Creation myths and gods

The god of time has always existed, and the space around him warped and ebbed until new gods were formed in his wake. First the god of earth, who created vast planets, but cherished earth most of all. Then the god of sea, who coated the planets with water and put water in the skys.

Next came the god of wind and fire, who brought life to the otherwise barren planet. Then came the god of Love, Harvest, and property who made the new life on earth flourish.

Finally came the idiot god of cold. Taking the form of a small lizard, when his tail falls off, winter begins. When it regrows, winter ends. It survives, immortal but mindless.

Each took forms they found suitable, then let life on earth do as it would, hardly ever intervening directly. Unfortunately, their mere presence causes ripples in reality. This leads to magic, unusual effects, and sometimes even madness.

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>>54627566

Have you read "The Gods Of Pegāna"? If you want a good example of a bulding a mythology, I think you should give it a look.

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>>54627566
Here's the creation myth for the weird wild-west-meets-zombie-fantasy setting I've been working on for a few years. I enjoy it overmuch.

>In the beginning, there was ONE, and ONE was.
>But of the many things that it was, ONE was alone.
>So ONE looked into itself and saw potential and possibility. But possibility could not occur with out sacrifice.
>So ONE killed itself, and in so made the world.
>From its bones came the White God, Ramatra Singh, who was the Mountains and the Firmament and the Bones of the World, the Ivory Throne from which all kings sat. To the nascent races of man it brought Law and Justice and knowledge of Defeat.
>From its blood came the Red God, Kauvra'Sott, the Wolf of Old Autumn and the Beat of the Heart, the Iron King that rules over the nature of men. To the nascent races of men he brought Hunger and Conquest and knowledge of Victory.
>From its blight, the toxic humors that suffused it came the Black God, Nag Shol Lun, the Swarm Unending and source of all Sickness and Malady, the Ebony Crown that ate at the brow of all kings. To the nascent races of men it gave Poison and Ambition and the knowledge of Hardship.
>From the blaze of its soul came the Blue God, Tvenash Set, the Sky Above and Gyre of the Stars, the Azure Scepter to which all kings draw dreams from. To the nascent races of men they gave History and Artistry and knowledge of Hope.
>From the brume that remained came the Grey God, Olakura, the Procession of Moments and Source of Division, the Ashen Blade that all kings held in war. To the nascent races of man she gave Grudges and Time and knowledge of Fate.
>And when all the gods were gone and the world was made, all that remained of the origin of everything was a shadow, called NONE, who looked on.
>And so it is.

There were five gods in the beginning, who found a place to begin their world. The Lord of the Mountain gave some of his body, and the ground was created. The Lady of the Sky gave her breath, and the air and sky were created. The Lady of Fire gave her radiance, and left the sun in her wake. The Lord of the Sea gave his blood, and the oceans and rivers were born. And the King of the Storm let the others' creations match his heartbeat, and gave the world dynamics and life.

When the world was first made, these five found it to be boring. The trees swayed, the rain grew the grasses, and the warm sun gave the plants a good home. But the plants don't interact. So they set down upon the earth several creatures: mice, moths, fish, and spiders, as well as snakes, lizards, turtles, and salamanders. Through an evolutionary arms race, these creatures came to be the various humanoid races and draconic races, respectively.

>>54629096
Where is this even from? This is great. Really gets that mythic feel.

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>>54627566
http://www.sacred-texts.com/index.htm

The most complete archive of folklore and mythology in the internet. Find out about fairies and myths before they were congealed into a popular "official" form:

>In a Slovak tale the Sons of a Baba Yaga are described as "baneful snakes." One of the tastes which characterize the snake of fable is sometimes attributed to the Baba Yaga also. She is supposed "to love to suck the white breasts of beautiful women."

https://books.google.com.br/books?id=ad1AAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA248&lpg=PA248&dq=baba+yaga+breasts&source=bl&ots=xuAtQA-4mq&sig=dGtSxuHzP96qKQM3gAJwbtJXdQ0&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiTicv89bTVAhVG2yYKHVDAB38Q6AEIKzAB#v=onepage&q=baba%20yaga%20breasts&f=false
Pic related


>>54631461
http://www.sacred-texts.com/ring/index.htm
Lord Dunsany was a pre-Tolkien fantasy author.

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This might help too.

>Aztec Mythology info taken from a /tg/ thread
https://pastebin.com/5VLdcYzg

Very, very throughout info about greek mythology. Includes variants of the same myth for example.
http://www.theoi.com/

>African Fantasy Tips
https://pastebin.com/PKFJzHfA
This is more about african fantasy in general, but it has mythology and is the most popular of my pastebins, so...

Slavic mythology journal:
http://sms.zrc-sazu.si/En/kazalo.html

Mythological Studies Journal:
http://journals.sfu.ca/pgi/index.php/pacificamyth/index

This fa/tg/uy is creating a rpg based on his region, Southeast Asia and Oceania. He also talks a lot about the local mythology and folklore:
http://hariragat.blogspot.com.br/

>Eternity Now: Aboriginal Concepts of Time
https://www.sarmy.org.au/Resources/Articles/reforming-society/Eternity-Now-Aboriginal-Concepts-of-Time/

>Literary and archaeological sources allow us to trace Indo-European berserks from the second millennium B.C. to the second millennium A.D., from bronze age epics to Icelandic sagas, and from West Asia to North America.
http://alkman1.blogspot.com.br/2007/06/berserks-history-of-indo-european-mad.html
Kinda skeptical of this one, but it is inspiring.

Folklore journals:
http://www.jstor.org/subject/folklore

I think this one has literally everything the name implies:
http://www.germanicmythology.com/index.html

Even non-weaboo should read this one:
https://japanesemythology.wordpress.com/

>Dragons were among the ghost-gods of the ancient Hawaiians.
http://www.sacred-texts.com/pac/hlog/hlog28.htm

>>54627566
In the beginning, there were the three incarnates.

Entropy, Enthalpy, and Void

And there was balance. And things for a long time were adequate. Entropy and Enthalpy loved each other, for one matched the other in perfect harmony. But Void grew jealous of their love, as they had nobody to share eternity with. So out of spite, Void corrupted the heart of Entropy to turn their love against Enthalpy. And their love turned to a rising tumultuous hate for one another.

Light and Dark were created, and so the chaotic lovers warred and stirred the world into existence. Creating all manner of Gods and monsters in a never ending struggle to out do one another. Void looked at their doing with regret. Now more alone than they ever were before, over shadowed by creation itself. They grew isolated, and mad. With insane dreams, eldritch horrors began to spawn within the world.

The world itself was as chaotic as the three. With all manner of races, Gods, monsters, and horrors running amock, the world cracked under stress. Mountains and continents shattered as the floods washed in. The incarnates warred until they tired themselves, unable to gain the advantage as they were still perfectly matched. They paused just long enough to gaze at the creation resulting from thier endless fight. Repulsed they fled in terror and were never seen again.

>>54627566
the great world tree divided the lands into good and bad orcs were the bad people and elves were the good people, they merged into one land and created humans occupying the newland of fraudhakia

>>54627566
I'm pretty proud about my idea for fire, it plays into setting up the elementals in the world. The idea is
>Light holds a contest to see which element is wisest
>Says "Each one of you may send a representative to ask me to give you one thing. If I feel it is a truly worthy request, then I will grant it. If not, I will teach you what is right"
>All the elements send an animal associated with/created by/serving them
>Every element but fire asks for something, but gets it wrong
>Earth has to let air and water knock its things down, always having to rebuild them
>Water has to let Earth and Air rule it, always being redirected
>Air... something, I forget, but it screwed up
>Fire asks for wisdom, round of applause, and so Light gives fire everything the other elements asked for, and its blessing. That's why you need to boil water to make it pure, smelt metals to harness wealth, burn incense to make the air pretty, and why fire shines with light.
It's ripped off of how King Solomon prayed for wisdom, but I was proud of working out little cutesy ways fire got one over on the other elements.

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Bump for interest.

>>54627566
bump

>>54628446
Thats lazy and boring.
You just took modern scientific knowledge and turned it into a bland and vague myth of creation.
Creation myths are supposed to reflect the ancient culture and beliefs of a group of people.
Something like that wouldn't make any sense, unless your setting is a far-future post-apocalyptic setting where scientific belief turned into mythology. But then you had to go and add magic to it.

shit/10
Try again but take off your fedora first.

>>54634298
You did the same thing, but at least you made it elaborate. Just replace Entropy and Enthalpy with something ancient-souding name, made of words that alludes to what those scientific terms mean and you're good to go.

>>54627566
Long before the Demons came, there were the Primordials, ancient and powerful being from the Time Before. The group arrived in an immense void with nothing bu themselves-ten in number-and their great champions from the Time Before, the Angels. They created, with the raw and strange material that makes up all worlds, the Otherverse, which they manipulated and shaped from their home, the Astral. The King of the Primordials, wisest of them all, withheld from adding his own creations to this world, but declared that any creation of his would be eternal, and would receive the protection of his Angels.

While they shaped the Otherverse, the Primordials sired their successors: the Gods. The Primordial Queen approached the Primordial of the Forge with a request: she desired perfect children, and wanted him to forge powerful wards and runes that would transfer any and all impurities to her placenta, ridding her offspring of any flaws. The Primordial of the Forge complied, and soon the Queen gave birth to four perfect Gods: Deivas, Ashtar, Elysias and Grima. However shortly after their birth the Queen was overcome with great pain, and out came a black, nebulous placenta, which shrieked and hissed as the other Primordials reached to dispose of it. The black mass twinkled with infant stars as it slowly morphed into a mutated child. It was on the King's command that the creature was spared and given the name Mara.

Of the Primordials and Gods, only two never avoided or politely ignored Mara; the King, who loved her most out of all his children, and Demiurgos, the son of the Forge Primordial. Her siblings loved her but struggled to connect with the bizarre and alien Goddess, and her mother wanted nothing more than for her to cease to be. But Mara didn't mind, for she spent many days watching the Otherverse with anticipation and wonder, longing for the day that she too could create something to be part of this world, something that her father could be proud of.

Cont?

>>54629113

really neato dude

>>54642135
Please

>>54642135
>>54643116
None are certain as to the events that followed, only the result. Mara dived into the Otherverse with a bloated belly, and birthed a tide of Demons, nightmarish creatures of unending, unnatural shapes. The Primordials and the Gods found her in the Otherverse, where her children were causing large parts of the Otherverse to unravel into it's base elements: Fire, Earth, Air and Water. They cut swathes into the Demon horde on their way to Mara, only to find themselves surrounded by the Demon Mother and her spawn. There, the Deities discovered that the Demons they slaughtered regenerated shortly after their destruction. Mara revealed then what she had done: she impregnated herself with her father's seed, and as per the Primordial King's decree his first creation in the Otherverse had become everlasting.

As if on command, the King's Angels turned upon their masters, their divine command to serve and protect these monstrosities over the King. The Primordials were slaughtered by both Demons and Angels and the Gods were on the verge of being overrun. Salvation came with the murder of Elysia, who Mara fell upon and tore asunder, flinging her corpse across the cosmos and breaking the veil between realities. These parts of Elysia broke into the Material Plane, where they manifested as six shooting stars crashing to the earth below. The gods used this chance to escape into the Material, unwittingly bringing the cascading tide of Demons with them.

The Demon Wars that followed lasted for a decade, killing the Dread God Mordrow and destroying both the Nosferi Empire and the Kraken Councils, leaving scarce few survivors. The War gave rise to Bahamut, The Divine Champion, and Tiamat, The First Sorceress, who were elevated to Godhood by the Gods to fight against the Demons. They were eventually driven back to the Otherverse, unable to maintain their hold on the now devastated Material.

Cont?

>>54643552
I am very interested with your world, please continue. This is inspiring.

>>54643552
>>54647132
In the aftermath of the Demon War, the Gods realized that through their actions they brought ruin to the Material. Instead of returning to the Astral, they remained and helped the mortals rebuild. Ashtar, the Goddess of War, convinced her fellow Gods that the mortals had to be prepared should Mara and her Demons ever return, so that not only may they be routed, but Mara herself may be slain. Guided by Demiurgos, the Dwarves of Fire and Stone built immense underground fortresses and brought the art of smithing to the mortals. Bahamut and Tiamat created Dragonkin, to protect the Material should the Demons ever return. And from Elysia's parts grew the immense Heart Trees, which sired the Alvani and the Fey, creatures born from the souls of the dead.

But for all of their preparation, they weren't ready for the second war, wrought by none other than their own. Bahamut was a God of Justice, the greatest warrior of the Pantheon. He knew that he would be needed again, and that his Dragon children would wet their claws with vile blood, but he refused to wait. Bahamut sought to dispense Justice before any wrong had been committed, and so he consulted the First and Second, Tock.

The creation of the Dragonkin brought Tock into existence, a Kobold from the far future who had become one with the fabric of time. The Chronomancer knew all that would come to pass, yet he never spoke of such things, the knowledge only safe in his hands. Yet Bahamut was his creator, and so he found himself unable to refuse his summons and his questions. Bahamut got what he wanted, and Tock revealed that he would wage a great war against his sister, Tiamat.

Cont?

>>54647443
Bahamut didn’t hesitate, not for a moment. Before the Gods knew what was happening, Bahamut descended on his sister’s home with a swarm of Metallic Dragons, raising it to the ground and slaughtering any Chromatics who failed to escape. Tiamat tried to run, but Bahamut continued his bloody crusade, convinced of his sister’s guilt for an injustice he knew nothing of. Tiamat was forced to intervene when Bahamut began to raise mortal settlements that supported her, and so she brought her Chromatic children against her brother, her love and her everything.

The Dragon War undid everything that the Gods had worked to achieve, as Bahamut and Tiamat’s children slaughtered each other and the mortals they were sworn to protect. Tiamat’s children became twisted and cruel creatures, responsible for much of the destruction the mortals suffered. Bahamut’s children used this degrading of character to justify their crusade, pressing on.

The War came to an end at last when Bahamut fought Tiamat in one final clash, tearing her eyes out and scattering them across the world, robbing her of her powers and allowing Bahamut to destroy her for good. It was then that Bahamut felt the Gods close off the Material from the Astral, trapping him there. Tock emerged, revealing that Tiamat had committed no sin. Bahamut acted not out of justice, but out of bloodlust, and had killed his sister, his love and his everything, for nothing.

Bahamut realised that by his actions, the Material had suffered. Its guardians now turn bloody talons on each other as mortals cower in their warring shadows, claiming swathes of territory and the settlements within them as their own. The Gods had been forced to abandon the Material, convinced that their presence brings nothing but ruin to mortals. Bahamut, ashamed of his actions, disappeared, never to be seen again.

Basic concept: First came the point, and the point shredded through the darkness and formed the line. First one, then another, creating a V that soon became the triangle. By the time the triangle had become a square, thousands of other points had appeared, and by the time the square had turned fractal, thousands of shapes and figures criss-crossed the darkness. These resulted in shapes shapes and forms far more complex than any [intelligent race] can fathom, and formed everything known.

Why is this good: Very easy to anchor/mirror the founding myth in your game. Holy architecture is made up of simple but striking geometric shapes. Clothing is cut and layered as circles, triangles etc Fractal patterns are venerated and so o Geometric shapes are easily imagined by your players, and stand out, so the whole religion feels both coherent and distinct. Aln.so easy for you as GM to improvise looks of churches and shrines the party encounters and the like.

>>54627566
This planet originally existed as chaos. Just a giant ball consisting of all the land, sea, and sky mixed together. that is, until the Kings arrived.

The Kings had the power to control anything, and the ambition to do so. They bent the planet to their will, making it organize itself. Land, sea, and sky were no longer mixed with each other, but their own.

The Kings were content with what they had made. However, the lust for power grew in each of them, and they all wanted to be the single ruler of the planet. The Kings fought a massive war among themselves. Most of them died, their lives bleeding out into the planet. This is the origin of life on our planet.

A few of them surrendered, submitting themselves to the one we now call the True King. The True King scattered the remaining Kings to the corners of the planet, giving them a domain. Some Kings can control the land. Some Kings can control the seas. But only the True King has domain in the sky, which covers the entire planet. This is where he looks down upon all of us, sending Kings to reshape parts of the planet as he wills it.

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>>54627566
The Creator God was an incredibly autistic deity of Law, Order, and Tradition in another world. He eventually swole'd up enough to his a Divine Rank that let him make his own world, where no one could fuck up his perfect little order and rules "fuck you guys I'mma make my own world, and it'll be da best!". So he made a giant-city-world and made sure the whole thing could run without GM fiat.

Several thousand years later he checked back in to see what had happened to his perfect clockwork world and found it had been fucked beyond recognition by all these humans, elves, dwarves, and other shit. God the REEEEE'd so hard he split into a small pantheon of lesser gods, all now bent on "fixing" the world, while the newer Gods that rose from the mortal ranks now have to gather their own champions to forestall the Apocalypse.

>>54634151
This was an absolutely amazing read

>>54629113
Sounds a lil bit like Kill Six Billion Demons but less grimdark. i aproove!

>>54627566
Man is of the ignorance that the Gods created them. In truth, Man created the Gods. The World was not created by powerful deities, but by natural processes. As Mankind grew, it saw the Thunder, and Sun, and Ocean, and Desert, and believed that these things must be the works of Gods. And so, because of these beliefs, the Gods came into existence.

As society developed, more Gods were born to take up patronage of Mans work. Soon there were many Gods. But the Gods knew they would only keep their power if Man continued to worship them and would eventually fade away if forgotten.

As time went on, Man continued to advance until it reached the Modern era. These days some of the most powerful of the Gods are Industry; who builds much, but nothing of his lasts without constant maintenance, Media; who has become a monolithic being of entertainment and manipulation, and Internet; who's many children with Media travel across the web as sites (That means 4chan is by heritage, a Demigod)

While the old Gods of natural occurrences such as the first mentioned are still powerful, they are quickly falling into insignificance in the wake of the New Gods.

Yeah, sorry if its literally American Gods.