The Eldest

The beautiful and terrible

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Overview

The Motherlight's countless firstborn, each with a Name all their own to anchor a piece of the Motherlight's consciousness. Their common origin resulted in their minds operating as a massive network, inextricably linked but each with their own unique shapes and forms. Since they were all created before the establishment of the Timeline, it's impossible to nail down how long their golden reign lasted or what order events occurred in. They were all beholden to the Motherlight's whim, but she was never a demanding taskmaster, content to simply enjoy their company as they wandered the vast Universe. Filling it with various things to entertain her became a favorite pastime.
The stars were popular subjects, brilliant and beautiful and brimming with Eldest magic, and then concentrated magic veins that could birth large swathes of them to light up the void. Baubles and trinkets vastly powerful in function were also common, which the Eldest liked to drape over themselves to explore the concept of individuality outside their hivemind. Distinct personalities developed, as well as boredom with the inanimate. Taking their cue from the Motherlight, they fractured off tiny pieces of the consciousness that sustained them to birth the Gods, children of their very own that they paraded around for her amusement.

How many can I make? Let's find out, shall we? Live, live, live.

--the Motherlight

The caveat to this utopian arrangment was that Gods were deeply compelled to be near and obey the parent Eldest that created them due to their connection via Motherlight fragments, much like the Eldest were compelled to follow the wishes of the Motherlight. Despite that, the Gods were truly individual in a way the Eldest were not, though "sibling" Gods felt certain kinships with one another due to sharing small pieces of the same Motherlight fragment. The Eldest didn't mind. Their children were infinitely more interesting with the unintended separation, wreaking havoc throughout the Universe and enjoying the attention lavished upon them.
The compulsions became a cause for immense pain when, for reasons unknown, the Motherlight vanished from every time and every place in the Universe. The Eldest had a collective meltdown as they frantically searched for a creator that appeared to no longer exist. When the Motherlight's voice echoed throughout existence in a pleading Call, the Eldest answered and similarly disappeared, leaving their beloved children behind. The grief-stricken Gods named their parents' final, unknown destination the Heart of the Universe, and the all-encompassing quest for its location consumed them.

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Biology
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The Eldest take any shape imaginable, and many that aren’t.

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Don’t appear to reproduce, as the Gods don’t remember any more coming into creation.

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All they need to subsist on is their piece of the Motherlight.

Skills
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Able to generate magic at will in unlimited amounts and shape it as they please.

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Created the stars, magic veins, artifacts, and Gods

Trivia
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An Eldest doesn’t ever disobey the Motherlight. The Gods aren’t sure if their creators even have the capability to refuse her.

Further Reading