In the world of Kenneth Alan Moe’s Heretics in Occupied Eden, even mythical creatures have their own origin myths! We are pleased to present an exclusive excerpt from the upcoming Heretics Appendix that tells one such myth of the creator Kaaadth, who gave sex as a gift to all creatures and meant for it to be celebrated in many forms.
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Who are Merven?
The Merven is a mythical species imagined and extensively developed by Moe. They are tall with triangular faces, large eyes, and small mouths. They practice naturism except in cases where they wish to be culturally sensitive to human modesty.
Merven dwell in hidden enclaves near human populations all over the world but are largely unknown to their human neighbors. Nevertheless, Merven beings serve as gentle protectors of humans who are willing to be guided by intuited messages about a considered course of action. However, the Merven are careful not to interfere too significantly with the course of human events, as they recognize that the effort to control has many unintended consequences.
The Merven species share an evolutionary ancestor with humans. They diverged around the time of Neanderthals but were able to thrive while Neanderthals gradually died out, albeit on a much smaller scale than humans. They are a peaceful race that thrives on joy, laughter, personal responsibility, and the preservation of knowledge. These guiding principles are reflected in the Merven origin myths. Following is one such Merven story about how sex and laughter are meant to connect.
Myth: The Creator’s Connection Between Laughter and Sex
Long after the beginning of time, after the universe had unfolded countless galaxies and nebulae and quite a few planets, Kaaadth brooded because something was missing. To be sure, the fiery stars were beautiful to behold. And the vegetation and swimming and crawling creatures that had developed on many planets were fascinating to watch. And in the interval required for Kaaadth to inhale and exhale a massive breath, sentient beings evolved on some favorably situated planets, and these brought great delight to Kaaadth. Yet something was still absent.
Kaaadth inhaled and exhaled again, and encouraged creatures that walked erect on two legs to appear in multiple locations, and Kaaadth knew the emptiness would be filled in due course. And when, at last, certain species of erect beings achieved sufficient mental capacity for self-reflection and metaphysical pondering, Kaaadth presented them all with the gift that made the universe complete. Now nothing was missing.
The gift was laughter, and once Kaaadth saw these bipedal creatures titter and chuckle and roar as a result of this gift, Kaaadth could not resist providing them with more opportunities for enjoyment.
Kaaadth said to these creatures, “The possibilities of sexual relations are many beyond the basic urge for procreation. Be creative and laugh with the tactile sensations you create.” And the creatures discovered multitudes of erotic pastimes. And they continued to laugh.
Eventually, however, Kaaadth grew restless, because the laughter lacked depth. The repast of humor Kaaadth had created needed the seasoning of irony. Now on some of the planets, among the erect creatures were certain incomplete species divided between male and female, sexually attracted to their opposites. “Let us complicate the urges of these incomplete ones, so that more laughter can grow out of preposterous possibilities,” said Kaaadth.
Therefore Kaaadth tickled their genes, so that most of these creatures would remain attracted to their opposites, but some females would erotically desire other females and some males would so desire other males. And Kaaadth was pleased at the interesting possibilities thus created.
Now there remained yet one more delightful twist for Kaaadth to produce among the male and female erect creatures. Kaaadth placed in the brains of all the males a portion of mind that was female in nature and in all the females a portion of brain that was male.
And Kaaadth was very pleased and roared with laughter at all the comedic possibilities that these complex sexual beings could now create. This, Kaaadth declared, was very good.
Historical Note From Chief Librarian Key
From the beginning of our recorded history, Merven have understood as metaphor the pneumatic activity of Kaaadth described in this myth. Indeed, none of our analogies relating to Kaaadth (whether anthropomorphic or mervenomorphic) have been conceived by us as in any sense literal. Transcendence requires metaphor, allegory, parable, and poetry. Furthermore, Merven believe it is the nature of Kaaadth to value and enjoy sexual variety. This myth is also widely understood as a rebuke to certain human societies that have developed cultures that punish people for their sexual diversity, thus turning a humorous matter tragic.
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