The Origins of the Night Sky (Legend)

The Origins of the Night Sky is a legend passed down by oral tradition. Smaller communities, and especially halflings, still tell the legend as a bedtime story. If it truly happened, and when, and who was involved, all have been lost to time. Only certain scholars who have studied it’s history extensively have any guesses as to whether or not it holds any factual truth.

The Story:
Long ago, when the earth was young, all the creatures lived in harmony. Each spoke the same language. Peace was across the land, and each tended to his own affairs and helped his neighbors. All was well. Dwarves mined for the minerals to create marverlous crafts and traded them for the foraged wood of the Elves, and the Humans hunted wild beasts and traded their hide and meat with the halflings in exchange for grown crops. The best of each was taken up to the Astral Plane at night, when the Astral Plane was closest as offerings to the gods. At the gates to the Astral saddle was Tyr, who welcomed them by name. All was well.

Many moons passed. The four races grew prideful in their work, and began expecting more for it. They grew resentful of each other, and took care of their own. The offerings to the gods became more extravagant, but so too did the favors they asked. Soon, an elf with an intricately carved pendant approached Tyr, asking that he be more selective in his admittance of the other three hairy, brutish races. Tyr turned the elf and his offering away. A few days later, a strong human brought in the pelt of a great owlbear, making the request that the other three prudish races be looked at with more discernment. Tyr again turned them away. A few days later, a stout dwarf and lively halfling raced up to Tyr, tripping over each other to make their offering first, and talking over each other as they argued that Tyr favor them and not the other.

“Enough!” Tyr said, with a voice like the slamming of a gate. Tyr sent the two away, and with a wave of his hand, cast a blanket over the night, preventing those below from entering the Astral Plane.

Down below, the nighttime was cast in pitch black. All of Eastlux was cut off from the gods’ blessings. There was much fighting over who was to blame. At long last, when they could fight no more from exhaustion, a human stood up where all could hear. The human called a council of the strongest and the wisest of all Eastlux.

The elven champion, known far and wide for incredible archery skills, swore to have it dealt with in an instant. He drew an arrow on his bowstring, and launched it at the blanket, but it did not reach the blanket.

The burliest dwarf boasted of his skills and went to the top of the highest mountain, where he constructed a trebuchet and launched a boulder up into the sky, but it did not reach the blanket.

A spry halfling shook her head at the others, and sought out the tallest tree, which she climbed to the top of and sang a beautiful song in praise of the gods. Yet the blanket was not pierced.

All eyes turned to a human beast-tamer. The human thought long and hard as the others had made their attempts, and when he had found a solution, set off on a journey to find the Great Dragon.

Deep in the caves beneath the Plains of Nyr, the human woke the Great Dragon from her slumber. Her scales were grey with age, and she had long since lost her voice. Hearing what had happened, the Great Dragon spread her wings and took to the sky.

She alighted on the top of the mountain, and took of straight up in the air. Higher and higher she flew, as the council watched below. When it seemed she would pass completely out of sight, a great ripple moved the blanket. The Great Dragon gripped it with her claws for a moment. Under her weight, it began to tear. She quickly let go, and flew along the blanket, piercing it all over. Small points of lights appeared at each tear, giving a little light to Eastlux below. With each point of light, they felt the blessings of the gods return to them.

Tyr, seeing the holes appear, grew furious. When the Great Dragon alighted to her last spot, Tyr cast a great curse upon her, affixing her to her sleep once more, curled up in a circle on the underside of the blanket. The people below watched as her grey form moved no more.

Many days and nights passed, and each night as the blanket grew dark, the Great Dragon’s form shone bright, and the people offered up their thanks both to the gods and to the sleeping Moon who had returned the gods’ blessings to them.