Autochthon's story as told by Sunjumper

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We are told that if we do not explore our history, we are bound to repeat the errors of the past.

 My soul has past a great many times through Autochthon now and since my very first incarnation I had to study the lives of before so that I may learn from them, learn from me.

 I do not actively remember what happened in the days long gone, so I refer to the endless archives that can be found in every of the eight countries. It seems that more than just a few of my former generations did not study the works of my first lives and I can understand them, for what worth could those archaic scrolls be for the well being of Autochthonia, slumbering far beyond creation.

 I see now that I have been quite naïve in my past lives as the old stories tell us of the wonders of our Patrons and life beyond the seal of eight divinities. It would have helped our childish invasion on creation and reduced the number of tragic misjudgements.

 When the Primordials still walked the world and the earth still rumbled under their avatars steps and valiant heroes sought out the strange deities that lingered beyond Gaia, Autochthon was a very tangible presence in the life of the early humans.

Most people do not know that Autochthon was small for a Primordial and that because he was often ridiculed by most of his brethren he preferred to stay at the side of Gaia, who although she had no deeper understanding of Autochthons strange workings, enjoyed his presence and company.

 While Gaia lay in the rolling sea of chaos, wallowing in life and contemplating the wonder of creation, Autochthon followed her closely always travelling through her skies in the form of a giant burning Moon, such was his bulk that during the Primordials tyranny Unconquered Sun and Luna sometimes met behind his concealing shadow to enjoy short moments of privacy and bliss. His black flesh was adorned with various shimmering metals and minerals and on his surface, between the roaring pillars of fire that erupted from his internal forges, pools of strange liquids sparkling in all the colours of the rainbow could be seen.

 Even as Autochthon still forged some of the gods and had not yet set his sight on the strange humans that one of his twisted kin had spawned and left to fend for themselves, he was venerated by humans. How they called him back then is now lost to the past but he was seen as deity of wealth.

 Now why would people come to think of a strange burning moon, that made constructions so loud that they could be even heard on the face of creation a god of wealth?

It may have been because of the rain that came with Autochthon.

 Those who have been in a forge or foundry may have witness the flying sparks and the bits and pieces that sometimes spill from the place of work. The same happened on Autochthon but on a vastly larger scale, so that a constant rain of various precious materials followed the Great Maker where ever he travelled.

The people welcomed the passing of the burning moon with great celebrations as it brought the Monsoon of Wealth. As they called it.

It is funny to observe that people even before the First Age had a certain tendency to blatant exaggeration, as it was not that the magical materials rained down in endless showers leaving golden paths of vast riches behind the moons path. It would not have left anyone alive to tell the story and most people would have dreaded the coming of the Father of Forges.

 No the rain was of a smaller scale and most of the precious materials where consumed by fire elementals that envied their beauty in the sky, or wind elementals that used them to flatter their underlings and bribe their elders. Also the small gods would snatch away especially precious pieces to craft them into jewellery, for back then the gods had nothing to brighten their dull and tedious lives of eternal toil.

Thus the “rain” consisted mostly of a handful of smaller meteorites that where made of strange alloys, rare earths, curious minerals and very, very seldom of one of the magical materials or even a little device.

 So the great festivities that people held back then may seem a bit childish to us today, yet we should not forget that in those days past the Primordials still ravaged creation as it struck their fancy and the life of the mostly powerless humans was an eternal struggle filled with sorrow and despair. Those small gifts from the sky were extraordinary. And there was something more.

 Would it have been only small precious things that fell from the sky, the reaction would have been less enthusiastic as they were of little worth in the daily battle of survival in a world, where the natural flows of essence could be turned at any time by the incomprehensible Primordials turning fire liquid and water like flame. With Autochthon also came the ideas, the Machine God’s mind was vast and its power resonated in all creatures capable of even the smallest thought. You may have seen the bird that uses a little stick to catch insects? That was one of the effects of Autochthons mind.

In humans the effect was even greater, being at the beginning not more than naked savages, with the moon came inspiration, with inspiration the doctrine of tools evolved and out of it was born the faith in the abilities of the mind.

Humanity surpassed itself by becoming more than just their weak bodies, every time the moon passed they touched the very sky and were elevated to a new level of sophistication. Soon surpassing themselves without the Primordial’s unknowing help.

 It was in those times that the first settlements started to make special celebrations when Autochthon came near. His path was strange and followed no law or rule as the Maker went over the sky whenever his fancy led him.

In those celebrations the greatest minds of the tribe gathered to device the most complex machines, wondrous items and other evidence for masterful craftsmanship in the hope that it would attract the Primordials attention and thus bring the Monsoon of Wealth.

 The curiosity in mankind grew in the Primordial as he was feeling something he had never felt before from those small creatures, genuine appreciation.

He saw that they started to emulate his ways and that they worshiped him and he did not understand.

So after sending two of his major Souls Theokoptôs the God-Hammer and Ipnosomales the Furnace of Souls he made himself a human body to witness the strange creatures nature.

 Autochthon had already finished his work on the gods by this time and was looking for new things to do worthy of his attention. He pursued several ventures at that time but his easily distracted mind soon lost interest in them.

When he heard of the craftiness of humanity he went to them and started to teach them his ways. He rejoiced as he saw how easily those little creatures learned his ways and started to make delightful if weak and useless things with their weak and short lived bodys.

Much to his own surprise he did not bore of humanity as they surprised them time and again, when they surpassed their own level of accomplishment, often when the Machine God thought that they had finally reached their natural limit.

 His curiosity grew evermore, humans were not his work so they were quite alien to him, what was the most odd thing about humans was  that they were like little Primordials in mind, wild, chaotic and self defining. Yet they were weak and powerless. A fact that later would lead to the basic principle of Exaltation as Autochthon wanted to see how far humans could go if their puny command of Essence was bolstered.

 The peoples curiosity was also great. What was this creature that compared with his terrible and incomprehensible brothers and sisters was so compassionate and sane? Why did he grace them with those heavenly gifts, never expecting any tribute or any form of appeasement when something went wrong?

 So mankind’s mind stretched forth as well as that of Autochthon, each longing for cognition striving to understand. And then in the vast darkness of doubt and ignorance two alien minds touched each other and they understood.

In this very moment Autochthon was aware of humanities soul and intellect and to the mortals a child was born that when it drew its first breath, touched the vast and incomprehensible mind of the Old One and understood.

 So the first Prophet was born and through him both man and Primordial learned of each other and began to see.