Creation of Canthia

There are as many myths pertaining to the creation of Canthia as there are religions upon it. The one purported by the Sect of Stars is as follows:

The Song of Stars
In the beginning was the Void. It stood alone, and was all. All thoughts the Void has and has had, all possibilities contained within. All things spring from the Mind of the Void--all life and gods are spun as its gossamer thread.

But though the Void was everywhere and everything, it kept no form. And when this thought arose to the fore of it's vast consciousness, it extended a portion of itself which became Aei, the Cosmos. And the Void spoke to Aei, the first words ever uttered. We know not what they were or in from grand and powerful tongue they sprang forth but from those words was made the the shape of Canthia, the World, and its shape was as an island floating in an endless black sea. Aei heard the Void and answered. His voice merged with the Void and gave form to the first race, and named them, Aen'Sha, his Hands. He bid them go forth and inhabit the new land so he might rest in his high heaven.

But Canthia was, as yet unformed, and its shape was without mountain or valley, ocean or sea. All was level, and all without color. Some of the Hands were displeased with this, but they could not change the shape of that which their Creator had built, and so they resolved to overthrow him and take his power for themselves. So they came together, each grabbing the hands of the other and climbing atop the shoulder of their sibling until Erbos, first among them, stood at the edge of Canthia and climbed into the Cosmos. He scaled his father’s beard and came to his resting head, and he drove his hand deep into his father’s eye and plucked it out. The flame within it burned him and in agony, he threw it aside. It came to rest high above the young world, there to lay forever and burn as the Sun which like Aei himself, watched with a blazing stare for half the time, and was blind the other half.

Aei awoke at Erbos' violence and was angry. Though the loss of an eye was nothing to one such as he, the impertinence of his children was overwhelming. He picked up Erbos and flung him back to Canthia, a fiery tail marking his journey in the sky. He scattered the Hands with his impact, throwing them deep into the newborn earth. The craters of their bodies’ flights hollowed out the oceans and drove up the great rock spines of Canthia, and as they flew, their skins were flayed and shed. The blood and flesh gave colour on the fledgling ground. Erbos himself was, by the force of his Father’s throw, bored deep into the center of Canthia, and they say he abides there still. His domain is fire and darkness, and the rocky innards of the world cut him so that his wounds never heal. His attempts at escape are eternal and in his struggle sprays his fiery blood across the surface of the world. As he fell through the earth, a rocky outcropping caught his intestines and they unraveled and became the Progenitor Wyrm Ishvakaent'ol, who in ages later would do battle with the bard-king Rolk and be split with the Sunder Horn into the countless dragons, drakes, wyrms, and snakes who inhabit the dark places of the world.

Thus did the Firstborn have their wish: they changed Canthia's shape forever.

The Rising of the Demonsires
It is said then that those of the Firstborn who remained loyal to the will of Aei and who were not hasty were brought up by their Father, and he made them into creatures of great power, but we know their hearts and name them the Demonsires, who ruled Canthia in the long ages before Elf or Man or Dwarf strode its green hills or delved its depths, and whose names are legion and dark. There are the brothers King Carnimzoth and cruel Dryggfen the Nine Ravens, and Sethoz the Black Maw, and Blind Valgorith the Goat, and many more besides. Though they remained loyal to Aei, they had still the same seed of discontent as their chieftain, Erbos. The dark seed grew in them into a shadowed tree of malice too great to be borne. In time, they came to desire their Father’s power even more than Erbos. In shadows and deep caverns, they conspired together and came upon Aei as He rested and tore Him into pieces, and they consumed His flesh. As they ate the flesh of the Cosmos, it changed, and shaped Canthia, its limitless ocean curved and rounded, its depths bounded.

But there was one who tried to stop them, and her name was Siron, the Eastern Hawk, who used her talons to rend the flesh of her kind and the gusts from her powerful wings to force them back into the caves of the earth. The wind whipped up the oceans and gave them currents, and took the froth and made the clouds, and still continues to this day, swirling in infinite patterns around the globe. But Sethoz opened his Maw, filled with unnumbered teeth, and took in all the gusts of Siron, and Dryggfen and Carnimzoth took hold of Siron and stuffed her into the Maw, and she was chewed and broken and brought into the belly of her brother.

But the parts of Aei had become rotten in the bellies of the Demonsires, and they vomited and were weak. The bones and flesh of Aei and Siron were expelled, and they began to mingle in bile, and they gave off a great light. The Demonsires fled from the light and slunk away through the Great Dark, the blackest and deepest regions of the unknown Cosmos. There they sit in their black citadel, plotting their return in force. It is said that by various routes they often sneak back into the world and darken the minds of the inhabitants of Canthia, so that in all the great woes of the world they have had at least a small part.

The Birth of the Young Gods
From the Bright Mingling of the parts of Aei and Siron was born Indrakar the Watcher, whose eyes are the ten thousand thousand stars, the elder matron of the Sect of the Stars. And she lay upon her back in the Cosmos, blocking the Outer Gates and becoming the night sky, and gave birth to the twins Barrilos, the Learned, the Librarian, and Rathilon, the Timekeeper, the Watchmaker, the Lively, and the Oft-Betrayed; most revered and most meddlesome in the affairs of Elf and Man. For though his siblings were possessed of great minds and awesome might, his was a domain into which they could not enter. The flow of time was not understood to them, and they feared it and desired it. From the Bright Mingling came also the brother of Trinn: Invess, the Elemental, whose children are Celbar, the Waters; Velimo, the Flame; Braksos, the Earth; Aurakos, the Lord of Eagles; and all the others besides. Other siblings were born of the carcass, chief among them, Rillandra, the Phoenix Queen. Second only in power to her elder sister, Trinn, Illora was kept as warden of Moon and Sun, as a sentry of the proper rising and falling of the last vestiges of the once mighty creator, Aei. In this she grew close to her nephew Rathilon and became as a second mother to the young god. She too gave birth to gods in her own time. They was Toristus, the Farmer, the Woodwarder, the Guide, Friend of Elk and Boar, and there was Erastellos, the Warrior, the Strategist and the Bloody Hand and his three sisters, Fealla, the Maiden, Morlla the Mother, and Bachlla the Crone, whose pleasure it is to see every thing be born, live and then die and whose task it is to see that each occurs at its appointed time. There are even some that say it was by Rathilon that these three sisters were made for they closely share aspects of power.

The Creation of the First Race, the Aei'kar
Rathilon grew weary of his kind, for they could not understand the vagaries of Time. He resolved to create for himself a new form of life which would be wholly bound by his construct and would understand it implicitly. For an age, he focused his arcane energies, and he created the Aei'kar, first among the younger races.

These tall, slender creatures were a delight to all the gods so pleasing were they in shape and essence. Rathilon grew proud of his creation and as any devoted father, showered the young race with gifts. His first and most treasure was the Heart of Time. A gem of unimaginable size, within its facets and shimmering depths hid the very essence of Time Itself. In gratitude and homage, the Aei'kar built the Temple City of Ivo in honour of their great father and worshipped him endlessly. Statues were erected in his image, countless temples built dedicated to his praise and so Rathilon grew in strength and power from his children.

The Shattering of Truth, the Advent of Magic
As his might was fed by his children, Rathilon focused his power into more and more gifts for the Aei'kar. They say Rathilon stole away to his home, a star named Tardas where time stands still to create a magnificent stone. He spent a hundred thousand years to cut the gem from the coalesced fabric of Time Itself and a hundred thousand more to cut and polish it to a brilliance so intense that any mortal to look upon it would perish at the sight of its beauty. He named it Var'alla, the Face of Truth and in his Aei'kar form came down to Aei Shass to bestow the gem upon a worthy recipient. He searched the cities and villages for one worthy until his journey took him to the capitol of Aei'lora. There as he walked the streets of the market, he spied a beauty beyond all he had seen, even in the fabric of Time there was little that might compare to the creature he saw. Boldly, he approached her and handed her the gem in both his hands, proclaiming her to be his queen and that she would sit by his side as the Lady of Time and know its secrets.

The lady blushed and backed away, unwilling to accept the gift for she was Inda'rae Lourn, princess of Aei'lora and promised already. She told the Rathilon that her hand belonged to the Lord in the Mountains, Unda'tharius Freuln and such a promise could not be broken, even for a god. Rathilon traveled to the lord's house in the Mountains of Ballur, intent on dissolving the promise. There the god challenged Lord Freuln to a duel for Inda'rae. Unda'tharius, who was known throughout the mountains and the capitol as an expert swordsman and even more well known as a drunkard, agreed to the duel. But first, he insisted on hosting a feast in the god's honour. Accepting, Rathilon took lodging in the lord's manse and feasted with Unda'tharius. It was at the feast, and after many tankards of greenmead that the Lord Freuln began talking bawdy words on Inda'rae's virtue. He spoke at length and loudly that Inda'rae was no maiden and was without doubt already large with his seed. In a rage, Rathilon stood and crushed the lord's neck with one hand, tossing him to the table and scattering the feast. He proclaimed the Hall of Freuln cursed forevermore, that all who lived there would never hear the sound of a child's feet or the laughter of a babe.

He returned to the capitol and told Inda'rae that she was free to marry him and again, offered the gem. Inda'rae took it gladly and thanked the god with deepest sincerity and kissed him upon his cheek. But she still refused to marry him, telling him that the god's house was a cold one, filled with night and shadows. She said it was an unfit place for both a wife and a child and would need brightening. In haste, Rathilon returned to Tardas and decorated his home with all manner of glowing gems that had gathered from the events of Time. There were the red stones of war, the green of spring and happinessm, the blue of invention and industry, the yellow of great births. In a few years, he returned again to Aeilora and convinced Inda'rae to come with with him back to Tardas.

In the home of the god, Inda'rae spent many years gazing upon the magnificence of Ruun, the River of Time. In those years she bore Rathilon many children, they were Erdun, the Swift, Ashka of Many Lovers, Kolar, the Short-Breath and Dasra, the Founder. Each of these children would return to Canthia and make kingdoms on the land, kingdoms that would grow and become prosperous and all except Kolar's survive to our day. Dasra especially, whose kingdom eventually stretched from Aeiwen to the far western shores of Vaewen, a place now called Vaelorn where the young humans make their kingdoms.

But the rise of Dasra and his mother were but a brief spark, especially to Rathilon, and their fall was something that would last for eternity and would be remembered by the Lord of Time. As centuries past and Rathilon travelled more and more to discover the various secret places hidden in Time, Inda'rae grew lonely. In her loneliness, she visited her children but none more than her favourite, Dasra. In his palace at Ruunlora, which sat below the great River of Time that shone in the stars, Inda'rae would stay for years on end and became a greater councillor to Dasra than even his own young wife.

In returning to from one of his far reaching travels, Rathilon looked about for Inda'rae at their home in Tardas but found it empty. He came to Canthia and searched the world, checking each house of their children until finally he came to Dasra's palace. Within the gold and alabaster halls, he walked, calling his beloved's name that she might come to him and he could behold her beauty as he missed her so. But not until he came to his youngest son's bedchamber did he find her. There his golden-haired wife lay, groaning under the weight of Dasra, her own son.

Rathilon, in his surprise and fury, shed his Aei'kar form and showed his true being to his incestuous wife and son. The two, upon seeing his brilliance, were burned as a pine needle is against the heat of a torch. Not even ashes remained of them. The god raged through the palace, melting it by his fiery countenance, until he came to the treasure vault. There lay Var'alla, enshrined in great honour at an altar fashioned of all manner of precious stones, gold and ivory. Grasping it in his hands, and cursing love and his own children, Rathilon shattered the great gem and released its energies into the vastness of Canthia. In the treasure vault there also lay other artefacts of power that Rathilon had given Inda'rae as gifts. In his rage, they too were destroyed and their powers mingled with the energy from Var'alla. The energies left in great haste, spreading out to the world in moments, they mingled with all manner of things and gave them power. As the essence of Var'alla was of Rathilon, it gave some of his power to mortal things. The smallest touch of it changed the Aei'kar and their surroundings. And so the shattering of Truth gave Canthia magic. But there was yet another consequence of it's destruction. In the beginning, when the Aei'kar were young, they knew nothing of lying or untruthes. They were direct children of the Gods who were themselves ignorant of a lie. But in the shattering of Truth and the changes it made to the world, there was born the mortal way of lies. That we may never see the full face of Truth is the price we mortals have paid for magic.

The Forging of the Nunvakyr, the Dwarves
The other gods looked upon Canthia, on Rathilon's temples and statues, on the prostrated forms of his elven children and grew envious. No more than Barrilos, who considered himself equal to his brother in power and greater than he in terms of knowledge. Cursing himself for his sloth, Barrilos travelled to the deep fastnesses of the world, spending centuries in seclusion in order to create his own servant race.

Rising from the depths, Barrilos led the first of his children to the light: Aenvakyr, the First Dwarf. But he was ill-pleased with the thing for it was not as he had intended. Labouring long and hard, Barrilos had strove for a creature not unlike his brother's elves, a lithe and graceful creature but what followed him from the depths was short and stunted. Aenvakyr was not what his creator wanted and deep inside the dwarf he knew it to be true but he loved Barrilos all the same as a son to a father. The dwarf swore to the Sage that he would build great temples and cities in the god's honour, as the Aei'kar had for Rathilos. He told his father that the dwarven cities and nations would surpass the elves in number and power. He promised industry and technology for the dwarves would be gifted with their father's knowledge of mathematics and architecture.

In this, Barrilos was well pleased and gifted Aenvakyr with a hefty tome, the Codex of Barrilos which is said to have contained all manner of alchemical and smithing secrets that have since died with the dwarves.

It was a few short years until Aenvakyr had fashioned the first city of the dwarves, Dhovakyr, with the help of his newly made kin. But, in the manner of dwarves, they build underground for it was the place of their birth and they knew of nothing else. Barrilos, watching from on high, could not see the temples and cities that Aenvakyr had promised and raged for the Sagely God had yet to find a temper to his ego. He brought Aenvakyr to his manse in the stars and his anger overtook him and he struck his son down. Atop his bleeding child he forswore the rest of his creation, leaving them to their own wits and abandoned them to the deep.

Forevermore the dwarves were godless and were proud to be an independent and atheist nation, concerned only with the forge and with industry.

The Triple Birth of Man
It is said that Erbos escaped but once, and crept upon the sleeping sisters of Erastellos, and had entered them, full in his manhood. First, he came to Fealla, for she was the Maiden, and the most beautiful, then Morlla, the Mother, and finally Bachlla, the Crone. All three became fat with his child. And when Erastellos came upon Erbos and saw what he had done, he became enraged and hewed off Erbos' limbs, so that he might never escape again. Then he threw him back into the center of Canthia.

Eventually, the Sisters gave birth, but because the manner of their conception was so twisted, the bodies of the first three men were equally twisted. And so Erastellos, taking pity upon his sisters' sons, desired to make them into one whole, and he cut the best parts away from each and combined them into one: the ancient progenitor of Man, Eoruun of the Thirds. This is why Man spends a third of his life young and beautiful, a third strong and ready, and a third weak but wise; and why he is the quickest of the Three Races to die and pass through the Outer Gates. And Erastellos crushed the twisted parts beneath his heel and cast them into the deep places of Canthia, where they became the origin of rats and slugs, and off all things which slink and squirm under and upon the earth. After he sent the dregs of man to the deep, Erastellos sat and pondered his nephew, thinking that the tiny creature was not yet fully made. It was a weak and sickly thing, it had not the slender grace of the elves nor the robust strength of the dwarves. Erastellos thought on the missing piece of Man many a year, sitting in silence atop his throne in the vast firmament above Canthia, after many seasons had come and passed and winter had covered the land with white more than seven generations, he sat up and plunged a great hand into his chest and pulled from within himself a small piece of his own flaming heart. The heat of it scorched the earth and set the trees around him alight, forever scarring the vale but the god did not heed the flames. He opened the chest of his nephew, Eoruun and set the fragment in his chest to burn as the heart of all Men so that they might have something that the elves and dwarves did not.

So though Men are short-lived, a mere instant to the gods, they strive harder and farther then their cousins. They are the children of violence and flames, forever destined to burn brightly in the pages of Rathilon's lengthy Tome.