The Devouring Abyss Myth in Nys | World Anvil

The Devouring Abyss

The Devouring Abyss is a theory describing the nature of the Abyss as a place. It is mostly spread among wayfarers and followers of the Moon Goddess.  

Summary

The Abyss would be a plane of existence corrupted during the first era by the power of an ancient God, now an archdemon ruling over the chaotic wastelands. Those who were in contact with the Abyss, even shortly, confirm they felt the presence of a dreadful entity.   It would be a particular kind of kanva, akin to the Crossroads, without a main gate, originated from a lost magical sigil.   Its aim is out of doubt to absorb and corrupt other worlds, though the precise process is unclear. The Archdemon would devour recently absorbed planes, draining vital energy and using it to empower itself.   The ultimate demonic goal would be to gain enough power to corrupt the whole cosmos, transforming everything in a chaotic void upon which they would rule for eternity.

Variations & Mutation

Common variations concern the goal and essence of the Abyss.   Most wayfarers believe the Abyss does not devour to gain more power but to sustain itself. They support this conclusion from a few short, dangerous observations within the demon plane itself. It seemed to them the Abyss is not able to produce energy, as Gods and people are, thus being forced to consume other's souls to survive.   If this belief were true, it would mean the Abyss does not empower itself when absorbing worlds. It would also be possible to starve it just by protecting the kanvæ from its influence.   A few people expand this reasoning further. If the Abyss does not want to devour worlds, but needs to, it could mean the common view of an intelligent God orchestrating corruption and absorption might be false.   They claim the Abyss is closer to an animal than to intelligent life. It would just be an idiot entity trying to survive. They argue that if an Archdemon had the power to generate demonic spawns, as observed, then it could strategically concentrate its efforts to conquer Nys, wiping away any resistance. Since this has not yet happened, it must be because there is no intelligence behind its behaviour, only a blind hunger.   Others accept the hunger motivation, but reject this reasoning, arguing that Nys would still be a challenging prey, even for an intelligent God with vast powers. Instead, they expand upon its ultimate goal. Once absorbed every kanva, the Abyss would starve, and the demonic intelligence knows it. They claim it is now holding back its full powers to cast the mightiest spell in existence later, a sigil capable of creating worlds using the energy of the cosmos itself, for the eternity. In this way, the Abyss could devour worlds for eternity.   But it can get worse. A few scholars claim this is already what happened. They believe the Abyss already devoured the root kanva and began producing worlds only to destroy them. According to them, the Archdemon grows kanvæ as people breed livestock. In this setting, Nys would be a temporary stage, with no hope of salvation.   Among them some believe it would still be possible to rebel against the creator, the Abyss, and destroy it, thus being free from a grim fate. Others believe the situation is worse than that. To destroy the Abyss would mean shatter the cosmos itself, thus sealing the darkest of fates for Nys: a meaningless void.

Cultural Reception

Most people, Moon Church followers above everyone, want to believe their actions matter in the larger cosmos. Being born as children of a hungry, possibly idiot father does not belong to their thought. This behaviour led to the affirmation of the most common version of the myth, describing the Abyss as an evil God that heroes can challenge and ultimately defeat.   Recently, many are embracing the fact that the Abyss is not intelligent, at least in the common sense of the word, and coined the term "Idiot God" for it. It is a powerful preternatural cosmic entity, undefeatable with common means. It is not inherently evil in itself, even though so are the energies and demons it spawns. They believe it is a hungry animal, and that the new champion of the Moon will slay it.

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