Revision as of 03:34, 27 August 2009

Religion, as it is in Trinity.

History of Religion

In the beginning of the world, there were no individual deities, nor servants of them; there was only the Divine itself, to which the universe - that is, Nature itself - sealed off into what is known as the Metaphysic.

Over time, the Divine gradually worked itself into the fabric of reality, able to exert its will upon the happenings therein, albeit slowly and indirectly. The first and foremost of these channels were what are known as the True Gods - beings that were directly tied to the Divine itself, channeling the power of the Divine in an overwhelming manner.

The True Gods, however, were not limitless in power, and - in order to hide their activites from the gaze of Nature - so created minions to do their bidding throughout the world. These are collectively known as the Scions, children of the True Gods, and they came in two forms: Saints and Lucavi, terms that are recognized even today. Unable to directly gift their creations with the power of the Divine, the True Gods forged a bridge between their essences and the Metaphysic: only through faith, and faith alone, could these beings attain a semblance of the Divine power wielded by the True Gods.

However, reality did eventually turn its eye to the machinations of the Divine and its direct servitors. In the Fourth Age of the Second Epoch, known simply as The Fracture, a massive cataclysm arose that resulted in the utter and irreversible destruction of the True Gods. Only their "children," the Scions, were spared.

Unlike their masters, the Saints and the Lucavi were not disrupted by this event; however, their power was directly tied to worship. Seeking a means to prevent the power of the Divine from waning utterly from reality, they took the ashes, shards, and splinters of the True Gods, and fashioned each fraction into a being unto itself: thus were born Angels and Daemons. These creatures retained a semblance of the power wielded by the True Gods, but it was fractional and incomplete; in the deaths of the True Gods, the sentience and free-will of the Gods had been lost. However, with these servants, the Saints and Lucavi could retain some amount of Divine power in the face of waning faith.

Divine Beings: The True Gods

It is not known how many True Gods there were; even if it were, their names and natures have been lost to the ages. The lore and ecclesiastical texts regarding the origins of some of the more powerful remaining Divine beings make vague references to these beings, but only in one - the origin of the Lucavi Ajora - is a name directly given, that of the True Goddess Kolaita.

It is known, however, that the power the True Gods held is present in the form of the divine beings known collectively as the Shards, the Angels and Daemons of the world.

True Gods

• Kolaita
• Tethys

Divine Beings: The Scions

The Scions were the direct servants of the True Gods, in the time before the Fracture. After that time, they exist as the highest source of Divine power in the world, and it is from them that paladins, priests, and their ilk draw power.

When the True Gods shaped the Scions, they created two distinct groups - the Saints, and the Lucavi. The Saints were mortals, drawn from their ranks because they received great praise from their peoples, which the True Gods saw as a form of worship. The Lucavi were crafted to seek out power by offering things in exchange for worship, such as goods or favors. In this manner, the True Gods believed that the Divine presence in reality would not die out, as at least one of the two sets of Scions would prevail in the face of adversity.

Scions require faith to continue their Divine existence; without it, a Saint or Lucavi reverts to its natural form. Even so much as a single person with true faith in an individual Scion is sufficient to grant the being Divine power, thanks to the bridge formed between that individual and the Metaphysic itself.

In the absence of the True Gods, the two groups of Scions eventually set to feuding with one another; while the presence of the True Gods managed to give them a shared sense of purpose, the collapse of an overarching Divine hierarchy has left them to their own devices, and no longer do the two groups work at least in tandem. Since the Fracture, the two groups have vied nearly constantly, though their very natures prevent either group from winning entirely.

The Saints

The Lucavi

Divine Beings: The Shards

Angels

Daemons

Divine Beings: The Servants

Celestials

Fiends

Old Stuff

Religions are not a well-explored aspect of the world. While religions are present, they tend to take a backseat to the ever-present enmity between the forces of the Trinity of Reality.

• Active Religions
  • The Order
  • Elendism
• Dead Religions
  • Elementalism
    • Orthodox
    • Reformed
  • Fundamentalism
  • Philosophialism
• Other
  • Atheism