This is the story/mythology I came up with to explain the creation of my fantasy world Antheros. This is kinda part one of two. I'll probably post the second part tomorrow (maybe). I've attempted to write it kinda like a folk tale/creation story. What follows describes the creation of and a brief telling of the first two ages of Antheros. Part two will describe the third age. Any story I write that takes place in the world will occur during the worlds fourth age.
In a time and place long forgotten three brother gods were born. Even though these gods
were brothers, the three could not have been more different.
The first-born god named himself Evera.
He was wise and benevolent, and had a love for all things,
especially his brothers. Shortly after his birth, Evera set about to
create the stars and suns to shine light and heat on the blackness of
space.
The second god named himself Deinous.
He was born in Evera's shadow and quickly grew to be very jealous of
his older brother, which made him cruel and unforgiving. He hid it
well, however, as Deinous was guileful and clever. Above all else
Deinous craved power. Deinous' first creations were black holes,
hidden in the black of space to steal the energy from Evera's stars
The youngest god named himself
Antheros. Antheros was unlike his brothers in that he had both the
capacity for benevolence and cruelty, or neither if the mood struck
him. Antheros was wild and at times prone to flights of fancy. He
loved wandering the depths of space where he created strange and
beautiful things like nebulas, comets, and asteroids.
Antheros' brothers often scolded him
for his nature. Evera would lecture Antheros the importance of
order, and would complain of the odd shapes comets and asteroids
took. Deinous would lecture the importance of power, and would
often point out how Antheros' creations lacked any true purpose.
Antheros did not care, and continued to do as he wished.
One day Antheros created his first
world. He made the world round, but left its surface uneven with
tall rocky mountains and deep chasms that he filled with oceans. He
also added deserts, forest, plains, swamps, lakes, rivers, icy
tundras and deep jungles. He set his world to spin so that he could
sit and watch it.
It pleased him greatly this new world
of his, but still he felt something was missing. He decided it
needed more activity, and so Antheros was the first of the three gods
to create life.
He filled the world with all manner of
creatures. Birds were made to fill the skies, animals to roam the
lands and fish to swim the seas. He gave each creature freedom to do
as they wished and allowed them to run wild.
He put his world in orbit around one of
Evera's suns to keep his creations warm and feed them energy. He
created hot and cold and dry and wet weather, because his creatures
all preferred different kinds of climates to live in.
As a final touch he gave to the plants
and animals the ability to adapt and evolve. It was an ever changing
world, much like Antheros himself. The world was so much like the
god that he gave it his own name. This began the First Age of
Antheros.
For a long time Antheros did nothing
but enjoy his creation, he would watch it or take the form of one of
the many creatures that dwelled there and would run along with them.
Eventually Antheros began to wander off
to create other things in the universe, but he would often return to
check on his favorite creation and see what had changed in his
absence. He was always delighted at what he found.
While Antheros busied himself with
creation, his brothers Evera and Deinous had spent most of their time
competing with one other. They would each try and out do each other
as they created stars or lifeless gas planets with beautiful swirling
patterns or rings, and then would spend ages bickering about which
one had won.
A rift had begun to form between the
brothers, and even though Evera still loved his brother, he realized
they would never see eye to eye. He had even begun to understand
Deinous' cruel nature, despite his carefully weaved lies.
Deinous outright hated Evera by now,
and even though he would never admit it, he knew his brothers
creations were always more beautiful and impressive than his own.
This only further enraged the younger god.
One day Evera and Deinous stumbled
across Antheros' world. Antheros was absent at the time, so the
brothers studied the world and were impressed, but found several
things they felt were wrong with it. They both began to imagine ways
they could improve the world for their wayward little brother.
However, Evera and Deinous were unable
to to agree upon how best to fix the world, and so instead it was
decided that they would each create their own world to prove to the
other god who's idea was better.
Evera's creation was perfectly round
and white, it's surface was left clean and smooth. Beneath the
surface, he build a beautiful crystalline city that he filled with
various types of angels and archons, that he arranged in an orderly
hierarchy. He loved his creations, and made them to love him as
well, and this was their primary purpose to love and serve their lord
Evera. Angel's would know nothing of free will.
Deinous created a world that was as
perfectly round as Evera's, but he colored it red instead of white.
For red was a powerful color; the color of heat and flame. Beneith
the world's surface he constructed a temple and keep that were a
testament to Deinous' power. It was constructed of a strong black
metal, and was filled with several effigies and statues of Deinous.
At the center sat a great throne made of gold where Deinous could sit
and be worshiped and catered to by the demons and devils he had made
to serve him. He bred the creatures to be as cruel and as
manipulative as he himself was, and they lived only to do their gods
bidding.
When they had both finished they found
they could not settle on whose design was best, because neither was
willing to concede defeat to the other.
Instead they decided they would hold a
different contest. Evera would send his angels, and Deinous would
send his demons down to Antheros where they would battle each other.
Which ever side came out victorious would win in the name of their
god. Whichever god triumphed would name themselves ruler of
Antheros.
The pristine worlds made by Evera and
Deinous were then set in orbit around Antheros as twin moons.
Shortly after this several portals were torn open in the skies of
Antheros. Out of some flew Evera's majestic and beautiful angels,
and from others poured hordes of Deinous' foul demons. Together they
blackened the skies.
The war between the angels and demons
had begun. This marked the start of the Antheros' second age.
Caught in the middle of the war was the
creatures and animals native to Antheros. Many creatures would be
killed to the point of extinction.
The lands suffered as well. Forest
were razed, oceans boiled off and ice lands melted. Fertile Plain
lands and jungles were scorched or flooded in the fighting. The
worlds beauty faded in the conflict.
After three centuries of fighting,
Antheros' beloved planet had become little more than a charred husk.
And still no victor had been decided.
It was about this time that the god
Antheros returned to check on his creation. He was greatly angered
by what he found. His brothers' conflict had ruined his world, and
when he asked them to stop the fighting and leave his world in peace
they both ignored him.
If they would not leave willingly,
Antheros would force them he decided. From the ashes of his world he
created the eight Dragon Lords, into whom he poured nearly half of
his power. The Dragon Lords were made so powerful as to almost be
gods onto themselves. He granted them them incredible strength and
speed, and taught them the secret language of magic.
He named them Jormungandr, Hafgufa, Landvættir, Ratatoskr, Fafnir, Eikpyrnir, Nidhogg, and Hildisvinir. He then
released them to his world.
The first thing the dragons did was use
their vast powers to close all the portals between the three worlds.
They then rounded up every last angel and demon on their planet and
flung them through space back to their homes. They had thrown the
creatures so hard that when they hit their respective moons they left
craters all around the formerly pristine surfaces.
Jormungandr, who was the largest and
most powerful of all the Dragons then laid himself around the top of
the world where he bit his own tail forming an Ouroboros. The other
Dragons then took places around him and cast a powerful spell that
encircled the Antheros in a protective barrier separating world from
its moons, and making it so that Deinous and Evera's servants could
never set foot on the planet again.
Once the spell was cast Jormungandr
began his great slumber, and it is through his power alone that the
barrier is held.
The Seven remaining Dragon Lords then
divided the world of Antheros into eaqual parts for each to heal.
Hafgufa the second most powerful dragon was given the seas, rivers,
and lakes. Landvættir was given the plain lands to make fertile once
more. Raratoskyr took her place in the deserts. Fafnir went to the
mountains. Eikpyrnir went to regrow the forest, and his twin Nidhogg
took the Jungles. Hilidisvinir the smallest retreated to the swamps and
marshlands.
Antheros himself took up residence in
the planets core where he rested to regain his strength.
Evera and Deinous whom had also found
themselves weaked after the battles followed Antheros' exampled and
retreated within their own worlds where they too would rest, but
while they rested each brother also planned and plotted. They had
both decided the contest was not yet over, but had simply changed
form, and now it seemed as though their youngest brother had entered
the game. Whether he had wanted to or not.
This would begin The Third Age of
Antheros, or as it is more commonly referred: The Age of Dragons.
