And so we beheld against the curtain of Night the faintest of sparks, signs of what could be or, perhaps, the faintest tears in the grand tapestry.
- Attributed to Astranamis the Scribe
Maodin, the Creator, is the God of the Stars and the Grand Design. Emergent after the rise of mortalkind, Maodin's first appearance in history was accompanied with the birth of the stars, twinkling against the abyssal void of night. Prior to His emergence, only the faintest flickers existed beyond the soothing glow of Selune, the moon, or the nurturing warmth of Pelor's sun. As the first lights appeared, one after the other, mortals beheld in curiosity, wonder, and fear as the last of the Greater Gods descended amongst them, never speaking, presenting to them the outlines of His celestial creations:
- The Silvered Hare - Said to bring great luck to those of an earnest hunt, and great misfortune to those who would try the hare.
- The Ivory Stag - A friend of the forest and those who oppose things unnatural.
- The Crimson Devil - The sign of deception, lies and guile.
- The Midnight Fox - Covetous, greed and elusiveness are the qualities of the Fox.
- The Jade Merchant - Fair and even tempered is the commodity of the Merchant for extremes are too risky.
- The Amethyst Serpent - Born and molded by hate, the Serpent knows only revenge.
- The Bronze Beggar - Only those of good virtue would ever find themselves in front of the Beggar as the aspect represents selflessness, altruism and good deeds.
- The Emerald Shield - The shield represents stability, honesty and good will.
- The Golden Tyrant - Those with a lust for power and a total loss of human emotions are said to be modeled after the Tyrant.
- The Rose Griffin - Griffins mate for life, which is why The Rose Griffin is said to be a symbol of love and family.
- The Cerulean Falcon - The Falcon is said to represent the freedom that all humans yearn for in the open skies.
- The Purpure Emperor - Lit only for the rare and exceptional, The Emperor signals changes in eras.
- The Amber Knight - Bloodshed, conflict and war.
Religious scholars, clerics, and other holy man have long posited after the origin of the last of the Greater Gods. Some have claimed Him to be an Outsider, a traveler from another realm, a plane beyond the extant, observed worlds. His arrival and the subsequent emergence of the stars is a result of Him tearing the fabric of Creation, allowing the pure light of possibility to shine through the gaps created as a result of His entrance into the world of Hjolder.
Others believe His emergence to be a sign of the Ending Times- entire religious and magical schools of thought have been created around the practice of reading the movement of the stars and using their patterns, the symbols of the Celestial Order, and the interplay between their placements relative to one another and Nessus, Guiding Star of Maodin to attempt to divine the future, and their studies have led extremists within their schools to believe that the Final Conjunction is imminent.
Yet others hypothesize that Maodin was merely a man, a mortal whom, by means unknown, transcended his mortal form and in so doing shook the foundations of reality. His apotheosis was the catalyst for the creation of the stars, the Lesser Gods within them a byproduct of his Godly body reforming from the ether upon Maodin's divine awakening.
Whatever His origin, the Empire of Myr dedicated the entirety of their worship to the glory of the Creator God, offering praise to the "Bringer of True Light" and modeling their philosophies after the benevolent God of Grand Design, seeking to ever create plans for a world beyond the scope of their own mortal lifespans. As the Empire's power waxed, however, deception and corruption began to rot the heart of the once-great bastion of the civilization of Man. Asmodeus, Lord of the Hells, appeared in the likeness of the Light-Bringer and so deceived mortals; he claimed that it was his own doing that placed the endless lamplights of the night-time stars into motion, and that it was his will that would guide people. And so they were led astray, and it was for this, scholars posit, that Maodin turned His sight from His chosen people, and they were brought unto ruin at the hands of Asmodeus, its people turned into the infernal servants of the Lord of the Hells.
Maodin does not speak, not of His own volition. It is this silence, it is said, that led the people of Myr astray, for so overjoyed were they that their patron God deigned at last to speak to them that they dared not question Asmodeus' deception, nor the millennia of decadent prosperity that followed as a result of their corruption. It was only when Maodin's fury was brought to bear that the people realized their folly and their plight, stripped of mortal form and twisted into monsters to resemble the true nature of the Lord of the Hells, enslaved by the dark god to become extensions of his fell desires. Maodin is benevolent, Maodin is patient, Maodin is silent. It is these virtues that those who would revere the Creator God would espouse, but by no means do these virtues render one helpless. Rather, it is the exercise of such virtues that makes one harmless, for one must, in the image of their Maker, possess the capacity for great destruction and choose not to use it in order to be "harmless".
