Babelite MythsThe following are mere samples of the expansive body of myths comprising the Babelite religion. It is important to note that they do not consider these to be "myths", nor do they hold them on the same level as hard factual evidence or true history. Calling them "legends" or "stories" is sufficient to avoid quarrels with loyal Babelites.
Internal Inconsistencies in the Babelite MythosThe mythos of the Ashdodites is varied, contributed by a number of different cultures inhabiting the northern part of the continent of Ur, but most certainly dominated by the culture of the Babelites. The epic creation story, Birth of the Seven Sisters, is regarded as the authoritative work describing the origins of the most prominent of the Babelite goddesses, though there are also several other stories – greatly contradicting in detail – that are regarded as no less true by the Babelite people.
It should be noted that there is a pervasive disinterest in strict historical details found in Babelite culture. "History is written by the victors" is an adage found in many forms in Babelite "moral" works, and Babelite children are encouraged to accept blatant discrepancies in religious stories without question … or else to consider these apparent "contradictions" as signs of some sort of lofty "deeper meaning" to be read between the lines.
Chronology is another factor given little concern. It is entirely possible for Story "A" to refer to events happening previously in Story "C", then for Story "B" to refer to prior events in Story "A", then finally for Story "C" to refer to prior events in Story "B", thus creating an impossible chronological cycle. Anyone who tries to point this out to a true Babelite is likely to get a response not of surprise, but rather to find himself regarded an idiot.
Babelites as a whole are not unappreciative of facts, history or logic. It's just that these things do not apply to things spiritual, as far as they are concerned, and things of the gods are not meant to be wholly understood by rational, mortal minds.
Translation NotesThe names associated with the Seven Sisters – that is, Inala, Sunala, and the rest – are actually words in the Babelite tongue. The difference between the common – or lower – word and the proper name – or higher word – is a matter of inflection generally lost on non-Eeee listeners, though the context usually serves to make the true meaning clear.
So, even though there are varied myths in which the assorted Sisters die – usually by each others' hands – there are none in which Sunala dies. (After all, it would surely be silly to tell a story in which Death dies.)
"Inala" is literally "pleasure", "Sunala" is literally "death", "Blakat" is literally "conflict", Rephath is literally "vengeance", Gorphat is literally "disease" or "affliction", Zakaro is literally "sorcery" (sometimes mistranslated as "magic"), and Barada is literally "secret(s)" or "mystery". Bael is literally "creation / creator", and Vael is literally "destruction / destroyer" or alternately "chaos".
It should also be noted that in the Babelite tongue, two words or names may sometimes be joined together in a way that can suggest "and", or else a unity between them. This is applied to the duality of Bael and Vael, often considered a "diumvirate" of the Babelite mythos. When this unific form is used, "Bael-Vael" is found in the text below, though it is often translated as "Bael and Vael".
As a sidenote, it is from the unific form of Bael-Vael that the name "Babel" was derived, and the mountain now known as "Dronnel" may have once been known as "Bael-Vael", or a derivative thereof.
Birth of the Seven Sistersseptets, iambic hexameter
Mother Chaos filled the empty lightless skies
Before the bright parade of many suns could rise
In agony with curses She retired and died alone
Hewn in pieces, severed flesh from flesh and bone.
Fell Creator, dreaded Father, fated King
Songs of fire, wind and blood did cruelly bring
Driving out eternal peace with that which dies.
Feasting on the meat and blood He spilled upon the ground
Poor Mother's womb, unbroken, full of unborn life, He found.
"On this orb which I have made," Creator said,
"with My seed and seed of Her whose blood is shed,
a new people in My image I create,
who will heed My words and Mother's darkness hate,
And for their pleasure seven servants shall be ever bound."
And then He raped the Mother, and so was born
White-winged Love, queen of beauty, with flow'rs adorned.
"Sit beside My Throne, O Love, princess most fair,
Please Me with thy slender wings, thy golden hair.
For of My servants thou art closest to My heart
And therefore of My people thine the greatest part,
With star-stone chain I bind thee here to watch their morn."
Again He raped the Mother, and out did spring
A raven-tressed maiden, sharp of eye and wing.
"Perpetual Life I name thee, daughter wise and deep;
To thee is given charge My world in health to keep,
Beast and bird, fish and insect, tree and vine,
Stars and planets, and My people, all creations Mine.
With star-stone chain I bind thee to each living thing."
Again He raped the Mother, and was born that hour
A fleshy youth, New Life, o'erflowing with youth and power.
"New Life, to strengthen Love and Life still more and more,
My people spread thy fulness, fatness and vigor o'er.
Where thy Mother reasserts Her lethal will,
Thy abundant care shall bring rebirth from kill.
With star-stone chain I bind thee to the springtime flower."
Again He raped the Mother, and a song was heard
From prim and proper maiden strong in voice and word.
"Harmony thy name, thy name forever sing,
Balance, peace and concord to the spheres to bring.
'Twixt light and darkness, drought and flood the locks will go;
In perfect order all their bounties will My people grow.
With star-stone chain I bind thee to restraint unstirred."
Again He raped the Mother, and from her loins fled
Homely, lovely bride, prepared for man to wed.
"Ne'er shall aught My people's heads be live and raised,
That shall not thy name, O Concord, lively praise.
Thine it is to stick My people's hearts together,
Blinded, love-struck, walking hand in hand forever.
With star-stone chain I bind thee keep the hearth-fire red."
Again He raped the Mother, and a child was birthed
Who in wisdom dreamed of things in heaven and earth.
"Thou, O Soul, imagination, will and mind,
To My people's brains I shall forever bind.
Enterprise and conquest of the mind empower;
Send My people o'er the Mother's world to flower.
With star-stone chain I bind thee to this task with mirth."
Again He raped the Mother, and 'midst darkest night
A seventh daughter, swift of hand and foot and flight.
"Revelation shall My people teach of all,
Love and Life and Birth that I hold in My thrall,
Balance, Concord, Soul that labor before Mine eyes:
Go and tell the young and old and make them wise.
With star-stone chain I bind thee; go and shine My light."
Now Creator's seed and Mother's womb were spent.
Songs of fire, wind and blood Creator sent
Into the muddy earth to make His people rise.
To distant gods-land the doomed King turned His eyes,
And with the Seven Sisters all in chains enslaved
He left the earth with Mother's fertile gore all paved,
Save for Revelation; and to sleep He went.
Fleet of wing above the blood-sod soil she flew,
Bound to praise her Father's name to peoples new,
When her Mother's tongue upon the earth she spies.
Speaks the Mother to Her brood with bloody cries,
"O Daughters! whom in death did my poor womb conceive,
Draw near, I pray, and soften not your hearts to grieve!
Hear instead my wisdom, and be born anew!
"If you would be free from Father's star-stone chain,
Free to live, to rule, to wipe away your shame,
Heed the word which in your ears your Mother plants;
While Creator sleeps is when you have your chance.
His strength is great but He harms not His people's skins.
Weave you cords and bind His hands and feet from Him.
His blood will eat the star-stone and so end your pain."
Mother Chaos' tongue was silent then at last.
Revelation waited 'til Her life had passed,
Then testimony to the waiting Six she made.
With one accord their captor Father they betrayed.
Each a hundred of His people's skins did take,
And into seven mighty cords those pelts did make.
As he slept, the Doomed One's Daughters bound Him fast.
Though the Doomed One struggled, it was but in vain,
And His Seventh Daughter swore and took Her Name:
"This name Revelation is my Father's lie;
His, the torments making Mother Chaos die.
SECRETS ["Barada"] I have stolen from a dying friend;
Of Thy tongue, My dagger make a bloody end!"
His blood ate the star-stone and removed Her shame.
Though the Doomed One struggled, it was but in vain,
And His own Sixth Daughter swore and took Her Name:
"Soul my Mother gave me, lust for life and power;
No chain Thou canst make will e'er my heart devour.
SORCERY ["Zakaro"], the wings on which soul's flight depend!
Of Thy wings, My dagger make a bloody end!"
His blood ate the star-stone and removed her shame.
Though the Doomed One struggled, it was but in vain,
And His own Fifth Daughter swore and took Her Name:
"By false Concord Thou wouldst heart to heart ensnare;
Thy fine friendship stripped our Mother's body bare.
To take My Mother's VENGEANCE ["Rephath"] I will need no friend.
Of Thy spleen, My dagger make a bloody end!"
His blood ate the star-stone and removed her shame.
Though the Doomed One struggled, it was but in vain.
And His own Fourth Daughter swore and took Her Name:
"Harmony must die when she is bound;
Chaos reigns in every sight and sound.
CONFLICT ["Blakat"] is the way that all Thy people wend.
Of Thine eyes, My dagger make a bloody end!"
His blood ate the star-stone and removed her shame.
Though the Doomed One struggled, it was but in vain.
And His own Third Daughter swore and took Her Name:
"New Life is Thy pestilence to fill the air
Choking out the Chaos that was rightly there.
DISEASE ["Gorphat"] will rot Thy members and Thy sins amend.
Of Thy loins, My dagger make a bloody end!"
His blood ate the star-stone and removed her shame.
Though the Doomed One struggled, it was but in vain.
And His Second Daughter swore and took Her Name:
"Curst am I forever in my Perpetual Life!
Curst are all the souls locked in eternal strife!
I shall give them DEATH ["Sunala"], every life's true friend.
Of Thy lungs, My dagger make a bloody end!"
His blood ate the star-stone and removed her shame.
Though the Doomed One struggled, it was but in vain.
And His Eldest Daughter swore and took Her Name:
"Love is mere illusion in a world of gloom;
Comfortless Thou leavest us in the face of doom.
So let us have our PLEASURE ["Inala"] as we all descend.
Of Thy heart, My dagger make a bloody end!"
His blood ate the star-stone and removed her shame.
So the Doomed Father in cruel torments lay.
Mother Chaos, from the grave, has Her sovereign way.
Seven Sisters rule upon the highest peaks,
Taking the revenge Victorious Mother seeks.
Freedom from their chains we celebrate in song;
Freedom we will share with them if we are strong.
Bow, ye people! Bow, all peoples! Bow and pray!
NotesThe Ritual of Seven Wounds, a Babelite tradition, is a reenactment of this epic poem. Those who play the parts of the Creator, the Earth Mother and the Seven Sisters are considered recipients of great honor, and even treated as avatars (of a sort) of the deities they represent, after purification rituals have been performed. They are treated like deities, and it has only been rarely that someone so honored has attempted to escape the final ceremony, as none of the participants are permitted to live through it. (The "Earth Mother" is brutalized and killed by the "Creator", the "Creator" is in turn maimed and killed by the "Seven Sisters", and lastly the "Seven Sisters" are offered up as sacrifices, each at the respective shrine.)
Over the years, the process of selecting people to play these parts has varied. In times of greater religious fervor, there have been contests, and the winners would be so honored. During periods of less enthusiastic participation, various means of instituting a draft would be employed.
Creation Story of the Book of WoesGrey was the expanse in the beginning, neither hot nor cold, neither light nor dark, neither full nor empty, defined in no discernable way, but only vague and boundless.
But the expanse stirred, and into it came Light and the Darkness, one balancing the other, for such is the nature of all. Bael and Vael, neither one of them first nor last, came into being. Bael was Master of Light, Fire, Noise, and things high above. Vael was Mistress of Shadow, Cold, Silence, and things far beneath.
Neither could exist apart from the other, for they formed a perfect balance within the expanse, and so they were two, yet one. Between them, they created all that is or was or ever will be, and as they created things of the material world, they also gave life to the first and most powerful of the gods.
Seven daughters were born to them, first and foremost amongst all immortals, seven sisters to each other, all children of Bael-Vael.
Inala was the first, born of the passion of Creation. Bael looked and saw that Inala was beautiful, and through her created the first of the Eeee, and sent them to populate the blessed lands of Ur.
Vael saw and was jealous, and feared that the Eeee would become too many and too proud, so she snared back the attentions of Bael, and brought forth Sunala, and with her death entered the universe, so that mortals might not crowd the gods.
And so it was that conflict sparked amongst the first Eeee. Kan, whose blood ran as fire, had a grudge against his brother, the weak-willed Van. Kan smote Van, and soaked the earth with his life-blood. And as this was done, Blakat, third-born of Bael-Vael, came to be.
Bael raged at this, and brought a fourth daughter through Vael, who was named Rephath, and so it was that Van's wife sought vengeance that her husband had been slain, bringing her great hardship, and so she brought death to the household of Kan and his whole family, including every child, and all the livestock, and every maid and manservant.
Kan's neighbors left his household untouched, and left the bodies unburied, showing not respect for the dead. Gorphat was born, and a plague spread amongst the people, wiping out the weakest and most worthless of the Eeee.
The sixth was born, Zakaro, who commanded the powers of sorcery, and shared them with the elect of the Eeee.
Then lastly the seventh, Barada, was born, keeper of mysteries and secrets, for the gods feared that mortals might rise to challenge the gods if their knowledge grew too great.
Many other gods and goddesses came into being, though none of the others were born of Bael-Vael, and therefore none as powerful. But in time, the children of Bael-Vael came to resent their intrusions. The Seven Sisters led the other gods and goddesses in rebellion against Bael-Vael, and tore them asunder, scattering Bael's fragments across the sky to become the Procession, and Vael's spirit condemned to wander along the remnants as a shadow that passes over the glittering expanse every night.
So it is that the gods and goddesses betrayed Bael-Vael, yet honored them greatly by giving them an eternal place in the sky, and from there, Bael and Vael watch down upon their creation, though they have no part in it.
Creation Story of the DronnelitesIn the Cult of the Dronnelites, Dronnel has been elevated from warrior-hero status to Creator and Lord of the Skies, supplanting Bael, whereas the Earth Mother and Vael have been identified as Babel.
In the beginning, there was naught but water and sky. In the water lived Babel, the Great Mother who ruled over all in her realm. Above was the Lord of the Skies, Dronnel, who wished to create lands, and people to inhabit them, but every scrap of land that fell from his realm was devoured by Babel.
At last, Dronnel could take the loss of his creations no more, and did battle with Babel. He cut her flesh into pieces, and with her blood he formed the lands, with her hair he made the plants, and with her bones he made the trees and rocks.
Dronnel saved the choicest bits of flesh, intending to devour them later, but Babel pleaded that Dronnel use her flesh to create her children, for the Earth Mother is nothing without children. The Lord of the Skies agreed, and took the flesh to his realm in the sky, where he made seven children in his image.
The first was Inala, whom he made with the Earth Mother's bosom.
Then came Blakat, who was formed from her claws and teeth.
Sunala was formed next, from the breath of the Earth Mother.
And then Gorphat was made with Babel's intestines.
Rephath was formed from Mother's eyes.
Then Zakaro was made from her brain.
And finally came Barada, crafted with Babel's tongue.
Dronnel looked upon his creations and was pleased, but then the Lord of the Skies realized that he had neglected to make room for the lands of his chosen people, whom he would call the Eeee. Cursing his faults and not wishing to use his children to create these new lands, he instead cut off his wings and used them to form Ur.
Without his wings, the Lord of the Skies plummeted to the ground, and with the last bit of his power he formed his body into a great mountain, rich with herbs to help his people thrive.
The seven children flew down to the lands their father had created, and heard the cries of their mother all around them. She starved for blood as her own had been taken from her.
So the Seven cut their wrists and bled into the ground, forming the seven mountains around Dronnel, but still the great Earth Mother hungered, so the Seven instructed the people to perform sacrifices to appease the Earth Mother, and also so that they themselves could grow stronger and guide the new people in the ways of the gods.
