Twelve Stairs

One of the three planes of existence and home to the gods.

Also known as
 * The Celestial Plane
 * Heaven
 * The Stars

The other two planes are the Mortal Plane and the Abyss

The world was young when the gods first arrived: an old men led thirteen children from some distant homeland and settled on the celestial plane, which they called the Twelve Stairs.

The old man proclaimed himself the ruler of this new land, but the thirteen children chafed beneath his yoke and cast him out of heaven, so he built for himself a new place, the Abyss, and made it his home.  Each of the Twelve Stairs was inhabited by one of the thirteen children, apart from the twelfth, which Canter and Tilsman shared between them.

The children spent many years pursuing and developing their private interests before they took any notice in the mortal plane, the barren lands below them where naked, soulless creatures shivered in the cold. The children bestowed gifts on these shivering creatures and inspired great awe in them. The children became gods, their power growing in proportion to the number and fervour of their mortal followers.  At this time the gods asked Allanbay to be their king but he turned them down.  Hester then demanded that she should lead the gods, but the others would not accept her and she departed from their company. At this time she created the Dark Elves, sculpting and tinting the bodies of her followers in a manner that seemed beautiful to her.  Daeder also shunned the company of the other gods, preferring to roam the mortal plane. As men and elves showed no love for the mountains and caverns he carved into the land, he created the dwarves from his own blood and they became his people and his followers.