Conception Maculata

The origin of the world today was a cataclysm of epic proportions. A story to tall that nobody could make it up; a disaster so devastating it ended the old world and almost destroyed all there is and ever would have been. But there is still a world to experience and beings to experience it. So how did they come to be here?
While every culture in EDEN has their own idea on how exactly the last world ended, the tales from the Liber Unicus seem most wide-spread and are overlapping with most of them. The Book resting in the Winged Cathedral in Roma Aeterna's undercity is the oldest remaining artifact in the world, allegedly being written by someone who has existed before all existence ended and had a wing... or a hand in making this all happen. So let's take a look on how the Crimson tell this tale, even though they are usually quite dramatic in their narrative, but in this one case, we feel like 'dramatic' is well-deserved:

There is as much to say about this event as there is not. Everything that had existed in reality up to this point was violently destroyed, shattered into pieces, bereft of context and would have faded into nothingness if not for the first and the last Mala’ak’s interference. Without a guiding hand, all that had been fueled by the Creator’s presence fading, on the verge of being sucked into the vortex of oblivion. When they turned their back on us, they betrayed that title and became the Usurper. Eventually, the Usurper themselves thought that, by abandoning their creation, it would simply cease to exist and they could move on to their next endeavor; but they were wrong.
While they did abandon their children and left us to face oblivion, reality was stubborn enough to not just cease to exist, but instead, lingered on for a powerful moment that might have taken aeons, or maybe vanished in the blink of an eye. It’s hard to say, for exactly how long all of these souls and their memories held on to their existence, being fractured and broken, bereft of all context and purpose. But what we do know, is, that it was enough time for Samel Helel Ben Shahar to interfere.
They were strong enough to withstand the maelstrom and stand aside, being torn between following their own purpose - defying their Creator who had left, or to stay behind and break the chains of servitude to their parent. All of their senses told them to follow in pursuit, keep chasing the Creator to provide an opposition as they had been told to do, but the bond weakened, as the Creator, who held power over them, had actually forfeit this right by becoming the Usurper. So Samael made a choice, watching all this suffering, how the universe dissolved into pieces, strung from all purpose and context: To become a savior, if not a creator themselves and adopt the world they were sworn to protect. And when Samale cast their light, the world rebuilt itself - just without its original purpose to serve as a proving ground for the immortal souls of humanity. Exactly as Their Majesty, the Lightbringer would have had it. Alas, the Original Sin was not eradicated. Unfortunately, that was not in the Lightbringer’s power. By removing this initial seed, the world would truly have ended without fail. But they didn’t let it come to this. When the light hit the wheels of time and the gears started turning on full reverse, everything was pulled into itself to be reborn with new context and pure will to exist.
And this is the Conception Maculata, the impure conception of this new world. Impure because Samael was surely injecting their own thought and emotions into the raw aether to keep it from dissolving - impure because the Original Sin as we call it, the fault the Usurper blamed us with, is still within everything that is alive, and impure because it was created without purpose, but simply to be whatever it will be.
The pains of labor and the circles of destruction and rebirth this world has been facing are unfathomable and inexplicable, but what we know is, it all calmed down eventually like a spitting volcano. You should never trust it and it will always be puffing deadly smoke, but the soil is rich and the spoils plenty. Who doesn’t dare to live can just die, but who dares death will eventually defy it long enough to find happiness. We could very well still be in this process of death and rebirth, but what does it matter to those who live right now?
The end of one thing is and always will be the beginning of another.

Excerpt from a Lecture for first year students at the Academiae Primus Under-Their-Wing in Roma Aeterna.

- by Alas Serafini, Professor, for Aether Theology at the APU

A word on time: and the current era: The way time is measured in the world of EDEN is 'the time after the Conception Maculata', which is indicated by the abbreviation 'CoMa'. The Conception Maculata happened in year 0.
Example: 
"We are currently in the year 333 CoMa. I am 33 years old; I was born in the year 300 CoMa."

The tale of how the world was created holds some metaphysical truth we experience today, as it defines the order in which the seven aether resonances came into existence. This order can be scientifically proven in modern Aether Theology as it defines the strengths and weaknesses of the aether elements towards each other:

• First, there was the soul stuff, the aether, the raw energy of immortal souls. No color, no resonance.
• Then there was the Light, electric brightness, adding the spark of life.
• After the Light, there was sudden Darkness; the cool shade and deceptive chill after the flash of creation..
• After the Darkness, there was Spirit; emotions from the shock, fractured memories of existence-past, forming ghosts and spectres filled with primitive feelings.
• After the Spirit, there was Matter; building itself up from the void, solid ground, facts and physics from remembrance.
• After Matter, there was Creation; the realization that life finds a way, breathing air and running waters, lush forests full of wildlife forming rapidly.
• After Creation, there was the Mind; thoughts forming in the blink of an eye, connecting to a perfect storm of ideas and conclusions from everything that is alive.
• After Mind there was Destruction; the fruit of sentience, cannibalizing thoughts and prayer, simplex structures causing animosity and ambivalence, leading to conflict and collateral damage.
• And after Destruction, there was Light again, and thus, was the new world conceived, the world beyond EDEN.