Before the Begining - book of "Ddoe"

Page 6 - 

Page 6 of 'Everything'

"Before The Begining

"Before the beginning" said the Mage of Waun Fach, after much hassling on my part, and an entire firkin of Minchen whiskey on the part of Orddk (it is truly inspiring how much alcohol a Mage can drink!) "Before the beginning there was nothing.  Then it exploded..."

The 'Nothing' explodes

Orddk let out a short bark of a laugh and frowned, worrying, no doubt, about the liquor he had wasted to obtain this nonsense.  I, however persisted.

"So what made the nothing explode?"  asked. I was excited that at last we might be on the verge of obtaining knowledge of the penultimate "BEGINNING".

What a fool."

"So what made the nothing explode?"

 [Note on the image - This image is of one of the inner rooms of Waun Fach, the independent Mage mountain in the heart of Kreyic.  The furniture appears to be Elvish, while the tapestry on the wall looks like primitive Kreyician work, and the fire dogs are in an ancient pre-imperial Dwarvish style.   The Mage of Waun Fach is pictured here inhabiting it's latest elderly host, with whom it has been twinned for at least 130ish years.]

Page 7 - 

Page 7 of 'Everything'

"A Mage never seems to part with information that is not obscured completely by riddle and mystery...

"Nothing made it explode for there was nothing anywhere. No life, no planet, no rock, no water, fire or air, no time and no nothing."

"What a lode of scrag!" exclaimed an exasperated Orddk. "I know all about explosions, you need something to explode, any fool can see that...  Come on, Mage, we want the truth, not vagaries and fancy!"  It always amazes me how a Dwarve of less than a century can be so rude to a being that was born before the founding of the races (and ultimately had a hand in it, but we shall come to that...)

Orddk the Dwarf, smoking his pipe.  The Mage sign of the Mage of Waun Fach is above his head.

"Never-the-less," continued the mildly inebriated Mage "I am informed by those who study such things that the absolute void that failed to exist before the beginning wasn't there, and then it exploded, and ceased not to exist."

So much for Magish knowledge.

A Dwarvish mining explosion.

What we do know for certain is that there was an explosion! The Dwarves are..."

Page 8 -

Page 8 of 'Everything'

"...the cheif source of knowledge on this. The mistics of the lowwer Queendom[s] of the Dwarves, known as the Maids of Rock, have gathered samples of rock from accross the globe (including some plucked from the sea bed by the Sea-Nation [Sea-Elves]. Indeed it was for this purpose that the Dwarves first invented the under-water-boat, or 'Carreshran', a craft now sinonimouse with the Sea-Elves.).

From these samples they where able to tell that the oldest parts of teh planet had been melted some 600 million years ago, though some say it was 3,500 or even 6,000 million, which fits with the anciant Dim Lwis tribes conviction that mother Earth is 5,005,206,993 years old.

It seems probable that at its formation the earth was like a globe of molten magma like a bead dropped by an incompetent glass-blower.  They also theorized, when it was proven by the sea-nation that the earth was round, and not flat like lead poured upon the floor, as previously thought, that the Earth formed a globe in the same way that a molten mettle will form a ball when dropped off teh top of a tall tower (though in the earth's case we haven't reached teh bottom yet!) The Dwarves where also instrumental in t the Western Elvish descoveies by providing (for the pricey sum of..."

The Carreshran, or submarine boat of the Elvish sea-nations

[On the Carreshran - This is a peddle powered boat tht is made out of a hollow tree trunk and weighted with lead. It swims like a cross between a jelly-fish and a dolphin, with opening and shutting fins on its side that run back and forth along rails and open and shut simply by being pulled through water. The pod attached to the roof floats on the surface when the craft is near the surface and internal peddle powered bellows allow a transfer of air. They are buoyed to float just above the surface, and most simply used forward motion and tilted tail to descend. Some, however, compress air and take in water to be steadier when deeper down.  All Carreshrans are incredibly dangerous, which perhaps accounts for their popularity amongst the sea-nation.]

Page 9 - 

Page 9 of 'Everything'

 "... 10,000 pit props a year) the Stella Eye, a vast Double Lens, set on the steadiness rock on the continent, that could plot the movement of the stars. It was found, over many, many years, that all stars, being distant suns and planets, moved from a central point, the ancient heart of the explosion...

~Tad~"

"The Stella Eye"

Western Elvish Astronomy is a complex process, akin to meditation, based on the premise that while complex thoughts and consideration can be paid to the cosmos, the information gleaned is ultimately useless. This lack of purpose is said to be its ultimate accolade, improving the soul without directing it.

Inside the Stella Eye.  Some Dwarves consider this devise diabolical (studying the roofless chaos), but the Hive that created it was in desperate need of Elvish wood.