#cudaas

Once she awoke, she began to create the world, and many other worlds beyond it. Her strong hands brought forth oceans, crafted towering mountain peaks, and painted great swathes of forest and jungle. The Mother of Everything then created five companions for herself, to watch over her creations.

The first of her companions was The Old Woman of the Sea. The Old Woman was a towering hag with long, tangled hair and eyes as deep as the depths she claimed for her own. Her domain was, as her name may suggest, the oceans of the world, and she spread her great limbs over every creature in the sea, protecting them as her own children.

After The Old Woman of the Sea, The Mother of Everything created a delicate being whose form was light enough to be carried by the winds. She named him The Prince of Paradise, and she gave him dominion over the skies. He danced through the clouds, bringing forth rain and storms with a flick of his long-fingered hands.

Following the Prince was The Mountain King, who claimed the lands themselves. He was an arrogant thing, and with his strong arms and huge, curling horns he built himself a throne atop the highest mountain in the world. From there, he would watch over the beings of the land, from the smallest insect to the largest beast.

Next, The Mother of Everything created a being who was split down the middle, two souls entwined as one. They called themself the Divided Master of the East, and they wore a colorful mask. The Divided Master created the moon and the sun, and they ensured that each day and night would pass and time would move forward.

Finally, The Mother of Everything created a solemn, quiet being whose face was shrouded in darkness. She never spoke, and so she was dubbed The Lady of Silence. The Lady of Silence did not wish to take any part of the physical world, and so she instead was granted dominion over the land of the dead. Though she was silent, she swore a solemn oath to ensure every soul that passed through the world would receive safe passage to any worlds that lay beyond.

For a time, The Mother of Everything and her five companions watched over the world, watching as life began to grow and flourish. However, they soon realized that they alone could not keep Order in the world, and The Mother of Everything worried that the life she had helped to spring forth would falter if it could not be protected. The world could not be allowed to fall to the natural Chaos of the universe.

So, her five companions each created beings of their own. Each of them made two hundred, resulting in an even thousand total. These beings were called Guardians, and they were made to protect the fragile life that had created. More than that, they were trusted with upholding Order. The Guardians were loyal to a fault and served their purpose well, aiding the gods in watching over their creation.

However, a curious thing happened as a result of the creation of the Guardians. For every Guardian that was created, a manifestation of pure Chaos came together and formed a being of its own. These creatures, in time, would be known as Wildlings.

The Mother of Everything was intrigued by the Wildlings, but her companions saw them as a threat to the Order they had tried so hard to cultivate. The Mountain King was the first to act, and he called for his Guardians to exterminate the Wildlings, but The Mother of Everything stopped him before he could give the order.

She told him, and the others, that the Wildlings must be gifts from the universe itself. They may not have been specifically created by the gods, but if they were created alongside the Guardians, then they must serve a purpose. The Mother of Everything declared that the Wildlings would be allowed to stay, and the Guardians would prevent them from bringing too much Chaos into the world.

okay so i did post the Creation Myth as the people in this world, perigea, understand it over here: [link] but there are things that myth doesn’t go over and some things that aren’t quite accurate to how things actually work. if you don’t want to read that, though, i’ll give a basic run-down here.

so the equivalents for angels in this universe are called guardians, but they are not meant to be creatures of “good” or otherwise have any specific moral alignment. in fact, guardians can be super fucked up and nasty! the thing guardians were created to do was enforce order. the gods created guardians to prevent perigea from falling into chaos.

there are exactly 1000 guardians in existence, and every time a guardian dies or falls (we’ll get there) a new one is created in their place. each of the five gods who created guardians (the sixth one did not create any) made 200, and each created a different ‘type’ of guardian.

for example, the goddess of the oceans, the old woman of the sea, created guardians that look a lot like merfolk! she also created a group of absolutely massive guardians known as leviathans, who are so large that only a few of them can exist at a time. the most powerful of these leviathans is named persephone, and they’re a minor character in CUDAAS!!!

the guardians that the story focuses on were created by the god of the land, the mountain king! these guardians look the most like traditional/common depictions of angels: humanoids with feathered wings. however, they can get funky! all guardians, on some level, can shapeshift, and many of them choose to make their appearances a little fucky.

regardless of the kind of guardian, they tend to form tight-knit social groups with strict hierarchies known as flocks. each flock has around 40 or so guardians, and one guardian is appointed the leader by the god who created them. flocks exist to essentially keep guardians on task and in check. some function more like family units, but most of them are more just like. groups of coworkers.

anyway, so! falling. a guardian can go through a process known as Falling! this process is incredibly painful and traumatic for the most part, as it involves them being stripped of their power and status, as well as any physical identifies that make them a guardian. some guardians will choose to do this themself, buuut most of the time it happens when a guardian REALLY pisses off the gods and is punished.

how does a guardian piss off the gods? it really depends, but most of the time it happens when they go against their stated purpose. guardians are created not to be individuals, but instead to be part of a collective whole and support the gods in their goals and power. if a guardian becomes too individualistic, too outspoken, or too sympathetic towards wildlings... they usually get the boot.

a guardian that has fallen still retains some of their power, but this varies on a case by case basis. generally, they can still shapeshift to an extent and have extended lifespans, but they are no longer as powerful or immortal anymore. falling cannot be reversed, either--once it happens, it’s permanent.

now, let’s talk about wildlings, the equivalent of demons.

whenever a guardian is created, a being known as a wildling is created as a byproduct. wildlings are not intentionally created by the gods, but they are a response from the universe itself to the existence of guardians. a being of pure order cannot exist without upsetting the careful balance between order and chaos, and so the universe responds by spontaneously creating a being of pure chaos.

wildlings are not inherently evil, just like guardians are not inherently good. in fact, many wildlings are actually very kind--they just tend less towards hierarchy and order and more towards chaos. wildlings don’t exist to tempt mortals towards chaos or into making bad choices--they exist just to keep the balance and prevent things from becoming so orderly that they become stagnant. a little chaos is necessary for the universe to keep going.

unlike guardians, wildlings aren’t really divided into specific categories based on physical characteristics. this is primarily because they’re much more proficient shapeshifters than guardians are, so many of them change their appearances on a whim. aside from appearing mostly humanoid, they don’t have much that makes them easy to spot at a glance.

wildlings are repelled by strict order and hierarchies, but they do tend to form close-knot groups known as packs. packs of wildlings function very much like found families, as wildlings intensely crave companionship. they very rarely have one specific leader, but occasionally one will take the role and act as a parental figure to the rest. wildling packs can be any size.

now, if wildlings are created as a byproduct of guardians, does this mean wildlings can fall as well? yes, actually!

falling for a wildling is far less traumatic than it is for guardians, but it still is a painful and terrible experience. wildlings, like guardians, can willingly relinquish their magic, or they can have it stripped from them by a being more powerful than them. or, more commonly, a wildling will fall when a guardian falls, regardless of the reason.

a fallen wildling loses much of their magic, just like a guardian does, but they retain more of their original magic than a guardian would in the same situation.

now, how do wildlings and guardians interact? this actually depends! under the mountain king, guardians are expected to hunt wildlings and fight them constantly, essentially upholding a balance between chaos and order through violence. guardians and wildlings, according to the mountain king, are meant to be natural enemies.

however, the other gods have different views! for example, the old woman of the sea allows her guardians to work alongside wildlings to keep peace in the oceans. she recognizes that both are important to upholding the balance, and she encourages them to work together to fulfill this purpose.

okay, i know this is very long, but i want to share a couple extra bits of worldbuilding/facts relating to guardians and wildlings:

- all guardians and wildlings are effectively agender, though that may not be the term they use! they may have different relationships with gender and use different pronouns, but none of them experiences gender in the way a human in our world might.

- there is a stereotype, even among guardians, that a smaller guardian is weaker due to not being strong enough to manifest a larger physical form. this is false, though--because alekto, one of the protags of CUDAAS, is a very small guardian but also a VERY powerful one.

- a guardian cannot become a wildling or vice-versa, as though are completely different beings.

- wildlings typically do not give themselves wings, regardless of the region where they live. a wildling with wings is considered very strange to the others of their kind.