Post by Lion on Dec 20, 2017 5:20:23 GMT
THE PANTHEON OF PARADIASTOLE
Once, in a landless expanse
which knew not time,
there lived the Averyn,
creatures without form,
creatures whose dreams
were of nothing more than Existence, Eternity,
Changeless Days.
But the Averyn loved each other,
perfect reflections as they were
of their beloved eternity,
and through their love
they birthed the Pantheon,
the Shapers of Paradiastole,
the Creators.
These beings were not timeless,
and had no love
for their Sires' Changeless Age.
They thirsted for change,
for New Beginnings,
for meaning.
And in their search for a Beginning,
they brought about the End.
The Creators,
children of the Changeless,
used their power over Existence
not to live on, unending,
but to make Time and Matter.
The Averyn, enraged
by their children's interference,
sought to destroy
their progeny's Creation.
One of their children, Esera,
spoke against them.
She spread the Truth of Creation,
and for her rebellion,
the Averyn cut her body into pieces
and left her to die
in the material plane
her brethren had created.
Esera's lover, Athvres,
Lord of Storms,
was devastated by her loss.
He spread her remains
through his own piece of Creation--the Sky.
These fragments of her Truth
glowed brightly for all to see.
They became the Stars.
Athvres roused the other Creators against the Averyn.
Esera's Truth shone in the Night,
a Declaration for all to see:
the tyranny of the Changeless
must come to an end.
The mighty Sun, Kohriander,
and the Star's sister,
Lestris, the Moon,
led the Creators in battle.
With the End of the Old Gods,
came the Beginning of All.
Born from the blood of the Averyn
was Kleis, a symbol of Love
to take War's place.
Her birth heralded new gods born
to the Sun and Moon;
Sharysaan, the Sea,
whose tempestuous waves
cleared away the Changeless Ones' stain upon the Creation.
With Time,
there came new Creators,
sister and brother to the Sea,
Marainen, known as Earth,
and her Twin,
Mrithun, known as Death,
were born to herald
the Age of Creation.
Each marked the undeniable
Truth of Time;
all that begins,
must also have an end.
Marainen, moved
by her mother's compassion
and her father's strength,
sought to create great beauty
for all to share.
Marainen sculpted
through her sister's cresting waves
a land of Earth,
where her Creation could reside.
Jealous of her sister's creations,
Sharysaan, the Sea,
sought to destroy the Earth,
and to this day, her waves crash ever against her sister's shore,
Seeking to wear away
the works of Marainen's hands.
Across the face of the Earth
there lived many creations,
creatures sculpted
by the gods' hands
and given life by the Sun's breath.
But with every Beginning,
there must be an End.
Over time, the creations grew sick,
or old, and Mrithun, Death,
came to claim their souls.
Among the creation, a chosen few
were favored by the gods.
Their time was too short
to gods who knew what it was
to be eternal.
And so Love became the first
to bestow her Blessing upon a life
that she regarded above others,
one of the Creation she grew to love
and so Blessed with the spark
of intelligence and creativity
that the gods possessed.
The other deities saw her work
and were inspired to bestow
this Blessing of sapience
upon more of their Creation.
Many happy centuries passed
and the gods knew the happiness
of communing with their Blessed.
They wove more gifts, ways to show
their favor to their Chosen,
and the gods saw
that their Creation was good.