More actions
| Fornoss | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Religion | |
| Pronunciation | Forn-oss (clear pause between the two). |
| Origins | Presumed roughly 15,000 years ago. |
| Deities | |
| Two distinct Pantheons of 6 Gods each. | |
Fornoss is one of the earliest Religions of the Ailor Heritage that survived thousands of years of conversion by other religions and attempts to be eradicated by various nations, proving exceptionally resilient. The Fornoss faith has a large following, particularly among Velheim and Gallovian Ailor, though a large number of Urlan, Dwarves, and some Ashaven Eronidas also follow it, meaning it is not limited in scope to just Ailor. Fornoss is sometimes called the Old Gods religion, but this is not historically correct. The Gods are not old from a purely chronological perspective and it is not the oldest religion in Aloria. This term was mostly popularized by the Ailor, who when reviewing only their history, can see Fornoss as the oldest Religion, but when taking the totality of the world's history, Fornoss is a more accurate term, which roughly translates to "ancient us," an homage to its survival through the ages.
Origins
Fornoss is an ancient Religion, older than Unionism but younger than the Elven Estelley Religion, to which it was largely born as an answer to the violence the Elves inflicted upon the ancient Ceardians during the Pearl Wars and beyond. Fleeing the constant attacks from the Elves, the first Fornoss faithful were whisked away by the Eili Gods to a series of islands shrouded from the Elves in the seas. As time passed, the Religion expanded and more Gods joined, eventually seeing the Vola join under the guidance of Kael where the faithful spread from their native land Aldra where the father-tree Arne supposedly once created to the Eili Gods, to Volaheim, a land within the Abyss that allowed the faithful to colonize far and wide, becoming the most widespread people and eventually founding Kingdoms and Empires. At its zenith, the Empire of the High Seas became a Fornoss ethnostate, which was destroyed during a period called the Svartskra, discussed further below.
Soldi and Svaldi
Honor is a massively important aspect of the Fornoss Religion that dictates the value of the individual, and their allowance to pass into the afterlife. The Faithful accrue two different types of Honor called Soldi (for the Eili Pantheon) or Svaldi (for the Vola Pantheon). Both can be accrued together, or differing values separately, as each God proposes a different way to gain or lose these honor currencies. There are no hard rules for these honor numbers, players are encouraged to play around with them to tell a good story. Below are the vices and virtues outlined.
Among the Eili:
- Bard proclaims that Soldi is gained by resisting injustice, and being a good leader, while Soldi is lost through corruption and abuse of power.
- Tadhg proclaims that Soldi is gained by respecting the dead, while Soldi is lost through blasphemy and desecration of the dead.
- Norn proclaims that Soldi is gained by respecting the laws of prophecy and destiny, and lost by violently resisting fate.
- Fenra proclaims that Soldi is gained by healing those in need and suffering, and lost by ignoring the pain felt by others.
- Leif proclaims that Soldi is gained through loyalty in love and compassion, and lost through adultery and cruelty.
- Dáuw proclaims that Soldi is gained through dedication to craft and loyalty to the Gods, and lost through defeatism and dejection.
- Maedrvrid proclaims that Soldi is gained through bravery and willingness to learn, while it is lost through stubbornness and surrender.
- Halfvel proclaims that Soldi is gained through a good Hunt and protecting others, while it is lost from succumbing to Demons.
- Eirny proclaims that Soldi is gained through the acquisition of lost knowledge and its publication, and lost through information secrecy.
Among the Vola:
- Kael proclaims that Svaldi is gained through information usage to expand power, while Svaldi is lost by making bad bargains and trades.
- Sharnel proclaims that Svaldi is gained through learning from fallen Empires and withstanding Imperialism, lost by collaborating.
- Thirun proclaims that Svaldi is gained by becoming stronger in Magic, while Svaldi is lost through meekness and ignoring insult to self.
- Nyxil proclaims that Svaldi is gained by overcoming insurmountable obstacles and struggles, and lost through disrespecting those stronger.
- Aedán proclaims that Svaldi is gained through creative creation and partying, and lost through asceticism and iconoclasm.
- Ubhan proclaims that Svaldi is gained by enacting revenge and succeeding in combat, and lost through dishonor in combat or cowardice.
- Helvard proclaims that Svaldi is gained by protecting the Undead from those who want to kill them, and lost by taking pleasure in rejection.
- Blodrúna proclaims that Svaldi is gained by granting others a beautiful death and reciting poetry, and lost by spilling unworthy blood.
- Taran proclaims that Svaldi is gained by self-exploration and self-mastery in dignity, while Svaldi is lost by neglecting one's self.
Soldi and Svaldi can also be transferred to others, even after death. It is as such possible to save a condemned soul who is stuck in the Mirror-world, a hellish place where souls are condemned to wander forever on a salt-flat of nothingness, to retrieve them and send them to the proper afterlife. Soldi and Svaldi don't have exact measurements, and are mostly defined to give players freedom to interact with them in Roleplay.
The Afterlife
The Fornoss faith is somewhat unique in that it has 3 distinct afterlives. Each pantheon has its separate afterlife with different rules and functions, and then there is to so-called land in between which is a cursed land for souls deemed unworthy. The land in between is an endless gray land without emotion and feeling. Souls wander there until their descendants or friends save their honor, or until their name is forgotten and they die one final time. The afterlife for the Eili is called Eiliheim, which is thought to be a perfect garden of forever spring and tranquility, where beautiful music and animals grace the skies and eternal peace is felt, believed to be a valley in the Anima. The afterlife for the Vola is called Volaheim, which is thought to be a heat-scorched mountain land of forever summer and humidity, where the earthly delights and pleasures are tingled with endless hedonistic satisfaction, believed to be a valley in the Abyss. A dying soul can never arrive in both, so most faithful tend to choose which one they would rather reach, and plan their Soldi/Svaldi gain appropriately.
Svartskra
Svartskra is a pivotal event in Fornoss folklore and Religious teaching that has nonetheless been shrouded in mystery due to Kael's control of the flow of information, and active wiping of memories and information dating back to it. Without certainty, Svartskra is assumed to have taken place several thousands of years prior to the modern day, but still somewhat recent in the total 13,000 years of existence of this Religion. Before Svartskra, the Eili and Vola were one unified pantheon, albeit both halves somewhat unofficially seperated by their leaders Bard and Kael. Svartskra took place in several stages, each of which defined the future of the Religion and the Gods moving foward.
The first stage was the Strife. In the Strife, Bard took issue with Kael and Sharnel's secret plans, accusing them and the others they had joined up with, in trying to control the faithful by underhanded means. The Vola Gods tried to seize more and more power by gaining the majority support from the faithful, something that would proportionally make the Eili weaker. This caused an immediate fracture, because Bard's will was supreme, and the Eili Gods immediately rejected the Vola. Tadgh's Gates that had been used to create the Empire of the High Seas were closed, and the Empire fractured nearly instantly. The Imperial Dynasty in Aldra was lost as the whole island vanished from the world.
Immediately after the Strife, the Fire phase started, where the Eili and Vola made war with one another. There is effectively no information left from this period, as Kael has erased all knowledge of it, while Bard certainly benefits from presenting the Vola as the aggressors. The Eili claim that the Vola initiated war within the Religion and tried to conquer the lands where the Eili held power forcibly. The war supposedly raged for a long time, but where, when, and how are complete unknowns. The War ended with the Silence Accord.
The Silent Accord, being the final phase, has endured to the modern era. In this phase, the Eili and Vola made agreements to preserve peace between them to prevent the Religion from fracturing in two irreperably. The two Pantheons still had many associations and connections between them, from lovers and ex-lovers to siblings, so fully condemning each other was not an option for either side. Both pantheons had lost Gods to the war and betrayal, resulting in a weakening of both pantheons. In this peace settlement, the Eili and Vola agreed that the lands then under their control would remain theirs, and neither side would interfere to change the allegiances of mortals.
Naturally, this peace settlement has been broken time and time again. While Bard forces his Eili Gods to hold to the rules, he barely does himself. Halfvel spreads his influence far and wide through his children, while Nyxil has essentialy claimed all the high seas in between the lands, a clever subversion of the agreement. The Vola Gods continue to scheme, and the Eili Gods continue to battle, making the whole arrangement a carefully balanced truce rather than permanenht peace settlement. Full blown conflict is still possible, but seemingly an outcome that the faithful seem committed to prevent, even if they do not fully understand the circumstances in which it took place in the past.
Eili gods and Goddesses
Bard, The Justice Claw
Bard is the Bear-king of the Eili Gods, the God of just rulership, fair authority, and good leadership. While Eirny writes the codes of laws and customs, it is Bard who enacts them, and also functions as the judge of all divine judgment and trials. Bard is the physical embodiment of the worshiper's desire to life without being abused by those who rule over them, or brigands who might catch them out in the wilderness. Bard's harsh but fair judgement is rendered on all regardless of social class, but hits those in a position of authority even harder than those dispossessed. While demanding that the other Eili hold themselves to the rules of the Svartskra, Bard is ironically the one to break them to be most, taking pity on the disaffected and abused, and bringing the bear's claws down on wrongdoers.
Bard was the firstborn among the Eili and arguably the firstborn Fornoss God (though pre-dated by pre-Fornoss entities and Gods). He set up the structure of the faith, and convinced the first ancient Ceardians to his protection and guidance. Over time, his strength and singular dedication to just rulership made him a perfect fit as the leader of the Eili pantheon. A pivotal moment in Bard's history involved his struggle with the Eidolon Arken of Justice, whom he defeated. However, when consuming the Arken's power, his soul was refracted, causing his awareness to be shared with the Justice Arken's reincarnations, something to his benefit in hindsight.
Tadhg, The Death's Mirror
Tadhg is primarily the God of life and death, the guardian of the afterlife, and the one to measure the value of a soul when it passes on from life. Tadhg however is a more complicated figure that also represents the changing of the seasons. During spring and summer he is depicted as a floating cloak with an unseen face and bony white hands holding a mirror, the reflection of the afterlife. When autumn and winter arrive, he becomes the horned Urlan guardian who closes the gates of the afterlife. Fornoss faithful embalm their dead during the winter months, and bury them during the warm months when the frost has retreated from the soil, under the guidance of Tadgh who has given the faithful their mortuary rites and many guidance chants and rituals concerning the dead.
Tadhg judges both the Soldi and Svaldi of the faithful, though he acts as a neutral centrist in this regard, despite being an Eili. Even though sending all the souls to the Eili afterlife would undoubtedly empower his side of the pantheon, Tadhg's sense of right and wrong is so strong that the conflict between the Eili and Vola mostly goes past him. This matter is made even more apparent, in that during the winter seasons, it is Nyxil who keeps him comfort while the gates of the afterlife are shut, ensuring his spirits are well-kept during the dark and somber months, and his bed is never left wanting for warmth, until leaving in spring to be with the other Vola.
Norn, The Fate Weaver
Norn is the Eili God of destinies and fates. Among the faithful, it is said that he weaves the future threads of all the faithful, and when their time comes to an end, cuts their chords with his Scissors of Shattered Eternity. Norn is prayed to for good fortunes, good health and a fruitful long life. While he weaves the future threads when the faithful are born, gentle plucks and taps on the threads alter the fates of the faithful for the better or worse, and even if it goes against Norn's very nature, his compassion and love for the faithful bids him to see the winds of fortune turn for the better when he can. Norn when compared to the other Gods is far less present among mortals, as he diligently manages the threads by the roots of Arne, focusing solely on his duties.
Norn was once a being of the Eternum, a sworn nemesis of Sharnel from the Silence, who interfered in the oracles predictions and destinies divined by Norn for mortals in Aloria. When she escaped the Silence to ply her trade in Aloria, Norn broke free from the Eternum and chased her to the ends of the world, though always one step behind. When Sharnel joined forces with Kael and later the Fornoss Gods, Norn presented himself to Bard and was accepted among the Eili Gods to weave the fates of the faithful, and to bring order to the chaos that was being created by the influence of the Vola. Now, Norn dutifully serves the faithful by predicting their futures.
Fenra, The Wyld Queen
Fenra is the Eili Goddess of healing and nature. She is the patron goddess of all who surround themselves with the vitality of nature, agriculture, and horticulture and works in healing houses as a midwife, healer, or alchemist. Fenra teaches the faithful the healing arts of nature's bounty, to take respectfully and give back to the forests and grasslands where healing herbs grow, and to cultivate gardens where her emissaries, the butterflies, may dwell and flourish. Fenra is very active among the mortals, even more so than most other Eili Gods, traveling to small villages and towns to heal those stricken with deadly illnesses and grave wounds. Fenra creates unofficial Godborn called Fuath, babies born to couples who cannot conceive, who are born Shapeshifter Mages.
Fenra was originally a being of the Anima, A greater Fae Demon of the Spring Court's Valley of Bloodrot Renewal, who tricked the faithful into bad bargains to exchange their children for shapeshifters. Folklore goes that Fenra was outsmarted by a warrior called Fionlaith who tricked Fenra into loving her. Fionlaith grew older and eventually died, but on her deathbed she made Fenra promise to assuage the pain and suffering from ill health of the other faithful, which Fenra agreed to, passing into Aloria and trying for seven days and seven nights to convince Bard to accept her in the pantheon, where ever since she has acted as the healer and tender of nature's plants and flora.
Leif, The Eternal Sunrise
Leif is the Eili God of love and the change of the seasons. Leif brings about the eternal changing of the four cycles of the year, while also ensuring that the sun and the moon chase each other across the skies. The faithful believe that Leif drags the sun along a golden chain across the sky, chasing the moon away from its warmth. His twin-sister Nyxil represents the deceptive guile of the moon, while Leif represents the loving warmth of the sun, and thus also extends in his role as the God of love. Through the rituals of Fire on the altars of the sun, the faithful pray to him for true and boundless love, for good fortune in romance, and for a long life shared with loved ones, full of the happiness of children and the tranquility of old age in shared marital bonds.
Rather than believing that Leif literally drags the sun and moon across the sky, which the faithful know too well is the design of Dragons, his role is more metaphorical concerning the melancholy of night and winter. He represents the inevitability of sunlight breaking through thunderous clouds, or good fortune at the end of a long string of misery. He obeys Bard's judgments to the letter, being one of the least seen Gods among mortals, though his presence is said to be felt in every warm fire after a cold blizzard, or the first love making between two young lovebirds. Due to Leif, chains are not seen as a binding agent among the Fornoss, but a symbol of duty.
Dáuw, The Granfather Stone
Dáuw is the Eili God of the crafts, wealth, and fortune. It is Dáuw who is worshiped for good fortune in trade and commerce, but also for wealth in one's occupation of job, business, or general venture outside of finance. The faithful believe that Dáuw gives them good luck in general, whether it is with coin or card games, and some even invoke his good fortune in combat. Dáuw's guidance gives the faithful the designs and know-how to handle ancient crafts and designs, working with noble metals long lost to time, and techniques that were thought extinct in an age before time for the faithful. He guides them to the wealth of the planet, and sometimes even creates the dumb luck needed to avoid certain calamity or death at the hands of outsiders, or danger from one's self.
Dáuw is considered the grandfather-god of the Eili and to an extent also the Vola. The faithful tell the story, that when Arne sprouted in a time before time, and the Dragons sang the song of the Gods, that Dáuw was already there waiting, at the roots of the tree. Bard was truly the first-born of the Gods from Arne's bark, but Dáuw was as old as the stone and mud itself, having shepherded the Dwarves who reminded him of the Mud Men. Because of Dáuw's potentially extreme age, he isn't always coherent, having moments where he becomes incoherent. This is often treated as an endearing factor, however, both by the Gods and mortals.
Maevrid, The Reforged Shield
Maevrid is the Eili Goddess of War, however, her aspect extends far beyond just warfare itself. Due to her history as a Dewamenet God in the distant past, she represents the will to grow and improve, to overcome challenges, and to grow stronger from them and learn new things from them. Every War is treated as a forge in which mortals become better versions of themselves. Every conflict is a new story unfolding and to learn, a new way to prod and examine the world and what is known and unknown to form a better understanding of the condition of life itself. Life to Maevrid is like war, a constant struggle against external and internal forces that seek to break the faithful down that they must overcome. They pray to her for braveness, endurance, and self-understanding.
Maevrid was once a Dewamenet Khama Goddess, though a unique circumstance, an infant Goddess. She saw the Dewamenet Empire destroyed when she was but a child goddess, too weak to act and too young to understand. After millennia of wandering, the now adult Maevrid gathered the Dewasha had fled north to Nordskag, and made contact with the Fornoss settlers, working with them to arm them against the Allorn attacks. Maevrid discovered here that she had learned from the Dewamenet-Allorn war, and had new tools and skills to teach the faithful of Fornoss, eventually becoming the War Goddess when the Eili Gods invited her.
Halfvel, The Soul Warden
Halfvel is the Eili God of the hunt and the fauna of the world, but more importantly, the guardian of the faithful and protector against the corrupting and ruinous forces from the outside. Specifically, this makes Halfvel a protector God who keeps mortals safe from Demons, or so, that is his intent. The faithful pray to Halfvel to keep them safe from wild predators and animals that rule the wilderness. They however also invoke his name and his charms to ward off Demons and protect the minds of particularly their children to keep them safe from possession. It is believed that Halfvel is a skin-walker who walks among mortals as an animal most of the time, protecting them from unseen foes in the dark forests and silent snowy glades, endearing respect for animals.
Halfvel also is productive, in the love-making department with mortals. He frequently finds his way to bed with mortals, always siring Halfvel demigods that hold a special role in Fornoss society. Calling him the Wolf-Father, his children are always born as sentient and thinking Marken, capable of higher reason and thought even in the bestial state. Under his will and guidance, these demigods become guides or protectors of the faithful, extending Halfvel's reach beyond his divine body, and protecting faithful all over the world, whether that is from actual monsters or the Demons in their own souls. As younger brother to Bard, he is often seen as his extension.
Eirny, The Eternity Author
Eirny is the Eili Goddess of Knowledge and Wisdom, a true sage, and truth-sayer who uses intellectualism and determinism to understand what is to come. She is a Goddess with very high intellect, but low social imperative, preferring to write and record rather than answer the prayers of mortals. There are plenty of stories of the faithful praying for clarity and guidance from her, only to be hit over the head by a scroll falling from the sky with her instructions on it. She has authored the laws and rules of Fornoss and by extension of Velheim and Gallovian society. All mortal structures that follow Fornoss Religion have at some point adopted her declared customs and traditions as written down on paper. She is also thought to have granted the Fornoss Faithful their alphabet.
Eirny's exact origins are somewhat dubious because she just does not talk to mortals at all, ever. Some speculate she is the Scripter Eidolon Arken, while others speculate she might be a greater Demon from the Dictat realm. The truth likely lies somewhere in the middle, but the other Eili Gods always speak very fondly of her. Despite her cold demeanor, she is often described as deeply empathetic and caring, going so far as to write the Black Tomes, which are scrolls that record ways and opportunities mortals can take to avoid low or bad Soldi/Svaldi from condemning them to the mirror-world without an afterlife.
Vola Gods and Goddesses
Kael, The Black Dominion
Kael is the leader of the Vola Gods and the most powerful among them. He is the god of power through knowledge, the flow of information, the transfer of wisdom and a true powerbroker through information. Kael holds sway over the minds of mortals and Gods alike despite having originally just been an Arken of Power, by controlling the flow of information even to the divine. He is prayed to by the faithful to reveal that which is hidden, to understand that which is unknown, and to expand their own power in the face of greater challenges and adversities. Through the example of his propaganda and word-craft, the faithful learn the power of the word and whisper, to understand which truths should be spoken and which should remain hidden, and the soft power of secrets.
Many millennia ago, before the Fornoss faith had even formed, Kael battled and defeated the Prince of Dominion, an enigmatic entity from the Silence realm, binding its power into his Arken body and becoming one with Silence and Abyss. The Sharnel presented herself to him as both bride and co-conspirator. Together they wove plots to destroy Empires with her whispers and his final strike. For every Empire they sacked, Kael's knowledge grew, and Sharnel's touch with grief expanded, until the final destruction of the Meraic Empire, and their involvement in the Allorn Empire, after which they settled among the Fornoss Gods to lead the Vola pantheon.
Sharnel, The Grieving Ember
Sharnel is the brains behind the Vola Gods, second only to Kael, a Goddess of grief and loss, of sorrow and despair. Rather than being a Goddess who creates these feelings, she is the shelter form the storm of melancholy, her prayer songs offering peace and soothing to even the most grief-stricken of faithful. She embodies the penultimate loss of self, community, legacy, the beauty of rebirth after it all, the strength in enduring the unthinkable, and how the faithful work together to pick up the pieces and rebuild their lives after loss. Sharnel is prayed to by mothers who have lost their children, or children who have lost their homes. Wherever the faithful find life too much to bear or loss too great, Sharnel offers a shoulder and mourning cloth to cry on to come back stronger.
Sharnel is an ancient being that came from the Silence realm to bring about the greatest collapse of things, broken Empires. What greater silence can be felt in the world than the collapse of Empire, as the wounds of imperialism heal, and the monuments of greatness fade from memory to be consumed by time. When Kael consumed the Prince of Dominion, Sharnel and Kael bound themselves to each other, Sharnel the schemer to lay the foundations, while Kael was the executor of her woven webs. Both have become the embodiment of the Fornoss faith's resilience in the face of outer imperialism and threat to the faith to resist conquest.
Thirun, The Magic Eclipse
Thirun is the Vola God of Magic and the Arcane, the source of all Magical power as claimed by the Fornoss faithful, and the one to teach them the gift of Magic Training. Besides his obvious Magical themes, Thirun is also a God of ambition and strife, one who constantly challenges the faithful to be better versions of themselves, and to be proud of themselves for what they have achieved or are yet to reach. Through Thirun's teaching, the faithful learn to respect Magic as a divine blessing but equally a terrible curse on the mind that challenges Mages to be better than the average faithful. They are keenly aware, that Thirun punishes those who abuse or disrespect their magical gift, sending the hounds of Vaarda after them to consume their bodies, and steal their souls back to Thirun.
Thirun is a refracted identity of the Pride Arken, meaning he shares a consciousness with the Pride Arken, but is a different hand that acts upon the world. This makes Thirun often unpredictable and capricious, while most Gods are aware of one perspective, Thirun can see in several different realms and places at once, and thus also act with less obvious intentions. While the faithful pray to him for greater Magical insight and understanding, they must always be aware that Thirun may also be praying back, that they might forget themselves one day, slip up, and call forth the hounds of Vaarda so Thirun can take back his gift that was bestowed upon them by his own design.
Nyxil, The Shadow Wave
Nyxil is the Vola Goddess of the treacherous seas, the unpredictable waves, and the sudden storms and hurricanes that ravage seafarers. She is also the Goddess of trickery and manipulation, the usage of secrets and lies to create schemes for the betterment of the Vola Gods. Spies and politicians revere her but also pray to her for good calm waters on the high seas and fair winds to speed along a boat's arrival. It is said that unruly seas and violent storms are a product of her temper, leaving sailors at the mercy of her vengeful winds and hungry heralds of the deep seas. Nyxil is strongly associated with sharks, her spirit sharks embodying the danger of her schemes. Like real sharks, they approach in broad daylight, appearing harmless, but closing shut the jaws when one least expects.
Nyxil was once called Nykvaldr, the God of weather. It is said among the faithful, however, that Nykvaldr one day gazed upon a school of Vortex sharks by the shore, and became enchanted by their ever-changing and fluctuating beauty and appearance. Nykvaldr died that day, or more specifically, Nyxil realized that Nykvaldr was never real but an expectation made by the other Eili Gods of her, that she complied with to fit in. After immersing herself into the vortex and drinking from the well of change, the Eili Gods deliberated, but before they could agree, Kael convinced her to join the Vola, though she continues to hold great love for the Eili, and her brother Leif.
Aedán, The Benign Neglect
Aedán is the Vola God of culture, party, and general life frivolity and entertainment. He is held as a patron to entertainers, dancers, musicians, artists, and partygoers alike, and is himself a soul-rendingly skilled artist who makes pieces of art that both predict possible futures, and explore the viewer's soul as they gaze upon it. Aedán however is deeply troubled, and perpetually a drunkard who engages in parties rather than duty. Once an Eili God, he was eventually turned to the Vola because the Eili rejected his indolence and self-satisfaction. The Vola in turn encouraged him to do only what pleased him and what he wanted, resulting in Aedán taking a more effective role as party-god, embodying the faithful's desire to live a happy life with joy.
Aedán was once Bard's lover but eventually turned into a tool by Kael to torment his nemesis. The exact reason why Aedán wishes to dissociate from reality is not well understood among mortals, made more complicated by his refraction. It is said that he lives in such confusion that his soul splits numerous times, resulting not only in the God Nolven who also suffers from a complicated persona, as well as any number of unknown entities and Gods who roam the world without anyone knowing their identity. Some speculate that Aedán's future sight drove him to extreme grief and melancholy, a cautionary tale to those wishes to see ahead in time.
Ubhan, The Raging Fire
Ubhan is the Vola God of combat, of warriors, but above all of vengeance and chaos. Ubhan is the Arken of Fury, a warrior without equal who has never been defeated in battle, but always seeks his final match. Ubhan is prayed to by the faithful for skill and fortune in combat, and to be big and strong. He is also the embodiment of the chaos of violence, and the freedom that is brought through rebellion. His most important aspect however is vengeance, the faithful seek out his help in exacting their plots for revenge, right wrongs that Bard ignores, and not to create true legal justice as ordained by Eirny, but catharsis through wroth and blood. Ubhan is not one for mercy, for second thought, or careful deliberation, he always steams ahead to create his own might make right.
Ubhan is the twin brother of Thirun, which means they do not only look like each other but also have a complex theme of Magic versus Martial. With Thirun representing the power of Magic, and Ubhan the purist-chauvinist ideal of power and strength to spite Magic, the two ideologies constantly clash even within the faith for supremacy. While Fornoss is generally a pro-Magic Religion, it is through Ubhan's preference to reject Magic and focus on physical strength and natural power, that so-called Fornoss Cleanbarks are made, the term used by the Fornoss faithful to define Purists who exist and derive validation from their Religion.
Helvard, The Troubled Walker
Helvard is the Vola God of the Undead, the rejected, the unwanted, and the unloved. For every baby that is left on the street by an unwanting mother, or every lover scorned by an adulterer and cheater, Helvard offers protection and shelter in his vast cloak. Despite the coldness of his Undead flesh and his icy stare, Helvard has love in his heart for all those who are scorned by society or circumstance. He is also the patron of the Undead in Fornoss, the only Religion that widely speaking treats sentient Undead as people and a protected class, to shelter them from wanton violence and misunderstanding, and help them to seek the freeing condition of their existence, to let go of the final strands of life that keep them bound to Aloria and move on to the Afterlife.
Helvard is the arbiter of valiant Undeath, the one to decide between evil Undead, who are usually bound to the Hollow and seek to consume souls and serve the Malefica, and the lost Undead of Aloria who have failed to pass on. Helvard teaches his followers to tell the difference and to understand the conditions outside of their control that force them to linger in a state of pain and unliving. While Tadgh guides the living mortals from the outside of the Helbolwen, Helvard guides the Undead and the priests from inside the Helbolwen to find their way back to the light. It is by his demand that the faithful aid the Undead in existing peacefully and eventually passing on.
Blodrúna, The Troubled Walker
Blodrúna is the Goddess of poetry and blood, and quite a complex one with her themes at that. She inspires the skill of speech and wit of the tongue to the fornoss Faithful, pure charisma, and the means to convince whole crowds with the beauty of word-smithing alone. Hers are the skalds and bards who sing the songs of old, the historians and writers who record events in prose, and the scribes who record lineages of families and clans for posterity. In her teaching, the faithful find power in the blood, the reputation that survives generations in mere names of heritage, the blood-feuds that rage between families for perceived wrongs and slights, and the reason why most warriors seek a bloody but poetically beautiful death in the hopes that they will long be written about.
Blodrúna is complicated because she is a Goddess who relishes in the carnage of the sword and the beauty of death. Fornoss is not inherently a violent Religion, but at first glance, Blodrúna seems to encourage murder and violence the likes not even Evolism can rival. This largely comes down to personal interpretation. Certainly, there are Vampire societies formed out of Fornoss worshipers who hold Blodrúna as their Vampire Goddess, despite her never having explicitly approved of that interpretation. Others instead prefer the version where they perceive blood as a powerful and ancient life-giver which hides great power for those with the skill to use it.
Taran, The Godflesh Shaper
Taran is the Vola God of beauty and perfection of the body. He is a shapeshifter God with a great obsession and fascination for all things related to the body, organ functioning, muscle strength, young and old, broken and pristine. He is worshiped and prayed to for ever-lasting beauty, to push back the effects of time and entropy. He preaches the standards of beauty in the living form, body-sculpting, body-modding and personal manifestation. To Taran, the body is both a beautiful statue to be gawked at and desired, but also an ever-changing canvas upon which the faithful can express aspects of themselves in visual code. It is through Taran that the faithful learned the body-writing native to the Fornoss Religion, the habit to record one's life experiences in tattoo ink.
Taran is a refraction of the Abyss Body Arken, who found the corpse of the banished Eili Goddess Gro, and attempted to consume her flesh to ascend to greater Godhood. While Gro's virtuous flesh rejected the corruption of this greater Abyss Demon, her consciousness was re-awakened and merged with a refracted aspect of the Body Arken. The two now live separate lives but have a shared consciousness, with the Body Arken being considerably more cruel and irreverent, while Gro's respect for bodily autonomy and free will temper this versions' callousness. Confusion between the two, sometimes leads to lethal misfortunes for the faithful.
Priestly Activities
Helbolwen
Talk about the burial sites and traditions.
Helyr
Talk about the Mortuary priests who do the emblaming and burial.
Helvorn
Talk about the people who protect the Helbolwen and the priests.
Myndar
Talk about historian scholars who travel the world to record tales of the dead and the Gods.
Expanded Lore
This section has been stripped for now, as time is required to re-divide the information over the relevant sections. For now, we cannot dedicate manhours to updating all this information, but believe that the relevant bits were transferred to the Gods and Goddess descriptions.
| ||||||||||
| Accreditation | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
| ||||||||