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Genesis

Author: 
Lady N, ed.

Tamriel has many creation myths, sometimes with seemingly completely different versions of events. At the center of them all, underneath the differing opinions on the value of Mundus, beneath varied phrasing, allegory, and omissions, lies one central story. Below, presented in quotes, is the birth of the world.

 


Out of the primordial Void forms a god-being. 

First was Void - Loveletter from the Fifth Era

Satak was First Serpent, the Snake who came Before, and all the worlds to come rested in the glimmer of its scales. But it was so big there was nothing but, and thus it was coiled around and around itself, and the worlds to come slid across each other but none had room to breathe or even be. - Satakal the Worldskin

Anu encompassed, and encompasses, all things. - Heart of the World

Sithis is the start of the house. Before him was nothing... - Sithis


The first being creates an opposite, or is split in two. 

[Void] became split by AE. Anu and Padomay came next and with their first brush came the Aurbis. - Loveletter from the Fifth Era

And so the worlds called to something to save them, to let them out, but of course there was nothing outside the First Serpent, so aid had to come from inside it; this was Akel, the Hungry Stomach. - Satakal the Worldskin

So that he might know himself he created Anuiel, his soul and the soul of all things. Anuiel, as all souls, was given to self-reflection, and for this he needed to differentiate between his forms, attributes, and intellects. Thus was born Sithis, who was the sum of all the limitations Anuiel would utilize to ponder himself. Anuiel, who was the soul of all things, therefore became many things, and this interplay was and is the Aurbis. - Heart of the World

The first ones were brothers: Anu and Padomay. They came into the Void, and Time began. - Anotated Anuad

In the beginning there were two littermates, Ahnurr and Fadomai. - Words of Clan Mother Ahnissi


More gods are created from the void or the union of gods.

Soon there was enough room to live in the worlds and things began. These things were new and they often made mistakes, for there was hardly time to practice being things before. So most things ended quickly or were not good or gave up on themselves. Some things were about to start, but they were eaten up as Satak got to that part of its body. - Satakal the Worldskin

This is the advent of the first Digitals: mantellian, mnemolia, the aetherial realm of the etada. - Loveletter from the Fifth Era

Anuiel, who was the soul of all things, therefore became many things, and this interplay was and is the Aurbis. - Heart of the World

As Anu and Padomay wandered the Void, the interplay of Light and Darkness created Nir. Both Anu and Padomay were amazed and delighted with her appearance, but she loved Anu, and Padomay retreated from them in bitterness. - Annotated Anuad

'Aurbis' is used to connote the imperceptible Penumbra, the Gray Center between the IS/IS NOT of Anu and Padomay. It contains the multitude realms of Aetherius and Oblivion, as well as other, less structured forms. The magical beings of Mythic Aurbis live for a long time and have complex narrative lives, creating the patterns of myth. These are spirits made from bits of the immortal polarity. The first of these was Akatosh the Time Dragon, whose formation made it easier for other spirits to structure themselves. Gods and demons form and reform and procreate. - Myth of the Aurbis

There was the Striking, and the Egg was split into twelve worlds, one for each serpent who had a name. - We Ate it to Become It

After many phases, Fadomai said to Ahnurr, "Let us wed and make children to share our happiness." And they gave birth to Alkosh, the First Cat. - Words of Clan Mother Ahnissi

Sithis sundered the nothing and mutated the parts, fashioning from them a myriad of possibilities. These ideas ebbed and flowed and faded away and this is how it should have been. - Sithis


Time, commonly known as "Akatosh," begins and the gods realize their place in existence.

As the old world died, Satakal began, and when things realized this pattern so did they realize what their part in it was. - Satakal the Worldskin

So that he might know himself this way, too, Anu created Auriel, the soul of his soul. Auriel bled through the Aurbis as a new force, called time. With time, various aspects of the Aurbis began to understand their natures and limitations. - Heart of the World

There was the Slithering, when scales were now name-bites that moved freely. - We Ate it to Become It


A cycle of creation and destruction rules over existence throughout time.

As Satakal ate itself over and over, the strongest spirits learned to bypass the cycle by moving at strange angles. They called this process the Walkabout, a way of striding between the worldskins. - Satakal the Worldskin

"Again we fight for our petty placements in this House, in the Around Us, and all it will amount to is a helix of ghosts like mine now spit into the world below where we fight again! I can already feel the war below us starting, and yet you have not yet thrown your first spears even here!" - Shor, Son of Shor

There was the Biting, which broke the twelve worlds and their name-eggs, and the Biters chewed new names of the lesser serpents until soon death was known to the smallest and your alphabets disappeared but ours did not. - We Ate it to Become It

Shor as always forgets the above, and condemns himself and any other who would believe him into this cycle. - Shor Son of Shor


A space god, commonly known as "Lorkhan," is born.

[Ruptga] made himself a helper from the detritus of past skins and this was Sep, or Second Serpent. - Satakal the Worldskin

One of these, Lorkhan, was more of a limit than a nature, so he could never last long anywhere. -Heart of the World

The agent of this communal decision [to make Munds] was Lorkhan, whom most early myths vilify as a trickster or deceiver. More sympathetic versions of this story point out Lorkhan as being the reason the mortal plane exists at all. - Myth of the Aurbis

And Fadomai gave birth to Lorkhaj, the last of her litter, in the Great Darkness. And the Heart of Lorkhaj was filled with the Great Darkness. - Words of Clan Mother Ahnissi

So Sithis begat Lorkhan and sent him to destroy the universe. Lorkhan! Unstable mutant! - Sithis


The mortal plane, Mundus, is created. According to the 'Elven' view, Lorkhan tricks the gods. According to the 'mannish' view, the gods agree willingly to his plan.

Inevitably, this leads to another gradient, but this time by forceful process: the Trap of the Lunar God. The Aedra are Named at this time, having lent their hands to what was to be the arena of the eternally impossible: Mundus, or Exactness. - Loveletter from the Fifth Era

Finally, tired of helping Tall Papa, Sep went and gathered the rest of the old skins and balled them up, tricking spirits to help him, promising them this was how you reached the new world, by making one out of the old. These spirits loved this way of living, as it was easier. No more jumping from place to place. Many spirits joined in, believing this was good thinking. - Satakal the Worldskin

As he entered every aspect of Anuiel, Lorkhan would plant an idea that was almost wholly based on limitation. He outlined a plan to create a soul for the Aurbis, a place where the aspects of aspects might even be allowed to self-reflect. He gained many followers; even Auriel, when told he would become the king of the new world, agreed to help Lorkhan. So they created the Mundus, where their own aspects might live, and became the et'Ada. -Heart of the World

Soon it seemed that Lorkhan had a dominion of his own, with slaves and everlasting imperfections, and he seemed, for all the world, like an Aedra. Thus did he present himself as such to the demon Anui-El and the Eight Givers: as a friend. - Sithis

This was a new thing that Shezarr described to the Gods, becoming mothers and fathers, being responsible, and making great sacrifices, with no guarantee of success, but Shezarr spoke beautifully to them, and moved them beyond mystery and tears. Thus the Aedra gave free birth to the world, the beasts, and the beings, making these things from parts of themselves. - Shezzar's Song

Nir gave birth to Creation - Annotated Anuad

And [Fadomai] gave birth to Nirni, the majestic sands and lush forests. ... And Lorkhaj said, "Lorkhaj makes a place for children and Lorkhaj puts you there so you can give birth." But the Heart of Lorkhaj was filled with the Great Darkness, and Lorkhaj tricked his siblings so that they were forced into this new place with Nirni. - Words of Clan Mother Ahnissi


On Mundus, the mortal realm, gods begin to die, transform, or give birth to mortal beings.

Pretty soon the spirits on the skin-ball started to die, because they were very far from the real world of Satakal. - Satakal the Worldskin

But this was a trick. As Lorkhan knew, this world contained more limitations than not and was therefore hardly a thing of Anu at all. Mundus was the House of Sithis. As their aspects began to die off, many of the et'Ada vanished completely. - Heart of the World

Finally, the magical beings of Mythic Aurbis told the ultimate story -- that of their own death. For some this was an artistic transfiguration into the concrete, non-magical substance of the world. For others, this was a war in which all were slain, their bodies becoming the substance of the world. For yet others, this was a romantic marriage and parenthood, with the parent spirits naturally having to die and give way to the succeeding mortal races. - Myth of Aurbis

This free birth was very painful, and afterwards the Aedra were no longer young, and strong, and powerful, as they had been from the beginning of days. - Shezzar's Song


The Daedra, gods who did not partake in the creation of Mundus, make their own realms.

Another subcreation happened to the wheels of the etada, a shore that all of creation crashed against, the terminus of limits known as Oblivion. An echo of the Void before but unalike, many spirits fled here and came to power by merely harnessing the impossibility of Limit+All. - Loveletter from the Fifth Era

The Daedra were created at this time also, being spirits and Gods more attuned to Oblivion, or that realm closer to the Void of Padomay. This act is the dawn of the Mythic (Merethic) Era. It has been perceived by the earliest mortals many different ways, either as a joyous 'second creation', or (especially by the Elves) as a painful fracturing from the divine - Myth of Aurbis

Now when the Daedra Lords heard Shezarr, they mocked him, and the other Aedra. 'Cut parts of ourselves off? And lose them? Forever? That's stupid! You'll be sorry! We are far smarter than you, for we will create a new world out of ourselves, but we will not cut it off, or let it mock us, but we will make this world within ourselves, forever ours, and under our complete control.
So the Daedra Lords created the Daedric Realms, and all the ranks of Lesser Daedra, great and small - Shezzar's Song


In the 'Elven' view, gods plead with the first god to take them back into heaven. 

The spirits that were left pleaded with Tall Papa to take them back. But grim Ruptga would not, and he told the spirits that they must learn new ways to follow the stars to the Far Shores now. - Satakal the World Skin

Auriel pleaded with Anu to take them back, but he had already filled their places with something else. - Heart of the World


Mortal men are created, or sired, by the diminishing gods.

If they could not, then they must live on through their children, which was not the same as before. - Satakal the World Skin

Some [et'ada] had to marry and make children just to last. Each generation was weaker than the last, and soon there were Aldmer. Darkness caved in. Lorkhan made armies out of the weakest souls and named them Men, and they brought Sithis into every quarter. - Heart of the World

And many of Fadomai's children escaped and became the stars. And many of Fadomai's children died to make Nirni's path stable. And the survivors stayed and punished Lorkhaj. - Words of Clan Mother Ahnissi

The magical beings created the races of the mortal Aurbis in their own image, either consciously as artists and craftsmen, or as the fecund rotting matter out of which the mortals sprung forth, or in a variety of other analogical senses. - Myth of Aurbis

Time began to last in stepped-fashion. Those spirits that remained, lesser and greater, involuntary or eventual earthbone, surrendered all definite hold on divinity. - Nu-Mantia Intercept, Letter 4

Life sprang up on the twelve worlds of creation and flourished. - Annotated Annuad


In a war between divines, the world is shattered into many continents.

[Padomay] swung his sword, shattering the twelve worlds in their alignment. - Anotated Annuad

Auriel could not save Altmora, the Elder Wood, and it was lost to Men. They were chased south and east to Old Ehlnofey, and Lorkhan was close behind. He shattered that land into many. - Heart of the World

Aldmeris split during the Dawn, but as in all things then, these fractures enjoyed quasi-temporal amendments. Sometimes the Island of Start was with us, othertimes not or not of a whole, close as it was to spirit actual. - Nu-Mantia Intercept, Letter 4

...this latest battle in the war of twilight. The chieftains of the other tribes still held their grudge against our own, Shor son of Shor - Shor Son of Shor


"Akatosh" calls a convention of gods to determine the fate of Mundus.

Auriel-that-is-Akatosh returned to Mundex Arena from his dominion planet, signaling all Aedra to convene at a static meeting that would last outside of aurbic time. His sleek and silver vessel became a spike into the changing earth and the glimmerwinds of its impact warned any spirit that entered aura with it would become recorded-- that by consent of presence their actions here would last of a period unassailable, and would be so whatever might come later to these spirits, even if they rejoined the aether or succumbed willingly or by treachery to a sithite erasure. - Nu-Mantia Intercept, Letter 4

Ever since the Moot at the House of We, where the chieftains of the other tribes had accused him of trespass and cattle-theft and foul-mouthery, he knew it would come to a war we could not win. - Shor, Son of Shor

...As the world congealed into reality, the Gods made a great tower to discuss how best to proceed with the making of Mundus. The physical, temporal, spiritual, and magical elements of Nirn were set at this Convention, and the tower itself remained behind even as some of the Gods disappeared into Aetherius. - Pocket Guide to the Empire, 3rd Edition


"Lorkhan's" heart is torn out as punishment for his creation of the mortal plane. 

Sep, however, needed more punishment, and so Tall Papa squashed the Snake with a big stick. The hunger fell out of Sep's dead mouth and was the only thing left of the Second Serpent. - Sakal the World Skin

Finally Trinimac, Auriel's greatest knight, knocked Lorkhan down in front of his army and reached in with more than hands to take his Heart. - Heart of the World

The long and furious battle ended with Anu the victor. He cast aside the body of his brother, who he believed was dead. - Anotated Annuad

And he took the third by vomiting his own heart into the circle like a hammerclap. - Shor Son of Shor

The outcome of the Convention was to leave the terrestrial sphere in their excess, for its own good, but that it should last after their departure as in the semblance of the Ada-mantia. Mundus was given its second Tower, the Red, whose First Stone was the Heart of the World, "as in the image." - Nu-Mantia Intercept, Letter 4

The children of Fadomai tore out the Heart of Lorkhaj and hid it deep within Nirni. And they said, "We curse you, noisy Lorkhaj, to walk Nirni for many phases." - Words of Clan Mother Ahnissi


Cited:
Annotated Anuad/A Children's Anuad
The Heart of the World
Loveletter from the Fifth Era
The Myth of the Aurbis
Nu-Mantia Intercept
Satakal the Worldskin
Shezzar's Song
Shor, Son of Shor
Sithis
We Ate It to Become It
Words of Clan Mother Ahnissi