Although there are slight geographical and historical variations in the creation myth, all Hârnians and western Lythians have held the same basic beliefs since the earliest times. Most educated Hârnians share a common view on the origin of Kelestia, how it is maintained, and how it is organized. Each gamemaster using Hârn must determine for himself the exact details of his own version of reality.
The story of creation can be traced to several distinct sources of divine revelation. These are the beliefs that the gods of Kethira have conveyed to Hârnians and wish them to hold, even if they are not true. All of the major gods have conveyed the same basic ideas to their followers. Therefore, most mortals agree that since the story of creation has been verified by many divine sources, the basic facts of the story must be true. Only the interpretations of these “truths” are open to debate.
The Libram of the Pantheon
Around 120 TR, during Lothrim’s reign, the basic beliefs of Hârnians were collected into a single tome by a secular scholar, Nala-Uroh of Elkall-Anuz. He called his book the “Libram of the Pantheon” and modern variations of it are the basic metaphysical reference source for all presentday major religions. Nala-Uroh based his efforts on earlier works, none of which seem to have survived. The Libram has since received confirmation from various churches which have all cited divine revelation as the reason for their surety. Nala-Uroh went far beyond a simple description of creation by undertaking to include personal descriptions of the gods, a valorous undertaking none have been willing to repeat.
The Natal Wars
The Libram describes a universal chaos, where time and space had no meaning and there was no fixed reality. From this arose the “First Gods,” the only beings able to keep their “shapes” against the chaos and who were really ineluctable, underlying “principles” of power rather than gods in any conventional sense. The First Gods included Time, Fate, Chance, Light, and Darkness and were never worshipped since they were never clearly understood. The Libram says that these gods threatened to destroy the cosmos:
“And the First Gods made war upon each other for
dominion of the ‘All.’ And some say that this [war] restored
the chaos that had been and some say that the war and
the chaos were one and the same, for time was not then
as settled in its habits as now… And the First [gods] made
the Lesser Gods to wage battle for them, but these had less
of the power to keep their shapes, and could be broken by
force that even they did wield.”
Thus came into being the “Lesser Gods” whose descendents (?) are now worshiped on Hârn. Although these new gods were able to reproduce themselves, they were not invulnerable and could destroy each other if conditions were right. The new gods were more like men and would be easier for men to understand. When it became apparent that the war of the First Gods threatened the very existence of Kelestia, the First Gods made peace. Each was to have his own realm and to participate in the government of the whole:
“…they stood upon a different part of the chaos and
imposed their wills and forms…that some parts be ruled
by one [of the First Gods] alone, and some be ruled by
several, and some would be the kingdom of all, and some
would be the domain of none.”
Because of the way the laws of the universe were applied, worlds and universes came into being more or less in their present form. This cosmos was called “Kelestia.” However, peace was not yet achieved since the Lesser Gods were now released from service to do as they pleased. They had multiplied and:
“they did lack the wisdom of their creators…and they vied
still…for dominion over all the worlds. And some dwelt
in small parts of [single] worlds, and some cast [their]
reflections across many worlds…and they made battle…
they had the power to destroy the ordering of all…the
First Ones did know that, even though they might be
moved from where they stood [and the nature of Kelestia
temporarily changed] they could not be broken [personally
destroyed].”
The Concordat of the Illimitable Tome
So the First Gods simply watched, knowing that Kelestia could only be changed, not destroyed, by the War of the Lesser Gods. Any damage that was done could be repaired. After many of the Lesser Gods had been destroyed, the survivors were able to make a de facto truce, in effect a concordat to fight each other only in ways that would not threaten their personal existence.The Concordat of the Illimitable Tome, the Ke’lha-Hy-Var-Hyvrak, made peace of a kind among the gods and their followers. It made laws to govern the ways in which the gods could intervene in the affairs of mortals and laws to govern the ways in which the gods could compete for supremacy. The complexity of these laws is cited as the main reason that the ways of gods are often inexplicable to men. When a deity intercedes to aid an impious scoundrel after denying the pleas of a loyal saint, observers may well shrug their shoulders and say, “ah, ‘tis the Concordat and not the will of our god.”
The Illimitable Tome
In the course of the War of the Lesser Gods many new creatures, the sapient mortals among them, had been created, some by accident. They had been allowed free access to knowledge (the ultimate power) but had also been placed under various compulsions to serve the gods.
Even then they had succeeded in destroying a number of the gods. The mortal creatures lacked the wisdom to control their knowledge. Now that the lesser mortals were to be given command of their own souls, the gods:
“made the divine law that knowledge should be a god’s
burden… And so did they [the gods] hide it in diverse
ways, saying that only such of the lesser [mortal] creatures
as were able [of their own cunning] to discover it were fit
to have knowledge.”
The gods had concluded that the greatest danger to themselves and to the mortal creatures they had created was the unfettered spread of knowledge among those who lacked the wisdom of restraint. They chose the god Save-K’nor to maintain the Illimitable Tome, wherein would be written all the knowledge of Kelestia. Some have suggested that Kelestia was actually divided into provinces, each of which contained a number of worlds, and that a different god was given responsibility for each province. Certainly, the spread of knowledge between such provinces is virtually non-existent. Hence, establishing the truth of this idea is almost impossible. In any event, for Kethira and its neighbors, Save-K’nor is the keeper of the “Holy writs.”