This intriguing version of the Sarvonian human pourquoi tale of the creation of Injèrá, the sun, was collected in a White Knight monastery at the Isle of Hope by the well-travelled Bard Judith. Note the slight departures from accepted doctrine, the creative additions to scripture, and the naive viewpoint of the narrator, an elderly Priest of Novices. Doubtless his eccentricities were overlooked by his superiors due to his devotion to his Lord Nehtor, or possibly unknown because of the remote setting of the monastery...

Picture description: A priest of the Order of the White Knights recounting the story of the Toy of Foiros. Picture drawn by Quellion.

ood morn, my young apprentices! I see you have risen before me for once. Well, that is as it should be, for when you are allowed to move up to your novitiate, you will be rising ere Injèrá shows its first colours at the edge of the World. There are fires to be lit, floors to be scrubbed, altars to be laid….what’s that? Breakfasts to be eaten?

Why, you cheeky psittae-bird, you! Before food can be eaten, it must first be cooked, yes? Thank you for volunteering to make the porridge this fine day. Off to the kitchens, and tell Brother Surnell you will be assisting him till noon. And change on the duty roster with whatever novice is there now… young Harbethy, I do believe, and he will be glad of the rest.
 
Now, since the lot of you are up so early, and cannot break your fast for a while, what shall I do with you? Are your beds made? Good! And the dormitory in order? Truly? I had not thought to start your lessons just yet, and certainly not ere breakfast… Ah! A story? Excellent idea. I shall make it a teaching tale, and you may all help pod these onn’miev while you listen. We are always needing the white beans in the kitchens, after all. Now… “I’ll tell you a tale from ancient years/ So close your mouths and open your ears!”

This is the story called “The Toy of Foiros”, about how the sun came to be.

You all know that our Lord Nehtor, despite His title as the Lone God, at one time had helped the other Divinities in the making of Caelereth and this world in which we now live. Alongside the Forgelord Urtengor, and the Lifegiver Foiros, and the Ladies Jeyriall and Eyasha, our deity set His dancing footsteps on the earth and aided them to shape Caelereth.

Each of the Great Ones had His or Her own task in the world, and They set Their hands to what They most enjoyed. Urtengor, or TrumBarol as the dwarves do call Him, hammered out the shapes of mountains, and forged the cups of the lakes. Eyasha twined lovely plants and flowers from the Wind, spinning them out between Her palms. Jeyriall breathed life into the plants, and shaped the animals. Foiros set fires to burning around the earth, and hung one great ball of fire in the sky.

And all was beauty, and newness, and Caelereth shone like a golden plate thrown in the air. But then the God of Excess, the Lustlad Etherus, set His fingers upon its beauty, and in childish destruction began to twist it to His whims. He set the seas flooding the beautiful gardens, and made the earth upheave into great volcanoes, and chaos began to stalk Caelereth.

The Gods who had worked in creation were much displeased, and some set themselves against Etherus, and His partner in destruction, the dark Queprur. Urtengor made ready to dampen the flames of the volcanoes, and Baveras SeaQueen raised Her hands against the flooding water, and our Lord Nehtor set winds blowing to puff out the disasters and push them back.

But Nehtor’s winds only blew the fires here and there, and Baveras’ tides only swayed the huge ball of flame in the sky, and the earth became more scorched and chaotic, and Etherus and Queprur rejoiced in the devastation.

Finally Foiros bestirred Himself, and sought out Nehtor, and they spoke together of justice and healing for Caelereth. Many days did they take council together, as Nehtor wept for grief and Foiros burned with anger. And as Nehtor wept, the tears that fell from His eyes became ice and then crystal spheres, priceless diamante gems filling His lap, so great was His sorrow for the lovely Creation.

Then did Foiros come to Urtengor with His hands full of the great teargems. “Here,” He said to the Forgelord. “Make from these for me a cage of crystal, that I may hang My Fireorb safely beyond the reach of those two, like a toy kept from children.” And His divine eyes blazed with contempt and fury.

Willingly did the Hammerlord ply His craft, and a sparkling net of gemstuff He forged, round as Jeyriall’s bosom and bright as Baveras’ eyes. Nehtor gave more of His tears to make a clasp and hinges for the cage. And Eyasha brought a shining chain, woven of mithril and wind and Xeua and love, to hang it between the stars.

Foiros set His fire in it, and named it Injèrá, the Sun. But the two Goddesses Jeyriall and Baveras, laughing, called it the Toy of Foiros, and batted it between Their slim ivory hands as two maids might play with a ball, until Foiros with stern look thrust between them and caught the Injèrá in His fist. “Into the heavens shall this Toy go, and shall be a thing of protection and life-giving light for men and dwarves and elves, for all living creatures on Caelereth. And Etherus and Queprur shall tamper with it no more.”

Then the divine Lords and Ladies hung the Injèrá aloft to shine forever, and there it stayed till the Time of Darkness, when its light was taken from us for one entire year. But that is another story, and best told after breakfast. “My tale is through, tis o’er and done / so rise and be off, to feed and fun!”