Before - Legends Before the Saga In the Shade of the Wroshyr – Tales of the People of the Trees | Wookiee myths & legends collection

Title: In the Shade of the Wroshyr – Tales of the People of the Trees
Timeframe: I’m tagging this ‘Before’ since these are Wookiee myths and legends from the very distant past, but none of it is true in-universe (or is it? you never know with these things)
Continuity: Not really applicable? I’m skirting the bit about the Rakata terraforming of Kashyyyk, so probably New Canon more so than Legends, but then I’m using a ton of elements from Legends!Kashyyyk, so possibly Legends more so than New Canon. Essential Wookieepedia links are behind the spoiler tag; you can safely assume that any story elements you don’t see listed here are my fanon, for which I have a post in dire need of an update in the Fanon Thread.

Spoiler

Kashyyyk
Wookiee
Wroshyr
Tree of Life
Shadowlands
Rryatt Trail
Kashyyyk bantha
Rwookrrorro
Ittummi
Wawaat Archipelago: includes (canonically) the cities of Palsaang, Kahiyuk, Warralokk, Grunnrurr, Rowrakruk and Kachirho
Mount Korrokrrayyo: includes (in my fanon) the cities of Karryntora, Hoorrkhukk, Chenachochan, Okikuti, Tunnatutikan, Thikkiiana and Rarrhkrrorrho
Other named cities (reserved for future stories): Maarwraawroo, Kepitenochan, Orriorr, Northaykk, Truvvhhurr

Genre: Myths and legends
Characters: All OCs (provided that there is any such thing as characters in these stories)
Length: Series of one-shots
Note: Many of these stories are based on tales that I wrote for my daughter. Some of the text will be translated from Greek, which explains the awkward turns of phrase that you’re likely to encounter here and there.
Sources of inspiration: Just about any myth and legend I ever read, from the Epic of Gilgamesh to the Silmarillion and everything in-between.
Challenge response: This is starting out as a response to the 2023 Fanfic Olympics. My entries consist of a decathlon focusing on Wookiee cosmogony and a pentathlon about individual tribes. The complete list of prompts I chose to use is behind the spoiler tag below; I’ll be indicating the relevant prompt(s) for each entry at the beginning of each post. However, this thread is likely to continue beyond the Olympics as I have lots of ideas that I haven’t worked on just yet.

Spoiler

Selected prompts for decathlon

• 110 Word Hurdle: Exactly 110 words in which the name or names of your character, family, friendship or couple aren’t mentioned.
• Single Sentence Shot Put: A story told in a single sentence about your character, family, friendship or couple.
• 100 Word Sprint: A 100 word drabble about your character, family, friendship or couple using any theme.
• Prime Time Coverage: Minimum 500 words of action, adventure, or excitement with your chosen character, friendship, family or couple as the star.
• Judo: In Japanese the word “ju-do” means “the way of suppleness”, referring to the story of the tree branch “bending” under the weight of the snow and not breaking. Write a story of 100 or more words where your character shows “the way of suppleness.”
• Fantastical Fencing: A story of at least 100 words involving your character, family, friendship or couple in which something fantastical happens.
• 4x100 Relay: 4x100 word drabbles of exactly 100 words each on the four types of love (affection, intimacy, friendship, and charity) as experienced by your character, family, friendship or couple in one post.
• 3x3 Basketball: Write 3x300 word stories. Use the prompts Synergy, Toil, and Dauntless for your triple drabbles. Each story should be exactly 300 words long.
• High Dive: Write a story of 500 or more words of dialogue-free introspection.
• AU Archery: A story of at least 100 words set in an alternate universe with your character, family, friendship, or couple.

Selected prompts for pentathlon

• 400 Word Cross Country: Exactly 400 words about your character, couple, family or friendship with any theme.
• Synchronized Swimming: Write a story between 230-500 words in length inspired by a song of your choice.
• Rhythmic Gymnastics Drabbles: Write 5x100 word drabbles each exactly 100 words for the prompts Ribbon, Rope, Hoop, Ball, and Rhythm.
• Equestrian Cross-Country: Jump the following hurdles by writing a story of 400 or more words. You must include the story element of a chasm to cross; the words Reined, Fence, Hunter; and include or take inspiration from the line of dialogue, “Only the strongest shoulders can carry the hopes of a nation.”- Katie Taylor, Irish boxer and 2012 gold medalist
• Rugby 7's: Write a story of 7x7 sentences using the following optional image prompts

Table of contents
The End of Time before Time: The Tale of the Great Mother of All – 2023 Fanfic Olympics challenge, 110 Word Hurdle + Single Sentence Shot Put + 100 Word Sprint
Spawn of Malice: The Tale of the Dark Scourge – 2023 Fanfic Olympics challenge, Prime Time Coverage
Forest Song: The Tale of the Great Canopy – 2023 Fanfic Olympics challenge, Judo
Slivers of Life: The Tale of the First People – 2023 Fanfic Olympics challenge, Fantastical Fencing
Fruit of the People: The Tale of the Cycle of Life – 2023 Fanfic Olympics challenge, 4x100 Relay
The Above and the Below: Tales of the Great War – 2023 Fanfic Olympics challenge, 3x3 Basketball
The Trial of Temptation: The Tale of the Long Night – 2023 Fanfic Olympics challenge, High Dive
Blood and Ashes: The Tale of the Dark World – 2023 Fanfic Olympics challenge, AU Archery
Those Who Would Touch the Heavens: The Tale of the Tribe of Rwookrorro – 2023 Fanfic Olympics challenge, 400 Word Cross-Country
Those Who Would Guard the Grounds: The Tale of the Tribe of Ittummi – 2023 Fanfic Olympics challenge, Synchronised Swimming
Those Who Would Heal the Marshes: The Tale of the Tribe of Érriyyu – 2023 Fanfic Olympics challenge, Rhythmic Gymnastics Drabbles
Those Who Would Tame the Sea: The Tale of the Tribes of Wawaatt – 2023 Fanfic Olympics, Equestrian Cross-Country
Those Who Would Climb the Mountain: The Tale of the Tribes of Korrokrrayyo – 2023 Fanfic Olympics, Rugby 7's

 

Challenge: 2023 Fanfic Olympics
Event: Wookiee cosmogony decathlon
Prompts: 110 Word Hurdle + Single Sentence Shot Put + 100 Word Sprint
Word count: 110 + 52 + 100 = 262

The End of Time before Time: The Tale of the Great Mother of All

It is said that in the eternal days of time before time, all life was gathered in a single being, a mass that had no name in a world that had no shape. It held the promise of love and the temptation of malice, at once alluring and grotesque as it strove to be, to become, to make. The forces of creation and destruction in its bosom wrestled each other in a silent war that ebbed and flowed from order to deformity, from chaos to harmony, from beauty to discord; they tugged and wrenched and yanked the wellspring of life with such ferocity and violence that it tore itself apart.

For aeons thereafter the fragments of the First Being floated aimlessly in the void, unable to find purpose to their continued existence: but then beauty met love and compassion, and goodwill saw kindness and justice, and judgement discovered comprehension and craft – and together they yearned for unity, and they coalesced into one.

And it was thus that she came to be: the Great Mother of All, maker of the air, the land, the water and the skies, shaper of the grasses, the vines, the shrubs and the trees, who brought forth all creatures that live in the light and vowed to defend them from those that abide in darkness, forebearer of the People who dwell in the Canopy of Life and who, as long as there is breath in their lungs and a beating heart in their chest, will forever honour her legacy by nurturing and protecting the fruit of her labour.

 

a beautiful creation story

 

Bookmarking this one, right now....

Poetic, lyrical and (in a metaphoric sense) scientifically accurate creation story. Interesting distinction between those who live in the light, and those who live in darkness, which echoes the dichotomy of the Force and the ideas of good and evil, which seem to exist across many cultures. Looking forward to the rest of this.

 

Superbly lyrical and lovely! You have the tone of creation myths of indigenous sources down to a literal art. There's a sense of panorama and literal cosmic sweep.

 

Don’t take this the wrong way, but I just watched Guardians of the Galaxy 2 and this reminded me very favorably of a god in that describing how he came to know purpose. I love the way this was woven. I’m kind of a sucker for mythology.

 

This had a really good mythic quality to it. Loved it!

 

I'm a huge fan of mythology and this is gem Now I'm getting so inspired to write mythological creation stories for a certain species.....

You really nailed the tone of a creation story (especially with the tone of an Indigenous creation story)--the wording is so perfectly poetic yet also reminds me a lot of the Big Bang of our world in some ways, but in a more Star Warzy way (is that a word? I'm making it a word now). It really reminded me of the light and dark sides of the Force.

And I also love how the "the Great Mother of All" is ambiguous and open to interruption (at least for this entry) and not like, a giant Wookiee or some kind of an animal or humanoid thing or whatever, but just a being of energy that came into existence. I can totally seeing it being an oral story passed along to new Wookiee generations.

I will be here for more!

 

Very nice work! I've been looking forward to reading these, and I really like how you've made the creation story sound and feel like a creation story. There's a quality to stories and myths like this that make me think, "I can completely envision this story being passed down orally through untold generations," and this creation story definitely contains that quality. It's a story for the people who hear it, not something pretentious that exists for its own sake. I also like the spark of hope here that says good will always unite, even if it's been broken apart.

Great job! Looking forward to more!

 

This feels like an origin story, unique in that instead of a Great All breaking up into various incarnations (well, after the initial Great All, anyway), the war broke apart everything, until entities akin to each other found each other. *is incoherent, and knows it*

 

First of all I want to thank you all for taking a chance on this thread. I certainly didn't expect that I'd have so many readers; I thought I'd just write these stories to enjoy myself and I'm very happy that you all seem to enjoy them too

I have a new entry for you today, but first a few replies!

@earlybird-obi-wan Thank you! Buckle up, because there's still a lot to create here

@WarmNyota_SweetAyesha and @gizkaspice Thank you both! I'm replying to you two together since you both mentioned that this reminded you of indigenous creation stories, and I must say to my great shame that I don't know any at all. I'm woefully ignorant about indigenous cultures of the Americas and they're so much not part of my mental landscape that I didn't even think of checking them out when I did some reading in preparation for this series. Which goes to show how universal myths can be, because now that I did some minimal Wikipedia-style reading on the topic I saw how similar indigenous myths can be to some pre-Hellenic Cretan myths from which I drew inspiration.

Also:

You should! I must also tell you that I kept that old plot bunny from a comment you left on The Kyberkerk of Jedha (which is a fic I'm hoping to return to in the not-too-distant future) and I still intend to write a story in the style of the Book of Genesis to prove that Djali is Millicent's ancestor

Haha! The Great Mother of All will eventually turn out to be a giant Wookiee of sorts, because this is a Wookiee myth but my idea was that she discovers her shape as she goes along. More on that in the next entry!

And to bring @Seldes_Katne into the conversation, thanks for reading! And since both you and gizkaspice mentioned the Big Bang, yes indeed, there was an element of that in the way I wanted this to begin, but I also worked with the idea that the Force was a single entity in the beginning, and that the mortal world came to exist when it was split between the light and the dark, or the ying and the yang like devilinthedetails said.

@devilinthedetails and Thumper09 Thank you both for reading! I'm doing again a group reply to thank you (again) for describing my little tale as something that's part of oral history, being passed from generation to generation. That's really the highest compliment for me. This is totally what I was going for and it's why I decided that all the stories in this series would begin with "it is said that..." I was imagining a group of Wookiee cubs sitting around an elder telling them the story, or parents putting their young to bed, and I'm so happy it came through!

@DarthIshtar Thank you! And I'm not taking it the wrong way at all This was indeed the story of a goddess as she came to know purpose, or at least the beginning of it.

@whiskers Thanks! I hope you'll like the rest too.

@pronker Thank you! Your comment wasn't incoherent at all; on the contrary, it was spot-on. I wanted to put a GFFA twist on all this, and since the same emotion can be of the light or of the dark side of the Force, depending on the way it's experienced (e.g. selfless love vs. possessive love), I thought that everything should be split to bits, and then the bits would reform the entity to which they belong.

Thank you all again, I'm grateful for all the reviews, and thanks to everyone who stopped by to read!

 

Challenge: 2023 Fanfic Olympics
Event: Wookiee cosmogony decathlon
Prompt: Prime Time Coverage
Word count: 537

Spawn of Malice: The Tale of the Dark Scourge

It is said that at the end of time before time, when all that was good and bright in the void begat the Great Mother of All, another creature was birthed of the rending of the First Being: and it was bred from the hatred, the rancour and the venom that the Mother had forsaken. And the Mother rose tall and glorious and beautiful, and the gold of her fur and the shine of her eyes brought light to the coming World; but the other creature slithered and crawled, and its body was black as a moonless night, and its gaping maw threatened to swallow the dawn. It could not speak for itself, for it had no thought but malice, and the Mother named it the Dark Scourge.

The Scourge loathed the Mother, for she was everything that it was not, but it also feared her, and it dreaded the might of her heart. It could not bring itself to approach her, yet it yearned to storm forth; so it tore off its fangs and talons and hurled them at her in a hail of barbed swords.

The Mother conjured a great blue shield to weather the onslaught. The blades shattered and crumbled as they fell to her feet, and she stomped them and ground them to dust.

The Dark Scourge would not be defeated. It opened its fearsome jaw and poured out its poison, and mephitic fumes rose from the tide of ooze. The Mother exhaled a breeze to cleanse the mire into water, and she captured the pestilential vapours and fashioned them into orbs.

The Scourge surged in fury. It summoned a great line of fire and flung it at the Mother, coiling it around her body like a rope. She howled and thrashed in agony at the pyre, but the cord was no match for her powerful claws. She brought her paws together with a thundering rumble, and the flames splintered into sparkles and came to frame her head like a crown.

At this the Dark Scourge was enraged, and it reared on its tail and it clattered its claws. The sound of its voice was sharp as the point of a dagger, and the snaps of its pincers flew like a volley of thorns. But the Mother seized the furious clamour and transformed it, and it became rustle and whistling and song.

The Scourge should have known that it was vanquished, yet it pounced to bite with its mouth and to tear with its claws. But the Mother wrestled it bodily into submission, and she rose again and cast it into the depths of the void.

And it was thus that, on the day before the first morning, the Great Mother of All defeated the spawn of malice, and she pledged in that moment that she would always hold it at bay. And she longed to pursue her task of creation, but she was wounded and weary, for the battle had taken its toll. The first night came when she lay amidst the ruins, and she closed her eyes and wrapped herself in her cloak; but the Mother did not fear the darkness: for she knew that after the night came the dawn.

 

Ah yes, nothing beats a good mythological story like that special addition of two godly-like creatures fighting to the death . I particularly enjoyed how the Great Mother is not reacting aggressively in return but defensively and is redirecting the attacks until the end when it's pretty clear she's gone full on, "Alright buddy, that's enough" mode with the Scourge (who really should have gotten the point to just give up already )

And of course thank you for reviving my imagination into what these two might possibility look like because these descriptions are just wonderful.

 

Exquisite! The details of the battling is vivid and I love how each devastating onslaught is turned into something beautiful and how the Spawn of Malice is thrust into the void.

 

A beautiful description of the mother and the malice

 

These creation myths feel so real!

 

Thank you all for reading and reviewing! I'm updating this thread today because I want to update my other thread tomorrow but before I get to the next post, a few replies!

@gizkaspice Thank you!

Yeah, I guess that this is the ultimate topos of mythological creation stories, but it was also very enjoyable to write.

Haha! Joke aside, though, this being the GFFA and all, I did want the Wookiee "religion" to align with Jedi beliefs, that you should use power for defence, not for attack, and that you should avoid killing. Which was the case here, and will happen again, since we all know that the Dark Scourge isn't gone ("somehow, the Dark Scourge returned...")

Thank you so much!

@WarmNyota_SweetAyesha Thank you!

Well, you know me and Wookiees! Their mother-goddess would have to be a kind figure, so she would definitely seek to transform anything evil into something good and bright instead of trying to destroy it altogether.

@earlybird-obi-wan Thank you for your kind words!

@whiskers Thank you! I'm so happy these feel "real" to you, I put a lot of effort in making them plausible mythological texts

 

Challenge: 2023 Fanfic Olympics
Event: Wookiee cosmogony decathlon
Prompt: Judo
Word count: 661

Forest Song: The Tale of the Great Canopy

It is said that when the Great Mother of All was healed of the wounds of malice, she opened her eyes and the first morning dawned. Her light fell on the debris of the battle, and the sight filled her heart with purpose and hope. She gathered the dust and the water and the sparkles and the orbs, and she ordained that they would be the matter of the World.

She first fashioned the dust into dirt and stone, and from it she created the land. And in places she made it taller and built the great mountains, and elsewhere she spread it low and shaped it into valleys. She poured the water over the highest peaks, and it found its way down; and it etched the lakes and the rivers, and it flowed to the void and formed a vast expanse. Then she hung her great blue shield above the World to protect it and set within it the orbs to keep watch, and she draped it in a mantle of sparkles to shine upon the land when her eyes were closed.

The Mother stood back to marvel at her creation and she decided that it should be named. And the land became the Grounds, for it would be the foundation of the life she would bring forth; and the shield became the Heavens and the orbs the Sentinels that guarded the World at night; and the sparkles became the Beacons, and she tasked them with leading travellers in the dark. And as she still sought a name for the ocean, she saw that it had taken the hue of the shield that hung above: and she named it the Silent Mirror.

All that remained of the battle was the melody she had composed, but there were no instruments to play it: and the Mother conjured the First Tree and planted it; and she made it strong and unyielding, for she wished it a fortress for the life she would conceive. She gave it foliage and summoned a flock of avians, and she released a breeze of rustle and whistling and song.

But the song became a clamour and the breeze a tempest, and soon a black gale was tearing through the World: and the Mother saw that the Dark Scourge had returned, and its foul breath had grown into a storm. She fought the spawn of malice and vanquished it, and she wrestled it down and bound it with vines, but the damage it had wrought could not be undone: the First Tree had fallen and shattered into a thousand splinters, and amidst the devastation, all the Mother could find was a single cone.

The Great Mother of All would not forsake creation: she planted the cone’s seed and she began anew. She named her second seedling the Tree of Life, and she let it grow tall and supple, and from its roots more trees sprouted far into the land. The Grounds were covered by a forest that bowed and waved and rippled in the winds; and the Mother knew that it could not be fractured, and in its foliage her song played again.

The Mother then looked upon her captive, and she knew that the Dark Scourge would always seek to corrupt the World. But she could not bring herself to destroy it, for it was, like her, begotten of the First Being: and she showed it mercy, and she banished it to the Shadowlands of the forest where the light of her eyes did not reach.

And it was thus that the Great Canopy was birthed, sown from a single seed that grew to cover the land. Its crown reached into the Heavens and its roots made safe the Grounds. And the Great Mother of All lay on the horizon, and she closed her eyes and wrapped herself in her cloak: and the second night descended, but the World was created and it was alive with song.

 

Beautiful details. Intriguing how the first tree planted was uprooted in a gale but the second spread and became a forest. I love the lyrical names you have given, like Beacons, Silent Mirror.

 

A great tale of creation with the poetic names and verse and details

 

I can just imagine this visual

What a great designer, the Great Mother of All is! And doing all this without the help of lesser beings or whatever else most stories in mythology include sometimes (unless maybe that's something you plan to include down the road). And she is persistent, too, to go ahead with her plans with creation.

And how fitting that the Dark Scourge gets exiled to the Shadowlands, you know...that one place Wookiees try not to go to

 

As I'm reading these events, I'm thinking that not only could all of these entries be seen as Water Polo Poetry, but as psalms. And then this happens:

Psalms!

I'm curious -- are these stories the author's interpretation of the myths, or is this the way the Wookiees tell them? Are they spoken aloud? Or sung? Is there a protocol for telling the stories? Is there a sacred text of these stories? Could a friendly non-Wookiee find a copy anywhere? (In case anyone is wondering where Vestri Dain gets her questions from....)

The Judo entry reminds me of a Native American creation narrative in which the Creator God walks through his new world, trips and falls into a river, and is startled by the appearance of an antelope because he didn't know those things existed. It was a huge departure from the Judeo-Christian-Islamic creature story, where God knows all and sees all -- the Native American Creator experiences all the surprise and wonder (and occasional discomfort) that humans do.

I'm enjoying this decathlon immensely, and look forward to the next event.

Importing this from the main Fanfic Olympics thread:

Will we be able to walk through this forest once the event is over, if we promise to behave and not touch anything? Please?

Do it! Do it! Do it! Do it!

 

More to savor ...

Wonderful dynamism of the creation, and I like the sound effects!

Exquisite imagery ...

... and yet more sound. There are three palm trees about 40 feet tall near my home, and on breezy evenings I stroll by and just listen to the rustles.

 

OOF so much great stuff here.

Part 1. The End of Time before Time: The Tale of the Great Mother of All
This is so interesting and lyrical. I love the idea that growth and creation is only possible when destruction occurs. Without the "silent war" that ultimately tore the First Being into parts, there could have been no reconciliation of compassion and love. Growth happens in the torn spaces.

Part 2. Spawn of Malice: The Tale of the Dark Scourge
Wow. So much amazing imagery here!

I love the idea that the evil and rancor that was defeated in the creation of the First Mother could not simply dissipate; that it became a being in itself. There is this balance in the cosmos, that there will always be struggle to overcome the evil and support the goodness. This is such a Star Wars idea - the dark and the light fighting to gain dominance.

Loved this line. The darkness hates the light because it can't be the light.

Part 3. Forest Song: The Tale of the Great Canopy
This edenic scene blends the very familiar ("on the first day, God created...") with the exquisitely unique. The world is created out o of the detritus of the battle between good and evil, and nothing is wasted. The weapons of battle morph into the foundations of the world. And even when all her work is destroyed, the Great Mother doesn't give up hope but starts again, with the one seed that will create all life.

Now there is music among the canopy. The very song of life itself.

Wonderful, wonderful mythos here.