The God of Dark and Goddess of Light

Created by Ngash Jezoth and popularized by Unud Mauymi's book The Collective Mythologies of the Xiverith People, the myth of the god of dark and goddess of light's perpetual warring with each other serves as both an explanation for the seasonal and day/night cycles, as well as a creation story in some corners of Xiveri.

Summary

The god of dark and goddess of light have been battling for centuries. In ancient times, both deities had devoted groups of followers that would make human sacrifices routinely to benefit their god/goddess's war efforts and were very cult-like, while the rest of the population would just try to keep both gods satisfied without letting either win, because if the dark won then no one could find where they were going and crops would die, and if the light won then everything would burn up. The world hung in a perpetual limbo of having to keep two gods feuding while knowing that that feud will one day destroy everything. It gave an overwhelming sense of doom to everything.
As the war had been going on for so long, it fell into patterns, whose effects on the world are what cause the seasons. When the dark is winning, the wet season will happen, as the sun, the main light-bringer and which is believed to be where the goddess of light lives, is covered in clouds nearly perpetually. When the light is winning, the dry season will happen, and the sun is basically never covered and everyone is burning. These patterns also cause the cycle of night and day.
Why this war happened in the first place tends to vary far and wide. Some believe that, being opposites, they just naturally will never get along, while others believe that the goddess of light chose the sun as her home to try and burn away the moon, the god of dark's home, and this started their feud.
As a creation story, the typical belief is that the world has always existed and always will, and how the god of dark and goddess of light varies from region to region. However, it's believed that humans were originally sprouted from the clashing and mixing of dark and light, and are thus a mix of both. This doesn't mean a mix of bad and good, as the Xiverith consider light and dark having an equal number of positive and negative attributes, just that humans are a mix of all of these attributes, and that they are everything that the gods are and are thus better. This leads to a general feeling of resentment, as though they are better, they are also still under the gods, because supposedly they had to trade godly powers for having all these nuanced characteristics.

Historical Basis

Though the myth in its current form has no historical basis, the original myth is inspired by a real historical event. The original myth is detailed below, and was inspired by a massive drought that killed thousands from thirst and starvation that lasted for years. The sun was never covered by clouds, and though the air was cold, it's said that it burned. Eventually, though, the drought was broken by what's described by primary sources as a "perpetual night" - thick clouds covered the sun and rain poured down for years straight according to some sources. After that, the odd seasonal cycle of Xiveri and its surrounding countries came into being, and according to wording, though it's never stated outright, the seasons were a little more predictable before that. This shows that something must have changed, and offers support to the fact that that was when the war started, though according to the most widely believed myth at this myth's height they had always been at war.

Spread

The myth is known by everyone in Xiveri, its place of origin. It isn't known beyond it. However, it isn't just limited by its official borders, as its spread is actually stopped by natural barriers. Xiveri is bordered in the north and east by a dangerous mountain range, and bordered in the west and south by a dangerous rushing river, and though its official borders go beyond these boundaries in some instances, the people beyond those boundaries have almost never heard of this myth.

Variations & Mutation

Originally, the myth wasn't widely known at all, and was only believed by a select group of people. The myth, in its original form, went slightly differently. It originally detailed how the goddess of light tried to burn up the earth out of vengeance, because all the humans had each other but she was stuck on the sun and was so lonely, and the god of dark came and defended humanity and made war with the goddess of light in order to keep her occupied so she would never do such a thing again. This story didn't change at all until Unud Mauymi came along and wrote his book The Collective Mythologies of the Xiverith People, and made a mistake in his recording of the myth. This book then became very popular, and led to the myth which had previously been believed only in a few remote Xiverith villages spreading throughout the entire nation. As this was what popularized it, this is the myth that everyone heard and grew to believe, and the myth that is still believed today.

Cultural Reception

To Xiverith culture, it's very important. Though it's not very widely believed anymore, it's still a very important story to their national identity. It isn't known beyond Xiveri and its surrounding countries, and all the surrounding countries tend to have the same view of it. They don't believe it at all, as they have their own myths, and it doesn't matter to them or their identity at all. Some people find it interesting, but most people just see it as an interesting story and nothing more.

In Literature

There are, of course, many different books and poems about it, but there are three that were most commercially successful and are most well-known now. These are Xey Chew on His Journey to Life, which depicts a soul's attempts to fulfill a deal in which he bargained for life in exchange for getting the god of dark and goddess of light to make peace, by Xey Wech; The Entire History of the Conflicts of Xichowa and Zeviwol, which is fairly self-explanatory, with Xichowa being the goddess of light and Zeviwol being the god of dark, their unofficial names, by Zo Lewachethol; and The Fatal Love, a piece generally seen as very bad by all but still enjoyed as a so-bad-it's-good sort of thing, and a reimagination of the conflict between the god of dark and goddess of light as a love affair gone wrong that resulted in a deadly hatred for each other - it was published anonymously, and the author is still completely unknown.

In Art

As a result of this myth, most Xiverith art still focuses on binaries and tends to paint in rich, dark colours that contrast with each other greatly - darker colours can't be contrasted with lighter colours, as lighter dyes and paints are very rare and very expensive due to the rarity of their sources. However, there also tends to be a focus on mixing contrasting colours together, and painting with the colour that results. This comes from the belief that humans are the only creatures of nuance - as a result, works of art focusing more on the creation story or on the effects that the war has on humans tend to use this emphasis on blending contrasting colours instead of focusing on the binary. There are millions of works of art in all forms focused on this myth.

Date of First Recording

1682 JS

Date of Setting

Throughout Time

Telling / Prose

The Collective Mythologies of the Xiverith People

Related Ethnicities

• The Xiverith

Related People

• Ngash Jezoth
• Unud Mauymi

Related Organizations

• Xiveri