Book I (Ap.B): The Dreamers; An Orcish Creation Myth

This story was related to me by Yghchrizta, Shaman of Clan Rhanseyh

Most stories such as this start with, ‘In the beginning’ but for orcs, there is no beginning. Orcs have no creation story dealing with the universe, only with what we understand to be the real world. Outside of this world live the Loutha, or the true people. We know little of the Loutha, even though each of us is a Loutha.

The world as we know it was created when a Louhtha, whom we know as Liruna, the mother of dreams, became so tired that she fell asleep. Some believe that this was an unusual occurrence, because the Loutha are tireless beings, but others believe that no Loutha had slept before, simply because sleep hadn’t been invented yet. Either way, when Liruna fell asleep, she dreamed of a strange and wondrous world, and as she slept the world grew and her imagination created wondrous and terrible things to fill it. Liruna was alone in this dream and became frightened, so she awakened. Liruna was captivated by the world her sleeping mind had created, though, and wished to sleep and dream more, so she convinced her closest friend, another Loutha named Hosin, to lie with her so that she would not be alone as she slept.

Liruna and Hosin dreamed together, and they traveled the dreamscape side-by-side, creating whatever their imaginations could conceive. They slept for what we would consider an eternity in the dream world, crafting the sun and the stars, the earth and its seas, and creating the rules which would govern their movement. But, eventually the wonder of their creation faded in their hearts. What at first had been new and strange, was now commonplace and ordinary, for no matter what they might imagine, they could create nothing which surprised them. Eventually they began to see their world as bleak and desolate, so they awakened again.

Liruna and Hosin told the other Loutha of their dream, and told them they needed help making more dreams, and so the other Loutha slept as well, each one dreaming new and strange things – trees, flowers, birds, and beasts. The dreaming Loutha became the Louan, the builders of this world, the first people, who could command and shape this world around them just as Liruna and Hosin had. The Loutha would sleep and become the Louan, awaken again as Loutha, and then return to sleep, and each time they slept, they created new dreams – until they also began to run out of things to dream.

The Louan were sad, for they had no more to do, but then a great Louan wisewoman, Taya, had an idea – she would awaken, but vowed that when she returned to sleep, she would be sure not to remember anything of her waking life, or the dreams she had had before. So it was that the first of the forgetting peoples came to this world, for when Taya returned, she knew nothing, not even her name, or what would happen when she reached the end of her dream. The other Louan told her who she was, how she had come to be there, and what would happen, but despite this, everything had become new to her again, and she was happy for it.

Eventually Taya woke from her sleep, and as a Loutha, remembered everything that had preceded her awakening. She was overjoyed by the experience, and after a time, decided to do it again. The rest of the Loutha did the same, and before long, few Louan remained in our world – they were replaced by the forgetting people, the dreamers who did not remember their waking lives. The Loutha who chose to forget became new and different things, people of all shapes and colors, and who dreamed new lives, with new stories. Each would dream for a time, then awaken, and dream again, remembering nothing. Only rarely would a Loutha return to the dream as a Louan, to shape the dream with their power of remembering. 

This shapes our understanding of not only life and death, but magic as well. We know that there is no life or death as others think of it, only the dream which we pass through briefly, and when we awaken, we become Loutha again, remembering all of the dreams we’ve had before.

Further, because we know there is no life, only the dream, we know we have no limitations. We can change anything. Like the Louan, the first people, we can shape our world and ourselves as we please if we have the will and imagination to do so. This is why traditional orc shamans do not write spells or incant special words, or gather herbs and burn incense. They know these things are not truly necessary for magic, and we believe that magic can still be made the old way, as the Louan did it. Many among the other races do this as well when they first learn the ways of magic. They learn to shape the world in simple ways through thought alone, but when they try to do more, they are taught the way of spells, and so many forget the power in their hearts.