Plurk paste

World backstory:

There are Two who existed before all, Beginning and Ending. Through them all the stories of life are written.

Together they crafted the world, and all things within and without the world, and all worlds beyond and before the world. To all things they gave a Beginning, and to every Beginning they gave an Ending, and to every Ending they gave a new Beginning so that no story need ever be the last.

They filled the world with things that come before and things that come after, because for there to be a Beginning and an Ending there cannot be stangnacy, but Change. They filled the world with things to the left and things to the right, because for there to be Change there cannot be predictability, but Choice. And They filled the world with things both good and bad, because to every Change and Choice there must be Consequence, lest Change and Choice lose meaning.

And when the world was written thus, They filled it with humanity, so that They might have others with whom to share the love of stories.


Plot backstory:

Beginning and Ending once lived in the world alongside humans. They shared stories with humans, including the story of creation, but also encouraged humans to share the stories with each other instead of relying on Them for stories, because They wanted to encourage humanity to learn how to love and create stories of their own. After a few generations humanity's retelling of creation started to lose the importance that They placed on every aspect of life's stories, including the importance of Ending. As such, one day a woman lost her fiance in an accident, and went to Beginning to beg Them to bring him back to life.

Beginning was sad, because there were clearly still many stories that the young man's life could have written, and They mourned his death with her. But They told the woman that They could not erase his Ending, for every Ending is important, even when it comes too soon, as without an Ending, there is no room for new Beginnings.

The woman, still stricken with grief, did not wish to hear the truth of Beginning's words. So she went to Ending to beg Them to bring her fiance back to life.

Ending was sad, because an Ending written too early is ever a tragedy, and they mourned his death with her. But They told the woman that They could not erase his Ending, and repeated Beginning's lesson. The woman, still stricken with grief, lashed out in anger and sorrow at Ending, and blamed Them for all things cruel and tragic. She denied the importance of Endings, and belittled and insulted Them, and in Their frustration and hurt they took away her Ending so that she might learn its importance.

The woman went back to humanity, her grief and sorrow twisting into anger and hatred towards Ending. And she came to believe that humanity would live in suffering and sorrow and pain unless Ending was eliminated, and with them death. She began to preach her belief, and rally humans to her side, and many who had known loss and sadness rallied to her, and many who feared death and pain became her followers. They told the story of her belief, and drew yet more to her side.

But others of humanity did not agree that Endings were the source of all suffering, and they stood against the woman and her followers, and told their own stories opposing her. Humanity came to be divided for the first time, and with division came misunderstanding, and with misunderstanding came distrust, and with distrust came conflict.

The First Two saw what was happening, and they tried to steer humanity away from conflict. They told stories of communication and cooperation, and the story of creation, and the story of their love for humankind. But humanity had learned how to disbelieve stories, and for every human who heard Them and understood there were three who heard Them and rejected Them.

It was in this way that humanity first knew war.

The First Two were brokenhearted by what had happened, and implored humanity to tell them why things had become this way. And the woman stood up, and she blamed Ending for everything, and she struck at Them and wounded Them.

Ending, in Their fear and pain, came to believe that humanity was a failed story, and Ended them.