“In the Beginning, We ran. From the breaking of the great oneness we fled, its shattered form quaking behind us. We ran, screaming and grieving for all of existence. We ran as the oneness was torn from us and we became Each Other, and then Other, and other. We ran as time began. We ran, and we found our new brethren where we could. We said “the Calamity that broke us will hunt us still, and so we must hide.” and so the First Ones gave of their self-beings to become the Great Realm, and others the Great Tree. And we tied the Great Realm to the Tree’s trunk, and hid it amongst the tree’s branches. And we caught many of our own, and as they fell to the great realm in their flight they became the Many High Beings, and we welcomed them to Sanctuary. And we said “We must protect this place, this grand refuge, but we are new to Being. How can we safeguard our Creation without first Learning?” And it was decided that within the Great Realm, a place of Learning would be made, a place where we could know what aloneness was, and how we might learn again to be whole. And so it was that we would go to this place and forget our flight and our oneness and our heavenly form, and learn from stone and water and fire and air the lessons of Being. And when our (unclear) was complete, we would stand among the branches of the great tree, armed with our many existences, and protect our Creation that floated like a jewel in the womb of the Great Realm. And we called this creation... Raen.” - The Cholis Karanii, Tablet 1.1.7 "Scholars and mystics over the whole of Raen have fiercely debated the nature of reality, the gods, and the history of the worlds for as long as they have had the language to do so. This is to be expected, certainly. The fundamental mysteries can have no easy answers. But ancient histories, the magical arts, and religious traditions have shown enough intersection in their understandings to provide some consensus, some fundamental truths. Herein, then, is what is believed to be true about the nature of our reality, as well as how some of the many folk of Raen interact with those truths; through belief, worship, or observance." Sindán ad Alta, The World Tree: Fundaments of Reality and Belief