Yes, Luciform is still ongoing. But I had a series of brainwaves in very quick succession, which I shall (briefly) ramble about in the bottom author's note, and this was the result. So, I hope you enjoy it.

Also, big huge thank you to Keladin, who read through a previous version of this and gave me feedback that made it better.


There was something missing in the world after sister Goddesses Akari and Kagami had first created it.

The ground beneath their feet was solid wherever they walked, rich with plant-life of all sorts in some places while covered in soft grainy sand in others, and little round pebbles elsewhere. The edges of the world were cold and glittering with snow and deemed perfect for the Lesser Gods of the North, while the center was the hottest place, left to be governed by the Lesser Gods of the Sun. The lands between them were neither too hot nor too cold, though each varied from the other slightly nonetheless. The seas that surrounded their lands were blue and serene, filled with creatures perfectly suited to the water. Birds flew freely across the ever-changing sky, radiant and vivid and occasionally decorated with soft cotton clouds that Akari had spent an age weaving, and then they rested in the trees that all the lands had, sharing them with other animals.

Between their own powers and the powers of the Lesser Gods, magic flowed through the land, granting it ever more beauty and safety as the animals and the creatures and the plants flourished. They divided up the flow of time into clear days reigned over by Akari and calm nights ruled by Kagami, as this was an age before darkness was reviled, an age when dark and light could work in harmony. As such, the world itself proceeded in harmony, and the sisters spent their days enjoying all they had created, relaxing in the knowledge that all was perfect and good. Occasionally, they tweaked things here and there, contributing little bits of their magic to the earth and the sea and the sky in order to create more wondrous things, making their world even more perfect and good with each passing moment. But there was little work to do, and mostly they spent their days playing and frolicking, for they were still young Goddesses, and that is what all young things do. It was a flawless existence, this new world.

And yet, something was missing.

When they realised it, the sisters pondered on this lack for many seasons, walking through the different parts of their world, talking to the Lesser Gods, but they could not work it out. They watched the trees blossom and then become lush with leaves, watched those leaves change colour and then fall off and still they were no closer. Akari and Kagami lamented this, and for a while it dulled the enjoyment of what they did have. They couldn't take pleasure in the taste of fruits, the warmth of fire or the coolness of the ocean that they regularly swam in. Not even their animals and creatures, who adored them unreservedly, could get a smile from them.

The seasons continued to cycle in this way, and then one day, when spring had returned and the sisters were sitting under a cherry tree choked with blossom, Kagami had a revelation. She looked around her and realised that their world was static. Yes, the seasons cycled and their creatures died and gave birth and grew up. Yes, occasionally a flower would bloom in an unexpected colour, wind would scatter seeds in soil they'd never grown in before. But all in all, the world did not move. It did not progress and as such it was stagnating. The beauty was becoming cloying, growing heavy and although they were Goddesses and had the power to control almost everything, this was one thing that their powers could not complete.

No. Just as creatures in the oceans found shelters for themselves, and the larks had learnt how to sing to welcome in the morning sun, and water nymphs learnt to make the water dance in glorious shapes. Just as rabbits dug warrens, and the crows made tools to find food, and bees swapped pollen to keep the world lush and green, they needed something to help change the world.

"We are missing a being," Kagami said to Akari. "When we made this world, we did not think of how it could advance onward, how new things could be discovered from it to keep it going. And so we did not make creatures who would be able to do that, and that is why it feels so empty despite looking so full."

"I believe you are correct, dear sister, but what sort of a being do you think would help?"

"One that feels, but one that thinks and has reason too. A being that is capable of understanding and of experiencing wonder and enchantment. A curious being who looks at the world and wonders 'what if', who can use their hands to then turn their thoughts into reality."

"Like us, but not too much like us, for we are Goddesses and Gods and the world would not work if we were all the same." Akari slowly said after considering this for a moment.

"Precisely, beloved sister." Kagami agreed, pleased that Akari understood. "So what do you think? Shall we try and make these beings?"

Akari smiled, as bright and dazzling as the sun as she laughed in delight at the thought that finally, finally, they would be able to fix the wrongness that had plagued their wonderful world.

"Yes, of course!"

The sister Goddesses gathered mud and sand and stardust, and water to hold it all together. Akari had Kagami pose for her as she shaped the mixture into a shape similar to their own forms-elegant limbs, carefully rounded heads and shapely necks, fingers that would be able to shape anything they came into contact with, eyes to see and ears to hear and a mouth and a nose to taste and smell with. Some of these beings she gave gentle female features, resembling Kagami, while others she shaped into a more abrupt but no less lovely masculine shape. She gave them blood to flow through their body and sustain it, lungs and a beating heart caged safely within ribs that gleamed white. Between them, Akari and Kagami wove skins of different shades that recalled the different types of earth and covered each form with a different one, fit snug over the shape. They infused the centres of their eyes with colours as varied as the sky above them and flowers around them, and carved teeth out of gleaming white stone to allow them to eat a wide variety of foods, to discover new things that could be consumed.

In addition, Akari and Kagami borrowed from their domains of light and dark to give their new beings other qualities. Akari gifted them with compassion, brightness, vitality and hope while Kagami bestowed upon them vigilance, resilience, contemplation and intuition. Between them, they created minds, where the beings' thoughts would be based and placed them within the heads of each one and they equipped those minds with the ability to remember, the ability to reason, to feel and to wonder, a capacity for curiosity and persistence. They gave the minds ability to understand the speech that their crafted mouths would create, added magic to the eye colours that would ignite the beings' sense of wonder and gratitude towards the world. No two beings had the exact same configurations of any of these qualities or features and so though on the surface and at their very core they were the same, in all other ways they were unique to each other.

And then finally, once the beings had been put together and were lying down on the grassy verge that Akari and Kagami had blessed for such a sacred creation, they gave them each a name and prepared the spell to breathe life into them.

But it did not work.

The spell was cast, and the magic of it sparkled and floated over each one for a brief moment before disappearing into the sky. But the beings remained lying there, sheltered by the elm trees, their spark bright but unfocused, their bodies still, no air flowing into or out of their new lungs. The sisters tried the spell again, and again. First together, in the middle of the circle and casting it across, and then going to each human one by one and trying to breathe life into them individually.

But still, it did not work.

Since it was a Lesser God's function to help the Goddesses where possible, it was to them that Akari sent out a call for help, and the first answer came from a visiting group of the Lesser Gods of the Central Mountains. They were an arrogant bunch, hedonistic and decadent, but nonetheless they were honourable and wise and meant well. They strode across the verge dressed in bright silks and crude jewelry and they inspected each laid-out being critically, prodding at their faces and fingering their hair before eventually standing in the middle and looking back over at the anxious sisters.

"They are a little like animals, why not elevate them from that?" One of them called out, making the others laugh. "How can you say these are a new type of being if they are so…so base?"

Akari shrunk back at that, always sensitive to criticism, but Kagami straightened up to her full height and glared as she said:

"They have more than animals. We have given them minds, and the gifts of thought and reason, imagination and wonder. But that does not mean they are more than animals. Even though they will hunt some for food, just as some animals hunt others for food, that does not make them lesser beings. When they awaken, they will respect every part of this earth, even as they transform it to suit their ends. And because we have given them mortality too, just as animals have, they will respect life itself."

"And in exchange, though they have magic and powers of their own, they have less than we Goddesses or you Lesser Gods will, so that they remember to hold us in awe. But that does not make them less than us." Akari added, buoyed by her sister's fierce protection. "It is a fair balance, and that is what we want."

"That is perhaps not how we would have made them, but I suppose that makes sense." Another of the Lesser Gods conceded.

"So, can you assist us?" Akari pleaded. "What else do you think our beings need in order to come to life?"

The Lesser Gods of the Central Mountains pondered upon this for a moment, murmuring and occasionally getting side-tracked by a joke. But eventually, they turned and one of them said:

"Merriment and joy, and the ability to experience these things, to celebrate them. Having wonder and gratitude and all that is all very well, but there is little purpose to it if they cannot have fun with all that is out there."

"You are right, we did not think of that," Kagami said. "We shall try that, and see if it helps."

Once the sisters had been shown the spells needed to grant their beings merriment and joy, and the Lesser Gods had returned to their homes with gifts of flowers and gowns as thanks, they worked quickly and carefully to dismantle each being, equip them with the merriment and joy and then reassemble them again. With the sun rising on a new day by the time they were done, once again they attempted to breathe life into them.

But although there were flickers and sparks, it still did not work.

Next, Akari travelled to the coldest regions to meet the Lesser Gods of the North, taking one male being and one female being with her. She laid them out in their feasting hall and watched as the Lesser Gods scrutinised each one methodically, regarding their muscles, the strength of their hands and feet, their overall forms.

"You need to grant them fire," the one-eyed amongst them said. "Not the fire of flames, for I am sure with their thought and their reason and their imagination they will manage that themselves, but fire in their bellies. Determination, fierceness. They need to have the courage to be able to fight and defend themselves from whatever challenges they face without backing down. They must be prepared to shed blood and to battle on even in the coldest days."

"My sister has given them resilience." Akari said cautiously, well aware that these bloodthirsty Lesser Gods would be so inclined.

"Resilience is a start," the one-eyed said. "However, they need that fire, also. They need the concept of challenges, to both face and issue them. They should want peace, yes, but they should not allow themselves to be trampled over, either. If you want your beings to live and not just survive, they must fight. Now, shall I show you the runes to give them that fire, Goddess Akari?"

Desperate to do what it took to make sure that not only did her beings come to life, but that they were able to care for themselves, she nodded and made sure to carefully memorise what she had been taught. She gave them fruits from the warmer climes and logs to make new boats, and then returned home with the two beings so that she and Kagami could give their beings their fire. And then once again, they tried to breathe life into them.

But once again, it did not work.

While Kagami stayed close to the grassy verge sheltered by elm trees and tended to the beings, making sure that they didn't wither and fall apart and that the spells remained fresh, Akari travelled her world seeking the counsel of both the Lesser Gods and some other creatures for ideas she could use to bring her beings into life. The Lesser Gods of the Windswept Islands sent Akari home with honeyed mead of poetry and the gift of story to infuse in the beings' blood, while the Lesser Gods of the Sun suggested spontaneity and surprise, and the water nymphs energy and ambition. With these, and more besides, the beings became ever finer, and just that slightest bit closer to life.

But none of these worked. None of them allowed either Akari or Kagami to breathe life into the beings once and for all.

"Oh, I cannot bear it," Akari wept as yet another addition failed. "I cannot think of what else to give them, and it hurts, sister, seeing them like this."

"I know, dearest," Kagami tried to soothe, though her heart was just as broken. "I love them as much as you do and I had so hoped this would be what the world needed."

"It is, it has to be though. There has to be something that we have missed, despite all of our collective wisdom."

"I know, but what could it be?"

The sisters sat there in the middle of the circle, looking at their beings around them lying so perfectly still. Each of them had slightly different thoughts about these beings they poured heart and soul and blood and tears into, but for both of them these thoughts eventually circled back to love. How much they loved these beings as much as they loved the rest of the world, and each other. And because they were sisters, despite their light and dark making them so different, something started to dawn on them.

"Love…did we give them the ability to love?" Akari asked.

"I am not sure we did. We gave them caring, and loyalty, and kindness too, an affiliation with each other so they would know that they are kin. Differences they could use to complement each other, but I do not know about love." Kagami mused slowly.

"Oh, that must be it, then!" Akari exclaimed. "That has to be it! We need to give them love for each other, different kinds of love so that they can take care of each other in different ways, so that they can love the things they create just as we have."

"What about the creation of themselves by themselves?" Kagami pointed out. "Will we make it so that they are able to do that through love, too?"

"They will do that by mating, will they not? As one of the things we have given them in common with our animals, since that is why we gave them the male and female shapes." Akari replied. "I surely do not need to draw you diagrams."

The Goddesses paused for a moment to giggle, as they were still young, and such silliness was still a feature of all young beings and always would be. But Kagami sobered quickly as she looked upon the new sleeping begins with tenderness.

"At the very base, yes," she explained. "But I think we should let them have a little more than just an abrupt….um, moment, shall we say? For humans, the act should be special and a symbol of a very particular kind of love between those two humans. Not lesser than say, the love of a person and the child being that they'll end up creating or the love between comrades, but different. A special kind of love, that results in a special kind of creation."

"Will they not be embarrassed, then, if they are seen in the act?" Akari wondered, cheeks going pink.

"Now see, that is what I am for, and what the night is for." Kagami grinned.

The sisters had another moment of youthful silliness, and then they decided that that was that. That they would give their beings the capacity for all sorts of love, and in particular the love that would result from them creating themselves from themselves. They worked hard on the spell, for three nights and three days, and then they infused it straight into the beings' heads and hearts before reassembling them and saying a fervent prayer before then finally, finally, breathing life into their beings.

And this time, it worked.

They called these beings 'humans' and gave each one an individual name for them to be referred to by. Though the humans they had created were in the shapes of their fully grown forms, they were still as wobbly and unsure as their infant versions would be once born. So Akari and Kagami spent some time nurturing them, teaching them about the world they inhabited and giving them time to get used to it, creating more to keep them company.

The humans were quick learners, and passionate about it. They investigated their worlds and shared their findings with each other, developed rituals for the different parts of their days. They made clothes to keep their bodies safe and warm and learnt to prepare fruits and other plants in new ways to nourish and enrich them. They learnt to hunt, and were able to fight when an animal tried to harm them, while also protecting anything weaker and making sure that they were all happy and cared for. They understood who Akari and Kagami were and worshipped them for giving them life and for sustaining the world they lived in, which was now longer static, a truly good and beautiful world. They had changed the world anew and they made it a better place and so their worship was returned with adoration and love.

And they loved, each other too, oh how they loved. Friendships formed, and groups that would later resemble the units they'd call 'family' also started to form and so did that very particular kind of love. But as the humans learnt to love each other in all ways, surprises popped up. Two female humans fell into that kind of love with each other, but though their affections and passions were just as real and true as that of a couple consisting of a male and female, the fact of them both being female meant they could not create and nurture a child together. A separate surprise, of a human couple falling out of love as quickly as they had first fallen soon offered an unusual solution, for the female of that couple had become with child with nobody to raise it with and no desire to raise the future child alone nor to prevent her or him from being born. It was eventually decided that once this child was born, the lone female would offer the child up to the female couple so they could nurture the child as if he or she were of their own blood. The sisters were pleased by this, and looked forward to the day that this child, and a number of others to other happy couples, would be born.

A surprise that was not so easy to tackle was the revelation that occasionally, a human that Akari or Kagami had shaped as being either masculine or feminine in body felt in their minds that they were actually meant to be the other, feeling distress at looking at a body that didn't fit their sense of who they were. Despite their best efforts, neither Akari nor Kagami could find a way of changing that human's body, as the magic that had kept the shapes together were too well rooted. However, Kagami hit upon the idea of smaller changes, of letting the human have the freedom of changing their hairstyle and clothing type and accessories, and deciding upon a new name for themselves as well as making sure that people referred to them in a way that best reflected their true inner selves. She knew it was not the same, but she decreed that this could be one endeavour that humans could commit to, that their own special abilities to strive and discover and imagine could potentially unearth and so until that day came, the smaller changes could serve as a stepping stone. Though there were not many of the humans who would feel this distress, all of them accepted and celebrated this and committed to the endeavour.

However, despite this, Kagami was not as celebrated as she could have been. For the humans quickly learnt that light was pretty, it was bright and showed colours and kept them warm. They appreciated the dark as a quiet place to love, as something to soothe their eyes so they could rest at night and collect their energy for the next day, but they gravitated towards Akari the way all beings gravitated towards any light.

And when the seasons changed and Akari finally decided that the humans were ready to make their way across the world to some of the domains of the various Lesser Gods (who had been promised groups of humans to help enrich their lives, as thanks for the help they had given the Goddesses), those who were staying lamented the absence that this would necessitate. Once they had helped the other humans to packed and bid them farewell and good luck they all mourned, as though Akari was leaving them for good.

Though Kagami could be brisker and fiercer than her sister, and perhaps more enigmatic, she was as compassionate and wise as her sister. She treated all the beings in the world with love, especially the humans, helping them as they continued to understand the world and playing with them, exchanging ideas for baby names with those who were expecting children and swapping stories and songs with others. Yet for all the efforts, they shunned her, and passed their days in sadness and gloom, naming the rotation of the moon in this time 'Godless Moon' out of a sense of abandonment. Kagami tried to forgive, to remind herself that they were still very young beings and that perhaps they were struggling. She tried to be kind.

But when Akari returned and all the humans swarmed to her, their joy fully returned, something hardened. A small, dark seed, deep inside her. And just as humans promised to change the world, so this seed threatened to change her.

The seasons cycled and cycled, and humans spread across the world, continuing to flourish and grow and create themselves over and over through love. Their vitality and curiosity and imagination created new possibilities for the world, making it ever more perfect and good, ever more glorious. They battled through setbacks and emerged onto triumph, and Akari and Kagami watched it all with love and pride. But while Akari's love continued to be returned to her thousand fold, Kagami's was not. Instead she was shunned, forgotten in favour of Akari's light. People began to actively fear the dark, and to ignore her.

And though Akari's love for her sister remained unchanged at its essence, she was so swept up in the adoration that she failed to notice her sister's increased isolation. She did not even notice how her people changed whenever she visited her Lesser Gods every Godless Moon in the new cycle of time humans had called 'years' and whenever she came back. The only thing she realised was that her sister was becoming perhaps a little more withdrawn, a little less willing to spend time with her and their humans, but she thought that perhaps it was the tiredness of age, for although they did not have mortality in the way humans did, they still felt age in ways that sometimes tired them. And perhaps with the dark being the domain of quiet and contemplation, Kagami was simply feeling their increased age more-that was what Akari thought, and the bright, dazzling hope of that thought was enough to blind her to the reality around her.

As such, for a while the seed remained buried. Kagami would try to act as though nothing was wrong, but remain quiet and on the edge of things, wordlessly tending to her duties as she watched crowds cluster around Akari, laughing and dancing with her, seeking her counsel and singing her praises. She retreated to her quarters and entertained herself, but when Akari came calling for her with a pleading face, beseeching her to join a dinner or a conversation or a festivity. Every time, Kagami would want to refuse, wish she could tell her sister what their precious humans really thought of her. But every time, she looked at her sister and remembered that she still loved her, and she'd relent only to be shunned once again. Over and over, a cycle as inevitable as the seasons.

But it was just as inevitable that the ever repeating, ever increasing neglect would nurture the seed within her. She tried to press it down, crack it apart, anything to prevent its growth, but eventually she started to tire.

And the seed kept growing.

"Kagami, please come to this naming ceremony," Akari begged her. "Please. I do so want you to be there."

It was the final night of the Crane Moon and through the flaps of the tent Kagami could see the sun starting to set, Akari backlit by the vivid colours staining the sky, all her regalia sparkling in the last traces of light. Kagami quickly looked down, not wanting to see how beautiful her sister had become even in a time that was meant to be Kagami's time to shine. She concentrated on the bracelet she was weaving, an idle task to try and strangle the seed, and gave her dull response:

"There is no point, dear sister. It is not necessary to have two Goddesses there, let alone one. "

"That's not the point." Akari said. "You always come, and I am sure that this new girl child will love you, too. Don't you want to know what name it is her parents have chosen for her?"

"It will probably be a name that is in tribute to you, it is no great mystery." Kagami said. "Now, what would be a surprise would be if the child was named for me."

"That's why you're not coming? Because the child might not be named for you?" Akari exclaimed. "Kagami, that's so selfish! Dear sister, what is wrong with you?"

"I'm selfish?"

A tiny tendril snaked out of the seed, and dug a hook into Kagami's heart. She glared at her sister, hoping that being so unusually angry would be enough to stop this all. Of course, it was not. Things were never that simple.

"Yes, you're selfish!" Akari exclaimed. "You don't take care of things anymore!"

"I don't…you are the one who spends your time preening, letting yourself get flattered by the humans who want to spend every minute with you! Who is the one who makes sure that the day becomes night and then the night becomes day again? Who takes care of them all when you leave every Godless Moon? Who is the one who gave them the ability to consider their futures and wonder at what could have been? And you say that I do not take care of things?"

"That…but you're just shutting yourself away, you do not take part in any of our ceremonies anymore, only the Dance of the Water Nymphs and even then…"

Akari paused, and then her voice turned into a whisper.

"You are starting to scare them."

"Only starting?" Kagami tilted her head.

Akari sighed and shook her head, and when she spoke it was in the tone she often used with the children that she talked to, as if Kagami was not yet fully-formed enough to understand.

"Kagami, I do not understand what is happening to you, but perhaps now, as we are maturing, the darkness is preying on your mind and making you see shadows that are not there. Come to this naming ceremony, we shall play the songs that you like best and hopefully the lights will chase the sh-"

The tiny tendrils snaking out of the seed dug their hooks deeper, and before Kagami fully understood what she was doing, she had pulled her arm back and thrown the bracelet that she had been making. The beads were jagged glass, and so when the length of string whacked Akari's face, small pinpricks of blood immediately swelled on her face. The injuries were small, easily healed and forgotten, but Akari gasped, slowly touching her hand to her face, then pulling it away and staring at the spots of red on her finger.

Though the sun had fully set, Akari's inner glow illuminated her horrified expression clearer than day. Even if it hadn't, Kagami would have been able to see it anyway. Her blood fizzed with the shame of it, and there was a part of her that wanted to apologise, to scramble over and to wipe away the blood and reassure her that she was being silly and all would be fine. The love was still there, and if she tried she would be able to relent once more. Pretend that it would all be fine.

But the seed was growing, the hooks of the tendrils ever sharper. She could not pretend that love was enough. And so she sat there and stared, forcing herself to be cold as Akari's eyes slowly lifted to meet hers.

"You're so bright, you've blinded yourself." She said, roughly, simply.

Akari blinked, gasped again. Her eyes welled, the tears that threatened to spill glittering. Kagami simply remained sitting, waiting until Akari finally gave up and left, her regalia clinking as she rushed to the naming ceremony.

And it was only once Kagami was sure that Akari was far enough away that she allowed herself to curl up in a ball and cry.

Time continued to pass, and her isolation increased. Akari did not try nearly as often to coax Kagami out from her tent as she had before, though she still smiled, putting on a brave face in front of the humans and remaining silent about what had transpired on that night. She still left Kagami in charge when she left every Godless Moon, and even as she noticed that the humans were 'starting' to fear her she did not make the connections between everything that was happening. She remained oblivious, her light truly blinding her to Kagami's increased desolation.

And as Kagami toiled away quietly in the shadows, Akari's increasing illumination shutting her out, the seed became a small plant, tendrils continuing to wrap around her heart and hook in deeper. Buds started to swell, and leaves to appear and they became sturdier not with every Godless Moon but with every day, every night, every moment. Every time she walked past a group of humans who shrunk away from her. Every time a child was called Asa or Dawn or Lux or Kiran rather than Hari or Isra or Miyu or Zorya (or even any other name, one that had nothing to do with either of them). Every time a new torch or lantern was put up to 'banish darkness'. Every time crowds gathered to cry and wail as they bid Akari goodbye each Godless Moon. All of these moments, and more besides, every single one served as soil and water and even, in some twisted sense, sunlight for this seed. All the perfect ingredients, waiting for that one final moment.

And then one day, that moment came.

A Godless Moon finished and a Snow Moon started, and Kagami watched the people rejoice at Akari's return, and suddenly, all the ingredients mixed together perfectly. The magic flowed in the right way for life into what was left of Kagami's wounded, tangled heart. For the buds that had been swelling bloom into blossoms. And with those Kagami's darkness became evil for the first time, and was unleashed unto the world.

And that world was changed anew once again.

But this time, for worse.


The idea for this pretty much came out of the blue for me on Wednesday, when I was thinking of potential snippets and scenes that I could end up using in the Round 2 based chapters of Luciform (I am still working on the final Round 1 based chapter, by the way and it should be out next week, i hope, but also i digress) and though of course I can't know which ones of those I'll incorporate, there was one particular snippet where a character describes others as being like 'the first humans that the Goddess created' and then the question hit me-what were the first humans in this universe like? And then I thought it'd be cool to try my hand at writing a creation myth.

It was initially only meant to be just about the process the twin goddesses went through to create humans, but I've also been reading Savage Her Reply by Deirdre Sullivan and although the protagonist Aife's story doesn't really have that much in common with Kagami, they're both powerful females who did a bad thing/things but had struggles of their own, and long story short I've been thinking that in terms of mindset and remorse, Kagami could be quite like Aife. Aware of her wrongdoing, but also someone in pain and justifiably so even if the way of dealing with it was not justifiable. And so this creation myth expanded to give a little extra insight into how Kagami's evil was created as a result of humans being created.

Of course, as with all myths, if this was the 'real' myth it'd only be one version of it. Would it be the most remembered one? Hard to say, especially as it encourages the listener/reader to have compassion for Kagami, not simply dismissing her as twisted and evil, but nonetheless many of the other elements would survive in other versions, especially the bits that indicate that the goddesses valued and welcomed diversity in their humans, making them in many different ways and championing the differences that they hadn't initially expected. And of course, the general sentiment that they wanted their humans to love each other, love the world, and change it all for the better.

As for the Lesser Gods...well, the ones of the North are, as I've mentioned before, roughly equivalent to the Norse gods in our world. The Lesser Gods of the Central Mountains are the Ancient Greek/Roman ones, the Lesser Gods of the Windswept Island Irish and other Celtic deities and the Lesser Gods of the Sun are roughly along the lines of the Hindu gods/goddesses, various African ones (including Egyptian) and other South Asian deities.

Anyway, I hope you liked this-I'd love to know what you thought! I'll see you with the next Luciform update!