this post was submitted on 11 Sep 2023
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Worldbuilding

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I was curious what other people have made as far as creation myths and stories.

Here is one of mine:

The Void awoke and thought. From its thought came Chaos. Chaos was and is and is all there will be. Void saw this and heard this and hated it, so the Void created Imortos, a being of perfect order. Imortos also hated Chaos, but did not understand how to stop Chaos. So Void thought one more time and created a being that understood both chaos and order, Kelaster. Kelaster looked at Chaos and Imortos and came up with an idea. He began whispering things to Imortos and dropping hints here and there, sowing the seeds of what was to come.

It was then that Imortos came to Kelaster with an idea. He would build a great machine that would finally transform Chaos into order. He poured over the details, explaining it to Kelaster. Kelaster would interject only to offer suggestions and make minor corrections. When Imortos finished, Kelaster asked Imortos what he would build this great machine out of. "You," replied Imortos.

"Now brother, do you really think that I would make good materials for this machine? I would muck it up, ruining the perfect order of things," replied Kelaster. His words resonated with Imortos, and Imortos asked Kelaster to aid him in becoming the machine. Imortos wrote out all the instructions for the machine and then instructed Kelaster to cut him up and reassemble him as Mechanus, the Cosmic Clock. Kelaster killed Imortos and did as instructed, but tweaked the design somewhat as he did so. When Mechanus began, time did as well, killing Chaos and splitting it into the past, the present, and the future. Because Kelaster tweaked Imortos' design, chance now exists and the future is not fully realized.

Whew, that was longer than I thought it would be. Thanks for staying and reading. Can't wait to read some of yours.

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I don't really have a "true" origin story for the setting of my fantasy ttrpg home game. But of course everyone that lives in the world has their own theories about the origin of everything. I like the creation myth of one of my dwarven cultures best/have it the most worked out, so I'll share that here:

In the beginning the world was just an empty ball of clay. And nothing was and nothing could be. For noone was there to make it be. Yet still there was the Craft in the world and it was so great, that the First Beings arose, shaping themselves from the clay of the world.

There arose Noble Dhum. And so great was his Craft that he made himself the greatest toolsmith and the greatest stone cutter tat ever could be. Lord over all the mountains he then raised and everything thereunder. Ruler of everything in the newly made world.

And there arose Wise Erdake. And so great was her Craft that she made herself the greatest fountain of knowledge that could ever be. Knower of all secrets and most learned in the languages and runes she created. Cleverest engineer of mills and machines. Misstress of the rain and all the bodies of water she set flowing.

And there arose Exuberant Kruf. And so great was their Craft that they made themself the origin of all plants, the sun and moon and all the forces of nature that shook the world from its stasis. Driver of every storm, fuel of every fire, passion of every bolt of lightning, the hammerstrike behind every shake of the worlds stone.

And there was Wild Naveg. And so great was her Craft that she made herself the strongest warrior and the fastest hunter that ever could be. The bringer of all death, the champion of all fights. Most dangerous predator of all the animals she created.

And so these Four-that-created-themselves shaped the world, each according to the nature they had made themselves to posess. And each they united with each of the others. And from those unions arose their descendants, the six original clans of the dwarves. Seeing that these descendants posessed only a small fraction of their Craft, Dhum took to leading them and Erdake took to teaching them. Kruf however made new beings by themself. However, almost devoid of Craft they went of to live among the plants of their forests and graslands. And so the humans and halflings came to be. And Naveg as well made new beings by herself. However, equally devoid of Craft they went off to fight against another in lands far from the lands of the first dwarves. And so the elves and orks came to be.

And for long the Four-that-created-themselves lived among the dwarves. But the dwarves grew lazy and instead of striving to better their craft so they might one day reach the greatness of their creators they demanded their gods solve every problem for them with their great Craft. And so insolent and bothersome grew the dwarves that the gods retreated from their lands and withdrew to the far reaches of the world. Noble Dhum went far beneath the moutains, deeper than any dwarf could dig, to practice his Craft in peace. And Wise Erdake sank far beneath the ocean, deeper than any dwarf could ever dive, to practive her Craft in peace. Exuberant Kruf went to walk among all living things, present in every gust of wind yet never showing themself to any dwarf or other mortal being, to practice their Craft in peace. And Wild Naveg went to roam the battlefields and graveyards of the world beyond deaths door, only to be reached by dwarves and other mortals after they left behind their lives and troubles, to practice her Craft in peace.

And ever since then the dwarves have to strive to regain the Craft. And only if they are diligent and virtuous may those-that-created-themselves look apon them with grace and aid them in the perfection of their Craft.

Wow, that sounded shorter in my head. Anyway, long story short: four beings made themselves then made everything else. The dwarves are their children but then drove their own gods away by being lazy.