Creation and the Great Wager

The Beginning: There was no true beginning, only change, but for men a change may as well be a beginning, so that is where we will start.--taken from the account of Zu'xia's first Clerk.  
 
     Before the change there was the one being, alone perfect and all encompassing. Then one day the Being recognized his own perfection and loved it. From that moment on there were two beings, the one that watched the perfection and the one that was the perfection.  The perfect Being begin to crack and flaw in the sight of the Watcher, because the Being adored nothing as the Watcher adored the Being. Thus the Being was imperfect. So the Being went to the Watcher and adored it, and the adore spilled out around their union.  For the adore between the two was something greater and newer.  This adore was the change we call creation.  This adore became the first of the Gods, the gods of the Universe. First came the great mind Humaz (she that creates), strongest and equal with her parents. Second was the great light Zapotex (that that illuminates).  The adore gave way to wonder and the god Erpo'en (he that mystifies) came into being. Next came Droven (he that exists), and then chaos that surrounded these births took the form of Crighten (the beast that destroys).  These first gods went about giving shape to the universe, Humaz gave forth ideas of beauty and form, Droven gave those ideas existence and Ergo separated those ideas from the gods so that they may adore them, and then Crighton took to destroying them so that they might have value.  This collaboration of the gods created the earth as a place of creation and destruction, worth and loss, and beginning and end. But Humaz and Erpo begin to form a second union, and this Union would give forth the gods of men. The products of Humaz and Ergo were different from all the other creations because they came out passion and need rather than adoration and perfection.

The birth of the God's of the Earth:  Because they were born of pure passion they did not fit with the plan of the world and their personalities influenced the world simply by their existence. The first of the new gods born was Ya'naw (life), and Ya'naw spread the spark of life all over that which had been granted existence. Ya'naw covered the earth in plants and animals.

Inspired by their new creation Humaz and Erpo poured more passion into each and soon Humaz gave birth to two sets of twins.  The brother and sister, Roark (Violence, lust and strength), and Bell'ra (peace, kindness and temperance), were born in the male and female forms to which Humaz and Erpo had developed.  The next set of twins were dragons in the form of their uncle Creighton, Zu'xia (knowledge and beauty), and Xang'ze (power).  Their birth was difficult and Humaz's next child was Eminster (Suffering and Pain). His birth dulled Humaz's passion.
The during this time of dulled passion it said that Humaz and Erpo wandered and looked for solitude. In their wandering they stretched the earth until at last they were far enough away from each other as to be able to forget the heat of passion for a time.  To this day the places were they lay are always cold. 

  But eventually Erpo returned to Humaz and convinced her that another child could be born out of something more than passion and there next child was a daughter, Ullena (love).   Ullena was followed by a son Obber (fear and wisdom).  Obber would be the last of their sons.  There next child Leethanna (sleep, mischief and chaos) was loved and adored by Erpo form the start, and Obber whispered in his mother's ear that Erpo loved his new daughter more than Humaz herself.
 
   Believing she was spurned Humaz withdrew from the land of creation and returned to the realm of shapeless existence.  However in her haste to leave she did not realize that she and Erpo had created another child. When the child came Humaz did not give it a name, but handed to her other children to raise. Since she had no name they called her only 'our sister that counts.'  The Goddess with no name was the last of the great gods born, and her birth marked the end of Erpo's and Humaz's relationship.
The Birth of Elves, Dwarves, Demi-gods and Demi-humans:  After Erpo, Humaz grew lonely and Humaz created a new consort, Biglochetty.  Biglochetty was so perfect in form, and design that Humaz's children grew jealous. They believed that their mother preferred the child of her mind more than the child of her passions or love. One day while Leethanna distracted her mother which a distorted message, the other gods (save the nameless one) gathered up stones from the earth and hurled them at Biglochetty. After being bloodied by the stones Biglochetty ran down into the earth and hid among the green life, water and stones. The will of the gods did not give up though and the stones they threw were given life by the gods contempt for Biglochetty. The stones became orcs, goblins, trolls and all the other hideous creatures born into a state of hate. The stones touched with Biglochetty's blood became a new type of half-god, held to earth but able to influence the universe. Those gods were Telm'erase (murder), Greeth (jealousy), and Bile (hate). Droven was disturbed that the stones and had been used as they were and he gathered two. And rather then send them back to earth to torment Biglochetty, he gave them a form. They became the tenders of the earth: Dwarves. 

All the while Biglochetty hid and multiplied into a race of immortal beings that while not gods needed no gods: Elves.

The First Creation: Once they saw the stones spring to life the young gods grew excited by their new found ability to create truly independent life. So with the exception of Ullena and the nameless Goddess, they gathered together on earth to create. Ya'naw went first and entered her forests, plains and oceans and begin to and endow animals and plants with her image. Next went Xang'ze and he sent to the world a race of powerful creatures called Wiz'guards, they could take the energy of the world and spin it into a power called magic, next Leethanna and Eminster created twin races of powerful beasts called demons, Roark gave the life to a violent race of giant centaurs, Obber stole a child of Biglochetty's and created a dark race of first men,  Bell'ra gave forth a race of kind giants, and Zu'xia gave forth angels. But all these creations could not share the earth, and with each god championing his/her race the War of the God's Wills ensued. Some of the Gods hated the war, others loved it, but all could see that this war would end only in destruction or stalemate. The Giants could not rule the demons, nor could the way of the Wiz'guards exsist with the will of the angels. So the old god forced a truce upon the gods of earth. Humaz and Crighten insisted that each race created by the gods be lessened or controlled. Xang'ze destroyed his Wiz'guards with a thought leaving only their weavings on the earth, Obber sent his children under the surface of the earth and denied them, Roark and Bell'ra shrunk their beings to a lesser power and lesser size, Zu'xia redrew his angels to heaven and Ya'naw scattered her beings into many lesser races.

The First Night:  But Leethanna and Eminster rebelled, and a second war occurred the war of Gods and demons.  First went Leethanna and her demons of chaos into the field and the united front of the gods struck them down and Leethanna would have been destroyed if not for the intervention of Ergo who begged for her life. The remainder of the chaos demons were banished to the unclaimed corners the realm, and Leethanna was denied a hand in the earth's destiny. As the God's prepared for battle with Eminster, a rip occurred through out the universe and sent a wave of suffering through the gods themselves. Eminster's demons had turned on him and tore his being into pieces. The essence of Eminster was scattered through out the universe so that even the other gods could know pain and suffering.  Quickly the god began to withdraw from the field of battle.  Obber, who saw no tool to counter the demons, was the first to withdraw from the God's vanguard, then Ya'naw and Bell'ra went to hide they're remaining children, Zapotex overted his gaze from the hideousness of Eminster's children, and the world knew night. The nation of Eminster began to spread, undoing all that the gods had done and leaving only hideousness: hideousness that no being could adore, and that could undue the entire universe. Zu'xia and Roark led their children against the expanding darkness, but they failed and their children's strength shrank as the demons expanded.

Enter Ullena and the nameless goddess who had previously no interest in the goings on of creation. Together the sisters went to their uncle Droven and begged him to create a realm of non-existence. Droven could not grasp the paradox of their vision, and refused. The sisters then went to their banished sister, Leethanna, and beseeched her for help in convincing their uncle to act on something that he did not understand.  Leethanna, gave them a dream on which they could send a message to Droven. The Ullena wrote the dream and sent it to Droven as he rested between battles. When Droven awoke he left the field and ran to the nameless goddess and begged her to take him as her consort. When she asked why, he did not have an answer.  And in the moment when Droven's love of the Goddess allowed him to take an action he did not understand, and the realm of non-existence was created. Death was created. And the Gods now had a weapon to use against the demons, but their powers were depleted. Droven and Roark went to the dwarves and taught them metal working and war.  Xang'ze went to the children of Biglochetty and gave them the weaving of his Wiz'guards.  On the field of Leethanna's defeat, Zu'xia and the his angel's were losing their will to fight in the face of the suffering when the nameless Goddess appeared on the field with the armies of Dwarves and Elves behind her. And under her shadow and using her gifts as well as the gifts of the others gods the armies were able to banish the demons to the realm of non-existence. 

The Second Creation and the Gods of men: With the demons gone Zapotex turned his gaze back to the earth, but the demons had left their mark Zapotex could no longer sustain a gaze for a whole day. Rested and unscathed Bell'ra and Ya'naw began to rebuild their creations. The other gods were furious that the abstainers were reshaping the world they had fought for, and began to talk of making war again. Humaz saw this and knew that creation had to be more flexible and accessible to all gods. So she a called council of all her siblings and children, and presented them with a solution. Those gods that wished to control existence, Bell'ra, Roark, Obber, Xang'ze,Ya'naw and Zu'xia would have a chance.   Humaz told them the plan:
The six competing gods would withdraw to heaven and Humaz would create a race capable of reflecting all of the god's qualities: humans. The gods could grant the humans powers or any creature power for that matter, but the Gods could not directly wield power on the earth.  Any message they wanted to communicate would be relayed by Leethanna. The goal is that through human nations a god could rule the world, and the god who has the greatest wealth of followers will be able to take control of the world. The nameless goddess whose shadow stretched over the defeat of the nation of Eminster and who had become the consort of Droven would take account of each human soul. And from that moment own she was known as Death. The gods agreed and withdrew from the world granting power only to those who pray to them. Thus humans must chose to expecpt the will of these gods. However, Leethana, Ullena and Death may still return to earth and humans are under their power whether they believe in them or not.       

The Questions, Gods of Civilization and Dragons: Humans were designed to be unpredictable, and some argue that his is no design at all and that in this way they are more like the gods than any other creature. Yet the gods in heaven began to have children. Some of these children care not for their parent's obsession with the mortal realm remain unknown and nameless in world of men. Others have journeyed to earth and become the gods civilization. Gods who represent justice, trade, thieves and laws are some of these strange new gods. Are these gods in league with the greater gods of men or are they new rivals? The myths don't have answers to these questions. And quietly during all the deeds of gods there has been the slow deliberate action of the great Crighen.  Crighten is disgusted with the Humaz image that dominates the earth, and in response has been building up his race of dragons. It is said that if they wished the dragons could rival the gods for control of earth or be the storm of destruction that their lord envisions.