Myth-crafting

In an attempt to further develop my ideas for my fantasy story, I need to bounce them off of somebody else. Language is a form of loving others, as Alberto Manguel said. I cannot find the story I’m looking for until I share it with others, so here goes.

WARNING: If you have no interest in or detest anything to do with the genre of epic fantasy then I suggest you read no further. It’s a genre fraught with awful clichés unfortunately. I will do everything in my power to do away with them, or renew them, but right here and now is not the time and place that this will happen.

This is the blueprint for the background story of Gondoth and Lalíth, the two Gods who are the cause of the entire story: for siring the Fays, and for their opposing views on the fate of Mortals.


First off, at the very beginning of Time, there is an order of beings born (their origins I haven’t decided quite yet) who are destined to govern the universe, and make sure its laws are upheld. They are the Gods, naturally. The eldest of them is known in the tongues of Man as Albourak. He is the wisest, and is charged with the task of foreseeing the future and advising his brethren accordingly. He receives his visions by consulting a basin filled with a cosmic water, giving him messages only he can interpret. Albourak is recognized as their leader, although no formal hierarchy is (yet) established. The youngest of them is known as Gondoth, the brightest, the most inquisitive, the most cunning and the most ambitious of them all.
Eventually Albourak prophesies that these Gods will be superseded by a younger generation of Gods (These Younger Gods are to the Older ones what the Olympians are to the Titans, and the Aesir to the Giants in Norse myth). The Older Gods must eventually either renounce their power and become servants of the new Gods, or recede back to the cosmic primordial Waters from whence they came. Gondoth objects to this, however. He does not understand why he must bow down to a new generation, especially when the World and their place in it is still so new. And to his credit, Albourak can never quite explain why this is the way things must be, only that they are. The Gods are controlled by a fate, which even they cannot influence. It is one which seems arbitrary when viewed from up close.
When the Younger Gods arrive, the Older ones are permitted for a time to dwell with them. Gondoth rallies many of the Older Gods against this decree, and those allied with Albourak are few. Gondoth meets Lalíth, the youngest and most beautiful of the Young Gods. He woos her and they marry, and in that matrimony is Gondoth preserved, his Godhood intact. The others are not so lucky. The ones whom Gondoth convinced to oppose the decree are stripped of their beautiful bodies and their spirits are mangled and transformed into foul, chthonic monsters. Gondoth detests them, but he vows to protect them and one day return them to their original forms. Of the ones who did not rebel, but accepted their fate, Albourak was preserved, because the Young Gods begged for him to stay and guide them. He consults the water, and it tells him that he must stay. But he renounces his lordship, and may only act as an advisor, having no executive power. He becomes known as the Grandfather God. Because He was preserved, Gondoth comes to resent Albourak, but only harbours these feelings in secret.
Meanwhile, Albourak prophesies the coming of the Mortals. When they are born (I haven’t decided how this happens, whether they are in any way created by the Gods, or separately), of all the races, Gondoth is most intrigued by Man. They are most like him. There is a debate over whether the Gods should dwell among them, or remain hidden from the Mortals. Albourak receives no prophesy about it, so they must decide for themselves. Albourak has misgivings and advises against it, but Gondoth wants to go forward. The Gods would not agree to this, except Lalíth backs Gondoth. She is regarded among her peers for her compassion and wisdom, and because of this, they believe that the Mortals are in good company. That, and there is no explicit rule that they cannot mingle with these new beings. So Gondoth, Lalíth and the Young Gods walk among them, living side by side with them and teaching them. In this time, Lalíth and Gondoth sire a new race called the Fays.

So that’s the beginning of their history, these two. Obviously it’s just a sketch, an extremely brief narrative summary. I’m not completely satisfied with it right now—I haven’t developed Lalíth’s character in any detail for one, but that will come. For now I need to show it to some new eyeballs.

What I need in regards to input are these questions answered:
Is this premise clear? Otherwise, what needs clarification?
What do you think of the names?
Are there any visible loopholes or flimsy bits?

If you, reader, do care to offer your commentary, I appreciate your complete honesty. If there isn't enough material yet to merit any effective critiquing, I understand that as well. If it’s rubbish, please tell me, because at this point it’s hard for me to tell what’s working and what isn’t.