This title is one given to a group of cosmic deities who were, in general, the sources of Power, both spiritual and physical, in the cosmos. They were once a unified and loving body of deities, living in immortal splendor and glory for their existence. Together they were responsible for the initial creation(s) of the world and the integration of the patterns of the Elements into the Cosmic Web. As the Web grew towards fulfillment, the deities of power became less isolated from the rest of the world and worked in closer harmony with the physical world. At the climax of the Web’s development, the marriage of the Earth and the Sky, the Court was a pinnacle of perfection and creative artistry.
It is claimed that the secret of the Court’s creation lay in the harmonious juxtaposition of two balanced and harmonious opposites whose mutual existence created the dynamic tension necessary for the creative acts. They lived and loved, and some are known to have had many children.
During the Gods Age the Court lived upon, within, and beneath the Cosmic Mountain. This magnificent structure was also sometimes called the Spike, because its immutable body and laws were said to hold the universe together. Acos was the architect, and as he was God of Stability it was also said that the immortal mountain was made of Truestone, which was the solid and inanimate incarnation of mindless law.
All the gods and goddesses lived upon this mountain before the world had grown large enough to hold them. Upon this slope grew Aldrya, First Tree and mother of the vegetable world, who loved the god Flamal so dearly.
There roamed Hykimi, Eldest Beast, said to be in the form of a Dragon. Grandfather Mortal, the living incarnation of the Man-Form Rune, first woke upon this mountain. There, too, was born Umath the Destroyer, whose actions and children would bring about the War of the Gods and the destruction of the Gods Age. But the future violence meant nothing to beings who did not live within Time, and the ancient documents still remember many dear tales of the young Storm God upon the slopes of the Spike.
During the deterioration of the immortal perfections by the Gods War it was inevitable that the Celestial Court would also fall into disrespect. The perfect harmony of balanced opposites, which had built the world, revealed itself to be mutually exclusive and antagonistic realities. The Court fell prey to mistrust, intrigue, desertion, usurpation, and destruction.
The end of the Celestial Court was marked when Kargan Tor deserted his post and allowed the Devil to enter the Immortal Palace and abuse the Empress Herself. The revolt that followed resulted in the actual destruction of the Spike, whereupon all the invading forces of Chaos swept in to finish off the world and reclaim it for Chaos, from whence it had sprung.
Within the New Age called Time, the rulers of the old cosmos have no place. Yet they will always exist, alone or in groups, and they are often visible through thin disguises of costume or custom, still worshipped as of old. Thus, although the deities were broken and vanquished as a Court, they will never disappear entirely from the world of Glorantha.