Tales of Illnora
From Create Your Own Story
Introduction:
Here us, o Children of Illnora... for we are your Gods. And by our power have you, our children been created; and by our power and voice will you prosper. For at the dawn of time, did we come forth upon this world; from the abyss of nothing did we form you. And we, taking turns, did join our hands to form you, and breathe life into you upon this world. Know that we love you, and that though we might not always be with you, we are watching over and protecting you. And it is because we love you that we send unto thee our words of wisdom, and give unto you an account and a history of our creation and order, that you might know whom we are long after you would have otherwise forgotten. And we shall tell you of the history of this world and your peoples; And give unto you our words of wisdom, instructions, and rituals, so that you may not make the grievous mistakes of the past. By our voices may you not only come closer unto us, but avoid the great destruction and the wickedness that will inevitably come upon the world because of your failures and our failures. The Void itself will come in time, and shall seek to destroy you in the times to come, so heed our words and learn great wisdom from us and from your forbearers.
Marthos spoke, cloaking the world with a thick covering of air and placing his Eye in the sky to provide warmth and energy. And from its view, gazed down upon the rock which He and his family had created with blinding light, bathing the world with light on one side and casting the other into darkness. And the Lord of the Skies rested.
And so Dwayii spoke, and cast her Eye in the Sky towards the dark side to reflect the light of her husband towards it and ensure that it would not remain completely in perpetual shadow. And their daughter Luna, seeing this, also cast her Eye beside her mother's as well, to provide additional light unto the world and to more closely observe and advise the work of her parents and family. And the two of them breathed a cloak of air around the world, to isolate it and keep it secure. And thus the Lady of the Night, and her Daughter of Wisdom rested.
And so Vallos spoke, speaking the Laws of Reality into place. At his instruction, the world and the Eyes began to spin and dance around each other, casting bright sparks or flickering light into the depths of the void. And Vallos took the sparks and made them Eternal, and set them in patterns across the sky. And he divided the dark and the light and set the laws of when each shall rule... according to the dances of the eyes, the world, and the sparks in the sky. And he named the time of light Day, and the time of darkness Night, and instructed the Eyes to rule over them. And he named the Eye of Marthos the Sun, and the eyes of dwayii and her daughter Moons. And when he was done, Vallos saw that the Order of the Gods' creations was indeed good. And thus the God of Justice and Order sighed and rested.
And after her Husband was finished, Mivas stood forth and saw that the world was dry and barren. And she cried, and her tears burst forth and flooded the world with Water. And seeing this, Mivas ceased her tears and gathered all the water into bodies and channels, some large and some small. And it came to pass that she called the great waters oceans, and the small bodies lakes and seas, and the channels rivers, and the dry places land and earth. And Mivas breathed upon the face of the waters and the land, and caused portions of water to constantly permeate the air and instructed them to rise and to fall according to the power of the sun, the wisdom of the moons, and the Law of the Stars. And with her breath, she spread the water in the air across the face of the earth, and called it wind. And the wind blew across the surface of the waters, and across the barrenness of the earth and was heated and cooled into steam and snow. And thus the Goddess of Water and Balance yawned and rested beside her husband the God of Order.
And Zemnah came forth and sang the spark of life upon the world, and it took root upon the land, within the seas, and within the air. And she nurtured it and enflamed it, and filled it with passion, and encouraged it to grow and spread across the entirety of the world. And so the Goddess of Fire and Passion rested.
And Dantos awoke, and saw that the life his wife had breathed upon Illnora had spread rapidly upon the face of the world, and that there was no room left for anything else. And so Dantos spoke, and prepared a place for life to go when there was no room, a place to wait and rest from the effort of living and growing. And he drew his scythe and his sickle, and harvested one half of all life, and sent them to dwell within the kingdom he prepared. And it came to pass that he implemented methods to travel between Illnora and his kingdom, and placed limits upon life regardless of whether it was upon the world or within his kingdom, that neither might be overgrown or overcrowded. And he called his kingdom the Spirit World, and named the journey from Illnora to the Spirit World death and the journey from his kingdom to the world birth. And he provided means to initiate travel from one to another, which took the form of sex, disease, aging, disaster, and decay. And he mandated that every life on illnora would have its time to live and its time to be dead, and after resting in his kingdom for a time, would be allowed to return. And he called this process the "Endless Journey of Life." And thus the God of Death rested.
And it came to pass, that after all the Gods had rested and were fully refreshed, that they looked down upon the world that they had created together. And they joined their hands together and breathed intelligence upon the world, and set Spirits to govern and watch over aspects of nature. And they took the remaining intelligence, and formed from its essence the intelligent races: the Dragons, who would in time shatter the world with their pride and arrogance; the Humans upon whose backs the weight of the Great Cataclysm would be thrust upon; and all the races who would come after, upon whom the ultimate fate of Illnora would rest.
-- 'An Account of the Creation of the World by Alarin Var'andusa; abridged from the Vala'Dunari: The Divine Book.
Since the dawn of time when the Gods created Illnora, countless stories have been told. Each life is its own tale, having a beginning, a middle, and an ending. Each life lives multiple stories. What was your story? What will be your story next time? Come and find out.
