The Great Choosing of the Peoples

Behold, in the beginning of days the world was formed by the gods. Acting in concert they made lands and seas, hills and rivers, mountains and forests, polar ice and arid deserts. The gods set up the sun to act as daystar of the world, and then formed the moon and cast numberless handfuls of stars into space to ease the dread blackness of the night. They brought forth life in all its myriad forms: birds of the air, fish of the sea and beasts of the land.   And they made men also and divided them into distinct peoples according to their appearances and proclivities so that the likeness and accustomed behaviour of the members of each people should be alike, and so that a place might be found for them to dwell together, taking comfort in solidarity of action and of appearance with their neighbours.   Now the gods were eight in number and each came in turn to choose a people for his own, each god choosing those people that best showed for the qualities that he had contributed to the creation of humans.    And so it was that Samnuha, who was a god of swarthy likeness and with a love of battle, came first and chose the Maronites who were swarthy of skin, dark-haired and dark-eyed and who prized above all things honour and strength of arms for his people, and he led them apart from the other peoples to dwell in a land of their own that he had crafted for them.    Then came Nergal, who had given chiefly to man the power to think and to reason, and he chose the Qarans who were like the Maronites in appearance but placed greater value on matters of learning and strength of the mind rather than of the body, and he also led them apart from the other peoples to dwell in a land of their own that he had crafted for them.    Then came Chukwu who had gifted men with imagination to conceive of wondrous marvels and hands with which they might work to create those marvels, to choose the Nilotes who had skin as dark as river-silt, hair and eyes like coal and who were craftsmen and artisans without peer to be his people, and as his brothers had done he also led them apart from the other peoples to dwell in a land of their own.    Next came Ngai, who had provided the race of men with the twin gifts of curiosity and generosity, and who chose the Thalassanos whose skin and eyes were brazen rather than dark but whose hair was still as black as the raven’s wing and who already looked towards the horizon with burning desire, and like his brothers he led them apart from the other peoples to dwell in a land of their own.    After this came Achviztr who had seen to it that mankind should be a race of diverse appearance, took for his own the Faroese who were pale of skin, golden haired and blue-eyed and who were the hardiest of all people and in the same way as his brothers he took them to their own place in the great vastness of the world.    Then came Sobyeol, who chose the Uyghurs who were pale of skin but had dark hair and eyes and who were already speaking with one another in their newborn and swiftly expanding language and making crude marks in the ground to record their words. This people, the god took east to dwell in the land that he had set aside for them.   Then came Atohr, who chose the Toutatrikos who were pale of skin and whose hair was light and dark in equal measure and who were in tune with the land and he led them to a land that was green and lush, for them to dwell in.   Last of all came Himeros, but when Himeros came to the place of choosing, there was no people left for him to take unto himself. So he called to his brothers and said to them:   “See, each of you has taken unto himself a people of humans that pleaseth him. How is it that there are none left for my care? Was my part in our creation less than thine that I should be left with no people to call my own?”   Then the gods came together in council and agreed that such a thing should not be. Each of them had shared equally in the creation of the world and all that was in it, and each had contributed to the creation of mankind. Therefore should each have a people to cherish for his own. Then questioned they their brother as to what quality he had contributed to the human make-up so that they might discern the people that should be his. Then did Himeros reveal the gift that he had bestowed on mankind: that which mortals call Sorcery, but which the gods call Power.   So the other gods searched among their people for any signs of individuals with this gift, and behold in each people were found a precious few who possessed the talent for Power. By common agreement these people were delivered up to Himeros, and they became his people. Taking them to his own place, he showed them how to tap the Power within themselves and join with the world. Then he commanded them to go out and use their power to help those in the world.   Scriptures of the Cult of the Originist Way