Progenitors

## Summary

In the beginning, there was nothing but the Presence - A mysterious entity who embodied unlimited power and endless potential.

After an eternity swimming in the darkness, the Presence grew bored and restless with its loneliness and began experimenting to try and experience the only thing that escaped its all-knowing mind: its own death.

And so the Presence died. All the energies contained within it were unleashed into the Void, filling it with the potent essence of existence. The essence began to coalesce into seven vessels; each vessel contained a different entity with its own individuality and personality. For countless eons, the vessels remained there as the only things in the Void, until one day, one of them cracked. From the first vessel came a being of pure light. The being wanted a name, and so they named himself Elliyoun. Elliyoun then came to the remaining vessels and woke up the rest of his "siblings" and named them also. They were each named Pralaya, Khaos, Shakti, Maveth, Zurvan, and Azathoth.

Elliyoun became the unofficial leader of the hebdomad, for he was the first to be born, the one who gave the seven their names, and, as far as they know it, the strongest of the Progenitors.

Much like the Presence, Elliyoun soon grew tired of the nothingness of the Void and decided that he would destroy the monotony of reality. And so he stretched out his left and right arms, and darkness and light came to his hands. Amazed by his marvels, other Progenitors began to experiment with their power also, and following in Elliyoun's footsteps, the seven created everything according to their will.

## Trivia and Notes

### Trivia

* The Progenitors are considered "spirit siblings".
* The Progenitors often paired into syzygies, with the exception of Azathoth: Elliyoun & Pralaya, Khaos & Zurvan, Shakti & Maveth.
* The Progenitors have familial relationships with each other. Most of them view Elliyoun as an older brother or even a father figure, with the exception of Shakti and Pralaya who are his wives/soulmates.
* The reason why most sentient beings in the multiverse are humanoid is less because humans are special, but because angels tend to create beings shaped like them, who themselves are created in the images of the Progenitors.
* While the Progenitors are not intrinsically restrained by the Ancient Laws like other cosmic entities, they are honorably bound to follow them. Supposedly, it is a matter of principles: *"If the creators of the Ancient Laws couldn't be bothered to follow their own rules, why should anyone else?"*
* The Progenitors cannot conceive a child together unless they both desire so. The process involves the two each sacrificing a portion of their power and releasing that during an act of creation, which can either be a symbolic ritual or an intimate act. The two sources of power will then collide and fuse together, creating a primordial spirit much in the same way that sperm joins with an egg to produce an embryo. However, unlike lesser beings, the Progenitors have the luxury of choosing which portions of their power they want to relinquish to make a child. With careful calculations, they could design their "offspring" to serve whatever role they need and/or want them to fulfill. However, because of how mentally draining parenting could be, only a handful of these progenies are ever created.

#### Great Slumber

* Also called the Long Sleep, the Sleep of Ages, or just the Sleep.
* The Great Slumber is a mystical phenomenon that affects the Progenitors, causing them to enter long periods of hibernation after sufficiently large expenditures of power. This is not exactly to save energy, but more so that their primeval power wouldn't throw the cosmic forces of the multiverse out of balance.
* The duration of the Sleep varies from Progenitor to Progenitor, lasting from centuries to millennia. Should a Progenitor abstain from large exertions, they may remain awake and active for centuries at a time, but they must all enter the Long Sleep eventually.
* When a Progenitor succumbs to the Sleep, they slip into deep unconsciousness, and their form becomes unraveled as they return to their original status as an abstract concept. On occasion, they do experience flickers of activity, perhaps causing some sort of natural phenomenon somewhere in the multiverse or influencing the dreams of mortals or even gods.
* It's believed that most, if not all, of the Progenitors are currently asleep.
	+ Zurvan entered the Sleep sometimes between the 8th and the 10th-century.
	+ Elliyoun entered the Sleep in the early 11th-century. Pralaya followed him soon after, entering the Sleep at the changing of the century.
	+ Shakti entered the Sleep sometimes in the 13th-century.