Ordial Cultism

Ordial Cultism
Religion
Pronunciation	Or-dee-al Cult-ism
Origins	N/A
Deities
Different for each Cult
Subsects
N/A

Ordial Cultism

The origins of Ordial Cultism are entirely unclear, because Ordial history or knowledge of the Ordial realm itself are already very niche in the world of Aloria. It is generally assumed that Ordial Cultism has existed for several civilizations if not as far back as the Seraph Civilization, but this is all largely based on estimations. There has been no recorded reference of the Seraph ever interacting with the Ordial entities, though some of them do know of the Seraph, and some Seraph artifacts have been found scattered in the Ordial realm. Ordial Cultism is not a cohesive religion, rather is a categorical distinction of a bunch of smaller Ordial Cults that are all vaguely related to one another. While Estellon is a structural religion, and Void Worship allows the worship of multiple Void Gods or specialization in one, Ordial Cultism does not allow such horizontal freedoms, and is purely a vertical cult worship religion. An Ordial worshiper can only ever worship one Ordial entity, and be a member of one Ordial Cult, because not all Ordial Cults see eye to eye, and some of them in fact are enemies. Ordial Cultism also lacks the general vices and virtues because these cults are extremely utilitarian. They often are very focused on an encompassing ideology with various smaller tasks, while not being concerned at all about how the faithful conduct themselves outside of these tasks. There is also no afterlife in Ordial Cultism, save for the hopes of avoiding the afterlife altogether by either becoming immortal, undead, or extending one's life beyond what is natural to stave off the eventual claiming of one's soul by the Ordial Entities. In a last resort, Ordial worshipers at least try to endear their Ordial God to them, so that when their time comes, they won't just be turned into a mindless shade, and retain their free will, potentially even transcending to become Ordial Spirits and return to Aloria by possessing a mortal. Ordial Cultism is very much an often cruel religion because of the fact that the majority of its own worshipers likely never make it to that paradise vision of immortality in undeath, many die along the way at the hands of anti-Ordial forces, internal violence, or simply aren't competent enough as seen by the Ordial Gods to be granted any particular blessing from them in the afterlife. Many Ordial Cultists end up as mindless cannon fodder in the armies of the Ordial Gods, but the religion still has a strong draw among those who are familiar with the Ordial plane, because of the strong powers that the Ordial realm inherently holds within.

It is also important to note that Ordial Cults may retain information that is not consistent with information held by other entities (or Pages on this Wiki). That is because Cults inherently express a religion formed out of beliefs or personal contact with Ordial Entities that may wish their worshipers and followers to have a different presented vision of them than reality. Information within the Ordial Cults is only ever perceived through what an Ordial Entity wishes to be let known, even to their own priesthood. On the topic of priesthood, there can be a priesthood for Ordial Cults, but whether they are accepted as a priest for a particular Ordial entity is entirely up to the respect they have gained in society itself. Ordial Cultism is not a religion that enforces the respectability or even legitimacy of its own priesthood, and while priests tend to be popular among Ordial worship, in theory everyone can be a priest and there is no formal training for priesthood beyond proclaiming to have a deep and profound understanding of the wishes and needs of the Ordial God in question. Ordial Gods and their Cults can reasonably co-exist in peace on territory like the Ordial Temple in the Regalian Sewers, but inherently, many of these Cults are enemies, none more so than for example the followers of the Merchant (referring to the Songaskian Ordial Priests who are part of the Bentiya Priesthood) and the followers of Seleya, who make near daily war on each other out in the wider world. Ordial Temples with no affiliation to any particular Ordial Cult and are more so just a general social or spiritual place for all things Ordial, tend to be protected by the so-called "Final Rest Truce", that prevents Ordial-aligned form attacking each other on those grounds, and to converse with each other normally without constantly hijacking the conversation or situation to vent their grief at each other.

Ordial Gods

Each God in this summary represents its own Cult, which a person can be a member of, but never of more than one Cult. Not all Ordial Entities are Gods, and some Ordial Entities only exist in the scope of their cult, because some Ordial entities take efforts not to be seen by Ordial mages or other Ordial aligned who are able to venture or peer into the Ordial Realm who they consider more like interlopers.

The Glacial

Identity: The Glacial, sometimes also known as Frisit among the Death Isldar, is the motherly embrace of death in the cold, protector of the Bene Rexit (Death Isldar), who claims Ellador as her domain. She is depicted as a beautiful Elven woman trapped in dark ice, or otherwise symbolized by important objects or items trapped in a solid piece of clear ice or frosted glass. It unknown how she came to be trapped or how she was created in the Ordial Realm, though there is some consensus among Nelfin Ordial Cultists that she was once an Allorn Archmage, who broke into the Ordial Realm somehow, and was imprisoned into the glacier inside the Ordial Realm by some other unknown Ordial entity as punishment for her transgression, but that her Magic eventually overwhelmed the place and allowed her to manifest her power into Aloria. Ideology: The Glacial thrives off the power of death in Aloria. She makes it very clear to her followers that in order to break free, she has to feed on the souls of Alorians. She was once immensely weak, but her cultists believe that she deceived and abused the anxiety of the Violet Dragon Aurora to break into Aloria and harvest the first souls, those being the souls of the Dwarves that were killed when her glacial Ordial Magic was unleashed on Ellador and froze everything. She becomes stronger the more souls she consumes, and breaks free more from the glacier in which she is trapped. As such, her followers enter a faustian bargain: souls to help break free the Glacial, so her power can break through and empower them. Death Nuance: For better or worse, while the Glacial is known as a Death-God (an Ordial Entity very strictly motivated by causing as much death as possible), she does not instruct her followers to just stab any passer-by in the street. The Glacial works far more insidiously, by deceiving and by tricking others into taking on more than they bargained for, and finding death this way. A prime example was the Glacial’s great trickery of Skysteel, an imaginary metal that supposedly could pierce platesteel like butter, hidden somewhere in Ellador, drawing many Velheim Ailor to their death in search for this legendary material as they froze to death searching for it. Glacial worshipers use their deception and obfuscation to trick others into doomed ventures, either for themselves, or for others as they go about causing collateral damage. There have even been implications that Glacial worshipers were responsible for misleading Regalian politicians and generals during the Rutgher War, in which the civilian casualties due to miscommunication and ignorance to local customs were legendary. Temples: The Glacial has dozens of temples in Ellador in particular, having mostly been old Frisit Temples from when the Isldar Race was still whole and all worshiped the Undead Dragon. Many of these Temples fell into the hands of the Life Isldar, and were converted to Dragon Worship sites, though many were also destroyed in the ensuing Civil War. Temples to The Glacial certainly exist in other continents, but usually only in the coldest of environments. One is even rumored to exist on the Regalian Archipelago called the Hall of Mirrored Death, but its exact location is unknown, waiting to be discovered one day. Shrines to the Glacial are usually fairly simple, if the weather permits it decorated with ice, but otherwise objects of ritualistic meaning like a rusty dagger or a silver belt buckle inserted inside a solid block of glass, polished to reflective perfection and surrounded by candles. Worship: The Glacial acknowledges both passive worship and active worship. Active worship is the act of causing death for the Glacial, and then offering any souls that are derived from said scheme for the Glacial to hijack from their afterlife and thus feed herself. The Glacial generally rejects souls derived from the act of simple and banal murder. Passive worship is the act of reciting death poems in front of her altar, and asking for her divine inspiration in schemes and plots. Manifestation: The Glacial does not manifest in Aloria because she is physically trapped in the glacier, though there are objects known as Death Mirrors in Aloria which can be used to directly converse with her. Death Mirrors cannot be made by any ordinary mortal, though they are known to be sold by certain Death Cults in the Allorn Empire, for Divinium (a system-resource acquired from Villiers Raids), which allows single-use contact with the Glacial.

The Machinist

Identity: The Machinist is an enigmatic being that often drifts in and out of the Ordial Realm and Aloria, and does not always present the same way. Often he is the desiccated remains of a Dwarf, beardless and most of his body replaced with machinery of Necrotech origins. Other times he is seen as an infernal machine, a body made of boilers and steam machines, riding on wheels, arms extending to lay a track in front of itself as it flies through the night sky, bellowing green smoke from its vents. There is much speculation about the origins of the Machinist, but they remain unclear. His hand is however seen in many events around the world, through accidental, or intentional technological advances. Ideology: The Machinist thrives off the power of death in Aloria, but also off secrecy and body modifications of others into becoming more like him, a combination of dead flesh and living machine. The Machinist collects schematics and technology through the ages, supposedly having witnessed the full length of the Dewamenet and Sariyd Empires, the pinnacles of technology in their days. He collects these nuggets of information, holds onto them for thousands of years, and releases some plan as accidental discovery or divine inspiration masking as some other god, to the ignorant. Inevitably, these technologies end up being turned into weapons of war, and turned on the living, where the collateral feeds his hunger for the souls of the living, but he also wants the world to be more like him, and to spread technology over Magic. Death Nuance: The Machinist is known as a Death-God (an Ordial Entity very strictly motivated by causing as much death as possible), though he is less extreme than say the Malefica or the Glacial. He does not so obliquely instruct his followers to stab any passer-by in the street, but rather to invent curious gizmos and machinery, and then release the plans to those with the means to use them, but also with the means to abuse them. The Machinist takes much glee in the invention of the cannon, and there is some implication that some of the early Dwarven designs may have been divinely inspired by him, and then subsequently shared with Regalia through Machinist worshipers, who knew all too well that Regalians would use cannons to kill hundreds of thousands on the battlefield. Temples: The Machinist does not truly have temples, because of the very transitional nature of him as an entity. The Machinist moves around constantly, and is never seen in the same location twice, and as such, centralized worship in his name or image are rarely if ever seen out in the wild world. Shrines do not truly exist either, as many Machinist worshipers tend to also be Technicians or Artificers, who on habit have very messy workshops. Instead, the very workshop itself becomes hallowed ground where divine inspiration and ideas are created and given (un)living form. To attack a Machinist worshiper’s workshop, is to attack the very core of their worship of the Machinist, and draw their ire. There is a somewhat related structure to Machinist Temples however: Necrotech Convexes, which are Machinist Cultist centers of body modification where they offer full body transplant into Necrotech. Worship: The Machinist acknowledges both passive worship and active worship. Active worship is the act of spreading technology to volatile and hostile state entities, so that they may use these to inflict death on others, which makes the Machinist active worship much simpler than Glacial worship. Machinist passive worship is more complicated however, as it involves the voluntary Necrotech replacement of living tissue in patients. It can never be forced or done at the threat of harm, which means Machinist worshipers can’t always be devoid of social etiquette when dealing with potential future patients. Manifestation: The Machinist manifests in Aloria frequently, but sightings of him are often dismissed as night-time storm-time hallucinations, as the only real telltale sign of him is the blaring noise of locomotive signals and green clouds in the stormy night sky. He otherwise works through agents called Necroconductors, who are his representatives, and can be called upon with Divinium (a system-resource acquired from Villiers Raids).

Seleya

Identity: Seleya, also sometimes called the Sandmother, Spider-Queen of the Sands, or Desert Death-Whisper, is the Ordial entity closely related to the death of the Black Desert Dragons, and the archnemesis of all Songaskian forces in Farahdeen. Seleye is a unique Ordial entity in that she exclusively exists in Aloria where she commands her host of Sadeir, the undead ghostly forms of the Sariyd who were choked out by the sands of the Great Storm, as well as various undead desert creatures that still stalk the dunes for prey. She also resides in the great hidden archives of the deep deserts, an always present and mysterious danger for any would-be explorer delving into long abandoned Hadrityas. Ideology: Seleya is a Goddess of hunger for knowledge, but also more-so of hoarding said knowledge and denying others access to them. As opposed to other divine entities that use information to expand their power, Seleya’s power comes through the mortal fear of her existence, and creating her personal followers, who largely seem to be Undead in their own right, sharing what secrets they discover about the past with her and only with her. In a way she can be compared with Inthalis the Manymind in Void Worship, in that she herself is a slave of her internal hunger for information and knowledge, and is far less obsessed about the concept of death, or causing death, merely using it as a vehicle to help her followers work for her much longer when they no longer need to eat, drink, or sleep. She is also extremely hostile to the Songaskia, and they to her, as she is the mother of the same Undead and ghosts that the Songaskian Bentiya (Ordial) priests and Mages put to death in the Farahdeen deserts. Death Nuance: Seleya is known as a Mortality-God (an Ordial Entity not at all motivated to cause death, instead having other motivations), using death as a convenience for her Undead followers to extend their natural lifespan. Seleya’s recruitment can often be very insidious and unnoticed, an often recited tale is that of the Sariyd explorer Hatif, who fell into an ancient abandoned archive. He noted the hundreds of spiders on the walls, but paid them no heed, instead hungrily reading the books that had been abandoned in this place. His obsession was so great that he noticed neither hunger nor sleep, until he no longer needed them. In the process of obsessing over Seleya’s knowledge, he died, but he did not even notice his own death until the flesh fell from his bones, and Seleya’s whispers were no longer the chattering of arachnids on the walls, but in his head. Seleya is considered a very agreeable Ordial entity, who is generally benign to those who fell into her trap, but she never lets any of them go without becoming her worshiper, killing them if they refuse. Temples: There is a common warning in Songaskian society that to enter ancient Sariyd archives and libraries, is to invite death at the hands of Seleya (who herself has an intense hatred for Songaskians also). She does not have Temples, but makes her home in these ancient archives where her Sadeir ghosts and spiderlings make their homes. Far from places to worship however, they mostly exist for her to hoard information and ancient knowledge, while providing a perfect location to turn only the boldest or most obsessed explorers into her personal servants to expand her influence. Shrines dedicated to Seleya are hardly ever seen either, because those faithful to her don’t necessarily want to be seen as someone hoarding a lot of information, as this draws too much attention to them. They much prefer to sink into the background, draw very little attention to themselves, but observe and record everything. Worship: Worship of Seleya is not really done. Most Seleya worshipers, like her, have an obsession with knowledge and information. It is commonly believed by them that Seleya has infected their mind, or rests a tiny little spider in their ear that allows her to know everything they know, and thus there is no need to worship her. If they feed her good information, they are in good graces, and if they bring her nothing new, then they serve no real purpose, and she is apathetic towards them. Sometimes however, what is considered active worship, is for Seleya worshipers to actively go out of their way to make future discoveries impossible, for example by destroying archeological sites, but also by attacking Songaskian religious sites and Bentiya priests. Manifestation: Seleya exclusively exists in Aloria, though has never been witnessed herself in person, only ever through the lens of her followers. Seleya does however speak to her followers, on occasion, or hears their requests for direction on where to find useful information. She can be requested to listen, or speak to, by summoning one of her spiderlings with Divinium (a system-resource acquired from Villiers Raids).

Khannar

Identity: Khannar, sometimes also called Murder of the Sands, Basalt God of Death, is a Baskarr Faith (Asha Religion) entity that exists separately from the Faces of Baskarr, but is still closely related to Asha society and their historical trauma of slavery under the Allorn Empire. Kahannar is an extremely hyper-focused entity that, unlike the ideologies and actions of the other entities, is entirely focused on the Asha trauma towards the Allorn Empire. His claimed territory is No Man’s Land in Westwynd. Ideology: Khannar’s singular obsession is purely with revenge against all things Allorn, whether that means current, past, or even long descendants, even those extremely far removed from this legacy, like the Maquixtl. Khannar is the living embodiment of the rage, fear, anguish, hope, and wishes of the Asha people to be freed from their Elven bondage, and to bring about the worst suffering on their ex-masters that could be imagined. Khannar is such a vehicle of their trauma induced rage, a cruel and savagely bloody being that no Elf has ever managed to survive an encounter of, no matter how hard Allorn authorities try to make the population believe that he does, in fact, not exist. Death Nuance: Khannar has absolutely no Death Nuance. He is a Death-God (an Ordial Entity very strictly motivated by causing as much death as possible), and even then so his hyper-focus is exactly on just stabbing any passer-by Elf in the street for the crime of having been born in a long lineage of abusers and oppressors. Khannar worshipers aren’t exclusively just Asha, but also other Races that have been oppressed by Elves at any point in history, which covers Ailor, Allar to some extent, and a variety of Races now thought of as extinct. It is unclear why Khannar inflicts so much indiscriminate murder on the Elves beyond the racial trauma motivation, though some speculate it is because he is empowered uniquely by the death of Elves. It should be noted that unlike the other Death-Gods, he does not actually feed on the souls of the Elves, rather he discards them, even believing their souls to be too unclean to be consumed and empower him. Khannar’s Cultists are referred to as Khannar’s Claws and they very openly and legally exist in Asha society among the Corsair Fleets, usually responsible for the summary execution of Elves they capture. Temples: Khannar’s temples usually double as Faces of Baskarr Temples, or more specifically, there is usually a shrine set aside for Khannar inside Faces of Baskarr Temples, even if he is not part of the traditional pantheon of Asha Gods. Khannar also has a temple exclusive to him, however it is not clear exactly where it is. Supposedly, it is somewhere deep in No Man’s Land, but this stretch of jungle plateau is so inhospitable (even to Asha who could avoid the wildlife and stay alive at night) that nobody has ever really bothered to find it, save from the Khannar’s Claws who refuse to elaborate on its location, knowing full well that if mortal Asha can reach it, so can the long arm of the Allorn military. Khannar shrines are often built inside private homes, with a bowl of trophies from killed Elves, whether golden tooth crowns, dried ear-tips, ripped jewelry or bloodied and dried pieces of fabric, where prayers are done to lend strength from Khannar. Worship: Khannar worship knows only one active form of worship, and that is the act of attacking and murdering Elves, and anything Elf adjacent. To Khannar worshipers, Teledden, Solvaan, Fin'ullen, Maquixtl, Sihndar, Isldar, it’s all the same, and they all deserve to die for the evil committed by their ancestors. There is one minor exception known as the ritual of Khannar’s absolution. An Elf-adjacent may travel to the Baskarr temple to repent at the shrine of Khannar, after which they must publicly atone in front of local Asha society and or priests. The act involves them being stoned with chains by the Asha that often leaves them bloodied and bruised much like the slaves would have been in the past, before they are finally forgiven with a branding on the neck that marks them as having rejected the Allorn past with the most sincerest of heartfelt intentions, and having atoned for the crimes of their forefathers. Khannar’s followers know to avoid these Elves, by their branding. Manifestation: Khannar supposedly resides in Aloria, though he has not been witnessed often as he only appears to Elves lost in the woods in the north, never to anyone else. Occasionally some Asha have been thought of as Khannar, but they only later were revealed to be Khannar’s Claws and in fact mortal. Khannar’s visage can however be summoned through the shrines of Khannar where he brings to life the stone visage of the statue dedicated to him in exchange for Divinium (a system-resource acquired from Villiers Raids).

Eir

Identity: Eir, the Nobility of Death, the Liege-Lord of Final Graces, is an Ailor that somehow wound up becoming an Ordial Entity and forming a cult that largely exists in the Regalian Empire, and largely among Ailor. Eir is a bit strange, when compared to all the other Death-Gods, in that he is considered almost universally benign, killing only for "good reasons", and targeting only those in need of a mercy-killing by his followers. Eir was once a petty noble of the Wirtemcaller Kingdom, which preceded the formation of the Regalian Empire. Ideology: Eir is, much like the other Death-Gods, an Ordial Entity whose power grows with each kill in his name, but Eir does not demand just any death. Eir stands for loyalty to state and realm, citizenship, the rule of law, but most important of all to kill those who stand in the way of the good that sovereign statehood can provide. In the context of Regalia, which inherited his former homeland Wirtemcaller, Eir essentially stands for the righteous killing of the enemies of the Empire, and enduring loyalty to the Regalian Empire even in undeath, even if the state wishes nothing to do with it. In many ways there are parallels between Eir and the Justice Arken, in that both use killing as a viable way of ridding enemies of their respective ideologies. There is a curious observation to make that an unusually large number of Lothar Knights are suspected to be Eir worshipers, even if they publicly claim adherence to Unionism. There is a theory among scholars that Eir worship manifests in those whose devotion to Empire and killing, or a combination of the two, eventually "fall" to come to appreciate Eir, in a moment where death itself is fetishized as something beautiful and the most powerful expression of the Empire's influence and reach. Outside of some of these crypto-Unionist Lothar Knights, Eir worship exists particularly in Hinter Calemberg, the area south-east of Calemberg, where the burning hatred of the Velheim northerners and centuries of warfare left small pockets of cults honoring him in their wake. Death Nuance: As mentioned, Eir is a Death-God (an Ordial Entity very strictly motivated by causing as much death as possible), but one entirely restrained by the moral of legal (or warfare) justification. Eir permits his followers only to kill on the field of battle, or to kill enemies who have already declared ill intent against his foller's liege-lord, King, Emperor, or whichever other political figure they follow within the structure of a sovereign state. Eir only permits the killing of soldiers, enemies of the state, traitors, law breakers, and so forth. In fact, if an Eir worshiper becomes a murderer or starts killing needlessly, they themselves become unlawful and thus a target for Eir and his followers. Temples: Eir does not have any formal Temples, but shrines to his name are littered all over the greater Calemberg region, including Calemberg, Hinter Calemberg, and even parts of Nordmark. These shrines have always avoided the inquisition, because Eir worship as part of greater Ordial Cultism was always immensely subtle and more importantly, unknown to the Empire's authorities at large. Unlike some of the other murderous cults, Eir worshipers are very normal, very aristocratic-prone, and very patriotic Regalians. They don't mutate (much), don't use Ordial Magic, preferring much more the mundane art of combat, only praying that Eir will send them weapons or armor to fight with. Eir's shrines are usually as such just statues of Knights, the only giveaway being the statue being surrounded by raven symbolisms, as he is sometimes also referred to as the King of Ravens. Many of his shrines in Osteiermark and Tirgunn were vandalized and turned into Ravenlord shrines to praise Coraveau and its Void Cult. Worship: Eir worship is the simple act of granting the release of death to the state's enemies. Eir followers ply their deadly craft with a manner of mundane weapons, as Eir is not strictly anti-Magic, but has a problem with killing through Magic, believe that this allows other Ordial Entities to claim their souls, which he has a strong dislike for. When in the field of battle, those who Eir followers kill have their souls sent to Eir, though no official procedure is followed. For kills attributed to Eir followers off the battlefield however, it is common for Eir followers to carry a stack of raven feathers. For each kill, the brush a feather in the blood of the fallen foe, offering the soul up to Eir. This is the purest form of Eir worship. Manifestation: Eir occasionally appears in Aloria, though the impression is very strongly created that he is actually trapped in the Ordial Realm and can only break beyond it for short periods of time. There is still a lot of internal debate within even his followers how he got stuck in the Ordial Real, what is keeping him there, and why he went there to begin with. The most prevalent theory is that he was an important general who sold his legions to another Ordial Entity in exchange for power, thus causing tens of thousands in his command to die. Now that he has the power he sought, he is choosing to atone for this by being an eternal Death-God that repays the Empire with his enduring existence, for the life he took in his ascension. Eir cannot be summoned or spoken to. He only occasionally appears to his followers at the field of battle in Progressions.

Avarael

Identity: Avarael, Castle-Crasher, Curse of Fenn Mohér, Fallen Augur, all names given to this relatively young Ordial Entity that has quite an unusual following in a very unique niche of the world. Avarael was once an Archon Augur, one of a rare lineage attached to the Crown Dragons, and also an Aelrrigan Knight who lived several centuries ago. Avarael is both a very tragic and perhaps the weakest of all the Ordial Entities found in Ordial Cultism, with subsequently also the very weakest cult that only concerns itself with very specific tasks and activities. Ideology: Avarael is the Mortality-God of Masonry, Construction, Architecture, Bastions, Defenses, and Castles. Avarael in particular is called the Castle-Crasher because he destroys the defenses and fortifications of those who stand against the Ordial Entities, but also builds the death-mazes and wacky contraptions designed to kill those who fall into its traps. It is important to understand that these are not Avarael's own wishes or ideology, rather, Avarael is an enslaved entity to some unknown greater Ordial Entity, perhaps even the Malefica, though he still has worshipers of his own because of small little acts of resistance he applies to his work, and because he is considered immensely gifted and divinely inspired with his construction skills. Death Nuance: Avarael is a Mortality-God, meaning he is not motivated by death, but his so called Death-Mazes are still used by other Ordial Entities to cause death on those unfortunate enough to fall into their trap. Avarael designs catacombs and vast underground networks, usually placed under a ruin or historical structure. Other Ordial servants spread news of treasure, resulting in explorers falling into a vast network of traps and death devices designed to kill them in gruesome ways. Avarael occasionally builds in clever hints or riddles to help the adventurers escape a horrid death, as it is clear that he does not want to do what he is forced to do. He is also called down to destroy castles and other defensive structures designed to fight against the forces of the Ordial, showcasing his constrained yet powerful control over architecture. Temples: Avarael never has temples belonging purely to himself. Rather, because most of his followers are either Breizh Ailor, builders, or architects, small aspects to bring homage to him are incorporated into buildings. Gargoyles with the appearance of Knights with wings for example are symbolic of him, though small carvings of his likeness are sometimes also inserted into the stonework of buildings to offer them protection from the eyes of the Ordial Realm. It is as such possible that an Avarael edifice was inserted into the stonework of many of the major Unionist Temples, only traceable by those who know what hints they are looking for in the masonry. Worship: Avarael worship is performed with obsessive construction or design of impossible things. For example, some of Avarael's worshipers have come together to build the Blytherin manor in Rosendale, which is an impossible manor with hallways that lead nowhere, staircases that run upside down, and hallways that seem to shift depending on the time of day. Equally, worship to Avarael is done by learning the ins and outs of architecture or floor plans. Avarael followers often obsess over small details and design plans of public buildings, to the point that they become knowledge savants of the layout of the cities they live in. Avarael worship is often also combined with worship of other Ordial Cults, mainly because Avarael is a strangely detached entity, and because his hyper-focus on clever design and perfectionism fit nicely with some of the other Ordial Entities. He is also commonly worshiped by those who prefer the Malefica, because it is very much assumed that the he is the pet-builder of the Malefica who yanks his chain. Manifestation: Avarael does not appear in Aloria ever, but his power does. Avarael's story is a tragic one. When exactly he lived or how the Malefica got his grasp on him is unclear. It is speculated that in life he was an insanely gifted architect that the Malefica wanted to ensnare for its own designs, so the Malefica captured or killed Avarael's husband, and lured Avarael with the promise of a resurrection into its service. While in service, Avarael did gain power from the Malefica, but his husband's soul remains trapped by the Malefica, thus ensuring that Avarael remains bound to its will, and keeps helping the Malefica's followers by destroying strongholds built to combat their presence.

The Hunter

Identity: The Hunter, with no distinct name or alternate identity, takes the place of the typical fableist idea of a ‘grim reaper’. It is depicted as a tall and stoic figure clad in armor, furs and other hunting attire, with either a hood filled with empty darkness or a variety of different kinds of animal skulls for a head. The preserved and utilized remains of animals as well as simple weaponry and other hunting effects are used to symbolically represent the Hunter. It has no origin, being one of the original Ordial Gods and a foundational entity in the plane’s functions. Ideology: The Hunter and its followers employ a mixture of specific philosophy and pragmatism to their practice: the Hunter is a guardian and defender of the ambiguous concept of Death itself, doing so by safeguarding the Beyond itself while also acting to preserve the natural sanctity of death and dying. All things must and will die, and the Hunter seeks to ensure that their time comes when it is fated to and not a moment sooner or later. In this way the Hunter opposes other deities that spread wanton death and destruction. Its ideology is also employed in a much-less grand scale, too: hunting animals and going into battle are both seen as sacred acts of Death as well, so long as a degree of honor is employed. All parts of the animal must be used and the opponents one fells in war must be revered. Death Nuance: The Hunter might represent Death and the process of dying symbolically, but it is not regarded specifically as a Death-God seeing as it does not seek to kill en masse and only desires for the natural and fated deaths of everyone, in time. There is nothing to be gained by rushing to end a life, because that life will eventually be claimed, and the Hunter knows this. Death and killing should have purpose to it, like hunting an animal to sustain yourself with food and resources or slaying an opponent in honorable warfare so that you might triumph. This view of death makes a great many of the Hunter’s followers more solitary folk, preferring lives of both physical and emotional isolation. Temples: The Hunter has no actual Temples or specific places of worship for it. Instead, those who follow the Hunter’s path seek out the temples of other Ordial Gods and aid them in the defense of their place of worship. This leads to a nomadic sort of living for a great many of them, traveling across Aloria’s reaches and spending time aiding Machinist artificers, defending Eir shrines and safeguarding the shops of Merchant worshippers. Worship: Worshiping the Hunter is done mostly passively, as living one’s life by and adhering to the tenets of the Hunter brings one in line with any active worship there could be to do. Soldiers and combatants might dedicate their upcoming battle to the Hunter or its blessing may be sought before riding out onto a hunt, which is always done by declaring the intent and purpose of the life or lives you are about to take and coming to peace with it. The skulls of people slain and animals hunted are often collected and fashioned into totems and tributes to the Hunter, adorned with carvings and paintings and trinkets telling the story of the kill. Manifestation: The Hunter does not manifest in Aloria because it has no interest in the machinations or politics of the realm, though it will sometimes send a spirit envoy from its pack of hunting beasts to simply show its acknowledgment to a particularly devoted or faithful worshiper after they have offered it tribute (done through a ticket in RP com describing the tribute and place it’s being done).

The Merchant

Identity: Sometimes called the Faceless Fellow, the Dealer, and even attributed as being a possible source for other trickster deities of folklore, the Merchant wanders the dead wastes of the Beyond making trades and bargains with the various Shades there and sometimes even the living who venture into the plane. It is said to be a deceitful shapeshifter that collects memories and knowledge for the purpose of chronicling the history of Aloria and its denizens and takes on various forms from the memories it snatches away from the unfortunate who fall victim to its wiles. It is depicted as a traveling merchant with a cart piled high with various trinkets and curios, the mask it wears being completely different for each artistic depiction and typically representative of the race or culture who made it. Ideology: The Merchant takes on much less the role of a spiritual entity than a being of great power that offers benefit to those who work in its stead and contribute to the grand goal of collecting and categorizing the lives and memories of all mortalkind, of all time. To the Merchant and its flock, this is a pursuit with noble purpose: the history and very existence of Aloria is a fragile and ever-changing thing, so to preserve the memory of the plane and its inhabitants so that it might exist in perpetuity is beneficial. Their methods, however, are not always so noble. Possessors of knowledge and important memory are oftentime viewed as irresponsible and lacking in comprehension of the importance of what they hold, so subterfuge and deception are often employed in order to learn what they desire. Death Nuance: The Merchant is a Mortality-God, having no real business or interest in the idea of death and others dying. It concerns itself with the decay of time, memory and knowledge. Worshipers of the Merchant make death their business only in that they are interested in providing end-of-life care for the sick and dying so that they might learn the stories and secrets of those who will soon pass away, leading them to frequent slums and destitute clinics to seek out such unfortunate folk. Temples: The Merchant lacks any specific formal Temples, and instead its followers construct their own places of worship in the form of shops and archives and other similar businesses that they may operate out of. These places are dedicated to the Merchant in secret, though a hand-fashioned mask will always be hung upon the wall in order to signify that the owner of the business is a follower: a sort of silent nod to anyone else who might understand the symbol. Worship: Worshiping the Merchant is done through specific avenues. Those who seek out the memories and histories of others keep a special tome on their persons called their Chronicle where they scribe the stories of the lives they learn about. These tomes are a sacred and secretive thing, never to be shared with anyone else. The Merchant is also somewhat a patron of art through its purpose of storytelling, leading some of its followers to express their dedication through artistic pursuits like songwriting, poetry and painting, with the subject matter always being expressions of the memories and stories they collect. Additionally, all Merchant worshippers fashion and carry their own personalized mask, representative of the faceless role they take in their collective goal. Manifestation: The Merchant is known to weave in between planes, finding doors and tunnels in and out of the Beyond to quietly enter and leave through. It is difficult to know when it is manifesting itself, though, because of its nature as a shapeshifter: if one is approached by a traveling merchant who wishes to bargain for an important memory of yours, though, one should exercise caution when dealing with it even if they consider themselves intellectually superior. It is said that the Merchant always wins in their bargains for no memory is useless to them, no matter how seemingly insignificant, and would-be bargainers should always be careful. It can be summoned to bargain with Divinium (a system-resource acquired from Villiers Raids).

The Lantern

Identity: The Beyond’s guide of the dead, the Lantern is a relatively kind-natured entity that tasks itself with acting as a guiding light for all who find themselves lost within the Beyond and in death. It appears as nothing more than a hooded figure with its signature lantern in hand, though some describe it as appearing slightly differently to each person as if to look as comfortable and accommodating to them as possible, even looking vaguely like people in their memories that they are fond of. Ideology: The Lantern takes up the charge of safely escorting living souls who wander into the Beyond back home before something terrible can befall them, but it also busies itself with aiding restless Shades and helping them to pass on peacefully rather than re-emerge in Aloria as Undead. The lantern it carries is a beacon of light in this way and offers those who look into it an all-encompassing and objective view of the lives they led so that they might better find peace with themselves rather than fret about unfinished business of theirs and other pain inherent to life. The Lantern is explicitly anti-Undead this way but not anti-Ordial, seeing the abuse of Shades through painful existences as Undead to be cruel and wasteful when they should instead be resting peacefully and fueling the Beyond. Death Nuance: The Lantern is a Mortality-God, with no interest in the deaths of mortals and instead the destruction of Undead and those who create them. This goal leads them and their followers to attempt to protect the lives of mortals from particularly evil or violent Undead, because these deaths typically just create even more of them and bolster their numbers. Defending the living isn’t a lawful or moralistic charity but instead a practical one to help in their war against Undeath. This leads followers of the Lantern to often align themselves with Black Walker Archons. Temples: The Lantern has a variety of temples and sacred places across Aloria, taking the form of heavily-fortified bastions and sanctuaries rife with ornate lanterns and lined with anti-Undead wards. They often have great ossuaries within them where the bodies and remains of Undead they purge are sealed away, piled high with bones and empty suits of armor. The largest of them is Wassu-Molokani, a fortress just outside of the Songaskian trade city of Diernali. There, the militant radical Lantern-worshippers of Songaskian society operate and monitor the Masaya’s usage of Ordial magic and their necroservants. Worship: Lantern Worship is largely active, though is not explicitly violent or combative. While a great deal of Lantern Worshipers choose to actively hunt and purge Undead, there are others that choose to take on more clerical or caretaking roles and offer their services as healers and spiritual guides for the dead and dying. They can even employ pacifistic methods of settling the restless dead by communing and speaking with them and attempting to resolve their traumas and wild emotions so that they might dissipate and return to their sleep. Regardless, all Lantern worshipers are distinct by the personal lamps they carry on themselves and are never found without, for to hold them is to always keep a piece of the Lantern’s light with you. Manifestation: The Lantern rarely manifests itself in Aloria, instead choosing to project its power through its Soulchained Mages and worshipers that act in its name. It can, however, be summoned with Divinium (a system-resource acquired from Villiers Raids).

The Malefica

Identity: The Malefica, the First to Die, the Grave-sire, called ‘Kruphos’ by an old Allorn cult and seen as the patron and creator of Undeath in Aloria through either direct or indirect means, is a manifestation of the vengeful and angry dead. While its true origin is completely impossible to discern, the myth told among its most dedicated followers is that the Malefica was the very first living thing in Aloria to die and so arrived in an empty Beyond to become its true ruler. It is most often depicted as a towering robed wraith of smoldering darkness, clad in wickedly jagged black iron armor with a crown of sickly green Ordial light. It is shown as wielding a variety of weapons including a war-scythe, a sword and a staff, a nod to its violent means and ends and also its magical penchant. Sometimes depictions show a host of tortured souls caged within its being. Ideology: The Malefica represents anger and violence and general resentment toward mortal life. As the patron of Undeath, the Malefica and those who follow its word see the living as a fundamentally weak breed who would be much more useful and content as raised Undead fulfilling the cause of the Beyond. To the Malefica life is a flickering thing to be snuffed out at whim, so that corpses and Shades can be utilized for a better purpose. All the Undead and worshippers in its flock resent the living world and its gods for standing in the way of the dead rightfully (in their eyes) departing for the Beyond, instead of whatever divine afterlives are in store for them. It is not explicitly kind to Undead, though, and fashions itself a sort of domineering monarch over all things dead and sees the raised Dead both in its army and in the halls of its labyrinthian prison the Tombs to be tools for its grander designs. Its followers tend to think much the same of Undead and even other people, exerting their dominion over them and treating them like chess pieces. Death Nuance: The Malefica is a Death-God, and may very well be paramount of them all: the Malefica longs for the mass extermination of all things living in Aloria in hopes that the sheer mass of violently slaughtered souls will fuel the Beyond enough to swallow the world of the living in its entirety. This does not mean it goes on crusades butchering scores of lives, though, as it prefers to puppeteer living actors in order to achieve this goal. It actively uses what connections and influences it can maintain to create as much wanton death as possible, nudging political imbalances just over the tipping point or setting just enough tinder somewhere to spark a genocidal war. It is believed by many worshippers that every war that breaks out in Aloria is just another furthering of the Malefica’s wishes, for all the lives that war and conquest inevitably claim. Temples: It is known that the Malefica, of all the Ordial Gods, has a great ego. Temples dedicated to it are large and ornate works of grandiose architectural folly: pointless spires and arches and buttresses filling vast, open spaces painted with darkness. Great statues made in its vague image are often found in these temples and even encouraged as a form of worship in their own way, with followers laying down the armaments and sometimes corpses of those they’ve conquered at these statues’ feet. When Allorn Ordial Cultists first discovered the Beyond, they made contact with the Malefica and believed it to be a mirrored version of the deity Estel, dubbing it Kruphos. A great many temples to Kruphos were built in secret throughout the vast reaches of the Allorn Empire’s dominion, and a great many of them have yet to be uncovered: most well-known of these temples among scholars of Ordial knowledge is the Sacellum of Nine-Hundred-and-Ninety-Eight Skulls buried deep beneath the capital city Ivaëlle, which once housed the fabled Black Sepulchre. Worship: Worshiping the Malefica is an active thing, for the most part. Followers endeavor to cause as much death and misery as they can among the living, and so many of them are Undead themselves or just particularly resentful people and necromancers. Going to battle with Archons and other Dragon worshipers is common among Malefica followers, because they act as the guardians of Aloria and life itself. Trophies and tokens of slaughter are always to be taken and given back to the temple that they call home, especially ones of metal and precious gemstones from the earth. The active creation and protection of the Undead is also seen as a sacred thing, as to become Undead is perceived as an advancement of one’s own state of being and people are ‘saved’ from living by being killed and resurrected. Manifestation: The Malefica, because of its power and the threat to life it poses, is actively prevented from manifesting in Aloria by the efforts of Armina the Dragon, the Warden of Souls. It instead pushes its influences through its Soulchained Mages and powerful Undead servants, bidding them to follow its commands in insidious ways and further the cause of snuffing out all life.

Cariel

Identity: Cariel the Blighted One, the Shadow of Time and Memory, is the god of inevitable decay. Once an ancient god of the Beyond simply called ‘the Blight’, it devoured a Greater Exist Demon named Azhagemnos the Preserver and metamorphosed into the god now known as Cariel. They are depicted as a perpetually-crumbling colossus of marble and great dead trees, caught in an eternal state of decay. Ideology: Cariel has little mind or agenda of their own and exists as more of a symbolic monument to the truth of their ideology: that all things, whether they be living creatures or legendary forests or grand temples, will eventually decay and fall to nothing. This makes the specific ideology of ‘decay’ rather varied, with some worshippers taking this idea of decay as far as finding joy in the rot and fermentation of things while others surround themselves with ancient and forgotten places and things. Decay does not necessarily need to be accelerated, though its most fervent fanatics delight in doing so and places where such happens like deep mires or unclean sewer pits. Those that choose to artificially reverse or preserve themselves or other things and prevent decay are anathema to what Cariel and their followers desire, though. Death Nuance: Cariel is a Mortality-God, uncaring about life and death necessarily. Quite like the Hunter, death is an assured inevitability but decay begins before death even occurs and persists on afterward. Losing memory is decay, growing old is decay, the very passage of time itself is decay, and so Cariel does not need anyone or anything to die en masse. Temples: Cariel never has any temples or things built for them, because building something would be seen as creating something new and doing the opposite of decay. Instead, Cariel’s worshippers like to make their holy places in ruins and other old forgotten places, dwelling within them so they can experience the decay of the location in real-time. Anyone traveling through the Sundered Lands or even remote parts of the Vanquished Kingdoms are likely to find small pockets of Cariel’s followers dwelling within the great ruins there. Worship: Cariel worship is varied, with some choosing to actively spread and encourage decay and others simply steeping themselves in it. Some worshippers might choose to surround themselves and revel in piles of rotting flesh, keep collections of fermenting things or cultivate consuming spores and fungi while the more passive of Cariel’s worshippers will simply ruminate philosophically and wax poetic about the beautiful decay of things while simultaneously taking up other pursuits. Manifestation: Cariel will not manifest themselves in Aloria because they have no desire to actively influence the realm. They can, however, be contacted with Divinium (a system-resource acquired from Villiers Raids).

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Accreditation
Writers MonMarty Artists N/A Processors HydraLana	Last Editor HydraLana on 02/22/2023.

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