Perfect World

At the dawn of time, the universe's first god, Pan Gu, lived an immortal but solitary life. With no subjects to rule, he grew weary of his loneliness and decomposed his own body into five elements — fire, metal, wood, earth, and water — forging from them the air, land, mountains, rivers, seas, and plant life of a new world. For his first attempt at filling it with life, Pan Gu shaped sentient beings from his shadow, but these unnamed creatures proved uncivilized, soon turning on one another and corrupting everything around them. Recognizing he had made an Imperfect World, he built a floating city called Heaven's Tear, sheltered within it the few creatures not yet corrupted, and then loosed a great flood that swept away all other life. With the world cleansed, Pan Gu created anew, this time fashioning beings capable of Spiritual Cultivation. He made three races embodying the traits he most prized in himself: Humans, born of his spirit, with morality, honor, and boundless imagination; the Untamed, born of his body, embodying freedom, peace, and a deep bond with the natural order; and the Winged Elves, born of his blood, exemplifying beauty, grace, and purity. Together the three formed the Perfect World. Above all, Pan Gu granted each race free will, vowing never again to wipe out an entire species — so all conflicts between them had to be settled among themselves. One such conflict erupted when Humans and Winged Elves both discovered Heaven's Tear and went to war over the great city, bringing out the worst in both, while the Untamed stayed neutral, content to live in harmony with nature. As the war raged on with neither side relenting, a new threat emerged: the race thought destroyed in the great flood returned in force. Neither quite living nor quite dead, these creatures — known as wraiths — seemed bent on destroying the other races and corrupting the beautiful world, and rumor held they could possess other living things. Little is known of their true nature, but one thing is clear: Humans, Untamed, and Winged Elf must set aside their differences and unite to halt the spread of corruption and protect the Perfect World.