World creation story (+ magic)

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ChrundleTheGreat
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Joined: May 3rd, 2023, 1:25 am
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World creation story (+ magic)

Post by ChrundleTheGreat »

:) hello everybody,
i'm currently making a campaign and the "background" of the story needed some deeper justification so i came up with an story/explanation that describes the creation of iridia (i remembered like the name of the world had a Y somewhere in English but i just read it in the Spanish translation and that's how its spelled), as well as the rest of reality, its an attempt to "tie-in" everything cannon that i have read and can remember so far, including the magic, the relationship between life and death, the clear power within the spiritual rituals and beliefs of different cultures(including the elves and the faerie), and the beginning and end of the universe(or at least its potential fate).
this is the story/explanation ill be using in my campaign( im kinda proud of it) and i hope others can enjoy it, or even use it for their own stories and campaigns, id be really glad if this got implemented on mainline, but right now i just hope it can spark some discussion on the forums(even though i feel sort of satisfied with it, im gonna call it a "work in progress" and i ask for your guys's opinion on it, i probably missed something, or it might not make enough sense or be interesting enough, so... any constructive comment, suggestion or criticism is much appreciated ^_^ .), oh and just in case anybody is worried; this uses no religious allegories from the real world, and imho has far less of a religious undertone that UTBS does(not saying its a "religious" campaign but it does play a lot with the concept of religion)
ok, here it goes:
THE STORY

Imagine an eternal source of "light", ONLY an eternal source of "light", its the brightest "light" you can imagine.
The radiant "light" moves with passion, piercing through and into the "dark"... the darkness, just an endless void, a gloomy vacuum that rests in perpetual "silence".
There is no evil in the darkness, as much as there's no evil in the light...
The source pushes the light through the void, and the dark assimilates it, until it is no more.
Light flows carelessly, but yet determined into the darkness, and it always finds its path.
The light never looks back.
As it approaches, the light goes dim, turning into darkness as it dissolves into the nothing.
The light never goes back.
The journey takes forever to complete, and many more than infinities of them will be completed.
As the void keeps sucking on the light, the source keeps radiating more, a never ending flow of brilliant glow that dissipates into the distant vacuum...

Its a single movement from an intricate dance that will last for Whole infinities to come, only to be danced once again.

But the light does not flow without havoc, the anarchically blasting light clashes amongst itself, making both "symphonies" and evolving "Cacophonies" of loud "sounds" and "noises", leaving behind a trail of rich vibrant prolificasy that transmutes, as it becomes all the different "sounds" of our reality.
Amidst all of this, amidst all this "noise", amidst the loud "sound" created by the flowing radiance, a world is now born.
A world born like many others, taking its shape from the echoes of the cosmic dance of reality.
A shape amongst many, many more, all shapes present in the middle of the wild flux that harbors everything there is.
And this ever changing shape itself, being not impervious to the ever lasting flow of the great eternal glow, follows the path of the hurtling light towards the great murky beyond...

The world flows within the light.
And the light flows within the world.

In the world of iridia, life blooms plentiful across the land, it has done so for many many years.
However, there is a lesson to be learned, from the former "protagonists" of this never ending story, who played their own role on the stage of the eternal sacred flow...
Many prospered, for a time.
They were worlds filled with rich with vibrant organisms, living together, "singing" together their sophisticated "songs" of fear, hope, sadness and excitement.
But as their time approached, as it does for us all, and they came to face the darkness in the eye, their hearts rejected their impending fate, and they used their magic to resist the sacred flow...
"Magic", is the manifestation of the self into the great old song, the loud song that the universe plays with great devotion.
"Magic", is the will of a being to sing along with the light, and to bring forth their deepest cravings and aspirations.
Through magic, they now look back.
Back into the light that once gave birth to everything they've ever held dear.
But the source does not favor the ones who turn back, for its direction is only meant to be one...

There are many different spirits who inhabit all the realms that surround our material domain, our great venue formed by the music of the clashing light.
The spirits are one with the music of light, they are the ones who sing along.
They bring in new melodies into the many different worlds of existence, forming and shaping the worlds that themselves come to birth new souls.
Some spirits remain as the result of ancient stubborn entities, still clinging to the light.
Others now represent the traces of the magical manifestations from worlds that once were, bringing with their presence power and influence to the new worlds.
A few spirits still shine bright with their magnificence, proud beings who carry with them the blessing of light, eager to share it with their other neighboring existences.
And Many spirits "flicker" on their way to the void, peacefully and seamlessly traveling with the flowing light.

The spirit of the inhabitants of iridia, its one who embodies a "song" of ambition, fire, love, and desire.
A desire for glory, for peace, and for justice.
Its a spirit with far much depth and complexity, an intricate spirit who sings along in harmony with the spirits it can reach.
and there are a few spirits who do reach the world of iridia...

Iridia is home to many creatures, among them there are a few intelligent races, all with unique cultures, believes and traditions.
For most of them, death is deeply feared, as it leads to the unknown, and it is hard to trust in that which we don't know.
Some seek to connect with the "worlds" that lie beyond their material domain, coming in contact with the spirits in search of guidance and aid.
Others seek for knowledge of the cosmos, to understand and take control of that which surrounds them.

sorry for the wordiness of it all, its one of the first things i've ever written and im not sure if made it too long or repetitive :doh: , but the intention was for it to be all mystical and stuff :lol: (its also kind of abstract, and i might have missed the mark on describing the idea properly).
a quicker explanation
so basically...

imagine there is an eternal pathway of light coming from a source into a void.
the light only travels one direction and never moves backwards.
the light is sort of being "blasted" in an extremely fast and wild way which causes it to collide and make a sort of "mess".
this mess results in something somewhat analogous to a piece of music; many many waves each of them coming together with varying levels of "pitch" or energy to create something that can be experienced. (note that neither the void, the mess or even the light itself have a moral quality to them, they don't embody good or evil.)
the music more or less then turns into the cosmos, filled with vast galaxies, and bright stars with orbiting asteroids and planets. (it is worth noting that the light, source and void don't really exist in either space or time, they don't really exist at all, not as such at least, they are all a bit of a metaphor to attempt to paint the picture of what happens on the grand scheme of things)
as more of this "light" showers the cosmos and the music intensifies, life, consciousness and spirit all come to be.
the cosmos and the light then travel together one encompassing the other, to the empty void.
this has all happened many times before and in their journey the encounter the echoes of former music, spirits that left their cosmos but decided and managed to not flow with the light.(there are other types of spirits who dance on the light outside the cosmos, and all spirits can basically be divided into two categories; going with the light or going against it)

in iridia, wesnoth specifically, the principles of how the light and darkness work, are at least somewhat understood by wise human magi.
other races and cultures might worship ancient spirits as gods, like the saurians probably do.
and some simply want a closer connection with the benevolent spiritual forces that lie beyond the "material domain" (ie their cosmos) like the elves strongly appear to do.

finally, magic is a quality of the cosmos, which allows for all living beings to harness their will, hope and desire, and use them to sing along and make music of their own (i.e. manifest them into reality).
this is something that can be done through many means, and although most of them involve aid and connection with some spiritual entity, the universe harbors the capacity for individuals to exercise this skill on their own.

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