Story of the Startree

Before this world, before any of the planes, before existence itself, there were two gods: Zagreus, the god of life and blood, and Thanatos, the god of death and silence. Brothers of the in-between and sons of the Universe itself. Soon they became lonely. Zagreus, the hungrier of the two, created a life, a creature mere mortals cannot fathom. However it was soon discovered that Thanatos must do their duty, and the life was extinguished in the blink of an eye.

Thanatos suggested creating a place where life could thrive, as nothing besides gods could live in the chaos of the in-between. So they fashioned a material plane— not our own, however, because this plane soon floated away, unable to establish itself in a stable position.

The brother gods festered and bickered for millennia, their loneliness only growing. That is, until the Universe bestowed upon them a Star. Zagreus bled into the in-between and planted the Star in their blood. Thanatos cried, thinking this might cure their loneliness, and their hopeful tears watered the Star.

The two gods embraced, and around them grew the Startree. Rooted in the in-between, its branches grew and the planes of existence sprouted from their ends. The vines of the astral wove along the wood, creating paths between worlds. On the tree’s centermost branch flowered our material plane, where gods and mortals and monsters meet.

Thanatos set about constructing the details of the other planes, while Zagreus formed the world as we know it today. By the time Thanatos returned, the world was ready for life. There was one problem, however. The gods didn’t know how creatures here would live on their own, free from the control of a god. So Zagreus took out their heart and sliced it in half, while Thanatos did the same. When the two halves fused together, Fate was born, and the young god was overcome with power.

Everything that had ever happened and ever would happen flooded xer senses. The future was immutable, unalterable, and Fate knew it all. After Fate’s revelation, Zagreus bled, and mortals grew from their blood, populating the world. As Fate knew what every mortal’s destiny entailed, xe could push them in the right direction, and the brother gods could find home elsewhere.

And so Zagreus and Thanatos left Fate behind to create the family of gods known to us today. Gods come and go from this realm, but Fate has never ventured farther, steering us all down the correct—and only—path.