The All-Father

First, in all of existence, is the All-Father. What is less clear is if the All-Father is a being in a vast universe, or if the All-Father is the universe itself. Theologists have argued both points well, but there is no discussion of this in the Sacred Scrolls, nor is any tangible proof present. For this lesson, it does not matter. The All-Father is first in all of existence.

What we do know is that the All-Father is powerful, with the ability to create and destroy with a mere thought. We know that the All-Father has emotions, and is able to feel love as well as anger. The All-Father can take physical form, but that is not the only form he can take, including no form at all. We know that the All-Father cannot remain in one place too long. As said in the Sacred Scrolls, “…For if I remain in one location for too long, other parts of existence will come undone. My attention must spread throughout the universe.”

The Titans

At some point, long before the recording of time, the All-Father sought companionship. He created Elhal, at that time, as featureless rock. He then created beings, the children of the All-Father, in physical form. These children became known as the Titans. There are arguments over how many Titans were created – some say just 10, others say as many as 100.

Regardless of number, each Titan was a lesser version of the All-Father. They had emotions and intelligence. They had only a physical form and were bound to Elhal. The All-Father gave them divine power to create, but not the ability to destroy.

The All-Father remained with the Titans for a time, before needing to return to the universe. He departed, leaving the Titans on Elhal to grow and prosper.

Creation

In the early days, the Titans shaped Elhal, giving her mountains, oceans, deserts, and forests. The once lifeless rock became a thriving world. As the Titans became more skilled at creation, they filled the world with creatures from the simplest plant through the largest animals. The types of creatures were as vast as the imagination of the Titans.

For a time, again unmeasurable, this was the order of things. The Titans populated their world and lived alongside their creations. Eventually the Titans began to argue among themselves. No one knows how it started, though theologians believe that the Titans were looking to determine who among them was most worthy. Arguments escalated into conflict. The conflicts included each of the Titan’s creations. As the hostilities continued to rise, the Titans created more complex animals to aid them in battle. This culminated with the creation of sentient beings, of which we are one example.

The Titan Humanis created us, and it is after her which we are named. We know that Humanis bore the form of a Human female, for it is said that we bear the likeness of our Titan. She created us with some strength and with intelligence. She imbued us with a desire to hold dominion over others, be it animals, other sentient beings, or in the absence of those ourselves. She also imbued some of us with the power to create, in what we call Magic today. But we will save the discussion of Magic for a future lesson.

What is most important to note from our own origin story is that we were not born out love. We were not created to make the world a better place. Rather we were designed to conquer and rule, it is the most fundamental thing about us as a race; it is the core of who we are.

While Humanis was creating us, the other Titans were doing the same, each creating sentient beings with different sizes and abilities, each with the same purpose, to further the conflict of the Titans. There are ancient writings from the Cults of Humanis, which talk of races with delicate features and long ears, ones who dwelled under the earth, ones who looked like insects, like lizards, etc.

Among them were some of the other dominant races such as the Orcs, who are the masters of nature, and the Hoblin, whose knowledge of minerals has allowed them many a creation.

The Eon War

The Titans led their creations into battle, and for generation upon generation Elhal was at war. Every race fought. On more than one occasion Humanity was nearly wiped out, but we managed to survive. Other races were not so lucky, and many fell along with their Titans. With the death of their Titan, those races would be scoured from Elhal and lost forever.

It was a dark time, one that was know for endless conflict and strife. There was no progress during this time; there was only war. The Eon War would have raged on forever had not the All-Father returned to call upon his children.

The Return of the Father

When the All-Father returned to Elhal, he was shocked at what had happened. He witnessed the damages of war, the loss of life in both his children and their living creations. It is said in the Sacred Scrolls that it brought the All-Father tremendous sadness and then a growing anger.

Why the All-Father did not wipe Elhal out of existence is a sign of the his greater love. Instead, the All-Father had a plan. He appeared to the Titans throughout the world, all at the same time. He told them that he had created a deep chasm, and placed at its bottom a trophy. The Titan who retrieved the trophy and presented it to the All-Father, would rule over Elhal.

None of the Titans could resist, and they abandoned their armies and plunged into the chasm in search of this trophy. When they had gone deep enough, the All-Father closed the chasm and sealed it, preventing the Titans from using their power from escaping. With the Titans removed from the conflict, he separated all the surviving races onto their own lands so that they could no longer fight one another.

Of all the Titan’s creations the All-Father felt the closest to us Humans, for we had been created in the image of Humanis, and thus in the image of the his children. The All-Father made the land upon which we dwell to be plentiful and hospitable for us. He stayed with us Humans for a time, and in doing so helped us transition from war to peace.

Because of how we reminded him of his now banished children, the All-Father could not bring himself to change us. We were not perfect, but we were loved.

In time, just as with the Titans, the All-Father’s attention was required elsewhere and eventually we humans were left to ourselves, in our own peaceful lands, free from the other races.

Final Thoughts

The ancient writings which have been retrieved from various temples to Humanis strongly support what is known about the final days of the Eon War. I have been to some of those temples, and I have seen their arcane implements of war.

We were born out of conflict and formed to rule. That has been our greatest hindrance, and our undoing several times in our history. But we are also loved by the All-Father, and it has been that love that has let us transcend our inner nature, and to reach beyond for what Humanis had intended.

In our next lesson, we shall talk about the Church of the All-Father, its origins, and its impact on our society.