Writing Journal: Deities and Races, Volume III; Scieppend and the Artere

Just as Fyrste began the act of Creation, and Nasci continued it, Scieppend had been the third to act. I've already stated that Scieppend was relatively unimpressed with the initial act of Creation performed by Fyrste. However, somehow Nasci's impact upon that act was what gave Scieppend her own inspiration for the creation of life itself.

Also already discussed was how several of the various gods acted out in Creation to try to destroy it, which caused Nasci to become the adopted mother of the creatures of the natural world. However, what has NOT yet been discussed, is why Nasci should be considered to be an adoptive mother over even the plants within the world, when Scieppend was clearly not intending their existence to be any sort of attack upon what had already been created.

After all, the beasts were never intended to have any beauty or good associated with them, so for Nasci to find beauty and harmony in their existence and take them unto her own seems reasonable. But surely, Scieppend, who is the third and final god of the prime Creators, would have maintained domain over her own initial creations, wouldn't she?

This was not actually the case. Like a great many of the gods, Scieppend became disillusioned with her own Creation shortly after it was made. This is, in fact, part of the entirety of what the conflict between good and evil has been made about, after all. The gods of evil believe that Creation was an utter failure, and should be scrapped in favor of the option of trying to start over again, this time getting the job done better. The gods of good, in the meantime, defend Creation as a benefit and a boon in some way.

While Nasci clearly bore the gift of seeing beauty and harmony in everything that she saw was Created by others, Scieppend's visions have always been more fleeting. For Scieppend, the initial act of Creation was a bore. It was formless and monotonous. The second act, however, brought interest and possibility to Creation. And while life itself was a complex and wondrous thing, Scieppend felt that the Creation of the evil gods following her own Creation was thus simultaneously proven to be uninspired and fallible. She therefore lost interest in them almost right away.

The gifts and continuous interventions of Nasci later provided little comfort for Scieppend, for she believed that her interventions were making imperfect things better, but yet still imperfect. And yet, Scieppend shared a bit of the sense of Malitia that it all could have been done better, and more perfectly.

What beliefs about Creation that Scieppend maintains apart from Malitia is a sense that, however flawed Creation itself may be, it still maintains a certain right to its own imperfection. And that the dissonance and imperfections inherent within Creation are in their own way somewhat beautiful.

What therefore began to draw Scieppend's attention, and that which continues to keep Scieppend continuously drawn into investment within Creation, were art and culture. Once sentient life began to move upon the world, its culture and its artistic perspective on the world instantly intrigued Scieppend. And thus was she inspired to create her own mortal race, the Artere.

The Artere are a race of beauty. They are a race of boundless creativity, culture, ingenuity, and invention. Some Artere are jacks of all trades in manners of expounding upon their creative endeavors. Others focus upon a singular form of artistic expression, and pursue it to utter perfection. The magic of the Artere is found within inspiration. Verse, prose, sculpture, and movement. These are the invocations to unlock the infinite mysteries of magical power for the Artere.

The Artere are the creators of the most wondrous and beautiful cities that the world has ever seen. The Artere, however, have also seen more of these cities laid to ruin and waste due to a lack of drive to defend and protect their own creations. Just like art and inspiration themselves are fleeting, with only hints and remnants of the initial inspiration echoing through time following their creation, thus are many of the histories of the Artere's most wondrous cultural creations.

It is just as Scieppend revels in each individual act of inspiration and creation, but then as quickly becomes bored of it and finds interest in another, fresher scene of inspiration that the Artere seem to be lost within their own boundless, and yet seemingly pointless, acts of creation.

While the Bergan are militant defenders of Creation against those forces that would threaten it, and the Changelings are fierce defenders of Nature, the Artere, being so bound to only follow the most fleeting glimpses of inspiration, do little to follow up to preserve and protect their own creations, or even themselves. Certainly, there are some Artere who follow the art of War, or who take up the sport of fencing, or the art of the melee, and these individual Artere are as much a terror to their foes as they are a wonder to witness on the battlefield, they are but that. Individuals. Artists. They lack the organization of the Bergan to maintain discipline and structure within military endeavors. And they also lack the force of individual conviction that the Changelings maintain to be able to ensure that their acts in lesser numbers matter for nearly enough.

Thus has Scieppend become the goddess of art, culture, and inspiration. She is a goddess of whimsy and beauty, but lacking in motivation or conviction. Her people are responsible for the most wondrous creations in existence, and yet they find themselves and their creations continually falling short on expectation, and declining into ruin. Often, quite literally. One frustrated Bergan scholar once noted, "The Artere are the makers of the finest ruins in all of Creation." Thus seems to be their lot. And yet, their magics are powerful, and they never seem to run out of their boundless quest for more and greater creations and innovations throughout the world.