Subject: Monk-ey Business (D2, LA)
Shirayuki wrote:"I can tell you all the stories I know about that," she nodded with some excitement, because this was a subject she was more comfortable with! Getting comfortable in her seat, the storyteller began to share the stories she knew with the divine Togashi.
The first story said that humans had been created by the ancient five who ruled the land before mankind; the kenku of air, the copper goblins of earth, the sea-folks of water, the nobles trolls of fire - this was a time before they became malicious and cruel -, and the feline kitsu of the void. The five races had decided to work together to create something to rival the sun, moon, and stars, and they constructed the first humans from wood from deep within the earth. Each of these constructs were imbued with the elements of each race, and when their job was complete the sun turned dark in shock as the humans came to life for the first time. However, the five races quarreled amongst themselves of what the purpose of their creation would be, and watching their creators fight and bicker, the humans thus believed this was to be the way of the world and this is why there is conflict in the world. The five races became their own undoing and many of them have now retreated to other places. The sea-folk disappeared into the depths of the sea, the kenku and kitsu crossed over into other realms, the trolls lost the balance from the other four and became violent and brutish, and the copper-goblins dug themselves deep into the mountains where they look for gold, silver, bronze, and jade.
The second story said that the humans came from the stars. Or rather, that the first humans had been stars that fell from the heavens, much the same way that an acorn falls from a tree, and they too were wrapped in protective shell. These shells were believed to be eggs by the snake-people of the previous era, and they had taken the eggs into their dwellings to protect them in anticipation that the star-eggs would one day crack open. However, the snake-people grew lazy and bored, and stopped caring for the heavenly eggs which earned them the wrath of the Heavens. And it was with their own life-essence, taken from them as they fell into a deep slumber, that the first humans awakened and opened their eggs, stepping into the world that was now theirs, scattering like the wind to see and explore.
In the Ayakashi-tribe, one of the more popular stories was that the first humans were not humans at all, but animals given human form by the Sun and Moon because they had shown great care in tending to the world that had been created. But when the animals took human form, they were acting out with eachother and indulding in all the things animals do when they have everything they want. The Sun and Moon were offended by this and wanted to destroy them, but the Stars stepped in on the humans behalf, pleading that they did not know any better because they had only been given toys rather than tools. And so they pleaded for the humans to be given souls, for which to tie them to the divine so that they would understand the world, and they were given language to speak, and they were given virtues to aspire to; strength, love, wisdom, contentment, honest work, wealth, and good health. Even with these virtues, there are still occassions where the beastial origins take hold of a person, leading to more base instincts and behaviour.
Another story say that humans were made by the Moon, in an effort to impress the Sun, who is the giver of life and the one who makes things grow. When the Moon was working his hardest, he was all aglow in the night sky, almost as bright as the sun, and this is how he made the physical form of human, for our bones reflect the whiteness of the fullmoon. The mind of human was made as his light began to wane, making them all different, shifting, and unconstant. When his light faded completely, nothing he did would work and he grew frustrated that he could not bring them to life as the Sun would feed warmth and life into the world otherwise. And so the Moon decided to steal the Sun's power for himself, and one day when the Sun was high in the sky, the Moon appeared before her and stole her light and warmth for a few moments, but a few moments was all he needed to bring life to humans. But to his dismay, as the light of the Sun returned as her powers came back, the humans turned away from him and his darkness and sought the comfort of the Sun and her light. This made the Moon angry and he put a curse on the humans he had made - for you see, the first humans were all women, as the Moon had tried to replicate the beauty of the Sun in his creation, and this is how the women of the world all must suffer the Moon's wrath as the faces of the Moon changes throughout the year. The Sun could not dispel the curse, but she could, in her mercy, make something good of it, and some of the first humans were changed by her power to become men, and the Moon's curse came with the Sun's blessing of giving life.
"I have heard variants of these stories, but these seem to be the ones I have heard the most." Her smile turned a bit sheepish now. "... I didn't think of how odd it would be to be telling some of these stories to someone like yourself, who might find them to be rather odd?"
Otherwise, I can volunteer for the work.
