The Beginning...

Many are the tales of this world's beginning. Every one of which, within the house of its belief, is true. This is mine; earlier far than the Yggdrasill of the Norse, or the family feuds of the Greek; and more frank than the self-important myths of those who followed me and mine. Humility is a hard thing for a god to learn, but ages of standing powerless before the growth of humanity undoubtedly helps.

In the beginning (for where else could we start) all was dark.

The world -- such as it was -- existed, as did the animals and plants of the world. They, the world and the animals and plants, had existed for a timeless age beyond reckoning, unknowing rulers of creation. It was this ignorance of their power which made the world dark, though a sun shone fiercely above them through the day and the moon glowed mightily by night.

The world -- such as it was -- was a moment, suspended in time. Moving from one instant to another without regard for what was to come, forgetting the past as soon as it was done. And then... Awareness. A spark, a bright flash which ignited the fires of humanity, and mankind was born.

Then there was light.

And with awareness, a wondering. A force within the world existed which had never been before. Belief. The first of the gods were born from this wonderment. Dghom and I, Dyeus, Earth and Sky, were the most primordial. From me, and Dghom also, the world could not have existed, and thus before Dghom and me the world had not existed. We were mother and father to all creation, and how did we revel in this. The powers granted us by the belief of humanity wrought the world anew, though our powers were only conduits, analogues for the changes wrought by mankind themselves.

And so, as Man grew in power and diversity, discovering more about their awareness and function, so did me and mine.

We bore children, Dghom and I.

From Earth and Sky came the nurturing sun and rain. Hausos, the dawn, brought forth the light of the day which warmed; and Perku split the clouds with thunder and quenched the thirst of the world. Man's foreknowledge of death brought shadow to our realm, and Dghom's son Dan ruled the dark places -- both of the world and the soul. To him fled the souls of the dead, and to him ran the oceans of the world.

And so our pantheon was established, and an endless cycle of cause-and-effect as well. Me and mine were created from the world, and from us was the world itself brought into being. From us, as analogues, the foibles and traits of mankind were established. And for long ages, we grew and became more numerous. The tales of our offspring, however, are tales for other days...