The Creation of the World poem

I've been working on this for a while. With my exposure to Anglo-Saxon poetry, I decided to follow their patterns of alliteration to make my own. This is now an official canonical piece of Argaenothruzilian lore on my forum. For the original story I based this on, see this post.

1  Before Argae existed, anarchy ruled substance.

    Matter flowed wistfully, writhing watery through the void.

    Chaos reigned over all, except the Intelligences.

    Nine were they, cosmic balance they knew

5  and control they possessed, if only partially.

    Working together, they wrought forth order

    there were Nine who brought newness to nothingness;

    many were of lesser rank, but most were minor in comparison

    to the Nine, who were human in appearance; however,

10 no races existed yet, neither world nor life

    the time of creation arrived, comrades met to craft

    heirs to their lineage, lesser beings.

    First they organized the elements, all of them

    five: Fire, formed into the sun

15 and into cracks in the cold core, merged

    with Earth. Under foot, and over head

    the moon also, made of earthen matter.

    Water was wrapped round the world

    in oceans and open seas, also

20 Used to encase comets and cold ice.

    The Intelligences had no use for Air,

    but that their blood-children could breathe,

    shrouded the sphere of creation with sweet air

    and clouds. Quintessence, the fifth core element

25 blood of the gods, grafted to heaven in dots glimmering above

    sprinkled in the sky. So thus

    having a home-orb to place heirs,

    they assembled sentient races, species

    according to the elements the Intelligences’

30 affinity. The foremost, Vendictes, formed

    healthy humans, from dust handcrafted,

    resilient race, strong and respected,

    assembled by brave Bezzoan, bronze-hearted one,

    and Time-father, virtuous Vendictes.

35 And of these many maids were married

    to angels above, iridescent seraphauns,

    golden-eyed god-children, with glowing auras.

    Then the parent of peace, Phroella,

    formed elves of the forest, fair-eared,

40 bow-wielding wood-folk, wheat-haired ones.

    Then the wind-weaver, wisest of the circle,

    Henaeros cloud-crafter, came forth

    to beget genies and gnomes, great in mind,

    wise in magic and medicine made he them.

45 Ezrim, god of justice, generated governments

    law and legislature he brought about, loyalty

    to kings kindled in man’s hearts.

    And [civil elves]* as well, city-walkers, shunned

    from the forests of their kinfolk.

50 Moeki, the man of many tricks

    god of greed set gold-seekers in the earth.

    Deep beneath the dirt, the dwarves

    tunneling out over the tides of time.

    Then fiery Rauroth, revenge-seeker,

55 sowed seeds of scarlet night in the Vendictes-children

    and brought forth blood-eyed gogs, born

    from damsels and demons from the dungeon.

    Khlamul, lord of comets, created

    jinn, genies of glass and * * *

60 * * *

    * * * †[corru]pter, D’nethrokash, decay-bringer,

    formed with his fingers the lava-fissures,

    and drew forth dark-skinned orcs of the deep,

    shivering in sable caverns of stone.

65 When the work of the wise ones was done,

    an argument arose from some in their elevated ranks:

    ‘What purpose should they prove themselves, our progeny

    who sit beneath this celestial ceiling?’

    Some willed that their sons should please self,

70 three of the intelligences, for individuality and industry;

    others argued selflessness, and service to brothers

    so friendship and family could remain ever forged bright.

    The third group, three gods as well, thought

    that moderation betwixt these motives should be maintained.

75 Then were arguments heard among the Intelligences:

    ‘Was the world smithed from one element?

    Shall our sons be single-eyed as the beasts?

    Nine are we, and new this world is,

    thus must balance be maintained, and minds directed

80 to pursuits of personal worth, choice preserved!’

    Six of the saintly ones agreed to this sole view,

    but the Other Three were offended, and angered.

    The devils demanded that their view be determined,

    that man, elf, and dwarf should maintain oneness in mind;

85 that singularity be shunned as a sin,

    and uniqueness undermined utterly.

    These three were then forsaken,

    cast away from the council of the cosmos,

    and left to their own livid designs alone.

90 On the planet that the pure ones had praised

    were two continents, created with wisdom and craftsmanship:

    God’s Crown, wrought in the windy west,

    green and touched by godly ones, where life grew

    and where blood-children and beasts danced, benevolent island.

95 And Noble Diamond, with its deep pits of dazzling gold,

    and fields of flowers and grain, flowing like amber.

    This latter the sulfurous devils seized,

    sowing ash and soot in the veins of land and sea.

    For hard were the holy armies’ swords and helms,

100 who watched over the western shores and mountains.

    And yet blind were their eyes, underestimating the evil

    of the Other Three, there whose thirty thousand demons

    lurked under the Noble Diamond’s lush fields and lands.

    In time the blight escaped, bursting as brimstone from fissures

105 in the eastern earth; Ash filled the air,

    races went extinct. Others evolved and were corrupted

    as a wilting flower has its life wrested from it by weeds.

    The gods sent sixty thousand angels‡ to contain the sickness,

    but the influence of the evil ones was irreversible.

110 Noble Diamond was tarnished forever, and the terrible tendrils

    thirsted outwardly through the seas like a thunderous wave.

    Hastily the cloud-god Henaeros harnessed the air

    and wove a wind-ring that he wound round the planet.

    And those swirling storms stopped that evil plague

115 of chaos and evil from coming to God’s Crown.

    Thus was the evil ones’ influence halted;

    but the devils’ destruction had dominated

    half the holy world the intelligences had created

    and the power of the planet-makers was limited

120 so that but a mite of mercy could extend to men there.

    And the orcs ravaged the ridges of sulfurous lava-rock,

    driven furious into frenzy by the Other Three’s focus.

    And the intelligent planet-parents wept to see sons perish,

    and adapt alone on the ground swept with ash.

125 No longer was it named Noble Diamond,

    but Black Possession, for the blight had burned

    it from the inside to the shores around.

    The Sacrum of the seraphaun-fathers was all but spent,

    and for this are needed feverous fathers of priesthood

130 and crusaders courageous and full of calm devotion.

    But may the glory of the Gods shine and gleam

    upon anyone who deems it right to adore Deity and not Devil.

---

* This word was missing from the original manuscript, and added by the gnomish linguist-historian Tem Delvo in c. 2g722. Some scholars question the validity of this choice, given that the manuscript only mentions wood-elves and not any of their other separate species (some believe elves who use magic to be a separate species—"magic elves"—because of their differing abilities). Some even believe that a “lost” race, now extinct, was once mentioned here.

† This section of the poem was missing when found, and has never been recovered. As such, less is known about Khlamul than the other gods.

‡ Traditional legends claim that each god and devil has ten thousand angels (or demons) at his or her command. See also line 102.