Yesh'him Myth and Legend

Yeshen Mythic History

In the human time of the Mundsource, on the mythical continent of Origgune, came the times of the first Separation. The Nareshi, the Lord of Oceans, took the hand of Yesharra Waterbound, and he led her away from the others, to the edge of the continent where the wide sea billowed and fell. Yesharra’s smooth, pink skin and dark black hair shone in the evening light, and she looked up at Nareshi, the lord of Oceans, in an innocent kind of unformed question. When he smiled and nodded his assent, the young Deity felt freedom coursing through her.
Yesharra Waterbound let go with joy, and she leapt wholeheartedly into the primal sea. For many centuries and many millenia she became the sea, and she rode the currents and tides from one end of Summer’s Tale to the other.
She saw the fish of the oceans, and she marvelled, and after a long time she came up to the beach again and found Nareshi Lord of Oceans, and nodded assent before the question had even been asked. Yesharra Waterbound jumped back in the sea and swam away as a great fish, to explore the ocean as a great fish and see it anew.
After many more thousands of years however, Yesharra desired anew. She missed her old form, the human form, with which she walked from the Separation. The memory of that time was dim, but Yesharra remembered being human, and she went to Nareshi Lord of Oceans, he standing forever on the beach, as reliable as the tides. Again, Nareshi knew, and so he reached out and touched Yesharra’s shoulders, and so she changed again.
Yesharra Waterbound found herself swimming in the sea once again, with a long and powerful fish’s tail. Her torso, however, retained its human form. She was a fish-human--a Yesh-him--and she felt limitless in the great wide ocean. She rejoiced and delighted, and she swam the seas a thousand times over. She sang songs of revelation and joy, both above the surface and below. She made stories about her adventures as a new Yesh-him.
But Yesharra, as we know, was a restless child, and she soon wanted something different. She loved the sea and wished never to leave, but again she missed her old form--her original form from the Mundsource itself. She had the vaguest memories of legs and walking and running… Nareshi was there of course, and he smiled, and he took her hand to help her from the sea onto the rocky shore.
As she found herself on firm land, she realized that her fish’s tail had disappeared, and two legs sprouted in its place. The transformation was so gentle as to hardly be noticed. Yet there she was, standing upright. She wore a simple white loosely-spun cotton shirt with pants to match. And in this form she walked with Nereshi, Lord of the Oceans, for many days. When she missed swimming in the sea, or desired food from it, she simply slipped in the water and swam away as a Yesh-him.
She continued to sing, and her voice took on a holy quality that not even Nareshi could match. She wrote songs and told stories of these days before time. Music was therefore destined to be a part of Yesh-him culture.
Finally, after many years, Nareshi looked at Yevarra Waterbound and said simply, “My work is done here, dear Yesh-him. Go now and bring your songs and stories to the creatures of the sea; tell your stories to the many children you beget. Bring the Yesh-him to all corners of Summer’s Tale, and let everyone hear your music! No longer will you be Yevarra Waterbound; you will now be Yevarra Water’s Child.”
Yevarra took the guidance of Nareshi, Lord of Oceans, and gave him a look of utmost reverence. She nodded her head, turned, and splashed away into the sea.

COMMON YESHENS AND YESH-HIM LEGEND
Nearly all of the people, save many Yesh-him and a very few Yeshens, have forgotten the history of the region, and they live with only a vague idea of what has happened in the past five hundred years. Especially those of low SES have no idea, save for tales of lost times and old sailing heroes, making voyages to faraway lands and conquering dragons and giants. For most Yeshens, these are just stories. The rumors of old ruins and mysterious magic—a lingering bit of “knowledge” that remains among the populace, are rumors of superstition and even fear. The presence of magic and living myth in the lives of the Yeshen people, especially in Alderham, is little, and there is suspicion and cynicism about it for most.

DEITIES of the YESH'HIM Hal Nereshi, Lord of the Sea and Friend to all Seafarers