theogony
Whilst Gingel explored and Gennon created, while her daughters sought out the wanderer and the great sacrifice was conducted, the cosmos continued on its own path. This is a point often alluded to by the poets, but it was not until the great master, Kunpit of Thelonigul, that a serious effort was made to understand the import of this happening. The gods that made the world were acting, yet the consequences of their previous actions continued to play out and became such an influence on the world that was yet to be. Three eggs had sprung to existence in the sea of chaos and in her anger and desperate search for meaning, Gennon and smashed the two that had survived their birth, in a failed attempt to rebuild what she has lost.
Instead, from these eggs emerged two realms. From one egg, light and bright in colour, Gennon formed a heavenly realm, glistening as the golden sun. From another egg, one as dun and dark as the void itself, she formed a chthonic world, hidden in shadows. Imperfect though these realms may have been, they birthed beings of great power. Bul of the thunderous breath, Geli, mistress of the woods, and Gelon, maiden of the plains, were born of the heavenly realm. In the hidden realm were birthed Sem the great serpent, and Phenmoph, rich lord of the dead.
Here is the key observation made by Kunpit. For no where in these stories does it state that these powerful deities were birthed by the direct actions of Gennon, though we might call her their mother. Instead, they were born of the realms themselves. A minor point perhaps, but an interesting one for it shows the power of the cosmos to work under its own logic, to develop under events put in motion but not considered. This is what the poets may refer to as fate.
Much like their mother, Gennon of the bountiful earth, the gods that were birthed in the heavenly realm and the chthonic world below, soon came to desire Kolgennon as a realm they could rule. Its abundance drew their eye and its vast expanses excited that desire to explore and to dominate.
With the cosmos still in a state of flux due to the destructive actions of Gingel and the creations of Gennon and her progeny, it was but a simple thing for the gods to emerge from their own domains and take Kolgennon as their own.
Bul the great cloud gatherer dominated the skies. Geli, the mistress of the woods, ventured into the forests, where she would nurture the earth, and bring to fruition the race of wildmen. Gelon, her sister, struck out onto Kolgennon’s vast plains. Though the progeny of the chthonic realm did not have the same desire as their cousins, Sem was drawn to the power of the oceans that formed from the foaming blood of Gingel. He rose up from the hidden realm to take the roiling seas as his own. Phenmoph, though, remained in the shadows where the shades of men are sent hurtling down once death takes its cruel grip.
Kunpit had many observations to make about this chain of events. Though where his interest fell mostly was in observing how these beings fit into his layered conception of the cosmos. The actions of Gingel, Gennon and her progeny created the physical conditions of our realm, now the coming of the gods of the first generation created the first layer of cognition, laced with emotional and irrational, instinctive action.
However, all was not done yet, for from the remaining foaming blood of the giant Gingel, emerged the shinning goddess Yulthelon. With her birth she uttered a prophecy that would bring war to the heavens.
Gennon, Kind mother earth, her wayward children roam free on her great tree,Bul, your cry branches over sky, Sem your tails take root under sea,The wheel will turn, from your loins you’ll sire your demise, worlds shocked by your duel,Fruit from high, a golden jewel, seed of soil to end your rule.
Powerful though the immortals are even they cannot outrun the pronouncements of the shining goddess, she who knows all that may come to pass. And so, despite their dominion over Kolgennon, all the lesser beings that now took root bowing to their will, the Belithelon made a pact with each other, out of fear. Bul himself is said to have thunder these words.
“I will not see an end to my rule; I will not allow this prophecy to take shape. Yulthelon may declare the future, but she only sees the threads of fate, those destinies that may yet come to be. A thread can be cut. A vow can be made now, we shall swear a sacred oath, to never sire from our loins. It is a bond we all must adhere to. Will you swear with me this day?”
However, both Bul and Sem gave in to their urges and broke their oaths.
Now there are many tales of what happened next, some insisting that this was a great scheme by Sem to overthrow Bul and claim mastery over all Kolgennon. They say that he sought out Geli in the deep woods, seducing her with his sweet words. When he felt the time was right, he whispered in her ear about Bul and how she could protect her forests from his wrathful smiting if she were only to bend him to her will.
But the immortals are not like men, their wants and desires cannot be contained in the same way, their actions cannot be explained like those of mortals. Kunpit had the right of it when he ascribed the simplest explanation for these events, the gods merely took what they desired, prophecy or not. The clash of these great forces, he argued, is inevitable without a layer of rationalisation, an ability to consider and act upon our whims and desires. But there is a paradox here too, not unnoticed by Kunpit, that without such irrational, instinctive actions, the world would not have come to be, and the heights of rationality could not have been obtained.
It was in this way that Geli became pregnant, the father being Bul, Sem or perhaps both, for she was to birth twins. Red-faced Dunsun and White-armed Tholo.
As is to be expected from the first generation of divinities, driven by the primal forces as they are. Bul raged in the heavens when he discovered these births. At Bul’s behest, he met Sem, where sky meets sea, on the fringes of the world. There they planned and plotted to do away with the twins and protect their power. Though many claim that Sem played along with this farce, patient as he is. Some of the roaming rhapsodes even say that Sem was delighted, that he saw his path to power through these twins. But it may well have been the case that their birth also caused great panic in him.
The two great divinities raced to protect their power. In a rage they raced into the forests, seeking out Geli and her children. The clouds gathered close around them, as Bul thundered in anger, proclaiming,
“Geli! Bring them to me now! I will not tolerate this violation; this world will not be taken from me!”
Bul called down the power of the skies to smite the infant twins, destroying their corporeal forms and sending their shades hurtling down to the hidden realm. But Geli deceived them both, for she had already spirited the children away, leaving them far to the west under mount Betgennon and the care of the wildmen, replacing her swaddled children with bundles of rocks. Perhaps aided in this act by Sem, the deceiver.
Bul in his rage did not notice this trick and so the children were left to grow to maturity unknown to the great gods of old and setting the stage for the greatest struggle there has yet been for dominion over Kolgennon.
As a follower of Kunpit of Thelonigul and a thoughtful philosopher, there are many lessons and understandings that this story brings to us. They show us how desire, instinct and emotion can take over us, and rule how we conduct ourselves. But there is also a subtler message here, that sometimes those emotions, those drivers of passion and rage can result in unforeseen consequences, that build something new and develop a rational meaning of their own. But note that this is a force we can neither predict nor contain. Further, the invisible hand of fate is ever present, even in the actions of the gods. It sets the conditions of our lives, the parameters of how we live and the drivers of our actions. Even the gods failed to resist its inevitability. All we can do is men, is acknowledge fate, welcome the bounds it places on our lives, and strive to live to our fullest potential within those bounds. That is at the very heart of the philosophy of the great master.
PHENMOPH
As an aside to this tale, I have scoured all the known records of this tale and it should be commented on that many of the older stories of the coming of the first generation of gods, do not mention Sem. Indeed, it is notable that these older stories are found in the communities of the Tilxosu, Rinuxosu and Silxosu. It is only the Salxosu that seem to think Sem an important part of this story, and only as the various Academies of Butophulo grew to prominence that the version outlined above came to prominence.
In the older tales, the place of Sem is taken by the rich lord of the dead, Phenmoph who plays a much more nonchalant and disinterested role in the struggle for the dominion of Kolgennon, knowing that all soles are destined for his halls no matter what.
Such a change in roles would change the tale entirely and give us a different set of questions to ponder. I have often thought it an interesting line of inquiry, should I ever find the time to dedicate myself to such a task.