Valdris - The One

Before time and space, before the birth of stars and the rise of civilizations, there existed two primal forces, locked in an eternal dance of existence. These two forces were the very embodiment of cosmic power, and they were aware of each other's existence, yet indifferent. They were called by many names by the sages and prophets who came to know of them - Light and Darkness, Creation and Entropy, Order and Chaos, the One and the Void. These names echoed through the ages, spoken in whispers by those who sought to understand the mysteries of the universe. And though they were opposite in nature, these two forces were bound together, their interplay shaping the very fabric of reality itself.

Most species with deep lore stretching back to the earliest ages agree that the Author of Creation crafted all of reality, also known as The One. Most sages either uphold The One’s existence as the beginning of all things or refute The One as the oldest faerie tale.

Light and shadow
are the first dance.

The Void

For those that understand The One created all things, they also understand that there was The One and The Void. They were neither first nor second, each one singular and unique to the other. The One stirred and learned inspiration followed by ambition, realizing that his very thoughts, intentions and will granted him power to create something from nothing. The Void knew now that something had changed. The perpetual balance between them was no longer stable. In some of the oldest text written the Void is also known as Thallor.

The First

The One crafted a world to be used as a canvas out of the primal eddies of the cosmos. The world was still in a constant state of change, not yet decided on its final shape. The One wished to both create and to share those creations, so The One crafted children from divine thoughts to share in all that would come after. The One crafted greater and lesser spirits in uncounted numbers. The first children of The One would become known as the Elder Gods and tasked with finishing the First World. The spirits after the Elder Gods would eventually become the gods of worlds, pantheons and domains of mortal worship.

Elder Gods

Using immense portions of personal power, The One crafted the first and greatest spirits known as the Elder Gods from Radiant Fire, breathing the souls of life into them. Great debate centers on if The One created new souls with the Elder Gods or if The One splintered off the tiniest portions of divine power to craft them. Most realize this is a distinction without a difference, while others pronounce with fervor that this makes all the difference in the world.

The Elder Gods should not be confused with pantheons, gods, or even the greater gods of today’s worlds. The Elder Gods are the core concept and beginnings of divinity within creation. A god is to an Elder God as a mortal is to a god.

Authority & Balance

In the beginning, The One bestowed the greatest portion of power upon The Sun granting him the leadership and guidance of his children. Next The One gifted only slightly less power to the the Moon to provide balance. They would represent authority and temperance. The One gifted the Sun with a portion of his divine fire to share in the crafting of new creations. The One gifted the Moon with awareness to grant to new creations.

Your Lords may craft that which is lesser than themselves. You two, the greatest among your peers, may grant awareness to those creations and awaken them with divine fire.

— The One

Lords of Creation

Next The One crafted the Four Lords of Creation or the Four Elemental Lords. From them The One could share future creations and task them with finishing the First World, including the many species that would inhabit that world. In sport, play and purpose, they would shape the earth and lands lowering and raising at their whim. Water would fill these shapes, forming oceans and rivers, fire would mark many regions from deserts to tundra with all combining to release weather and seasons across the world.

Ladies of the Weave

Once the Lords of Creation finished crafting the World, The One next created the Ladies of Fate to lay their weave across the first world. The weave of the world represents the warp of necessity and the weft of possibility. The perpetual interaction that all things of the world would create by action, while being caught within the actions of others.

Lady Death

Lady Death stands apart from the Lords of Creation and the Ladies of the Weave as eternal and uninvolved. She accomplishes the natural ending of life, granting them sanctuary in the houses of the dead. Lady Death shall not know sleep until the worlds are no more.

Genesis

Elementals

The Elder Gods crafted many new creations on their whim. First, they learned to create aspects of themselves, pure beings of their elements. They lacked the complexity of all four Lords working together, but they were pure and beautiful each in their creation. These elementals were very primal in purpose and only wished to be of their nature and to increase their nature. The Moon would only touch them briefly to provide awareness, and yet the Sun would embrace them deeply to awaken them.

Dragons

The Lords of Creation collaborated to craft a magnificent species and began one of their greatest works, even to this day. Each would shape magnificent beasts, some forming their bodies alone, while others formed their bodies in unison. They worked together, touching each dragon or combining their touch on each dragon to make them unique. These Dragons enamored the Moon with their varied and wondrous shapes and talents. She lingered long on each one, running her hands across their bodies to see their potential and grant them greater awareness. The Moon would gift them with keen intellect, intriguing speech, and subtle cunning. The Sun would awaken them, leaving a burning fire of ambition within them. Dragons were natural ruler and scattered to the places of the world to secure what they wanted.

Giants

The Lord of Earth fashioned giants of stone and rocks while his peers marveled and gifted their touch of creation to these giants. Some had a stronger blush of fire, while others were cold with the lack of fire. Some grew even larger with the touch of air, while others were a storm of air and water. It surprised the Elder Gods when some dragons immediately attacked the giants. They were unaware of a corruption among themselves, causing some of their creations to act in malice. They understood the primal violence of animals for territory and hunting, but from the actions of some Dragons they learned of a violence born of malevolence.

Fae

The Moon made a special request of the Lords of Creation. She asked them to craft a very special species using each of their unique talents. A species of art, beauty, unique variety and deeply rooted in magic. The Moon collaborated with the Lady of the Hunt to give them their hearts of wild freedom. Upon completing these she gifted them with greater awareness and called them Fae, Fey or Sylvan. As the Sun awoke the Fae the Moon watched closely basking in the genesis of her new creation while the Sun Tainted a few twisting them to darkness.

Solar Eclipse

What The one did not see, could not see is the Void touched the Sun, stirring a corruption that would grow. This corruption would force into motion a conflict that caused the cataclysmic events of the Shattering and Sundering which would stretch across the ages unending. With each new creation, the Sun tainted and twisting their nature and intention. Most times, the Sun would bring to being both the intended version of a thing, then its opposite darker reflection. The Four Lords of Creation complained that something was wrong, but the Sun softened their complaints to The One. The One was also distracted, deep within the task of creating the First City a place for the species of creation to gather.

However, the Moon became suspicious and unraveled the touch of the Void with her greater awareness. In his greatest act of betrayal, the Sun attacked the Moon. His touch, powered by the Void, caused her grievous wounds and sent her into madness as she fled. The Lords of Creation and the Ladies of the Weave turned on the Sun, seeing clearly now what had happened. This began the Dawn War of the Elder Gods against the Sun, the first war that would give birth to many wars of legend across time, including the Angels and Fiends, Dragons and Giants, and the war of Dark Blood between Fiends. The One wept tears that were felt as shudders throughout reality. He could not remove the touch of the Void upon the Sun and he could not remove the Madness now settled on the Moon.

Time had little meaning and no measure to the One or the First and it could have been a day or 10,000 years before the One took action. First, he found the Moon and lessened her curse as he could. She would be wild, chaotic and impulsive, yet not wholly malicious. Next, he would strip the Sun of his divine fire and exile him beyond. An act that most agree The One never recovered from.

The Shattering & Sundering

The One was angered beyond imagining seeing his creations touched by chaos and twisted by darkness. Yet The One did not destroy the Son, but diminished him and exiled him. Sages theorize that the Sun could not be destroyed without unmaking all the First or Elder Gods. The One lashed out against the void and they locked in an epic battle. The Void was not prepared for the wrath and anger of The One, not prepared for how far The One would now go. Summoning the Divine Fire he had taken from the Sun as a blade, he shattered the First World in a single strike. The release of energy pushed the void back, and the One sealed the Void beyond the boundaries of reality.

There was a cosmic silence throughout reality, a moment where creation now wounded held its breath. Lady Death would look up for a moment in wonder, as she paused, considered and returned to her assigned vigil. The First World was shattered and reality was Sundered into splinters. Only the First City would remain. The One held close the First City from the broken world, and placed it at the center of all things, yet apart from all things. He wove a great forgetting on all beyond the First City letting it fall from memory and knowledge. The One would now sleep within the foundations of the First City, unwilling to face the aftermath of what had happened.

Fragments of the First World and the spirits of the First World would form the worlds we know today, each beginning anew. The Shattering and Sundering marked both the end of the First World but the beginning of many worlds uncounted. The Dark Sun was exiled, the Moon wandering in madness and the other Elder Gods except for Death now slumber.

"The brighter the light, the darker the shadow." — Carl Jung

“The brighter the light, the deeper the shadow.” — Jay Kristoff

“The brightest flame casts the darkest shadow.” — George R.R. Martin

Related Historical Events

• Before Time
  Shattering

Alias by Name

Valdris the Father of Creation

Valtaris the Maker of Worlds

Valdris the Shaper of All

Alias by Title

Author of Creation

Creation

Light

Order

Radiance

Gender

Those that study the One are careful to not attach male or female forms as the One would be neither and all. From the One springs the well of all creation including the concepts of gender. It is common for the Elder Gods to adapt a favored gender when they make themselves visible. The reality is they can and do assume forms of any gender or even objects.

The birth of light is also the birth of shadow.