Archive of Our Own

They came from The Void.

For where else could they have come from? They were not of The Overworld, though that was where they made their home. They appeared out of thin air amidst the rivers, the forests, the mountains, and gathered together in the plains to form something that would change everything forever.

All throughout time would come to know them as The Gods. The gods seemed to have already known each other before they even manifested in this world, they spoke with an incomprehensible familiarity with each other, and that mystified all non-gods all the more. They held Notch-like power, existing on a scale so fearsome that the Hosts known as Foresight, Knowledge, and Action did not know how to respond.

First among equals was The Wiseman. The Wiseman was an androgynous figure with long blue hair and a breathtaking face. They were the one to appoint each god their positions, based on their characteristics and heart’s desires. Some even say they were the one who created The Overworld, having shaped it from the thoughts and dreams of the slumbering Notch.

The Wiseman was known as the god of intelligence, agriculture, and structure. The key parts needed for the proper organization of any civilization that sought to be long-lasting, prosperous, and glorious beyond comparison. The Wiseman was of course the god of wisdom, and through them did all things come into order.

Through them came the schematics of what shall be known as Olympus, the city of the gods. The blueprints of their countless peerless constructions. Which housed farms larger than entire villages, and mines that reached into the fabled bedrock, the absolute lowest depth of the world. Alongside the almighty farm was the barn, which held an unthinkable surplus of livestock. Chickens, cattle, swine, and even the likes of horses, dogs, and cats.

With them in this endeavor were The Miner and The Crafter. The former took the form of a lad with pale ash-gray hair. He often took to the deepest caves surrounding Olympus, of which there were quite many. Most notable were The Mine Adonis; a deep mine infested with monsters, The Ravine Klee; a ravine with a dedicated system for descent leading to several different caverns and developed mineshafts, and lastly there was The Mine Agartha, a mine located exclusively through Valhalla, located right underneath and it lead to even more mines and caverns, and even a direct trip to the fabled bedrock.

Though while The Miner did his work in the depths, The Crafter did his work on the surface. The Crafter held the appearance of a tall, attractive, and muscular man with green eyes, mid-length black hair, and a scar on the corner of his lips. It was through him that Olympus manifested in The Overworld, a realm so beautiful that one may gaze upon it and tear out their own eyes for they knew that no other realm could ever even dream of comparing.

The Crafter built Valhalla, The Palace of the Gods. A mighty and imposing castle with many floors and rooms therein. Within it were their vaults of endless resources, their armory of numerous enchanted weapons, their athenaeums of divine knowledge as well as the supreme enchanting table therein, which allowed ordinary weapons to take divine qualities, making them weapons fit for the gods. Aside from Valhalla there were the houses of each respective god. Valhalla was merely their supreme meeting place, their ultimate stronghold and symbol of power. As for their personal lodgings, each held it on a respective corner of Olympus.

Closest to his farms and Valhalla was The Wiseman’s house, Tempeston, which was an even grander library filled with potion breweries, because the dedicated brewery both within Valhalla and the elixirs of the winery were not enough. Meanwhile up the mountain was a twinkling tower known as The Spyre, which belonged to The Miner, whose path was one of incredible cold, and even beheld a portal to the nether. It too had a personal mine of its own known simply as The Mine Fischl.

The Crafter’s house was more humble. The Workshop, it was called. It was located in the forests east of Olympus. A simple forest hut overlooking a beautiful lake fitted with materials and his own personal workshop. His dedicated forge was back in Valhalla, as were any other office under his charge. There was no point in bringing the aspect of work into his home, this place was purely for the passion and beauty of creation.

There were also two more houses. A more opulent house made of precious stones known as The Radiant, and a brutalist blight of cobblestone known as The Dire. These housed the last two gods, though they shall be discussed later.

Aside from these fine houses were the inner villages of Olympus to house the slaves, The World Trade Center of which they worked and offered bartering to their divine lords, Port Barbara which was located right behind The Dire, a mighty port full of boats for exploration. The Walls of Olympus which were as tall as they were impervious were another. 

And of course there was everything in The Nether. The gods were so mighty they’d fashioned a pathway directly into The Nether, and then tamed it as well. The Crafter built a highway stretching the entire way, allowing for greater travel all the while The Miner reaved the place of its resources. Especially The Nether’s fiendish fortresses. No seas of lava could deter the fearsome gods.

Lastly there was The Thunder Path, the great railway that ensured all roads led back to Olympus, assuming The Bifrost (the nether highway) was not enough. The Thunder Path is an impressive series of redstone powered rails and bridges connecting countless villages, islands, and even other bases of the gods back to Olympus.

The Miner was the god of mining, reading, and formulating. The Crafter was the god of creation, improvement, and all things marvelous. Together with The Wiseman they became an unstoppable trinity of civilization, and all others were inferior, and thus must fall to their knees before them.

Which resulted in the last two.

There was The Wayward, who took the form of a white haired girl who could float up high. The Wayward seemed to do as they pleased, a variety to exist in-between the gods. Chaos, if you will. Past their offices she wandered, and with it reaped the rewards of risk. She was a trickster at heart, deceiving the piglins and sometimes even playing pranks at her fellow gods’ expense. Though she was invaluable, that much was true. She was also the finest alchemist in all the realms, able to fashion the finest potions, and even the finest enchanter, being the one to spellcast the enchantments that gave the gods’ divine weapons their notorious power.

The Wayward was the goddess of chaos, peace, deception, alchemy, and enchantments.

This left the vilest for last. The Cyclops. He had long blonde hair and a singular sea blue eye. His right eye was covered by an eyepatch. As for how a god such as they could be wounded so gravely is unknown. It is said he came into this world with only one eye to begin with. Perhaps in the unknowable depths of The Void, he was wounded in a battle with a nameless thing.

That one eye would be the only eye he needed however, for with it he cast forth a gaze of destruction. He ventured into the wilds outside Olympus, exploring the continents and archipelagos alike. To expand the influence of the empire beyond knowing. He conquered all sorts of villages, from the simple meadows to the dark oak forests, past the heat of the jungles and deserts, the vastness of the savannah, the sluggishness of the swamps, and even the cold of the taigas. He found all sorts of places.

With it he left outposts, which would later be improved by The Crafter as further cities of the gods. Eight of them would grow to become mighty and powerful realms of their own, and together with Olympus totalled The Nine Realms.

There was Edenia, situated on a mushroom island. The Wayward was actually the one to find this place, and saw it within the interest of the gods to make a base here. A place where the mooshrooms are abundant, as well as simply an outpost outside of Olympus. It is a fine city with three walls and high towers as well as extensions off the island’s beaches to fit even more area. Edenia operates as a great nexus outside of Olympus, being a solid stepping on point to and from the other realms when navigating the long-winding paths of The Bifrost.

Edenia is home to none other than The Garden of Eden, a beautiful garden tended to by all the gods except for The Cyclops. Home to all types of plant life ever made. It is also where Bar Sinister is situated, which is an even grander brewery of all sorts of elixirs, preferably one The Wayward uses away from the eyes of The Wiseman.

There was Elysium, situated within The Nether. The Nether was of course a harsh dimension which rained fire over fields of ash and coasts of bones greeted with seas of lava. There were some exceptions, such as the forests exclusive to that place, but a true reprieve from the harshness of The Nether could be found in the beautiful Elysium. The Crafter was the one to call this place home, and craft it he did. He constructed entire terraformation machines which dug up the lava and the hellish dirt and placed within it a mighty dome to block out the lava and view the dark world from the inside. It was composed of beautiful trees and an entire ocean, a microcosm of The Overworld right in The Nether.

Elysium’s major areas were quite varied. There was The Hog Pen. While most realms hinged on the use of the typical villager slave, Elysium focused mainly on the enslavement of the piglin people. The various piglin tribes were ruled initially by the likes of The Beast, The Unbreakable, The Devourer, The Seer, and The Great Hog before coming under the service of the gods once all were torn down in the gods’ nether conquest. Here they served in endless gold mining, among others. Though all know Elysium as the heart of the gods’ presence in The Nether due to it being the nexus of all highways across it. These highways stretch for countless miles and are used for maximum-efficiency travel of slaves, materials, and even the gods themselves.

It was known as The Bifrost. Sometimes referred to as The Nether Express, The Hell Hyperlane, The Highway Through Hell, and The Warp, several highways were coordinated to interconnect to Elysium, treating it as the ultimate transport hub. The Bifrost later received an upgrade in the form of a mighty tower which pierced right through The Nether Ceiling, allowing for absolute unhindered travel. The standard Bifrost is to be used by all and grants access to all nether bases, this new higher Bifrost is for exclusive travel between The Nine Realms.

There was Gongmen, situated up in the mountains. A metropolis in the mountaintops seems like a terrible idea, but this mountain fortress is one which emphasizes the absolute splendor of the gods. A great and fortified city atop a tall mountain range, it hosted a wide assortment of resource farms deep within the mountain. The realm is under the control of The Miner, who explores the mines of this place. Minecarts are used all throughout Gongmen, and naturally this means that Gongmen is connected to The Thunder Path. Some slaves shiver with fear when they realize they are headed to Gongmen, watching their minecarts ascend the complex ramp that brought them to their high altitude servitude.

Housed within Gongmen is The Burning, an enormous furnace composed of smaller furnaces. All of them with lava as their fuel. There was also The Culling, where monsters are endlessly born from the darkness only to be slaughtered and the spoils harvested. Lastly there is also The Dam Barbara (affectionately referred to as “The Dam Babs” by The Cyclops), which is a marvelous dam that blocked out a mighty river and opened up even more land. There at the foot of Gongmen was a smaller splinter realm satelliting it dubbed The Valley of Peace, where countless books are stored and peaceful farms and meadows are tended to.

There was Gomorrah, situated at a supposed edge of the universe. The World Border . This one was the abode of The Wayward. The Wayward journeyed as far as she could go and reached the supposed end of the world. Here she constructed for herself her own ornate city of pagodas and tall statues of warriors.

Dragons of marble and later caged variants of The Ender Dragon overlooked The Wayward’s seat of power known as The Lotus, a beautiful lotus shaped house filled with colored glass and other precious stones, filled with paintings, potions, and archaic knowledge. Deep in the basements of The Lotus was The Pleasure Chamber where slaves were forced to endlessly indulge in each other, their love energy harvested for whatever chaotic purposes The Lotus required. Surrounding The Lotus were eight pyramids, one for each direction. Each pyramid was composed from base to peak with diamond, and were fitted with six fully powered beacons firing right into the sky.

There was Fenris, situated within the ice spikes. This icy realm was a terrible place and almost certainly born out of necessity in the name of expansion as opposed to the others. Fenris is a land teeming with wolves which ravage the entire place hunting for everything and making sure everything is clean of life. 

Fenris was later granted its own signature location. Fenris became a prison realm. A grand structure at the center of Fenris was erected so that the icy hellhole shall become a penal colony for all undesirable slaves of the gods. It was dubbed The Dreadfort. Here they toiled regarding who knows what in the worst conditions. They were overseen by ruthless snow golems, and any that tried to escape also had to deal with the hungry wolves. Drowned were even used here in the waterier area so that any that dared try to escape by raft or any other seafaring means would be torn apart.

There was El Dorado, situated in the jungle. Originally a number of treehouses overseeing the jungle as camp for a number of jungle temple raids, it soon became a city of gold when a surplus of the material came to be in the gold farms of Elysium known as The Hog Pen. Reconstructed with gold, El Dorado is a gilded blight in the world of green, and the gods knew it. El Dorado serves as the patron realm of The Wiseman themself, a little kingdom all their own with their own slaves.

El Dorado had two places of great importance to it. The first was Callahorn, which was the largest automated farm in the universe, larger than even that of back home in the Realm of Olympus. The second was known as simple as The Map. It was a grand map located within the main palace of El Dorado. Valhalla had one of its own as well, though some say the one in El Dorado is even more exact and vast. It was of course a map of the known world, perhaps even the entire world. The Wiseman used it to view the world and its developments, and chart the stability of The Infinite Empire in all of its realms and colonies as they were connected by The Bifrost and The Thunder Path.

There was Atlantis, situated in the ocean. While Edenia is a seaborne realm as well, Atlantis is doubly so, for it was quite literally born for the sea, or in this case the ocean. Atlantis is an artificial island, constructed by the gods from the very waves themselves. From it they formed an entirely new base to chart the expansive oceans. It was here where The Wayward set out in search for the stronghold which led to The End.

Atlantis was composed of three main sections. The Above, The Waves, and The Below. The Above is a floating platform only accessible through flight, it hangs over Atlantis as a floating island and quite literally touches the Notch-mandated limit of the sky. Upon it is a simple garden and laboratory where The Wiseman tends to just sit back and relax, often engorging themself with their surplus of delicious foods. The Waves are the central part and the one most seen when they arrive at Atlantis. It is a fully fledged city floating at sea with several canals for boats to pass through and bridges for those walking on foot. It holds beautiful towers, ports, fishing areas, and a museum of music and art. Pyramids line up this place as well. As well as a statue of The Wiseman’s glory. Lastly there was The Below. The Below was originally an ocean temple and when The Cyclops was sailing back home his boat was seized by an army of drowned and an elder guardian, after thwarting all of them and notifying the others of its location, The Wiseman, Miner, and Crafter all worked together to drain that portion of the ocean and construct it. The Below is a transparent laboratory that is rigged to travel to other ocean temples and naval bases. Almost like an undersea Thunder Path.

There was Darkmount, situated in The End. It is an enormous structure surrounding The Island of the Ender Dragon. After the Ender Dragon was slain, the base was constructed to be a headquarters for the gods’ expeditions into The End’s uncharted territories, ready to plunder it for all that it was worth. The place would later be deemed as The Cyclops’ patron realm after the construction of The Infinity Circuit (see paragraph after next one). Darkmount is a structure that surrounds the entirety of the island, with a complex structure hanging above the end fountain. From there, there are dedicated docks for flight to the wilds of endspace.

Darkmount is composed of three distinct structures. First is actually located in The Overworld known as  The Stronghold. This was a space already constructed before the arrival of the gods, and had since been refurbished under them to house even more materials. Aside from that, The Stronghold is also where all those who take The Bifrost to Darkmount go, as actually travelling to Darkmount proper is only plausible through End Portal, and its creation is one of the few things that elude The Wiseman, Miner, and Crafter. Once passing through The End Portal we have The Halo, which is a base that encircles the floating islands. It has several intimidating towers and is actually quite desolate. Nobody lives here save for The Cyclops himself. An endless waterfall pervades the entirety of The Halo, no doubt terrifying the endermen. Speaking of which, there are dedicated endermen harvesting camps within The Halo. 

Then is perhaps the absolute testament to the unchallengeable power of the gods, The Infinity Circuit. The Infinity Circuit is a complex contraption born from both the raw intellect of The Wiseman, the ingenuity of The Crafter, and The Cyclops’ hunger for destruction. When the gods first returned to The End, they saw that The Ender Dragon had returned, and so they slaughtered it again and The Wiseman learned that The Ender Dragon has the ability to quasi-resurrect itself by forming variants that are constantly born throughout the End Fountain. They then economized the beast’s immortality for their own ends. The Infinity Circuit is composed of two parts, Charbydis and Scylla. Charybdis tethers the dragon to ensure it does not leave as Scylla hangs up above. Scylla is a complex machine which fires a projectile downwards, hammering the dragon with incredible force and killing it in a single hit, practically killing it the moment it comes back to life.

All of these eight realms were formed from the ruins marked by The Cyclops’ footprints. He cleared the path so that they may build. And all together they formed The Nine Realms. Though The Cyclops’ expeditions were not out of simple wanderlust, but a more destructive endeavor.

Conquest.

He ravaged every civilization he came across. Those that dared resist the regime of the gods that had arrived and settled in Olympus. He would beat them into submission, destroying their temples and looting their farms and houses, and of course capturing them all to be transported back to Olympus by means of The Thunder Path, where they shall work as slaves. Nothing and no one could hope to stop The Cyclops in his endless streak of capitulation.

Any chieftain that dared tried to fight him would be trampled, their soldiers skewered with arrows. Their brave and valiant golems are destroyed by their very eyes as their civilization is torn asunder and their people ripped apart by The Cyclops’ army of war dogs. He was an Enemy of All The World, The Slavemaster. From his seat at The Dire he overlooked The Pit. The Pit was a space in the ground of Olympus covered by large dark walls where these slaves were forced to live and breed in cramped conditions. Generations would grow in this dark pit, being born here stripped of light, save for the day when they are retrieved when in need to replace another slave, or perhaps to fill a new position regarding a whole new endeavor within the gods’ interests.

Oddly enough, not all villages that came under the banner of The Cyclops were taken over. Some came willingly after The Cyclops wiped out the pillagers that raided the area. He sought out their towers and burned them down, killing everything in sight.

The Cyclops was the god of war, conquest, and slavery. He cleared the path and expanded the reaches of the empire through raw might, spreading the power and influence of the gods throughout The Overworld, ensuring that all shall know it as The Infinite Empire. 

These five together formed The Empire of The Overworld and The Nether. But it was not enough. It was never enough. More needed to be made. From beacon pyramids to monster farms to even more land to fall under the dominion of the gods, it was clear that there was still one place left to truly capture.

The End.

The End was a dark space which beheld a powerful beast known as The Ender Dragon. A beast said to surpass even The Wither in power. The portal to it was located in a subterranean stronghold tucked far away, though The Wayward would manage to find it, and she would lead her fellow gods through, and together they slew The Ender Dragon and her underlings, The Ender Men. After which they proclaimed themselves the masters of all three worlds.

From there of course came the construction of the ninth and final realm of Darkmount, which profited off of the repeated deaths of The Ender Dragon and the culling of the ender men for their pearls.

None could ever hope to defeat the gods. No slave revolt shall succeed, and no opposing kingdom can see any semblance of victory in sight. Neither men nor monsters can trump these unstoppable beings from The Void. 

There was one glimmer of hope. A man named Steve. A messiah, the grand liberator. He proved a formidable foe, even for the gods. He fought them from his base, The City of Tarn. There, a terrifying reality was realized. The gods can in fact be killed, but they too can come back. Steve held the same ability. So an endless strife was indeed upon them.

A nuclear option was brought forth by The Wayward though. The world was set from a state of survival to something they called “hardcore.” To kill each other, the gods had to forsake their resurrections. Should Steve kill one of them, they will not return, should Steve kill all of them, then Olympus would be destroyed as would The Nine Realms.

For once, there was hope.

Was.

The gods succeeded without casualty when The Wayward managed to sneak forth two withers into Tarn, and after the chaotic battle had sapped Steve of his totems of undying The Cyclops bifurcated him with his enchanted netherite ax.

Tarn was destroyed, its libraries seized and what the gods deemed undesirable was burnt. Its people were enslaved and its gardens were defiled. There was nothing left to stop the gods as with Steve’s death they reverted the state of hardcore and became immortal once more and with it cemented themselves as the absolute undying masters of the universe. The Infinite Empire was such in both reach and duration, ingrained into the very hearts, minds, and souls of every conceivable living thing.

All they ever possibly hoped to do was kneel, and so they did.

Though eventually the gods did grow bored. This world was never-ending and there was no more glory to be won. Their realms expanded, but all it did was merely widen a gap that can never possibly be reached.

So…. they left. Tired of their unparalleled dominion over the universe. The gods returned to The Void. The Wayward was the first to leave, followed by The Miner, then The Crafter, and finally The Wiseman. Each of them took the time to bask in the glory of their infinite empire. Their realms and the slaves within, before each of them ultimately went ahead and abandoned the world entirely.

This left only The Cyclops who stood alone as the last god. He sat alone in Valhalla, and in the other houses, and even the other realms. There was nothing left here, yet he remained, watching the world pass him by.

He was in his private study back at The Dire when he was approached by the three gods; Action, Knowledge, and Foresight. Foresight in particular had a grave concern, for they could see into the future, and yet they could not see anything anymore. It was just one great blankness. Action believed that The Cyclops took things to apocalyptic extremes and annihilated the world for good, while Knowledge believed the same but through the use of even higher Notch-like powers. Perhaps the ability to prevent births and kill everything in an instant.

The Cyclops however shot down both of these ideas, and revealed to them the simple truth.

Once he leaves, this world ends. The vast universe that they knew, that these creatures that serve them knew, they were nothing more but entities built specifically for this moment. Their lives held no higher purpose other than for what the gods had made for them. The children born into slavery were meant to be slaves, the animals meant for slaughter were meant to be slaughtered. The chance or hope of being something different was stamped out the moment this world was generated.

Knowledge notes that there are times when the gods resign from the world, but they do not recall a time when all the gods have resigned. There was always at least one god in the universe at a time. When all gods are gone, the world comes to a screeching halt, and only continues when at least one returns. Though this time the gods were gone for good, without intention of returning.

While he could savor the physical unmaking of the world by disabling the ability of beings to be born and then butchering everything and everyone by hand, but he saw no point in it anymore. Most of this world was built by his fellow gods, his friends, and though they were not here anymore, he cannot will himself to destroy them.

Action offered the idea that perhaps he can keep living in this world rather than let it all completely die. Allow his slaves to rule themselves, he may even rule as their god-emperor if he must. This world can live beyond the sole reason of serving the whims of the gods.

The Cyclops was uninterested.

So the trio attacked him, together they worked in hopes of imprisoning the last god and restore freedom to the world. They hoped that perhaps by defeating him they could keep him imprisoned in The Pit, the very same prison he used to house his hopeless slaves. Though in the end they were all killed. First was Foresight, then Knowledge, and then finally Action.

With the three dead, The Cyclops had his slaves parade them across The Nine Realms and then through the different colonies, so that all could see the absolute dominion of the gods, or in this case, of the last god.

At the highest point of The Great Palace of Valhalla, The Cyclops watched the setting sun as he stood there as the last god of the universe. Neither the Olympians nor the Overworldly Three were here, this world knew only him and Notch, and Notch was not here either, having turned his back on his creation long ago. But they didn’t need to know that.

And they never will.

Once night came, The Cyclops abandoned the world.

He returned to The Void and as he did the world was rapidly unmade, and soon it was not even there anymore. As he did, he landed in another world, this time fashioned by The Miner.

“You’re late” remarked The Crafter. “We’d just begun.”

Oh well, looks like it was time for another round.

The Wiseman coordinated with The Miner and The Crafter in the foundations of what shall be their peerless city, The Wayward tried to see how fast they could find The Stronghold, and The Cyclops? Well, he set out to the wilderness that surrounded their base, eager to find villages to capture and people to enslave.

This was neither the first nor the last they’ve done this. The endless cycle of construction, domination, and abandonment. They were simply mad. Madmen with incomprehensible power existing in a state no creature in this world could possibly hope to fathom. And any time the people they trample over or even raise up come to realize this, they all come to the same assumption.

They Must Be Gods.