Recaps

Dunn avoided the coming war among the Gods and hid in his Divine Kingdom, where Gunara, the Darkness God, arrived seeking refuge. After learning she could locate his concealed domain through her darkness divine office, Dunn decided to take her in and coveted the office’s powers.

• Dunn recognized that the Gods’ growing pantheons would strengthen them, while the wandering Deities learned of the plan and began choosing sides as war approached.
• Dunn stayed out of the conflict and watched over his hidden Divine Kingdom, where he had spent decades shaping an enormous bat-like divine body.
• Gunara appeared outside Dunn’s Divine Kingdom, greeted him respectfully, and said she had come to seek refuge under him.
• Gunara explained that her darkness divine office let her see through concealment, and Dunn decided he would take her in and obtain the office if he could.

Dunn accepted Gunara, who had acquired the Darkness Divine Office, into his pantheon under a three-thousand-year River Styx Contract and gave her a place in his divine kingdom. As wandering deities attacked and captured several divine kingdoms, the Astral Plane’s first divine war began.

• Gunara explained why she had sought Dunn and offered a contract with favorable terms in exchange for protection and a small territory in his divine kingdom.
• After Dunn questioned Gunara about her motives, she revealed that she hoped to become his divine queen, and Dunn signed the contract.
• Dunn gave Gunara territory for her followers and a residence beside the Devil Fruit Tree, and they used their powers to conceal his divine kingdom more thoroughly.
• Nearly half the wandering deities settled elsewhere, prompting the remaining wanderers, led by two intermediate-power deities, to launch surprise attacks on several lesser-power divine kingdoms.
• The wandering deities captured all but one of the targeted divine kingdoms, and divine kingdoms gathered near intermediate powers as the first war of the divine realm began.

Dunn and Gunara watched the gods’ prolonged war and Dunn explained how the God of War was manipulating both sides to gain power from divine conflict. The chapter ended with Banboer announcing his ascension to greater power as the War Overlord.

• The gods with divine kingdoms gathered around intermediate deities while the wandering deities used captured kingdoms as bases, and their war dragged on for years.
• Gunara asked Dunn why the gods had failed to defeat the wandering deities, and Dunn explained that the gods fought cautiously with avatars while the wandering deities risked their true bodies.
• Dunn revealed that the God of War and his allies had prolonged the fighting to control its scale and harvest power from the war divine portfolio.
• Dunn told Gunara that those who held Heaven’s Mandate could intervene in the Astral Plane, but had allowed the conflict to continue.
• Banboer declared that he had ascended to greater power as the War Overlord.

Banboer ascended to greater power, led the gods in destroying the wandering deities, and left the Main Plane’s Destiny Legendaries waiting for a response. Months later, Dunn answered an urgent prayer from Evelyn and discovered that Monet’s career card identified her as a Child of the Ancient God.

• Banboer’s divine power shook the world, while the Elf Empress, Bahamut, Yi, the Wizard Speaker, and others watched from the Main Plane.
• The Wizard Speaker told Mystra that Banboer was not their concern, but he worried about the silent Death Overlord.
• Banboer led the gods in wiping out the wandering deities, and the Divine Realm fell quiet for several months.
• Evelyn urgently summoned Dunn, who sent a divine projection to the Death Cult’s central church in Atlantis’s Imperial Capital.
• Annie explained that something had happened to Monet, and Dunn examined her career card.
• Dunn found the unfamiliar designation “Child of the Ancient God” in Monet’s talent field.

Dunn investigated Monet’s new Child of the Ancient God designation and learned from the Eye of the Firmament that it marked her as a beacon for the return of beings beyond Heaven’s Mandate. The Eye warned Dunn to ascend to Greater Power soon and asked him to protect an Apotheosis Ritual he was preparing.

• Annie told Dunn that Monet’s Career Card had changed from Child of Mystery to Child of the Ancient God after Banboer’s announcement.
• Dunn summoned the Eye of the Firmament, who examined Monet and identified the designation as a mark for a return.
• The Eye theorized that Ancient Gods had once been driven from the Main Plane and left marks behind as beacons for their return.
• Dunn suggested Banboer’s ascension might have broken a restriction, and the Eye confirmed that an Ancient God or similar being was slumbering in the East Sea.
• The Eye urged Dunn to ascend to Greater Power and asked him to protect the Apotheosis Ritual he was preparing.

After Banboer resumed war and attacked deities across the Astral Plane, Dunn concluded that an overwhelming influx of faith had warped the War Overlord’s personality. Dunn examined himself and found faith had affected him only slightly, but he realized the other gods might soon change as well.

• Dunn urged Annie to complete her Apotheosis Ritual, then left while warning that the world would soon be thrown into turmoil.
• In year 103 of the Calendar of the Gods, Banboer resumed war after growing impatient with the lack of action from Heaven's Mandates in the Main Plane.
• Banboer attacked nearby Divine Kingdoms, killed three deities in one day, and declared war on all the gods.
• Banboer tore apart a deity in his own pantheon who tried to dissuade him and absorbed their Divine Kingdom.
• Gunara questioned Banboer's apparent madness, and Dunn suspected that his personality had changed after he ascended to greater power.
• Dunn reasoned that faith could reshape a deity's thoughts, examined himself, and found that the influence on him remained limited.

Dunn hid his Divine Kingdom and entered seclusion to find a way to resist the influence of faith before advancing to Greater Power, while the War Overlord’s expanding war engulfed the world. When Emperor Lane unexpectedly attained Deification as the Emperor of the Gods and threatened to control the gods, Dunn interrupted his research and intervened.

• Dunn instructed Gunara to conceal his Divine Kingdom and keep watch while he researched how to reduce the influence of mortal thoughts in the power of faith.
• The gods failed to stop the War Overlord’s forces, and his war spread across the Main Plane as he searched unsuccessfully for Dunn’s Divine Kingdom.
• Dunn told Atlantis to protect its citizens and observe events, while Yara Moore led the empire into battle beyond its borders to shield its homeland.
• Emperor Lane suddenly attained Deification as Lyon I, declaring himself the Emperor of the Gods and imposing an unseen restraint on the gods.
• Dunn recognized the threat posed by Lane’s potential Divine Portfolio, ended his seclusion, and left his hidden Divine Kingdom to mediate the divine war.

Dunn gathered the Astral Plane’s Gods and provoked the near-mad War Overlord into leading a campaign against Lyon I. As the Gods prepared to strike Lyon’s Empire, the Elf Empress and Wizard Speaker encircled it with a massive force, prompting the War Overlord to send a powerful clone into the battle.

• Dunn united the Astral Plane’s Gods and decided he needed to divert the War Overlord before they could act against Lyon I.
• Dunn entered the War Overlord’s Divine Kingdom and baited him by calling Lyon I the God Emperor.
• Dunn persuaded the War Overlord to lead a war against Lyon I, and the Gods prepared to send down clones to attack him before he could gain a divine portfolio.
• Half a month after Lyon I’s deification, the land around the Lyon Empire shattered into islands as the Elf Empress and Wizard Speaker led dozens of High Legendaries to encircle it.
• The War Overlord declared Lyon I his prey and sent a clone comparable to a Destiny Legendary onto the battlefield.

As Lyon I battled the Wizard Speaker and the Elf Empress, the Eye of the Firmament seized the distraction to become the Fate Overlord and ascend to the Astral Plane. Dunn discovered that the new god had spread his faith across nearly the entire world, apparently by intercepting other deities’ faith, and watched to see how they would react.

• The War Overlord descended and fought indiscriminately, giving Lyon I a reprieve against the Wizard Speaker and the Elf Empress.
• Sterling Carvel, revealed as the Eye of the Firmament, achieved Deification as the Fate Overlord and hurriedly raised his Divine Kingdom into the Astral Plane.
• The Wizard Speaker, furious at the Eye of the Firmament’s escape, intensified his attacks, and the Wizard Speaker and the Elf Empress killed Lyon I.
• Dunn investigated the Fate Overlord’s Lines of Faith and found them spread throughout the world, except across Atlantis, suggesting he had intercepted other gods’ faith.
• Dunn decided to watch for the other deities to discover the Fate Overlord’s scheme.

The Fate Overlord siphoned half the Gods’ faith and escaped into the Astral Plane Depths, provoking their fury and suspicion of Dunn. Dunn defied the Gods and later met the Fate Overlord in his true body, who revealed that the meeting was meant to show his trust in their alliance.

• As the Fate Overlord’s divine kingdom entered the Astral Plane, the Gods discovered he had stolen at least half of their faith.
• The Gods prepared to surround and kill the Fate Overlord, but he fled into the Astral Plane Depths while they hesitated.
• The Gods questioned Dunn about why Atlantis Empire’s faith had not been siphoned, and Dunn insulted them before flying away with Gunara.
• In Dunn’s divine kingdom, Dunn praised the Fate Overlord’s scheme, and the Fate Overlord explained that he had come in his true body to show sincerity to his ally.

Dunn told the Fate Overlord that faith was poisonous and that cleansing its toxins could take ten thousand years, leaving both Overlords trapped between madness and vulnerability. As they considered the approaching threats, eight powerful streaks of light entered the Main Plane, one destroying a deity's Divine Kingdom on the way.

• The Fate Overlord asked Dunn why he had not advanced to Greater Power and urged him to do so, citing their need for strength against Heaven's Mandate and the Ancient Gods.
• Dunn explained that he had withheld his discovery about poisonous faith because it could discourage the Fate Overlord from advancing, weakening their alliance.
• Dunn revealed that faith contained toxins that would need to be cleared before safely reaching Greater Power, and the Fate Overlord admitted he had felt dread just before attempting the advance.
• Dunn warned that cleansing the toxins could take at least ten thousand years, even though their enemies might attack within a hundred years.
• Several immense streaks of light swept through the Astral Plane toward the Main Plane, and one shattered a Weak Power's Divine Kingdom and killed its deity.
• Eight streaks of light entered the Main Plane.

The Natural Ancient God returned to the Main Plane and joined the Elf Empress and the Wizard Speaker to seal the War Overlord's avatar. In Dunn's Divine Kingdom, the Fate Overlord explained that the Ancient Gods had been weakened by thirty thousand years in the Astral Plane, while the War Overlord had grown stronger than others of his rank.

• The Natural Ancient God reunited with the Elf Empress, then restrained the War Overlord's avatar and learned why the Elf Empress and the Wizard Speaker could not defeat it.
• The Natural Ancient God, Elf Empress, and Wizard Speaker used the Natural Divine Domain to seal the War Overlord's avatar on an island.
• Dunn and the Fate Overlord watched the sealing and wondered why the Natural Ancient God seemed weaker than the War Overlord.
• The Fate Overlord explained that nine Ancient Gods had been expelled from the Main Plane thirty thousand years ago, and that one had died and formed the Storm Sea.
• The Fate Overlord told Dunn that the returning Ancient Gods were not at their peak, and that the War Overlord had grown too powerful for even other greater powers to match.

After the Eight Ancient Gods returned, the War Overlord’s sealed clone weakened him enough to restore a sliver of reason, and peace settled over the world. A new wave of deification followed, and Annie became the Weather and Travelers God, joining Dunn’s Pantheon.

• The return of the Eight Ancient Gods helped the Main Plane’s powers end the long war, while the War Overlord’s losses and fear of the Ancient Gods forced him into silence.
• The Ancient Gods stayed quiet as they focused on restoring their strength, and peace lasted for several years.
• Legendaries increasingly pursued deification as deaths mounted and the eight dormant Ancient Gods made the Main Plane feel unsafe.
• Annie achieved deification as the Weather and Travelers God and ascended to the Astral Plane with Dunn’s guidance.
• Annie established her Divine Kingdom near Dunn’s, while Green became the Legendary Priest of her Weather Church.

Aruoshi completed her apotheosis and became the God of the Elves, while the Natural Ancient God studied the ritual and the Elf Empress watched her title overshadow the throne. As Aruoshi prepared to ascend, the Elf Empress attacked her with Legendary spells and hurled her into the Underdark.

• The Natural Ancient God warned the Elf Empress that the Main Plane still rejected Ancient Gods and asked to study the new deification method.
• The Elf Empress arranged for Aruoshi, the Elf Race's only demigod, to undergo deification while she and the Natural Ancient God observed.
• In Year 124 of the Calendar of the Gods, Aruoshi declared herself the God of the Elves and ascended to weak power.
• Aruoshi remained in the mortal world for a year as the Natural Ancient God summoned her for research and the title Goddess of the Elves spread among the elves.
• The Elf Empress confronted Aruoshi near the entrance to the Underdark, then blasted her with Legendary spells and knocked her into it.

After the Elf Empress nearly killed her, Aruoshi chose to fall into the Abyss in hopes of surviving, but a spider demon swallowed her. The Abyss transformed her into Lolth, the Spider Demon Queen.

• The Elf Empress watched Aruoshi disappear into the Underdark while the Natural Ancient God embraced her.
• Aruoshi awoke near death in the Underdark and blamed the Elf Empress for destroying her divine body and soul.
• Remembering that Yeenoghu had grown stronger after falling into the Abyss, Aruoshi considered following his example.
• A spider demon emerged through a Spatial Rift and swallowed Aruoshi, who resolved to take revenge on the Elf Empress.
• The Abyssal Will empowered Aruoshi as she burst out of the spider demon, and she declared herself Lolth, the Spider Demon Queen.

Lolth spread her account of the Elf Empress and the Natural Ancient God’s betrayal among the elves, turning their doubts into a schism and a civil war. After the Drow were expelled to the Underdark, Lolth attained deification in the Abyss and rose to become a greater power.

• In the year 126 of the Calendar of the Gods, Lolth sent revelations to her remaining fanatics, accusing the Elf Empress and the Natural Ancient God of betraying her.
• Lolth’s story spread among the elves, and nearly half of them sided with her as they learned she was still alive.
• Nearly a third of the elves became Lolth’s true believers, and she corrupted them into the dark-skinned Drow.
• The Elf Empress prepared to massacre the Drow, but the Natural Ancient God persuaded her to expel them to the Underdark instead.
• With the Drow’s faith, Lolth attained deification in the Abyss, received four divine portfolios, and rose to the level of a greater power.

Dunn experimented with the Devil Fruit Tree to remove the poison from Faith Power and discovered that it absorbed the Faith Power, producing new Devil Fruits while leaving the remaining power clean. He gave one of the unusual fruits to a Petitioner to test its effects.

• Dunn failed to remove or weaken the poison in Faith Power using other energies or filtration, then considered the Devil Fruit Tree.
• Dunn decided to risk feeding Faith Power to the tree and watched as it absorbed a small amount without issue.
• Dunn poured a vast quantity of Faith Power into the Devil Fruit Tree, which absorbed it and grew Devil Fruits across its branches.
• Dunn found that the remaining Faith Power had been stripped of its poison and suspected the new fruits had absorbed it.
• Dunn summoned a Petitioner and ordered him to eat one of the newly grown Devil Fruits; the Petitioner swallowed it after praying.

Dunn discovered that faith-powered Devil Fruits granted great strength but caused permanent physical changes and extreme emotional side effects, then decided he needed to expand his Source of Faith to prepare for divine war. In year 131 of the Calendar of the Gods, the Death Overlord ordered Atlantis to seize people and spread its faith across the New and Old Continents, promising the most outstanding Legendary figure a chance to become a Demigod.

• Dunn tested faith-powered Devil Fruits on Petitioners and found that they caused permanent transformations and left each consumer dominated by a single emotion.
• Dunn realized the fruits resembled smile but were created from both faith’s power and its toxins, making them stronger and more harmful than ordinary Devil Fruits.
• Dunn concluded the fruits could make useful cannon fodder but were of little value to him, and he cast them into the Astral Plane.
• Dunn decided to expand Atlantis’s Source of Faith so he could safely advance to Greater Power before the coming war between Deities.
• In year 131 of the Calendar of the Gods, the Death Overlord ordered Atlantis to expand its territory and seize people across the New and Old Continents, offering the most distinguished Legendary figure a chance to become a Demigod.

Dunn’s offer of Deification places drew Atlantis Empire’s Legendary beings into an expansion war that lasted several years. In the war’s third year, the Fate Overlord summoned Dunn to a council, and the Silver Mirror brought his divine projection to the Pantheon in the Astral Plane Depths.

• Dunn’s Deification reward tempted Atlantis Empire’s Legendary beings, who needed faith and faced deadly odds to become Demigods.
• After the Death Overlord’s divine decree, Atlantis Empire sent more than fifty Legendary Battleships to conquer four sea routes in a month.
• Other powers responded, and years of coastal fighting followed across the New and Old Continents.
• In the war’s third year, the Fate Overlord summoned Dunn to a council through the Silver Mirror.
• The Silver Mirror carried Dunn’s divine projection to a magnificent ancient temple, which Dunn recognized as the Pantheon.

Dunn joined the Fate Overlord and four other deities for a council in the Pantheon, where the seating shifted as participants arrived. The Fate Overlord announced that future councils would admit only full-fledged deities and explained why the remaining former members were absent.

• Dunn entered the Pantheon, found his divine power projection suppressed, and received no clear answer when he questioned the Fate Overlord about ascending to greater power.
• Miriil, the God of Music and Song, Cyric, the God of Murder, and Tiamat, the Five-Headed Dragon Goddess, arrived and took seats that rearranged themselves.
• Lolth, the Spider Demon Queen, arrived as a greater power and displaced the Fate Overlord from his original seat, prompting the other deities to greet her with awe.
• Tiamat questioned why only six of the original thirteen members had attended the council.
• The Fate Overlord restricted future councils to full-fledged deities and explained the other members' deaths, limitations, or departures.
• The Fate Overlord revealed that Chou Ox had become a demigod but had submitted to Lolth, who would represent him.

The Fate Overlord explained the Pantheon and announced that he had found leads on a method of ascending to greater power. Dunn grew suspicious and frustrated that fate had guided the Fate Overlord to discoveries that had taken Dunn years of research.

• Dunn recalled the Silver Mirror Council's members and learned that Lolth had forced Moradin to submit, prompting the Fate Overlord to remove Moradin from the council.
• Lolth redirected the gathering toward the Pantheon, and the Fate Overlord explained that it was a naturally formed treasure open to deities and that it suppressed entrants' strength below high rank.
• Miriil asked whether all deities could enter the Pantheon, and the Fate Overlord said he would later announce it as a place for the gods to deliberate.
• The Fate Overlord said that he had found leads on a method of ascending to greater power under the guidance of fate.
• Dunn wondered how the Fate Overlord had found both the Pantheon and a path to greater power through fate.

The Fate Overlord explained that becoming a greater power required immense, high-quality Faith Power and multiple saints, while toxins in Faith Power could drive a Deity mad upon advancement. He revealed that reproduction between Deities could transfer those toxins to their offspring, offering a way to purify Faith Power.

• The Fate Overlord said greater power required hundreds of millions of true believers, believers at other levels, and more than one saint.
• The Fate Overlord revealed that Faith Power contained toxins, and Dunn confirmed they could trigger when a Deity advanced to greater power, as with the War Overlord.
• The Fate Overlord told Lolth that her unusual advancement came from the Abyssal Will's blessing and asked whether she was truly fine; Lolth realized her personality had changed and screamed Angharradh's name.
• The Fate Overlord explained that reproduction between Deities transferred both Divine Power and Faith toxins to their offspring, thereby purifying the parents' Faith Power.

Dunn learned that divine offspring could provide the gods with powerful subordinates, though he recognized that faith contamination could turn them into Divine Abominations. When the Fate Overlord explained that greater powers needed a sacrificial ritual, Dunn realized the example had singled him out and that his standing among the gods might be lower than he believed.

• The Fate Overlord explained that divine offspring could be born with demigod-level power, tempting the gods who lacked capable subordinates.
• Dunn realized that faith contamination would likely transform the offspring into Divine Abominations, but chose not to warn the other deities.
• The Fate Overlord revealed that advancing to greater power required a sacrifice tied to a deity's rules and divine name, and gave the Death Overlord's world-spanning death ritual as an example.
• Dunn recognized that the example had directed the other gods' attention toward him and suspected the Fate Overlord wanted him to test the path to advancement.
• Dunn reconsidered his belief that he was second only to the two greater powers after the Pantheon's seating order challenged his view of his standing.

Dunn considered the Fate Overlord’s suspiciously far-reaching influence and agreed that his method for purifying faith power might work. He avoided becoming a test subject by claiming that his mastery of the Death Rule had left him unable to produce offspring, while the Fate Overlord and Lolth reacted with shock.

• Dunn reflected on the Pantheon’s ranking of the Fate Overlord above him and suspected that the Fate Overlord was acting as a guide for selected people in the world.
• Dunn told the assembled Gods that the Fate Overlord’s method for producing Divine Scions seemed likely to work, pleasing the Gods who wanted to purify their faith power.
• Lolth urgently asked Dunn what he meant when he sighed that there was a problem.
• Dunn explained that his essence had drawn close to the Death Rule, making reproduction impossible, and said he could not serve as the method’s test subject.
• The Fate Overlord and Lolth stared at Dunn in shock, and Dunn realized the Fate Overlord had not known about his inability to reproduce.

At the gods’ gathering, Lolth asked Dunn for troops to help her drow secure territory in the Underdark, but he refused because Atlantis’s wars left him unable to spare forces. Tiamat then offered a powerful dragon contingent, leaving Lolth with a promising alternative.

• Lolth chose Dunn as a candidate to produce divine offspring, but Dunn said he was infertile, disappointing her and prompting the Fate Overlord to remark that the Death Overlord would need another solution.
• The Fate Overlord invited the gods to discuss matters among themselves, noting that they might not gather again soon.
• Lolth asked Dunn to lend troops to help her followers establish a foothold in the Underdark, where they would face powerful native races.
• Dunn refused because Atlantis’s wars of expansion had reached a point where he could not spare fighting forces.
• Tiamat offered to send Lolth five hundred adult dragons, ten Legendary dragons, and one ancient dragon at the High Legendary level to help her rule the Underdark.