Creation Myth

This article details the primary **creation myth** for the World of Shaston. Parts of this article are left intentionally vague, as the people of Shaston are unaware of much of the truth surrounding their existence - plus I may not have come up with it all yet. If there is more to clarify, it may be found in related articles.

## The Fundamentals

In the beginning before time and space existed, there were seven entities known collectively as the **Fundamentals**. These Fundamentals represented the six elements of Earth, Air, Fire, Water, Light, and Darkness, as well as "the Intangibles;" among these are concepts such as time, magic, energy, and the spirit. This last title is not entirely accurate, as there are tangible aspects to these concepts and intangible aspects to the elements, but nonetheless the name has stuck.

The Fundamentals were responsible for creating the universe, though at the time it was but an empty void. They created ten additional entities and tasked them with creating and running the World of Shaston. Then, they vanished into the infinite abyss, never to be seen again. To mortalkind, this is all that is known about these mysterious Fundamentals. Even among the gods, little else is known except by Ao himself.

## The Forces

Nine of the ten entities left by the Fundamentals became known as the **Forces**. Powerful creatures representing a variety of aspects of the universe, these Forces played no part in the actual creation of Shaston but were tasked with keeping it in order and maintaining their given aspects. They are as follows:

* Life, the Sower
* Nature, the Mother
* Love, the Blesser
* Death, the Reaper
* Presence, the Keeper
* Time, the Father
* Justice, the Knower
* Chaos, the Changer
* Fear, the Destroyer

Each of the Forces possesses great power and authority over their given domain, even more so than the god(s) of the same. Many of the Forces also possess similar power over aspects of existence closely associated with their main aspect; Fear, for example, not only represents the metaphysical concept of fear but also that of pain.

Most of the Forces choose not to appear to mortalkind, with Death being the primary exception, appearing to every creature at the moment of its demise. While the existence of the Forces is well known, at least among those educated in such matters, there is no recorded history of anyone interacting with any of them besides Death, and even then the only records available come from those who have died and been resurrected. Some therefore doubt that the Forces really exist, and instead attribute the power and existence of their aspects to the gods or simply the natural order of the universe.

Ao
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**Ao** was the final entity created and left by the Fundamentals. Known in some circles as the overgod, Ao was tasked with creating the world as the Fundamentals had envisioned it. To that end, he created the first gods. He continues to manage the gods of the multiverse, usually not creating, destroying, or maintaining the universe directly, but working so that the gods are able to fulfill their purposes and ensuring that they do so.

Ao very rarely ever makes his presence known except in dire circumstances where the very structure or existence of the universe is at stake. Even the most learned of scholars would be unaware of his existence were it not for the rare times where he acts and his fellow gods inform their followers.

## The First gods

Curiously enough, the identities and natures of the first gods are not known. It is unclear how large their number was, who among them still exist, and what exactly each of them did to create the world. It is known that they existed, as Ao did not create the world by himself.

These first gods created the world of Shaston largely as it exists today. The continental structure of the planet has remained relatively unchanged since the beginning. While some races have come and gone throughout the years, the most common races have continuously existed as long as there has been life on the planet.

## The Ultimate Spirit

Among some circles, there persists an idea that there was once a force even greater than the Fundamentals. Known as the **Ultimate Spirit**, or sometimes more simply US, it is said to have created the entirety of reality as it exists merely through thought; the language of verbatim is said to be an articulation of these thoughts. Under this theory, US exists outside of the space and time of Shaston's universe, able to modify the universe as they see fit regardless of when; they may have created the world as it existed some time during the modern era and, relative to their perspective, created the Fundamentals and Forces later.

The existence of US is seen as heresy to most religious groups; however, there is curiously no group that both believes in US and considers them to be a god or gods. Rather, they are seen as an ordinary person or people relative to their own experience, merely gifted with great power over this particular world. Perhaps they have their own God, capable of creating things and worlds even greater than Shaston.