The Tale of Archeleon and their Willow

A planet the size of Jupiter, once flourishing with life and prosperity fell into war and ruin after a battle between cosmic beings destroyed the balance keeping everything together. A blast destroyed the galaxy and nearly eliminated all possible life. 

But the Creator, otherwise known the universe given a humanoid presence to travel through space to express and, of course, create, was able to save it all. Saddened by what became of their favorite galaxy, the Creator cried out the Ocean of Forever Reaching Waves. It literally stretched from one end of the ever expanding universe to the other with an endless bottom. The Creator punished those who destroyed their work, relishing in their infinite pain and suffering, but feeling empty none the less. 

After what felt like a thousand years of torturing those who ruined what the universe made, old friends came to give their condolences. Meeting the old friends who wanted to cheer them up, the Creator was struck with inspiration. They wanted to remake their galaxy, but better, bigger, and far more amusing. After telling the friends, Archeleon asked to take on the burden of looking after the new galaxy. The Creator was pleased with the request and offered the Ocean of Forever Reaching Waves to be Archeleon’s home. The energy which composed the ocean had infinite power, and would keep Archeleon alive and well for many, many eons. 

As Archeleon took to the cosmic sea, the Creator used their power to make a willow tree sprout from the creature’s shell. There is no real time in space, which I know is confusing since I technically used time terms, so I can’t say how long this really took. When the Creator was done, a willow tree of galactic proportions grew from Archeleon’s back. 

Archeleon’s shell grew as wide as your Milky Way Galaxy, the tree stood taller than anyone could measure. The colorful leaves were filled with stars suns and moons blooming to grace the worlds with life. The worlds grew from the trees on vines with atmospheres made of cosmic energy coming from the tree itself. 

The Creator filled the tree back up with humanoid life once more, then “disappeared”, excited to see what stories come from their newest creation. Their friend, the cosmic space entity of protection Archeleon, happy to protect their new Willow Tree forever. 

 The Creator decided to grant a third “gender” for the humanoids of the universe who don’t feel comfortable in either male or female forms. 

I won’t get into specifics with how it works biologically, this third gender became known as “androgynous” or “non-binary” for simplicity, but nobody was forced to use the terms or label themselves at all. They peed and could have sex, but they couldn’t reproduce normally like the other genders. The physical features were either a mix of masculine and feminine qualities or neither, and they had breasts, though usually small.