Feathers of Gold/Primordial War
From Greenthings
Long long time ago, the Primordials ruled the world, but they were kind of dicks, so the Incarnae decided to kick them out. Not having much to do this with, being geased to hell and back not to attack their creators, they talked to Gaia, who was getting kind of annoyed at having all her adorable little children as their playtoys, and she gave them the idea of seperating themselves out like the Primordials did with their component souls. Not having much else to do this with, they plotted for another reasonably long time before deciding to shave off bits of their power into little containers and plug those into the Higher Souls of human beings. Granted, this voided the warranty, but it worked, didn't it?
Gaia infused a bunch of mortals with the power of her elements, and in secret they grew and trained and had a lot of really epic sex that produced a lot of really epic kids. Eventually, this was done and the plotting was done and the Incarnae more or less trusted her, so they began Phase 2.
The Sun was first. He looked at his aspects, and he looked at humanity, and he decided the best gift he could give these poor little scared shivering prayer batteries was the ability to protect themselves and each other. So he took his power and he zapped it into the five Castes. This took its toll, but it was successful.
The Maidens were next. They saw what happened to the Sun, and didn't really want to use bits of themselves they might need to win this thing. Practical people, the Maidens. But they had to sacrifice something, so they yanked up bits of the Loom that had been infused with relatively pure power. This was less successful, and the Pattern Spiders got really annoyed when they found out, but it still worked. Luna was the last of the Celestials. She looked at the Sun and she looked at the Maidens and she did what she did best, feeling the changes to come.
"Hey," she said- well, at that precise point 'he', but anyway- "you know this war is going to be over one day, whether we win or lose. And if we do somehow win, these things are probably going to be wandering around all purposeless and loose cannon-y. We have time, so why don't we plan to do something about that?"
"Why don't we let them rule, since they overthrew their oppressors?" said the Sun. "Even with our help, they're going to be carrying the workload. I think they'd appreciate the reward." The Incarnae nodded to each other and considered this.
"If we do this, we should put extra safeguards against their being co-opted by the others. Why don't we tie the power to the natural cycle?" said Gaia. "My power can breed true, but when yours die, the power should be able to pass on to the next candidate without outside interference." The Incarnae nodded to each other and considered this.
Then they all looked at the Maidens, who mostly shrugged. There would be plenty of Battles to come, and Endings, plenty of Journeys, and- if things were successful- more Serenity than the world had ever yet seen. They were about to move on, when Jupiter made her decision, and raised her head.
"We should make it hard for them to betray each other," she said, with a small smile on her face. Nobody bothered to argue with the logic of the Maiden of Secrets.
"All right," Luna finally replied. "But since you mentioned it- indulge me, will you, and look the other way while I make mine."
