Let it be known that throughout the history of Rhea, there have been stories of the beginning of time and the creation of the universe. Be they fact or legend, what follows is a summary produced from the commonalities between many of these tales...
I - The Time of Chaos
In the beginning, nothing could happen, because everything was happening, constantly. All dimensions, all time, all possibilities were arising and passing with each fleeting moment. Whenever anything did manifest, whether it be material, insubstantial, or a being of any form, its opposite and many variations arose simultaneously. Everything was constantly devoured and destroyed in a perpetual, swirling mix of infinite experience.
II - The Call of the Void
But then a consciousness, a great being whose mind dwelled in the void of nothingness, slowly awakened. Anchored in non-existence, with nothing to oppose it, this being slowly became aware of its nature. And that nature was entropy; a desire for silence, stillness.
III - The Great Containment
The Void Being could not create, but it could contain. And in a single act, it exerted its power of containment, reaching out to stop the endless chaos. The various energies and potentials were separated, bound into different dimensions. Space and the universe came into existence, filled with a multitude of stars - each one a container for the bound energies and potentialities.
IV - The Crucible
With the limiting of the infinite competition, many beings finally had the opportunity to arise, and continue to exist. Within each star, gods were being born. They were contained, but that containment wasn't impregnable. Their energies were so intense that they constantly battered against and pushed through their walls and out into the known universe. Space slowly became filled with a trickle of energetic currents, leaked from a thousand dimensions.
V - The River of Worlds
The escaped "rivers of energy" are each extensions of a vast potential, connected to one or many beings from their source dimension. And so, a latent intelligence exists within much of it. Slowly, an awakened intelligence emerged within these currents, and primordial forces began to weave themselves together into vessels of consciousness. They took on forms, behaviors, and eventually a temperament in accordance with their natures. Yet all of them were driven by a powerful urge to develop their natures, and to spread them. A material force began shaping a material world. This was the earliest manifestation of Earth energy and was the cause of all the planetary bodies that came later. Then Fire reached into this new world, and began burning it - hardening it, and forming molten lava within. The essence of Air surrounded the new material world and fanned the fires that burned, intensifying the process and creating the basis for atmosphere. The Water intelligence poured itself into the world, quenching the raging fires and creating the seas. The essence of Life itself willed itself into existence on this world. And so it went, as more and more energies and forces awakened and pursued their independent natures.
VI - The Fracture
Not all the newly born forces had the same goals. These "Proto-Gods" roughly divided into three camps:
- Those pursuing life, creation, order
- Those pursuing destruction, upheaval, and death
- Those serving ultimate dissolution and entropy
And so, conflict began at a titanic level. The details are unknowable, but the result was inevitable. The newly created world fractured, flinging itself outward across the known universe in a billion pieces. A collection of entities whose natures pursued life, creation, and order sought to preserve what could be saved. Rhea was one such piece, and life began to thrive there.
VII - The Faceless
As life continued on Rhea, a pantheon of Gods came to be known. Although differing cultures have their distinct versions of these Gods, a common thread throughout the world is that when a God is encountered, their face is never revealed. In time, the Gods of Rhea have come to be known as the The Faceless, twelve manifestations of essential qualities, expressed in celestial form. Some believe there are others, or that the Gods manifest different aspects of themselves, appearing to be entirely different beings. Others believe all Gods are only reflections of a single, great entity. Regardless, the Gods of Rhea will likely always be an unknowable, yet powerful force that influences the world in ways only they can truly understand.