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During the Second Age, the great conflict was between the forces of Heaven and Hell. Clearly, it was a bit of a lop-sided fight as most of Hell was banished to…well…hell and only a few FallenAngels are allowed to leave their corrupted realm. However, in their war against the damned, the angels were not allowed free reign to advance as they pleased. There were Old Gods, New Gods, Aarons Serpents, Light Lords, Dark Lords and (eventually) Wild Lords who all had to be dealt with.

In particular, Earth was a bit of a battleground with humanity at its core. Everyone seemed to have some urgent need to advance or stifle the mortals with the five-part souls. The Fallen Angels had them particularly pegged as it was the spark for Lucifer’s great Rebellion. As some measure of corruption had already been achieved, the Angels didn’t feel a pressing need to protect humans, but anything that was the focus of their enemies was a focus for them as well. The very earth shook with the clash of angelic forces.

Something had to be done.

A Serpent named Tal organized others of his kind and they surrounded the Earth and prepared to excise it from the Ash. This quickly rallied the leaders of other factions to his side and the entire lot went before both Angel and Devil and demanded an end to the hostilities on Earth. Failure to reach a cease-fire would mean that the forces of Beauty and Corruption would be relentlessly hunted from the Earth by all other Imperators. Neither side could afford another front in their war, so Creation was treated to the sight of Lucifer and Michael sitting together at a table, glaring at the assembled Pillars of Reality who were forcing them to be civil to one another.

Tal presented his Edicts. None of them were documents in the traditional sense. There were paintings, musical works, a complex garden, the division of time between Day and Night (which became a shadowy foretaste of Crepuscule), and an impromptu game of Monkey Shuffleboard among others. Each represented a different Edict and the leaders of the Heaven/Hell faction “signed off” on each one of them. Included among the major edicts were:

• All Fallen Angels were exiled from Earth never to return. (At the time, Devils were considered to be the vilest affront to Creation in existence. They were the Excrucians of their day and few wanted any dealings with them.) Later events in the War on Heaven allowed a small number back to Earth (after the Excrucians became Creation’s biggest headache).
• Angels were forbidden from inducing Dementia Animus in humans. (Angels had been particularly heedless to the fragile minds of mortals and no one appreciated this)
• Dache Dachus was ordered to cease and desist his excavations of the Earth. General provisions for "geological integrity" were also established to prevent Imperators from ravaging the planet. This was the only provision to apply to a specific non-Angel and the Wyrm in question seemed happy to apply his “signature” to the edict (mainly because he was nearly finished with his mysterious project
• General provisions for some sort of governing body to adjudicate disputes and monitor Imperial activity on Earth were created. In time, they would pave the way to the Council Of Four and Lord Entropy’s dominion over the Earth.

Once all the Edicts were signed, the main signatories ventured into Dache-Dachus’s lair and pooled their powers together, alloying them together on the Wyrm’s forges until they had created a star. This they lofted to the heavens before a vast crowd of their followers and supporters as a symbol of what they had done and the integrity of their promises. All departed and held fast to their promises.

Even now, in the Third Age many of the ancient Edicts are still observed and enforced (though some have been modified with time). Their importance is indicated by the fact that Lord Entropy treats them with respect and cases involving the Edicts are heard by him personally and result in textbook examples of even-handed justice.

See also:

• Sevenfold Precept
• Code Fidelitatis

(Originally by Jere Genest, via the Lexicon of the Second Age.)