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Contest! - Creation Story

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20 comments, last by sunandshadow 20 years, 5 months ago
One thing a large number of RPGs need is a creation story. The creation story is quite probably one of the oldest existing myths, so it can be challenging to come up with a new approach, but because you don''t yet have any world limitations to work within a creation story is also an opportunity for extreme creativity. Also they''re short, so everyone can just whip one up. If we each write one (or more) and post them here we can see everyone''s creative approaches to the problem, and get a good brainstorming session going on the topic.

I want to help design a "sandpark" MMO. Optional interactive story with quests and deeply characterized NPCs, plus sandbox elements like player-craftable housing and lots of other crafting. If you are starting a design of this type, please PM me. I also love pet-breeding games.

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[Note that there are missing words - these are items that we haven''t found names for yet. ]


Long before The Beginning, there was nothing. Time did not flow, and there was no concept of space. But within this endless Void was the Spark of Life, Tul Saoghal. It was a magnificent gem that sent rays of light into the darkness of the Void. Around it were the master Uile, The All, with its companions, The Seanairrim, The GrandFathers. There was nothing more beside them, and they talked among themselves for many a long age.

On the day now known as the Calluin – the First Day, the Seannairrim’s usually tempered discussion had heated into an argument over the Void, and the Spark of Life. Each GrandFather wanted the use of the Tul Saoghal to itself – to attain the power of creation. Uile watched their arguments with amusement, until a fight erupted between two Seanairrim, over who had attained the greater right to Creation.
Uile saw that this as the First Sign, and with an angry blow he shattered the Tul Saoghal into thousands upon thousands of small points of lights, that for ever after illuminated the Void. He stood up from the Throne of the Void, and as he did so, the two Seannairrim stopped their violence. He spoke to them, of how only one so far had used the right to Creation. That One was him, Uile, The All, when he created the Seanairrim.
They were dumbstruck. Until now, they had always thought that they had been with Uile from the Depth of Nothing. The arguments ceased instantly.
Uile raised his hand. He said he would teach them all the lesson of Creation, and the pain it could wreak. He granted unto each of them a little of the power of Creation, by assigning a part of the shattered Spark of Life to groups of them. He told them of how to create matter, and of how the energy in te Spark of Life would allow the things they built there to grow and flourish.

Many groups then split off to form their own worlds. The story of this world is one amongs those teeming millions.


In the beginning, the Elders decided that their majesty was unduely appreciated, and they decided to plead the Multiverse for a world whereupon their glory could be made manifest in the form of the first, a species of servitor creatures. The All was lenient, and granted their request. The Elders supplied their charges with plenty of natural art, from the configuration of the heavens, to the wonderfull variety of life on the world they lived on. The First were few in numbers, a few thousands at most , but immortal, and ever devout to their Gods.

Yet, initially unnoticed by the Elders, some of the first started to secretly dabble in the Forbidden Art, the Art of Magic. In doing so, after a few thousand years, they too discovered the secrets of creation, and snook of to a sister moon of the Homeworld. There, they freely experimented, and themselves entered into a dialog with the Multiverse. The All, ever pleased by infinite possibilities in infinite diversity, allowed them to create numerous sentient species, hereby becoming deities of their own right. Ever conscient of the needs & wants of their children, the First allowed them far more freedom than they ever received from Their former Gods.

But, as was inevitable, the Elders came upon the creation of their rebellious subjects, and a council was convened. There, by simple majority, most of the elders decided to terminate the experiment, and annihilate the system by forcing one of it''s stars to go supernova. The remaining elders, who opposed the destruction of all they worked so hard on, secretly contacted the First, and informed them of their impending doom. As the Council''s plans where put into motion, the First petitioned the All for some means of protection, and once again the Multiverse, siding with the forces of creation, provided. The First where given an object that would shield their world from the effects of both the supernova, and that of the harmfull radiation the remains of the star would thereforth produce. This object, a meter-sized flawless diamond sphere, saved the New World from destruction as the rest of the system was blasted by the ultimate destructive power in the universe. Most notably, the first on Homeworld were caught complety unprepared, and only by the residual effects of the Orb did some of them survive the deluge. At that time, the Council of Elders decided to move on to explore more of the Multiverse. Yet 5 elders elected to remain behind, to mourn upon the loss of their work. As the Others left, these 5 were most joyed to discover the survival of most of the system, with New World almost unscathed, except for the impact of a destabilised asteroid. And even this disaster was largely contained by a cabal of First who gave their lives ( & indeed their existance ) for the sake of their world. The Five then vowed to hide this information from the Council, for if they ever learned of the continued existance of the First, they would shurely come back and finish the job, thouroughly that time... For this purpose, they spread acros the globe, and entered a trance-like state, generating a system-sized illusion of desolation & destruction...

In the millennia since then, the people of New World, or "" as is became known as, multiplied, and their faith bolstered the strenght of the First, who stood watch over the Orb. For should it ever be disturbed, the Worlds would shurely be burned clear of all life...

Now, the Five have failed, and the Council has returned... but they have discovered powerfull deities where they left mere children, and no longer can they merely whipe them out. A war has broken out between the Elders and a remote group of First, as these had in the meanwhile organised themselves in rivalling Pantheons; Because of pride & petty indifferences, the other Pantheons have no knowledge of the return of the Council, and wonder as to the disapperance of their bretheren & sisters... But one First of that pantheon, a malevolent & fickle creature, cared not for the Council, and sneaked back to "", where He took command of his pantheon''s charge, the Goblinoids...

Recently, reports of huge Unhuman hordes has come to the ears of the other First, and they have sent their agents to investigate, still ignorant of the fate that awaits them if They do not assist in the real war, waged across space & time... If the Five could be roused from their now futile trance, they would prove to be powerfull allies for the First... but for now, none are even aware of the threat posed by both the Council and by "Gruumsh the Traitor", who in His evil stupidity has diverted the world''s attention off the true threat...



People might not remember what you said, or what you did, but they will always remember how you made them feel.
~ (V)^|) |<é!t|-| ~
It's only funny 'till someone gets hurt.And then it's just hilarious.Unless it's you.
Nice story.
I have to say that my world have more than one world creation myth, the answer you''ll get depends on the people who you ask the question.

I found this much more interesting.
And of course there is the TRUE version of it, the one only knew byt the creator(s) of the world

-* So many things to do, so little time to spend. *-
-* So many things to do, so little time to spend. *-
sunandshadow : funny that you should mention that, I am in the process of writing such a thing. Hope I get time to finish it.

youpla :-P
-----------------------------Sancte Isidore ora pro nobis !
At the start there was the inner tube. The Pool King saw the inner tube, and it was colourcolour colours, and all skies rejoiced in the bright joy. But inner tube was not perfect. It needed a superstar to achieve its full potential.

And like that it was on the first day, Pool King of erstellter Chris, the Parade Kid. Its face was like the moon in its slats, pimpled fame. Its back parts shone with the light of the Pepsierzeugung. The pool king admired its back parts, because they were good and in good taste.

But on the second day, Chris the Parade Kid was lonely and required one lusty adding partner. Like was it that the pool king manufactured the Lucky Sunshine Dancers from rammed potatoes and piston lotion. Chris saw that the Lucky Sunshine Dancers circled for the rhythm of his internal GefaessDisco, and it was waked.

After arousing the Parade Kid the many Lucky Sunshine Dancers lubricated their rammed potatoes over the mountain and pummeled even unto stinky river Gods. It was this time that the Pool King terminated smack down layed and half of its number with a holy screw bolt of the tooth paste. It was half Lucky Sunshine Dancer, who cubit and not more was terminated. The full length of the tooth paste container was used, and it was not one half still another quarter, but a full container, which was it, and which tooth paste container became by the lower surface are squeezed together and folded under it, because not should a drop in the Fury of the Pool King are not wasted.

And so Chris the Parade Kid was again lonely, and withdrawn unto the caves to such one day, as the lucky sunshine dancers into fame resurrected. Over the hills and far away, you can hear calmly this moved internal container, to the impact of the Madonna hot to single gyrate like a virgin. And in such a way it was to a time, if the Pool King the lucky sunshine dancers their importune lubricating turn and forgives rammed potato, and the end of days remain.
My contribution to this very interesting topic.

The Void, the vast, deep darkness within which all is contained. The Void was filled with uncontrolled energy. Then a thought brought itself to be. And the void was filled with the thought Aetas. The energy was shaped by Aetas, but Aetas had no direction, no purpose. So it remained until the second thought was born within the void, Morden. The reaction of Aetas was swift and decisive. It now had a purpose, to control the void was to control energy, power. Morden now had a purpose, to wrest control of the void from the first. And so it was.

Countless millenia passed, the war continued unabated with the two Thoughts constantly shifting power, creating new weapons, vying for control of the Void. The Void was vast and there was limitless energy available for use. It was only a matter of time.

Aetas unleashed a new force that had previously been unseen in the Void, matter. Matter instinctively sought to control and harness the energy surrouding it in the Void. Through the power of matter, Aetas slowly began to tip the balance in it''s favor. Morden struggled against the encroaching force, but slowly gave way to the immense pressure. But the battle was not won yet.

Although losing control of the Void, Morden did not lose hope. Morden unvieled the new counter balance to matter, life. Life created harmony within matter and stopped it''s expansion. Life began to draw the energy from matter, slowing its expansion and in turn expanding itself. Slowly as the Millenia passed by life and matter reached equilibrium and all was stable within the Void.

Aetas and Morden then unleashed similar attacks upon each other. Aetas was the first, to create a new type of life, that with the gift of intelligence, the gift of thought. The children of Aetas welcomed both life and matter and sought to coexist with them for mutual benefit. Morden was quick to react with the creation of an equivalent type of life, but with different objectives. The children of Morden welcomed death and the destruction of matter, their only goals were elimination of the children of Aetas. Initially, all of matter was populated with both sides of this new intelligence. Soon the new intelligence was causing massive drains on the energy of the Void. The Prime Thoughts began to have less and less influence. Slowly, as had happened each time before, an equilibrium was formed between the two types of children. Raw energy grew exceedingly scarce, for the hunger of matter and life, combined with intelligence, was insatiable. The Prime Thoughts lost influence over matter and life, only myths left among the children.

As raw energy faded, the balance was in danger of being broken. The raw energy had sustained the balance, but now the only energy to be obtained was from matter and life. Soon the children of Morden began the systematic monopolization of the land and people. The children of Aetas were powerless against this new scourge, not believing in violence and death. Slowly the children of Aetas were wiped off the face of the new planet, Trimas. The children of Morden soon were covering the vast majority of Trimas.

But all was not well among the children of Morden, internal strife and bickering hampered their progress. Soon civil war reined among them. The children of Aetas, tired of the constant war and suffering used the oppurtunity to seperate themselves from the Morden, erecting a barrier impassable by matter or life. But the energy still swirls within the Void, if in small amounts and the future holds limitless possibilities...

PreManDrake
Creation stories are something of a hobby of mine. This is, I think, the sixth I''ve written.


The new teacher was fairly tall, very round, and exceedingly cheerful. “Good morning my lads! Today we begin a five year voyage of learning. To help us get off to a good start, there’s one thing I’d like you all to do, and that is say your name whenever you ask or answer a question, so I can get all your names learned. My name is Lorrin. Any questions?” No one had any questions yet.

“All right then, let’s begin.” For all his bulk, he slipped into storyteller pose gracefully, like the position was his favorite sweater. “Today, my lads, I have the beginning of an epic story to tell you. Once upon a time there were no Estates. Everyone was a barbarian!” We all looked at him with surprise and some disbelief. “There were no bathrooms, because there was no plumbing. And there were no decency codes, so people went around being bad and indecent all the time.” He was very eloquent in both speech and posturing. It was neat how his voice was always on the edge of laughter, like he was delighted with what he was teaching.

“Our story begins thus: Once upon a time there was a lot of mud. This wasn’t your usual peaceful mud – this was roiling boiling mud that was all mixed up and confused because it didn’t know what it was, or where it was, or even why it was. And as the mud howled and growled to itself some water got squeezed free at the edges, some bubbles got jostled out the top, and all the warmth got together in the middle so it could hear itself talk better. And what was left, in between the middle and the edges?”

“So there was a lot of mud, and the mud howled and growled to itself, and some water got squeezed out the edges and some air bubbled out the top and the heat collected in the middle, and what was left was a disc of stone, although actually some bits of air and water and heat were still stuck in it. Now, as you may know, heat has a natural tendency to rise.

“So the heat, huddled into a ball so it could concentrate on itself better, rose above the water and the stone and the air and became the sun. The air, you see, is our sky, and the water is our ocean, and the stone is our land. And that is how our world came to be.

“Now you recall the bits of heat and air and water that stayed trapped here and there in the stone, yes? Those little bits of heat were lonely without any other heat to talk to. They were so lonely that they began to talk to the rock and the water and the air. The little bits of air and water were more curious than the rock, and they clustered around the bits of heat to listen. And the little bits of heat explained how they wanted to rise up, like all the other heat had. The little bits of air and water and some of the stone listened, and thought that rising up might be interesting. They told the heat, ‘We will rise up with you.’

“And the bits of heat were delighted, because even more than rising up they wanted someone to talk to, and if the air and water and rock wanted to come along the bits of heat would have everything they wanted. So the heat taught the bits of air and water and stone how to rise up, and they worked hard and made their way to the top of the big stone. But the air and water and rock weren’t very good at rising up, so as hard as they tried they couldn’t get higher than that. And the bits of heat saw this, and though about it, and finally they decided that they would rather stay with their new friends than rise up and be lonely.

“So these little groups of heat and air and water and stone stayed on the surface of the big stone. Some of them decided their favorite thing to do was look at the sun, and they rearranged themselves so they could best do that, and so became plants. Some of them decided that their favorite thing to do was to explore the surface of the big stone, so they rearranged themselves to best do that and became animals. Some of them preferred to play in the sea, so they became fish. And some of them rearranged themselves so they could rise up as much as possible, and these became birds and butterflies and such. And that, my lads is how there came to be life on our world. And all of that was just the beginning of the story of people, but quite enough drama for today.”

Lorrin collapsed into casual mode as if tired from a good chase, or from being tickled. We applauded, and he replied with a sweet smile. “Ok, ok, no need to make me get vain. Everybody go to the bathroom and get a drink. Then we’ll do math!”

I want to help design a "sandpark" MMO. Optional interactive story with quests and deeply characterized NPCs, plus sandbox elements like player-craftable housing and lots of other crafting. If you are starting a design of this type, please PM me. I also love pet-breeding games.

IN THE BEGINNING THERE WAS NOTHING......................





then God said,"LET THERE BE LIGHT!".....................




and there was still nothing.............................




but now..........YOU COULD SEE IT!


-Run_The_Shadows
-Run_The_Shadows@excite.com
Here''s an old thread brought back to life again. Since I''m working on a new creation myth at the moment, I thought I''d revive it. So, anybody got any creation myths to share? Or, are there any creation myths that you read that you particularly liked and want to tell us about? Any elements of creation myths that you think are particularly cool or memorable? (Examples of ''elements'' would be: "In some creation myths, god and the devil create the world together." "Many creation myths have people being created as twins." "I like creation myths where origionally only animals are created, then some of them are transformed into humans.")


Here''s a old creation myth of mine, to tide you over until I have a draft of the new one done (know you''re all just dying to see it ^_~).


Let There Be Games

I have existed from the beginning. At the beginning all I did was exist, because I was all there was and existing was all there was to do. Then I noticed that I was bored, and began to think what I could do about it.

In the process of thinking, and realizing that I was thinking, I either discovered or created time and causality. To this day I’m not sure which it was, but it didn’t, and doesn’t, matter. I was bored. That mattered.

I have theorized that other gods have come into being, realized their boredom, then ceased to exist because they could find no other way to cease to be bored. I almost ceased to exist, but by some accident the very method of my attempted suicide saved me: I tried to die by ripping myself in half. And I succeeded, at least at the ripping in half part. (I actually invented the concept of ‘ripping’ later, and it was later still that a human piece of me invented the idea of ‘half’, but you get the idea.) So a gigundous ripping filled the cosmos (i.e. me) and I was darkness and I was light. (The original yin-yang, before they added the dots, was a representation of this moment.)

So I was thoroughly startled to still exist and to now be a heterogeneous substance, blah blah blah, suffice it to say that I divided myself again and again, then hit upon the idea of recombining myself in unbalanced compounds. Unbalanced, therefore unpredictable, therefore unboring. Eureka!

So I put together elements and compounds and macromolecules and cells, and grass and wolves, and eventually people. People were more than ‘Eureka!’. People were epiphany because somehow they (I) thought, and what they thought of were ways to make themselves more complicated.

Still, had they ever gotten to be boring, I would have scrapped them.

But then two humans took the fact that their unbalancedness put them into conflict, and they turned ‘conflict’ into ‘game’. This is where the rainbow comes in. The first game that was complicated enough to catch my attention involved pieces of a multitude of colors, and I painted the colors across my sky to show my approval.

So I left my wonderful humans and their universe as they were, but pulled all the rest of my resources back into myself so I could put as much of myself as possible into this thought. I was going to create my own game. And the wonderful humans could play too. So, now you know: God _does_ play dice with the universe. After all, I love my creation... and, as the saying goes, ''all''s fair in love and war.''

I want to help design a "sandpark" MMO. Optional interactive story with quests and deeply characterized NPCs, plus sandbox elements like player-craftable housing and lots of other crafting. If you are starting a design of this type, please PM me. I also love pet-breeding games.

Sounds like fun. Here''s the Creation myth from a game I was working on called Chaos Factor.

The world was created through genesis and in the beginning there was Cinder the great fire the covered the landed, it burned hot and long and nothing lived upon the earth. Then with a mighty breath the Word was spoken and Cinder cooled to ash and yet still nothing grew upon the land. Then the Word was spoken again this time it was not a lone voice but choir of many and the great mounds of ash where carried up and into the air. There they turned to water and rained down upon the earth endlessly until only the continent remained above the great ocean. Then the Word spoke again this time it was but a whisper and from deep with in the land people sprang forth. They had nothing and cried out for the Word to give them purpose and so the Word spoke for the last time and Fatih was given on too the peoples of the earth. Faith established the great laws and bound all the peoples of the earth together. No longer where they lost and helpless they now had purpose and direction. With Faith in their hearts and minds they gave rise to civilization and did spread across the world. We know this to be the truth because it is the Word and the Word is truth.


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Writer, Programer, Cook, I''m a Jack of all Trades
Current Design project
Chaos Factor Design Document

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