The Gods of Pegana
A book of short stories by Lord Dunsany, published in 1905 and therefore in the public domain. Despite its relative obscurity nowadays, it had a great influence on many important fantasy authors, such as JRR Tolkien, Ursula K. Le Guin, and H.P. Lovecraft.
The book is basically an exercise in World Building by Dunsany - there's little plot to speak of, but many short vignettes. It chronicles a few isolated parts of the history of an invented universe, starting with its creation at the probably metaphorical hands of Māna-Yood-Sushāī and ending with the apocalypse.
Tropes used in The Gods of Pegana include:
- Creation Myth
- Divine Delegation: Most of the interesting (or at least human-relevant) parts of creation are made by the gods that Māna-Yood-Sushāī creates before falling asleep.
- The End of the World as We Know It: The End, when even the gods shall die.
- Great Big Book of Everything: Trogool, the thing that is neither god nor beast, has one.
- Immortality: Yun-Ilara.
- Mythopoeia
- Top God: Māna-Yood-Sushāī, who falls asleep early on, after creating the gods. Gods and mortals alike take great care not to wake him up, because when he does, the world and the gods will cease to exist (but, curiously, Skarl the Drummer will survive).
- Who Wants to Live Forever?: Yun-Ilara spent his youth cursing Mung, the god of death. In retaliation, Mung never takes him, even after everything he knows is dead and he himself is a pile of dust.
- World Building