The God War

 Another Addendum to my Default World posts.

D&D worlds are filled with lots of weird things, tons of sentient species, crazy old magic and dungeons. So where does all this stuff come from?  I ascribe to the philosophy that D&D is post apocalyptic, in that the classic game play elements and my own preferences for sword and sorcery style trappings work in a world where there was something "greater" that came before.

In my default D&D world, some time in the ancient past there was The God War.  Few specifics are known about this time, sometimes referred to as When Hell Rained (Reigned) Down Over The Land.  None are alive who remember anyone who remembers it first hand, even among the ancient Elves and Dragons.  The Gods, Demons, Divinations, and other Immortal sources of information are mum on the topic.  

What is surmised is that during this age the Gods and their Proxies laid direct claim to the lands.  They used their considerable powers to create wondrous structures and beings.  They also made terrible war, pitting greater and greater magics and creatures against each one another and each other as part of their mad games.  It is from this time that Artifacts, great Dungeons, and many of the creatures (sentient and not) came to be.  The bloodlines of many of these being also lay dormant in the modern populace, with atavisms being born periodically.

How this era came to end is a matter of conjecture, philosophy, and dogma.  The Church would say their Gods prevailed or put an end to the petty squabbles of lesser deities, to set the world right.  Others say the gods came to an agreement.  Some tell tales that mortals prevailed and cast them out.   The cynical presume the Gods became bored, or otherwise lost interest in the world or some resource therein.

Whatever the case, when your player's ask "Where did these come from", you can easily say "The God War".