TheNatureOfTheUnderworld
Contents
The Origin and Nature of the Underworld
An Essay by Hades, Lord of Death, Son of Ouranos of the Thousand and One Eyes.
Introduction
It is commonly thought that the Underworld came into being as the result of an impossibility becoming a reality. The Primordials, who created all things, were destroyed; their physical and spiritual selves were slain by the vile children of the gods. What had always been could no longer be, for that which was immortal was dealt a mortal wound. The great mechanisms of rebirth were overloaded and the Underworld came into being, giving myself and my brothers our domains.
This is how scholars today and even in the First Age postulated the Underworld came to be. I have been able to determine that the Underworld did not come into being in this fashion, for the simple paradox of the immortals dying was not enough to create a new realm. If all had gone as it should the death of the Primordials would have naturally resulted in their dissolution, their return to the originating chaos that spawned them. All did not go as it should, for the dead Primordials still had will and purpose and would not allow this to happen. Using their great power, they found an anchor.
The Yozis and Malfeans known to us today are not the only such creatures nor is Creation the only such thing that exists. In other places, other levels beyond even my understanding, there exist other families of Primordial creatures and other types of Creations. One of these made-things was close enough to the dying Primordials that they captured it from its newly born makers and made it their own. With their last power and last waking moments, the dead ghosts of those who could never die set in action a plan that continues to this very day, the merging of two worlds into one and the reawakening of their slumbering selves to regain their lofty positions as the rightful masters of the Games of Divinity.
The Nature of the Underworld
The Underworld is the remnant of the plane that the Primordials drew to Creation in order to anchor themselves. The plane itself was damaged during the movement and the wrenching of titanic power that stole it from its makers. The makers of this plane were only newly formed themselves and had no time to finish their work before it was stolen, so what was drawn was originally a ‘blank slate’ of sorts. Nothing existed within it but shadow and dust. Slowly, over the course of eons since the Primordial Wars, the Underworld has changed. Instead of the blank grey slate of the early days, a near-perfect copy of Creation exists. The most scholarly of ghosts think this is their work, the constant thoughts and prayers of ghosts shaping the Underworld to their memories of the world above, but they are incorrect. The fluid nature of a half-made plane is the real cause of the changes in the underworld. Bound so closely to a vibrant and powerful plane like Creation, the Underworld took on a semblance of its ‘host’ plane. As the energies of the Underworld slowly align to match those of Creation, the Underworld will become a better copy of Creation.
Even a newly born plane has limits to its elasticity, I have found. The Underworld can never become a perfect copy of Creation. The nature of those who made it was different from that of the Primordials that forged Creation from the chaos. Because of this, not even the Malfeans can create a perfect merger of Creation and the Underworld, their essential essence is different in type, though every day it draws slightly closer. Eventually the harmonics of the two worlds will draw so close that they will merge, becoming one whole. If the Underworld could become a copy of Creation, this merging of worlds would affect only the Underworld, it would be subsumed into Creation. As the Underworld can not mimic Creation perfectly, the new world formed from the two old worlds will be different from both. It will have qualities of both, but will be in many ways unique. I should think it will be most interesting to discover what can survive in this new world and what can not. In a mere few thousand years, I may have my answer.
The Nature of Shadowlands
Shadowlands are a curious and poorly understood phenomenon. Mostly unique to the Second Age as they are they are poorly studied as the primitives of this Age lack the understanding to plumb their mysteries. In the Primordial Age and the First Age of Man, Shadowlands were unheard of. This is because, quite simply, they did not exist in the Primordial Age and only the smallest of Shadowlands existed during the First Age of Man.
The twisted lands are a mixture of Creation and Underworld physics and energies, though those of the Underworld are subordinate. Things material in Creation are material within the Shadowlands while things material within the Underworld are not so in Shadowlands. The material nature of an object is based on a concentration of Essence that operates at such a low level of purity that it becomes material. The Underworld’s essence is not strong enough for impure forms of it to exist within the areas of Creation’s influence. As only the purest Underworld essence can stand the touch of Creation but even impure Creation-essence can exist in the Underworld, the laws of materialization in Shadowlands favor those objects and beings that originate within Creation.
Shadowlands are produced where the Underworld is most developed and thus, most similar to Creation. In these places, the energies of the two planes are so similar as to merge together, creating a small area where there is no boundary between worlds. As the Underworld continues to stabilize and its essence becomes more like that of Creation, more Shadowlands will appear until all of Creation is a Shadowland and the Underworld has merged into Creation in all aspects. Then the laws of physics will begin to merge, eventually eliminating all forms of life unable to exist on the mixed flows of Creation and Underworld essence.
Shadowlands can be created by the production of large amounts of death-tainted energy because that energy is the sort most similar to the essence native to the Underworld itself. As Creation is warped by these death essences, the Underworld is drawn to it and the two merge into a single plane in the area saturated. By making use of this knowledge it is possible to separate the worlds as well as bring them together. By saturating an area with essences unique to Creation, those of living and growing things are the most distinct, the worlds are forced apart and the Shadowland ceases to exist. Salt, curiously magical substance that it is, allows for the Underworld to be blocked in certain ways. It appears almost as if salt is the very definition of impurity in essence. This impurity seems to radiate from the salt, so it may be that the salt is not itself impure, but leeches purity from nearby essence as it leeches water from living flesh. Salt, regardless of how it functions, causes a degradation of Underworld essence flows that prevents them from entering into Creation without great difficulty.
The Nature of Ghosts
Ghosts and the dead are the creatures that most people, living or dead, associate with the Underworld. It is known as the Lands of the Dead and everyone knows that only dead things dwell within. But why is this, considering the nature of the Underworld is basically the same as that of Creation? Essence, the blood of all things, is the answer. Essence flows have flavors and types, some of which attract or repel others and some of which are inimical to others. The flows of the Underworld’s creators are not the same as those of the Primordials who made Creation. They are vastly different, possibly polar opposites. These alien essences are resembled by only one type of essence found in Creation, that of death. Because of this similarity between death-essence and Underworld-essence, the two are attracted. This allowed the dying and dead Primordials to attract the Underworld to themselves and it is the reason dead mortal souls are drawn into the Underworld instead of being returned instantly to the Cycle.
Ghostly creatures like the Hekatonkhire that have developed since the Underworld formed and those strange creatures found only within the Underworld may be remnants of creations that existed within the Underworld when it was in the possession of its original makers. I know that my father does not remember the making of several Hekatonkhire and that he has little knowledge of several begins native to the Underworld. He may simply be forgetful in his long sleep, or they may truly be what remains of primitive attempts by the other Primordials to make their own life forms.
The Nature of Manses
Demesnes, as everyone knows, are places where the natural lines of essence that crisscross both the Underworld and Creation meet and pool into places of power. These demesnes are harnessed by the construction of complicated geomantic structures which channel the ambient essence flows into crystalline patterns that eventually take material form as Hearthstones. These are common facts and well understood by any savant or sage one might ask in the Underworld or Creation. Less well understood is why those Manses that exist inside Creation, or in Shadowlands, are equally powerful in the Underworld as in their natural environment while those Hearthstones originating in the Underworld are unable to provide essence flows or magical powers to their bearers when removed from the Underworld’s influence.
The answer to this conundrum has been touched on previously; it has to do with the impressionability of Underworld essence in respect to the more dominant essence of Creation. Because the essence of Creation has a stronger, more vibrant nature then that of the Underworld, it will overwhelm the essence flows that power Hearthstones and infuse their owners. Only where the essence of Creation is absent or moderated in influence can the Underworld essence flow strongly enough to make the Underworld-native Hearthstones function.
Some scholars I consulted with in the writing of this essay raised the topic of the so-called Celestial Hearthstones originating from Manses in the Celestial City of Yu-Shan. These Hearthstones act exactly as if they originated in Creation because they channel the same flows of essence. Yu-Shan was created by the same Primordials who made Creation and therefore shares the same essence patterns.
The Nature of the Labyrinth
The Labyrinth exists both within and ‘under’ the Underworld itself and has puzzled many scholars since the first ghosts discovered it. There is no mysterious origin or complicated explanation for the presence of the Labyrinth. It is a dead copy of Malfeas, the remains of the slain Primordials that are now the Malfeans. Their corpses still retained a spark of their souls and were carried into the Underworld when the dying Primordials snatched it away from its makers. These not-dead bodies of material merged with the half-made plane that became their resting place, forming the Labyrinth. The curious physics of the Labyrinth are remains of the Primordial’s control over the structure and laws of their own bodies. I know only of this ability from my study of Malfeas and Autochthon who are the last remaining Primordials in almost-true forms.
Further research on my part has proved to my satisfaction that the Labyrinth has distinct districts and zones representing each Malfean’s body and smaller areas that were once specialized parts of the Primordial’s physical structure. For example, deep in the Labyrinth there is an area filled with chains and cages grown from the black ore walls of the tunnels. There, the corridors and byways of the Labyrinth tangle upon themselves like a knot. This place was once a portion of He Who Holds In Thrall, or so my studies indicate.
The black ore used to make Soulsteel and the much-prized Soulfire gems mined from the walls of the Labyrinth are natural parts of the Primordials. Soulfire gems have been shown to exist within Autochthon’s body as well. The presence of black ore in Autochthon is probable from all I have been able to determine, but my Autochthonian captives have been most resistant. I may have to capture one of the “Alchemical Exalted” I have been told would rescue them to prove that Soulsteel exists naturally within the Great Maker.
The Nature of Oblivion
Oblivion is perhaps the least well understood force in existence, or un-existence since nothingness can not be said to exist. Oblivion is a total and final end to all things, the ultimate force of entropy and destruction. That which Oblivion consumes is forever gone, even the soul of a Primordial is destroyed by Oblivion’s touch. The effects of Oblivion are well documented, but its origin is not.
From speaking with my father and the other Malfeans, I have been able to determine that Oblivion is not of their making, not directly at least, and came into ‘existence’ after their deaths, thus putting the lie to the most common theory of Oblivion’s origin, being that it was created by their deaths and came into existence when the first Primordial was slain.
What I have been able to determine is that Oblivion is a hole that leads no where. The natural state of all things is the chaos that formed the Wyld and the Primordials both. This chaos is all-encompassing and utterly without form or mind, even more formless and demented then the deepest Wyld. The Wyld is the land of the Fae, intelligent creatures who have created for themselves a structured and even stratified society. Their social and personal order is a layer on top their chaotic inner nature, but it prevents them from being creatures of true Chaos. The same is true for their lands, even the depths of the so-called "formless" Wyld still has certain trends and flows, a taint of order that prevents the Wyld from being truly a place of utter Chaos. True Chaos exists beyond the Wyld.
True chaos is the stuff from which Primordials form planes and the non-material in which planes float. The Wyld is only a firming, however slight, of the Chaos imposed by the creation of an ordered plane. The closer to physical creation, the more stable the Wyld zones. The closer to true chaos, the more dynamic. As proved during the imprisonment of She Who Dwells In Her Name and later the faerie invasion during the Great Contagion, destruction of plane-inhabited space results in the intrusion of the Wyld. However, when planar space is not surrounded by Wyld, as in the case of a half-formed plane which has not yet developed enough to influence the creation of Wyld, there is nothing to take the place of the moved plane-space. True chaos does not move to fill such a void.
Instead, Oblivion is created. When the dying Primordials reached out and stole away the proto-plane from the Others, they ripped a hole in the non-reality of true chaos and created, unknowingly, Oblivion. Linked forever to the Malfeans and the Underworld by the act of creating the nothingness, a well to Oblivion formed in the Underworld, coring through the Labyrinth and up replace the Earth Axis. It is my opinion, though not confirmed, that at least one Malfean was totally destroyed when Oblivion cored its way through the Labyrinths and that gave the others the idea to end their half-existence in the same way.
Comments
From the notes of the 3rd Astrlogical Primer - Subtle Aspects of the Houses, by Asnes Kashos, Master of the 3rd Constellation Palm -
"The Great Divinities do not speak of this matter, but some amongst the learned surmise that Oblivion is a creation of the Unconquered Sun itself. The Maiden of Glory, in her Twilight aspect, rightly knew that to destroy the form of a primordial would be to force it to change, while loosing none of it's puissance and potency. Certainly, a changed Primordial bereft of memories may have it's effective identity destroyed, but this is small comfort for dealing with such a powerful kind of being, who may wish to enslave Creation just as much and share the same inherent nature as does any of the other demon princes."
"Thus, in the greatest working of Sorcery ever done, the Unconquered Sun, Luna and the Maidens devised the most terrible and inescapable prison that could be conceieved. With this new thing called 'death', the 7 celestial divinities locked the slain Primodials into a half-ending, an eternal stasis from which the Malfeans could never escape. Oblivion is more than a consumptive force - it is a prison. The Malfeans seek to kill all of Creation and make it part of the Underworld. They know that this would either destroy Creation, returning Creation to the primordial soup of the Wyld, or would allow Creation to be subsumed by the Underworld, making all the world a ghastly tomb realm. Either way, the Malfeans win. If Creation were destroyed, the Malfeans would be free to reincarnate and emerge in new forms."
"Strangely, they are opposed in this by their brethren, the Yozi. The Yozi, while most certainly bound within Creation, have a measure of more freedom, even though they are their own prisons. Unlike their 'suicidal' cousins, the Yozis have no desire for the Creation they labored to create to be wiped out, nor do they wish to have their identities destoyed. Even in the weakened, broken forms, they'd much rather return to Creation and conquer. Thus, the servants of Heaven can play these horrific forces against each other."
"It is by this measure that the Twilight Caste of the Solar Exalted created the arts of Necromancy. They can not be blamed - they were only emulating their great patroness, who is the Mistress of both life and death. The Unconquered Sun is a terrible as well as just divinity, in both male and female aspects."
My own thoughts on the matter.. Well, after reading Exalted: Fair folk: the shinma and the primordials were the same thing. The ones who became primordials grew tired of continually changing, and created a model they could reference themselves off, which we think of as creation: Just as you cannot measure without a unit of measurement, you cannot have a powerful mind without a concept of what mind is. no great power without a defined unit of power. and thus, they built their model, strong enough for them to take identity from, no doubt powered by /all/ their wills. So. a primordial enters creation. Lets' think of a primordial as a 5-dimensional being. a normal thing is 4-dimensional. things made of the magical materials are 5-dimensional. creation states that should something of equal dimensions disrupt your essence flows in a proscribbed format, you die, and are retrned to the pool from which you sprang. thus: a primordial comes to creation, where it is bound by the rules that it draws definition from, and a weapon it cannot conceive of, one that is of sufficient dimensions to kill it, does so. The rules that creation has, thus affix a 'dead' suffix to the archetypal 'true name' of the primordial, because, in a sense, the primordial has willed it to do so: But it cannot take it apart, as the primordials are bigger than the thing they draw definition from. But the primordial is now defined by a new name: the change self-imposed, like an oath binds the raksha. My thought s: the first primordial to die /is/ the Labyrinth, oblivion his desire to change his name once more. and every subsequent primordial to die joined this conglomerate, and increases the pull. in short, oblivion is the Malfean's attempt to remove the 'dead' sticker from themselves by the only way they know how: by destroying the thing that gives 'dead' meaning. They are imprisoned by the forms and rules they accepted and gave themselves.
- Molikai
