Ancient Darkness

"...in the Gods of Ys was too much of the ancient darkness from which They had risen." (Roma Mater, p. 405)

That ancient darkness was early human fear and dread of nature. The Ysan Triad is addressed as:

"'Star and Storm and Ocean Deep...'" (p. 125)

Dahilis tells Lir that he understands manhood but then reminds herself:

"But Lir had nothing of humanity about Him." (p. 412)

We must imagine a powerful alien consciousness That controls wind and waves not indirectly through technology but directly as if they were His body and limbs. Never having entertained any trace of human feeling or sympathy, He merely tolerates humanity as long as it does not anger Him. He is destructive storms and deeps become conscious.

I think that:

naturally selected organismic sensitivity to environmental alterations quantitatively increased until it was qualitatively transformed into conscious sensation which was then selected because pleasure and pain have survival value;

cooperative manipulation of the environment generated language and thought.

Thus, the origins of animal and human consciousness. Could some earlier process have generated pre-organic elemental consciousnesses? I doubt it but I am trying to rationalize "Gods" - but such Beings were  imagined precisely because it was not yet realized that a complex phenomenon like consciousness has to have been generated by some originally unconscious process. Consciousness did indeed arise from darkness. The lotus grows from dark places. See here.