At the beginning of the world, there was always the House. First came the Gods-from-Stone, and they were followed by the Gods-from-Light. It was the First from Light, [[The Spark]], that encouraged the Gods-from-Stone [[The Maker]] and [[The Anvil]], as well as his fellow God-from-Light [[The Apple-of-the-Eye]], to follow him in exploration of the strange world outside of the House they had always known. Upon finding humanity, these Hours dedicated themselves to the education and development of these strange and interesting new forms of life. Many other Hours began to appear during this time, among them the FNORD.
The spirit discovery of these experiments and expeditions to humanity attracted the mortal world changed abruptly however when attention of the Maker attempted to create its first Names. One enigmatic Hour of it's mortal followers actually murdered her sibling in a bid to take the great honor for herselfDolomedes, and was cursed with the wretched form of who made a rare excursion from its domain on [[The CuckooMoon]] for her troubleto investigate this strange new world. After this incidentHumans were astounded and awestruck by the existence of such strange and powerful beings, and began revering them as gods. They yearned to be able to visit and experience the Hours became more wary plane of mortals and existence their new patrons originated from firsthand. But no matter how hard the Spark tried to inspire, nor how fervently the Maker went so far sculpted its subjects, a way could not be found to allow creatures as fragile as humans to never make Names againtravel from their realm to the Mansus.
During The solution to this problem was found in the Dolomedes, who was the first among the Hours to possess dominion between opening and joining places. Humanity begged the great spider to use its power to let them visit the Mansus and it relented, on one condition. Always partial to collecting things of value and curious about humanity itself, the Dolomedes agreed to bridge the mortal realms and the Mansus on the condition that mortals it deemed worthwhile through "weighing" their souls would one day be taken away to reside with the spider in its domain. Humanity accepted the spider's terms, and a bargain was struck. First, the Dolomedes agreed to weave a great bridge over what became known as the sea of sleep to the Mansus, allowing travel between the worlds for lesser beings. Second, to maintain a balance and to signify that mortals were but visitors in the realm of the gods, their bodies would remain behind in the mortal world while their spirits explored its halls. Third, to prevent overcrowding and to ensure mortals did not linger, they would only be allowed within the Mansus for limited time each night. Finally, humanity agreed that when the spider deemed their "time had come", they would go quietly with it fully into the realm of spirits and leave their bodies behind forever. Some would go to the Mansus forever, while those who were "weighed" and found to be of value would go to the domain of the spider. The bargain struck, the Dolomedes became known to mortals as [[The Ferryman]], who continues to sail to and from the Mansus transporting dreamers and the Dead to this day. For quite some time all was well, but the spirit of these experiments and expeditions to the mortal world changed abruptly however when the Hours set forth "improving" mortals. Empowering them with slivers of their own power, it was found that a mortal could be made into a being that would both not age and pass to and from the Mansus. The first cracks in the heretofore steadfast relationships between Hours formed when the Maker attempted to make its first Names. One of it's mortal followers actually murdered her sibling in a bid to take the great honor for herself, and was cursed with the wretched form of [[The Cuckoo]] for her trouble. After this incident, the Hours became more wary of mortals and the Maker went so far as to never make Names again. The dual discovery of the ability to bestow immortality to mortals and kill them prematurely did not please the Ferryman. By bestowing mortals the ability to travel to and from the Mansus and preventing them for reaching the age the spider would collect them at, the Ferryman felt its fellows had conspired with humanity to cheat it. Incensed, it declared that the deal with humanity was null and void, and set itself to claim all of what it had been owed: ''humanity itself''. Just when it appeared as though war between the Hours was inevitable, it was at this time [[The Great Serpent]] descended from the Glory. Siding with humanity against the Ferryman, the Great Serpent battled the great spider for the souls of mankind. At the climax of their battle, the Serpent demonstrated its mastery of the principle of Knock -a power that before had only belonged to the spider- by tearing the section of the Mansus that was home to the Spider and suspended it halfway between the worlds. Bested both physically and at its own principle, the spider finally yielded to the Serpent. Victorious over the elder Hour, the Serpent demonstrated great wisdom by offering an olive branch to the spider in the form of a renegotiation of its contract with humanity. The Spider would continue to oversee the transportation of mortals to and from the Mansus, but would never again attempt to interfere in the uplifting of mortals by the other Hours. In return, souls that died prematurely either through accidents or at the hand of another would be subject also to the Dolomedes' judgement, and became it would be able to negotiate new deals with mortals on an individual basis. After demonstrating both great strength and restraint in its dealings with the Ferryman, the other Hours accepted the supremacy of the Great Serpent, who came to be revered as the Hour above all of Hours. In the stories of mortals the Mansus gained a new name in honor of its new king: The Sea Dragon's Palace, the House of the Serpent. The Moon, the chunk of Mansus-stone torn from the House remains visible to both worlds to this day, both a monument to the Great Serpent's power as well as a warning to those that would have broken its holy peace. The Serpent laid the first code of conduct among Hours, and placed upon the Fourth History a truce that no Hour would invade it, so that the Great Serpent's personal demesne would be forever used only as a neutral ground, for the wise serpent knew that if the Hours brought their great power to bear against one another, it would only end in ruin. The Hours established [[The First City]] to serve as their meeting ground, and relaxed their grips somewhat on the mortal world.
The peace was not to last, however. Ever a free-spirit, the Great Serpent one day decided to explore [[Nowhere]], and did not return intact. What ''did'' return were two Hours; the Hour of the [[Snake Tail with Appendages]], a God-from-Nowhere, and the Hour of the Bright-Delver, a God-from-Blood. To the Snake-tail, reality itself was pain, and it sought only to destroy all that restricted it. To the Delver, reality was beautiful, and the world and the Glory should be available to all to make the world even nicer.
