The following is the standard text of the Imperial creation myth, most recently reaffirmed by the Convocation of 68 Cloud at Kar Iitan.

Before things were, they were not; all was the Void.

First of all things were the Diarchs, the Two Highest, who were before and shall be after. One was seluurin, Weaver of Fates, Mother of Schemes, She who solemnly and without cease plans, builds, and arranges. The other was khezri, Trickster, Mother of Wonders, She who scatters, confuses, and breaks with laughter in Her heart.

They looked about them and saw that the Void was formless, with nothing to act upon, and They thought it best that things should Be. And there came from Their thought the first of all seas, filled with dark and cold, blacker than night; and from it, and of it, there emerged the first child of the Two Highest, with night in His eyes. He they named uvuun, the Hungry One, for He was born of Their hunger for new things; and they said to Him, “You shall lie beneath all else that comes after as a foundation. All shall rise from Your depths in the Beginning, and seem to escape You; but they shall return to You in the End.”

And as the Two Highest bethought themselves on new things, even so did they rise up from Uvuun's depths, and fill the Void; and with each came a new child of the Two Highest. With fire came bright idrizal, and with the storms came cherkin in Her rage, and with the waves of the seawaters anedir came dancing. One by one They emerged, and many of Their names are taught to us; and They, along with the Two Highest, are the lamnar, the Powers. And each took possession of some part of the Void and made it a realm unto Themself, and filled it with works according to Their nature; and ever They fought with one another where Their realms met, for there Their influences mixed, and Their work left other than They desired it.

The Two Highest were no longer alone in the Void, and much of it was Void no more; yet they were discontented. For Seluurin saw in the works of Their children no subtlety and no direction; and Khezri tired of the prospect of war without victor, without loser, and without cease.

Therefore, from Their thought a new child arose from the depths, and She was the last; but that of which She was did not rise with Her, for it was within Her yet unmade. For this is the nature of Life, that it does not exist uncreated, but must be brought forth by that which comes before, and unfold over the vigils and turns and cycles. And the Two Highest named Her the name that only Her priestesses repeat, for from Her comes the things that Will Be.

The Last Child went out into the Void, so that She, like Her elder siblings, should have a realm of Her own, where there would be Life, and She could make it as she pleased. But Her siblings were jealous, and would not give of Their own realms to allow Her one; and wherever She went, those things She made were destroyed: they took on the forms of those realms around them, and were erased by the Lamnar of those realms. Even into the outermost edges of the Void She went, and near to the seas of Uvuun, where the other Lamnar would not go; but in those places the things She made remained nebulous and fragile, for though they had thought, they had no substance of their own and could not take any from nearby, and they melted away into Uvuun's depths, and were there consumed.

Therefore, the Last Child returned to the Two Highest, and said to Them: 'Alone of Your children, I have no realm to call my own, nor can I make one; thus My gift goes unused, and Your thought goes unfulfilled. Will You leave it so? I beg of You, grant to Me a place wherein the substance of Your children may be used in the making of My wonders.'

The Two Highest were moved by the wish of Their child, and in the joining of Their forepaws and of Their voices They moved to fulfill it.

At Their bidding did a great pillar rise from the bottomless depths of the Void where Uvuun dwelt, and it was made of metal that burned hot, that none would attack it. And They sculpted a great bowl of the clay of Their thoughts, and placed it upside down upon its summit, and it was fired into hard stone by its heat. Then They called to them all Their children, and bade them turn to it.

'Behold,' said They, 'We have fashioned a place for Life to dwell, as Our youngest begged of Us. In all other places in the Void, you may contend with one another as you please, but here, and here only, your struggles must be restrained. Storm may beat back Fire, but not overcome it, and the same may be said of Rock and Wind, Sea and Land. This shall be, so that none has the strength to overcome the living growing things that Our youngest has placed there, and they shall thrive in spite of you and those you kill; and for this it shall be called avishraa, the Abode of Life. This is Our command; let it not be gainsaid.'

And with This, they withdrew, and Their children took possession of the world that was made, each filling it with such things as the others would allow; and from that which each placed there, the Last Child took some of its substance, so that the Life She made would be given form. Therefore in rivers and seas swam fish, and in the air flew draconiforms, and across the lands grew plants and trees, and beasts roamed among them.

Now in Their act of creation, the Two Highest had made for the Last Child beings in Her image, to help Her in Her works. They were lesser than She, but like Her in that they were of and from things that were not substances, but things of the mind. Such they were:

• laishar was joyful, and made the world beautiful with song and music and delightful sounds;
• ekhtun was protective, and fought with craft and schemes to defend living things from peril;
• arthyd was lusty, and inspired all beings to mate and increase;
• To'an was nurturing, and saw to it that the hungry were fed and the weak nursed to strength;
• pellith was dutiful, and saw that all things did as the Last Child intended them to do;
• vorak was meticulous, and noted all that was done and when, and saw to it that all remembered.

Together They made the many living things of Avishraa and saw that all was good. And at the end of Their labors, the Last Child birthed those for whom the world was made, and these were the first takmar.

They grew and multiplied exceedingly and covered the land; and although some few were small and misshapen, or were corrupted by dark Lamnar and granted terrible powers, most were as they were meant to be. And the Last Child's helpers delighted more in the takmar than in any creations that had come before, for they alone of all living things learned the things that They taught, and participated in Their arts; and the helpers loved them.

And the Last Child, seeing how They cared for the takmar, smiled upon Them, and said, 'Behold, they are Your children, even as Mine; for in part they sprang from My thoughts of You. Yet, knowing this not, even then You loved them as Your own, and this is pleasing to Me.' And, even after the fashion of the takmar She had made, She took Her six helpers in marriage and bound Them to Her as Her Court. They made for Themselves a home in the sky, where it hung that they might look down on the world and rule it justly. And though She loved Her husbands, each was different from the other, and was pleased best by a different aspect of Her that balanced against His own; therefore She learned to present each aspect as a different face, so that each should be fulfilled and balanced in turn. In each aspect She found merit and wisdom that might be imparted to the takmar, and for this reason we call her the Sixfold Eminence, or the Most Eminent. These are Her aspects:

• the Great Smith, young like Laishar, but solid where He is airy;
• the Great Warrior, martial like Ekhtun, but strong where He is cunning;
• the Great Temptress, lusty like Arthyd, but the one to whom He turns over all others;
• the Great Mother, nurturing like To'an, but giving life where He gives care;
• the Great Matriarch, dutiful like Pellith, but masterful where He is servile;
• the Great Elder, meticulous like Vorak, but giving and learning knowledge where He records it.

In time, the first of the takmar came at last to death. For, like all that the Most Eminent had made, their flesh was, in the end, of the substances of the Lamnar, and They only lend of the fruit of Their realms before reclaiming it in good time. And when their flesh died, their souls came unbound, and like the ghostly things that the Most Eminent had made in the time before the world, sank to be eaten by Uvuun, to whom all things return that are not kept from Him. And the takmar, seeing this, cried out for help to the Most Eminent and Her Court.

Those souls that were light, unburdened by evils and buoyed by virtues, They found could be lifted up to join them in Kastun. But as time went on and more died, there were many souls that were not so light, yet not so heavy that there might not be a chance of saving them. Therefore They called upon the aid of Ba'uk, She of Bone, who in the time before the world had been one of those Lamnar who had treated with the Most Eminent in fairness, and who was generous in Her lending of bone to living things. With the agreement of the Most Eminent, Ba'uk it is who judges the souls of those who pass for the price of their bones, helping lift up those who are deserving to Kastun and letting the others descend to Uvuun's depths.

Thus was the burden lightened. But, seeing that far fewer souls were saved than was pleasing to them, they sought to aid the takmar still further. For the Most Eminent had borne many children by her Court; and these, arising from their unions, were immortal as were their parents. Their mother therefore sent them down to walk in the world and dwell in the hearts of the takmar and inspire them in their work. These are the Children, uncounted in names and numbers and more numerous by every vigil; and they keep us from despair and aid us in our daily lives.

For this is the promise given to us by the Most Eminent and Her family, who are the siathar: that those who live rightly, who command with kindness and serve with humility, will dwell with them in Kastun until the End, when all is unmade.