Why this particular piece? This was a bit of background for the original Manifold setting (and possibly a frontspiece for a book of worlds), but it’s languished in the old files long enough.
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Within the womb of the earth
The living rock both barrier and doorway
Spirits are bound upon the cavern wall
In ochre, clay, and pigment, by the painter’s art
They breathe, dance, run, and hunt
A life granted by flickering flames
Interplay of light and darkness
Shadows become reality
In the mind’s eye
The shaman drums
At the dawn
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The rainbow serpent illuminates the path
Those who walk define the world
Bind the changing wilds to form
Spirits to flesh and loci
The horizon is turned back upon itself
Sun and stars are driven beyond
They lurk behind trees and stones
The wild things, hidden in the night
Hold converse with those who seek them out
Born among men, a heritage of the shaping art
Ride wind on wings of song
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Tiamat coils in the depths
The storm incarnate
Birthing gods and monsters
In equal measure
The light rises
Against the dark mother
Blood and fury churn
In primal waters
Dreaming serpentine rebirth
Sagae, lesser dreamers
Draw familiar fragments.
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In the boat of a million years
Threes upon threes
Man, beast, and elemental force
Sand, sky, and river
Body, mind, and spirit
The balance which is Ma’at
Reflected in the triads
Which are god, world, and man
The priest bridges god and world
Image, name, and rite
Bind worlds with desire
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Dragons whisper in the voice of streams
Secrets of heaven and earth
The jade throne binds all in order
While demons whisper chaos at the world’s core
The touch of Heisenberg is laid upon the world
The Orchard Woman dances before Shiva
The cycle spins, eternal
Night surrounds day, day infiltrates night
Twice nine the paths of immortality
Walked by the sages, the wheel of Tao
Men walk the way of gods
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Olives reach out from stony soils
In dust and chaos dreams of order
Hecate whispers from crossroads, beneath the hanged man
Slain and reborn, a lord of wine and mystery
Harvests seeds of magic, like grains of wheat against a famine
As crystal spheres bind the world to geometric order
Within a solar helix
But chaos pools in deepening wells of night
A vintage rare and strong, a forge of words
The hand of Circe reveals the beast within
While will alone withstands the titan’s fall
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Two yet one the vortex spins
Supernal fires smelt the mana of falling gods
Lens of ink, pen, and word
Focus light and dark beyond endurance
A cabalistic tree ascends the worlds
Cryptic keys inscribed, Kether and Qlippothic
Only miraculous strength suffices
To burst the bounds of order
The faltering twilight dance
Of man and spirit
Yields to the wizard’s way
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Wild godlings rage
Beyond the borders
They hang upon the tree, word become rune
Bearsark assail the order of the world
Women pass under the wings of death
To bring forth new life
And power with it
Hammerblow cracks crystal prison’s core
Too long exiled from the earth
Rain abyssal and heavenly shards
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In desolate crucible
Blowing sand enfolds shards of power
Birthing Jinn, and crawling darkness
In a city of doors
Wise in the old ways, fueled with burning faith
Turbaned sage whispers death and transformation
From mountain aerie
A thousand nights
Spin threads of magic through mathematic glyphs
Words which disregard the world
To cloak the clockwork mage
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Distilled in fire, the stone of the philosophers
Stands counterpart to venomous pact
A thousand clashing visions
Fuel witchfire rebellion
Order encysts chaos
In a thousand tomes, the spreading tide
Rides the crests of sails
As foam beneath their keels
The crumbling core sets earth about the sun
And finds renewal, while printing press
Spins summoning visions to a thousand minds
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Westward rides the dawning light
Where crimson flood feeds failing gods
Drips from Jaguar’s jaws like honeyed wine
The feathered serpent flees
Divinity twisted to nightmare by desperation
Called to mortal avatar, the carrion gods
Breed terrors dark and light, press power from flesh
In unholy alliance
Souls fuse in unnatural union
Those once ascended descend to beasts
Mirrored in obsidian, an invisible labyrinth
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The fourth world, enchained in iron
Falls back upon itself
In secret enclaves
Weakened spirits creep through crystal pores
Seek once more to fly between worlds
The ancient dance is interrupted, falters
Shaking earth’s foundation
A new age creeps in chaos
Through ten thousand crystal gates
Ancient seeds sprout from musty pages
Finding within hearts of men an ancient womb
Filed under: Background | Tagged: Background, Role Playing Game, RPG |
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