Forrest Cameranesi Geek of all Trades

(5x10) Pantheon Exodus: Part 1, Episode 1

Now lost and separate in the Antarctic sea, both ships separately began a desperate search for land. Turning about at far too wide an angle, thinking they were to the east of Auei when in fact they were to the west, they sailed first far west before giving up and then turning north again, into the Indian Ocean. Running desperately low on supplies by the end, both ships did eventually find land, but far from where they had ever meant to be, and far apart from each other. The Pantheon eventually ran ashore in western India, and their regents barely survived the journey to finally wreck along the coast of Arabia.

After making long-awaited landfall in south Asia following the deluge, the Pantheon wander the shores for some time looking for an adequate place to settle, and possibly to start their project to rebuild a path to space again. They eventually discover the Indus River Valley, and finding it quite the suitable place to build a civilization, they settle there. But when they begin to try once more to restart their project to escape Earth, a rift begins to develop between them over the matter of whether or not they really should.

One faction of the Pantheon thinks that they are obligated to stick to the mission given to Keie and Oron by their creator Keius long ago, to watch and observe humanity and not interfere. They note that their isolated project on a small remote continent was very different from what they're talking about doing now here near the middle of the largest continent. They argue that they should at most be teachers, mentors, or guides, if the natives come to them for help, but not rulers, judges, and masters using the natives as a labor force for their own end.

The other faction, on the other hand, has no problem taking up the mantle of godhood that the humans they see as primitive savages have thrust upon them, and using said savages to speed their escape from this undeveloped rock they're stuck on.

Osan tries to assume leadership of the Pantheon on the platform of the first, pacifist faction, on the grounds thathe is the eldest among them and father of one of their tragically lost leaders. He appeals to Xio's betrayal of his daughter as evidence of that whole family line's unsuitability for rulership, preemptively cutting off any claims Rhea may still make toward to the throne. That is good enough for most of the family, and his leadership is largely uncontested. For a time, he guides the Pantheon on a pacifist path, claiming to be following the one laid down by Keius for them.

But Kron rejects his elder brother's leadership, and in time finds that he is not alone; not only his sisters besides Teth, but a growing fraction of the third and fourth generations think that their superior knowledge and power gives them not just a right but an obligation to take control of mortal humanity and lead them triumphantly into the kind of high-tech life most of the Pantheon grew up in. Rallying around Kron as the figurehead of that movement, he eventually leads a more militant faction of those like-minded family.

Thus the Pantheon splits into two factions, mutually demonizing each other. Around them grow separate mortal religious traditions following after each faction, who see those of the Pantheon who they follow as righteous gods, and the other faction as literal demons. These factions remain at odds with each other for thousands of years, but rarely come to open violence against each other, as all know how pointless it would be. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said for the mortals who worship them.

Aten grows up amidst this turmoil, and develops a unique balance between the ideals of the two factions. Like Kron's faction, she sees the merit of strength and war as a means, but like her father (or grandfather) Osan's faction, she has peaceful ends in mind. She eventually comes to assume Osan's place of rulership over his faction, and under her, the mortals who follow her faction are taught the art of war as a means of self-defense and enforcement of the peace, against the aggressors who follow Kron's faction.

Next: Pantheon Exodus: Part 1, Episode 2