Monkin Creation Myth

Long, long ago things were very different to how we see them now and there were no people to remember what happened so we must rely on what the gds have given us to know of this time. But we know our gods and we know of their rivalries and must use our wisdom to sift the grain of truth from the grit of lies.
In the beginning all was bland and uniform until it began to separate out - the male form the female, the spirit from the material. The female, the material gained the power to create but knew not what to create; the male, the spirit knew what to create but could not make thee things come to be. So they sought one another out. But the spirit could not convince the material of his vision for it was confused and contradictory. And so more ages past.
And the spirit began to separate out; the light from the dark, the unchanging from the mutable. At times the material and the dark created the fixed and permanent. The rocks beneath the earth and the things that dwell unchanging among them. But at other times the material and the light created the changing and growing things that dwell upon the earth.
Since this began light and dark have vied for the creative power of the female as two suitors will vie for the attentions of a maiden. Neither has her undivided attention and to this day they strive one against the other. And so we have days when the sun lights the world and the living things grow and prosper and the night when the moon watches and they become still. In time the ancestors of the Monkin arose and they were children of the dusk and dawn for though they lived and grew as beings of the light, yet they had a permanance through the ales and practices that parent taught child. Some spent more time on the surface becoming skilled in managing the light's creations and they became the Monkin-ban - the Monkin of the light and others spent more time below the earth becoming skilled in managing the permanent, working with rock, metal and gem and they became the Monkin-doo - the Monkin of the dark.

Variations & Mutation

The Monkin-doo and the Monkin-ban each have their own variations on this myth, which speak to the superiority of the respective species, with similar variation between the races and clan groups of each species. The crux of these variations is generally that the particular grouping is either the closest to the ideal envisaged by the gods and thus deserving of the success it has or aspires to or (in a few cases) is a fallen and imperfect strand that must purify itself to earn the respect of the gods and the success this brngs. The version presented here is the "common core" shorn or these contesting parts and even the most bigoted individual, of any species or clan of Monkin would recognise it, seeing it as incomplete rather than inaccurate.

Wider Reception

Whilst clearly important to the Monkin, the legend is not widely known outside their societies, though it has been noted that there are strong similarities with the beliefs of the Taru (see Religion and Faith for the Taru ) which implies that one influenced the other - if this is the case then it is almost vertainly the Taru adopting the Monkin's legend / faith system and building theirs from it, for although the Taru distrust the Monkin-ban for their shallow diggings they have a common distrust of the things that live deeper - including the Monkin-doo.