Ancient
History
The Mythos of Dafan
The wisest sages have
compiled a somewhat consistent history of the world, based on the myths
of the races. The “best” sources are Bards and Druids of the
Elves. Our oldest records are in the form of sagas, monolith carvings
and magically-preserved papers. The sagas are typically about great persons;
the carvings are often chronological listings of monarchs, governments,
and laws; while scrolls are more personal summaries of events by clerics
and magic users.
In the beginning, there were two deities: Azathoth (the sentience of
all Matter in the Universe), and Yog Sothoth (Time and Space). As time
progressed, new forces developed. Nodens arose as the Element of Magic;
as did the Messengers of the Deities and servant of Azathoth, Nyarlat-hotep
(“the Crawling Chaos” and “Howler in the Dark”).
Matter became four elements: Earth, Air, Fire and Water; and the Element
Deities known as the Great Ones served Azathoth. Water was Cthulhu, Fire
was Cthugha, Air was Hastur and Earth was Shub Niggurath, who looked after
life (as we know it) on the side. As time went on, more lesser deities
formed, as minions to those above. The ones most mentioned in the sagas
as the Other Gods (servants of Azathoth), the Elder Ones (servants of
Nodens), and Mother Hydra (the ancestor of Dragon Kind). Many well-known
deities such as Corellon and Thor as thought to have been minions at this
time also.
All went well for aeons, until rivalry set in. A cataclysmic war developed
between the four Matter Elemental Deities (Cthulhu, Cthugha, Hastur and
Shub Nigurath) and Nodens, the Elemental Deity of Magic. The Great Old
Ones and their servants and worshippers tried to cast down Nodens. But
Nodens and the Elder Ones subdued and imprisoned the Great Old Ones.
Some manuscripts say that Cthulhu was imprisoned in His beautiful city
of R’lyeh, dead in a crypt with the Elder Sign (Nodens’ magic
holy symbol) on the door:
in
his house in R’lyeh dead Cthulhu waits dreaming
Others say that Cthugha
was likewise imprisoned in the star Fomalhaut
and Hastur was imprisoned near Aldebaran
in the Hyades,
near Dafan itself. A strange couplet written in Sumerian (Astaran) seems
to refer to this:
That
is not dead which can eternally lie
And with strange aeons even death may die.
On Dafan,
the worshippers of the various combatants also fought a horrendous war,
lasting many centuries. The victors (primarily the Elves) drove the losers
(primarily the Mind Flayers) underground. This conflict was so drastic
that for millennia afterwards most lesser deities did not attend to Dafan
(many were imprisoned anyway). Confusion set in, races died off, and ice
ages occurred. Elves fought Elves, leading to the creation of a race
of evil Elves, the Drow, who were driven deep underground.
Eventually new minor deities and a few of the surviving deities who worshipped
the Great Ones or their associates arrived in this part of the Universe,
perhaps as refugees or to escape being imprisoned. Those deities form
most of the present pantheons. The Elves arose again, and joined the
Gnomes and Dwarves (and Orcs and Hobgoblins). Human arose a while later,
and the Hobbits. Our oldest written records date back to this spring.
After
the Battle
After Nodens and the
Elder Ones defeated the Great Old Ones, they weren’t satisfied with
second-place so they decided to go after Azathoth and Yog Sothoth . Records
disagree on who won this battle. Some say that Nodens and the Elder ones
defeated Azathoth, but being unable to destroy “Her”(?) without
destroying all matter, instead used magic to rob her of her senses, and
thus her sanity. No mention is made of the fate of Yog Sothoth.
Other manuscripts say that Nodens and the Elder ones were subdued or defeated
and lost some of their powers too. This is more likely to be the case
since tales and legends exist of certain time-and-space travellers, who,
using gates and spells, have encountered Yog Sothoth and received aid
and advice. Whether they had the wisdom to use the advice properly was
another matter.
It also seems that Shub Niggurath may have escaped (could She be Danu/Rillifani?),
and rumours have it that Nyarlat-hotep was for the most part not imprisoned
and that He still serves Azathoth.
An aside on Dwarves and Gnomes: these races (of common origin?) are thought
to be possibly as ancient as the Elves, yet seem to have taken no part
in the Old Wars. Dwarvish and Gnomish sources are at a loss to explain
why – possible explanations are an Elvish ignorance of their aid,
their being on the “wrong side,” or that their deities kept
apart from the conflict and their followers for the most part followed
suit.
Notes:
1. Write-up taken verbatum from the Original Blue Book, and written sometime
around 1982-1986 ...
2. Fomalhaut image taken by the Hubble Space Telescope.
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