Sticking My Neck Out...

Alright. So. Here's the deal. I've been receiving a lot of visions telling me that I need to open up just a teensy bit. I would not be here talking about these things without feeling like I had direct approval from those I trust in spirit. I've been clamped down and locked shut for years about these things. I suppose now it's time to open the vault.

I don't know what I am. I don't have any words for it. I know one thing: I am not alone. There are many of us. There are many more who think they are us, want to be us, but aren't us. What are we? Something different. We come here and we live these lives of ours, but we remember somewhere else. Sometimes many other elsewheres. We bear abilities from early on; we're different, very very different. And I'm not talking "Oh I'm a medium". I'm talking serious stuff that most of the world doesn't believe exists. Serious magic the likes of which legend and lore and tales were written about long ago, the stuff people have since tossed in the fiction corner of their library. To us, it is our blessing, and our curse, to live every day carrying this magic; and to carry the pain, and the bliss, of all of our memories. We know what we are, even if we can't put words to it. We know we have a job to do, we know our sets of skills better than we know the back of this weird human palm we feel like we're wearing around for a while like a coat that's far too tight. We do what we do, thanklessly, silently, in a world that hates and fears anyone who is too different.

This thread will be me, slowly and cautiously and nervously stepping into the light, trembling fearfully with each word I dare to write. My intuition tells me that it's time to come out. My little human brain tells me that it wants to curl up and cry, remembering the times that speaking too freely meant inviting pain and suffering. My core burns with calm knowing. Let's do this.

First revelation: I remember living out lives in many different times and places in multiple worlds, some very strange compared to our own. I remember how I got from one to the other. I remember how I got here and what I left behind. I miss it terribly, because I left under terrible circumstances only to leap into a world that would, with time, begin to give a dim reflection of the last that only made me burn with longing for it. Magic was so much stronger there. Here in this world, magic is so terribly weak, almost completely forgotten, power dimmed down like dying embers in a fire that was once roaring with flame, the last bastion of light and warmth against the cold night. I've stood most of my life fanning those embers and feeling a lot of despair and exasperation. God, even technology was so much more advanced there; they believed strongly in multiple universes and it was no big deal to them. The stuff that could bridge universes was of course heavily guarded, not meant to be used other than for research purposes; but still! It was there, it wasn't something sci-fi to them.

They would've considered us backward, in the way you might look at someone from the Middle Ages. I have struggled all my life with trying not to look at everyone around me with that look. That, "Seriously?" look. Imagine if you just heard someone say, totally dead serious about it, that the world was flat, or that if a woman can swim she's obviously a witch and must be burned. The look you'd give them. That look has been pasted on my face permanently some days. I remind myself frequently that people cannot possibly help it, and they mean well, and someday it'll all work itself out. I remind myself of my vow of non-interference. I instead find peace and joy in the simple things, like a wide eyed sight seer. Flowers I've never seen elsewhere. Trees that are a little weird to me. Even the behavior of water or the smell of the air or the colors in the sky.

I have met about a half dozen people in person that I knew from elsewhere. We reminisced, wept, laughed, sat in somber silence. Just last night I sat in a room with one and we wept shamelessly of how we missed home and that it was good to see each other and just know that we were both doing alright. We talked of mutual friends and how they were doing. We know what our brothers and sisters are up to via telepathy and astral interaction shrouded in the utmost secrecy. In this hostile world, it is our best tool for survival, and our way to stay connected and strong.

Conclusion: So here's the deal. Ask me anything. Literally anything. I don't guarantee an answer; sometimes I just can't, and I can't explain why other than simply "I can't talk about that right now". I apologize in advance for that. But I will do my best.

There are many of us. There are many more who think they are us, want to be us, but aren't us.

Worth a little more contemplation pehaps.

I rather think that some of us do not remember that they are us, an act of imposed forgetfulness possibly.

One remains , however, integral to creation a part of it all, creating a division where none exists builds imaginary boundaries and makes for both segregation and discrimination, and we do see how well that goes for us.
I say this as one who has also wandered not a few Earth years, and further arrived here from way way , out there. You are most likely quiet correct about regarding yourself as sticking your neck out. Individuality is an illusion imposed by creation upon the parts of that creation which go to make the sum of creation. It is quiet a complex subject matter, suffice to say setting oneself apart is at the very least isolating.

Originally Posted by Neville

Worth a little more contemplation pehaps.

I rather think that some of us do not remember that they are us, an act of imposed forgetfulness possibly.

One remains , however, integral to creation a part of it all, creating a division where none exists builds imaginary boundaries and makes for both segregation and discrimination, and we do see how well that goes for us.
I say this as one who has also wandered not a few Earth years, and further arrived here from way way , out there.

Good to meet a fellow traveler. Yes, it's very true; many of us remain in a state of amnesia, a sort of dormancy for long periods of time. It is definitely imposed forgetfulness, sometimes for a good purpose, and sometimes malicious. With luck, many wake up from this amnesiac slumber and go about their business with full recollection of themselves, often with an immediate sense of purpose.

[Rah nam]

Staying in a state of amnesia is important and of cause for a reason.
One becomes human, lives a human life and one's work become legitimate, not interference. Changes have to come from within, and for this reason one has to become human on all levels.
No. 1 rule of my kind.

Originally Posted by Rah nam

Staying in a state of amnesia is important and of cause for a reason.
One becomes human, lives a human life and one's work become legitimate, not interference. Changes have to come from within, and for this reason one has to become human on all levels.
No. 1 rule of my kind.

There are those with a solemn vow of complete and total non-interference - and then there are those who seem "meddlesome" by comparison. Those who walk about with the state of amnesia, albeit aware of this amnesia, such as yourself; and those who seek to wake from it at an appointed time and act.

My own kind have a systematic awakening process and usually plans or missions (either appointed by superiors or self-appointed) which they carry out upon awakening; some helpful, some not so helpful. In this world, many of us are attacked and sabotaged before we get the chance to wake up. The thought of being forced into permanent amnesia, failing to waken in time, sends chills up our spine and heat through our veins; it means failure to complete a vital task, or delay of a predetermined schedule of events, or unspeakable shame, or being demoted and re-tasked elsewhere with heads hanging. We fight tooth and nail against these things. Many who fail to waken spend the rest of their lives disillusioned and broken; some even abandon their human bodies entirely and leave them to die. The strong ones disappear in one way or another and seem to suddenly pop up elsewhere, all the more determined, refusing to be deterred.

As I'm sure you know, your kind and my kind often disagree. Personally, I leave the squabbles and politics to the elders of each, and just do what I do. I hear "vow of non-interference", though, and it sets my teeth on edge a little bit; I'm reminded of vitriol spat from the lips of many who attacked me and mine out of furious disagreement with our "meddling".

It's good to see you are peaceable about it (else you wouldn't talk to me, as I'm sure you guessed right away I'm sort of on the other side of that particular fence). I always appreciate that; thank you. My sincerest blessings.

[356]

Originally Posted by InCarna

Alright. So. Here's the deal. I've been receiving a lot of visions telling me that I need to open up just a teensy bit. I would not be here talking about these things without feeling like I had direct approval from those I trust in spirit. I've been clamped down and locked shut for years about these things. I suppose now it's time to open the vault.

I don't know what I am. I don't have any words for it. I know one thing: I am not alone. There are many of us. There are many more who think they are us, want to be us, but aren't us. What are we? Something different. We come here and we live these lives of ours, but we remember somewhere else. Sometimes many other elsewheres. We bear abilities from early on; we're different, very very different. And I'm not talking "Oh I'm a medium". I'm talking serious stuff that most of the world doesn't believe exists. Serious magic the likes of which legend and lore and tales were written about long ago, the stuff people have since tossed in the fiction corner of their library. To us, it is our blessing, and our curse, to live every day carrying this magic; and to carry the pain, and the bliss, of all of our memories. We know what we are, even if we can't put words to it. We know we have a job to do, we know our sets of skills better than we know the back of this weird human palm we feel like we're wearing around for a while like a coat that's far too tight. We do what we do, thanklessly, silently, in a world that hates and fears anyone who is too different.

This thread will be me, slowly and cautiously and nervously stepping into the light, trembling fearfully with each word I dare to write. My intuition tells me that it's time to come out. My little human brain tells me that it wants to curl up and cry, remembering the times that speaking too freely meant inviting pain and suffering. My core burns with calm knowing. Let's do this.

First revelation: I remember living out lives in many different times and places in multiple worlds, some very strange compared to our own. I remember how I got from one to the other. I remember how I got here and what I left behind. I miss it terribly, because I left under terrible circumstances only to leap into a world that would, with time, begin to give a dim reflection of the last that only made me burn with longing for it. Magic was so much stronger there. Here in this world, magic is so terribly weak, almost completely forgotten, power dimmed down like dying embers in a fire that was once roaring with flame, the last bastion of light and warmth against the cold night. I've stood most of my life fanning those embers and feeling a lot of despair and exasperation. God, even technology was so much more advanced there; they believed strongly in multiple universes and it was no big deal to them. The stuff that could bridge universes was of course heavily guarded, not meant to be used other than for research purposes; but still! It was there, it wasn't something sci-fi to them.

They would've considered us backward, in the way you might look at someone from the Middle Ages. I have struggled all my life with trying not to look at everyone around me with that look. That, "Seriously?" look. Imagine if you just heard someone say, totally dead serious about it, that the world was flat, or that if a woman can swim she's obviously a witch and must be burned. The look you'd give them. That look has been pasted on my face permanently some days. I remind myself frequently that people cannot possibly help it, and they mean well, and someday it'll all work itself out. I remind myself of my vow of non-interference. I instead find peace and joy in the simple things, like a wide eyed sight seer. Flowers I've never seen elsewhere. Trees that are a little weird to me. Even the behavior of water or the smell of the air or the colors in the sky.

I have met about a half dozen people in person that I knew from elsewhere. We reminisced, wept, laughed, sat in somber silence. Just last night I sat in a room with one and we wept shamelessly of how we missed home and that it was good to see each other and just know that we were both doing alright. We talked of mutual friends and how they were doing. We know what our brothers and sisters are up to via telepathy and astral interaction shrouded in the utmost secrecy. In this hostile world, it is our best tool for survival, and our way to stay connected and strong.

Conclusion: So here's the deal. Ask me anything. Literally anything. I don't guarantee an answer; sometimes I just can't, and I can't explain why other than simply "I can't talk about that right now". I apologize in advance for that. But I will do my best.

I just want to hug you.
Tell me of some of the places you've been?
When I sleep lately ive been revisiting some of the different places and worlds I use to go. When im there I know that ive been there before but I can't remember when. Im slowly remembering different things. I long thought I was just astral projecting but ive been jumping dimensions too. I couldnt understand why people that ap only ever talk about the void space, and they were always questioning me about the physical places I was going. I now know that ive been travelling to different worlds. I went to one recently that is similar to this one but they have no beliefs in higher beings of any kind (god, buddha, andels) they don't even know what they are, let alone other universes or magic. I was having a conversation with some woman in that dimension about it and she laughed in my face and called my crazy... Pretty much like this world but no faith in anything. So I disappeared right infront of her and her friends.
There are people that seem to know of me and who I am in other worlds. But I don't know them. And some I do know but can't remember who they are.
I feel like im suffocating in this world and this body.

[Internal Queries]

i imagine there's no need for conflict concerning methods and philosophies. it all shakes out in the long run, a "to each their own" sorting process, the harmonic resonating of vibrations signatures and individual form following gestalten function.

the expression of The Self manifesting in and as the variables of the individual human being and the human collective. it's been an extremely complex and fascinating experience thus far. i'm interested to see how it turns out.

Originally Posted by 356

I just want to hug you.
Tell me of some of the places you've been?
When I sleep lately ive been revisiting some of the different places and worlds I use to go. When im there I know that ive been there before but I can't remember when. Im slowly remembering different things. I long thought I was just astral projecting but ive been jumping dimensions too. I couldnt understand why people that ap only ever talk about the void space, and they were always questioning me about the physical places I was going. I now know that ive been travelling to different worlds. I went to one recently that is similar to this one but they have no beliefs in higher beings of any kind (god, buddha, andels) they don't even know what they are, let alone other universes or magic. I was having a conversation with some woman in that dimension about it and she laughed in my face and called my crazy... Pretty much like this world but no faith in anything. So I disappeared right infront of her and her friends.
There are people that seem to know of me and who I am in other worlds. But I don't know them. And some I do know but can't remember who they are.
I feel like im suffocating in this world and this body.

Yeah, people have given me strange looks in the past for the places I recall too. Us travelers definitely gain a reputation over time. I don't even want to get into mine, LOL. I absolutely agree with feeling like you're suffocating here. I describe it as trying to squeeze into a toddler-sized straight jacket. It's been said by multiple parties that when I sleep, I suddenly burst out of myself and spill around. Lately a friend keeps randomly remarking, "Seriously. Seriously, your big self is huge. No I don't think you understand. She's huge." We are large "energy" beings crammed awkwardly into little squishy bodies.

Some of the places I've been...oh dear. Well, I could tell endless stories, but I'll just pick a few and try to skim over it or we'll be here for days.

WORLD A: I spent 10 years in a world where magic did not exist. During these 10 years, my body here wound down until it was dead, heart stopped temporarily. I awoke with memories of a life elsewhere, speaking differently.

Everyone was very practical in nature there, essentially atheists; what you see is all you care about and you just try to live your life, that sort of thing. Things were a bit Victorian in style, houses decked in golds and browns and lots of ornate furniture. The planet had a huge, dim sun and appeared to have a ring around it; plants were strange and plastic-like, waxy...imagine an Aloe plant and you're sort of close. Colors were dull and shifted toward the blue side of the spectrum. Gravity worked differently, the air heavier and filled with more oxygen.

In this place, a series of terrifying events had struck the planet involving someone who literally took over the entire globe. Even as he ushered in a police state and citizens were being shot in the streets over petty crimes, everyone was complacent, and far too helpless to do anything about it. Simple, pragmatic, eloquent and backward by our standards, they held a stiff upper lip about the tragedy and found a way to survive.

I made a few dear friends who helped me escape from terrifying circumstances there. That's about all I care to say. It's a world I don't talk about too much. I still look back on that time a lot though; I even remember a song from the place that I used to listen to a lot. The music there was haunting, not unlike our classical music (such as http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VC1GNrTia6I ) but a little different and played on strange instruments that didn't make a lot of sense to me.

WORLD B: I spent a lifetime in a world that is similar to ours in many ways, but vastly different in others. Space travel never got off the ground (lol, no pun intended), and instead they focused on the skies and almost everyone flew their own personal aircraft in approved traffic lanes. Not flying cars, more like extremely sophisticated crop dusters, lol. Those who couldn't afford them drove on the ground, in vehicles made to look pseudo-flightworthy just to make them feel a little better about being too poor to fly. When taking off, your personal aircraft would ascend to a predetermined traffic level and lock into it; you could disable the function and manually fly outside that height, but you were likely to receive a hefty ticket for it. Daring teenagers would burst up above the clouds in their crafts and make out, feeling like rebels. Certain spots with certain views below (such as mountainscapes) were monitored almost like speed traps, and the stupid ones got tickets for their hijinks.

Another vastly different thing there is going to sound really bizarre by our standards: You know how here we have these rumors of cryptids here and there? You know, dogmen, yeti, lizardmen, and more? Well there it wasn't just rumors. These beings were very much real and extremely plentiful; there were various races, like a werewolf-like ("canid") race, felid race, reptilian race, amphibian race, rodentia...and of course variations within each of them. Each of these races were like tribes to themselves, speaking different languages, holding different cultures and codes of honor and myths and lore and so on. Their collective ancient history included a war between themselves and humans; when it became dire, they hid for a time, seemingly vanishing until humans literally forgot they ever existed...only later to emerge, after their collective sages and prophets said it was time to do so, and attempt to make peace with mankind's forgetful children. They attempted to learn the language (that was extremely difficult for many of them - a lot of them didn't really have the lips and vocal chords for it, so it might come out heavily lisped, grunted, or sounding a little like a drunken toothless man lol), wear clothing, and more. Tensions were sky high. By the time I was living my life there, the emergence of "the hideaways" was old history, hundreds of years old. Still, they lived like second class citizens. There was a lot of xenophobia. The greatest insult, a bit like a racial slur, was to compare them to their animal counterparts; for example, to call a canid-race a "dog", or a reptilian a "lizard", or to make cruel jokes like "puppy needs a leash". People often started fights that way. It was pretty crazy.

In this world, interdimensional travel was very well known, but mostly just an area of study and a practical thing for them. You had to have extremely high clearance or approval to be able to even see the tech they had in place to send people back and forth to pre-set dimensions they had surveyed. There were rumors of research beginning on the topic of interstellar travel being done this way as well, effectively 'teleporting' to a predetermined destination (teleportation was already known and commonly used in their world; that's another long story). The interdimensional tech was used primarily for ironing out serious errors in their own dimension. Dimensional rifts were just about commonplace, with people from other dimensions frequently just showing up out of nowhere, and others disappearing to alternate dimensions upon walking into a rift. High-level scientists worked to document the dimensions known to slip into their own, close the rifts or quarantine them, and occasionally approve extremely limited travel to gather intelligence (so they knew what to expect from that particular place). Agents of a very open, citizen-friendly organization would be sent out to address calls about possible incidents of dimensional slips; they'd talk to the caller, take notes, and investigate. Imagine a phone number being posted everywhere, like 411 or something, and you just call it and these guys show up to help. That's sort of what it was like. Our dimension was one of the many known to slip into theirs (and vice-versa). They tried to keep their dimension hush-hush from the other dimensions, fearful of people coming in and trying to start wars or steal resources or something. (One such person DID in fact come in and start a massive war. It was tragic on a scale that makes Hitler look like a cute kitten. After his departure, I suspect they clamped down and opted to close all rifts for good.)

When I left, it was under terrible circumstances. I still miss the place. To me it was my home more than most other places I've been. I've met several people who also recall this place in detail, a couple of which I knew personally. Some rumored it to be dead and gone. They don't seem to know about the whole closed-doors thing. The place might as well be dead to us, I guess; none of us have any hope of getting back there. It's a tragic tale.

WORLD C: I spent a long time in a world where humans were extremely focused on interstellar travels. Countless hundreds and hundreds of years before my time, we had colonized a sort of super-earth for our own safety. It was part of this weird thing where two 'twin' earth-like planets were orbiting around each other. First we colonized one, then the other, eventually almost abandoning the original Earth entirely. We called them the 'twin earths'. Each developed their own sort of political environment over time. The problem now was that they were slowly orbiting closer and closer together, and we wanted to ensure we had a new place to colonize before it became a dire situation.

We sent out exploratory groups. We found a few places that were impossible. Then we found one that was great (albeit very strange), and teeming with life; we sent out researchers to see about it and they found a race that, shall we say, didn't take too kindly to us setting foot there. You couldn't really blame them all that much. They were fiercely territorial and we were definitely trespassing - and beyond that, they were extremely telepathic, so they probably immediately knew of our intentions to steal their planet out from under them. Well they started a crazy war with us and nearly wiped us all out. The biggest problem was that with their extreme telepathy, we had to figure out ways to hide any of us that had vital military information or anything like that, well outside the far-reaching radius within which they could pick up on thoughts. They kept figuring out a lot of our tactics just by literally being close enough to peer into certain people's heads and read it like an open book, and they'd head us off and wipe out a bunch of us at a time.

This was all old history to me. I was a female researcher, headed to the planet after we had left literally only TWO of their race alive. They had longevity on a scale unimaginable to us; so we had one of them caged in this room, a female, who would smart off telepathically to anyone exiting onto the planet. It was very strange sensation walking off onto the dock and feeling a little like being mildly drugged while this voice spat curses somewhere behind my ears at a volume that could give you a splitting headache.

I ended up finding out that although these guys were the dominant species, there was another species that were in fact far superior, but had a strict non-interference kind of thing going on. They looked a little bit like deer; small, thin, little dinky hoof-like feet - really weird bony, narrow, crested heads though. They too were telepaths. They were practically divine. It was said by the locals that if one bothered to appear to you, and even more so if it looked on you, you were either extremely lucky or you would explode. These beings were aware of literally every other being on the planet and their movements; if you encountered one, it was definitely only because it wanted to be seen. Upon meeting one, I fell to my knees; it was like seeing God. She blessed me and foretold of a new era coming to their planet, mutually favorable to our kind and the rest of the species on the planet, and that something I did would enable it.

I never survived to see the outcome, or understand what she meant. I ended up dying in the harsh wilderness. It was a very stupid death, I assure you. :P

WORLD D: I spent some time on a dead and barren world. In this world I did not incarnate; I roved around as an energy being, half-corporeal, looking at things. I found precious few surviving corpses (in a state of relative preservation) from an ancient time, encapsulated in ancient building-like structures and almost like mummified. I found innumerable bones. The world was dusky and almost barren of light, purple and grey and navy hues on blackened rock with dust swept around by deadly winds at hundreds of miles an hour. I mourned for the lost and remembered their history, touching ancient bones encapsulated now under solid rocky earth, and understanding their pain. A few scraggly plant-like organisms remained. That's all. It was hope, perhaps, that something could evolve with the passage of enough eras of time - but more than likely these were the last very rugged survivors of a dying planet. I learned of a single survivor who had betrayed and killed the rest of his surviving brothers and sisters. I came away with a powerful hatred for him.

Hope that wasn't too long-winded.

[kris]

Originally Posted by InCarna

..... I remember living out lives in many different times and places in multiple worlds, some very strange compared to our own.
.....
Conclusion: So here's the deal. Ask me anything. Literally anything. I don't guarantee an answer; sometimes I just can't, and I can't explain why other than simply "I can't talk about that right now". I apologize in advance for that. But I will do my best.

What were religions in those worlds?

Originally Posted by kris

What were religions in those worlds?

Well there are many to choose from, aside from the atheistic/agnostic/don't-care mindset that several featured. I'll give a few examples, though. I find it extremely difficult to put these in terms we can understand, but I will do my best.

RELIGION A:
Imagine Christianity in two thousand years, and you might have something like these guys had. The timeline in this world was far in the future as compared to ours, but with enough similarities that I'm pretty sure it WAS Christianity in two thousand years. It was so utterly watered down and changed, however, that it was nearly unrecognizable. I think just about the only thing that I can say I recognize is the fact that they still carried around little Bible-like books. You know how we consider robes to somehow be sacred, even though there was a time when they were worn commonly? These people considered clothing that looked a little bit like T-shirts with 'sacred' writing on it - I kid you not - to be holy garb. Upon entering the religion, you would be given your own personal Book. You were to carry it with you everywhere you went; you were to decorate it, personalize it, make a work of art out of it and make it your own. In that way you would bind it to you and symbolically tie its holy words into your life.

The figure of Jesus was so entirely different, it would have made us laugh. They saw him as a struggling survivor who taught us methods to survive as a species, or something like that. They saw him as 'life' and 'salvation' in the way a hiker in the woods might see a compass as 'salvation' that could get them to safety - he was 'salvation' because he taught methods of surviving in an evolutionary sense, in their minds. They had books that were taken out of the scripture, and books that were totally different; and other books that had been added with time. They had new prophets and they had tied in strange mysticism and folklore into their beliefs, such as belief in odd local spirits and superstitions, and a few things that sounded vaguely shamanic in nature such as medicinal cures and folk remedies. They were also very poor and very practical people; they lived in a harsh wilderness and every day was a struggle. The book reminded them to share and stand together for survival, rather than fight and put themselves at risk. They really didn't care a whole lot about the soul or heaven and never bothered to try and 'save' anyone; to them, it was more like a practical guide on how to live in the here and now. This strange future Christianity would never have understood ours, and we could never have understood theirs exactly. Put the two in the same room and they might have laughed at each other. Seriously.

RELIGION B:
This religion was among the "cryptid" creatures I mentioned before, commonly shared between every tribe but with minor variations and adaptations from tribe to tribe.
They believed in an ancient time, pre-history, when powerful magic existed in their world. When people could make blazing fire from their hands, or strike with lightning, or produce strange lights to heal and to harm. They believed that during this ancient time, it was just about commonplace. During this time, two canids were born - one vulpine and one lupine - whose power was utterly limitless, their wisdom unmatched. Some versions of the tale said they were half brothers. Some said they were brothers in arms, warriors alongside each other. Some said they were master craftsmen who built monolithic structures that survived to the present. Some told tales of encounters people had with them, wisdom they had shared, great deeds they had done, mysterious references made about divinity and these two brothers being secretly eternal and perhaps having descended from elsewhere. They say the brothers would speak about things that made no sense to anyone else, or in tongues unknown to anyone. They say the brothers were inseparable.

Tales about their lives varied wildly among the different "cryptid" races, but one common denominator is this: At some point, the brothers had some kind of falling out. The great wolf took a descent into darkness, and the great fox (some say coyote) into light. As they began to change, their wisdom changed; villagers who came from hundreds of miles away to hear them speak began to hear them argue with each other. An extremely rare rumor says that despite these arguments, they still grinned at each other once in a while, like it was a big game. At some point, all the races agree...they fought each other. They ascended a mountaintop and fought for days and days, terrible darkness and light and colors clashing, seen from hundreds of miles away. It is said that when it was over, a stalemate had been reached - neither the great wolf nor the great fox had won. Silence fell. People say they built a fire and ate and drank, staring each other down for a long time. Then, thunderous voices spoke prophecies that echoed out from the mountaintop and terrified the people below - first the great fox, then the great wolf (some say it's the other way around).

The texts documenting these prophecies are the most sacred texts of any, to these races. They speak of a time when magic would fade and be nearly forgotten. They spoke of the falling-out with humans, and a return to peace. They spoke of darkness from the humans entangling the two in a terrible disaster from which neither could escape. They spoke of ignorance, greed, and a lot of other ill omens. During that time, the prophecies stated that the great fox and the great wolf would return again, exhibiting their limitless power once more. It was said that upon their return, they would finish the fight they could not finish before (some sects argued that they would, instead, make peace with one another and usher in a new Utopian era; unfortunately the "they're going to make war" sects were far more popular), and the winner would rule the planet for "many ages to come", ushering in an outpouring and renewal of magic and power and wisdom onto the cryptid races and this time even onto mankind (thereby uniting the world one way or another).

Religions were formed, worshipping the great fox (coyote? like I said, there were a lot of arguments over that) and the great wolf respectively. As you can imagine, those who followed the great wolf were very dark and shadowy occultists, and those who followed the great fox fancied themselves to be good and upright. There were a lot of differing sects among these two categories, creating a lot of confusion about a lot of different things. All cryptids considered canids to be a sacred race, however. Within the orthodox branches of the great-fox and great-wolf worshippers, sacred bloodlines were maintained which were said to be descendants of the original fox and wolf. Meticulous records were kept by priests within the orders, who documented every descendant's family line and any magical abilities that became apparent. They were tasked with searching for the reincarnation of their god. They classified magic within strict sets and subsets, checked children at certain specific times in their lives - they had it down to a system. The orthodoxy maintained their heirarchy, in fact, based on how pure one's blood was - it was said that the really secretive highest priests were 100% pure blooded.

Any found to exhibit magical abilities would be documented; any who exhibited two or more categories were promoted accordingly, regardless of bloodline, and closely watched for manifesting any more. The more categories/potency of power exhibited by a young child of a certain age, they would begin a series of tests carried out by the high priests. It was actually really interesting stuff. Typically speaking, in that world, magic was much more potent than it is here. You had a lot more 'oomph' for your energy work, and precognition wasn't the nice pleasant thing it is here - it would throw you into a flashback-like frenzy as you were struck with a vivid image of the future. Still, magic was extremely rare. Your typical gifted person was able to do stuff like create fire (we're talking light a cigarette with your finger, maybe make a spontaneous bonfire at the most) move small objects (telekinesis was classified based on how much weight one could throw around with it among other things, and current numbers ran somewhere along the lines of like 10-20 pounds tops), create items (categorized based on complexity of item created and how long the item lasted before degrading; current records were pretty lame, like some guy made a bucket that lasted for 20 years or something).

Humans thought the religion to be utter hogwash. The current political environment meant that anyone caught using magic would be monitored and often policed for it, for fear they'd use it against someone or against the government. Rumors of a few humans exhibiting abilities left a bad taste in the mouth of humans and "cryptids" alike.

RELIGION C:
Not so much a religion as a philosophy, this one focused on the tenets of wisdom and art and beauty and peace. In this world there was no other religion. In fact I would say there really wasn't any religion to speak of, but this was the closest they had. Here, they believed in eternal existence; they believed that we exist eternally and as we trace this life along the timeline, we are to make the best of it because in all this eternity, our consciousness focused down on this little pinpoint for some reason. They saw life as precious. They kept temples full of historical records, because to them history was sacred - the stories of our eternal lives as we chose to live them in the past. They believed in experience above all things. They believed that nothing mattered, and yet everything was important; whether you lived or died, you were already eternal. Whether you progressed or fell away into nonexistence, you would always exist. These people were very in touch with divinity. They were relatively peaceful, but surprisingly, had a lot of their own issues.

The best way to sum up their religion is the way that they frequently smiled (even in the middle of a really tough situation) and said something along the lines of, "Ah, such is life!" or, "Ah, this life!" It was a lot of things said in only a few words; what it basically signified was a recognition that this was another thing to be experienced in this life, therefore it was beautiful, no matter how tragic, no matter how sad, no matter how great or terrible. With a gaze to the side (as if to a nonexistent person) while saying it, the motion signified a sort of expression of gratefulness to the Eye of Eternity (think a little bit like our "collective consciousness" babble) which they believed to be watching at all times. So, let's say you find out your mother has died...you'd turn your head to the side with a smile and say "Ah, this life!" as if to another person not visible in the room. In this way you thanked a sort of great Observer for placing you into a new and surprising experience.

EDIT (gah, posted too quickly, sorry): Unfortunately, this religion, as pure and beautiful as it was, was shared by the beings on that dead planet I mentioned. I know of only one survivor for certain - although others, I believe, may have gone out and started living inter-dimensional lives. Those that call this place home are extremely rare, maybe a few hundred (maybe a thousand or two, tops) in all of existence. I consider myself incredibly lucky (actually, pretty dang unlucky in my case) to meet just one. He is entirely alien in his entire mindset and makeup, incredibly powerful and incredibly corrupt in nature. Definitely in touch with his own divinity.