To
Current
In Their Place, a myth
Who knows when the gods came to the place? It was there for the taking, as
they saw it, so they took it, and set up shop. The construction of their
heavenly abode, what the mortals would later call the Firmament, began
immediately. I think it was Casmek the architect that first came up with the
idea. He and Janour the Contriver were looking over some of the blueprints.
"Seems like an awful lot to do.", Casmek said. "Why don't we get some
help?"
"What do you propose?"
"Well how about you make something? Some
kind of worker that can build all of this? "
"I'll see what I can do.", said
Janour. And off he went to work.
The first humans were similar to the
popular shape of the time, all long and leggy, with little phalanges on the end
bits. Symmetry was in fashion that season, too, and so was hair on the top of
the head.
"Only lasts 70 to 80 years, maybe more, sometimes less.", said
Janour. "And they're rather small and can't change shape. But I can make a ton
of them."
"Good enough. Make those over there bring me that screwdriver."
Soon word of "the Help" - as they were called at first, spread
throughout the pantheon. Everyone wanted a hundred or more of the little
helpers. And in a flash (to gods anyway - to humans it was millennia), the
heavens were built as envisioned (with minor adjustments to be made no doubt
until the end of time).
None of the gods really needed the Help after
that, really. A couple of gods were fascinated by all the little cultures that
had sprung up over time, and grew fond of them. Many had formed various
religious groups that worshipped individual deities. And those deities were
rather flattered with the attention. No one really wanted to keep them though.
But something had to be done. There was a stretch of land down below, a dumping
ground really; the gods called it the Tract. A place to put Janour's other
contrivances, a place too to get materials for construction. And it seemed a
fitting place for the mortals. "There you go." they said, "your new home." But
most of them flew back up anyway - Janour made them all rather too willful. So
the gods made all of them stick to the ground, so they wouldn't fly back up. So
they would stay in their place.
And that's where gravity comes from.