I have recently decided to write down and share a high fantasy/horror/mystery/adventure campaign setting that I have been playing/writing for years.
One thing that I have never touched on in any of my games in this setting is the creation myth. Weird? I know. Now that I sit down and try to define it, I come across a point where I can't figure out how to proceed. Or perhaps I should resign the origin of the gods and the many worlds as lost knowledge.
In my mythos:
Long ago the cosmos was in the pure and natural form of its creation. And then, one day, the alien gods called Nai Ya' Eee came. They sought nothing but the utter and total annihilation of all things. The gods of our worlds put aside their differences and worked together to fight off this terrible invasion. Many of our gods died fighting a loosing battle against the countless enemies. At the last moment the mother goddess and her first child sacrificed themselves to create a barrier to keep the alien gods at bay. This war killed many gods, and destroyed or scarred many worlds. But protected by this barrier, life remained and once again took a foothold. These events took place approximately 100 thousand years ago.
This has in essence always been the first story that defines the history of this setting. But what happened before? How were the gods birthed? How and who crafted the worlds? Do the religions still tell the stories of the origin before the Gods War? Do those stories resemble the truth?
General background
The mother goddess birthed 5 children. These 5 are the prime gods, each tied to a fundamental force.
The 3 goddesses Inritus, Aldore, Nocte (Void/Balance, Ice/Order, Darkness/Chaos)
The twin sun gods Solus and Solaris (Fire/Evil, Light/Good)
Note: I may be adding a few prime gods to round things out.
These 5 gods create the second generation of gods, (somewhere between 30 and 50 gods and goddesses)
The question?
How? The generally accepted belief is that gods do have gender. For them to create the second generation would likely involve procreation. However there are at least 2 gods in the second generation that are created with aspects of each possible combination of the prime gods (including those of the same gender). Now, in “reality” the gods might not even exist, and the human concept of gender or procreation might not apply even if they do. But how would the followers of the religion explain this? Would they? Considering the epic nature of the Gods War, would prior events even matter to these people? In the games I’ve run in this setting the only gods with religions that were more than a footnote were Solus, Solaris, Nocte and the racial gods of orcs, elves, dwarves and drow. The rest are somewhat nebulously defined. I am at a loss as to where to go from here. Should I just say “no one knows, or even has stories about where most of the gods come from. Except for Tourus, Corellan, Lillith and Moradin.” (I probably have to change Corellan and Moradin to something not WotC IP) To me, that just doesn’t seem to feel right. Any suggestions?
One thing that I have never touched on in any of my games in this setting is the creation myth. Weird? I know. Now that I sit down and try to define it, I come across a point where I can't figure out how to proceed. Or perhaps I should resign the origin of the gods and the many worlds as lost knowledge.
In my mythos:
Long ago the cosmos was in the pure and natural form of its creation. And then, one day, the alien gods called Nai Ya' Eee came. They sought nothing but the utter and total annihilation of all things. The gods of our worlds put aside their differences and worked together to fight off this terrible invasion. Many of our gods died fighting a loosing battle against the countless enemies. At the last moment the mother goddess and her first child sacrificed themselves to create a barrier to keep the alien gods at bay. This war killed many gods, and destroyed or scarred many worlds. But protected by this barrier, life remained and once again took a foothold. These events took place approximately 100 thousand years ago.
This has in essence always been the first story that defines the history of this setting. But what happened before? How were the gods birthed? How and who crafted the worlds? Do the religions still tell the stories of the origin before the Gods War? Do those stories resemble the truth?
General background
The mother goddess birthed 5 children. These 5 are the prime gods, each tied to a fundamental force.
The 3 goddesses Inritus, Aldore, Nocte (Void/Balance, Ice/Order, Darkness/Chaos)
The twin sun gods Solus and Solaris (Fire/Evil, Light/Good)
Note: I may be adding a few prime gods to round things out.
These 5 gods create the second generation of gods, (somewhere between 30 and 50 gods and goddesses)
The question?
How? The generally accepted belief is that gods do have gender. For them to create the second generation would likely involve procreation. However there are at least 2 gods in the second generation that are created with aspects of each possible combination of the prime gods (including those of the same gender). Now, in “reality” the gods might not even exist, and the human concept of gender or procreation might not apply even if they do. But how would the followers of the religion explain this? Would they? Considering the epic nature of the Gods War, would prior events even matter to these people? In the games I’ve run in this setting the only gods with religions that were more than a footnote were Solus, Solaris, Nocte and the racial gods of orcs, elves, dwarves and drow. The rest are somewhat nebulously defined. I am at a loss as to where to go from here. Should I just say “no one knows, or even has stories about where most of the gods come from. Except for Tourus, Corellan, Lillith and Moradin.” (I probably have to change Corellan and Moradin to something not WotC IP) To me, that just doesn’t seem to feel right. Any suggestions?
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