Vera/Exodus myth

In Donatese mythology, the **Exodus myth** (Donatese: Мит вечне сеобе / *Mit vechne seobe*: "*Myth of the eternal exodus*") is the myth that describes the journey of the Donatians across the Samudric, crossing from their old homeland in Kanita to Ripiero. It is the oldest entirely recovered written Donatese myth, with its earliest editions dating from the XI century. The original myth is split between chronologically related entries, dubbed *books*, written in Proto-Donatese and early variants of the Old Donatese language. Unlike other myths in Donatese mythology, it focuses primarily on the social issues Donatians experienced during their time in Kanita, along with badly slandering the surrounding tribes, which they suspect are the cause for the exodus. The reason these entries are classified as myths is due to them being written on Ripiero with little factual recollection of the events that transpired, leaving much to be invented by the Donatese.

## Background

Historical evidence supports the theory that the sudden chain migrations in Northern and Central Kanita in the XI century can be attributed to early Lestovian crusades, which set off a migration pattern that would cause the Proto-Donatians to migrate across the Samudric towards Ripiero. Despite this, the exodus myth blames Illjikans and Hrozavans as the possible perpetrators and 'thieves of soil'.

## Books

Entries of this myth are named *books*, although they are merely paragraphs written on animal hide, parchment or long slates in a thin variant of the Old Cyrillic. Books are sorted numerically by their suspected date of writing, though are not chronologically exact in that regard, as later books tend to explore the retrospect of the myth by going back in time. The books were all written individually by unknown authors, except for Book 1, which seems to be written by a group of people. On this page, books will be ordered in accordance with the myth's chronology.

### Book 3

Either north or east of where we lived, there probably used to be a giant lake which is now surrounded by sharp teeth, and it is said that there are three suns there because the people in that area are too dumb to reap the harvest caused by only one sun. However, even this was not enough, and they have turned into wanderers that call themselves holy bringers of God's revelation. What is so holy about you, if you cannot even benefit from the aid of one sunlight's plant? This God is then, according to what I had heard, responsible for creating the entire world out of nothing, and then a man and woman from which all the people descended from. These people are probably so dumb, that the earth itself decided to imprison them in an enclosure of teeth. That is why I will take pity on them by including them in this here book, so at least someone may remember them, if they even exist, but I really hope they do not.

### Book 1 (first half)

This book will tell you about us humble people here who have traversed a great deal because of our enemies who wished to see our tribe fail and perish. We lived in the old country for some time and were excellent fishermen and we excelled in every form of skill there ever existed on that land, because we were long used to our soil. We were surrounded by beautiful valleys on one end and great waters on the other, and there was always enough food that both beast and man could eat to rid themselves of hunger, and there was always enough wood to build the biggest houses, but we built very small ones, because we were humble even then. But soon, we became vassals to the waters, because the violent and dog-eared Psanides were harboring greed in none right, and it was them who so unjustly stole our right to soil. For this, their greed manifested in the shape of a thousand giants that sat atop their lush fields and made spit turn into hail which fell on the cruel Psanides. Now, those giants are mountains, and the beasts can no longer reap their wheat from this rock, though they certainly may attempt it. Much like the ferocious tribe, they are now condemned to eternal wandering and will soon turn into monsters themselves, because they have disgraced the ones who gave us tools to exist.

### Book 2

I have decided to include something the previous book hadn't, but it is something that I have heard, so I can say that it is credible. After I finish this, I hope someone can continue writing these books, so that we can know everything that led to us discovering this land. Anyway, as I was listening to an old bard, I collected that there was another tribe east of the Psanides which venerated the same deity as them and they had taken the name of their deity as their own, so I will not mention the name here, because it is too blasphemous. They believe in this group of deities that protect them and that fought in a great war, because one of the deities had turned on its brother. This brother is the main deity they believe in, and it is said that it appears as a raven. I care little about all of this, because it all just seems to be alike to a sad lullably, so I will cut these ramblings short.. The main point is that they seem to be responsible for the coming of the Psanides, and since the Psanides are the ones who forced us out of the old country, we can finally blame this raven-faithed tribe to be the true culprits of the exodus.

### Book 1 (second half)

We had to make a large amount of boats to get across the great water. This process was already very tedious, since we are not a seafaring people, and it had especially gotten harder with the coming of the Psanides, who stole our food and hens for some time until they somehow deduced that we were going to leave the old country. It is said that they laughed a great deal and tried helping us in this endeavor, probably because they had thought we were going to suffer a certain death. Even though our determination was supplemented by years upon years, some of us wished to stay in the old country. We would be surprised if we even found them alive one day, though it will be sad if they forget the way of our true faith. Before we departed, we had made sure to burn most of our homes and throw our possessions into the water. We originally planned to keep them, but they proved to be too heavy for our boats. Our journey across the great waters was difficult at first, however, we were guided by the signs of our venerable ones, and it is these very same signs we now write down for some use. So, let it be known that we are a very spiritual people on top of being very literate and knowledgeable about all sorts of endeavors. It is why we were so successful in our journey. It is said that not a single person died on the way to our new land, because we are the true heirs of the world. Here, we have found ourselves a lush place that had saved us, and some of us now take into venturing further inland. If anyone wishes to extend this knowledge, please, write more books.

### Book 4

I will say that this is probably the last book for this here expansive knowledge. Since the first book, we have gone greatly inland and now we are rebuilding our families. I will also say that the great and vast land of our new country is now called *Dolnat*, because of all of its long and wide lowlands. I do not live across the mountains, but some have gone around them and are now building their homes there. So, the people from the first book were right in their claim, since we now have villages and even towns all across the land. The elder folk tell us that there was a great water ghost called Zadimna, which guided us to our land, and that it now lives in the glimmer of the sea, but I am having trouble summoning it to expand our knowledge, so that probably isn't its true name. Because of this, I do not think anyone will write more books after me.

1. ↑ Olmic Ocean? The teeth could be a bad recollection of the North Kanitan fjords.
2. ↑ Lestovians?
3. ↑ Kanita
4. ↑ likely reference to the Samudric Ocean
5. ↑ Hrozavans? Specifically of the northeast.
6. ↑ Norgons
7. ↑ Duosters; the venerable and most exalted spirits of Donatese mythos
8. ↑ most likely Illjikans
9. ↑ Lanats mountain ridge