Avalon, like most lands, has a variety of creation myths. Most centre around the bringing forth of Avalon as a node of light amidst the dark and timeless void where only an omnipotent force once lay. It is fortunate that in this world there are divinities whose existence stretches back to the beginnings of the world and thus there is no need to guess at the origins of the world:
The divinities are not only immortal but, after a fashion, transcend all notions of time and existence - even though their consciousness while within the Avalon world may be somewhat limited by their supernatural but nonetheless human-in-form avatars. These transcendent beings predate Avalon and did once inhabit, along with myriad brethren, the Void - a freeflowing nothingness of thought and concept and limitless potential. At the centre and circumference of the Void (whose radius is infinite) was the Creator and it was while bearing witness to the fascinating and fantastical flow of thoughts emanating from the immortal spirits that a moment, the first moment, was set: the original founding stone of Time and Space. And in awe of this first moment, the innumerable spirits did pause and fall silent. A second moment passed and the silence was broken...
For under direction of the Creator, the immortal divinities did raise their metaphorical voices in a Song more diverse, more wondrous, more beautiful than could be borne by the Void; and from this Song as the immortals wove a vision approaching the infinite in its complexity was Avalon brought into existence. There could be no other outcome.
The Song was too perfect, too intertwined as the divinities coalesced and diverged time and time again. Thus arc'd the sky, thus rose the mountains, thus swirled the mighty oceans and the tenebrous forests... all of the immortals saw something of their creation in the newly-formed world. Underworld, netherworld, depths and bowels of the earth, the surface itself, the eternal flame, the flora and fauna populating the virgin landscape; and above the skies, the winds, the ethereal and astral plans, the heavens and the dome of stars. All self-contained; a wondrous symbiosis in which all Time and Life is held safely, hung suspended in the Void.
Most of these immortal spirits of divine essence remained in the Void, looking in on the embodiment of their Song of Creation but seldom entering within. Some, however, take on physical form and enter Avalon through the Doors of the Night - and these are the Gods of Avalon. The pantheon, centered about their Olympian home, quickly gravitated towards realms consistent with their part in the Song of Creation. Mortals ordained or appointed into the pantheon likewise find their own role in the Order of Things, waxing and waning across these diverse realms as desire, conflict and consensus allows.
It is their influence over these realms, these eternal concepts and elements brought into being by that original Song at the beginning of time, that defines their powers, their roles, their influence on the land of mortals and the world of their fellow divinities; their impact on the unfolding history - as the procession of Time pours moment after moment into the living, mutlifaceted narrative that is and forever will be Avalon.
