Ajax's Gifts (Document)

''The following is a passage of holy writ concerning the Pantheon of the Three.''

Sayos, the Holy Fire. Caoku, the Mystic. And Ajax, the Maker. These are the three of the greatest Pantheon in our world, three siblings born of ancient deities long since forgotten.

Sayos was the sun of all, the light and life of the world. He saw barren fields and barrow lands, and decided it would be good to throw his fire into the heavens above, so that it could safely shine down, radiant and life giving. Soon the soil and rock sprouted new life, and Sayos was content with the riot of color.

Caoku was the darkness of night, the shimmer of starlight and keeper of all that is unseen. She saw a world full of potential, and decided it would be good to mold the life Sayos gave into something more; with a breath of her power she bequeathed the mystery of the soul in means both great and small to what was before unfeeling matter. Birds, fish, men, all manner of animals and more stepped forth from her labors, and Caoku was content with the new breadth of existence.

But Ajax could not be contented. He created all manner of works and wonders in the natural world, gifting those who could retain his powers intellect and cunning, forming worlds beyond that fed the works of his siblings, but nothing could still his need, for in truth what Ajax most desired of all was his sister, Caoku, and the mysteries of feminine ways which she held in abundance. On the eve of various plots spun by Ajax, however, Sayos discovered Ajax’s designs on their sister, and cast him away from their new world, into a place where Ajax gnashed his teeth and howled in frustration – but to little avail.

Desperate to attract his sister’s gaze, and determined to outshine his brother, Ajax took the part of Sayos’s fire which still burned him, and fashioned it into a bright and terrible crystal. Ajax, gripped in a creative fervor, thought the crystal would allow him to grant life and motion as his siblings had, but when he used it all he could produce were failed creations, creatures misshapen in both body and spirit. Undeterred and unwilling to concede, Ajax made more with his crystal, but chaos found its way into every work he made, and new corruptions and flaws were made flesh, as if the twist awry in Ajax’s heart dominated his every work. Disease, decay and demons of every form poured forth from Ajax’s hands, gifting adversity – the last gift of the Pantheon – to the previously clean and simple world of his siblings.