>//At first, there was the Book. Everything confined to its line, those words writ absolute. And the Time Being saw this, and was displeased. And so it chose a Time-Maker to bring forth change in its name -- a fly. The fly set to work, buzzing from place to place. And so came the first change away from the Book – Decay. Plants withered and carcasses rotted, striking through those ordained lines. And soon after came the second change – Rebirth. From the mulch came new shoots, from the corpses the buzzing of flies to join their Time-Maker.//
//-- Excerpt from a retelling of how the world began, recorded by Talli Zola (1985)//
----
The First Time-Maker (occasionally referred to as the 'Time Fly') is arguably the most crucial -- the one which set the world in motion. Some believe that original fly is still going, fuelling the passage of time with each flap of its wings. Even in the broader community, killing flies is considered bad luck. A small sect of followers denounce the other Time-Makers, claiming the Time Fly as the only true one, almost elevating it to the level of the Time Being. To worship the First Time-Maker, followers of the Time Being will set aside some of a meal and leave it out to be consumed by the flies. The frequency of this rite varies with the level of devotion, but most followers complete it at least a couple times a month. Failure to appease the First Time-Maker is the most serious offence a follower can commit -- it is said that the sound of a heartbeat echoes the wings of the Time Fly, and angering it risks death.