The Myth of Cloudashe

In my very first action project this year, the first unit, "Creations," talked about how things came to be through stories. We discussed how etiologies are stories that explain the world. The name of the class is also called, "Stories," and it's ironic since, that's all we talk about. My story was well thought-out and really fun to write. Creating the visual was not easy. I had problems representing the story as a visual and coming up with the story itself. This unit was full of interesting and surprising myths and stories that I enjoyed reading.

DNR. Cloudashe. (2014)

Once upon a time, there was a goddess named, Cloudia. She was the nicest of all the gods. The gods feared Cloudia as a vulnerability to the gods, like a weakness. Cloudia didn't have parents. She was born from the sky. No god, not even the prophecy, had an explanation on why she fell from the sky. It was believed that mother nature sneezed or dropped one tear and Cloudia was created. Others just said that she was a blessing from the heavens. Either way, Cloudia was worshiped throughout all of Greece for her kindnes.

One day, a man named Aeos, was so hot that he couldn't bear working outside. He had to work really hard for his family, as he was a peasant. He was one of Cloudia's favorite. The day was extremely hot. Hot like summertime in Grandma's oven. Over 102 degrees°, clouds weren't discovered, no wind, Aeos sat down one day during work and got severely punished. He was whipped until he couldn't yell anymore. His family was forced to watch. After his punishment, he contemplated giving his life to Cloudia, he told him, "young child, your offering is a pleasure, but I will not accept your body because you have not yet finished your path and I do not want to interfere with the prophecy."

Cloudia was in fact, so pleased with Aeos' request that she pondered ways to repay him. After awhile of thinking, Cloudia granted Aeos one lightly covered cloud. At first, she had no idea what to name this creation. This blessing from Cloudia was more than convenient, it was something that Aeos had to share with a lot of his friends. A couple of days passed and Aeos went around bragging about how his family was nice and cozy under his very own cloud. Everyone questioned what a cloud was and how they could get one. Once Aeos told them the story of how Cloudia gave him the cloud because of his worship to her, they were enraged. They thought the god was being very selfish because they also had to suffer the harsh heat. The people of Greece complained for days. Cloudia had to take action. Those were her people and she was their Goddess.

Not too long after Aeos revealed his secret cloud to his people, Cloudia gathered enough energy to create a full sky of clouds. Everyone, all over Greece were ecstatic about the warm weather. So happy in fact, it attracted the attention of Hera, the meanest of all the gods. She feeds off fear and sadness, it makes her happy, she is the devil.

When Hera heard of this catastrophe, she immediately looked to punish Cloudia for her kindness. It took Hera quite a while to come up with the appropriate punishment for Cloudia. She thought and thought, and she came up with something brilliant, evil but brilliant. "Since you like clouds so much, you will now become one and be banished off my planet to your very own," Hera said while laughing obnoxiously.

And so it was done. Cloudia was summoned to a new planet as her own creation.

This other planet was not the same. It had clouds, a lot of them. It was almost as if all the planet was just full of clouds. It was. Clouds surrounded the whole planet like it replaced the sky itself. The whole planet had not but one animal. There was a large abundance of sheep. Beside the animal, Cloudia did not come alone. Hera was not yet finished. She saw out all the people in Greece that worshiped Cloudia. She sent them all to this planet, including Aeos.

Life on this planet was not easy, but was functional. They created their homes and tools from the rock, founded all around the planet. The weather was always chilly, but Cloudia still watched over them as a cloud. She tried her best to create moderate weather for her people, but the planet would not give in.

This planet was their new home. They had to adapt. Cloudia kept peace and harmony within the planet. She continued to be nice, since she was aloud to speak to everyone, just in cloud form. They lived awkwardly, happily ever after.