Improper Beginnings
If there were a proper way to begin a story about a planet it would imply that someone was paying some attention at its inception. Unfortunately I was rather busy at the time. Not the kind of busy that one might experience when they have a lot to do. Rather I was busy in the way an over stimulated child is busy. That is to say I had altogether too much energy and not nearly enough of an idea about my options. Left to my devices I went about the business of throwing my weight around and causing a general fuss about being.
The world is hot not because it is made of hot things. It is hot because of the amount of energy that went into it’s forging. Much and more came together to form its mass and you can imagine it coasting off of that initial combining of things. Being hot and being relatively large is quite the boon to your planet though that wasn’t enough. It made for itself a crust. This kept the heat in which is good but it went much further than that in creating you and that really is what makes your planet extraordinary. You see, you've changed the planet’s atmosphere and outer composition to add a layer of complexity that goes far beyond the mildly intriguing and has led to, among other things, the ability for us to have this conversation.
Conversation then is the beginning of the story. Not just the story of your planet but of every story ever told. Without the ability to converse with some other there simply is no point in the telling to begin with.
Let us begin then with the grandest of all conversations, the universal conversation, the collusion between the universe and itself. That of the universe’s efforts to understand itself.
It is easy to believe that the great cycle has no beginning. The last day of each year for as long as you or any of your people can remember has heralded the start of a new year and the beginning of the calendar all over again. The Druids have taken to drawing the cycle as a circle and preaching of infinity. I am here to tell you that this is not the case. That before there was anything, before there was a before, there was nothing. Do not think of this as a great emptiness for there was not even space to fill.
Your calendar starts in a season celebrating mysticism, and rightfully so. For the beginning of existence is mysterious. The great will came into being as a great effort of faith. That is how it manifested itself. Some of you may dwell on the idea that something could not believe in itself before it was. I’m telling you move on in your meditations for it would take every ounce of will there is to comprehend this. Conceiving that it is possible is exactly how we all came to be and it took all of ourselves to do it.
We all were as a child in those times as new as we were we began exploring ourselves, observing ourselves, testing our ability. We formed within us the intangible emotions. Emotions became our driving force. We however were the only thing that existed and concluded that something needed to exist separate from us. Something should be vulnerable to manipulation, and able to act on its own and take part in a conversation. Out of desirous will a great point of energy was formed.
With the formation of that energy was formed space. This space had unrestricted borders that the energy strived to fill. In that moment of expansion and uncontrolled might some of that energy turned to matter and exploded outward in such a conflagration that it spread itself and the magic throughout a space that is still growing to this day.
The nature of the void brought the matter, energy, and will together into great clouds of power. Within these nebulae formed grand forges of creation. These concentrations of matter and energy brought together will and power of their own and they found within them want. Instinct prevailed and these massive forges pulled everything around to them close and in so doing proceeded to make their own existence more and more complex. They gleaned sustenance from anything brought into them. This time was hectic and power was the only governing force.
One of the forces that impacts you every day is the concept most easily translated as gravity. This force pulls together matter as well as magical will. As these nebulae and stars accumulated more mass they impacted their surroundings on greater scales. Magical power is drawn to objects with great influence and thus these beings of great will became more complex and gave rise to persona. Multi layered and infinitely varied we lights in the darkness are as mad gods to you.
The idea of vitality grew as we began to recognise ourselves as individuals. We found that survival depended on a delicate balancing of forces and the consumption of fuel. Then began our hoarding of resources, we competed to be more than our neighbors, but most of all we explored all the possibilities that existing offers.
A level of organization became necessary to achieve greater feats of creation. Transportation of different materials into specific regions of orbit became common practice and a certain way of doing things emerged. A long time passed this way, and once again something mysterious occurred.
I first came to notice the existence of this new thing as it’s need for energy grew. As such I did not witness the beginning of life. Self propagating organization on a planet within my reach of influence! A part of me is proud of what I have done, but I also realize that each of these tiny things is a separate entity; separate from each other and free of my direct influence. Some developed the ability to move about to pursue sustenance, others merely soaked in the energy and matter around them. Their most impressive trait however was the ability to make more of themselves. This was unheard of. A star cannot make another star afterall.
I did what I could to encourage your growth. I poured light and magic into this planetoid, however you did most of the work yourselves. Changing the very surface of this world. What you did not change you adapted to. Some competed against each other, eliminating the weak among them, making each new generation better at surviving and breeding. Organisms from the same ancestry would find themselves in different environments and adapt independently to the point where they no longer resembled each other. The hunters became stronger and more agile. They created systems of processing the world around them, remembering what had occurred to them analytically, and learning from their experiences.
During all of this I was not idle either. I had gone from merely fueling the process to experimenting myself. Through magic I was able to replicate their features, and through imagination expound upon them to make wondrous imitations of life. These were empty vessels unable to act except through my will. I taught, learned, and explored with them. As social structures emerged I took part in them, and when you created language I conversed with you.
The manipulation of magic was beyond life for the most part. Only running through the natural creatures as much as it did the rest of the universe. I longed to see what you would make of magic’s influence and so imbued my favorite creatures with enough of my will to make them vulnerable to it. In so doing you would be able to take advantage of mysticism and magic as an extension of your will. Drawing on my power as I desired you to have bounds outside the meager will could produce.
It was a magnificent conversation. I learned as life developed and I would create some new complex being. Life would then mutate past my imagination and I would have to catch up. Eventually the most wondrous thing happened, the development of a complex mind. Creatures could do more than ever before and I soon learned to replicate the process.
The dragons were the first intellectuals. They invented the first versions of the great calendar and our work with magic aligned the earth and its moons to reflect it. The world as it is came into being balanced by the Grand Compass. Faith, Vitality, Resolve, Intellect. These were our tools and this world our canvas.
As you read the tales within this tome remember this beginning. All things in this universe came from the same place and everyone is part of a story far greater than themselves.