The Creation Myth of Ni'kashiga Birdfolk
As expressed in traditional storytelling cadence:
The Old Gods were dead, but did not know they were dead. The sun rose on the questions they did not have the tongues to answer. They wandered, and wondered why the winds did not answer them anymore. They wandered, and wondered why the fire did not warm them anymore. They wandered, and wondered why the earth did not feed them anymore. They wandered until the dust of the ground swept up and made them thirsty. The Old Gods grew tired, and they sat by the waters. They looked up into the darkness of the stars above in meditation. Alone on the empty shores, the Old Gods' eyes were opened to the light of the stars. Their ears were opened to the truths the stars told. The Old Gods knew the truth of their passing now. They began to prepare for death. First they stripped their pride, giving the sounds of their names away to the winds. Then they stripped their skins, giving the lines of their faces away to the fires. Then they stripped their bones, giving the health of their marrows to the earth. Lastly they stripped their eyes, giving their light back to the finite stars. When they were finished, all that was left was a thousand coiled threads. The threads were taken into the risen tide. There, the waters wove them into new patterns. When the tide receded, it left behind wet bundles of cloth. When the sun rose again, it dried the cloth, and from the bundles hatched the first Birdfolk.
Summary
Birdfolk tell of the creation of this world as the leavings of the previous one. In this oral storytelling tradition, the Old Gods - who in previous stories are described as selfish, arrogant, and wasteful - wandered a changed world, unable to understand that the world had gone past the need for them.
When "twilight" falls on their era, the Old Gods are confronted with the distance of the stars. The lifecycles of the stars give the Old Gods an epiphany about the smallness and finite nature of existence.
In accepting their death, the Old Gods were able to give back the elements of the world they had taken. In choosing to end themselves, they are able to leave behind the vital essences that would be rewoven into the Ni'kashiga, a race for the new era.
Variations & Mutation
Though earlier variations may have existed before The Speaking Sickness , the above is the modern commonly accepted form.
Cultural Reception
Every Birdfolken is aware of the creation myth, and even those who dismiss it as a total fabrication still hold it close as a traditional fable. Most view it as a story which may have some historical basis (if understandably couched in metaphor), though some conservative parties treat it with more reverence and "realness" than others.
023/100 : Part of the #100DaysofOce series, 2019
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