Writing Journal: Deities and Races, Volume IX; Apothos, Dragons, and Humanity

Apothos comes from the root of the word "Apathy," due to the fact that Apothos himself was relatively disinterested in most of the process of Creation. He was not inspired by the acts of his fellow deities during their attempts to create value within it, nor was he incensed by the efforts like those who thought it could have been done better. While some acts or others might have been vaguely intriguing to him, in general Apothos remained detached and uncaring. In fact, the only reason why Apothos had ever gotten as involved in the process as he did, was that he truly had nothing else to focus on. For reality and Creation was, for lack of a better analogy, the only thing that was on.

The thing that makes it ironic, then, is the fact that his two contributions to Creation had such tremendous impact upon all of the rest. His first Creation was dragons. And his second, humanity. And both concluded very separate eras in the process of Creation itself.

First came Dragons, and upon nothing more than the simple utterance of "I wonder..." One would potentially wonder, though, what was so significant about Dragons, as opposed to the initial Creation of life itself. Or so many of the other aspects of Creation. The point was that Dragons pushed the limits of every other act of Creation before it. Dragons were just like beasts and birds to the degree that they preyed upon others, they ruled from either above or below, but they stretched the limits of what other creatures could do. Dragons were the first creatures to walk upon Creation with sentience greater than the beasts. They were therefore not only conscious, but SELF-conscious. In addition, they pushed the laws of physics with their ability to fly or burrow with bodies that otherwise would have been difficult to produce such efforts. They were mortal, yes, but their lifespans lasted so long that it was difficult to see how that could possibly make a difference.

Everything about Dragons sent awe through the rest of the deities. Here were creatures that ruled over the rest of Creation as if it had been placed there for their amusement. And yet they lacked any unifying purpose. Most of the deaths of the dragons that occurred had been by the teeth and claws of their own kind. Some of the Dragons became reclusive to themselves and wallowed in whatever holes they could find until they could find their deaths. Others traveled abroad and left paths of destruction everywhere they went. Still others found environments they loved, and protected them and helped them thrive and prosper, even defending them from harm caused by others of their kind. Dragons did as they would without any singular driving force, with a greater variety than even Eleuth had instilled within the world.

Each deity, however, viewed Dragons with a different mindset. Fyrste, quite obviously, saw them as a threat. An act of destruction for which Creation itself would be undone. Which was what prompted him to try to counter Dragons themselves with the Creation of a mortal race. Nasci, as always, saw potential for beauty and harmony even within the most destructive of the Dragons, and thought that they too would find a home within the world in some way. Scieppend saw their potential both to Create and to Destroy, and was puzzled by them, thus attempting to draw her own attention away from the problem of their existence and focusing on other, newer Creations herself. Eleuth was both delighted and frightened by what he saw. He was delighted to consider creatures that could make so many choices and have such infinite variety to them, but also ultimately saw the potential within Dragonkind to even overthrow the very essence of the deity-hood of each of his own kind. Heah found the entire Creation of Dragons entirely distasteful for their boundless variations were so difficult to track and quantify. Weyveren felt embittered that such destructive creatures were not his own idea, and immediately hated them for jealousy that Apothos had come up with the idea first. Malithia saw potential in them to finally unmake what had been made, and start anew. Koshiri, in the meantime, saw that they pushed the limits of all Creation, yet still remained confined within them, and therefore saw them as yet another failure and obstacle to the plan of unmaking Creation.

What also seemed to arise within the birth of Dragons, however, was something else entirely. It was the birth of Magic. Those magics were limited, and seemed trivial compared to the other abilities possessed by Dragonkind at the time, but yet it was still something of wonder to many of the deities. What was this power, and how did it come to pass? How exactly was it that Dragons themselves came to begin to command such a power? And the power itself varied amongst those Dragons who commanded it. Some Dragons utilized their powers over nature and the elements. Others utilized it as a tool of rage and destruction. And still others used Magic to control, manipulate, and order the world around them. The deities made other theories about Magic, as well, and accused Apothos of being the Creator of such a force.

However, that was not the case, though no denials by Apothos himself had ever been able to convince many of the other deities to the contrary. The true, raw essence of Magic was simply the raw concentration of unrealized Possibility. It was the very same power that the deities had utilized to Create the universe themselves, in smaller quantities. What became true, is that those creatures with sentience, in the form of self-consciousness, were granted some portion of the powers of the deities themselves to shape the world around them.

It should be noted, however, that Magic itself is not available for use by just any being or creature with self-consciousness, however. In fact, only a very small minority of any member of each race, including Dragons themselves, have ever been able to develop magical powers at all. Many theorists have spent their lifetimes trying to consider such a reason, as well. Particularly given the fact that each of the first eight mortal races have very particular specializations within Magical power at all, while humans and Dragons both seem to be able to pick up particular pieces of various types of Magic from the other races' specialties. Dragons and Humans, therefore, are considered the "jacks of all trades, masters of none," but even that is misleading. For it is rare for even the most Magically gifted Human or Dragon to utilize more than just one form of Magic. As rare amongst Magicians as Magicians are amongst the rest of the populace.

What is it that brings one into contact with the powers of the divine, then? What is the realm of Magic that proves to be so elusive of most of the population? Magic is the realm of the Dreamers. The Questioners. Those who take their own self-consciousness to another level entirely. Therefore, it is not simply a matter of whether one does or does not have the ability to develop an affinity for Magic, it is that few ever take the time to do so.

Magic is not just for those who ask questions, however. The sad fact is that many devoted scientists have dedicated their lifetimes trying to develop magical talents, continually asking themselves questions time and again. The problem is that these individuals are consistently asking the wrong questions. For they are infinitely interested simply in the question "How?" Where Magic as a power is firmly rooted in the crafting of the question "Why?" As such, it is the philosophers, the dreamers, and those whose questions seem the most firmly impractical who seem most suited to wielding the Arcane Arts. For even beasts are able to experiment, find and utilize tools, and manipulate their environment through use of the question How? It is only those creatures that are self-conscious, that is, conscious of their own consciousness, that even have the ability to delve into the Magics of the world.

And it is that very self-consciousness that composes the fabric of Magic itself. For their is no Possibility without somebody to Dream that Possibility into a Reality. And thus were the deities to find that their mortal Creations even surpassed themselves in overall power, not individually, but wholly, as they conjointly delved into the realms of Possibility to create cultures, societies, and communions with one another in ways that the deities had never before imagined. Creation fell out of the hands of the Deities, and into the hands of mortals.

And thus, with the final Creations of the deities being their own mortal races, it was Apothos who concluded the act of Creation once again, with the Creation of Humanity. Humanity was a race that he Created with the greatest potential for Possibility. They were not bent towards their own destinies, as the Luthans, nor were they Created to celebrate, perpetuate, or defend Creation as the Changelings, Artere, and Bergan were. They were not made to facilitate Destruction as the Algein, Pueri, or Heuvians. And they were not merely tools for the study of Creation as the Makhan. They were, however, still an experiment by Apothos. The key, for Apothos, to answer the questions regarding a Prime Creator, or a sense of whether Creation was or was not worthy of sustenance, would lie within the race that had the greatest sway over Possibility itself. And thus were Humans created to be the bearers of the greatest questions of Creation.

Humans have potential for both Creation and Destruction, they can have extremely law-bound principles that control variances for the purpose of study. They also are boundless in their own variations and desires. Humanity encompasses much of the possibility of every other race and deity, to some degree. And within all of that Possibility, it was Apothos's feeling, that eventually some answers would be forthcoming. And it would happen without him having to intervene in any further way, for the answers would come directly from the actions and choices of the mortals themselves. And thus did Apothos, the most distant of the deities, absolve himself from any further responsibility in the world, and therefore left it to sleep ever after.