Origin of the Wendigoes
What is a wendigo?
Well, to put it simply, a wendigo is greed. Envy. Suffering. Everything anathema to our world and everything in it.
But where does such a twisted being originate?
In the very beginning, when our world was fashioned by the hands of the Heart of Altairus, only fenghuangs populated the outer reaches of our universe. These beings nurtured our world, protecting it from the ravages of the void.
As time went on, they began to fashion the many races of faeries and magical beasts that live in Altairus. Severing the connections between the elements, each magical creature was forged from a single element, given a unique gift to share.
Alas, this separation of the elements of Anima did not come without consequence. The Altairians, forged from only one or two elements each, were born incomplete. Unlike the fenghuangs, which were content and complete unto themselves, the beings of Altairus constantly yearned for what was missing. But no matter how hard they tried, they just could not fill the void within themselves.
Over many centuries, the yearning of Altairus grew deeper and deeper. To combat this, some Altairians tried to shun their desires, taking on ascetic lifestyles. Others fell into blind hedonism. Instead of disappearing, however, the Altairians' disowned and overindulged desires found new life in outer darkness. From these vices, a new and perverse kind of magic was born. This was Null magic, a force which serves not to give, but to take.
And in a void world known as the Flipside, Null magic took on a life of its own. Void shadows were twisted into beings of pure Null magic. Monsters living their lives in endless misery and want, powered only by bottomless hunger and discarded desire. Wendigoes.
It was only a matter of time before the wendigoes found Altairus. Ever since, they have stopped at nothing to drain our world dry. They feed on the desperation of lonely and wicked-minded Altairians, offering them false hope in the form of Null magic. Null magic which destroys them and the world around them a bit more each time it is used. Undifferentiated Anima, born from the friendship and unity between Altairians, can drive the beasts away, but never permanently. As long as any Altairian is greedy, or selfish, or even desperate, the wendigoes will continue to return.
But as long as we are willing to stand up for one another, there is always hope.
Summary
This myth attempts to explain how the wendigoes originated. It pins evil and suffering on the fact that the denizens of Altairus are "incomplete" (i.e. abundant in only one or two elements of Anima, as opposed to all of them as fenghuangs are) and explains the wendigoes and Null magic as products of Altairians attempting to quench their yearnings in unhealthy ways.
Variations & Mutation
In one variation, the wendigoes were not formed by Altairians desires, but were merely attracted to them from another world. In this version of the tale, the wendigoes had ravaged several other worlds before coming to Altairus.
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