The following is meant to be read as if it was from a holy book that exists within the world! Please keep that in mind as you read.   

The divine who created humanity, Aleksanteri, was a kind soul. In secret, they worked, crafting bodies from clay until their forms were perfect, so the clay could be replaced with flesh, and life could be breathed into them. Each species was created with care, love, passion, just as the others of the divines crafted the animals and plants that fill the world. But when the Creator allowed their creations to walk the realm, it was then that the other divines chose to intervene. The Creator acted alone, creating mankind in the image of the divines-- beings that could resent them, or more dangerously... rival them. This infuriated others amongst their number, who called for the unmaking of mankind. Thus, the divines were called to a council, and the Creator was judged.

Opinions were mixed on whether or not the Creator had committed an act that would be deigned a sin. Some thought that creating life with such sentience would be fine, that they wouldn't dare to rise up against those who allowed them life, while others feared that this action was a grave mistake, and deserved just as severe a punishment. One of their number had never committed so dire a sin, and such a sin deserves punishment.

It was decided that the Creator would be cast down to earth to live amongst the peoples they created. By the time this punishment was put into action, humanity had time to begin to establish themselves, building small villages. The Creator was instructed to guide humanity along according to the divines' wishes, and they followed orders faithfully, living as a hermit for thousands of years after helping to establish the first civilization. They inspired humanity to worship the divines, invoking belief by using their powers to cause miracles to occur. When the Creator's time on the realm below was up, the divines brought them back to the heavens. 

However, the homecoming wasn't as one would expect. The Creator was put to trial once again, and it was decided that mankind's very existence was a sin against creation. The Creator was thrown into a gaol which restricted their magicks until the divines could once again decide what should be done with them.

Ultimately, the Creator convinced the rest of the heavens-dwellers to allow humanity to exist. However, there was a deal struck.

The divines would ultimately decide if humanity was fit to continue to exist. The Creator was the first and only of the divines to ever be cast down to the earth, never to return.

The Creator was once again cast down to the realm below, but they were stripped of their divinity. Their wings burned as they fell to the earth, leaving them with the same powers as an ordinary mage.

The Creator decided from there to create a church. No longer would they focus on appeasing the divines, but they would try to lead humanity nonetheless, still following the virtues that they had in the heavens. Many people remembered tales of the Creator from before, and gathered beneath them, forming what would become the Church of the Creator, its worshippers becoming the Children of the Creator. The Creator lamented their loss of divinity, and sought a way to regain eternal life to remain with their creations forevermore. It is said that the Creator attained eternal life, as they still rule over the Church from behind their curtains of secrecy.

The rest of humanity, meanwhile, had found use for the mana-rich crystals that were abundant throughout the realm. Not only were they able to be mined from the ground, wherever leylines of mana ran through the earth, crystals would sprout forth from the ground, some growing into massive crystalline structures that rivaled mountains. At first, they were used to enhance magic, but more and more uses were brought forward from them as time went on and humanity innovated. New technology was invented using mana as a source of power, and eventually, manatech was created. Over hundreds of years, it became much more commonplace, and humanity flourished.

When humanity began to betray their roots, no longer thanking the divines that allowed them to exist, no longer offering up prayer or mana, letting their places of worship fall into misuse and disarray, perhaps the divines began to think that humanity wasn't so grateful for their gift of life after all. Communication between the heavens and the people dwelling below was strictly forbidden. Angels would visit the earth, but it was extremely rare, and if they betrayed the divines with disobedience, they would be cast to the earth and become fallen.

But the divines made their message to humanity quite clear. One winter, just before the solstice, the world fell silent. Perhaps it was a fluctuation in the leylines, a disturbance in the core of the planet. But it was felt by all.

It was followed by a keening sound from the very realm itself. But the horrid sound was nothing compared to the nightmare that followed. The skies began to run red, as if dripping with blood. The earth began to shake, earthquakes beginning to destroy cities. Other natural disasters followed: fires, storms, tsunamis. But nothing struck the fear of the divines into the hearts of the people as much as the abominations that followed. Horrible, malformed beasts came in the wake of the disasters, and slaughtered those they encountered.

An unlikely ally of humanity came from the reclusive dragons. An existence as old as the divines themselves, the dragons rose up to fight back against the beasts, their peaceful isolation having been disrupted.

Humanity fought to survive, but many of their number perished in horrible, unspeakable ways. Well over half of humanity was dead before the carnage came to a standstill. Exactly a day after it had begun, it ended abruptly, and mankind was left to pick up the pieces. The recovery was slow. Entire kingdoms had been razed to the ground, left without survivors.

But still, the people of Aetheria began to rebuild from the judgment rained upon them.