The Astral Void

Universes drift through the astral void, a place of paradoxes. Heat and cold, annihilation and destruction exist in the same space, overlapping. The astral void has no laws, existing as a sea of infinite energy. Mana in the astral state is chaotic, spontaneously coming to be. Sometimes lightning strikes where the needed pieces are, and mana forms to be conscious.

These conscious bits and pieces stick together, coalescing into their own proto-beings. These are astral spirits, they float through the dangerous void between universes. Sometimes they stick together like proto-mitochondria entering a unicellular bacteria, forming more complex beings in turn. Further down the chain of metaphysical evolution, these spirits become universes.

Universes are good at achieving stability over mana. Mana needs a source of consciousness to preside over it lest it turn back into its primordial state of chaos and paradox. Universes are organisms that are amalgamations of primordial spirits that create laws and standard forms for mana. These forms then in turn create life, ushering new consciousness and stability into their universe.

If the spirits try to expedite the process for creating life, they may end up using too much energy, and thus, the added stability is, essentially, negated. Primordial spirits mostly just create the necessary conditions for life to come into fruition, but not life itself. To actually create life, they would need to sacrifice something of themselves.

And so, from the endless sea of chaos rises order.