Creation Myth (Grellism)

According to the ancient mythology, before the world of Galwyndor or the heavens existed, there was a giant primordial stone which was called Grellis, which was wise beyond measure. After many thousands of eons, the stone became restless and began gnawing upon itself until a piece broke off, which began the world. When the piece came loose, Grellis cried out in pain, which created the air. Grellis then wept, which created the seas. The primordial stone contemplated this event, eventually concluding to make the best of the situation, and there conspired to create things which could benefit from his misery: it then made a great etherwood tree to enjoy the earth, an espitris to enjoy the air, and the flidfish to enjoy the sea. At first Grellis was content, but something was still missing, so the stone created the first Inar, known as the Eldinar, to enjoy the ability to contemplate. A piece of its spirit, an essence called the omnicrux, went into each of these things.

The Gods

Grellis was quite satisfied with its creations until it realized that they each were soon wrought with the same loneliness and restlessness Grellis had experienced. It was then that Grellis created three brother gods after the model of the Inar, though they were unable to self-replicate. First was Drend of stone and earth, then Orend of air, and then Helirend of water. It commanded them to be wardens of each of their realms, and instructed them to fill their realms with as many creatures as they wanted, which they did. As a gift to Grellis, they each also created the sun (Drend), the moon (Orend), and the stars (Helirend).

Over time, Grellis created other gods, and allowed them to choose their dominions, leaving them to their own devices to maintain their collective creations. When the last of the gods was created, Grellis went to sleep to rest, leaving the gods in charge. While it slept, Helirend became enraged when one of Orend's creations ate one of his, and thus began the first altercation among the gods, who have been fighting, negotiating, tricking, plotting, conspiring, and making peace with each other ever since. It is said that when Grellis awakes from its slumber, the gods will be forced to return the world to peace and prosperity.

The Races

Once turmoil amongst the gods began, the three brothers became envious of the Eldinar, because they were superior to all of their creations, having sentience. They also thought it was unfair that the Eldinar equaled them in terms of their level of omnicrux, even though the gods could create while the Eldinar could not. They each, in turn, created a new sentient race, and each sought to make theirs better than the Eldinar in some way.

• Drend, god of stone and earth, created the dwarfs to be heartier than the Eldinar.
• Orend, god of air, created the humans from the lungs of the Eldinar to be more adaptable than Eldinar. Of all the races, humans were the only ones to be made from the Eldinar, which is why they could interbreed with them.
• Helirend, god of water, created the merfolk, which could rule the seas as the others ruled the land.

After these races came into being, they were quite happy with their creations. However, other gods decided to try their hand at this, and three more races were created.

• Iriel, goddess of fire and light, created the attawa.
• Huctis, god of fortitude, created the jrel.
• Kleya, goddess of protection, created the giants to protect nature from the destruction of the other races.

To fashion each new creation, a portion of the omnicrux within the creator was passed along. Although these new races were intended to have other traits that the Eldinar did not, the new races had less of the omnicrux within them, which gave the Eldinar a distinct advantage over the other races. The Eldinar possessed a higher measure of power, as more of the essence of the omnicrux ran through their veins, and they were immortal, whereas the others were not. They could wield and manipulate magical energy -- the spirit of Grellis. Ultimately it was Skulf, the god of chaos, who convinced his mother Sherriva to teach the other races the hidden secrets of wielding and manipulating the omnicrux, which was within them all, but to a smaller degree. This brought favor from the race-creator gods, who had always been envious of the Eldinar.

The final race, the Cauthrians, which were mixed Eldinar and humans, were created through interbreeding of their own accord. As a result, the Cauthrians had a higher degree of omnicrux, but not as much as the Eldinar. This is why the Cauthrians died off along with the descendents of the Eldinar, the Inar, during the Great Purge.

Angels

While there are unions among the gods under this system, and many of the deities are children of other deities, these were all created by Grellis and gifted to the gods as it saw fit. Because the gods of Grellis were unable to create new gods, and their unions were simply by choice, they simply remained content to create new species of mortal creatures as they had always done. Eventually, their desire to create new celestial beings was too great, so they fashioned angels, which required omnicrux from at least two deities to come into being.

Things were well until the angel M'ranin managed to solely beget seven children, which were called the Fouled Seven. This act angered the other gods, and the three brothers decided to exile M'ranin and her children to the Shadow Lay for all eternity. To ensure that they were trapped there, however, the gods required a significant amount of omnicrux; this posed a problem, as they did not want to use any omnicrux from celestial beings, which would make them weaker than the Eldinar.

They tried to steal the omnicrux from the Inar, but found that they could not, so they used omnicrux from each of their created races instead, leaving them with even less than before. After this exile was complete, the gods vowed never to make angels in the manner of the mortals, as M'ranin had done.

See Also

• List of Deities