The Divine Words

As Power Decays

The spirits do not elaborate well on their time before physicality. When they've been asked, the answers are always vague and contradictory. Despite being "there" for it all, the spirits would describe that they do not remember what happened in a way that works with language. They do, however, remember words. And these words brought meaning.

"...There were utterances in that mist. Between those singular, aweful words, was infinity. They were simultaneous, yet eons passed from one to the next. And they grew heavier; the first like a feather to the palm, and the final with the weight of all of Virosia at its articulation. Alas, the word was her." -Akathia

Though not necessarily accepted by all scholars, but generally accepted by the majority of the population, is that before the spirits were in their current worldly form, they were more akin to gods. Those forms have since changed, and divinity is considered now to be a concept of a past era, and something that is no longer possible.
Akathians regard the Divine Words not as words but as bell tolls, where the Talii do not believe there to have been more than one, final word.

The First Divine Word

The first of the divine word was to the spirits a beginning. A point of reference in an otherwise unending existence. A light press upon their being, for at the time, they could not distinguish themselves from the others. They merely were. And after this word, they became able. They knew another would come, and felt the need to prepare.
They felt the need to create. They felt the ability to create.
They first created self, to know existence. To become. The ring of this First Divine Word was a nudge to do this, to become. Not just for themselves but for everything else. It was not note but tambre. It was not sound but pitch. It was not word but meaning.

The Second Divine Word

The second word of the divine was, like all words, stronger than the last. It was setting, placement and a context. A context for a beginning that could exist at its own end as well. The Second Divine Word gave the spirits time. Measure. A sense of place-to-place.
They felt the ability to know, and the capacity to learn.

The Third Divine Word

The third utterance gave to the spirits scale, size, and breadth. It gave them an assertion of beauty by sheer presence. This word was the breath of life, the meaning, and the purpose.
The spirits felt the ability to feel, to love, to hate, and most of all to want.

The Last Divine Word

The final utterance of the divine, or the spirits as they were before there was, was the moment that Virosia sprung into existence. The word has no form, sound, or written existence, other than that it was Virosia in every sense of the word besides itself. As soon as it came to pass, the spirits fell from Virosia's sky and onto her earth. They felt their power seeping from them quickly as the divine word rung for many years. It was oppressive and repulsive, yet inspiring and beautiful to them. They made many things, for they all created, but they felt that had a short time before they would lose this with the fading of the Last Divine Word.
And so they made their first creations, and their last, for they hadn't known they existed before the final word, yet suddenly had feeling and memories, and the connection to the other spirits.
The final word, as the spirits would put it, was the end of an eternity. As if forever could possibly come to close and lead to some other, separate forever.
The Last Divine Word gave the spirits the ability to need, and to forget.
The spirits had felt of the sudden, rather physical and singular. The cloud and color and everything that they once were became finite and lacking, wonderous and meaningful.

And while the Last Divine Word rung for untold years, the spirits created.

For they could all create for a time. A great time indeed, but the ability whithered, for all but Vulkjornn.

And while the Last Divine Word rung for untold years, the spirits learned.

For they could all learn for a time. A great time indeed, but the ability whithered, for all but Akathia.

And while the Last Divine Word rung for untold years, the spirits loved.

For they could all love for a time. A great time indeed, though their capacity for it whithered, in all but Korvyre.

And while the Last Divine Word rung for untold years, the spirits yearned.

For they could all yearn for a time. A great time indeed, though this yearning whithered, in all but Fea.

But a whisp remained in the others. The rest had gone to Virosia. And she breathed.

The origin of the Divine Words is not known to scholars. The spirits have conflicting views, but uncertainty is the only through-line, and conclusions can not be firmly drawn in academia. This does not stop many, however, from trying to make sense of the situation.
Many consider the the place of Virosia and the spirit's creations as still-existent, and that it is perhaps Silaea, the realm opposite of Bassyr.