Back on topic, you might be wondering, Lano: what about the PTSD and other emotional issues

Yeah, that’s a problem. Neither Maleh nor Izare were the most emotionally healthy to begin with and they had an even worse effect on each other for quite a while

Well what happened was that Sam got really irritated at both of them because there were demons to fight and a universe to save and they kept moping and angsting all over the place and generally not doing their jobs

So she and Miss M got together (for once) and made a spell that essentially equaled decades of therapy in the form of a four month long dream-journey coma and when they woke up Maleh was really pissed about being spelled against his will but still had to agree that it was probably a good idea.

They were still distant with each other for a while but that allowed a real relationship to grow between the two of them, which was much better than what had been happening before.

And Sam still hates Izare but at least if he’s not making Maleh cry she can tolerate him.

(the issues between Sam and Izare are extremely heated and Miss M only barely managed to keep Sam from destroying him outright and only did so because she knew that Maleh would lose it if that happened)

On the other hand, we have Gaealah’s line. During the first age there was Gaealah and her many children (most of whom are not important).

Gaealah – The second creature in creation, Maleh’s “sister”. Mother Earth, basically. She had a bunch of children the oldest of whom is Tamesis and the youngest of whom is Asherah. After a time she went to sleep, deep inside the world and her children began to quarrel and fight. That quarreling eventually led to not only her death and the death of some of her children, but destroyed the universe too. Maleh was Not Happy. He took the broken world and fashioned many worlds from it, and curbed the power of Gaealah’s children. They became the gods and demons of the new worlds, unable to leave their own lands. 

Tamesis – Gaealah’s oldest, but hates responsibility. She’s lurking around, somewhere, doing something. True neutral and boring. She was the focus that caused all of the quarreling in the first place and her inability to take responsibility made everything 200% worse. The unwilling mother of Tiamat. She was the only one not punished by Maleh, simply because she did not come out of hiding and he, knowing her hatred of getting involved, let her alone. Unfortunately, her immunity from punishment also passed onto Tiamat and gave her daughter powers that she really, really should not have possessed.

Asherah – She’s of very little importance in the first age, but has a great sweeping love story with a mortal in the second. Originally an ocean goddess, she begged Maleh to make her human and he obliged and even went one step further in making it so that she and her lover would reincarnate together every so often. She’s not important at all. She’s just here because I like her.

The second age saw the rise of Tiamat and her children and also a bunch of terrible shit.

Tiamat – She’s the mother of darkness and monsters (especially Kojandariel), queen of demons and fucking your shit up. She invented blood magic by corrupting real magic and put it in the hands of humans. She has it out for Maleh in particular for no real reason. She dragged the many worlds down into chaos and darkness until she was defeated once and for all (we hope) by Arvid. Unfortunately her defeat only tipped the balance further and thus the universe met its second end. She’s probably dead now but no one is completely sure.

Kojandariel – Tiamat’s favorite son, very powerful and also very clever. He managed to trap Maleh in a mortal body and keep him trapped for several millennia while his mother ruined the universe. This was not a good time for Maleh (though it’s been argued that Izare did more damage than Koja did). Whatever the truth, Maleh left the experience with a mortal heart he was not capable of dealing with, PTSD that no one acknowledged, and an aversion to blood magic so strong that it made him physically ill, thus rending him unable to fight Tiamat effectively. Koja was eventually defeated by Izare, but not until nearly destroying both Maleh and Izare’s world. 

Aubrielle – A descendant of Tiamat. Maleh and the other immortals thought they had defeated her, but really she hid in the bloodline of her descendants until she regained enough power to remanifest herself. Aubrielle was the unfortunate victim of this manifestation and continued Tiamat’s work until she was eventually killed by Arvid. Whether or not Tiamat is actually gone is up for debate.

There’s really two lines of importance in Stringworlds and that is Maleh’s line (the Old Gods) and Gaealah’s line (everything else) but we’ll start with Maleh’s side.

In the First Age there was Maleh, the first creature in creation. The Great God. Generally thought to be an embodiment of balance. Eventually due to actions by the other side he became unable to cope with his duties (we’ll talk about that later) and is now enjoying a peaceful retirement with his husband and their gang of adopted hooligans. 

In the Second Age Maleh was joined by three others and together they were known as the Four Immortals.

Samalthea (Sam) – She used to be human, and a pirate, but she found a way to smuggle things magically between worlds and the frequent exposure to Forces Outside Her Comprehension ended up making her immortal. Generally thought to be the embodiment of chaos. She’s been known to appear in mortal worlds as both a woman and as a man, and will sleep with anyone she can seduce. By Maleh, she’s the mother of Klaus and Valkan.

Miss M – Created out of the aether, probably to balance against Sam. Generally considered to be the embodiment of order. The only one of the Old Gods who can’t take a physical form in a mortal world. Despite being a creature of pure magic she’s really fascinated with stage magic and illusions and loves to practice card tricks. She argues incessantly with Sam and the only thing they agree about is that they don’t like Izare.

Izare – Originally a human. After two decades of extremely unstable and toxic friendship-turned-terrible-mutual-pining with Maleh he eventually gives up his life to save Maleh from the demon Kojandariel (more on this later) and Maleh rewards him by making him immortal. This is largely regarded as being a bad move but during the second age he was considered the embodiment of justice and the champion of mortals. When Maleh gave up his godhood, Izare followed him and they settled down in a backwater world.

The Third Age is the realm of the New Gods (though Sam and Miss M are still around).

Arvid – The New Great Goddess. She was originally human. Maleh’s inability to fight against Tiamat (more on this later) sent his two sons seeking for reinforcements, as they were not strong enough to take his place. They found Arivd who, in addition to having strong magic of her own, was capable of channeling both of their powers, making all three stronger. However taking a lot of immortal power into your own body does have strange effects. She was at a crossing point between mortality and immortality and could have chosen to go either way. She chose immortal. Maleh likes Arvid and as she agreed to rule alongside his sons, he left the universe to her capable hands. By Klaus she’s the mother of Lishka, who Maleh is raising.

Klaus – The older of the two twins. He’s sort of flighty and reckless. He has a lot of magic power and he works as Arvid’s enforcer. He gets along with both of his parents, and generally everyone else too. Friendly and dumb. Spends almost all of his time in the mortal world, cleaning up problems.

Valkan – The younger of the two twins, and Arvid’s permanent partner. He has less power but uses it more wisely, and so he deals with problems that brute force can’t usually fix. He’s in charge of keeping the stringworlds regulated and separated from the human worlds because the borders are far too lax after everything Tiamat put them through.