The Lords of Aulor, also known as the Ascendant Lords, or the Starborn in various texts, are a pantheon of immensely powerful god-like psions that arose during the time of the Aulorean Ascendancy, some ten million years ago. They were created by a ritual of which much knowledge has been forgotten over the aeons, though it is known that the ritual was of Ilendor's design, and that it fed upon the strength of the invading Gythian.
At the time of the Age of the Unity, they are little more than enigmatic spirits, whose worship is strangely persistent on millions of unconnected worlds and cultures. In each culture, these twelve deities are known under a different name, with 'The Lords of Aulor' simply being their Andaran name. On ancient @Ragonia , they were once known as 'The Kings of Forever', and were worshipped by almost every part of the otherwise secular, star-spanning Telassian Federation. To the Taurisians, prior to their assimilation into the Endless Unity, numerous sub-cultures worshipped them as 'the Celestials'. Even the ancient texts of the Altarans hold numerous references to these twelve beings, but instead of holding them as revered gods, instead portray them as evil and chaotic spirits.
The Ascendant Lords defeated the Gythians, and for a time the galaxy entered an age of prosperity never seen before. Yet, this golden age would come to an end during the War of the Mandator's Wrath, in which Ilendor betrayed his followers, his companions, and all of the great empire that he ruled. By this time, Ilendor had defeated all his enemies, and had consumed their power to become the greatest psion that the galaxy had ever seen, yet still this was not enough for the Mandator. Thus, Ilendor's hunger was turned upon his own followers, and for this Ilendor was named 'Falachaon' by the other lords - the Betrayer of All. Few followed Falachaon in this quest, though it is known that six of the twelve Ascendant Lords initially remained loyal to the mandator. The War of the Mandator's Wrath lasted only several years, yet saw much of the galaxy cleansed of all life, before Falachaon was ultimately defeated when the Ascendant Lords in his service betrayed him, and the combined might of the remaining Lords of Aulor slew Falachaon in his moment of vulnerability.
Following Falachaon's demise, Xarithas took it upon himself to lead the remaining Lords of Aulor. Xarithas learned of a terrible threat, which was even greater than the life-devouring crusade of the Mandator, and so he took it upon himself to stop it. Xarithas was ultimately decieved by the ancient Gythian known as 'Urthiahn the Awakener', who was one of the last surviving members of his kind, into building a great construct known as Infinity Gate. By its design, this Infinity Gate should have allowed the Auloreans to escape into other galaxies and other realities - yet in the end, it served only to bring the Umbra into the galaxy. The opening of the Infinity Gate began the final war of the previous cosmic cycle; one that its few survivors would come to known as the Fall of Aulor.
Though the Ascendant Lords were like unto living gods, and the Aulorean Ascendancy controlled most of the galaxy in the time prior to the ending of the previous cosmic cycle - even their power was not enough to halt the remorseless advance of the Umbra. It was in those days that Xarithas realized, that Ilendor's quest to become more powerful by absorbing the life-force of entire galactic quadrants had not been born out of a senseless hunger for power, but from a need to fight against the encroaching threat.
The Aulorean Ascendancy fell, and the seemingly all-powerful Lords of Aulor were either slain by the Umbra, or fled the galaxy in terror - all save one. Valin-Dasur Matharach and the last of her servants faced down the primordial devourer upon the frozen world of @Nyfal ; a focal point where all the echoes of all tragedies and deaths had been channeled to, and unleashed in a defeaning scream that tore the galaxy asunder. This was the Great Silencing - an event that purged the power of the nethereal from all things, everywhere. Thus the Lords of Aulor became no more than figments, that exist within the collective consciousness of ordinary mortals - all but powerless, and dependent on them simply to exist. Thus it was, that the Umbra were banished from the galaxy, until the coming of the end of the next cosmic cycle.