THE LORE BEHIND THE LORE- BIRTH OF THE ARENA

The Arena of the Gods began, as many of the greatest innovations do, with a problem. For eons prior the Gods of mankind's many pantheons had watched over their creations. They preserved the order of the world and upheld their sacred duties to ensure that the many cycles which bound the great and complex Earth together were able to turn as they were so designed.

To ensure that the sun rose and set.

To promise that love is truly what gives life

To punish those who would forsake that which they have given

And to ensure that the single most important element in all of creation was treated accordingly. That the souls of those who have lived within the bounds of the mortal world can be judged, redeemed, reincarnated... The many supreme psychopomps had differing ideals as to what was the most effective method in bringing the mortal world to see the wonder of creation for what it was, but that was almost always the unerring goal.

Thus, we shall turn our attention to Hades. Sadly, the Lord of the Underworld had recently come to find himself awash in his own River Styx. Great wars had broken out across the mortal world, and worse than many which had come before them. A new trend had begun in the world of men, they were fighting their wars whilst they waved the banners of his fellow Gods against one another! This was a ghastly affront to each and every deity who could rightfully be called such, Hades held no doubt. Only the Gods themselves held the right to end the lives of men in their name. If they wished wars fought for them they commanded it! These mortals had begun to overstep their rightful place within the tapestry of creation. Such was the wise view of the God of Death.

Hades decided he was left with no option, and he ordered his three judges to cease in their eternal work whilst he concocted his designs as to how he might deal with this newest, most egregious sin. For a full thirteen days the never-ending waves of the River Styx roared atop themselves as Hades' rule held them from flowing to their final destinations. Instead, he focused his fullest attention and all his power on the creation of a new shard within the Underworld. A great field of desolation, the place where he would store all these heathen souls.

When his work was complete he directed his judges to send all those souls whom had died and killed whilst warring falsely under the names of Gods to be sent there, where they shall battle blindly for all eternity.

Though he shared little love for his heavenly family, Hades had great pride in his new creation. Thus he summoned Hermes to his Underworld and gave to him a message, that he should invite all the Gods of Olympus to come and witness the punishment Hades had wrought for those who slandered their names.

The first to arrive was Zeus, appearing within nearly the same second of Hermes' departure from The Gates of Cerberus. The God of Thunder materialized from a shattering bolt of lightning.

"What have you done Hades, to think that you can so manipulate the flow of the great River of Souls!?" Zeus roared in a display of anger which only the God of Gods himself were capable of. "This burden has been yours long enough that you should know better than to tamper with so much mortal life so frivolously!"

Hades scoffed, his brother's rage being a stale sight in his cold eyes after these many centuries.

"Look more closely, my brother" He said calmly as he strode onto the battlefield of his creation. "Watch these men. All of these mindless soldiers will battle one another from now until all of creation falls into dust, and no men are left to die. They will charge out onto the front lines of this battle and kill and die, and know nothing more than that pain ever again. For it is a pain that they abused in the most heinous of ways."

As he spoke, the dark form of the God of the Dead slipped through the lines of battle, his black aura dulled the faces of the armored men who savagely attacked one another, though they were oblivious to it. Neither did they flinch nor cry out when their dark overseer casually reached out his thin hand and drained a great sum of their soul's essence from them. They fell and died around his feet, and as they did they were returned to their spiritual essence so that they may await the opportunity to do so again. Hades' deathly smile widened, and he released a hollow, echoing laughter filled with hellish glee. "And you thought yourself so clever when you punished Sisyphus!"

Zeus' mighty form trembled with godly rage. To not only see his brother treat his Olympian duty with such disregard, but to mock him in the same breath!

"No, Hades!" He declared, raising his clenched fist proudly over his head where it began to crackle with furious energy. "I thought myself to be that which I am! I AM ZEUS, RULER OF OLYMPUS! AND FOR YOUR TREASON I SMITE THEE!"

A dull roar echoed from the chamber surrounding Hades' eternal battleground, growing to a deafening tremor in an instant. Zeus bore down his fist like a gavel, and a great bolt of lightning blasted clear through the layers of earth which separated the Heavens from the Underworld. It struck Hades as cleanly as if he were a thousand feet tall, and brought millions of tons of rock and debris down around him.

As the dust began to settle Zeus turned away, for while he knew he had not slain his brother he believed he had convinced him of the error of his ways. But... As he readied himself to return to his throne atop Mount Olympus, a strange sensation stung his shoulder. Looking back to investigate it's source he saw one of Hades' trapped souls standing alone, staring at him in awe with a slackened bow still humming softly as it hung in his hand. Reaching to his back Zeus pulled the man's small arrow from his own porcelain flesh and flicked it away with curious regard. Suddenly now he understood, he saw the potential of what Hades had created. These mindless soldiers would kill and die eternally, just as Hades had said... But they were not completely blind. Their fervor for battle in the name of the Gods had persisted even into Hades' new Hell. When the energies of Gods clashed here, they could see it...

Soon after, Zeus sought to right the damage he had caused. He called upon Hephaestus, The Grand Smith of the Gods, and commanded him to take the rubble left by his wrath and see that it be remade into a place truly worthy of Godly conflict. Hephaestus crafted the stone into bricks from which he built a pair of great temples opposite each other. He breathed life into the stone and sculpted it into the forms of the most hideous monsters ever to set foot, claw, or hoof on the planes of Earth. Cyclopes, wraiths... He created a great giant whose form was wreathed in flame, and placed it at the exact point which Hades had stood when Zeus' grand bolt struck him. Lastly he toiled over his masterwork... Two powerful Minotaurs; the ultimate symbols of Godly power gone awry, to act as the temple's guardians.

It was not long before many members of the Olympian pantheon began to make their way to Hades' Arena of the Gods; from all across the far reaches of Greece. They came to challenge one another in matters of honor. They wagered bets, and decided the whims of fate based on the outcomes of their contests, as Gods are so apt to do.

Zeus' lightning strike had opened the battleground to the skies above; and before long it was brimming with vegetation and creature life. Exposed to the world now, many new elements began to seep into the arena. The Sun rose overhead and solemnly watched the battles it held. Strong winds echoed between the temple walls and carried the scent of blood and combat to far away places; and the trees became populated by ravens...

Now the many deities of the world have begun discover Hades' "Arena of the Gods", and they too are seeking to prove their prowess. To display their cunning. To test their skill in battle against those who could be called peers, and to take victory! And all the glory that comes with it!