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Mar. 30th, 2005 10:40 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
majutsukaiOK, here's the deal.
I've always had a fair amount of interest in mythology. That's why, since last semester, I've been working on my own set of myths based on my beliefs and values. In light of a recent assignment in Mythology class, which requires us to create our own creation myth, I decided to put some of the ideas in writing.
It's difficult to understand some of it without knowing the backstory. I've heard several theories being thrown around about how if there's a real god in heaven, he's evil. So, I thought to myself, "How would that work?", and Sartenian mythology was born. I eventually drifted away from that original idea, since one of the primary philosophies in Sartenian mythology is that there is no such thing as real evil. However, I've written enough in it that I've decided to share it with the world. so, submitted for your approval, I present to you:
In the beginning, there was a great nothingness. There were no stars in space, no planets for them to shine upon, and indeed no space in which either could exist.
The only mystery that remains unsolved is how the Sacred Order came to exist; even they themselves do not know. However, when they beheld the great Void, and its dull, empty meaninglessness, they banded together to fill it. They combined all their power together, and released it into the Void; it had no trouble expanding, until it was thousands of times larger than the largest star, and twice as fiery and bright. When it finally receded, the emptiness was not quite as complete. However, with the birth of existence came that of Chaos, and the order became concerned. "How can it be any more meaningful than the great Void," they reasoned, "if it still has neither rhyme nor reason?"
And so, once again, they banded together. They all wrote the natural laws that would govern the Chaos, and fashion from it order. However, as the goddess Sartenia observed, once the natural laws took effect, the Order would lose most of its powers, as they too would be governed by them. Many of the gods were reluctant to set the laws into effect upon hearing this, but in the end Sartenia convinced them that creating order in the universe would be better. All, that is, save for one. The god Arkelis pretended to side with Sartenia, but in truth he was more revulsed than all the others at the idea of losing his powers. So, in secret, he altered the laws that the others had written in such a way that he would lose none of his powers. And so it came that when the Order released the laws into the universe, he was the only one of them that was not severely weakened.
Be that as it may, the laws still had their intended effect, as the wild particles of matter and energy settled together to create stars, planets, and most importantly, life. Life was by far the most beautiful of all the Order's creations, and they nurtured it until it grew unmatched in its beauty and splendor. However, it did not yet have a vessel in which to exist, and for that reason the Order agreed that it was going to waste.
"What a pity," sighed Sartenia; "If I still had my powers, I should be able to create most fitting vessels for the life which we've created; but it looks as if my ideas shall go to waste."
"Tell me of your plans, and it shall be so," Arkelis said to her. And so, she shared with him the plans she had of bodies for the life to inhabit. And, one by one, Arkelis made her ideas into reality.
The other gods and goddesses marveled at his work. "How can this be?" said Gaea. "Are you not bound by the same laws as we?"
"I am. I suppose I was simply created with more ability than the rest of you were," Arkelis lied. "Should you have any ideas of your own, simply speak them to me, and they shall be."
The other gods and goddesses flocked to Arkelis and all spoke their ideas at once. One by one, as they said them, Arkelis made them so. However, for all the ideas he received, Sartenia noted suspiciously, he had none of his own.
“What is wrong, lady Sartenia?” Arkelis asked. “Have your ideas exhausted so quickly?”
Sartenia glared at him. “I do not trust you,” she responded. “How could you have kept your powers when we made the laws so that everyone would lose them?”
Arkelis laughed nervously. “Did you not hear me the first time? I was obviously born superior to the rest of you. Well, no matter. I’ll have you convinced of my merit before long.”
And so it came that living creatures were first created. However, none among them were yet sentient. But they lived for millennia after that; and in time, the rest of the gods and goddesses, with the exception of Sartenia, came to accept Arkelis as their leader. It was not long before Arkelis started taking credit for the ideas that the other gods and goddesses had come up with, and had so flawlessly convinced them he had made them himself that they entirely forgot that the ideas were theirs.
In time, Arkelis began to grow frustrated with Sartenia’s lack of compliance, and decided to exact his revenge on her. And so, he addressed the other gods and goddesses in the Order.
“Does anyone remember which among us designed those creatures?” He asked them, indicating the creatures that Sartenia had described to him.
“I don’t understand,” Said Buri. “I thought that you were responsible for the design of the earthbound creatures?”
“Yes,” Izanagi agreed, “You told us that it was you that made them.”
Arkelis was slightly intimidated by their observations, but quickly recovered. “Those creatures?” He said. “Surely you jest. Look at them. They are large, slow, stupid, and cold-blooded. Surely you can’t be implying it was I that created them, when it was I responsible for the other, more graceful creatures? No. It was certainly the bad idea of someone else.”
“Well, what is to be done about them?” Quetzalcoatl asked.
Arkelis considered this for a moment. “They are a blight upon this otherwise perfect land of mine,” he said at last. “They must be destroyed.”
The others agreed fervently, and so Arkelis summoned up a giant meteor which he sent hurling to the surface of the Earth. The dust that was kicked up from the impact completely blocked out the light of the sun, and the Earth descended into a winter that would last for centuries. Sartenia’s cold-blooded creatures were completely unable to survive in such harsh conditions, and as such they quickly died out. And so went the story of the creation and destruction of the Dinosaurs.
As you can probably tell, I meant it also to be a unification and explanation of all the world's mythologies. You can expect a chapter on the development of religion later on. But the next chapter is the creation of humans, which I'm almost finished with.
I've always had a fair amount of interest in mythology. That's why, since last semester, I've been working on my own set of myths based on my beliefs and values. In light of a recent assignment in Mythology class, which requires us to create our own creation myth, I decided to put some of the ideas in writing.
It's difficult to understand some of it without knowing the backstory. I've heard several theories being thrown around about how if there's a real god in heaven, he's evil. So, I thought to myself, "How would that work?", and Sartenian mythology was born. I eventually drifted away from that original idea, since one of the primary philosophies in Sartenian mythology is that there is no such thing as real evil. However, I've written enough in it that I've decided to share it with the world. so, submitted for your approval, I present to you:
In the beginning, there was a great nothingness. There were no stars in space, no planets for them to shine upon, and indeed no space in which either could exist.
The only mystery that remains unsolved is how the Sacred Order came to exist; even they themselves do not know. However, when they beheld the great Void, and its dull, empty meaninglessness, they banded together to fill it. They combined all their power together, and released it into the Void; it had no trouble expanding, until it was thousands of times larger than the largest star, and twice as fiery and bright. When it finally receded, the emptiness was not quite as complete. However, with the birth of existence came that of Chaos, and the order became concerned. "How can it be any more meaningful than the great Void," they reasoned, "if it still has neither rhyme nor reason?"
And so, once again, they banded together. They all wrote the natural laws that would govern the Chaos, and fashion from it order. However, as the goddess Sartenia observed, once the natural laws took effect, the Order would lose most of its powers, as they too would be governed by them. Many of the gods were reluctant to set the laws into effect upon hearing this, but in the end Sartenia convinced them that creating order in the universe would be better. All, that is, save for one. The god Arkelis pretended to side with Sartenia, but in truth he was more revulsed than all the others at the idea of losing his powers. So, in secret, he altered the laws that the others had written in such a way that he would lose none of his powers. And so it came that when the Order released the laws into the universe, he was the only one of them that was not severely weakened.
Be that as it may, the laws still had their intended effect, as the wild particles of matter and energy settled together to create stars, planets, and most importantly, life. Life was by far the most beautiful of all the Order's creations, and they nurtured it until it grew unmatched in its beauty and splendor. However, it did not yet have a vessel in which to exist, and for that reason the Order agreed that it was going to waste.
"What a pity," sighed Sartenia; "If I still had my powers, I should be able to create most fitting vessels for the life which we've created; but it looks as if my ideas shall go to waste."
"Tell me of your plans, and it shall be so," Arkelis said to her. And so, she shared with him the plans she had of bodies for the life to inhabit. And, one by one, Arkelis made her ideas into reality.
The other gods and goddesses marveled at his work. "How can this be?" said Gaea. "Are you not bound by the same laws as we?"
"I am. I suppose I was simply created with more ability than the rest of you were," Arkelis lied. "Should you have any ideas of your own, simply speak them to me, and they shall be."
The other gods and goddesses flocked to Arkelis and all spoke their ideas at once. One by one, as they said them, Arkelis made them so. However, for all the ideas he received, Sartenia noted suspiciously, he had none of his own.
“What is wrong, lady Sartenia?” Arkelis asked. “Have your ideas exhausted so quickly?”
Sartenia glared at him. “I do not trust you,” she responded. “How could you have kept your powers when we made the laws so that everyone would lose them?”
Arkelis laughed nervously. “Did you not hear me the first time? I was obviously born superior to the rest of you. Well, no matter. I’ll have you convinced of my merit before long.”
And so it came that living creatures were first created. However, none among them were yet sentient. But they lived for millennia after that; and in time, the rest of the gods and goddesses, with the exception of Sartenia, came to accept Arkelis as their leader. It was not long before Arkelis started taking credit for the ideas that the other gods and goddesses had come up with, and had so flawlessly convinced them he had made them himself that they entirely forgot that the ideas were theirs.
In time, Arkelis began to grow frustrated with Sartenia’s lack of compliance, and decided to exact his revenge on her. And so, he addressed the other gods and goddesses in the Order.
“Does anyone remember which among us designed those creatures?” He asked them, indicating the creatures that Sartenia had described to him.
“I don’t understand,” Said Buri. “I thought that you were responsible for the design of the earthbound creatures?”
“Yes,” Izanagi agreed, “You told us that it was you that made them.”
Arkelis was slightly intimidated by their observations, but quickly recovered. “Those creatures?” He said. “Surely you jest. Look at them. They are large, slow, stupid, and cold-blooded. Surely you can’t be implying it was I that created them, when it was I responsible for the other, more graceful creatures? No. It was certainly the bad idea of someone else.”
“Well, what is to be done about them?” Quetzalcoatl asked.
Arkelis considered this for a moment. “They are a blight upon this otherwise perfect land of mine,” he said at last. “They must be destroyed.”
The others agreed fervently, and so Arkelis summoned up a giant meteor which he sent hurling to the surface of the Earth. The dust that was kicked up from the impact completely blocked out the light of the sun, and the Earth descended into a winter that would last for centuries. Sartenia’s cold-blooded creatures were completely unable to survive in such harsh conditions, and as such they quickly died out. And so went the story of the creation and destruction of the Dinosaurs.
As you can probably tell, I meant it also to be a unification and explanation of all the world's mythologies. You can expect a chapter on the development of religion later on. But the next chapter is the creation of humans, which I'm almost finished with.
