Mythological Musings

The story itself really began with a rather bottom up approach. I imagined a few core characters, I knew I wanted it to be a fantasy, I knew I couldn't resist retelling the Atlantis legend, and I knew I wanted to draw on Biblical concepts. From this rather sketchy beginning I decided I had best establish a mythology for this universe, otherwise I might risk inconsistencies if I simply rushed off to start a narrative.

I suppose a great influence on my own mythology comes from Tolkien's creation saga, told in Ainulindalë and Valaquenta. What interested me about this was the notion that the mythos was monotheistic, with Eru as the original creator; and yet Tolkien accommodated polytheistic notions, with the Valar and the Maiar associated with parts of nature and the mind, similar to other pagan Pantheons.

Additionally, given my nerdy tendencies, I decided I would have my magic system based on the four fundamental forces in Physics : Electromagnetism, Gravity, Strong Nuclear and Weak Nuclear. Yes I agree it's rather incongruous, but why not? I just hope that the standard model and general relativity aren't overturned by the time I'm done, otherwise this will wind up sounding like Herbert's genetic memory in Dune.

I eventually came up with this creation story after a few reiterations :

The universe begins as a volume of ether. It is formless and unstable, spontaneous wisps and knots gather and unravel of their own accord. Eventually, a fold forms that stabilises itself, rather odd, but bound to happen with an infinite amount of time. It grows and adds to itself, increasing in complexity and size, eventually, it gains awareness. This first spirit was Eleyon, Creator of All. He begins to wonder if any other spirits exist, but in searching the immaterial ether, he finds none. In his solitude, Eleyon resolves to create other spirits from the ether. He searches for his own first fold, the quirk of stability that began his existence. After some study, Eleyon replicates the fold within himself, his awareness is divided into three aspects, slightly different, but not separate, trinity.

The next phase of creation begins when Eleyon creates separate spirits apart from himself, this time, two linked folds, but they are less bound to each other than the three aspects of Eleyon. He names the one created spirit Ällora, and the other Yevassë. Ällora is a great visionary, dreamer and thinker. Yevassë is reserved, reflective and prudent. Ällora soon convinces Eleyon and Yevassë to create another pair of spirits, just so he can observe how it was done. As a result, Unavo and Oleris are formed. As with Ällora and Yevassë, Unavo and Oleris have balanced qualities. Oleris is quiet and solitary while Unavo is demonstrative and sociable. In the future, Unavo and Oleris come to embody duality and balance, male and female, light and darkness, life and death.

Unavo makes the next major discovery; in manipulating the ether, she finds that if it is condensed enough, it collapses to form another material, which she calls energy. Soon the five Great Spirits have crafted a zone of energy within the ether. In it, energy based beings make their existence and worship their creator. Their spirits are still based in the ether, but tied to a construct of energy, or the soul. The energetic beings have their awareness in the plane of energy, just as the etheric beings had their primary awareness in the plane of the ether. Being born of the energy, the energetics are able to handle and shape energy more naturally than the etherics.

At this point, the story approaches the plane of existence that we are familiar with, matter. Yevassë is the one who takes the next step to condense energy into matter. With this new medium, Eleyon observes that it is complex enough to attempt something that was always on his mind; create self replicating, entirely independent beings. Ether was too formless and prone to dissipation. Energy was too fluid and changeable. But matter could be sculpted, stable and fixed. All of creation is directed under Eleyon's command to achieve his vision of beings that would be entirely distinct from Himself, every individual would be special and unique. These created beings would be superior to the rest in their autonomy. While Eleyon had to design every aspect of all the etheric and energetic individuals, the matter based beings would be formed without nitty gritty supervision. The Spirits designed rules and forces to keep matter in check, four essential forces were eventually decided and from that foundation, all of the physical world was made.

When the first man and woman are breathed into life, Eleyon finally rests, his desire for community fulfilled.