A long time ago, before the age of peace, before the dire hours of brutal warfare, before men even knew about the fantastic creatures:
There was the vast nothingness of the universe. A vortex churned and chortled for many years.
Then came an egg, and in that egg: creation.
With 1000 arms the beast shaped Space
With 1000 arms the beast shaped Time
With 1000 arms the beast shaped Distortion.
The sons of the beast created the world.
The sons of the beasts created emotions to feel, knowledge to seek, power to process. Not just for Man, but for all of the beings on Earth.
While the world was still young, and the beasts still slaved, three more Great Beasts appeared.
One was born of churning sea.
One was born of stout land.
And the last was born of the sky.
The son of the Sea set forth to spread the oceans, the son of land set forth to spread land, and the son of sky simply protected his mother, like all good sons do. The beast of 1000 arms was so impressed by the Son of sky's loyalty, he erected a pillar where the Son of the sky could rest briefly.
The son of the Sea met the Son of the Land, and the two struggled for supremacy. The son of the sky took pity on the two, and broke up the battle. The Son of land took refuge in its mothers womb. The Son of the Sea took refuge in its mother's womb. And they still sleep there to this day.
They world was soon inhabited, by the first ones. The Beast of 1000 arms blessed the first with the gift of shape-shifting. They flourished and enjoyed making mischief, and the Giant was a particularly fun victim.
Eventually the giant got fed up, and crushed one third of the first ones. The first ones did not die, but became the Formless. Simple creatures that could only morph into what they see. The giant then pulled apart the land, and created three sons before going to sleep.
His first son refused to go to sleep.
His second son decided to take a nap.
His third son went into a long slumber.
After the lands were split, the seas spread, and the air became calm the Beast of 1000 arms and all of his sons slept, but without the influence of the creator the first ones lost their ability to change their form as they see fit. One third of the first ones were formless, one third of the first ones were stuck in their changed forms, and one third remained the same.
The first ones separated and began to colonize the world.
And so the age of men began...
If you haven't figured it out yet this is an existing setting. I'm going to hold out on revealing what it is, but the hints are pretty obvious. This is going to be a suggestion based Civ game, but I'm getting tired. I'll divulge more details later.Feel free to guess but please spoiler your comments for now. Good night.