World Building Challenge - Day 1 - Origin

This is part of Faranesque's World Building Challenge from r/WorldBuilding. Check out my hub post for details.

Preface: I don't really have a "name" for whatever story this may end up becoming. For now, I suppose I'll call it The Firmament or Pansidera, for reasons you'll soon see.

Today's installment is a "creation story," the cosmic origin for the setting which will be the focus of my writings this month.

DAY 1 - ORIGIN

 

In the beginning, the All-of-All was Chaos. Matter and Energy were as one, unable to define themselves further. But then an Order emerged in the All-of-All, and a clear intellect defined itself around that Order. In the Darkness which was Chaos, that Order brought Light. So was Pansidera, the First Star, created, and it imposed its will upon the swirling morass of Matter and Energy, shaping it into the first of the Worlds and Moons. Around the Firmament that Pansidera forged, the universe formed.

But Chaos did not surrender so easily. It fought back against the First Star's creations, and brought death upon the First Star, shattering it and all it had created.

Darkness fell, but Light rose again.

The will of the First Star could not be broken so easily. Even sundered into pieces, it still burned bright, and around that will, every Star in the Firmament was created. In defiance of the Darkness, the Stars forged and shaped their own Worlds and Moons. Each of the Stars was equal or greater in will to that of Pansidera, especially together. And so the Stars drove the Darkness back and beyond the Veil of the Firmament, through which its power seeps, endlessly seeking a way through to snuff out the Light again.

In the aeons which have passed, the Stars have grown, multiplied, died, and been reborn. They have overseen the creation of the Races, of the Peoples, and all things which live on the Worlds and Moons. They have gone to war with one another, and they have made peace as well.

Now the Peoples have grown mighty themselves, fashioning great works which allow them to harness energies from the Stars. They make great ships, wonders, and weapons, spreading out among the Firmament. And like the Stars which made and shepherded them, they have gone to war with one another and made peace as well, over and over, since before all reckoning.

The tales say that the Stars now watch the Peoples. Sometimes the Stars guide them further, making strange new things for them to explore and study. Sometimes the Stars smite them for their conceit that the Peoples could try to surpass them and claim the ability to shape the Firmament to their will. But mostly, the tales say the Stars observe, finding entertainment and resonance in their lives.

Every so often, though, the Stars seek something more. To truly live as the Peoples do, to experience life as fleeting as they do.  Or to bless a mortal with Power to see what they will do, or to help them overcome a great adversity, or to otherwise reward them for their exceptionalism. It takes a great investment of power from a Star to create a Star-Born, so they are rare. These Star-Born are resistant to most mortal weaponry, and have at their fingertips the potential power to reshape the Worlds and Moons and shake the very Firmament, though only a paltry few have ever grown strong enough to do so.