Quote Originally Posted by VoxRationis View Post
(I haven't gotten to the Beast of Winter stuff yet.)
There was entropy before Rymrgand existed, though. The basic idea of how energy works and is made unavailable applies without direct intervention by a body. To think he's required for it to work suggests that the Engwithans managed to alter the very laws of physics in that world, which is a whole other level of fundamental power than that suggested by the rest of the stuff that they did.
The degree to which soul entropy specifically existed before the gods isn't really stated, but the creation of the gods dramatically normalized everything and made it far more consistent. Before the gods, hollowborn and soul maladies were extremely common because the system was wild and unmanaged. Berath and Rymrgand, in particular, are responsible for the management of that system, to make sure nothing goes horribly wrong for no good reason.