Fire Islands Mythology
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Fire Islands Mythology
This pantheon is based on the real-world mythology of the Māori, the indigenous people of the islands in and around New Zealand. This document is not intended to be an anthropological study of the Māori people, but a work of fiction based on mythology.
This pantheon is suitable for any remote tropical island or coastal setting, in any game world.
Creation of the World
Rangi and Papa are the creators of the universe, the Earth Mother (Papa) and the Sky Father (Rangi). At the dawn of time they were locked together in an eternal embrace. They had many children, and these children were forced to live in the darkness between Papa and Rangi.
As their children grew up, they began to complain about the cramped dark space between the sky and earth, and how there wasn’t enough room for them to stand and move about. They discussed what they could do to separate their parents so that they would be able to live in the light and have room for themselves. Tū, the god of war, suggested that they kill their parents and claim both the sky and earth for themselves. His brother Tāne proposed that it would be better to push them apart, to let Rangi be as a stranger to them in the sky above, while they remained close to the nurturing Papa.
The other siblings agreed with Tāne, and together they developed a plan to push their parents apart. Rongo, the god of gardens, tried first to push his parents apart, but his arms were too short. Tangaroa, the god of the ocean, tried next, but his arms were too soft. Haumia, the god of wild foods, also failed because his arms were different lengths. In spite of many attempts, the embrace of Rangi and Papa was just too strong. Finally it was Tāne, the god of forests and birds, who forced his parents apart: instead of standing upright and pushing with his arms, he lay on his back and pushed upward with his strong legs. Thus, Rangi and Papa were separated at last, and the space between them was filled with light.
The War in the Heavens
And so the children of Rangi and Papa were living in the light, and were able to move around the world for the first time. This pleased the other children greatly, but angered Tāwhiri, the god of storms. Tāwhiri could not bear to hear the cries of his mother or the tears of his father and grew angry, and poured his fury out upon his rebellious siblings. He gathered an army of his own children, the winds, the clouds, and the rains of all kind, and threw them upon his brothers.
Tāwhiri first poured his wrath out onto the great forest trees of Tāne, where they were smashed and thrown to the ground to become food for the insects. Then Tāwhiri attacked the oceans, and huge waves rose, whirlpools formed, and Tangaroa, the god of the sea, fled in panic.
Tangaroa has many children: the fish, turtles, shellfish, and other sea creatures. Terrified by Tāwhiri’s attack, the fish sought shelter in the sea, while the reptiles fled to the forests of Tāne. Ever since, Tangaroa has been angry with Tāne for giving refuge to his runaway children. So it is to this day, that Tāne gives mankind the canoes, spears, and nets he needs to catch the descendants of Tangaroa, and Tangaroa retaliates by swamping canoes and sweeping away houses, land and trees in the seasonal floods.
Tāwhiri next attacked his brothers Rongo and Haumia, the food gods. As the wind and rain and lightning fell upon them, Papa the Earth Mother intervened on their behalf. She decided to keep these for her other children (mankind), and hid them so well that Tāwhiri could not find them.
Finally, Tāwhiri poured his wrath out upon his brother Tū. He used all of his strength, but he could not overcome the mighty warrior. At last the anger of the storm god passed, and peace prevailed.
Tū thought about what the gods had done, and about the great sadness between his Sky Father and Earth Mother at being separated. So he made nets to catch the birds (the children of Tāne) and the fish (the children of Tangaroa), and he made plows and baskets to trap the children of Rongo and Haumia (plants). He piles up these children of his brothers onto the shore, the fish, birds, grains, fruits, and vegetables, and feeds them to mankind as punishment for the torment his brothers have caused his parents. Thus Tū gave mankind the tools to subdue all of the gods except for Tāwhiri, whose storms and floods still attack humankind to this day.
Tangaroa also felt remorse for his parents, and searched for lights to clothe his naked father with. He gathered the stars from the sparkling tops of the ocean, and the Milky Way from the spray of his waves crashing on shore, and tossed them all upward for his father to wear. Rangi and Papa continue to long for each other's embrace to this very day: Rangi's tears fall upon Papa in the form of rain, and Papa heaves and strains upward for her husband in the form of volcanoes and earthquakes.
Tāne and the Baskets of Knowledge
When mankind began to reproduce and fill the islands with their numbers, the gods saw that mankind had no knowledge, that they were as the animals. So Tāne, the God of the Forest, decided he would climb up into the Twelve Heavens and bring knowledge down to the people below.
Whiro, the Wicked One, believed that he should have the right to the knowledge first, for he was older than his brother Tāne. The two brothers fought with each other over the right to climb into the heavens, but in the end The Sky Powers chose Tāne to be the bearer of knowledge.
Whiro became very angry, and sent his winged serpents to attack Tāne as he ascended into heaven. But Tāne had the help of the Sky Power, and great winds lifted him up into heaven before the winged serpents could harm him.
Tāne climbed to the highest plane of Heaven, called Toi-ö-ngä-rangi (TOY o n'GAH RAN gee, or "top of the sky") he was greeted by the Sky Powers and was given three kete (KAY tay, "baskets.") Each kete contained a special gift of knowledge for mankind below.
The first basket, aronui, (ar OWN we) contained the knowledge of all of the good and helpful things of the world, like love and medicine and peace. The second, tuauri (tu ARE ri), contained the knowledge of proper ritual, prayer, and magic. The third basket, tuatea (two ATE ay) contained the knowledge of evil and forbidden things.
As Tāne began to descend from the heavens with the baskets, Whiro had been waiting for him. He sent a great horde of his winged creatures to attack Tāne in the air, far more than he had sent earlier. Tāne was almost overwhelmed by the creatures, and cried out for help. The Sky Powers answered him once more, and sent a great wind against Whiro and his creatures. The wind blew Whiro's hordes to the ground with such force that their wings broke off. These creatures became the worms, snakes, insects, and all other crawling things of the earth, and remain so to this day.
When Tāne had landed safely, he built a special temple to house the knowledge in. He called this temple whare kura (WAH ray KOO ruh), and gathered all of mankind to learn the knowledge of the gods. For his treachery, Whiro was banished to the Underworld, where he continually causes trouble for mankind and the gods alike.
Māui and the Quest for Immortality
Māui was the only god born of mortal parents, and was the first man to die. He was born prematurely, and his mother wrapped him in her topknot and threw him into the sea. The ocean spirits found him and wrapped him in seaweed, and cared for him until he was an adolescent. Then a storm carried him back to the land, where he rediscovered his parents and grew into a clever young man.
Māui had many adventures, which brought him glory and honor. In his first quest, he made the days longer by restraining the Sun itself. The days had become too short for people to finish their work, so Māui fashioned a club from the jawbone of one of his ancestors (probably a whale or shark). He used the jawbone to snare the Sun and beat it severely until it promised to give mankind twelve hours between dawn and dusk.
In his second quest, he created the large island of Te Ika. Using his jawbone club as a giant hook, and using blood from his nose as bait, Māui caught a great fish and hauled it up from the depths of the sea. When it emerged from the water, Māui went to find a priest to perform the appropriate ceremonies and prayers, leaving his servants in charge of the fish. The servants did not wait for Māui to return, but began to cut up the fish to be eaten. The great fish began to writhe and scream in agony, causing it to break up into mountains, cliffs, and valleys. If the servants had listened to Māui the fish would have become a level plain and people would have been able to travel easily across it, but because of their eagerness and impatience the island is jagged, broken, and rocky instead.
In his third quest, Māui recovered the secrets of fire that had been lost since the War in the Heavens. Māui, finding that fire has been lost on earth, resolved himself to find Mahuika, the Fire-goddess, and trick her into giving him the secret of making fire. He visits her, but his tricks make her furious, and although he obtains the secret of fire, he barely escapes with his life. He transforms himself into a hawk but to no avail, for Mahuika sets both the land and sea on fire. Māui prayed to Tāwhiri, who answered with pouring rain and extinguished the fire.
Māui, after his three successful quests, began to consider himself ready to win immortality for humankind. Though his parents tried to dissuade him, he convinced his parents to reveal the secret of immortality--he would have to pass through the body of Hine, the goddess of the Underworld, and emerged unharmed. So Māui took with him the smallest of the birds of the forest: the tomtit, the robin, the warbler, and the fantail, and took them down into the Underworld with him to challenge Hine.
He found Hine asleep with her legs apart, and told his companions to be quiet as he passed through her body. He was only halfway inside Hine when the fantail laughed at him. The laughter awoke Hine, who clasped her legs together suddenly and cut Māui in two. Thus Māui became the first man to die, and because he failed in his quest for immortality all of mankind is doomed to die as well.
