The Gods, the Children of Fate & other poorly-named concepts

Before I start this entry in earnest, I feel I should share a little something about myself.  I am a perfectionist when it comes to names.  Whenever I create an idea, and start working it around in my head, the first thing I get stuck on is the fact that I can't come up with the right name for the people or places or organizations.  It's not simply making a name up, though; to me, these people and places are real, and I'm simply trying to remember what their names were.  I demand not only that it be a fitting name, but that it ring with a degree of familiarity; that when you see it, it's obvious that it would be named as so.  I say that because I won't be able to keep my goal of constant updating without listing some sucktastic rough names for concepts.  I say all that so I can say this: Forgive the stupid names.

The gods were created when the world was young.  They did not create the world, but were given charge of it.  Likewise, though they were formed alongside the planet, they are not of the planet; for this reason, they cannot take physical form, or make any direct physical contact with humanity.  The gods are nameless, though they are given many names by countless religions, and, though all religions may worship them differently, they draw power from any and all worship, regardless of belief.

The gods are forever linked with destiny; their power over mankind is in their ability to lay out the fates of all men, which is only possible in destiny-strong periods.  Thus, during these times, the gods enjoy considerable power and control over the world.  However, the inverse is also true; during times of free will, the gods are impotent.  This, of course, did not please the gods, for their lack of power frustrated them.  It was for this reason that the gods first enlightened the Children of Fate.

The origins of the Children of Fate are unclear, but it is known that they stemmed from a small, extremely loyal religion, chosen for their devout dedication.  The chosen people were gifted with the ability to foresee the future, so far as the gods allowed them.  With this gift, they would be able to steer the course of destiny and keep it straight and true.  Knowing the future as they did, these people were able to keep the period of destiny from waning, and prolonged it for many hundreds of years.  They called themselves the Children of Fate, and began the Church of Destiny.

Though any person could be a member of the Church of Destiny, only those chosen to see by the gods were called the Children of Fate.  They were sent visions by the gods, and in these visions they were shown action they must take to keep the path of time from deviating and spiraling down towards free will.  The gods would also show the Children of Fate exactly how they would achieve their goal; thus, by following the instructions of the gods, they were fated to succeed.  The gods also sent down messages slandering free will.  The Church of Destiny called such times periods of anarchy, and proclaimed that the path of the gods was the only true path. 

The Children of Fate kept mankind in order for almost four hundred years, prolonging the influence of the gods to nearly three times the average length.  However, things were far from perfect.  Corruption and greed began to eat at the many empires of the world, each ordained and protected by the gods.  The petty conflicts and arguments between rulers slowly rose tensions, until the threat of war loomed constantly in all corners of the world.

Seeing this slow decay, a member of the Children of Fate made a most unexpected decision: he defied his orders and allowed destiny to slip ever so slightly.  The name of his man is unknown, and any trace of his motive long lost.  However, the repercussions of his actions were felt worldwide.  The gods were not only defied, but the refusal would eventually lead to the downfall of destiny once more.  Thus, the gods sent a final vision to each Child of Fate: To kill one's self, immediately and without hesitation.  Faithful to their gods, each member of the Children of Fate complied, and the Church of Destiny collapsed overnight.

And to think, even with all that, it's still hundreds of years worth of history to go before I even get to where the plot starts.  Not to mention random ideas popping into my head constantly; some have worked their way into this, while others have no place whatsoever in this setting, but are still neat, and like to take up my valuable thinking time.  As I said at the start, the names are more or less placeholders, in the hopes that I come up with something better.  Depending on how much caffeine I pump into my system, I may very well have another update tomorrow.  Who'd have thought, two updates in two days!