The Signifier Tragedy

If you are reading this then it seems we have reached an interesting divergence in time. My name is Fatescribe, keeper of the Ursaverse but I have a feeling you already know that or maybe you will know it. You are familiar to me, a traveller like me, come to behold the stories trapped within the infinite moment of the Between. You met the great God-Emperor of Arsys, Urssus, but you didn’t “meet” him, you only saw a glimpse of his life, lost in years of grief and heartache. But where does that stem from? What great weight lies on such a man’s shoulders? These are questions that many have asked and yet, the answer always hurts more than the question. If you will allow me then, dear reader, I will tell you a new story. One that begins far before the birth of the Willchild, far before the arrival of the Monarch. I propose to take you back to the beginning, when the Signifiers rose from the ashes of creation and birthed the universe in all it’s capacity. I shall tell you of their empire, of the Firstborn family and the tragedies that befell them, I shall tell you of the war that took their home and the dark secret that lies beyond their light. If you feel the tug of intrigue, dear reader, I implore you to join me as we step back far beyond the scope of time to the origin point of time itself. Before Time was even a concept.

Our story begins with Nothing.

When you think of the time before the universe, what do you see? Difficult, isn’t it? Trying to comprehend the infinite nothingness that “existed” before everything was created. Except, you see it, don’t you? The paradox that festers in the void. All encompassing nothingness drifting into itself. How can we perceive nothingness if nothingness itself is something? In mathematics, we are commonly taught to represent “nothing” with 0, known to most as a representation of a lack of value or ‘nothing’. This, however, is a fallacy for in truth, 0 is not nothing and the time before the universe was very much nothing. In the times that have followed the beginning, many names have been given to the place from which everything sprung; The Cataclysm Engine, The World Seed, Infiniti Noctis. These names are all well and good in producing the idea of a void and yet, they underestimate it, they all fall into the same logic of a post-creation universe. But the entity that made up the Before Times did not follow our logic, it followed none at all. I propose then that we title this being as the Signifiers labelled it; Null, the Formless Paradox.

Null comprised everything in the universe, and yet was nothing all at once. With no time to propel it forward or logic to set it right, the Before Times strained under the ever present weight of a paradoxical non-existence. With no heat, the Before Times were cold, empty and lonely. Null would not have known how long these feelings existed and yet, one day he did. And in that moment, he realized something crucial. He was alone, he was cold and empty and scared. He could feel, he could see, he could think. In a single moment, Null broke the Infinite Paradox and tore the void apart. Within his brief minute existence, Null defied the endless nothingness and willed himself into existence. The resulting explosion shattered the infinite dark into fire and chaos as Null’s newly created Will scorched the dark and replaced it with light, leaving embers in it’s path. This, however, was the end of Null. By proving he existed, he had proven that the void didn’t and, being himself of the void, was promptly shattered into shards with the creation of the cosmos.

As the shards of Null began to scatter, the Will continued to spread, creating rivers and streams of energy and matter that scattered aimlessly around the universe. From these streams, came new realms; the Empyrean Forest where the Will pooled in excess, the Infinite Pathways where reality bent and warped within itself and finally, the Null Sector, the final resting place of Null’s existence, ever slumbering in it’s fragmented state. As these places came into being, the shards began to grow too, fuelled by the Will to exist until finally, they did. From the greatest of shards came two beings, Logic and Time, whose command of the Will was purest. From them, came the rules of the universe. Logic balanced the forces of void and light, holding them in flux through the power of reason manifested through the Will, while Time kept them in stasis, ever marching forward towards uncertainty.

With Time’s creation in motion fuelled by Logic’s reason, the cosmic fires that raged in the first moments of existence began to calm and fade and cool, leaving the universe silent once again. The two siblings watched as the first atoms and particles began to flow on Time’s engines, complying with Logic’s laws as they began to meld and shift and grow. In time, they watched the building blocks of the future come to pass. They watched the first stars be born as their flames ignited the darkness, a universal fireworks display to celebrate the coming of the end of the eternal paradox. Time watched and smiled, proud of her creations. Logic watched and wept, crushed by his own reasoning. Time grew confused, unsure of why Logic was so upset by seeing their success when in truth, it was exactly that which saddened her. With their creations now in play, their time had come to pass, just as their father Null’s had. Time told her brother her plan, one forged in primordial logic that she knew he could not argue with, despite his objections. She told him how they too must fade away and shatter, so that the next stage of their creation could begin and they must not let their creation be sullied by their continued presence. They had created the paint, and now it was time for the artists to arrive and bring colour to the dim darkness of the newly birthed First Age. Logic hesitantly agreed, understanding her brother's reasoning and set about making preparations for their departure. The two of them planned to disperse themselves and their will among the remaining shards of Null, allowing them to rise up just as they once did.

From their ashes, the final fragments of Null began to grow, 24 beings of pure Will that awoke with the creators passion to fill the universe with life. Beings with the ability to command their will into any form or concept, capable of imparting life upon the universe itself. These brothers and sisters rose from the ashes of their creators and created the first city, an impenetrable fortress of Will built within the heart of a nebula. These beings became known by many names in the thousands of years they dominated, their Will being carried among the stars as they created nature, life and all the things necessary to populate the universe. Some call them Gods, others call them Sentinels. But they are better known as the Firstborn…

The Signifiers. And It is them who would discover that this story is a lie.