American Mythology Setting (Help is welcome!)

[TheMeMan]

Short, simple. I like it. I was trying (and failing) to work with Columbia for a name, as that is another poetic name for America.



Not too fluent in the Lone Man story (except through a cursory wiki dive), but I think I can help. If you want a Devil-figure (the Disney Method of working with mythology), then the Lone Man could be the shadow cast by the First Creator. He is, in essence, the First Destroyer and he brought death into the world. Of course, in the myth itself when the Creator asks his shadow why it created death, the Lone Man would say, "You were careless, and brought too much life to the world. Life multiplies too fast, and if I did not create an end to it, Life would become miserable when it used up all the land."

Or the Lone Man could be the brother of the First Creator, but I'd still have him create stuff like death in the above example. I think the original myth (read here) had something to do with death coming into the world via a frog, but I just gave that job to Lone Man. I kinda like the idea of making some of the Natives a little Zarathustran in that they see a Good and Evil force at work in the world, but that neither is perfect. The First Creator created many good things, but also the bad, and he may be a bit careless in his wanton creation. The Lone Man is implacable as death itself, but he tempers his Brother's frivolities with cold, hard rationalism.

Actually, Lone Man was pretty much entirely a culture-Hero figure who was friend to man. First Creator, once again depending on the story, was more of an antagonist than a benevolent being. Essentially Lone Man was associated with the Village, Man, and domestication. Whereas First Creator was associated more heavily with the "Wilds", and natural forces and the like.

Edit: On that note, I had a thought for creation. Basically, First Creator is a divine creator of all things(Even Lone Man), though is indifferent towards concepts of "Good" and "Evil". He created life to populate his world(Or continent), and Death as effective other side of the coin. However, he did not create Man proper-rather he opened a rift into the underground where they had been created. Lone Man was one of these original men to have come from the underground(All the others are long since dead). Lone Man taught the people how to exist within the Above World, and created rules that governed their lives within the villages. First Creator knew that left unchecked, these beings would soon overpopulate his world and created Death. However, Death is not an end in itself, as the "spirits" of the dead essentially become incorporated into the land, allowing the "Natural" world to flourish.

Lone Man, however, somehow alluded death, and his risen to Godhood, and is worshiped by any tribes that live within villages of all sorts. Those that do not worship Lone Man are the "Wild men" or some such, who revere First Creator first and foremost and despise Lone Man as someone who refuses to acknowledge the natural order. First Creator does not see it this way, as he see the Village life as merely another form of his creation(Remember: Neither good nor evil, his wisdom allows him to see all things within his realm as being a part of a greater whole).

With that brief summary, some ideas on Lone Man and other things involving your backstories:

1. He and the other original surface dwellers are behind the ancient technology in the south. He effectively used said technology to become immortal and gain incredible power. He is now essentially a god because of this, at least when viewed by mortal men.

2. The technology, in essence, is powered by the spirits of the dead. Likely only willing spirits would become part of this technology. In a similar vein as to how spirits of the Dead become incorporated into the land.

3. The "Wild Men" could be antagonists or even an allied group. They would oppose both the Empire and most of the Native Tribes as being an affront toward First Creator. They would be heavily interested in destroying the ancient native technology for good, and bringing an end to Lone Man.