Cosmos

The Legend of the Chaos was originally recorded by the Disciple founders who claimed to be the messengers of the Mothers, though they were later executed as part of the Fracture of the Order and declared heretics by the Folatia Empire.
After the death of Valan Eromin, the Folatia leadership, with some quiet guidance by the Shadi Order, added their death to the original manuscripts, declaring them a fallen prophet of the Mothers. The creation of Hell's Breach immediately after their death strengthened the narrative, and the influence and scope of the Folatia Empire allowed for the fast spread of such a story.

Summary

The Mothers of Magic and Fathers of Magic were among the first gods, and the jealous Queen of Gehenna, Nicaja, tricked the Fathers into warring until they had destroyed each other. Their war caused modern-day Estya to splinter from its true home, a place known only as the Plane of Arcadia, and plunging the world into the chaotic spiral it has yet to reemerge from.
In her grief over the loss of her lover, Solix, the Mother of Light, Niyanna, weeped golden tears under the light of Solii, which dripped onto the ground and formed a desert blessed with Light Magic. While Niyanna wept, the Mother of Shadow, Ynix, walked across this newly formed desert in denial, searching for her own husband, Qalos. Ynix paid no mind to the boiling sands steeped in Light Magic burning the soles of her feet as she searched under the light of Luna. Her blood mingled with the tears of Niyanna to dye the sands silver by night, charging the land with equal amounts of Dark Magic, to coexist in harmony alongside the Light. This union of Light and Dark would also give birth to a new kind of magic, unseen by even the divine: Harmony Magic.

Historical Basis

While there is nothing to confirm or deny the creation of the Silver Sands and Estya as a whole, the surface of the world did fracture and create Hell's Breach immediately following Valan Eromin's death. There is nothing to indicate that Valan ever claimed to be a prophet, and the most popular speculation as to why, specifically, Hell's Breach opened in tandem with their death, is that because Valan was a light sorcerer that died to dark magic, Hell's Breach was the explosion that results from powerful Light and Dark magic colliding. Though, proponents of the Legend of Chaos argue that if such was the case, Valan's far superior light magic would've dampened the damage done, thus reventing Hell's Breach from growing so large.

Spread

While the Disciple founders certainly played a role in the spread of the story of Chaos, the Folatia ultimately were the key contributors to its widespread adoption. Their enforcement of the legend in schools and history books also cemented the Arborlich's own telling, which they say was the word of their elemental gods, and the Disciple founders were simply mistaken, as the word of the divine is difficult to hear and interpret.

Variations & Mutation

The original story has remained the same as far as Estyans know, though few records from the Laohis Era actually exist to determine the story's true origins. The addition of Valan's death, however, has evolved from the Folatia Era of them being a prophet and light sorcerer, to them being a powerful and feared necromancer during the Menarn Era.
The Arborlich have their own version of the Cosmos mythos where the demoness Nicaja, jealous of her sisters, tricks the Mothers of Magic into a battle which destroys them, and the Silver Sands is created during a total eclipse in which Solii and Luna both weep the loss of their Mothers. The fathers shape the celestial tears into fine, magical grains of sand which make up the desert, and to drip blood onto the sands is to stain the tears of the sun and moon, desecrating such sacred land.

Cultural Reception

The original legend of Chaos is considered sacred to both the Disciples and Silvins alike. The Disciples consider it gospel due to its writers being the Disciple founders themselves, and their word was the word of the Mothers. Silvins ascibe to the story because it explains not only how their beloved homeland was created, but also why powerful sorcerers are born there, and why such a curse looms over their heads.
Elsewhere in Estya, with the exception of the Arborlich, all aspects of the story are considered historical fact and taught in schools as such. Emphasis was once placed upon Valan serving as a messenger of the Mothers, though since then the story has warped to dictate Valan as an agent of Gehenna instead.
The Arborlich, however resist the additional Valan story due to its Folatia roots and influences. They still ascribe to a slightly varied version of the same general story where the Mothers are killed by the demoness Nicaja, and the Fathers of Magic reign over Estya. They also have their own elemental gods whom they believe created the schism of Hell's Breach, along with every other region of Estya.

Telling / Prose

War of the Cosmos

Related Species

• Estyan

Related Locations

• Hell's Breach
• Silver Sands

Related People

• Nicaja
• Niyanna
• Qalos
• Solix
• Ynix