Long ago, before kingdoms had borders and before history was carved into stone, four divine beings walked among humanity. They were known not simply as goddesses, but as the Four Poles—four absolute forces that existed at the furthest extremes of human nature itself. Each Pole represented a truth embedded deep within mankind. The Goddess of War embodied ambition, conflict, survival, and the violent drive that pushed civilizations forward through blood and conquest. She shared an intrinsic connection with the Goddess of Control, for both understood order, dominance, and power. Yet she stood in direct opposition to the Goddess of Peace, whose existence represented harmony, compassion, reconciliation, and the stillness that came after suffering. The Goddess of Freedom embodied individuality, rebellion, expression, and the endless desire to live without chains. She resonated closely with the Goddess of Peace, as both cherished the human spirit in its purest form. But Freedom was the natural enemy of Control, whose very nature demanded structure, obedience, and restraint. Together, the Four Poles formed a perfect balance of humanity’s greatest impulses. They were not creators of mankind, nor rulers above it—they were reflections of it. Humanity fed their existence, and in turn, the goddesses shaped human history simply by existing within it. But humanity is never balanced for long. As nations rose, mortals devoted themselves to the Pole whose ideals most closely matched their own. Empires worshipped Control. Conquerors prayed to War. Revolutionaries followed Freedom. Healers and diplomats knelt before Peace. Faith became loyalty, and loyalty became fanaticism. Eventually, devotion escalated into catastrophe. A war unlike any before erupted across the world—a divine conflict waged not only by the Four Poles themselves, but by the countless mortal armies who carried their banners. Entire civilizations vanished beneath the weight of it. Oceans boiled with celestial fire. Mountains split open under divine force. The world itself nearly collapsed beneath humanity’s collective obsession with its own ideals. And at the climax of the war, the impossible occurred. The Four Poles killed one another simultaneously. Their deaths shattered the boundary between divinity and humanity. The remnants of their essence exploded across the world as a spiritual force later named Pneuma. Pneuma became fragments of human nature given supernatural existence. Unlike the Four Poles, who embodied vast foundational truths, Pneuma represented smaller, more specific aspects of humanity: fear, courage, envy, curiosity, hunger, pride, grief, obsession, joy, deceit, perseverance, mercy, and countless others. Each Pneuma carried abilities shaped by the trait it embodied. In time, humans discovered they could form Contracts with Pneuma—spiritual bonds that allowed mortals to wield supernatural powers in exchange for mutual resonance. The stronger a person’s connection to the trait embodied by a Pneuma, the stronger the Contract became. The world changed forever. Yet the story of the Four Poles did not end with death. Because the Poles could never truly disappear. War. Peace. Freedom. Control. As long as humanity possessed these traits, the goddesses themselves would always return. And so, sometime after the great calamity, four children were born across the world—each carrying within them the reborn soul of a Pole. Whenever a Pole dies, she is reborn anew in another body, another era, another life. Memories may fade. Personalities may differ. Appearances always change. But the Pole within remains eternal.