The First Song

The First Song

The First Song was the primordial act of creation attributed to the One. According to A History of Rislandia, "His voice became the First Song, and the First Song became reality itself." In this telling, the One's voice did not merely describe or accompany creation — it was creation: the song and reality were inseparable, the former giving rise to the latter.

Origins

The First Song preceded all things recorded in the history of Areth. It was the means by which the Firstborn were brought forth, making it the foundational event of the world's existence. No mortal account claims to reproduce the Song in full; its complete form was understood to belong to the One alone.

Preservation by the Fae

The Fae held a unique relationship with the First Song. According to A History of Rislandia, "The Fae remembered the First Song." This memory extended to knowledge of the Firstborn's true names — a form of understanding closely bound to the Song's power. The Fae did not share this knowledge freely, and the full extent of what they retained, and why they guarded it, was not recorded in the source.

Legacy and Echoes

The most tangible surviving echo of the First Song in the historical record was found among the monks of Atrebla. According to A History of Rislandia, Atreblan monks chanted seven words each morning, described as fragments of the First Song. Whether these words were transmitted through the Fae, through independent tradition, or through some other means was not specified in the source. The practice nonetheless indicated that belief in the Song's literal, world-shaping power persisted into the era covered by the histories.

The Church of the Great One and other religious institutions of Areth operated in a world shaped by this creation myth, though the precise doctrinal relationship between those institutions and the First Song as described in A History of Rislandia was not detailed in the available notes.