Cosmogony - The Creation Myth

This account is preserved in temple hymns and imperial chronicles throughout Ethelra. It represents creation as understood through Ethelran religious tradition and should not be taken as a complete historical record of every people or event described within it.

The First Sparks of Creation

Before there were stars, worlds, or the passage of time, Elgalar stood alone in the void.

From Elgalar came Aether, the first substance of creation. From Aether arose anima, the essence from which the gods would later shape the mortal world.

Elgalar formed the first celestial bodies from Aether and set stars across the heavens. When the work grew beyond what one being could tend alone, he brought forth the first gods from his own essence.

The first were Io and Ao.

Two streams of power emerged from Elgalar's eyes and took serpentine form as they moved through the void. From his right eye came Io, the Timekeeper. From his left came Ao, the Realmweaver.

Io established the progression of time, allowing moments to follow one another and change to take place. Ao established space, dimensions, and the boundaries between planes.

Together, the twins created the Weave, extending the structure through which magic would move throughout creation.

The Birthing of Light and Shadow

With time and space established, Elgalar brought forth two more gods whose names would become tied to the changing sky.

Myranthus, the Dawnsinger, appeared with the first sunrise. His light came to mark the beginning of each new day, and his worship would later become closely tied to dawn, renewal, guidance, and recovery.

Lerathae, the Moonmaiden, appeared as that first day ended and the moon rose. She became associated with night, dreams, memory, reflection, and those who sought guidance in darkness.

The oldest hymns describe Myranthus and Lerathae crossing the heavens in turn, placing them within the first cycle of day and night.

The Keepers of Balance

Elgalar next brought forth three sisters whose work would become closely tied to the mortal world: Lyrael, Yssarel, and Athael.

Lyrael, the Elemental Matriarch, governed fire, earth, air, and water. Through these forces, mountains could rise, seas could move, storms could gather, and the foundations of the physical world could take shape.

Yssarel, the Wildmother, tended living nature. Forests, plants, animals, and other forms of life would spread through the world under her care.

Athael, the Matron of Ravens, became guardian of death and the passage that followed it. When mortal lives came to an end, she would watch over the dead and guide their journey beyond the Material Plane.

Together, the three became known as the Prime Trinity. Their work joined the physical world, the life that inhabited it, and the death that awaited all mortal creatures.

The Trickster's Gift

The final prime deity brought forth by Elgalar was Feonar, the Wanderer.

Feonar was not given stewardship over a single part of creation. His influence lay instead in chance, changing fortune, and events that refused to follow an expected course.

The oldest stories describe him traveling freely between realms, changing his appearance and involving himself wherever curiosity drew him. Sometimes his arrival brought opportunity. At other times, plans unraveled around him.

Ethelran tradition does not regard Feonar as malevolent. Fortune could shift in either direction, and no position, good or bad, was guaranteed to remain unchanged.

The Birth of Eldareth

Once the gods had been created, they left Elgalar and traveled through the cosmos in search of a place where they might shape a world of their own.

Their search eventually brought them to a place among the stars where they began forming anima into Eldareth.

Io established the passage of time within the new world, while Ao defined the space it would occupy and the boundaries surrounding it. The Weave extended throughout their work, allowing magic to function within the developing world.

Myranthus and Lerathae took their places within the changing sky. Sunrise gave way to daylight, daylight to twilight, and twilight to moonlit night before the cycle began again.

Lyrael turned to the substance of the world itself. With the aid of the four Primordial Titans, her first great creations, and lesser elementals, she shaped the land and seas. Each Titan was bound to one of the four elements and helped carry out changes on a scale lesser elementals could not manage. Mountains rose, rivers formed, and the continents gradually took shape. When their work was complete, the Titans entered a long dormancy within the world they had helped shape.

Yssarel filled those lands with life. Forests spread, plants took root, creatures appeared in the rivers and seas, and animals began to move across the land and through the skies.

The oldest Ethelran hymns also place the beginnings of mortal peoples within this period and broadly attribute their creation to the gods. Later histories preserve more specific accounts for the origins of many peoples, and these traditions do not always agree with the older hymns.

Other beings also appeared during the world's earliest ages. Dragons took to the skies, while the Feywild became home to fae and other peoples whose histories would later become closely tied to Eldareth.

When the others had completed their work, Feonar made his own contribution. Tradition holds that he placed chance within the new world, ensuring that neither mortals nor gods could know every outcome before it came to pass.

With that, the shaping of Eldareth was complete.

The gods descended into the world they had created, and for an age they walked beside its peoples.

Elgalar remained beyond Eldareth. Ethelran tradition holds that he continued to watch over the creation that had begun with him.

Commissioned by decree of the Concord Assembly and compiled by the Imperial Archivum of Calvessa.