by John Belliston
Ishari, Goddess of Truth and Running Water, married Mar, God
of Law. Their courtship was a clap of thunder, shattering Mar’s love for the
Goddess Ariga. Though each regretted it, the two gods' attraction drew them
together stronger then than any previous promises. Like a great and beautiful
clock, exact in its motion and intentions, they coupled on the night of their
wedding. From their love came the beautiful Mar’ies, God of Ice.
Mar doted on and spoiled his son. Every desire that crossed
the young god’s mind he immediately met. Mar’ies returned his father’s
affection a hundred fold, crafting grand creations of Ice and Cold. The pride
of the father blinded him to the flaws in his son. Mar’ies’ arrogance grew to
dangerous levels, eventually leading him to challenge the king of the Gods, his
great grandfather Nhoj, God of Knowledge and one of the Firstborn of Chaos. Nhoj’s
face became the hungry mask of the Destroyer as the whelp of a god challenged
him for kingship.
The sweet voice and charms of Ishari stood between her son
and her father’s father. They alone calmed Nhoj enough to prevent Mar’ies’
unmaking. The young god didn’t understand the danger he had brought on himself,
and Mar refused to chastise his son. The debate between
the God of Law and the Goddess of Truth lasted long and eventually their fury
turned to passion. This coupling roared across the Realm of the Gods like a war
of fire and screeching metal, and Ishari was once more with child.
After a time, she gave birth to her second son. Unlike the
beautiful Mar’ies this babe was terrible to behold. His face was a mass of
fangs and deformations. His body swelled and shriveled at random with each shuttering
breath. His loud wheezing stank of ash and brimstone. Behind his ill formed
eyes a great and hungry flame burned. This broken creature reached up with it’s
gnarled hand and touched his mother’s cheek.
She wept. Her voice choked in her throat as she thought to
speak. No name could comfort such a creature. No offering of her voice could
portray the deep and mournful love she bore this child. She merely stared into
his eyes as her tears bathed his flesh.
Elsewhere, Ishari’s mother Tiala, Goddess of the Sea, was
giving birth as well. Her twin sons Tlal God of the Angry Heavens, and Daikado
God of the Angry Earth burst forth from the womb deeply engrossed in their own
hateful conflict. They screamed and howled and tore at each other and all of
creation shook with the furiosity of their War. So terrible was the battle
of her new brothers that Ishari left her newborn child unattended to help stop
them.
Mar’ies looked upon his brother, filled with terrible bile
and rage. No creature so hideous could have come from his beautiful parents.
Before him lay an abomination that could not be, should not be. While the other
Gods fought and wrestled with his uncles he cast his brother high and flung him
down to the mortal plane.
The Nameless One’s twisted body struck the earth, breaking
into three great, bloody pieces. His legs and loins fell and created the FertileLands, filling them with vibrancy and life. His torso landed in the heart of
the Geato Marsh his blood creating dangerous fire-swamps deeper within. His
twisted limbs and bloated head fell on what would become the lands of theKindred.
He fell with such force that when his head struck the ground
his teeth were knocked from his head and buried deep in the earth. His blood
and brains dripped from his shattered skull and watered the buried teeth. The
ground shuttered and from each hole burst an Orc, Troll, Goblin, Minotaur, orOgre.
By then Ishari had noticed the fate of her child.
It is said there are parts of the Stew of Fate that still
vibrate with the horrible sound of that scream.
The Goddess of Truth rushed to the broken body of her child
and wept. The tears fell down her face and down onto the corpse of the Nameless
One. Where each tear touched the mix of blood and marsh and water an Abira, the
Lizardwoman children of the Marsh, rose up and scrambled to comfort her.
Ishari looked upon all the life her son's death had created.
The many peoples created by his death and she sighed at the beauty to be found
in this horror. Her sigh mixed with her tears and so were born the Krishtog
frogmen. With a laugh and loving smile she blessed each of them, and returned
to the Realm of the Gods.
Mar’ies was cast to the mortal plane for his sin. But that
is another tale.
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