Work Text:
Shown in this document is the transcript of a lecture given by Archwizard Gemini on the topic of creation myths in the Crystal Cliffs.
Transcript starts.
Gemini: The first creation myth tends to vary, however it tends to partially borrow from the Rivendellian creation myth making mention of the great stags. They’re said to have laid the void itself and then torn it apart to create holes for the stars, which were lit by the first dragon.
Student: The first dragon?
Gemini: Yes! The first dragon is typically regarded as being an incarnation of the dragon found in the end that protects the island, as they’re the only dragon of purely magic rather than an element. The first dragon, of magic herself, is said to have laid to rest on the desolate Earth.
Archwizard Gemini had, at this point, created an illusion of the solar system including the nine planets, as is standard, and the sun.
Gemini: Now how planets came to be differs, though in the most common variation of the myth they come from the gryphons! They’re made of the stardust left behind from gryphons playing with stars, streaking pieces of them across the universe and galaxies, too fast for the dragon to stop them. It’s said she saw the stardust collecting around stars and solidifying, so she beat her wings to cool them into planets.
Archwizard Gemini dismissed the illusion.
Student: Isn’t that not how they were created, though?
Gemini: Not at all, but this is a mythology lecture, not an astronomy lecture. Now, Life was said to have been created when she lay to rest on Earth, her body feeding the barren ground to grow fungi. Left behind in her skeleton was the egg of the next dragon. The hatching of it tends to be split into another myth, though the main academically accepted theory is that it hatched when light touched it.
Archwizard Gemini had created another illusion of a dry planet filling with water.
Gemini: The next dragon set upon filling the oceans, but found it couldn’t do it itself. So, it created more dragons, two of each element, from her ribs. Water dragons, flame dragons, ice dragons, air dragons and light dragons. Some variations have dark dragons, though they tend to be a different name for a variation on light dragons who absorb all the light instead of providing it.
Archwizard Gemini dismissed the illusion.
Gemini: There’s some dispute between scholars as to whether or not light dragons and dark dragons really exist, as there’s no record of modern day descendents and… well, there’s not a way to figure out what types of magics a fossil produced, is there? Some attribute their mention to a revision in the creation myth made by Archwizard Nautilus which removed crystal dragons, others attribute the addition to the archwizard between Archwizard Topaz and Archwizard Taurus that reigned during the splitting of the Grimlands and Crystal Cliffs.
Student: Well, what do you think?
Gemini: I think both of those attributions are incorrect. There hasn’t been a record of crystal dragons prior to the accusation that Archwizard Nautilus removed them, though they are rumoured to exist today in rare groups and there are records of hunting them as far back as before Archwizard Sapphire’s reign. As for their lack of existence, it’s easy to dispute the existence of air dragons, too. Anyways-
Archwizard Gemini had created an illusion of a blue dragon typical of sea serpents found in oceans today, though with a body more typical of a traditional wyvern.
Gemini: The water dragons were said to have flooded the land, filling the oceans and feeding the dry plants on land.
Archwizard Gemini changed the illusion to that of dry lands.
Gemini: However, the flame of the sun scorched the lands. Now this is where there is a slight diverging in the myth, as either it excludes a later myth of a war between the dragons concerning the creation of the deserts, or it leads directly into that myth. Either way, the air dragons created the sky with the help of the second dragon to protect the lands from the sun’s flame.
Archwizard Gemini changed the illusion to that of plants growing through the classroom floor.
Gemini: Plants started to grow with the protection, and the land grew with them, allowing new life to come about: animals. They fed upon the land and the land fed upon them.
Archwizard Gemini dismissed the illusion. She pointed at the window taking up the south-facing wall of the classroom, toward the mountains bordering Crystal Cliffs.
Gemini: With time, the first dragon’s skeleton became petrified, helping to form the mountains themselves, large cavities where the bones covered what should have been filled with rock and dirt. In these caves, the light dragons hid, and the ice dragons joined them as they aimed to freeze the mountains from the inside out.
Archwizard Gemini picked up a small geode from her desk, presenting it to the class.
Gemini: Together, they made the crystals within the mountain, which today we use to focus our magic through. Do we know why that is?
Student: Because they’re crystallised from pure magic, right? That makes them safe to use as both an ingredient and a focus, since they’re less prone from shattering with the slightest hint of magic.
Gemini: That’s correct. They’re crystallised magic. So- Eventually, the mountain became so filled with crystals it drove the dragons out. The ice dragons moved south, settling where Rivendell now sits. The light dragons found nowhere suitable and were said to have flown through the sky, settling around the Earth and curling around each other to create the moon. Now, there’s a bit of academic contention here, as certain versions of the myth omit this, others do not. There are other myths about the creation of the moon, such as the Oceanic myth that was adopted by travelling scholars earlier on in the formation of the empire.
Student: Why is there so much dispute over this?
Gemini: That’s because wars caused a large chunk of our history to be destroyed before it was recorded by multiple sources and largely protected. And, as well, cultural exchange can cause some variation in belief between areas of an empire.
At this point, there was a knock on the door from an advisor asking to see Archwizard Gemini for an important matter.
Gemini: Well, that seems to conclude this lecture for today. Make sure to review your readings and do some of your own research. Thank you class.
Archwizard Gemini left as the class concluded.
Transcript ends.