User blog:Banneram/Then There Was Everything

The dream begins, it encompass everything yet being all encompassing it knows no boundaries. Without boundaries it knows no definition, until limitations are placed time can not begin.

This first blog will focus on the elven creation myths. When approaching the creation myths of Mundus, one must use an open mind and realize that all could be correct in different ways. There is a large amount of overlap in the myths, this grey area is more then likely were the truth lies. "All Tamrielic religions begin the same. Man or Mer, things begin with the dualism of Anu and His Other. These twin forces go by many names: Anu-Padomay, Aniel-Sithis, Ak-El, Satak-Akel, Is-Is Not. Anuiel is the Everlasting Ineffable Light, Sithis is the Corrupting Inexpressible Action. In the middle is the Gray Maybe ('Nirn' in the Ehlnofex)."

- The Monomyth

Elven Creation Myth, The Annotated Anuad
Creation Nirn "For whatever reason, war broke out, and raged across the whole of Nirn"
 * Anu and Padomay are companions
 * Anu and Nir give birth to creation
 * Padomay destroy the 12 worlds of creation, which Anu Forms into Nirn
 * Padomay mortally wounds Anu, the two then pull each other out of time forever
 * The blood of Padomay becomes the Daedra, while the blood of the two becomes Aedra
 * Ehlnofey, and Hist are the only survivors of this dawn war
 * The Ehlnofey form into two bands, those who survived on Ehlnofey(Aldmer) itself and the Wandering Ehlnofey(Humans)

- The Annotated Anuad


 * Viscious war tears apart Ehlnofey, and the majority of the Nirn sinks beneath the ocean
 * Even though they were bystanders the majority of the Hist homeland disappears into the ocean as well.

Altmeri "The Heart of the World"The Monomyth
"Anu encompassed, and encompasses, all things. So that he might know himself he created Anuiel, his soul and the soul of all things. Anuiel, as all souls, was given to self-reflection, and for this he needed to differentiate between his forms, attributes, and intellects. Thus was born Sithis, who was the sum of all the limitations Anuiel would utilize to ponder himself. Anuiel, who was the soul of all things, therefore became many things, and this interplay was and is the Aurbis."

- The Monomyth

The creation myth gives a more metaphysical approach to creation, this creation myth echos others that state that Akatosh sets the path for which other Et'Ada(Aedra and Daedra) are able to realize themselves. After the fall of Et"Ada Auriel pleads with Anu to take the Et'Ada back, however Anu refuses having replaced them. Anu grants Auriel his bow and shield, which he takes up to defeat the hordes of men. Altmora(Atmora, the Elder Wood) had already fallen to men, and the Chimer and Bosmer had soiled their lineage. However Trinimac defeats Lorkhan before his army, proceeding to rip his heart out. Unable to destroy the heart, it is shot into the ocean with the intention of removing its influence from Nirn forever.
 * Auriel(Akatosh) bleeds throughout creation to help order the universe
 * The Aedra begin to take form, including Magnus and Lorkhan
 * Lorkhan, more akin to Sithis than Anu, convinces the Aedra to create their own place to reflect upon themselves just as Anu did. However this is a trick, Mundus was a place of limitations not of Infinity.
 * Et'Ada,the Aedra in the case, begin to die off. Some, like Magnus, are able to flee while others transform themselves into Ehlnofey(Earth Bones)
 * Some Ehlnofey marry and have children to survive, these eventually become the Aldmer
 * The weakest of the Ehlnofey are gathered under the banner of Lorkhan, these become the men

Bosmer Creation Myth
One could assume the initial aspects are similiar to the Aldmer religion, however it may share some characteristcs with the Khajiiti creation myth(to be covered in the future). "Y'ffre (God of the Forest): Most important deity of the Bosmeri pantheon. While Auri-El Time Dragon might be the king of the gods, the Bosmer revere Y'ffre as the spirit of 'the now'. According to the Wood Elves, after the creation of the mortal plane everything was in chaos. The first mortals were turning into plants and animals and back again. Then Y'ffre transformed himself into the first of the Ehlnofey, or 'Earth Bones'. After these laws of nature were established, mortals had a semblance of safety in the new world, because they could finally understand it. Y'ffre is sometimes called the Storyteller, for the lessons he taught the first Bosmer. Some Bosmer still possess the knowledge of the chaos times, which they can use to great effect (the Wild Hunt)."

- Varieties of Faith in the Empire

The Bosmer are unique in their ability to tap into this primordial chaos, also unique to them is the adherence to a belief known as the green pact. It is interesting to apply this idea to their other primordial races, they were constantly changing forms.""They are exclusively and religiously carnivorous. They cannot, or will not, eat anything that is plant-based. They eat game, beastfolk, each other, or meats imported from other regions. This part of the Green Pact is known as the Meat Mandate, and, among its other rules, it requires that a fallen enemy must be eaten completely before three days pass."

- Pocket Guide to the Empire, First Edition: Aldmeri Dominion

This is a general overview of two of the known elven creation myths, hopefully I covered it faithfully. My next blog will cover the creation myths of the Khajiit, the Tsaesci, and the Argonians.