Some of the medieval Japanese artists had worked in the court of their overlord until they had achieved recognition and founded a school, and then, at the peak of their fame, would change their entire lives by going off to a new place to start working again under a different name and in another style. Some are known to have lived up to five distinct lives in the course of their earthly existence.
In Icelandic mythology, you have this saga where the Gods get aggressive and the world explodes and everything dies and then the sun comes up and everything starts all over again.
