Initium Creation Narrative

Creation of the World
Ortueism holds that a single deity known as Ortues and collectively called the Living God created everything in existence. The first thing He made was his female companion, Sarupa, the Dusk-Bringer, to be His beloved consort. For her, He created the great bed of stars within which He placed the planet of Anfang, the jewel of His creation. He separated the water from the land, and placed the moon in the sky, crafting the sun to cast its warmth and light upon the surface of the world He had made. They delighted in this new world, as Ortues rose the sun to start the day, and Sarupa laid it to rest for the night, each perfect in their beautiful contrast.

The planet of Anfang was beautiful and lovely and Ortues and Sarupa spent many eons upon its surface, crafting it together. They formed the mountains and planted the forests, their swimming created the whirlpools and their laughter blew the clouds into existence. And eventually they decided to create other beings to share in the fullness of existence with them. Ortues breathed life onto the dirt, shaping each form of creature and animal and beast as a gift to His wife, and Sarupa was delighted, naming each one. Ortues created the heavenly messengers which took after His own form, and the sprites of the earth which he formed in Sarupa's image, the feminine terrestrial counterpart to his masculine celestial servants.

Origin of Division
And then Ortues created the race of man, making them after the example set forth by Himself and His wife. He create man and woman and instructed the terrestrial sprites to teach them and foster their advancement. He dispatched the celestial spirits to deliver His Will to His chosen prophets to shepherd the nations. As humanity grew larger and more widespread across the planet, Sarupa grew discontent with the attention and affection Ortues showed His creation. In her jealousy and boredom she walked the planet and — when she thought He was not looking — she took other lovers, human and beast and sprite alike.

From her dalliances came many of the many non-human races, not fully human- nor entirely dull beast- nor completely immaterial sprite, due to the mixing of essence within Sarupa according to her whims. Entire kingdoms and cults rose to turn their reverence away from Ortues to their new Dark Tyrant. Marshaling the armies of her heretic slaves, this Dark Tyrant waged war all across Anfang and many lives were lost along with untold destruction of knowledge. With the sole goal of forcing Ortues to abandon his distractions, Sarupa sought to extinguish all living creatures, or else to make them so repugnant as to be insufferable to Ortues' holiness.

Sarupa's unfaithfulness did not go unknown to Ortues, who gave her many chances to repent her misdeeds. And in her stubborn resentment she steadfastly refused to admit any wrongdoing. Despite His great sorrow, Ortues rebuked Sarupa at last, when humanity had been reduced to tattered bands of wandering scavengers living among the rubble of once great civilizations. Ortues stripped his former wife of her place in the Heavens and intended to annihilate her entirely. She wailed and raged but before He had fully unmade her, she gave a final plea: send her to Anfang, that she might tend to her misbegotten children.

In His infinite mercy Ortues granted her this wish, carrying her to the planet below, and giving her one final gift, a heavenly flower that would keep her safe from harm, a token of the love He still felt for her. With her divine status lost and the influence of the world rushing in, the many sins of infidelity began to warp and twist Sarupa's form nearly immediately. Taking on many of the attributes of her beastly children, Sarupa sprouted the dark wings of the Night Ravens, the cruel claws of the Wolfen, the slender tail of the Dragon Daughters, and the tall ears of the Fey Cats. All this to show outwardly the unfaithfulness she had demonstrated to the Living God who had created her first above all else.

Beginning of Strife
After much weeping and gnashing of teeth, Sarupa began to seek a means of completing the destruction of that which she had once so dearly loved with her estranged husband. She enacted many a wicked plan to take advantage of the fallen state of mankind, giving them technology and weapons of war and wicked magics to encourage them to slaughter each other. The nonhuman races she had birthed became subject to her vengeful ire as well, and she would have killed them all in a fit of filicidal rage. Imbued with hatred and fear and confusion, she drove every pocket of nonhuman straight into the waiting walls of human settlements, to infiltrate and kill and terrorize and be put down in turn.

Had nothing changed, the nonhumans would have been driven to extinction by the hands of humans, but Ortues took pity on them as well. Not deserving to suffer for His former wife's petty resentment, He appointed Chieftains among the ruins, anointing heroes with great power and wisdom to lead the survivors of the fallen age to restore their numbers and reclaim their lost lands. Through these Chieftains the madness of the nonhuman races was quelled, by many harrowing quests to seek out the agents of Sarupa that had driven them to such a frenzy.

With even the destruction of her own creations denied to her, Sarupa turned her efforts to new avenues of attack against Ortues' children. She became the progenitor of many diseases and horrible monsters, birthing plagues and wicked abominations through her ravishing visits with many a hapless man and woman both, taking on the form needed to conceive such blights. But once again the great Chieftains in the various nations ventured forth to find the cures for each of her horrible afflictions in turn, and humanity survived.

When each of these plots in turn were countered or survived through the guidance of Ortues, Sarupa put her efforts into the creation of her most vile plot yet. Seeking to undermine the tribes of man, she sought to corrupt the Chieftains by giving them something new to worship. Offering the strongest of wise men and shamans the opportunity to acquire great power and immortality, Sarupa subjugated in turn one leader from every region to join her Council of Withered Kings. Each Withered King she granted the rights to a portion of Anfang that would later become one of the nations, empowering them to sew discord and strife upon the humans. And thus the peace that had reigned between people groups was shattered, leading to many conflicts that kept the continents ever divided with persistent bloodshed.