Creation Myth

This is the story of the beginning of the world. It is a story told all across Os, beside every fireplace, beneath every constellation, and it has as many variants as it has mouths who have told it. This, then, is the version that I know, the version that was told to me when I first learned the recitations of my craft.

In the beginning there was only Veena, the Mother of All. She was the stillness, the rest and the home, and all things light and dark were part of her. It was Veena who wove the world from all the elements, from Fire and Water, from Earth, Air, and Metal. She wove every place of flame and shadow and, finally, she wove three children for herself to share her joy - Sa, Wen and Os. Sa and Wen were twins - a brother and sister, two parts of the same whole and always in motion. Os was made afterwards, neither man nor woman. Sa and Wen went about their play, chasing each other around and around. Os, playing always by themself, grew lonely. Os took Veena’s elements and, copying their mother, Os wove together the first life. These were the Osed, the Children of Os.

After seeing Os's play, both Sa and Wen wanted to copy Os, and weave life for themselves, their own children. And so Sa created the Sa’ed (Children of Sa) and Wen created the Wened (Children of Wen). But they quickly grew bored with this new game of creation, and so Os cared for all their new children - Osed, Sa’ed and Wened - whilst Sa and Wen returned to their old game, chasing each other across the sky in an eternal dance.
And what of Veena? She waits for us all - ineffable, perhaps, and hard to understand, but waiting nonetheless - for her spirit was in her children and is, in turn, in their children, in us. And when we die we will return to her, to the Hereafter, and live in peace beside her hearth.

There is another part to the story - a part not often told, and rarely after darkness. It is taught as part of the recitation, but we are cautioned that it is no crowd pleaser. If you wish for my advice, it is better to sing another chorus of "My father bid me marry..." than to eek out your set with the end of this tale. But I include it here for the sake of completion.

But the last creature to crawl from Veena’s elements did so by himself, from all that was left, and called himself Na’edàn – true child of himself. He was a strange, formless creature, fashioned and twisted from the remnants of the others. As he was not created by the Mother of All, he did not have the power of a god. Since he was not the child of Sa, Wen or Os, he was not a mortal and had no soul, and so could not enter the Hereafter.


Os was busy caring for all the children, and Sa and Wen were busy with each other. And so Na’edàn was not noticed by any of them. He grew angry with Sa, Wen and Os, who had left him to create himself, and jealous of their true children. In revenge, he sought to pervert their mortals, to grow his power, and to steal their worshipfor himself. He wished to become as powerful as Os, Sa and Wen. Na’edàn became obsessed with power. He strove to corrupt the minds of mortals, to consume their souls to fuel himself, and to keep them from the Hearafter from which he was also banished. All those who meddle too heavily and too deeply in magic are confronted by Na’edan at some time, for he is particularly attracted to those who are powerful. And they say he lies in the darkness, waiting for his time. Waiting for his revenge.