The six gods came into being at the beginning of the First Age, coming to Faelon as guardians along with the dragons and other species - all created by some great unseen force. During the early years all was peaceful in the world. Eventually, however, arguments broke out over the best way to rule the developing peoples. Half of the gods wished to leave the peoples to develop themselves, guiding them and helping them through times of trial and giving them the power they needed to overcome Faelon's many dangerous inhabitants. The others wanted to dominate the peoples, forcing them to live their lives properly as laid out by those gods. They were happy to assist the peoples through difficult times as long as the power to do so was paid for by unswerving obedience and devotional worship. As these disagreements grew, lines were drawn, alliances made, and some of the weaker peoples enslaved before eventually, inevitably, war broke out. The war lasted for many centuries, made complicated by the continuing unseen forces of creation that wracked the world. New species came into being and were immediately drawn into the war. The guardian deities themselves learnt how to create life from existing species to further their ends in a desperate attempt to gain ground over their fellows. The world was split and rent with the power of great magic and the very fabric of existence started to crumble in places but still neither side could gain an upper hand.
The stalemate was eventually broken when those who called themselves the Trinity of Light created the Elven race - later known as the High Elves. These beings were instilled with great power, but were far more numerous than the more ancient races which had existed since the beginning. Together with the light-aligned dragons, the Light gods and the elves concocted a plan to save the world by driving out the dark gods, although at the expense of the light gods being able to further tread the surface of the world. During a colossal battle the dark gods were drawn away by the light to do battle in the higher heavens. Unseen down below, the elves and dragons summoned great power and performed a ritual which created the godshield around the world of Faelon, trapping the warring deities in the outer planes where they couldn't destroy the planet with their battles.
With the gods gone, the elves and dragons managed to push the dark creatures underground, or into the wastes and out of the central lands claiming them for the light at last.