Interlude: The Naming

Versions of this story are a staple of many a storyteller's trade. It is a teaching story, designed to acquaint children with the names and the duties of various gods. An audience who has heard these stories many times will often chime in on the lines that begin, "And that was the Naming of..."

In the beginning, the World was Chaos.

And from Chaos came Order, which spawned Chaos again, and so things persisted for a time which was not time as we think of it, for Chaos has no time, being Chaos.

And one day, in this realm of Chaos, the First Division happened. Where there had been a seething mass of Chaos before there were now two things: Matter and Nothingness. The division between the two was Order's first great victory.

Matter further divided itself, first into the four visible elements, and then further within those elements. Land separated from water, air separated from land, and so on. The World as we know it now had been born.

Further and further Order divided Matter, until it knew each tiny bit of Matter was ever so slightly different than the next, separated by space or time, if not different in quality.

But Chaos had not given up. Relegated to the Realm of Nothingness, Chaos asserted itself.

From Nothingness came fourteen spirits, the first beings in the world who were aware of their own existence. And to these spirits, Chaos gifted the power of combination--the ability to defeat Order's ways, and take that which it had divided and bring it together again.

These fourteen spirits traveled the lands of the world, combining things. One day, one of them combined Air with Water, and created the first storm. The spirit laughed, delighted. "From now on, I will be Teranis, and I will create storms as I see fit!"

And that was the first Naming, the Naming of Teranis, the Stormbringer.

One of the spirits, emboldened by the audacity of its sister, combined Water with Earth, hollowing out great bowls for the Water to lie. The spirit was well pleased with what it had wrought, and said, "I am Nechton, and I shall call my creation Ocean."

And that was the Naming of Nechton, the Deep Lord.

One of the spirits saw the Ocean and was struck by the fact that it pooled in one place, never moving. This did not please her, so she created places where Water was free to move, to claw at the Land, to fight a perpetual battle with Earth. She said, "This is named River, and I am Shannon, and it pleases me well to be so."

And that was the Naming of Shannon, the River's Heart.

Another of the spirits combined Air with Fire, causing a place in the sky to burn with an unceasing flame. It declared for the World to hear, "I shall call this the Sun, and I am Belannus. This is my creation."

And that was the naming of Belannus, the Sun Rider.

One spirit was burned by the heat of the Sun, and wished the sky to be darkened once more. He said, "Would it not be better, my brother, if there could be times of darkness and times of bright? See, I will place two shrines to you in the darkness, that will glow to reflect your glory." His brother agreed, and the spirit said, "I am Cernannos, divider of Day from Night, and these shrines are Luna, the Major Moon, and Skeritos, the Minor Moon."

And that was the naming of Cernannos, the Dark Brother.

Time passed, as Order saw fit, and the spirits saw that there were new things in the world, things that none had created but all appreciated. These things were green and drew warmth from the Sun and sustenance from the Earth. Life had come to the World. One of the spirits walked among the green things, and declared, "I am well pleased with these, even if they were not my creation. I will be Sucellus, and I will call these things Plants."

And that was the naming of Sucellus, the Green Lord.

One of the spirits wondered if this new thing called Life might not be developed further. It played with combinations of things and discovered that, for a very long time, the spirits had overlooked an element beyond the four they knew. It was the small pieces of Chaos Itself that had embedded itself even in the divisions within Matter that Order had wrought. It was the element of Spirit.

With this new knowledge, the spirit created Life that was self-directed, not rooted to the spot like plants but capable of moving on its own. The spirit laughed. "I will call these Animals, and I will be Epona, their guardian."

And that was the naming of Epona, the Horse Mistress.

After a time, a new force came into the world. The fragments of Spirit that lay within each Animal eventually wore the other elements down and the Animals would suddenly stop, their Spirit fragments escaping their bodies. One of the spirits watched this process, and said, "This could be useful indeed. This phenomenon is mine, and I will call it Death. I am named therefore Morrigan."

And that was the naming of Morrigan, the Ender of All Things.

Soon after, another spirit discovered that the fragments of Spirit that had escaped from the Animals were gathering in places below the earth. The fragments, being self-aware, were confused at not being in a body any more, and frightened. The spirit felt pity for these fragments, and said, "I am Airmid, and these are the Dead. I shall be their guide."

And that was the naming of Airmid, the Lord of the Hells.

One of the spirits discovered that the animals were occasionally injuring themselves. Illness was introduced as an agent of Chaos. That spirit gave the animals the ability to repair themselves, so they would be more durable vessels for Spirit. She said, "I will be Brigid, and I will call this gift Healing."

And that was the naming of Brigid, the Wound's Weal.

For a long time, the World went on like this. Then, the Animals began to change. More Spirit seemed to be lodged in some of them, and they began to walk on their hind legs and use their clever front paws to add both Order and Chaos to the world. The spirits were in disagreement over these new things, which came in different kinds. But soon the spirits grew used to and even fond of them.

One spirit noted that the clever new things, called People, were communicating with each other using sounds and then with pictures and then with abstracted pictures that could represent sounds. And with those sounds they could make things happen; some small things, and eventually some large things. She was struck by the cleverness of this, and enamored of the idea, she said, "I will be Caridwen, and I will call this communication Language and Art, and the things they make happen Magic."

And that was the naming of Caridwen, the Patron of Magic.

Another spirit saw that the People were taking things in one form and changing them to other forms, forms that were more useful, more attractive. The spirit was delighted by this, for creation had been the realm of the spirits, and now the People had discovered how to create and combine. She was especially fond of the People who combined Earth, Water, and Fire, to forge a new thing called Metal, a material so useful that it quickly became essential to life. The spirit said, "I am named Belisama, and I will call this new thing that the People have discovered Craft."

And that was the naming of Belisama, the Fire of the Forge.

But all was not well in the land of the People. Language made them aware of both their similarities and their differences. Soon, they learned the art of fighting each other, and how to kill each other. Morrigan was well pleased, but another spirit said, "They have discovered this thing called War, and it could be a force for either Order or Chaos. I will make a study of it, to see if it can be improved, and I will call myself Smetrios."

And that was the naming of Smetrios, the Helmed One.

One spirit remained unnamed, and she was sore troubled in her innermost being. She saw Epona granting Life and Morrigan taking it, the two spirits in a constant struggle with each other, both too stubborn to see the point of view of the other. Her sisters were a natural pair and none could see it but her. She tried to talk to each of them, but her efforts only caused both of their tempers to flare, and they strode out on the Land to do battle.

And they fought. Oh, they fought! They had learned well Smetrios' lessons, and those lessons allowed them to change the face of the World. A great many People died, and a great many were born.

Finally, the two sisters grappled with Skeritos, the smaller of the two moons, between them. The moon shattered and rained fire and darkness for many years. When the smoke cleared, the two sisters were much abashed, and remorseful that their anger had caused such a great tragedy to occur, for Skeritos had been beautiful and all had loved her.

The last spirit still unnamed stood between them, and said, "Sisters, brothers. We have learned that we are too powerful. Struggling against each other like this could destroy this place we love so dearly. Let us swear to never fight amongst ourselves again, and if we have disagreements, let them be fought by those People who follow each of us." The other spirits readily agreed. The unnamed spirit pointed into the sky. "Let these fragments of Skeritos, scattered across the heavens, be a reminder of our pact, and let us keep it eternally." And those fragments that had flown into the sky and embedded themselves there glittered; they were the things we have come to know amongst ourselves as stars.

The unnamed spirit looked around. "There is one thing missing. The People have War, and they know how to kill each other. In accordance with Chaos, there must be an equal force in opposition. I gift it to them, and to us. I will call it Love, and I will call myself Aine."

And that was the naming of the fourteenth spirit, the youngest god, Aine, also known as Love's Mistress.

Since then, the gods have lived with each other, mindful of their pledge and the risks of breaking that pledge. Should they ever break their vow...

The world would end, my children. And we would all perish in the flames.

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