Key to the Void: World Bible

Long ago, long before the great sealed world had become what it is now, it was a place full of magic into which the spirits could visit freely. When the world was still open, a great spirit of the waters, Tiamat, descended upon the world. There she met Abzu, a fellow spirit of the waters who was less mighty than she, yet who was far more pure and who bore the gift to sustain life.

He granted this gift of life onto Tiamat, and she brought forth the 11 gods of creation. The first was Kingu, the eldest, and the leader of all the gods of creation. The next were the great serpent gods, Basmu and Usumgallu, who had a form the same as that of their mother. After them, there was Musmahhu, who was larger than his elder siblings and what he lacked in the power of the spirits he made up for in strength.

After them there was Lahamu, who had a great thirst for destruction and war. Then were born the twins, Ugallu and Umu-dabrutu, who had power over the winds.

Uridimmu and Akrabamelu were then born, who loved the creatures of the land. Then was born Kulullu, who equally loved the creatures of the sea.

Finally was born Kusanikku. The youngest of the gods, but yet the most resilient, who could savor life in even the harshest of environments.

The great mother Tiamat loved all of her children, but all was not well. The gods who lived upon the world feared the children that Tiamat had birthed forth, and they cursed Abzu for granting Tiamat the gift of life.

In their fury and their fear, the gods sought out the water spirit Abzu and killed him in retribution for what he had done. This act enraged Tiamat, as she went out to take revenge upon the gods who had killed the one who had given her the gift of life.

Tiamat then began to birth forth many more beasts to fight the gods who had slain Abzu, and she gave her eldest son, Kingu, the right to lead all the rest who were born of Tiamat. He lead the armies that she had given to him, and they made war upon the evil gods who had killed Abzu.

But the gods had sent forth a fell assassin, one who is called Marduk, who had the power of vision and who knew of the time when Tiamat was ready to give birth once again and was at her weakest. He came at this time and he killed the mother of the gods, and then he cast her off into the void.

Without the mother god Tiamat, the 11 gods were unable to sustain the fight against the wicked gods who had taken from them both the parents who had given them life. Kingu lead the gods in a vengeful battle, but more and more of the children of Tiamat fell with each passing day. One day, none remained save for the eldest 11 among them. In this defeated condition, they chose to leave into the void in order to seek out where the body of their mother had fallen.

Eon upon eon, the gods searched the void until one day they happened upon a great spirit of earth, who swam through the void and sustained itself upon the energy of entire worlds. The fearsome creature was truly mighty, and the gods immediately ran from him. However, as they were running, Kingu looked back to check that all had escaped safely. And when he did, he saw something upon the back of the great elemental of earth.

Upon the great shell of the elemental, there was what looked to be the bones of a great serpent. A serpent that radiated from it a power of water and of life which was familiar to the gods. It was the power of their mother who had brought them life, Tiamat.

Cautious to avoid being seen by the great earth elemental, they all descended down to the great shell that rested upon the creature’s back. When they came close, they saw that the body of their mother that was still radiating great powers of water and of life had begun to mingle with the powers of the earth elemental that held the power of stability and of growth. Together, these energies had formed a place where life could flourish, and where the power of their mother had already begun to create a world as real as the one where she had died and they had been born.

And then, Kingu declared. “Our mother has created a world with her body and with the power of this elemental of earth. Let us settle upon this land, and create a new world to live on here. We will guide and nurture the creatures of this world as our mother once nurtured us.”

And then, Kingu named the great earth elemental Bahamut, as he had become the resting place of their mother Tiamat.

The rest of the gods agreed with Kingu and began to settle on the land. Usumgallu settled upon the liver of Tiamat, and there he created the serpentine dragons of the sea, and all of the 11 gods rejoiced as these children of Basmu had been created in the image of their mother.

Basmu settled upon the nose of Tiamat, and then he said “If my brother will create dragons who swim within the sea, then I will create dragons who fly through the air.” And then, he created the serpentine air dragons, who have the power of the wind and flight.

Musmahhu saw this and said “If you will create dragons of the sky and of the sea, then I will create the mightiest of dragons who will rule over the land.” And then he settled upon the spine of Tiamat, where he created the great land dragons.

When the other gods saw what the draconic members of their brethren had done, they were all inspired and wished to create great creatures to populate this world as well. Akrabamelu decided he would be the next to create a creature, but he could not decide what it is he would make. So, he settled upon the horns of Tiamat where he created the chimeric races, creatures that were full of life and inspiration who held the strengths of many creatures.

However, all was not well with the chimeras who Akrabamelu had created. The chimeras were creatures who were fueled by the imagination, which required the energy of spirit. Although the dragons his elder siblings had created were mighty, they did not possess a powerful enough imagination to create the spirit energy the chimeras needed to live.

All of the gods knew of a creature who had an abundance of imagination, but none of them wished to create it for these creatures too closely resembled the wicked gods who had slain Abzu and Tiamat, and who had laid waist to all of their younger siblings who their mother had born forth.

However, someone had to create something that could sustain the chimeras or else they would die. And so, Uridimmu settled upon the right eye of Tiamat,  where he created the chimeric humans, creatures that resembled the humans who they so detested but also bore the features of animals much like the chimeras created by Akrabamelu.

But the children of Uridimmu were not enough. They had the ability to create spirit energy as the humans they were based on, but they also required spirit energy like the chimeras they were supposed to feed with this energy. They could not produce enough for both themselves and also for the children of Akrabamelu.

And so, Lahamu decided he would next produce a creature based upon the humans as he settled upon the front right claw of Tiamat, but his vision of the humans was twisted by his hatred and instead of humans he produced the blood-sucking vampires. The children of Lahamu then held the same problem as the children of Akrabamelu. Although they possesses the forms of humans, they could not create the energy of spirit and instead had a great appetite to consume it.

Finally, Kingu settled upon the left eye of Tiamat and created the race of changelings. The changelings were a race that could take on the form of any race, and while they had an apatite for spirit energy this apatite and their need for it could also be suppressed by taking a form that did not require it.

Kingu ordered his children to take the forms of humans and to begin sustaining the chimeras and the vampires with spirit energy.

Ugallu, Umu-dabrutu, Kulullu, and Kusanikku all found the events that had forced their siblings to create humans and human-like races to be distasteful, and decided not to create any creatures that were too powerful.

Kulullu decided to create all the lesser creatures of the sea, and Kusanikku all the lesser creatures of the land. The twins, Ugallu created the lesser creatures of the air, but his twin Umu-dabrutu still looked to his older siblings who had created the dragons with envy.

Deciding to go against what the other three among his siblings were doing, Umu-dabrutu decided that he would create a dragon with the power of flight like the children of Basmu, but the mighty power of the children of Musmahhu. But, as he was creating this mighty creature, he quickly became fearful that this might again create a creature too powerful and who would need the energy of spirit, and this time humans might really need to be created instead of the imitations that Kingu had created.

And so, he created his creatures to be less powerful, and thus the wyverns were born.

All seemed to be well in the world, until after several generations a problem was seen among the changelings. Those among the changelings who had been born of two parents who were both in human form began to find it difficult to transform. Several generations passed, and those who descended from the changelings began to lose more and more of their powers of transformation, until one day the lineage of the changelings birthed forth a normal human.

The gods were furious that humans had been born into their world, but none were more furious than Kingu himself who had created the changelings, and he began to kill every changeling who was born without the ability to transform.

However, more and more the changelings began to fear the god who had created them, and the fear they held toward him began to damage his spirit. And then, from the plane of fire, an omen of ruin descended in the form of a great bird which made it’s home within the lands of Kingu.

Fearing this avatar of ruin and seeing the damage that the fear his people held for him had caused to his spirit, Kingu fled the lands on which he had settled and abandoned the people who he had created.

And so, without Kingu living within the land and the other gods fearing the omen of ruin, the lands of Kingu were left abandoned and the changelings once again birthed forth the humans.

From the humans, a power of imagination and fear that was far greater than what was held by the changelings began to spring forth, and from that power of imagination there was born all the demons and fairy creatures that their minds could make real, and there were those among them who began to rise as lesser gods.

And then, the ruin began as the power of Tiamat began to wane. The world that had been created from her body began to recede as it lost to the power of the elemental of earth that sought to reclaim it’s realm. Any region not protected by a god who had settled there was quickly reclaimed by the earth, and the land that formerly belonged to Kingu only remained under the power of the elemental of fire who had settled there, an elemental of water who had come to live there, a great dragon who emerged to lead the fey, and the collective spirit of the beast creatures who had migrated from the lands of Uridimmu.

After Kingu had abandoned this land, after the humans populated it, after the demons began to be born there, and after the ruin that seemed to follow directly from all of this, the children of Tiamat all began to refer to this former world of Kingu as Hell. This then became the name that all creatures would refer to it as.