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Post by whyemmdee on Aug 19, 2016 23:43:21 GMT -5
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Post by whyemmdee on Aug 29, 2016 13:26:10 GMT -5
RELIGION: TRIUMVISMTriumvism is the dominant religion in Calidor. It is based in the belief in an all-powerful God whose true Name has been forgotten by Her followers, and as such God made ascend a triumvirate of Her most devout and saintly figures, St. Leah, St. Eospeth, and St. Mat, to watch over all of Creation in Her stead until came the day Her Name was remembered. The Triad is the overarching religious organization whose main goal is the spreading of Triumvism and the search for God's true Name, also referred to as the Search Divine. With God having averted Her gaze from her Creation, the Heavenly Triumvirate was given dominion over the peoples of the earth and tasked with their safekeeping. St. Leah, Our Lady Benevolence, was tasked with the care taking of women of all races, and is known for her qualities of purity, peacefulness and mercy. St. Eospeth, Our Lord Benediction, was tasked with the guiding of men and boys, and as such teaches them concepts such as honor, duty and courage in the face of adversity. St. Mat, wisest and most righteous of the three, was given the most arduous mission of all: he was given the Scales of Judgment, and was tasked to sit and dispense judgment on all those who die and seek to enter Heaven and join its Host, an immortal gathering of all those found worthy to witness God's glorious Return, should Her Name ever be rediscovered by the mortals below. St. Mat, Our Lord Righteous St. Leah, Our Lady Benevolence St. Eospeth, Our Lord Benediction The Saintly Scrolls are a canonical collection of holy works detailing the lives and accomplishments of the Triad, along with rules of moral conduct for all of the Kin as set down by God long ago. The Saintly Scrolls are most often printed in a singular book with the same name, divided into six segmented parts, the first three of which are canticles and describe the lives, miracles performed by and subsequent ascensions of the three Saints, Leah, Eospeth and Mat, in that order. The fourth part has been decreed to have never existed by the Triad (details below). The last three parts set out to describe the three stages of God's plan for all of Kin, with the fifth part being called Remembrances and pertaining primarily to the Reavening, the cataclysmic event that happened thousands of years ago where God tore the world asunder in punishment for forgetting Her name, after which she turned Her gaze away from Creation. The sixth part is called Teachings, and holds the moral instructions for all mortals and the describing of the Search Divine and the Heavenly Host. The seventh and final part is called Prophesias and describes the prophetical events that are to take place should the Search Divine ever prove to be successful, with God returning to Her children as a loving mother, ushering in an everlasting age of peace and prosperity for all faithful mortals alike. The Saintly Scrolls originally held seven parts, but the seventh (originally the fourth, as it was the last of the canticles) was stricken from all records, and pertained to a fourth Saint called Lazaar. Lazaar was said to have betrayed the trust of God and the faith of goodkind, and as punishment the other three Saints cast Lazaar out of Heaven and fashioned for him a prison named Hell in the bowels of the earth. He resides there still, forbidden to leave until God returns to judge him Herself, but not altogether powerless, as Triumvism dictates that most if not all of Sin committed by goodkind is rooted in Lazaar's influence reaching out beyond his prison walls. It is considered heretical by the Church of the Triad to speak of the existence of the Fourth Canticle (also referred to as the Devil's Canticle), although Lazaar's existence has never been in dispute. The Saintly Scrolls are made up so: I. Leah II. Eospeth III. Mat IV. LazaarV. Remembrances VI. Teachings VII. Prophesias
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Post by whyemmdee on Aug 29, 2016 13:27:45 GMT -5
RELIGION: HERISMThe Heran Sect is the second largest of the three state religions of Calidor. It is devoted to the worship of a once mortal woman named Hera who ascended to divinity and saved the Kin from certain extinction during the earliest days of the Times of Terror. Those who believe in the Sect's teachings hold that Hera was once a mortal mother of three (although her Kinship of being man, elf or dwarf is still debated to this day) whose love for her fellow Kin was so great and so pure, that the gods of old, they themselves tired and angry at the Kin who took them for granted, entrusted her with a spark of the divine before they turned away from the world forever. When the world was left to die, it was Hera who rose to the Three Heavens and oversaw the exodus of those fledgling survivors who survived the fires and storms that had ravaged all the lands. It was Hera who gave life, purpose, hope and guidance to the remaining Kin so that they could rebuild a new, better world, one that would deserve a God to watch over them in spite of their mortal flaws. The Heran Sect is led by three individuals - always two men, one woman - called the Prognati, who take up the traditional roles of the three children Hera left behind on the world after Her divine ascension. Each of the three makes their home in one corner of the earth (save the north which is said to be an inhospitable continent of ice and snow that can sustain no life). The Prognati are purported to have direct communion with Hera by way of prophetic visions, called Oracula, and these Oracula are compiled into three holy books, collectively called the Codex Eloquia. Over time each Prognatus has evolved a differing, though non-conflicting, form of the religion. Ultimately, each of these sects surprisingly exists in harmony, with many scholars postulating that the relative opposition of the Cathedral and the Priory has united the Herists together, as they are stronger together than apart. The Prognati have foreseen this. This reliance on visions of the future has seeped itself into the greater conscience of the world to such a degree that the word, "Herald," in the common tongue derives its roots from Hera, quite fittingly - a Herald generally brings news of what has been decreed, just as the Prognati bring the news of what Hera has decreed. "The Three Prognati", (al-Yezzar, 1692)
Despite the differences between the three Prognati's brands of worship, the basic precepts of the Heran faith, called the Tres Dictata, are always universal and broach no deviation. The Tres Dictata (1) includes the realization and total acceptance of Hera as the sole savior and divine Matron of all the Kin, (2) the belief that all of the Kin must be brought into the believer's fold wherever they might live on the world, and (3) the realization that Hera is the first, last and only hope for spiritual guidance in a world that was decreed by the old gods to no longer meant to be. All Herists believe in the power of the Oracula, and the conviction that Hera, Mother of All, has a plan for all living things and her three children reveal but glimpses of this destiny via the Prognati of every generation. In each region, structures and institutions have been erected around each Prognatus, however each of the three variations of the faith exist in harmony with, until now, a mutual understanding that each of the three variations of the faith is vital to Herism overall. Prognati begin to have their visions at a young age, and the view of each Prognatus within the faith varies based on region, however all Herists agree that the Prognati have a direct link to Hera herself. While destiny and fate are central to the religion, Herists do not believe they are bound by fate and have no control over what the future holds. Hera, in her infinite wisdom, plans for all possibilities, allowing her children to reveal the variations of her plan so that her penitents can educate themselves, armed with the knowledge of what is to come. They can use this knowledge to either help bring it to fruition or attempt to stave off the tide of destiny. Either way, only Hera will know the truth of the plan and whether her followers are faithful, and just as much time is often spent on arguing the course of action in response to an Oracula as is spent on actually deciphering it. Those faithful to Hera will rise to her side in the Three Heavens after death, each of the Three Heavens being freely traversible by the spirits of the departed. Those without conviction or those failing to see the Light of Hera will be banished to Gehenna, a place between worlds, where the Old Gods will slowly torture and devour their essence. One day, these Old Gods will regain enough of their power and, well sated on the souls of unbelievers, they will return to the world to exact their furious vengeance on a world that was meant to die and has since refused to. On that day, Hera's Light will shine down, shielding and protecting her faithful as the Old Ones ravage the world and finally finish what they started. Once they have expended their energies on this task, Hera and her three children will return to destroy the earth, taking the Old Ones with it and leaving only the Three Heavens as the sole refuge in the universe. For more information on Herism, please refer to its dedicated thread HERE.
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Post by whyemmdee on Aug 31, 2016 9:04:13 GMT -5
RELIGION: PRIORY OF THE PEOPLE
Unlike the other two major religions in Calidor, Triumvism and Herism, the Priory of the People is not founded on the belief of the existence of a God or pantheon, but rather their continued absence. Less of a religion and more a cult, the Priory of the People is an order centered around the spreading of what they call the March of (or to) Progress, which states that the gods have altogether forever abandoned the world, never to return, and that it is up to the Kin themselves to give up their archaic beliefs in bygone divinity, to properly govern themselves without the meddling of any form of ecclesiarchy, and to ascertain measures to continue the existence and technological advancement of all the races. Should these three goals be met all across the globe, the Priory teaches that a golden age, a time of wonder for all the Kin and the creation of a global utopia will inevitably follow, where base sins such as greed, jealousy and hate will systematically fade away as all realize that they are not a Many Peoples, but One People. The Priory found its inception right after the Crossing of Sedis in 1273 and was established by a man named Erthur Sinclaire, now commonly known as the First Proselytizer. The Crossing was an organized persecution of non-believers in the elven city of Sedis, done by Triumvirans at the behest of their local abbas. Records state that close to three-thousand non-believers were crucified and left to die outside the city's walls as a deterrent to those who would not pay homage to Triad, but rather than enforcing meek compliance of the populace, it only served to grow the seeds of rebellion. Thought to have either been a non-believer who survived his crucifixion, or a Triumviran himself who abandoned his faith after seeing his peers commit such cruel acts of barbarism, Sinclaire's rise to popularity was quick and sudden as he began preaching of his March on the outskirts of Sedis and in the surrounding desert villages starting in the year 1279. The poor, downtrodden, disillusioned or otherwise outcasts of society quickly fell under his sway, emboldened and finding purpose in his promise of a better future, they gave up their faiths and added their voices to his. Each day, the masses grew more numerous, and it was on August 3rd, 1282, not ten years after the Crossing, that Sinclaire commanded his People to march on Sedis and purge it from all religious followers. Places of worship were boarded up with their occupants still inside, then put to flame. Holy symbols and statues were vandalized, books of prayer burned in the streets, and believers were dragged into the streets and put to the sword if they did not recant their faith. The religious leaders of Sedis, including the Triumviran Abbas, were crucified upside down until death as they watched their constituency burn alive in their own temples and cathedrals. To this day, Sedis remains free of any outside religious influence as all adherence to a religious faith is outlawed, and it continues to be the Priory's most important city.
 "The Undefiled City of Sedis", (Karl von Dracheling, 1704)
The Custodians of the Masses, like their title implies, are the primary (and only) figures of authority in the Priory’s hierarchy. They are tasked with instructing and presiding over their flock and to guide the Peoples on the March to Progress. They are akin to the priests of other religions, often serving as influential spokespersons, figures of authority and local community leaders, but unlike many of the other organized faiths they do not defer to any singular leader or institution. Rather, before becoming authorized to establish an official Priory and acting and speaking upon behalf of the overarching organization, a custodian must first have graduated from Sinclaire’s Acadademy of Amelioriation in Sedis, which is to date the Priory's most revered (and only) official educational institution. It is at the Academy that custodians are made to undergo a period of education of no less than nine years, during which they are taught in a wide range of fields, ranging from agriculture to warfare and everything in between. Despite their extensive educational and cultural backgrounds however, the custodians are nevertheless usually seen by most outsiders as greedy zealots and narrow minded troublemakers, as about a quarter of sanctioned custodians end up being charged with tax evasion within five years after graduating, and with some of them in past and present having been linked to numerous uprisings, rebellions and coup d’états. Armed with almost a decade's worth of knowledge and armored in a cloak of legitimacy, the majority of custodians travel far from Sedis, educating the masses on the fallibility of other religions and warning them against believing in bygone gods. Many of them strive to follow the example set out by their organization's founding father, Erthur Sinclaire, who taught them that one well-spoken man could change the fate of a city, and are now trying to find out what hundreds of such men could accomplish working together in tandem.
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