The Oracle's Cosmology
Common to all the mountain peoples, from Invernell toVernier, is a common spirituality that permeates their daily life and how theythink. In Zephyr’s Flight, it’s best told by the Oracle of the Seers as part ofa common oral history that long predates their slavery in the Imperium. Thishistory includes dragons even though until recently, dragons were considered mythical.
Of special interest are the Worm of the World and the threeNembs, who we call fates:
Jurdi: Goddess of what once was (the past).
Jerdani: Goddess of what is coming to be (the hereand now).
Jeluuk: Goddess of what is yet to come (thefuture).
Here’s thecomplete cosmology
Pantheonof the Mountain Clans
Name Position in the Pantheon
Olim
King ofthe gods; god of war and protector of the vulnerable.
Fairma
Queen ofthe gods; goddess of fertility and the harvest.
Yemilgan
Fallenbrother of Olim.
Warhome
Heaven forthe bravest warriors, ruled by Olim.
Folkshome
Heaven forthe virtuous, ruled by Fairma.
Evanfall
Fairma’s hall inFolkshome.
Valkyr
Wingedgoddess who guides fallen warriors to heaven.
Nembs
The threefates:
Jurdi: Goddessof what once was (the past).
Jerdani: Goddessof what is coming to be (the here and now).
Jeluuk: Goddessof what is yet to come (the future).
Einerkel
Fallenwarriors who wait in Warhomefor the Final Battle.
Ullir
God ofwinter and archery.
The Worm of the World
The Worm thatdevours Juro, builds its features, and turns rock into soil.
Olim and histwin brother, Yemilgan, wereborn of the sun (Helios) and the stars that floated free in the heavens. Eleinand Fures, children of the largest moon, Lon, created more gods and goddesseswho chose Fairma as their queen. The marriage of Olim and Fairma united day with night and peace with war into one whole.
Toorder the universe and keep a watchful eye on their children, Helios and Loncreated time with the cycles of the sun, the moons, and the seasons. Becausethe future is a consequence of the past, they also bore the three Nembs—past, present, and future.
Olim made Juro to play on, and from itspontaneously arose The Worm of the World, whose back plates make the Spine and the Archipelago that dives intothe Ocean of Daggers. At Fairma’stouch, the Worm bore the dragons, beginning with Aeterna (love) and Munte (virtue), who tamed their father. Olim has no power over the dragons, who live ina state of grace with Juro and the gods—elementals at one with the rocks andthe sky, and, like them, cannot lie.
Outof jealousy of Fairma’s lovefor Olim, Yemilgan froze the Worm and brought the Darknessthat devastated Juro. But Olimexiled Yemilgan before hedestroyed the dragons.
Fairma loves the dragons and sent them to lift theDarkness and tame the lands. From the fertile soil, other creatures arose, andhumans last of all. Seeing how smart dragons and humans were, Fairma gave them free will so that over time, theymight learn from their mistakes and live virtuous lives.
Afterall life was created, Aeterna and Munte lay down to die, leaving their children toprosper. Fairma will resurrect Aeterna if the Darkness returns, and Aeterna will choose her mate and birth the newgeneration of dragons.
Dragonslive at peace with all creatures except humans, because humans strive to rule.At Yemilgan’s whisperings, theSpeaker arose from the humans. The Speaker lied to the dragons and used them toenslave humans and bring the Chaos. Dragons have free will, and when theSpeaker set some dragons on their brothers reluctant to join him, the dragonsrealized what they had become and killed the Speaker and his minions. But notbefore human culture was devastated.
Toprevent the Speaker from rising again, Fairma tookfrom humans the ability to understand and speak to the dragons. But humans areclever, and a Speaker may rise again.
WithJuro in balance, humans survived the Chaos, and after the Wandering, the Imperiumwas formed. Humans now prosper alongside the dragons. But the Nembs warn that the Darkness and the Chaos can returnif humans forget the paths of virtue and instead heed the whisperings of Yemilgan.
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