Changes

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 other Hours to join him in a grand expedition into the worlds beyond the House they had always known. He was followed by the [[Gods-from-Stone ]] [[The Maker]], The Mirror, [[The Butterfly Hatching]] and [[The Elder Sister]], as well as his fellow Gods-from-Light The [[The Apple-of-the-Eye]] and [[The Caladrius]]. In the Histories they discovered the Fair Folk, who were amazed and awed by the strange beings so far beyond themselves. Upon discovering these creatures so beneath themselves but fascinating and precious all the same, the Hours chose to dedicate themselves to the education and development of new forms of life.

For a time, the Hours equally shared in their mentorship and in some cases parentage of the Fair Folk. But as the Fair Folk began to gravitate to the worship of the Butterfly and the Elder Sister, the inspiration came to the Spark and the Maker to create for themselves their own race to nurture. Using Taking in hand the clay of the Earth and using the shared form of most Fair Ones as a model, the Maker sculpted without rest for six days straight. On the seventh day, the Maker's creation opened their eyes. In the loving embrace of their father, the First Men were born.

But what man lacked in power, they more than made up for it in their fathers' gifts. Like the Spark that inspired their creation, they possessed an insatiable hunger for knowledge and discovery. And like the Maker that had crafted their flesh from clay, they soon learned they had endless potential for improvement. They demonstrated the ability to craft and invent new tools for themselves, just from what they had seen the Fair Ones use.

As the Hours experimented with and laid the foundations of the society of their new race, they made a saddening discovery. Where first it had been assumed humanity simply did not know how to enter the House, the Hours eventually realized the First Men were totally ''incapable '' of it. Born from the clay of the Histories, their flesh did not possess the ability to cross the Sea of Sleep and enter the Mansus. It seemed that never would they be able to join their gods and masters in the wondrous House they could had only imagine heard stories of from the tales of the Cousins and Hours that had experienced firsthandit.

The Hours sought to harness the power of [[Knock]] , the Principle of Travel and Opening, to bestow the First Men with the ability to pass into the House. First they implored petitioned the Butterfly Hatching, whose primal nature ruled over the Rupturing of the World's Skinto lend them aid. But she rebuffed them. The Butterfly wanted only new sensations, new wonders. She would not burden herself with the repetitive task of tearing holes for humans to pass through each time they wished to come and go from the House. Besides, the other Hours saw the damage her power and idle whims could inflict on the fabric of reality. It was obvious: to rely on her was to court disaster.

But humanity's potential attracted the attention of another, chillier Hour of Knock. The Dolomedes, the enigmatic Hour of Balance and Exchange, was at last lured from its lair in the Hall of Silence into the Histories by the newly created Value the Maker had wroughtcreated. The Great Spider offered the First Men a bargain: it would weave between the material worlds and the House a great bridge. Through its power humanity would, for a few short hours every day, be allowed to leave behind its bodies of flesh and be ferried across this bridge to explore the House of the Gods. All it asked in exchangewanted... was themselvesthem.

Some Hours balked at this deal. Others approved. Some bade the First Men negotiate a better deal, for the loss of one's immortality was no trifling thing. None were given the chance to argue their piece. The First Men's decision was unanimous. The promise of the House's wonders, of spending an eternity there, was a temptation they could not resist. Before any protest could be raised by their mentor-gods, the First Men accepted the Spider's Bargain.

For quite some time, all was well. The disappointment half of them bore for the First Men's willingness to bargain away what had been gifted them aside, all were satisfied with the promise humans continued to show. As the Gods-from-Light predicted, with their newly-formed connection to the House humans could be remade in the image of the Hours.

The first cracks in the heretofore steadfast relationships between Hours would form not long after the Maker created its first Name. From the Longof the [[Forge]] Principle, a man of impeccable character emerged. A With a will of iron, a cunning like no other, and a creative mind primed to invent. He he was the ideal candidate, and it to be elevated. It was with fatherly pride both Maker and Spark elevated him, to the point his name carried almost as much reverence as their own when spoken.----He was the first Name, a being as far beyond the Long as the Long are to mortals. In time, this man grew in admiration and respect among the Hours to the point he was allowed to ascend even further.

One Filled the the power of it's mortal followers actually murdered her sibling in a bid to take the great honor for herselfHours, the first Name ascended the House and found at its summit The Gate of Crowns. The Gate called his Name, and declared him worthy of entering into the Highest Rooms of the Mansus, just beneath the Glory. Upon entering, he was cursed filled with divine power, enough that he might be called a god himself. A Name entered the wretched form High Rooms, but what emerged was a Hour. Casting off his old name, the First of the [[Gods-From-Flesh]], [[The CuckooAnvil]] for her trouble. After this incident, the Hours became more wary of mortals and the Maker went so far as to never make Names againwas born.

The dual discovery While this human's attainment of the greatest achievement of his species was widely celebrated, it was also, however, the point where the ability first divisions began to bestow immortality to mortals form between the Hours and kill them prematurely did not please their people. The Ascension of the Ferryman. By bestowing mortals Anvil was a great achievement for the ability Hours of Forge -whose close friendships with one another led to travel them being referred to and collectively as the Trinity- but from the Mansus and preventing them for reaching seeds of greed planted at the age signing of the spider would collect them atFirst Bargain envy began to take root. Hours sought more followers, the Ferryman felt its in attempts not to enlighten mankind but in order to outdo their fellows had conspired with humanity . Some mortals began to cheat itlook contemptuously upon one another. IncensedSlowly, it declared that the deal with humanity was null these few began to see other humans and Long not as brothers and voidsisters, and set itself to claim all of what it had been owed: ''humanity itself''but as competition in their quest for ultimate Ascension.

Just when it appeared as though war between It is this way the Hours was inevitable, it was at this time [[The Great Serpent]] descended Maker would go from holding the Glory. Siding with greatest pride in humanity against to holding the Ferryman, greatest shame among the Great Serpent battled the great spider for the souls of mankindHours. At the climax of their battleAmong his Long rose two sisters, the Serpent demonstrated its mastery of the principle of Knock -a power that before had only belonged to the spider- both resplendently beautiful and particularly loved by tearing the section of the Mansus that was home to the Spider and suspended it halfway between the worldstheir master. Bested both physically The elder sister austere and at its own principlechaste, the spider finally yielded younger indulgent and willing to indulge the Serpentnumerous privileges their esteemed station allowed them.

Victorious over the elder HourThe younger sister one day however bit off more than she could chew. She conceived a child with another Long, and was sub-sequentially one of the Serpent demonstrated great wisdom by offering an olive branch first to discover and commit [[The Crime of the spider in the form of Sky]]. She devoured her child, undergoing a painful and repugnant transformation into a Soucouyant, a renegotiation of Half-Long, vampiric monster. Repulsed by its contract with humanity. The Spider would continue to oversee perverted creation, the transportation of mortals to Maker turned his sight from her and from the Mansus, but would never again attempt to interfere in focused the uplifting full force of mortals by the other Hourshis affection upon her elder sibling instead. In return, souls that died prematurely either through accidents or at Although the hand of another would be subject also elder did her best to comfort the Dolomedes' judgementyounger, and it would be able the day finally came when the Maker proclaimed his intention to negotiate make the elder sister his new deals with mortals on an individual basisName. And perhaps, one day, the next God-From-Flesh.

Betrayed, mad with jealousy, the younger sister murdered the older on the eve of her planned Ascension and enacted a scheme to take divinity for herself. Wrapping herself in her sister's fine clothes so that her horrifying features were concealed beneath, she attended the ceremony in her sister's stead. Using a lifetime's worth of knowledge of her sibling's manner, the younger sister mimicked her sister perfectly, so much that the Maker immediately began sculpting her twisted flesh through the garments, and immortality flowed through her. Only once the process had already begun was the truth at last discovered, and all beings, Hour and mortal alike were filled in horror at history's first murder. Enraged, but also unwilling to go back on its work once already begun, the Maker completed the younger sister's Ascension to Namehood... but not in the manner she wished. Rather than becoming the beautiful, angelic creature of her dreams, the younger sister found herself young no longer. She was old, decrepit, and twisted. She was covered in dirty black feathers and her features twisted to resemble that of a bird. From her the Maker created a monument to the magnitude of her sins, amplifying the horrifying changes already wrought by the Crime of the Sky. The horror fled into the Mansus, where she lived hating everything, including herself. In time, she found that between her skill in newly-invented deceit and her remaining ability to alter her appearance as a Long of the Maker, she could impersonate the other Hours quite well. In time, she grew fat on stolen offerings and murdered followers, offered to her in the vain hopes of being granted divine favor. In time, these bloody deeds allowed her to scrounge enough power that the Gate of Crowns acknowledged her Ascension. In time, she emerged as [[The Cuckoo]], the first Hour of Grail, the Hour of Deceit and Starvation. Meanwhile, this was the breaking point for the Ferryman. By bestowing mortals the ability to travel to and from the Mansus and preventing them for reaching the ripe old age the Spider would typically collect them at, the Ferryman felt its fellows had conspired with humanity to cheat it. The Cuckoo's ascension to immortality after ending the life of her sister before her contract was scheduled to be up was interpreted by the Spider as a ''reward'', and it grew angry. The Ferryman declared the deal between itself and the First Men was off, and that it was entitled to immediately claim once and for all what it was 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 all mankind. At the climax of their battle, the Serpent demonstrated its mastery of the principle of Knock 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 it would be able to negotiate new deals with mortals on an individual basis. The Cuckoo's sister, to the Trinity's protests, was declared one of [[The Dead]], and was taken by the Ferryman to become the Pale Lady, first Name of [[Winter]]. --- After this incident, the Hours became more wary of mortals and the Maker went so far as to never make Names again.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 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.