The godwars

[Ascendancy]

Much discussion has come up of late regarding what really happened during the godwars - the battles between the god-like channelers at the height of their power as observed at the end of the 5th Age.

To begin to address this question, some of our members (Jaxen, Michael, among others) have been working on creating a "map", if you will, of the broad events regarding the different types of pantheons.

I started a page on the wiki to house the graphic (thanks to Jaxen!!), and begin to explain it in further detail. Michael is going to explore the history regarding Greek Titans, and Jaxen will do the same for Ragnarok. Anyone else interested in doing some world-building, jump in!

Hit the the link for the page!

[Jaxen Marveet]

You're welcome.

*bows.

[Spectra Lin]

I would suppose, then, that the inspiration for my character's reborn soul would have been a part of the 5th Age, long before the onset of the godwars. Perhaps even closer to the turning from the 4th Age and the beginning of the 5th?

[Ascendancy]

Now that we have a reborn goddess from Aztec mythology (Ayden), where do the Aztecs fit into the overall mythos of the 5th or 6th Ages?

I imagine they'd be close in timeline to the Native Americans?

[Aria]

I have to read up on the god wars at current. I had a few thoughts but not sure how things fit with that yet. Will rely again after reading up on them

[Jaxen Marveet]

The American pantheons took place toward the latter half of the 6th Age, Aztec included.

ages

[Connor Kent]

You might look into the Mayan Popol Vhul. It is a collection of myths and stories of the Mayans that survived the "zeal" of the church missionaries. While not Aztec, their cultures and mythos shared elements about their gods and heroes and mileu. The Lords of Xibalba and all that. It is quite alien to familiar western mythology. If the god wars took place in south america than it would have included other cultures aside from the Aztec, including the Inca and Maya. You might find some cool stuff to coopt or use.


Edited by Connor Kent, Mar 24 2014, 01:02 PM.

[Jon Little Bird]

The Aztec pantheon should certainly be considered part of the story of the American pantheons. There are certainly shared gods -- Coyote's one of them

[Jaxen Marveet]

Yeah. I lumped all the American pantheons into the same time frame. They seemed close enough to one another to do so: North, central and south america combined. With obvious subtle differences between individual groups: native american indian vs aztec, mayan, incan and so on.

As an aside, the wefuke comes from a south american legend.

The popol vuh stuff is fascinating, one of the few things in school i actually learned, hah! I was tempted to do something with them. but glad someone else is going to.

I know the relationships between the american pantheons were interesting too. we could even explore the idea that legends around the spanish conquistadors were true, too. the fountain of youth, etc, and existed as relics left over from the american pantheon stuff. or maybe explore a relationship between the egyptian and mayan, too? You know how there's this conspiratorial link between them? Could be some Egyptian god, fleeing to the other side of the world, defected and set up his own host of channelers that went on to become mayan? Anyway. Someone should totally write this shit up! I'm looking at you, Connor!

[Connor Kent]

I'll wait for the reborn Aztec god(dess) to start since she probably already has some thoughts on that. But I love the idea about the conquistadors hunting down old relics of the god ages. My mind instantly flashed back being 12 years old and an old Nick cartoon called the 7 cities of gold back in the mid 80s. Doing something that tied all that together would be kind of cool. And throwing in a Eurasian connection is cool since I've always believed that the similarities in both societies are very striking.

I was reviewing the Popol Vuh and it seems to me that the hero twins Hunahpu and Xblanque and their defeat the Lords of Xibalba could be interpreted in a god-war fashion. Too, their struggle with their half-brothers Hunbatz and Huchouen. (As a side note, it is interesting that we have another culture with a hero-twin mythology. As I mentioned in my bio, hero-twins were part of the proto-indo-european tradition. And my memory tickles regarding a similar legend among the Navajo regarding 2 brothers that I am for some reason associating with Spider Woman. Interesting those elements.)

nice summary here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maya_Hero_Twins

Be interesting to get an overview of Aztec, Mayan and Inca myth, pull some common elements that seem like theyd work as god wars. Then do the same with a small sampling of Native American tribes, like the Navajo and maybe Iroquois or Sioux or Ute. Could put together an interesting set of elements.

I was talking to Jon Little Bird last night regarding the Atharim. I know Ascendency kept it mysterious on purpose for a few reasons, which I think was a good call. But look at how the AoL Aiel changed in 3000 years. We have disparate groups such as the Jenn, the Aiel we all know and love, the Tuathuan, the Amayar and even the hill tribes in Seanchan (Karede's body servant Ajumbura was one of them.) All of them descendants of the original Aiel and all but a couple of them doing anything remotely close to their original beliefs- keeping the way of the leaf or the water way. It makes me wonder at scattered Atharim across many continents and societies maintaining their sense of purpose and tradition across the previous age. And then it occurred to me that maybe it was only one or two groups who actually successfully did that (similar to the way the Amayar and Tuathuan kept a way of the leaf/water way) and that these were those that set the god-wars off. Then, either other Atharim descended groups, or even non-atharim, followed suit in their own areas. So that being Atharim, back then, wasn't necessarily a matter of descent but of taking up a cause. Spiritual kinship. Sort of like Anonymous of a few years ago. Those who rebelled took upon themselves the name Atharim after the originals. So let's say it was Atharim from Greece or something (which I sort of posited in my bio) that started things and others followed suit, though not physically Atharim. I don't know. Just something I was thinking about.


Edited by Connor Kent, Mar 24 2014, 01:03 PM.