed and many died from the cold and lack of food. However, before they became extinct, Feretrius raised the temperature and plants returned to the land. Thus were the cycles of winter and summer born.

"During the second winter Jonah appeared to some gardeners who were freezing and taught them the secret of fire and explained how they could gain aid from the gods by worshipping them. Thus the Pantheon from foul Feretrius to fair Portia were worshipped and aided the gardeners.

"Upon hearing entreaties for aid, Feretrius was appeased. He decided not to destroy man, but instead to let the gardeners worship him. At first he decided that all men should only worship him, but Jonah suggested that each of the gods should control an area of life. After some thought Feretrius realised he only wanted to be bothered with the grovelling of man and agreed. Thus each member of the Pantheon acquired a sphere of influence.

"With their new found authority, some of the gods took their followers to one side and changed them.

"Cornelius, a lover of art, took some of the gardeners under his wing and taught them the truth of beauty and increased their lives so they would have the time to appreciate it. Thus were born the Elves.

"Moradin took his followers into caves and allowed them to survive sheltered under the land, shortening them so they could work in the small caverns and taught them the beauty of the rocks. Thus were born the Dwarves.

"Quillon likewise created the Gnomes, mostly to infuriate Moradin.

"Stannack took his followers and shortened them so they would be overlooked by their enemies and taught them how to grow food and make their life comfortable. Thus were born the Halflings.

"Feretrius looked down at the gardeners cowering before him and smiled. 'You have served me well! I will give you the gift of magic so you can destroy and control others.' Thus were born the wizards. Beware Feretrius's gift as it will corrupt you into his dark service."

Marcus glanced uneasily to Caesar's right were Magi Stephen of Mystic stood glaring at him.

"Jonah looked at those who remained and told them. 'You do not have to dedicate your life to art, or mines, or animals or farming. Enjoy all of these things and live every day as if it were your last. You can survive anything if you learn to adapt to each situation.

"Thus the gardeners survived until the dark day when Feretrius became enchanted by the woman Ophelia. Cursed Ophelia was one of his worshippers and became his mate. She had many children to him and each had the power of a god.

"As Ophelia aged, Feretrius sought to preserve her. He discovered his solution and taught Ophelia how to become immortal by drinking the blood of others. Ophelia lived on, unaging, and became a vampire living in the darkness. Thus the first undead walked the world.

"Ophelia's greatest son was Gruumush. He attracted many followers and he taught them war. So they would not offend his father with their beauty, he disfigured them. Thus were born the humanoid orcs and giants.

"Gruumush looked upon Albeit-Felspa and said to his father, 'This world is flawed, you could create a greater and more beautiful world.' Feretrius listened to him and decided to destroy the world so he could begin creation anew. He gathered his children and Minerva, goddess of Death, and planned to destroy the world.

"Minerva did not desire the end of the world. She called to the other gods and warned them of Feretrius's plans. The gods confronted Feretrius where now only the Sea of Jonah lies. Enraged, he sought to destroy the noble defenders. The war caused the ground to shake and many gods perished. During the battle, Jonah looked around and saw that the battle would shake Albeit-Felspa to pieces. Saddened, he called farewell to the gods. Then he called upon powerful energies within him to banish all of the Gods from Albeit-Felspa. The banishment was sealed with Jonah's life.

"Vitula looked down upon the damaged world and saw the shattered remains of the noble gods and caught them in her hands and placed them in the sky as stars so that when darkness falls man should know that nobility still exists.

"Vitula could not find Jonah. His noble spirit had moved on to the Land of the Dead. He was found by Minerva and become her consort and adviser.

"With the Gods banished, the world breathed a sigh of relief as the ground stopped shaking. Priests could still reach their masters however and the humanoids, led by Ophelia, sort to conquer the world and destroy it for their masters. For the next thousand years the people of the world warred. The elves, dwarves, gnomes, halflings and humans fought on separately unable to form an accord until one day mighty Caesar was born."

The room was lit as the first light of dawn was caught by the windows of the temple and amplified. Marcus allowed himself a moment of smug self congratulations on his timing.

"Mighty Caesar forged all the races into one army and fell upon the humanoids seeking to slay them all. The humanoids broke and fled howling into the darkness away from Caesar's light. Thus was born the Imperium!"

Marcus fell silent as all of the congregation rose to sing praises to the Pantheon...

Albeit-Felspa has one sun and one moon. Pantheon theology does not describe either. The Imperials further believe that any noble man who dies takes his place in the stars along with the gods.

There are three outer planes. Felspa is the garden where the Pantheon live. It is were the truly loyal go to serve their gods in the garden. Feretrius is the dark evil plane where Feretrius and his servants moved to. His followers go here when they die so they can be remade when he destroys this world and creates the next. The third is the Land of the Dead, a large dark place where the dead are judged and if unworthy, are tempered until worthy.

The gods are seen differently depending on who sees them. Dwarves see them as Dwarves, Elves as Elves, etc. While some gods have favoured races, they favour any individual who worships them.

The Imperium worships the Pantheon which consists of all of the non-evil gods. Many people see one particular god as a patron and follow that god while still paying homage to the others. It is quite common for non-clerics to change from one god to another. A man may fall in love and worship Portia, then become ill and worship Rhea and finally dedicate his life to seeking knowledge and worship Vulcan.

While all evil gods are aligned with Feretrius, not all evil individuals want to see the world destroyed. Vulcan, a Neutral Good god, has worshippers of all alignments. Likewise Feretrius has worshippers who are not evil, but worship him out of fear. The Cleric class worships the entire Pantheon and is called a Cleric of the Pantheon. Priests worship a specific deity, but still respect the other gods. In areas where there are few temples it is traditional to have an area set aside for the worship of the other gods even if the temple is dedicated to a specific god.