Here's the creation story I've got for my RP setting, just wanted to share, maybe get some comments and critiques. Obviously, some of you may be more familiar with the subject matter than others. It's from the point of view of a storyteller in-world.
I might add other stories too - I know Scriver has one he'd like to post.
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Part 1
In the beginning, there were two world, intertwined, in a way that has never been seen before or since. The border between these worlds was malleable and porous, and they influenced each others development throughout the eternity of their history.
One of these was the world we know of us earth - here, the ground beneath us, the sky above us, the animals and trees and mountains and lakes, though back in the beginning there was not quite the variety we see now.
The other was the world of the spirits, a mysterious world that not even the most studious of scholars fully understand.
But the begins that dwell there are powerful, far more powerful than us. However, they have their own rules which they must obey - they are not all powerful, and many have turned them into servants or even tools. You see, thanks to how close our worlds are, they can sometimes slide through the walls between our realities... or be pushed.
Still, our world is hostile to them, as theirs is to us, and they can not survive here long, unless they are wrapped tightly in the protective embrace of certain shapes and patterns - what we call spells.
In the beginning, though, there were no spells, and our world was simple. There were no thinking beings, few plants, and the occasional spirit that slipped the boundary of realities would soon return to its own world.
But time passes, and things change.
Part 2
Eventually, the small became large, the few became many, the simple became complex and varied.
And from this change, three proud peoples were born. The Paf, the Sarken, and the Tor-ar.
It is said each of these was formed from a spirit mingling with the soul essence of an animal - the Paf from a monkey, the Sarken a snake, and the Tor-ar a beetle.
Though none know the truth for sure as to how they came to be.
In this days, the people were primitive - they did not sing, they did not create. They knew spirits only as ghosts and angry gods, strange beings that could appear without explanation and without notice.
But things change.
Over time, they grew smarter. They began to discover things about their world.
One of those things was the power of magic.
The races were often in conflict at first - with each other, and with themselves. But eventually a kingdom rose from each of the three.
While this happened, another race had begun prowling the land, though none new from which animal this creature was derived.
Some say they are not from here - others say they have been here since the earth was still young, before any other race, and that this was simply the first time they were noticed.
They are the great lizards, the dragons.
They are creatures made themselves of change, and thus have they survived throughout the millenia as themselves, the dragon.
A particularly powerful dragon, ambitious, intelligent, greedy, a greater dragon than had ever before been seen, made his appearance.
And he was not friendly.
Soon, news reached many ears that the great city of the Tor-ar had been destroyed.
It's people cast down to wander the lands without home.
Not just the great city, but all cities.
In less than a month, one of the great powers in the world was destroyed.
The Paf and the Sarken wasted no time, knowing they themselves would soon follow.
The Sarken realized that they must fight the creature, and slay it, or they would be doomed - but they had not the numbers to take down such a mighty creature.
And so their best sorcerers and wisest shamans converged, focused on a single gold.
To build a new race, one that could be mass produced, a strong and sturdy race.
And, should the dragon still prove victorious, a race that could survive them.
Part 3
From spell and stone and the second most powerful spirit ever summoned, they created the first dwarf, in a form that married the best features of the other races. Sturdy as the Tor-ar, as durable and long lasting the Paf, with the patience and longevity of the Sarken.
And thus was the first dwarf created.
Powered by a spirit of immense power, he quickly proved himself. Of superior intelligence, almost impossible to kill, a creature with the ability to create and to kill with unparalleled ability.
The Sarken saw their hope against the dragon.
But he would not be enough.
They would need another.
And so the process was repeated.
The dwarf made suggestions and recommendations
Such that the next of his kind could be superior even to himself.
But something went wrong.
Horribly wrong.
Their ambition had finally exceeded their ability.
And thus was the first scratched dwarf created.
A creature full of anger and hatred. He was indeed more powerful than the first dwarf - and far more deadly, and hated the idea of his creation, of his enslavement to this physical body in this terrible world.
And thus did the great city of the Sarken fall without the dragon lifting a finger.
It's people scattered.
And the first dwarf fled, badly wounded and on the verge of death.
Finding refuge in a cave on a tall mountain.
Eventually heading ever deeper, until he disappeared from history.
One must assume that he made more of his kind - not risking summoning new spirits, he gave fragments of his own soul to these new beings.
Some say he died in the process.
Others that he yet lives, deep beneath the earth.
But what is true is that the oldest of dwarves will not share the truth. And that each generation seems slightly less than the one before.
And thus only one of the great races remained. The Tor-ar were scattered, the Sarken destroyed or fled. Only the Paf remained.
Part 4
The Paf did not seek to create slaves to fight for them, but rather muster magic so powerful that no mortal beast, even a dragon, could stand before it.
And though spirits were powerful, they were unreliable.
The Paf followed a third path.
A young paf, you see, had been born with the amazing ability to cast spells not with spirits, but with his own life force.
A wild magician, unconstrained by the rampant madness of the spirit realm, but still touched by and powered through it.
They studied him, with all their great minds, until he fled their scrutiny and they were forced to continue on without him.
And did use a spirit, but only one, to build an incredible tome, the greatest of books.
The Librus Peccavi.
Part 5
Within it, they inscribed all that they learned, and the book itself put the pieces together
Soon, the secrets of the magic of the soul were interred within its paces, of life and death, of shadows and light. The one who held the book was invincible, so long as his soul held out.
But there were costs.
Terrible costs.
The magic they discovered was deadly.
Reliable.
Invisible.
Unstoppable.
But using it devoured the soul of the caster.
This simply wouldn't do.
And the dragon was growing closer
Already it devoured the edge of their kingdom.
The Paf, their people were dying.
And they were so close.
They would not led them die in vain.
So they created special items, forging the souls of those lost in combat with the beast into a mighty weapon, a magic that would truly strike its heart and defeat it.
No one mage had a soul strong enough, but an entire people...
They sent out a brave person to each village, wearing a simple collar, to stay until the village fought its last.
And to channel the souls of the fallen such that they may fight again in the last battle.
Even without the soul magic, the Paf put up a terrible fight, and occasionally even the great dragon was wounded.
And when it reached the great city of the Paf, the final home of their race aside from a few distant tribes.
They were ready.
The souls of the fallen were released, tearing the beast asunder.
It's body bled from attacks it could not see or stop.
Its eyes from visions it could not repel
It's mind burned with the anger of a hundred thousand of the dead.
And it could stand no more.
The beast died.
And the Librus Peccavi, without prompting and without another's knowledge, took its soul.
And it changed.
Part 6
In a heartbeat, it became more than anyone had dreamed possible.
More powerful. More independent.
More ambitious.
It realized, for the first time, what it was.
What it wanted.
And what it needed to accomplish it.
It wanted /more/.
The mages who oversaw the book were too late to destroy it.
It shielded itself, and took the minds of those linked to it through their collars.
The mages realized the terrible truth. If they did not act, the book would oversee the destruction of ever living creature in the world to fuel its hunger.
They had one final spell they'd been working on.
A terrible spell, for if victory seemed impossible.
A spell that would rip the whole city from this world, and cast it into the void.
Where they could hope and pray for safety, for a safe landing in another world like their own.
Now, safety was not their concern.
Instead, they hoped for the opposite - that the spell would cast them into the void forever, and the book never be set free.
So they released the spell. The last of the great cities, in the span of a single heartbeat, was gone.
The Paf destroyed far more thoroughly than any of the other races had been.
Even the greatest of dragons was no more.
The world had changed.
Part 7
The remnants of the Tor-ar that survived had split into two groupes - one became the the Mrantar of the southern deserts, and the other Hruntar of the central kingdoms.
The Sarken, too, split - those who fled to the great swamps of the east became the Naga of today, and those who fled to the forests of the west the Vespen.
And the remote Paf tribe of the far north move south to fill the emptiness, bringing with them no trace of the destroyed civilization, becoming the Orcs of today.
And do you recall the wild magician from our story?
He fled before the dragons arrival with his family and friends.
And his powers let him survive
They took refuge first with the Sarken of the woods
And then struck out on their own after many generations
The natural magic being passed down through the generations, his people destined to become the Elves.
And these are all the races that survive from those days.
So from where then, do you ask, come the Tybral and the Humans?
Ah.... but that is another story.
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Author
Topic: Dark Tides - The History of Earth (Read 1021 times)