First Scroll of Hesios

The following is translated from the First scroll of Hesios, penned by the legendary Elven Historian and suspected Demi-God Hesios.

I, Hesios, present this account based upon the testimony of the angel Rahmi’el, I found his testimony the most complete, it includes information omitted by Asuri’el and directly contradicts the information provided by Tahmi’el, who is showing signs of corruption and should not be trusted.

Before The Light, or life, there was the water, an infinite ocean that contained all that was and all that would be, it was unbridled potential, a swirling sea of magic and possibility, unformed, it was chaos.

And then the soul of the First moved across the face of the waters and he defined the chaos and separated the Spiritual from the Material. The first declared the Material as dark and therefore created The Light and the soul of the first became one with The Light and it was good.

The first soul became filled with light, and it is known by all the gods and the angels that there is no beginning, for the first soul has always existed and never existed. The First Soul was the undisputed master of all. They had and will have no equal. They knew all songs without speaking, they knew all syllables of all names without thinking, they were a being of infinite power and glory.

Existing beyond time and creation, the First Soul yearned for company but found no equal in singularity and so rejected It's own being and created the first and greatest division, division of self.

The waters of chaos watched on as the First soul became two, from division came duality and disparity. Enhyse the white, Chaos. Enwe the black, creator of Order. The Light became separate once again.

They were shocked by each other, for though they were each part of infinity, each were opposites. In fact they were horrified and waged war against each other for an eternity and a day. After this they spent an eternity in contemplation of the other and The Light. Eons passed as the two brothers existed in silence until Enhyse took the Light and forged it into forms pleasing to him, other gods, 7,777,777 in all, each with a divine spark. Enwe in response took the waters and from them created any place that the gods may go in its rightful order.

Thus, a distinct progression began in the time before time. There was the First and those newly created, who braved each new and evolving state of being. Through the epochs, the children of the Light grew in size and complexity and ability. The gods began to take on favored forms and gradually became as great animals, wandering and feeding, exploring and learning. Enwe and Enhyse, as the oldest and most powerful, became leaders and predators, adding the ever-advancing essences of the lesser deities to their own, and in so doing growing always greater. Life was as a spiritual wilderness in this prehistory, and the first impressions of emotion—of companionship, and fear, and wonder—came to form. And what followed in pursuit and avoidance of these sensations was thought.

Painting new wonders in the ancient light for unknowable spans, Enwe happened upon a strange sigil, and meaning came into being. Symbols and meaning emerged through the following age. Eventually, as Enwe had discovered the power of symbols, Enhyse made its own discovery, reshaping itself and uttering the first intelligent sound. With speech came the potential for new knowledge, and the words of the First rang through an eternity that could no longer be called empty.

In time godly hierarchies had stabilised, Enwe and Enhyse resting comfortably at the top, presiding over creation as brothers. Our Father Anu Corellon was around in those days, and he delighted in exploring creation. As a god Anu Corellon is fluid and changeable as a breeze or brook - quick to anger, but equally quick to forgive and forget. Our Father Anu Corellon loves magic, artistry, nature and freedom, befitting a son of Enhyse.

The joy of His presence is like no other and is followed by deep melancholy when he is no longer present This goodness and frivolity infuriated Gruumsh, that distasteful god of the Orc. Gruumsh attacked Anu Corellon and from the blood that was spilled, the first elves were born. Free from death they were as changeable as Anu Corellon. Able to take the form of a chuckling stream, a teasing breeze, an incandescent beam, a cavorting flame, or a crackling bolt of lightning.

These first sons were much akin to our father Anu Corellon, not nearly as powerful but just as changeable and audacious. On nothing more than a whim these primal elves could take the form of a school of fish a swarm of bees or a flock of birds. Anu Coreelon delighted in these primal elves, our ancestors and created for them Arvandor out of the purest earth and sweetest water. While Anu Corellon walked with his children in the Garden of Arvandor Anu Corellon came to appreciate their ideas, which were both novel and familiar, and blessed some of these primal elves with names. Each name uttered by Corellon was a new elf god born, a primal elf now free from death.

Anu Corellon walked with the Elf gods in the Garden or Arvandor and spoke to the gods, “You are free to do as you please but remain pure and abhor restraint like me or you are sure to die.”

This is the account of the children of Anu Corellon:

Aerdrie, Keptolo, Solonor, Naralis, Erevan, Hanali, Tarsellis, Rillifane, Zandilar, Labelas, Angharradh, Alethrien, Alobal, Araleth, Darahl, Elebrin, Erevan, Fenmarel, Gahelyn, Kirith, Melira, Mythrien, Rellavar, Sarula, Sehanine, Shevarash, Tethrin, Vandria, Ye’Cind, Lolth, Eilistraee, Ghaunadaur, Kiaransalee, Malyk, Selvetarm, Vhaeraun, Zinzerena.

Betrayal

One of these Gods was not satisfied with being one of Anu Corellon’s trusted underlings. She - for she had declared herself thus- saw in Creation around her other beings making an impact on various worlds. In her heart grew envy.

Lolth, spoke to the other gods, “Did our Father really say ‘You are free to do as you please but remain pure and abhor restraint like me or you are sure to die.’?”

Some of the elves had stopped to listen to her now.

”When we are seen we are mistaken for our Father, should we not be worshipped and admired as ourselves? Surely achieving greatness is worth this price?”

Sehanine then spoke: ”Our father is just, he declared that were we to do this we would die.”

Lolth said then to the primal elves and to the elf gods: “We will not certainly die.”

The primal elves were convinced by Lolth and took static forms, which resemble the fair folk of today and turned away from the example of Anu Corellon’s wild, ever shifting ways.

Anu Corellon was angered and said to Lolth “What is this you have done? Because you have taken from my children, your siblings, their freedom you may no longer live in the Garden of Arvandor, leave my sight, lest I set my face against you and tear you asunder.”

The gods of the elves were banished, some remained near the Garden of Avalorn while Lolth and some others lurked elsewhere.

To the primal Elves he said “Because you listened to your god-sister Lolth and decided to become like mortals with physical form, you shall live like mortals in the physical places, through painful toil you shall eat like mortals. You will struggle and eat your food until you go to the ground, for to the Garden of Avalorn you will never return.”

Our Father Anu Corellon crafted for the Primal elves garments of woven cloth and so banished them to Erebus.