Of gods and their people
A fantasy creation fable, As compiled and edited by Vast Listen
How the world came to be and The coming of the gods
In a fit of boredom, the universe cried out to itself, “I am so tired of being alone. I have seen none of my kind for eternity!* I think I will make a world and see what happens.” and so the universe created the world that we see floating before us in the void.
“I think the world is lonely too?” Mused the universe, “I think I will make it a couple of siblings.” And two beautiful moons appeared in its sky; one a blue, as bright and dynamic as the oceans; the other a mixed, swirled green like the grasslands and forests.
“Hmmm... This is truly fun! I think I will create a star and more planets to play with.” So the universe did. After 12 planets and a star, the universe began to get bored and concentrated its attention elsewhere, creating hundreds of hundreds of other stars and planets to play with.
After a time, gods started to appear. They came and looked at this new world and said to themselves “Hmm, I like the look of this place that the universe has created. I should stake a claim here before someone else does”; and they did. Each choosing a place, or environment, or even just an idea, and calling it their own.
Makell Decided that the sun and the light were his by right of being the first to arrive at this new world. Grandar, a stout and distinguished god, with large muscles and a beard nearly as large as he was, decided that mining and the forge were both to be his, and undertook both in the celestial realm above the world. Serric, a quiet and lithe goddess took darkness and the underground as her places to inhabit. Gehna chose the plants and animals that were slated to be foods for others. Hatyx took the trees as their own. Grandar chose to inhabit the mountains. Gobb placed his mark on the swamps.
And so it went until almost all of the “prime locations” were collected. Then the gods closed off the world, with a total of around two score**, and kept it for their own.
Gobb's Idea
There came a time that even the gods got bored, so Gobb made a suggestion “Brothers and sisters, how about we make ourselves some offspring?”
Many of the gods in attendance laughed, saying “what do you think we have been doing, you dolt?”
Gobb shook his head, sighed, and then said “Not like that you silly small minded fools, MORTAL children, who will love us and strengthen us with worship and prayer. In fact, I think we should have a competition: when everyone is ready, and has perfected their children, we shall pick, among ourselves, who has the best children.”
After a few moments of thought, Grandar slapped Gobb on the back saying, “An incredible idea! I'm game! I shall name my children Dwarves. They shall be crafted in my image, and I will teach them the ways of the Mine and Forge!”
Slowly the other gods in attendance nodded their heads in agreement, and the game was on.
The Dwarves
Grandar, sitting on the side of a mountain, thought long and hard on the subject of his peoples. What would they look like? How long would they live? Would they all have beards, or just the women? He pondered for several ages.
One fine morning Grandar jumped to his feet, tearing chunks from the ground where he had been sitting; thus creating the twin lakes of Carnass and Barnass; and shouted, “I have made up my mind!” And he started to make his children.
Stone from the deep earth for the head and body, Gems from the crust for eyes, Magma for blood, Iron and steel for bones. He made a dozen, half male and half female, and when he was done, he pulled from his beard a hair for each, and placed it upon their faces.
Finally he spoke the words of life that only the gods know, and his children sprung to life, ready to learn all that could be taught in their 300 winters before death.
A tale of two trolls
On a mountain; far removed from where Grandar sat and thought; Dhosin, god of stones, was working on his own people. They would be tall, strong, and big. He worked as tirelessly as the mountains he ruled, and finally his creation was complete.
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“I name thee Troll! You will work and eat and drink all things rock and mountain. You will take root in your old age, and become as mountains yourselves, until the day comes when you must do otherwise.”
He then spoke the words of power, and the Trolls of rock came to be. Large and lumbering, slow and thoughtful, generous and caring, until upset.
But, sadly, there was another god who had similar ideas.
Qhonotl; best of friends and boon companion of Dhosin; who claimed all the saltwater Cypress swamps known as The Bayou's; as opposed to the freshwater swamps and bogs of Gobb; had decided to make his peoples the guardians of his swamps. He took ancient wood, moss, the giant lizards of the area, and made them one. They were huge and powerful, and only truly harmed by fire. They were named Troll.
When the friends Qhonotl and Dhosin came together, several centuries after the making of their peoples, the talked at great length of the creations, describing in turn the various items and concepts including the design, the agreed to say the name they had given the peoples, and on the count of three, they spoke in unison, “Troll”.
They looked at each other in surprise, and one demanded of the other, “You must change your name! People will become confused!” To which the other replied, “No brother, it is you who must change your peoples name, for I was done first.” And thus the two friends became mortal enemies.
Of Humans and Halflings
Vuharin stood in the flatland; what we now call the “Plains of Contemplation”; and thought on the children. He wanted them strong, smart, fast, resilient, wise, and beautiful. He took his time, and slowly made progress on each part. Air, earth, bone, and fire were his ingredients. He made many trial attempts, casting them all off at one point or another.
He finally set into motion his last attempts together. The tall humans, and the shorter halflings. He rejoiced in their perfection as he watched them dance and frolic on the plain, until he realized one thing. They were good, but not the perfection he wanted. They were adequate in all things, but did not excel at anything. They just were. He sighed in disappointment, and turned away from his creations.
The Elves and their pointed ears
Imvian, decisive in all things, immediately took the trees and twigs and crafted her children. They were tall, thin, and supple. Their grace made her happy, and the songs they sang were a delight to her ears. She thought that the best touch she had given them was the way their ears were pointed, looking like the leaves of the trees from which she had brought them forth.
She dwelt with them for many long centuries and taught them both music and magic, Eventually she left them to their own devices, and retired to the heavens.
The children of Gobb
Gobb sat himself on the bank of his favorite swamp. He changed his skin to that of the surrounding colors, the riots of green, and yellows. He dangled his feet in the water, lost in thought. After a time, a small fish nibbled his big toe. He started at the feeling, and laughed. This place is just too lovely. I try to think, and the beauty distracts me, he thought.
He stood, and walked for a time. He saw birds, and smiled. He saw small animals playing, and laughed. He saw snakes, and played at being one for a while. Eventually he found himself heading to his least favorite swamp, and sighed, I suppose this will become my thinking swamp.
He thought about what he wanted from his children. I want them to be good stewards of my swamps. I want them to survive here on this planet. I want them to be able to enjoy themselves.
He used clay from the shoreline, snakeskin and fish scales, branches and leaves from the willows, and fronds from the cattails. He wove himself a pair of small beings, and stood back to view his creations. Then he spoke aloud the words of creation, and brought his people to life.
Soon enough he was laughing and dancing with his children. They played and shrieked, enjoying themselves immensely. When the female became with child, he helped the male with all things during the day, instructing him in the ways of living and survival. During the evenings and night, he taught the woman of the running of the household, and how to keep her mate accountable in all things, so that he wouldn't fall into any of the pitfalls Gobb had seen his fellow gods fall into when it came to family.
When the children were born, he left the family to fend for themselves for a while. Upon his return, he found the woman, with belly swollen with a child, and her man deceased. He asked, and she told the tale of a bear from the woods, coming in the spring, and with hunger attacking and eating her children. Her man had killed it, but had died soon after.
Gobb was saddened. He sat again on the bank, feet in the water, and thought. As he watched the swamp, he saw a small turtle being harried by a crane, and another much larger turtle sneak up on the crane and bite its leg. He begot an idea.
Returning to the woman, he was shown to the grave of the man, bear, and children. He took the bones of each, and mixed them with magic. Then he spoke the words of creation again, this time more vehemently. Up sprang a new pair of people, a male and female of large size and heavy stature like a bear, but with the features of his small ones. He tasked the large couple with the keeping and protecting of the small ones, then departed for the celestial world, his time on this world being spent.
The God of the dark and the cast out children
Many many generations had passed, and Vuharin looked in on his children. They were the same as always, much potential, but no...Excellence. He watched, and looked, and searched for excellence, but to no avail. Then found it, but not as he had wanted. In a city that shared a population with both Gobb's ugly spawn, and Imvian's too delicate children, he found an excellent human. But the human wasn't. Not entirely. It's grandparents had violated sacred law and married children of the other gods!
Vuharin was angered by this blasphemy, and let his anger be known. He opened the world and threw the city down into the crack, never to be seen again. The blight on the surface destroyed, he departed, shaking the dirt from his feet as he left.
Now Serric; the quiet goddess of the underground and darkness; who had no want of, or love for, children; was exploring her realm and found the dashed city, and it's few survivors. She sat for a short moment of indecision, before saying, “I will love you not, but you may come and follow me. I will show you how to survive, and perhaps thrive here, in the bowels of the world.”
When Serric next visited the Celestial plain, she sought out answers as to how the children had come to her, as she knew it was not an action of the world itself. She wandered from shadow to shadow and listened to the gods, and small gods, as they chattered and gossiped.
She made her way after one interesting rumor that Vuharin had upset both Gobb and Imvian by killing hundreds of their children. She found neither Imvian or Gobb in her shadow walk, but did come across Vuharin barging to Grandar about casting out a group of “unsuitable Children''. Her mind went blind, her “breath” quickened, she stepped out of the shadows and slapped Vuharin across the mouth, saying, “Blasphemy? Bah! That was your disappointment at yourself taking form.”
Grandar raised an eyebrow, as he stepped back and watched the spectacle before him. Vuharin staggered back from the vicious blow, hand straying to his lips, and said, “What are you doing woman? You have no say in this. Stay out of my business!”
“I have every right. You DUMPED children upon me! In my sacred spaces! And you dare say to me that it is none of my business?” Serric responded, her form growing with her anger. “I tell you now, for this trespass upon my realm, all on the world shall fear the dark places, the underground, the shadows. And if you should ever step there, you will fear them too.” She turned away from Vuharin, winked one eye at Grandar, and disappeared through a shadow to return home.
* It was lying of course, it had just seen its neighbor the other week. Of course, at their scale, a week is “an eternity”.
** This does not count the small gods, for they did not count as “real” gods.