The Guardians also known as Them: In the time before Men, there lived only Them, who were given dominion over the void and a great energy with which to shape and mold it in any way that they saw fit. They relished in their glorious power and in their uniqueness. They coupled and the mingling of their energies brought forth more of their kind. They were content in this – and for what seemed an eternity this was the way of things.
Priestess Raza Chapter One subtext 1 Book of We
The Mother’s quest for creation:
She was once as nameless as the rest of Them. She had come into being through the joining of two but was somehow different. She would mingle her energies with others of Them. Nothing came of it. All She ever wanted was to know the contentment that they all shared. Her’s was an energy that seemed to bring forth no life. Her spark was barren and it filled her with a great sadness. 13
Those that were Them, did not share her sadness. They viewed Her as flawed. She the first of their number that was not perfection and soon what was at first curiosity at Her state, turned to fear. And in their fear, they chastised Her and pushed Her away. 14
Cast out, Mother retreated to a dark space within the void far from Them, and fell upon a lonely rock. There she laid in the darkness staring out into the vastness. 15
The Mother lingered on that rock for a long time, alone. How long cannot be quantified, for time is an abstract concept to Them. What can be said is that it was so long a time that the Them, had come to forget, Her. 16
Priestess Raza Chapter Seven subtext 13 – 16 Book of We
Self-wrought pain and exile:
Sleep is a salve for the soul, respite from the conscience that chides and annoys and Mother did slumber. On her waking, she looked out into the void searching for the light of Them, but She could no longer see it. While She had slept, She had hurtled deeper into the darkness upon her cold rock. How far She could not tell. The realization that She had become lost, frightened Her. 1
With no way to know which way led home, She resigned herself to Her fate. She would languish on this rock, Her immature petulance a burden to be carried along with Her barren spark. 2
Priestess Raza Chapter Eight subtext 1-2 Book of We
From sadness – joy:
Loneliness consumed Her, and She knelt in the dirt and dug down deep within it to a place where the rock turned molten. In Her hands she took the molten rock and shaped it into forms that She found pleasing. She put them onto the ground beside her and let them cool in the chill of the void. She wiped the filth from Her hands and sighed. Tarrying in the dirt tired Mother. She stared at what She sculpted from the rock and laid Herself down onto the ground, placing Her hands beneath Her cheek and fell back to sleep. 7
When She woke Her creations were the first things that greeted Her. They stared through Her, their eyes unseeing, their hearts non-beating. These creations were testament to Her barren spark, more a curse than a comfort. 8
She grabbed them up and held them to Her chest and wept, Her tears spilling onto their dusty forms. The forms drank up Her tears, the embodiment of the Mother’s sadness and their hearts did beat. The Mother could feel these singular beats pulse through Her chest and into Her core. She held them out in front of Her and blew onto them. Their eyes blinked and their mouths opened taking in Her spark. 9
Mother looked on Her creations. They stared back at Her as any babe to its Mother, with love. But their bodies were racked by fits and shivers as the cold of the void was no place for such beings as you or me. Mother enveloped her children within Her and kept them warm while She set about constructing their home, Teiravon. 10
Priestess Raza Chapter Nine subtext 7-10 Book of We
Mother – life bringer and world builder:
There was nothing in the bleak firmament, but Mother, Her creations and the rock from which she formed Her children. With no choice, Mother set about making the rock a suitable home for Her offspring. She gathered up more of the molten earth from the center of the rock and blew onto it sparking a flame that was undying and ever-growing. It burned in her hands so hot that She feared She could not contain it. She cast it out into the void a distance that brought both light and warmth to the rock in equally pleasant measures. And again, She was tired. But She knew that She could not keep Her children alive forever in herself – so She set about creating beings that could help Her. 22
She grabbed up more of the rock, but this rock was not molten. These rocks were great boulders that formed the landscape. She piled them high into four great and terrifying forms that were as tall as the mountains that speckled Her rock. These forms She called the Elements. Fire, Water, Wind and Earth were given dominion over the rock. A newfound sense of instinct guided Her, and She whispered prayers into the ears of each of the four forms She created. These prayers were commands, a list of tasks that each would need to complete while She slept and used Her energy to sustain Her children. The Elements would shape the rock and form a new world on which Her children would dwell and thrive. Earth would form the foundations on which Her children would dwell. Water would bring about sustaining rains and the seas. Wind would form the breezes that would cool and warm her children and provide them air to breathe. Fire would be a tool to shape them all. Content that Her Elements would do as She bid, She slept. 23
Priestess Raza Chapter Eleven subtext 22-23 Book of We
The treachery of the Elements:
The Elements did as they were told. But as they worked they questioned the wisdom of The Mother. Were the Elements not Her children too? They took to calling Mother’s children, man, a term that meant weak in their tongue and lamented the day that Mother would awaken and seize dominion over Teiravon from Her greatest of creations in order to hand it over to Her weakest. 14
While the Elements wielded great power, the shaping of a world for them was not as simple a thing as it was for Mother. They worked tirelessly day and night, the flaming orb in the heavens marking the passing of time as if a great eye through which Mother watched their progress. But when they were done and the world was formed and Teiravon had been molded from their works Mother did not seem to notice. Earth shook the land. Water crashed upon the shores and rained from the sky. Wind blew through the trees and formed great clouds that sent a roar of thunder through the world. Still Mother slept. Fire who had the power to shape them all, stood before them and spoke, “She has made us slaves and we have lingered long at Her work – but when we are done, She seems not to care. Let us go to Mother and ask Her why!” The Earth shook in approval the ground trembling. Wind blew onto Fire making his flame burn more brightly. Water gurgled and pooled around the feet of Fire in submission. They would go to Mother and ask Her why. 15
The Elements converged on that place where they had last seen Her. Where She had laid down to sleep all of those many years before. That place where the Earth had made a cradle for Her form, and Water had poured itself over Her and Fire had warmed it all. They stared on the wideness of the lake and sighed. Even at their approach, Mother had not stirred. The Earth split and Water poured from the lake, down into a ravine that would form a river that went to the sea. 16
In the middle of the lake Mother laid, still and unmoving. She was just as they remembered Her – yet Her light was dim. The Elements went to Her and stood around Her confused. “What shall we do?” Wind hissed. Fire knelt beside Mother and looked to her chest. There within slept those creations they called man. 17
Fire looked to his brothers and spoke in a whisper. “Man has been a burden to our Mother. She has been laid to waste protecting them. Let us take them from Her, so that She might recover and be made well. Their weakness has drained Her near to death. Let us take this burden from Her and put it upon ourselves.” 18
Silence was as good as affirmation. Fire wrenched Mother’s children from Her bosom and took them out into the world. Earth reformed the cradle and a torrent of rain swept in with a wind to fill it again. “Rest well Mother, we shall watch over those we call man.” 19
Priestess Raza – Chapter 12 subtext 14-19 Book of We
False gods – Man worships the Elements:
In the millennia it had taken for the Elements to shape Teiravon into a form fit for Mother’s children, they had never been idle. Now, their work done – they became bored. Mother’s children became amusement. The first of their kind, being raised and nurtured by the brothers Elemental, had come to worship them as gods. Fire kept them warm. Water kept them alive. Earth kept them sheltered. Wind kissed their faces. The Elements played on this devotion, never telling man the truth of his creation. 1
Man procreated and his numbers grew plentiful. The Elements saw man as blight on the world that they had shaped for them at the command of Mother. They devoured the landscape shaping it as they saw fit and this the Elements took this as high insult. Fire stood before his brothers and spoke once again, “I shall give to man my gift and it shall be a torment.” Again his brothers stood mute before him. 2
Command of fire gave man a tool for their own destruction. With it, they fashioned new and devastating weapons which they used to make war with one another. Brother was turned against brother as Fire set about manipulating man. The other Elements joined in, wreaking havoc upon man. Water would drown whole villages. Wind would topple man’s constructs. Earth would crack the land beneath their feet and swallow them whole. Their wickedness only made man more inclined to pray to them for leniency and to worship them all the more – and the Elements laughed at their feebleness. 3
Priestess Raza – Chapter 13 subtext 1-3 Book of We
They that were Them – the Guardians arrive:
Life calls out into the void. 1
The creation that was man ever so small in the singular is vast in its whole. 2
Those that were Them, felt the pull of the Mother’s creations from deep within the void and it made them curious. They turned their focus from their trivial existences and looked out into the vastness. They flew forth from their bright corner of the void in search of this new life force they sensed in the darkness. 3
On discovering man, those that were Them, found purpose. They had dallied and dabbled in their power, but here before them was a world, created by one of their number. One that they had deemed to be flawed had shown them the truth of their power. The Them, dropped from the heavens and walked the land and rejoiced in its uniqueness. They observed men, taking their forms and partaking in what it was to live. It was in doing this that they came to know what roles they might play to assist this unique creation. 4
Those that were Them focused their gifts in ways that were, unique. They put forth creatures on the land and gave men dominion over them. They answered the prayers that man offered up to an equally flawed creation that were the Elements. They took the name of their new task – accepting their roles as Guardians of this new creation. 5
The Elements seeing the power of Them, now named Guardians, did not seek to test their wills. They were like Mother and so were to be obeyed. They stepped back into the shadows their power over the land subdued and relegated to sustaining the natural balance within the world they had been tasked to form. 6
Priestess Raza – Chapter 16 subtext 1-6 Book of We
Mother’s Fate – Her Slumber:
While Her kind came to embrace Her creation and to protect it, Mother continued to sleep. 1
The Guardians seeing Her selflessness, sought to emulate it. They took great care to preserve Her, taking Her from the lake in which Her Elements had ham handedly left Her. They placed Her in a brilliant crystalline chamber and put it in the heart of Her world. Not remembering what Her name had once been, they gave Her the name by which we have come to call Her, Mother. There in Her chamber, a small fraction of the life force that comprises all beings that walk, crawl, swim or fly is given in tribute when they are born. It is that same force She gave to create the world, that is used to heal Her. 2
Priestess Raza – Chapter 22 subtext 1-2 Book of We
The Guardians also known as Them: In the time before Men, there lived only Them, who were given dominion over the void and a great energy with which to shape and mold it in any way that they saw fit. They relished in their glorious power and in their uniqueness. They coupled and the mingling of their energies brought forth more of their kind. They were content in this – and for what seemed an eternity this was the way of things.