Time alone was insufficient.
Sequence allowed existence,
but did not define behavior.
Thus emerged the Zodiac Ring—
twelve fundamental expressions of persistence.
Not personalities.
Not gods.
But laws wearing symbols.
Each Zodiac represented a primary rule by which Chaos could behave without collapsing:
Conflict
Stability
Duality
Origin
Authority
Refinement
Balance
Consequence
Direction
Ascension
System
Dissolution
They locked into place around the Clock
like a cage of meaning.
Chaos did not resist.
Chaos welcomed them.
Because within constraint,
it could finally last.