The Dying Birth
The world as you understand it, and have been told to understand it, is a world of war and peace, hate and love. There is always a state of war, between mortals and mortals, between deities and demons, and between gods and men. Yet there too is great love and charity in the world, between families, nations, and realms. Harken now to why the world suffers pain and passion.
In the elder days, long before memory, the great many Realms we know of today hid themselves from each other, for they did not know of one another. For there was a great sea that none could cross, not even the greatest of deities or most terrible of devils, which set the Realms asunder. The sea was deep and cold, and would destroy the power of any who touched it. In this way, many immortal beings ceased to exist after entering the waters of the sea.
Now in those days, there were two Dragons. These were not dragons as we know of today, for they are small and weak. No, these two Dragons were the first Dragons, the Solwoln. Great and mighty Dragons they were, such that they could fly across the vast sea and visit the Realms. Many in the Realms saw the Great Dragons as gods and creators, and held them in the highest esteem. Many songs and stories were told of these Dragons, in the many tongues of the Realms. Indeed, in this way, the Solwoln went by many names and many stories.
After some time, the two Great Dragons said to each other, “This world is full of such peoples as the Demons in Maelhuat, the Spirits of the Dapfoth, the Gods of Luthaenel, the Devils of the Pits of Akkolorn, and sundry other peoples. Let us create for them, then, a path that will let them meet each other, and we shall see the kindling of a new realm.” However, the Dragons did not say to each other the world they foresaw. Truly, one dragon foresaw a world of harmony and prosperity, and the other dragon foresaw a world of war and conflict.
And so it came to pass that the Dragons built out of the Sea at the centre of all things a large island of their Great Powers: the Vakish powers of Earth and Water; and the Kevitic powers of Fire and Air. This Island, so called Udista, made of material and elemental powers, became a home for the Solwoln, for they had become weary from their act. Therefore they took rest on Udista, and they made a noble race of creatures after themselves upon the Island to live with them.
After a time of 2 years, the Solwoln once more took to the skies and announced with a great call to all the Peoples of the Realms what they had made. The Peoples of the Realms rejoiced, for they had been given new knowledge of worlds beyond their own, and they were quickened to travel.
When the Peoples had seen each other on Udista, they said to one another, “You peoples are quite different from us and this brings us much alarm and anxiety. Let us bring to each other a great and terrible war, so that we may decide who is to be the right and true people.” And as well, they said to each other, “You peoples are of an irregular and interesting kind. Let us bring to each other a great path of learning and understanding, so that we may help each other with our various needs and wants and grow to be a unified people.”
So it was that the Solwoln each saw the world they foresaw. But each Dragon saw also the world they wished not to see. And turning to one another, they said, “Lo the world has become corrupt and not that which it was destined to be” And in saying this, they understood that they were no longer sisters. They formed, then, from the soil of Udista a new people as guardians of the island, so that the Peoples of the Realms mayn’t fight nor share with one another. To these guardians they granted the Great Powers of Earth, Water, Fire, and Air.
The creation of these Guardians, the first Elementals, caused such a strain on the Solwoln that they could no longer hold themselves aloft and they fell into a deep slumber. Then it was that the Solwoln fell from the great skies. They fell into the Sea on either side of Udista where they remain to this day. But the tremendous wave of their fall into the sea flooded Udista. The flood shattered Udista into fragments, the largest of which have been called Keiuvilu or the Feyrealm in commonspeak, the Variomont or Gloomhollow in commonspeak, and Nedia, our own world.
And in this way, the two slumbering Dragons lay still for such an age that they became as two great continents, known in commonspeak as Kaloson and Kakon. Udista now fastens together the world of Nedia, and a binding link in the Sea betwixt the Realms. The children of these Peoples of the Realms, separated from their homelands, became the parents of the sundry mortal creatures of Kakon and Kaloson, and their echoes in the Keiuvilu and Variomont.
Summary
Historical Basis
Spread
This genesis myth first gained popularity among the Ethelan Elves after the conversion of the Empire to Aethanism. Its author, Kustaa Totukieli, also founded Aethanism and wrote the Polasenok . This association has led to the understanding that the myth is as divinely inspired as the religion itself.
The story has also become understood by scholars of the Belsumese Empire. Although the religious elements of the myth are not held by the Dailists, many nevertheless believe it bears elements of truth, especially the concept of Udista and the second continent.
Variations & Mutation
Cultural Reception
This myth was readily accepted by those living in northern and central Kakon given its basis on the already wide-spread creation myth of the The Dead Paths.
Belsumese scholars are said to understand the myth in a terrible fashion. Rumours circulate that many in the Belsumese government hold the myth to be true, and are searching for Udista in order to restore it and thence invade and subjugate not only the Elemental powers, but the Outer Realms.
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