Hey all! I know it has been a couple of days (4 tops) since I last wrote on here. Sorry to disappoint, but I'm not going to apologize. I've been a busy guy! And most of the stuff that I've been doing wouldn't be interesting to post to a blog. I don't think many people want to see the flowchart that I made for a prototype card/board game I made for my Game Design I class, or a presentation about the fallacies of the English language that I did for my Design Tools I class. And if you really do want to see those things, let me know on Twitter.
So, here's a quick rundown of what's been going on since I last wrote. School. Movies. Video Games. Comic books. All those things happened. Also, the Sonic challenge is officially on hiatus. Too much to do, and too many other great games that need to be played first.
Down to the real reason that I'm writing today: I actually have an assignment that I want to share! It was a fun one (for me at least). Right now, I'm finishing up my Historical Archetypes and Mythology class, and the project last week was to create my own creation myth. After writing it, I realized that it is kinda silly, but you know what? So is EVERY CREATION MYTH THAT EXISTS! In light of that, I figured that this little gem can be allowed to be seen by more eyes than just my teacher's, my wife's, and my own.
A little disclaimer first. The assignment had a 1200 word maximum, which made it very difficult to flesh the story out as much as I would have liked. There are parts that were severely edited down, and other (obvious) sections that were glossed over, all in the interest of getting under that mark. I plan to revisit this story and finish it one day. We'll see if that actually happens or not though...
"Enough rambling, NPB! Get on with it!" Ok! Fine! I will! Here you go!
(Quick side note. All the names were made using a name generator which can be found here:
http://www.rinkworks.com/namegen/ )
In the beginning, there was only emptiness. This universe was a
place of tranquility and nothingness. This peace was interrupted when Irotsu,
the great traveler and seeker of knowledge, intruded. Irotsu, who had visited
many other great universes and had filled her head with vast amounts of
knowledge, was fascinated by the silence she had discovered, for each of the
other universes that Irotsu explored where teeming with life and noise. So,
Irotsu decided to cease her travels in order to begin applying everything she
had learned and try her hand at creation.
The first thing Irotsu decided to create was a world. However,
since there was nothing in the universe to use as material for a world, Irotsu
was forced to use the great stone Ingacia that she had been given during her
travels. Ingacia was flat and featureless, which quickly bored Irotsu, so she
pushed and pulled at the land, creating tall mountains, deep valleys, and vast
oceans, which were filled with the sweat from Irotsu’s hard work. Irotsu also
quickly realized that Ingacia was much too dark, so she lit a great fire in the
sky of the world. Then, Irotsu began creating animals of every sort and variety
to fill Ingacia.
However, Irotsu began to notice a problem. Many of the animals were
seeking refuge from the great fire in the sky. Irotsu went to these animals and
asked why they were hiding. She was surprised to hear that they preferred the
darkness, and would only come out if the great fire in the sky was
extinguished. Obviously, many of the other animals needed the light, and begged
Irotsu not to put out the great fire. So Irotsu, being very wise from her many
travels, decided that the great fire should be present in the sky while the
creatures who had been hiding were asleep, then the fire would be put out while
the creatures who needed the light were asleep. She assigned the great task of
extinguishing the fire each night to the Owl, and the great task of starting a
new fire to the Eagle. Thus, the cycle of Night and Day was created.
Irotsu was satisfied with what she had created for many years,
traveling throughout Ingacia and living with the animals. However, as befalls
most great travelers, Irotsu became bored and sought further entertainment.
Irotsu went to the tallest mountaintop on Ingacia, where no other creature
beside herself could reach, and built a grand palace, which she called Cerelia.
Hidden inside Cerelia, Irotsu created a library, where she wrote down and
stored everything that she had learned on her many travels. This library was
called Radesia. Irotsu then sat down in the center of Cerelia and began manifesting
children. Irotsu grew 3 extra toes on her right foot, which she promptly cut
off. Each of these toes continued to grow until they were fully grown beings,
like Irotsu. She named them Waie, Kie, and Mie.
Once again, Irotsu was satisfied with what she had created, living
for many years in Cerelia, with Waie, Kie, and Mie keeping her company and
entertaining her. Over time, Waie, Kie, and Mie each created a child of their
own in the same manner that Irotsu had created each of them. Waie named her son
Veroth, Kie named his son Saygar, and Mie named her daughter Estos. Once again,
however, Irotsu became bored and needed more to keep her entertained. Irotsu
charged each of her children with the immense task of creating new life for
Ingacia, life that could keep her entertained for longer periods of time.
The first to take on this great task was Waie, who had become known
as the goddess of Love and Art. Using pieces of her exquisite garments, Waie
created humans which where imbued with love for each other and desire to create
aesthetically pleasing works of art. These humans where then whisked away from
Cerelia and spread across the surface of Ingacia. Irotsu was very pleased at
Waie’s creation, and left Cerelia to travel among the humans across Ingacia.
Over time, Irotsu began to realize that the humans that Waie had
created were beginning to bore her. Since they all loved each other, there was
no conflict to keep things interesting, and the art they created became
repetitious and tiresome. In an effort to make Waie’s creations entertaining to
her, Irotsu began influencing the minds of the humans, turning their love for
each other into disdain, which led to the conflict that Irotsu was seeking. Irotsu
then returned to Cerelia to observe the humans from a distance with her
children and grandchildren. Waie was not pleased the Irotsu had interfered with
what she had created. In order to make amends with Waie, Irotsu apologized and
declared Waie’s creations a success. Kie and Mie still wanted an opportunity to
create their own life, but wanted a fresh start, like Waie had been given.
Irotsu ordered that Ingacia be purged of Waie’s humans. This task
fell to Estos, as she was the only one among them that possessed a strong
enough will and sense of duty to destroy all of the humans currently on
Ingacia. Estos rained down fire and destruction upon the humans, and not one of
Waie’s creations was spared.
This cycle repeated with Kie and Mie’s creations. Irotsu was
pleased with their creations, but ultimately became bored and interfered,
corrupting their creations. At this point Estos was called in to wipe Ingacia
clean of humans. Unbeknownst to Irotsu, Saygar had found the great library
Radesia, and had been secretly taking knowledge, bit by bit, from Radesia each
time Irotsu left to travel Ingacia. Veroth had also been secretly following
Irotsu, observing her as she traveled, learning what entertained and what bored
her.
After Mie’s humans had been eradicated from Ingacia, Veroth and
Saygar approached Irotsu and asked for the same opportunity to create life as
had been given to their parents. Veroth and Saygar promised Irotsu that their
approach to creating humans would be drastically different than their parents’,
and this intrigued Irotsu greatly. She demanded that Veroth and Saygar create
humans, and agreed to provide them with anything they needed.
Veroth and Saygar then murdered their cousin, Estos, and used her
body to create humans that were filled with a wide variety of traits, both good
and bad. Through his covert observations, Veroth had learned that Irotsu loved
to watch the humans change and progress, but this was impossible without direct
intervention from Irotsu or her offspring. Each time it seemed that Irotsu was
growing bored of their creation, Veroth and Saygar would meet together and
discuss what changes were needed in order to keep Irotsu entertained in their
race of humans. Then, Saygar would descend down to Ingacia, taking a piece of
knowledge that he had previously stolen from Radesia, and spreading that
knowledge to the humans. Irotsu would become fascinated anew with each change
that these humans went through, seemingly on their own. Veroth and Saygar had
finally learned how to keep Irotsu entertained, breaking free of the cycle of
creation and destruction that their parents had been forced to experience.
