The Mot Cycle

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Deeper than all else, there is the Void

This content is a part of Abystyx.

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The "Mot Cycle" is the documented creation of the world according to most Kobolds. The following text is taken from an inscription within the Temple of Mot, built on the barrier of Cthon that separates Stygia and Hell. It was written in an altered form of Cobalt which lacks visual readability, as it was meant to never be read by sight, nor spoken aloud. Of course, few outside of Kobold culture respect the worship of Mot.

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Diegetic Page

This page is written from an in-universe perspective. This means information contained within it may be subject to bias or take a much different tone or format from other articles.

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Date

Perspective Character(s)

Location

Predates Emirate of Cadmea, likely ancient

Worshippers of Mot: Kobolds

Temple of Mot, Cthon

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I: Before the World

1. There was Nothing, and that Nothing was called Mot. It was endless death, and endless sleep.
2. From that sleep came a dream, and the Dream was called Lilith. Lilith was beautiful, and terrible.
3. And her offspring were called the Lilim, and the Lilim were the first jinn. They danced and caused terror and wonder that left wounds in Mot that bled Nothing.
4. And from Mot the words came:

   O Cursed children of Cursed Dream,
   Infractions in Eternity,
   Play as you wish, but heed this omen:
   From Nothing comes All,
   From nothing comes nothing,
   From me comes her comes you,
   And from you comes folly;
   Your Kingdom is nought and I am Nought
   And Nought is Aught.

5. And Mot began to instill an emptiness in all of them, and they ran to their mother for comfort. The Lilim were nearly crushed by her.
6. So Lilith went to Mot and pushed it aside. And she created a world of dreams for her children, in the empty space. They now played,
7. But from Mot the words came:

   Be not afraid
   For I shall harm you not,
   Yet your realm is weaker than the air,
   Fickler than the water,
   Impassioned beyond the fire,
   And illusive beyond the light.
   Such a place cannot
   Replace what I have left behind.

8. But they did not understand, and the world of dreams was sealed behind, as in Mot's absence, the waking world began to take form.

II: Premortality

1. The first god of the waking world was El. As the Air, he attempted to fill all spaces, but failed. The world was endless at this time.
2. And then came Ea, and with him all the Water of the world, skirmishing over space with El from Sky to Hell.
3. By the stillness of Mot came Adonah. She rose from the depths of the world, creating the Earth. El and Ea wounded her as they skirmished, creating soil and softer earth from her stalwart stone, and bringing to life the first plants and animals. She failed to reach the top of the world, and we suffer for it.
4. Adonah created the massive expanse of Hell, the expansive nethers across the Abyss, the caverns of Styx, and all of the Abyss.
5. With the separation of the world into Sky, Surface, and Abyss, Ea started to falter.
6. And as water fits its container, Ea transformed to fit his location.
7. In the Sky, where Adonah could not reach and El fought him greatly, he became Adad.
8. And on the parts of the Surface where Adonah overtook him, he became Apzu, the groundwater. He obeyed the canyons and valleys which she carved.
9. But on the sections of the Surface where he reigned supreme, he stretched into a goddess of the sea, Tiemat. All that remained of Adonah in these parts was salt.
10. And in the Abyss, where Adonah was strongest from her rise into the world, he took the form of Styx. Styx is kind, a parent of many Abyssfolk, and spread throughout the entire Abyss, but especially concentrated in Stygia, named after them.
11. In spite of Adonah's bringing of structure, Shams and Mulokh came upon the world.
12. Descending, Shams created terrifying Light upon the Surface, but by Mot's silence, her light was made bearable within the holy Abyss.
13. Mulokh came from below, starting in Hell and rising to the Sky.
14. And Mulokh nearly froze to death in chilling Hell, where air has no warmth.
15. So Mulokh created Fire to provide warmth where air did not.
16. Mulokh went to Adonah, and said:

    O great goddess of Stone,
    You are deathly yet you are so somber.
    And I am hot and passioned,
    But I am alone amongst my allies.
    Cold and hard suits you well,
    But why allow yourself not to soften by fire?

17. And she took him into a sacred grotto in the middle of the Abyss, and he warmed her with his creation.
18. And their union created the magma of the world, plentiful throughout the Abyss.
19. And the magma spread throughout the middle of the Abyss and created Cthon as it cooled.
20. And their intercourse yielded no offspring for Folk could not yet be.
21. Mulokh had betrayed his original goal, so Shams vowed to create heat so that the Surface would not need fire.
22. This marked the division of the Chaotic gods and Steadfast gods.
23. The gods soon grew bored with the purposeless, infinite world, so combining all their might, Chaotic and Steadfast alike, they bound the world in the stars.
24. And they called it Abystyx.

III: The Creation of Folk

1. The gods, working together, determined that they must give purpose to the world.
2. The chaotic gods are active, but flighty.
3. And the steadfast gods are determined, but apathetic.
4. The gods determined from their experiments in creating jinn, animals, and plants that life could be two ways.
5. Immaterial like the intelligent jinn.
6. Material like worldly life, but stupid.
7. Their first attempts at life both intelligent and worldly created the Dragons.
8. And the Dragons are intelligent, and worldly, but remained too close to the gods.
9. And the Dragons became the gods' servitors in Abystyx, but they were above any strife or self-reflection.
10. In that age, there was no death, and every sleep was wholly filled with dreams. The Dragons led their lives, fought their wars, and learned about the world.
11. But the gods yearned for more.
12. Because the dragons only served as agents in their own desires.
13. The gods sought to create beings that lived in constant strife and defiance.
14. But they could not do it, for they could only create immortals.
15. One fateful day, the gods felt something they never had.
16. Fear, for their own existences. It came from Mot.
17. It told them:

    Fear me not,
    You who have replaced my absence,
    For I have come to your assistance.
    You ask, what beings live in permanent strife?
    What can give meaning to existence?
    I am the answer.

18. And so Great Mot was allowed to reclaim the world. At once all things began to change.
19. Within every thing in existence, there was now an emptiness. A lack. Before all things, there had been Mot.
20. And now, Mot righteously ruled.
21. Plants and animals began dying and spawning, as they had never done before.
22. And Mot came to Styx, the greatest of the waters, and worked with them.
23. They extracted metals and rock from the Abyss, bringing them to Mot through rivers and streams, and the two gods wrought them into upright, horned, scaled forms.
24. And after their labor was complete, the first of our kind came to be.
25. We hatched, we died, and we lived. And we were perfectly imperfect.
26. And we had wills of our own, and we began the great work of living and reflecting.
27. And Mot instructed the other gods in the creation of Mortals.
28. This knowledge was passed to the Dragons, but the knowledge of reproduction was kept confined to the gods.
29. And that is how Folk came to be.