The Layers of the Cosmos

This main cosmology is believed by the greatest number of inhabitants in the Middle World. Different groups focus on different elements, and of course it has been the crux of many religious debate (and war) over the ages.

Listen, for the legends speak thusly:

IN THE BEGINNING there was the cosmic void. The Creator saw this and began to shape it into the world: a place where life could grow and flourish and understand the beauty of living. Erupting from the cosmic furnace, the Sea of Fire, the Creator fashioned the Earth. But this world’s elements were at odds, imbalanced, so he created Bahamut, who swims through the void carrying the World upon his back.

From the void the Created World began to form, and with its formation the Spirits and gods, the Celestials. These spiritual embodiments were able to tap into the power of the world and cosmos that made the Creator fearful. So he created Falak, the great serpent, to keep them in check. The Celestials crafted their own kingdoms in the clouds, and the Creator fashioned the Garden of Paradise for souls to know him and experience peace. Thus was born the Middle World, between the heavens and the abysses.

The realms are:

1. The Empyrean Throne, where the Creator dwells in the great Light.

2. The Gardens of Paradise, where mortal souls may rest in the light of the Creator, by the Tree of Life. It is protected by the great bird, Simurgh. The wood-elves of Tahira see this as their final resting place, where they are reunited with their god-mother, Ishtar.

3. The Celestial Stage. This is where most of the gods and greater beings, the Celestials, retreated to when they left the Middle World. Pious souls may join them here in service. Both the Majirahans and Taishan faithful see their gods here, who enact a cosmic play that affects their daily lives.

4. The Middle World, the realm of mortal being and action.

5. Bahamut, the Great Fish. It swims through the oceanic void, carrying the Middle World on its back. The elves believe that Bahamut is the source of magic.

6. The Apsu, the great watery void of darkness. It is here that Tiamat was banished by the Celestial hero Shen in the First Age.

7. The Sea of Fire, the great cosmic furnace wherein Falak is entombed until the End of Time.

As time passed and the Spirits and Celestials grew more independant, the Creator fashioned the mortal races, who would come to understand the beauty of the creation through living and eventually dying. From clay he created humans. From wood, the elves*. The dwarves were hewn from stone, the Halflings from soft earth, and the gnomes from gems. The jinn were created from fire and air. All of these creations were given the choice of free will and mortality, so that they could choose to know the Creation or be burdened with ignorance.

At some point in these early eras, the dragon Zarkham seeded the dragons Tiamat and Tien Lung upon the World. The Creator sought to ensure balance between the two dragons, and so gifted Tien Lung with celestial wisdom to counter Tiamat’s chaotic nature. But Tiamat and Falak bonded and spawned the draconic lines, and for this the Celestial hero Shen was tasked to slay Tiamat. Tien Lung carried his sister’s remains into Apsu, the void, where Tiamat now lies entombed.

Pride, greed, and vanity bore into the dragons (who coveted the world the Celestials and mortals had), and the Celestials became distressed with the mortals, who sought to harness magic and the power of the world and spirits. The great empires began to fight each other, and the Celestial gods and worldly Spirits began to withdraw from the Middle World, leaving the mortal races to further fend for themselves and not know the heavens until death. This marked the close of the second great era.

The creatures, spirits and natural beasts alike, left behind during this transition grew into the monsters and fiends that roam the Middle World, often jealous of what mortals have done and eager to regain a sense of power.

 It is believed that a soul who does evil and is heavy with sin will descend in the layers of the cosmos, thus wandering the Apsu and going mad or burning in the starry fires where Falak dwells. A soul that is pious and unburdened will rise, to dwell with its chosen gods or, in the best of circumstances, with the Creator at the Empyrean throne.

*NOTE: While this cosmology fashions the elves--like the other mortal races--from nature, the elven belief is different. This is explained in "The Wood-Elf Kingdom of Tahirah."