The Origin of the Species

The creation of the world that is (and the rest of the universe)

Before The Beginning there was Unity, the core element. All was Unity and Unity was all.

The Beginning

Then Unity split up into nine, and this was The Beginning. The nine were, and still are, the base elements: Life, Water, Lightning, Chaos, Void, Fire, Air, Time and Earth of which all we know is made.

Soon after The Beginning, the nine combined again to form The World That Is, the ancient gods, the void and possibly an unknown number of other worlds and universes. In each of these the elements mixed differently: The World That Is was a blend of all elements except for Void, of which it had none. In the Ancient Gods one element was always predominant, different for each god, but they had traces of all elements except for Life and Void (some scholars believe that there were once old gods that did have parts of Void but that these died off very fast). The Void was the only pure construction: it only contained Void and nothing else.

The first phase of Evolution: Creation

Each of these evolved separately and simultaneously, except for the Void which having no Time could not change.

The forming of The World That Is and the origin of the fey.

On The World That Is, the elements collided and combined to form mountains, seas, atmosphere and everything else a young planet needs. Life bloomed here in many forms: trees and plants sprang forth from the earth and animals evolved from tiny cells. Those things in which Life was strongest started to gain degrees of sentience. Those in which the sentience was strongest would later be called the fey.They sprang from all of nature and became ambassadors and guardians of their origin. So dryads were born as trees aged and grew more and more defined by their past, more sentient and aware. The Ur-Pixie was born out of living chaos, the zephyrs out of the whispering breeze.

The descent of the Ancient Gods

While the World That Is was in its cradle still, the Ancient Gods – lifeless but powerful – combined with Life to create sentient beings of great power: the new gods, the dragons and the elemental spirits (often called titans).

Some of the dragons chose the young World That Is as their home. Others, the larger and strongest ones, turned to the black skies and found a home there, like the celestial dragon Andromeda. The new gods did not then take a physical shape, but were still attracted to the young world and hovered closely, observing.

The second phase of Evolution: Destruction

Because there was no Void in the World That Is, life was eternal and soon there was little room left for new things to be created. The strongest of the fey then looked for places to go. Places where there still was room.

It was the Ur-Pixie which found it: A gateway to the Void. He opened it to his own destruction because the power of Void ripped him apart into many pieces and thus were born the pixies.

Void seeped into the World That Is and where it flowed things that were ceased to be. Void isn't death for death is simply the absence of life but Void is the great destructor. Without it no other element can cease to be. Therefore in a way Void is entropy, and death, and the quenching of the flame. By the seeping of Void into Life was created the cycle of life, it is the origin of mortality.

It was the new gods, with the aid of the dragons and the fey who sealed the rift and closed the World That Is to the void once more, but already the damage was done: Void was as much a part of the world now as the other eight elements.

Though the fey and gods were largely unscathed, the dragons were not so lucky and ever since they have carried Void with them. However through their strength they can keep it separate and while they can be killed, they will not die of age.

The third phase of Evolution: The coming of the elves

Not even the combined power of the dragons, fey and gods could fully destroy the link between the World That Is and the Void and even now it lingers: leaking elements in both directions. The fey soon found that they could travel this link and in the void be nothing and everything at once. At this time a change came over the fey. As those things that had given birth to them died off many of the fey became detached. Dryads wandered the world in confusion as their trees withered and died so too did the spirits of ancient animals. Many of those fey eventually combined into greater fey, fey that did not represent one specific part of nature but rather an aspect of it. So was born the Lady of the forest, who humans call Morgane, and others like her.

Because new life was now born constantly, many new fey came to be. These new fey had not the same link to the void as teh older ones and the longer after the opening of the gate they were created, the harder it was for them to enter it. Then there came to be a time when the newest fey could barely cross the link at all and the last of these were what are now known as the elves. They crossed the link into the Void but found it not to their liking. However, when they returned, they took part of the Void back with them.

They were the first fey to become mortal and after the dragons the first sentient beings to know death.

The fourth phase of Evolution: The rise of men and the later races

Through the cycle of life, the elves evolved much faster than their peers and they soon became estranged from the spirit world. They grew more sentient and more independent than any others. The gods observed and were curious, for the elves could reproduce themselves and create new life, new beings, something the gods had hitherto not succeeded in.

Some gods then combined forces and out of the elements molded a creation of their own: a human. They formed it after the elves but as they were not fey their power over life was less strong and humans lived lives much shorter than elves. Because of this they changed much faster than their counterparts and quickly became more flexible, more creative and more numerous.

Others watched the experiment with interest and more races were wrought. However few others succeeded in the creation of life from base elements and most opted instead to combine. Thus the stone titans combined themselves with the life-giving fey to create dwarves and trolls while dragons mixed fey and humans to create the diminutive but impressively intelligent gnomes.

The fifth phase of Evolution: The spirits

So strong was life now in the independent races that even their ideas started becoming sentient. Much how the fey had evolved from high concentrations of life in nature, so did now other spirits evolve from the emotions and dreams of the sentients. The furies; Spirits of anger. Morpheus; Keeper of the dreams. These are just two examples of the often short-lived byproducts of life itself.

And still the world evolves. What will come next, no one knows.

Comments

Mithandirtest
bookbookooooh! first comment besides Mithrandir! i love the story and i want some more on the gods.
randomisticsExactly how many gods are there?????
Queenie JVery well-written. Unlike the Silmarillion, which is dead sophomoric. Not that I don't love LOTR. But I digress. Very informative. Even bridges on spoiler zone.
AerinelfWhoa... awesome. That's really interesting! It also explains a lot.
nick012000Odds that there will be a villian at some point that will try to open up another portal to the Void in an attempt to destroy the world (and gain ultimate power, of course)?

Also, Ancient Gods=Cthulhu?
bookbookMorpheus... hmmm... dreams...
Mith! Mith! Can I use Morpheus in one of my stories pleasepleasepleaseplease??
MithandirBookbook: You\'ll have to ask the Ancient Greeks. Morpheus is one of theirs :)
woo hoo
lesleyi lllluuuurrrrrv choccie!!!!
parrotz rock
BurnedMuffinsThis is anti-athiest but its still great
shineeeeeyyyyyywhen did pixies come you have to have pixies right if you don't then you know what:(
bookbookthe ancient greeks are dead.
woohoo! morpheus is up for grabs!
Lone StarI don't care if it's anti-atheist or anti-anti-atheist, this is still GREAAT!!
Lone StarEven though I'm an atheist. Seriously, if G-O-D exists, how come He permits evil?!
hallo123ever1123Lone Star, she permits evil because all humans have it in them to be evil. If she didn't permit evil, there would be no more babies and children, and human kind would go exstinct. even all of those nice people would die.
halfdragon_magei dont care if this is some stupid thing you just made up but saying that there are other gods!!! thats just sooooooooo stupid there is only one god and it is Jesus. this may not be your appinion but it is mine.
weitten by,
a follower of God
halfdragon_mageu want to know what comes next, We dont know when but God will come down from heaven and bring all his followers into heaven
PixieQueeni'm not sure what I believe. on the subject of good/evil: nothing can exist without its opposite. if there was only good and no evil, then there would be nothing for the People to try for and nothing could be. without darkness, how would we know when we walked in the light? suffering is sad, and not nessesary(spelling?), but it exists and there's not much we can say about it. i dont know if im an atheist, or if i believe in god(s), but that's my stance on good/evil.
OdinThe problem with there being a God is several things. First, if there is something that is all powerful and all knowing there has to be something with no power and no knowledge. Second, [referring to what halfdragon_mage said] Jesus can't be god because the bible quotes Jesus as saying he's the son of god, and you can't be the father and the son. Plus knowing everything would kill you because knowledge would be constantly coming in and drive you mad. Lastly, everything has a duality so good has evil. What I don't get is how people can go to hell if God is all forgiving, you shouldn't even have to ask if that were the case.
f*ckthisomg odin stfu. just because you have been recruited or have decided that god is a myth doesn't mean you need to crusade against other peoples beliefs. true there are lots of conflicting passages in the bible and other texts, but why the fuck does it matter. when atheists crusade their beliefs to religious views to other people they're just doing exactly what the Christians did hundreds of years ago. I once heard Rickard Dawkins claim that Christians were responsible for the loss of the pagan cultures and that is why Christianity is "evil." Modern religions are cultures too so don't go and do the same fucking thing.
f*ckthisps. this comic sounds sweet.

mad props to the designer above.
f*ckthisHalf_dragon rage is an idiot.
lI believe that evil is just the things in life and existance that we don't like.

ElystrianaGah, who turned this into a philosophical religious discussion?!?

Very unique elements system Mith- I like it!
TaddKids - this text is called FICTION/FANTASY to set the stage for the comic, not a religion. Get a grip and enjoy the awesome writing and stories.
InBetweensecund that. if it disturbes you that much that the world that is don't belive in jesus, buda or any other god of your choise, then stop reading. personaly, it seams like a stupid reason not to read a great story...it fantasy for god sake :)

and as elysriana says, love the system
USFPuttyAnything even vaguely religious always brings out the crazies...

BurnedMuffins: It would need to attack athiests to be anti-athiest. This just states the way things are in the world. 0 points for you.

halfdragon)mage: You don't even deserve to exist on this earth. Keep it to yourself.

f*ckthis: Congratulations on your ignorance. Next time, please TRY to understand what's been written BEFORE making inappropriate statements.

Now. This is perhaps one of the best mythological-class creation backstories I've ever had the privilege of reading. Explains the quality of the comic and story. Please keep up this level of excellence.
sasha..xAwesome! I love it, as usual..^^
But..If people are intent on saying that evil doesn't exsist, then why do they argue about it? I'm not trying to attack anyones personal beliefs i'm just saying that in my opinion evil resides in the hearts of man, and all God(s)can do is try to show us the right path. i believe in God but only to the extent that He exsists. I dont think anyone has the power to control this or any other world, or any lifeforms residing in them..But thats only what i believe..!
Mithandir*pouts* don't wanne upset peoples.
Note however that I don't even claim this is what really happened in The World That Is, it's what people there believe (tho I consider it as a base framework for extending the world)
Osknice way of introducing death into paradise (a pixie did it!)
kinestheDon't worry Mithandir, it wasn't your fault people got upset, just some silly comments and over-reactions
Brilliant comic though, and I love the idea that you have put a mythology into it. :)
Just a small typo, you've put a "teh" instead of a "the" in the 3rd stage of evolution section.
Keep writing please :D
SabelkattenReally good backstory! I doesn't matter what people think about _our_ world, it still makes decent sense!

Thought I have to point out that without a birth/death cycle you can't really have evolution... And any carnivores will have major problems! :D

Maybe change the wording to "changed and grew", and noting somewhere that carnivores didn't appear until the void entered? The last part is pretty intriguing, actually!
MagpieDoes this Morpheus have any link to the Morpheus of Sandman fame?
Nebra Reppalk*sigh* I guess it's too late or just a bad idea for me to comment on the whole religion thing. I mean...it's fantasy. To quote Terry Prachett, "There's no point in arguing if the gods exist because usually a thunderbolt comes down, leaving a burnt pair of sandals and a note that says, 'Yes, we do'"

Fantasy typically has a system of gods whose existence is never in doubt because you can physically walk up to their house and knock on the door. (I believe Mith has made a comment in this regard.)

Besides, it's a work of [i]fiction[/i]. Is it really worth fighting over?
InBetweenSabelkatten, it's not the preditors that would have the problems, it's the herbivores. the preditors would still be abel to hunt and eat, the prey would joust not die...
SabelkattenGet eaten and not die? That's got to hurt... ;)
Kuyselle GoldwordNebra: I've never been a fan of Those Who Cannot Tell the Difference Between Fiction and Reality.
MeApparently BBCode doesn't work here.

Does HTML?

Does it?
MeAha!Itdoes.
Rispah@ Magpie: Well, both this Morpheus and the Morpheus of Sandman were named after the Morpheus in Ancient Greek mythology.

http://www.pantheon.org/articles/m/morpheus.html
hailstormOMG people this is a fictional story about how LEAFS world came into being it has NOTHING to do with ANY religions that exist why cant u just enjoy a story for a story!!!! Mith probably wrote the story like this so it WOULDN'T conflct with any religious
donovanseermithandir, you can't be on the internet and not expect trolls. Everyone else who was offended by this' this is a STORY that a brilliant writer came up with to entertain. That doesn't mean this is his religious belief. Please keep your religion out of my fantasy.

 

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