Gift of the Serpents and the First Shapeshifter

But the naered, so distant in the skies, began to curse His Creation instead of blessing it as He intended. And the aignaoithe came to believe that the naered did not deserve His great gift.
And so the two clashed in a war that spanned the entirety of the world, destroying much.
And so both prayed for a miracle.
For years they waited, and for years there was silence.
Destruction reigned in the world, and in His absence humans forgot the true Creator and made for themselves gods in His place, knowing not that the very ability to create these constructs was a gift of Him. Thus all His Creation rebelled.
Finally, when both dragons were hiding away in darkness, waiting for death, the Creator spoke into the world once more. And He said, "O my children, why have you forgotten your humble brothers and sisters?"
The naered He gave a spark of the Light that gave the world form in the beginning, so they could give their human brothers and sisters great blessings.
The aignaoithe He gave a dragon molded out of clay whose veins ran with fire from His own forge, so she could manipulate the work of His hands with her own. They named her Naomh.
And these gifts would run throughout time, so no longer would the dragons forget the humans.

— Sacred Writings of the Cavern, Lonán Translation

Summary

This story outlines the connection that humanity and the two species of dragons now share. Prior to this intervention by the Creator, the humans were left to die bystanders in the destructive battles of the naered and the aignaoithe .
The naered now have the ability to gift (and curse) humans with a wide range of abilities, and shapeshifters who can shift from dragon to human (and vice versa) are now among the aignaoithe born. I must say, neither species of dragon has forgotten us since.

Historical Basis

At the time of the Sacred Writings of the Cavern, the first shapeshifter and the Voice of the Creator (i.e. the events of this story) were still in living memory. There are several other first-person accounts written on tablets by aignaoithe living at the time, located in the Library of Stone. These have similar details to the recording in the Sacred Writings, shown above.
In Shui Lu there are supposedly similar primary sources written by the first humans to be gifted by the naered, but due to the naered's secrecy and their status as our enemies, no Crathlian (or indeed, none with aignaoithe blood) has ever seen these records.
Whether the Creator truly spoke to them or not, we know from the Stone Library's records dating prior to this event that shapeshifters did not always exist, and that the naered did not always give abilities to humans.

Spread

Similarly to the Creation story, the aignaoithe and the naered spread this story to humans on both sides of the world.
The naered do not emphasize this story in modern times, but during our Colonial Age, it is said that every Shui human knew this story and the blessings the naered were to give them.
On our side of the world, the aignaoithe brought their religion to Crathlia, the Notian coast, and the west of Avium with the colonization. During this time, shapeshifters often used this story as a means of justifying what they did—after all, they were no longer forgetting the humans.

Variations & Mutation

In Shui Lu humans are not told that the naered once blessed them with abilities; instead, the spark of Light is said to be the right for them to rule over the humans as the Creator rules over them.
Most human religions (noteably, that of the Tellians and that of the Frigorans) also have some variation of the story: a god gives one or both species of dragon the abilities they now possess. Usually in a human-based religion it is because the humans have failed in some way, or it is done by an evil god, or a god associated with the dragons.

Cultural Reception

In modern times, this story is most important in Crathlia , since it is where shapeshifters and humans mixed to the greatest degree. We value it because we have the blessed blood of the shapeshifters running through our veins too. Moreover, the great challenger of the naered was given a human body, which could do what dragons could not. We Paragons use it to justify our own rather messy (at least when you stop to think about it, which many fail to do) existence.

In Art

Similarly to the Creation story, countless pieces of art, both professional and ameteur, have been made to depict this story, particularly in Crathlia.

Written by Cordelia Colbreak Evenbrook

Date of First Recording

696 SA (470 LN by the aignaoithe calander)

Date of Setting

1166 SA (0 LN by the aignaoithe calander)

Related Species

• Aignaoithe
• Humans
• Naered

Related People

• Naomh, daughter of the Creator
• The Creator

Related Organizations

• Aignaoi Creationism
• Crathlian Creationism
• Shui Creationism