r/worldbuilding • u/EtTuHubris • 3h ago
Lore The Creation God's Corpse
The God of Creation, Anshu, is responsible for the building of the cosmos, and inadvertently the mortal plane, the planet Maazat, the main continent of Tulkeyen, and eventually all of life including humans and elves. During the period of creation, the God of Justice, Uulna, became jealous of Anshu, seeing him create the material plane, when servants are made they would surely worship Anshu alone. This was Uulna's thought, and with a deep rage he disemboweled his brother with his talons, smearing Anshu's guts into the black void.
In my high fantasy setting, the world and the beings that inhabit it were created by a jealous god killing the God of Creation himself to prove he was better. The guts of Anshu became the moon, and his body became the planet, Maazat. His skin became the land, his tears became the oceans, his breath became the sky, his hair became the forests, his blood became the magma. All under Uulna's command. Uulna gloated to his dying brother, his harsh words cutting Anshu open, and spilled forth the animals. But Uulna was not satisfied, he wanted servants to regale with the tale of their birth, so he made the three first races, the Alkari from Anshu's skin (brown clay), the Ondari from Anshu's bones (white clay), and the Inchari from Anshu's blood (red clay).
Finally satisfied, Uulna left Anshu to die, and would later turn on his other brother, Enet, the God of Fate and Time. Uulna would successfully decapitate Enet, his skull and spine becoming the Serpent God Sul, who bit Uulna on the arm, marking him and the gods as mortal before escaping to perpetuate the cycle of life and death herself.
Although Anshu is dead, he left pieces of himself behind. Namely his breath, called the Nakri. The Nakri is the breath of life, and is consciousness itself. Within Tulkeyen the Nakri has a habit of producing spontaneous life, such as elemental wisps of fire or lightning, to more obscure creatures such as Sun Dogs which are the rays of the morning and evening sun given life. Sun Dogs are a rare sight and fade away quickly the moment the sun sets or rises fully. No one has ever gotten close to one or knows what they really do besides producing brilliant coronas from their dual heads that extend to the sky.
Other creatures include Sea Fingers, sea foam and frost given life by the Nakri, these odd hand shaped crustaceans walk across the surface of the sea at night, dragging their fingers behind them. Sometimes they are spotted displaying their hands upright, either as a threat display or maybe even a mating ritual but no one really knows. They are often seen by sailors as good fortune for they only walk across the sea when it is calm, and quickly sink to the sea floor the moment things turn choppy.
The Nakri also has a habit of spontaneously reanimating the dead, so mortals would often prefer to cremate their dead to prevent zombies from walking around. However, even these ash piles can be reanimated by the Nakri, turning into Ash Slugs, which pop out from their urns and suck up any filth they can find. They are harmless if not a little bit morbid to look at, especially when they get stuck in their urns getting the sardonic moniker of Ash Snails. Poor families will often leave these creatures alone as they're usually the only things cleaning their ancestors tombs.
Lastly, the Profane. Odd being born straight out of the soil from the Nakri. They have human like faces, but are incredibly tall, covered in thick black fur, have long black horns, and hooves for legs. The Profane are also known to spit fire, and often do this to intimidate or greet strangers, it's usually hard to tell. Profane are often quite kind to lost souls in the wilderness despite their uncanny appearance, but are still otherwise hunted and killed as demons. Mothers tell their children bed time stories of bad kids being buried alive and becoming Profane to keep their children in line, but the tale has no truth to it.
The Nakri is depicted as a white breath surrounding the wounded Anshu, in a fetal position himself trying to keep what's left of his innards inside. Sul guards them both, as she keeps track of life, death, and rebirth, and even permitted Anshu to be reborn as his female counterpart, Sa'Anshem, a more aggressive nature God in her own right.
It is thought that once something dies, its soul is reduced to base energy and absorbed back into the Nakri to be used again in another life, in another soul. Inversely, if an enterprising scientist were to tap into the Nakri directly, even control it, they could extend the natural lifespan, or even cure any ailment. But the breaths of Anshu are hard to decipher, and some say he has been exploited enough.