Newrp: Spirits

Division of the Voices

The mythology of Balen is easily confusable. There are very few documented things, mainly, that at some point, a large number of entities called Voices existed, and that they built a massive, continent spanning city, that housed all the races of Balen, in peace and prosperity... And that at some point, the Voices all died, and the city was destroyed.

However, certain texts, do try to shed light on the origins of the Voices, by allegedly interpreting the words of the Voices themselves.

They may be true. They may be lies. Nobody knows, and it is highly unlikely that anyone ever will, for the Voices are certainly dead and gone, and so is their work. No living entity, except the three oldest Woven, survives from their days. But getting those Woven to talk, would be harder than bringing back the Voices themselves, and asking them.

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Originally, there existed an infinite number of beings, that had aligned into an infinity of circles, and that shone incredibly brightly. They all looked different...but deep down, were all the same. Empty...contemplating the vast void for eternities and eternities... Until an inexplicable event, called the Division of the Lights (the name of these primordial beings) caused all but one of them to be destroyed.

The one being left, lost it's transcendent brightness, and became enfleshed, into a form of perfected androgynous beauty, with white hair, and golden eyes, bearing a spot upon their brow, that was as bright as a star, and burnt just as hot. Their body was covered in a white feather cloak, and they stood in silence and stillness, for an eternity.

This being's true name, is unpronounceable by mortal being, and should it ever be spoken, the amount of destruction caused, would be impossible to quantify. Nevertheless, the existence of this creature is considered by many to be a pure myth.

And according to said pure myth, this being sat on meditation until a terrifying black entity, rose from the abyss and tries to consume it. Desperate, the entity shouted words of purity at the wicked creature, trying to scour it's flesh and bring it down, but to no avail. It's feather cloak burnt, and the entity was physically exhausted, as it reached the end of the (supposedly infinite) void. Apparently this entity also ate paradoxes for breakfast.

At this point, it's Sounds, had also transversed the void, and bouncing off it's walls, begun echoing throughout it. The being then, shouted one last tale, the Ultimate Wisdom. It pierced the dark entity's heart, and rendered it dead, but in this act the other being also perished. The Void entity's body fell, into the depths of the abyss and reunited with it.

The void, was then forever permeated by the dark, almost solid stench of the slain monster. In the meantime, the echoes reached said stench, and the Ultimate Wisdom reached said echoes. Piles of the stench, took echoes for themselves, and also a fraction of the Wisdom.

Given a physical form, and the essence of life, from both the dark and bright beings, these entities woke up into an odd existence. These, were the Voices. And due to the circumstances of their awakening, or perhaps some other, unfathomable reason, they all hated each-other with a burning passion. They arranged into a ring, at the edge of the void, and begun a drawn out rite of indiscriminate murder.

Thus, the Annihilation of the Voices, came to be. This is also why the void is sometimes called the Silence. Because the Voices, died there. But of course, they wouldn't be proper Voices, if they didn't get anything from their parents, so they were technically, still alive, even after their alleged death. Kind of. The texts are confusing on the subject, but most seem to suggest that upon death, the physical manifestations of the Voices petrified, then shattered to dust.

Followed by, a reincarnation, into a new physical form.

That said, there was this particular spirit, called Yavan (or, Ya-Van, to be more precise) who wasn't happy with sitting around in the void, and wanted to do more things. He made it his life's work to go and find something interesting in the bleak infinity... And even while he was mocked for it, he persisted on his task. In the end...he won out.

He found the corpse of the original bright being, that had brought them life, through it's Sounds and the Ultimate Wisdom. Studying it's corpse, and collecting his notes from the journey through the void, Yavan pieced together many bits of lost wisdom, and after an even longer time than it took for him to scour the dark infinity...

He managed to rediscover the Ultimate Wisdom. When he returned, his form was illuminated by a terrible brightness, emerging from his eyes, his hands, his chest, and his stomach, and his brow, that shone so brightly that it blinded anyone that looked at it, from every possible corner. He had gained sight of the whole void, and the worlds beyond it, and had become terrifyingly wise.

He came to the other Voices, and declared himself King, before using his immense heat and power, to open a portal from the void, into the mortal world. He was promptly stabbed in the back, multiple times, by multiple Voices, and thrown back into the void, to reincarnate. The explanation for this, is that each Voice was imbued with the Ultimate Wisdom, and while unable to put said Wisdom to words, understood it's meaning.

Thus, Yavan is often called the "Great Fool" or "The Celestial Idiot".

Some also say, that he is the primordial dark entity, from the above tale, reincarnated. Yavan, is overall a polarizing figure, that is a part of many different subsets of Voice-following.

Nevertheless, the portal was open, and the bored Voices, decided to descend into the world below. Said world was Balen, and it was an utter and complete hellhole. There were many species wandering it, but their individuals numbered at most, in the few thousands. Volcanoes, poisonous lakes, terrifyingly large and dangerous fauna (and fiora) as well as an overall hostile climate.

The Voices, saw all this, and decided that it wasn't a good place for a party. So they calmed the volcanoes, purified the lakes, butchered, or tames, the flora and fauna, and made the weather less extreme. Then they begun building. First, they shaped the continent, into something more agreeable.

They planted seeds, for meadows and forests, and jungles to grow. Then they crafted large golden walls, and performed some additional terraforming, towards what was meant to be within them, and outside. The many races of Balen, while given better conditions to live in, were thrown outside. The City's inner circles, housed the Voices, while the outer circles, housed the Woven, the servants of the Voices.

Thing is, the species left outside, grew restless, and begun demanding entrance. They contacted the Woven, first of all, only to be, at first shunned, but then, when curiosity got the better of the Woven, some sort of acceptance, followed. The mortal species were allowed within the outermost reaches of the golden city, yet they tended to their own matters. The Woven did not serve them, and they often had to do favors for the Woven just to keep their existence hidden.

When discovered by the Voices, however, a great conflict came to be. The Voices split into many factions, some shunning humans, some accepting them, some, even teaching and nurturing them. Most of the Voices however, chose to banish the Woven, from their positions, and fling them together with the mortal races. After a while, war, was inevitable.

And for the third time, the Voices murdered each-other. The golden city was shattered, and only bits and ruins of it remained. The mortal races, were left to survive on their own.

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Families of the Voices.

Voice names, often begin or end with a short word, that indicate their relation to a certain "family". Generally, there are three types of Voices. Nature Voices, who wield power over natural phenomena, Spiritual Voices who wield power over social, moral, emotional, spiritual etc. aspects, and the Silent, who turned to utilizing the power of the Silence.

That said, a Voice's NAME is what they are called, when such prefix or suffix is removed. This is because a single Voice can appear in several separate forms. An example is  Rhia/Ria, Voice of Righteous Violence. Often, she is depicted as Yaria/Riaya (Ya-Ria), a Voice whose nature is that of a destroyer, emphasizing her aspect as an exerciser of violence.

Other times, she is depicted as Mirrhia/Mirria/Miria (Mir-Ria/Rhia), emphasizing her nature as a defender of the innocent, and upholder of law, and order. The two Voices, Miria and Yaria, are separate entities, depicted with different appearances, powers, items and competences, yet they are also aspects of the same being. This is but a simple case. The Voice Gin, for example, has five aspects, three male and two frmale. Greater Voices, can also belong to two families, at once. An example, the great dragon Rada, belongs to the Ya family of destroyers, and Ol family of organizers/arrangers, and is universally known as Ya-Rada-Ol.

Below, are provided some of the names of the greater families of Voices:

Au - The Voices of Kingship, they deal with aspects of a sovereign, heirdom, good (or bad) ruling, claiming power, and maintaining it. (Example: Aura - Voice of Warrior Queens)

Sen - Voices of Knowledge of Other Times. Prophecy, history, ancient knowledge, it's preservation and destruction.  (Example: Chosen, Voice of Heroic Figure Selection)

O- Always written as O- insertnamehere or Insertnamehere-o (example, O-Quan-Voice of Cleansing Wickedness) . Voices of Recovery. Voices of healing, repair, restoration and purification.

Or - Voices of Highly Intense Emotions. Spirits of limitless joy, sadness, rage etc. (Example: Orkan - Voice of Unstoppable Rage)

Aan - Voices of Catastrophes. Voices related to the wrath of mother nature. (Example: Arcanaan - Voice of Volcanic Eruptions).

Ya - Voices of Destruction. Voices that destroy, or bring about terrible violence on people. Kaal-Ya, Yaria, Yavan, Yanshin... A LOT of Ya Voices going around, really.

Ha - Voices of Death. Voices of decay, death, degradation and reduction to a lesser state. (Example: Hagin - Voice of Species Extinction)

Ze - Voices of Weather. Most of the time, a Ze Voice, is simultaneously a Ya voice. Voices whose powers involve elements of the weather. (Example: Zessalt, Voice of Lightning (and Conquest). Is at the same time, technically, also Yassalt.)

Mir - Voices of Justice. Voices whose competences pertain the law, just choices, and proper moral conduct. (Example: Miridon - Voice of Taxes)

Te - Voices of the Arts. Voices whose powers and competences pertain to the arts. (Example: Tera, Voice of Sculpture)

Ae - Voices of Stories. Voices whose powers pertain to tales, words and story. (Example: Crae, Voice of Seemingly Hopeless tales)

Ah - Voices of Strangeness. Voices presiding over strange things, of unspecific natures. (Ginah - Voice of Mysterious Meteorites)

Go - Voices of Championing. Voices of taking up a cause and fighting for it. (Goden - Voice of Homeless Madmen)

Lu - Voices of Obscurity/Ilumination. Voices either pertaining to light or darkness, either mental or physical. Example: Luna - Voice of moonlit nights. (Strangely, Luna's actual name is..Luna.  Adding another Lu was found redundant. Mirluna and Yaluna exist separately).