The Order of the Nine Planes

When the Gods left to the Strife, Alteria was left to recover from their war. With the Goddess of Balance dead, things were a little less than ideal. Theft, murder and camaraderie seemed a way of the past. Everyone was out for themselves and the small communities that survived were lawless in the best of times.

Kingdoms rose and fell across the various Planes. Each sought only to emulate their Gods, warring over whatever they deemed valuable at the time. Armies pledged loyalty to whomever would provide them with funds to allow them to slate their own tastes.

In the height of this anarchy, a war between Elven houses was ensuing. The armies were poised to enter into a bloody conflict when a stranger appeared and demanded that they stop.

The Elven armies laughed together at the lone individual who stood before them and sent a small force to deal with the lunatic.

The sole intruder trounced the Elves with ease. Shocked, the Generals returned to their respective houses where they were met with other individuals, clad in the same gold and blue colours of the stranger that had soundly beat them.

These people introduced themselves as members of the Order of the Nine Planes and that any and all future altercations between peoples and Planes would be put forward through them, or else their Champion would come once again and remind the Elves of the decision.

The Elves, unsure of what had transpired, spoke with neighboring Kingdoms. Each had received an envoy from the strange organization. Each had received the same threat.

Across the Planes, this message was delivered to the would be Warkings, tyrants and Succubus Queen. All of the leaders were perplexed by the seemingly veiled threat given.

Weeks passed and this Order was no where to be seen. As people tend to forget unless reinforced upon, the Kingdoms that were began their spats once more.

This time, the Champion arrived at the entrance to the grand Castle in Lo’Ani’s garden. The Elves attempted to seize the Champion, but in the calamity, the Great House of Threedan fell to this sole champion.

After this fall, the other leaders all sent missives, requesting to speak with this mysterious Order. They were all shocked to each receive a reply, requesting their presence in the Void, the Ninth Plane.

Those that followed the missive’s instructions found themselves upon a floating palisade in the Void. There, they met with a High Council – a member of each race that declared themselves founders of this new Order.

At first, the leaders that were argued with these new contenders, but soon found that this Council desired no power in their realms – further from that, they desired no allegiance or requirement of land. They simply wished to prevent unwanted bloodshed and to deal with the threats that plagued all the Planes.

Their altruistic purpose was met with skepticism. The leaders that were decided that they would defend their own borders from the monsters the Gods had left behind.

This stubbornness proved to be the undoing of many small nations and as their numbers began to dwindle to the terrifying monsters of war left behind, more and more of those that remained relied on The Order of the Nine to deal with the creatures, but the good will of the Order had faded.

Now, a price was required for each service.

And so it was for centuries that The Order of the Nine Planes brought about the balance that the death of Quel’Lan had thrown off. Nowadays, monsters are less likely and The Order struggles to find the respect and reputation that it once had during the height of their power – often times resorting to allowing their great Champions and their Guardians to be purchased as novelty guests at important events, or just in case someone wants to flaunt their wealth or power.