The world began as an inert, uniform expanse of red particulate, floating in otherwise empty space. For an infinitely long time, and yet no time at all, the particulate stayed as it was. It did not move, for there was nothing to move it; it did not change, as there was nothing to change it.
After many eternities of this stability passed, a wandering spirit happened upon the stagnant waste. Lacuna was a kind, virtuous, lonely creature — one who wished for the void to be more than an expanse of unfeeling fixity. Lacuna sought to end their solitude, so they took hold of the starstuff around them and began to sculpt.
Lacuna imbued the starstuff with a sliver of their essence and created Althane, a planet spinning in the void. They saw the flaw in their creation quickly: on its own, Althane would be as lonesome as they were. Lacuna donated another sliver and made Althane a sibling — Ilkyne. For a time, they happily watched the two dance around each other. However, Lacuna saw that their orbits were constant and predictable, practically no different from the stillness whence they sprang.
Lacuna’s attempt to remedy the situation was to donate more power and create more realms out of starstuff — twelve in total — and spin them all around the dancing twins in the middle of the world. Each of these new realms was unique, with characteristics that the others didn’t possess. Lacuna gave each of them an aspect of the world to control, such that their aspect would wax and wane as they orbited around Althane and Ilkyne. Expansion, decay, weight, juncture, stability, progress, wisdom, caprice, providence, creation, individualism, and ancestry. Each one exerts new and exciting forces upon the world, changing it in unpredictable and wondrous ways.
Lacuna sat and reveled in its world, filled with ever-changing activity. Ages passed, and Lacuna strived to experience all their creation offered. Eventually, they succeeded. Lacuna saw that so long as they were the only true driving force of change in the world, it would never feel new. In this moment of clarity, Lacuna saw that this world they had created could never have been for them — it was for those that would follow. All Lacuna needed to do was bring its successors into existence.
With their last sliver of power, Lacuna made life.
Lacuna passed on, but now their children live throughout the realms. All sentient creatures can trace their life back to the initial spark Lacuna provided for them, and new life continues today from the generosity of Lacuna’s final devotion.