How Salkiys Came to Be

Back when time first began, after the Goddess had divided the four Elements among her grandchildren and created the lesser gods, Kynlarah, goddess of life, created all the plants and animals in the world. Plants were a favorite of Kynlarah, and she endowed many with the powers of the gods. It was not the conscious power of the gods, but a quieter strength. Plants were made of the four elements, and their powers were pure.

Kynlarah did not wish for the animals to have the gods’ powers, but the Goddess disagreed, for she knew animals were of the four elements just as plants. The lands prospered, but the gods soon grew bored with watching their creations grow and then die in a neverending cycle, and the Goddess herself was saddened that plants and animals could never become more than they were. She yearned to see true growth, so she created intelligent keepers for the land called salkiys. They were not given any powers of the gods, but they were given the one attribute that the plants and animals lacked: the desire for a more aware existence.

The first two salkiys were called Elna and Farner. They had many children, and the problem began with the second youngest son, named Stlan. He was not satisfied with his life. He wanted to abolish the gods so his family could rule the land. He became a great leader to the animals, who were not as closely watched by Kynlarah and so fell under Stlan’s influence more easily than the plants. He set out on a quest to make them defy the Goddess.

The Goddess was saddened by Stlan’s rebellion. So, too, was the youngest salkiy son, Ishofi. He tried to stop Stlan, but failed. He pleaded with the Goddess to help him, and she gave him some of her own power as a set of Gifts, abilities called the ethestras, and taught him how to use them wisely. Mottshor, who was not pleased with the Goddess’s decision, gave his own Gifts to Stlan. In a great battle Ishofi and Stlan fought, with Ishofi finally winning.

After seeing this battle, the Goddess realized her intelligent creations would never be enlightened enough to become more than they were. So she gave her Gifts to all salkiys, and also gave them complete control over the land. Stlan still lived, but the Goddess could not extract Mottshor’s power from him, so he and his descendants were from then on destined to live outside the Goddess’s mercy, using Mottshor’s Gifts for their own corrupt ends. They eventually became known as the ekalaps.

The salkiys prospered, built cities, and used their Gifts wisely. With the awareness of their new abilities came the concept of the Araithus, a salkiy chosen to live as close to the gods as possible for mortals, and to act as the great spiritual leader and teacher to the other salkiys. The first Araithus was Ishofi himself. When Eelna and Farner, the original salkiy parents, grew old and were claimed in death by Mottshor, the Goddess made Eelna the Protector of births. For Farner she created a bridge to the higher realm, where the gods lived unseen by mortals. It would forever be his job to judge those passing on. The enlightened ones would enter the higher realm and become as one with the gods; those who had wasted their mortal lives in sin would be thrown into the void until their essences were recreated as mortals to try again.

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