Part one of the three part thingie I wrote for how the whole urSkek-into-Skeksis-and-urRu thing occurred. This is just my take on it.

I do not have the Creation Myths books so this will likely be nothing like what's depicted there unless I can somehow predict it accurately without any errors. I only have a few images I could dredge up on Google Images of pages from those books. Most of this is just what I've written and imagined myself.

TahTao belongs to me. No stealing!
Everything else belongs to Jim Henson.

Beginning

TahTao wanted to scream.

No matter how hard he tried to focus on his studies, he couldn't get SoSu's words out of his mind. The erratic manner of the other's words had clung to him since he first heard the older urSkek speak. The chaotic form of that speech cut through the serenity and peace of mind that TahTao desperately tried to cling to.

For the longest time, TahTao had tried to ignore the stirrings in his breast. The beginnings of something…not normal. He had brought it up once and was told to bury himself in his studies, to ignore it. Persistence was the key to eradicating such impurities from his person. So TahTao did so, studying extensively for many long years.

But the stirring did not go away. It grew, just as persistent to be recognized as he was to ignore it.

TahTao found himself shaking some days, crumpling pages of notes. He'd felt the urge to rip them, destroy the texts he'd slaved over. When his teachers paid more attention to his fellows' writings, TahTao wanted to roar in rage.

Rage. Anger. Wrath.

All foreign. Impure. Unwanted.

And TahTao had no clue how to rid himself of it.

Then he'd heard SoSu speak. He and many others had felt these stirrings. TahTao was not alone in these strange, destructive urges. These negative emotions. All things that went against what made urSkek superior to other beings.

The meeting was abruptly broken up by other urSkek and SoSu fled. TahTao managed to return home without being discovered. He buried himself almost to drowning in reports and texts and studies.

Yet SoSu's words rang clearly in his mind for many days to come.

"These stirrings exist in all urSkek. Why must we deny them? It is to deny a piece of ourselves. It is a self-destruction of what makes us alive. Must we recoil from things that other beings experience? I say we should not. If we are to remain superior, we must be prepared to embrace all of ourselves. These stirrings cannot be considered impure, not if we all suffer from them. I say we should embrace these stirrings the same as we do our studies! Self-denial is what is impure!"

TahTao tried to forget, he truly did. He finished up his reports. He studied. He wrote his texts and notes and kept his fellows on task. Yet his mind forever wandered into the stirrings in his breast, the thoughts culminating in his mind, planted there to sprout by SoSu's speech.

He devised a test, all alone in his home. He created copies of reports that had brought up anger in him, that made the stirrings grow strongest. Texts of his that had been ignored in favor of others' works. Studies that had made him see red. He copied them all and, once he was locked up in his home safely, he set them up and let his wall of self-denial fall.

TahTao could not recall most of that quiet evening. Everything became a blur of paper and white-hot emotion. Things were torn and broken. His throat stung from what he could only assume was screaming. When he finally came back to his senses, the main room of his abode was a place of total destruction.

The following morning, he abandoned his tasks and studies. He sought out SoSu.

It was difficult. SoSu had fallen into hiding to avoid being captured by his fellows. Talks of dissent and banishment had begun to spread. Neither of these things had ever happened before in his lifetime. The stirrings had apparently never been acted upon in such a manner in all of urSkek existence. The leaders of their kind were working to eradicate the main cause of this sudden explosion of impurity among their ranks.

It frightened TahTao but he persisted in his search. He was careful, never mentioning the target of his hunt to any other urSkek. He didn't want to end up leading a capturing squad to the older urSkek. TahTao just wanted to find him.

Instead, SoSu found TahTao.

TahTao had given up his search that day and returned home, only to find his home unlocked. Not that that was unusual, urSkek homes were normally never locked…but TahTao had locked his to cover up the destruction in his main room. Somebody had unlocked and entered his home. Terrified, he scrambled for excuses and entered his home with lies on his tongue.

They all died when he saw a few urSkek in his main room. At the center, admiring the shredded paper and broken artifacts, was SoSu. The entourage regarded TahTao with wonder.

"You did this?" SoSu asked.

"Yes," TahTao admitted with a feeble nod.

"None of us have ever let our stirrings lose to this extent," SoSu stated.

"I was just testing it. I never meant to do this much," TahTao explained.

"This is amazing," another urSkek—TekTih, TahTao realized after a moment. "I've tested it but never against our studies. Perhaps these stirrings grew because of our endless monotony and the continuous bottling of those stirrings."

"You have done well," SoSu reassured, touching TahTao's shoulder. "TahTao, I have a favor I must ask of you."

"What?" TahTao asked.

"Join us at our next counsel. We will take this before the public, show them irrefutable proof of these stirrings," SoSu preached. "Show them that this is what could occur if we continue with our system of self-denial."

"It is a good thing these were mere copies and replicas, SoSu," another urSkek, ZokZah, noted. "If these had been the originals…"

"Indeed. This will add a driving point to our proposal," SoSu agreed. "TahTao, will you join us? This would be most helpful to our cause."

A system where he wouldn't have to ignore this stirring in his breast, to drown the negative thoughts buzzing in his mind. It was certainly appealing. Ignorance in and of itself was tiresome. TahTao could certainly see the benefits of this new system.

"I will."

And so, fifty strong, SoSu led his campaign to their leaders and preached of their findings. TahTao was nervous about presenting his own evidence but did so without question at SoSu's request. The rest of the time, TahTao watched faces and expressions.

He didn't like what he saw. Their leaders did not look pleased in the slightest.

"SoSu, you come before us today to preach your evidence of these impurities. I see not how they can benefit, only destroy. You show us the destruction these stirrings have caused. How will letting these control us, as they do other beings, help us? I see no benefit to this. I only see a force of reckoning destruction."

"You would have us languish in self-denial then?" SoSu challenged.

"I would have us continue in our dogged persistence of a pure, unmarred life of study. You, SoSu, threaten this. I have cast a vote among the council as to your fate. Banishment has been decided for you and those that remain firm in these impure beliefs of yours."

TahTao cowered instantly. Banishment. A fate that had not befallen any urSkek in his lifetime. To be sent through the Great Crystal to whatever lay beyond it. Nobody knew quite what it led to. Only that it was used as punishment in the most dire of events.

These stirrings were now considered such a dire event to their leaders.

"You would banish us for acting on what emotions are within us? This is simply how we are. You cannot punish us for that!" SoSu roared.

"And yet, we must. Your teachings threaten to spread such impurity among our ranks. Youthful, innocent minds will be corrupted irreparably by your words, SoSu. I am sorry. Those beneath you that are willing to fall back on our system of belief and order will be exempt from this punishment. We will not punish them for being swayed by the words of you, our fallen brother."

What were once fifty rapidly diminished. SoSu's words were not enough to hold together the congregation he had gathered. Soon, there were only nineteen left. TahTao swung perilously between staying and leaving.

Was ignoring these stirring really so bad? Or was self-denial itself the enemy?

The image of that destructive force that swallowed him in his main room returned to him. TahTao shook his head. No, he could not continue to ignore that part of himself. Not if the end result was that. He simply could not do it.

SoSu's gaze met his, drifting to each of the ones that had remained with him. Just eighteen left to follow the older urSkek. TahTao felt bitter at those that left. Would they truly be satisfied with self-denial? Had his evidence not been enough to keep them on SoSu's side?

Was fear truly that powerful?

"The nineteen of you persist in your false claim, your impurity. So be it. You are banished. You will be led to the Great Crystal and shall pass through it. I pray that you will come to see the error of your ways and will one day return to us as whole, pure beings."

SoSu snarled and cursed as they were led to the Great Crystal at the very heart of their world. TahTao looked around in fear. He suddenly regretted his choice. What if they passed through the Great Crystal and died? Was that the fate of the impure?

Anger at their situation welled up in him. Like SoSu, TahTao began to curse and yell. His rage swallowed him. Why must they receive such a fate, such a punishment? Was it wrong to be yourself?

Fine! Kill him then! It was better than denying who he really was!

They were forced to form a circle around the Great Crystal, a giant glowing hunk of crystal that was broad and faceted at the top and tapered to a narrow rounded point at the bottom. It shone magnificently in all its pure, unmarred beauty. TahTao felt sorrow well up in him. To die by something this gorgeous was a travesty.

SoSu's parting words rang in TahTao's head as their leader—for surely that is what SoSu is now, their leader—and all the rest of his companions were blotted out by brilliant light.

"Do not fear! We depart from a world that would see us destroy our very selves in favor of an unmarred, monotonous existence! If our own will not accept us for who we truly are, then we will make a world of our own in another that will accept us! This, I promise you!"

The Great Crystal glowed viciously. The light burned, making TahTao cry out in agony. The world tore away from him as he was pulled into the brilliance of the crystal, severed from the world he had always known.

And when the light died, the Great Crystal's light dulled and vanished all together. A mountain surrounded them, the start of an entirely different world from the one they had come from.

Thra.