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Xeradon's Will (sometimes also called Xerdonism) was/is the monotheistic belief in the Deep-Sea Leviathan Emperor Xeradon. This Religion supposedly pre-dates even the Maraya, however, the original believers of this Religion have long since died out. It does not actively compete with the other global religions, instead content to be nothing more than a Cult of sorts that likes to hide itself away from the world. Xeradon's Will is particularly popular among Allar and Finullen that roam around the Hadar area, but some Slizzar who have turned from Draconism, and Ailor Sailors have gotten used to worshiping Xeradon as well, if only out of fear to have their ships not be swallowed by the deep. Xerdonists are generally speaking sociable, but also very good at hiding their true nature, because Xeradon is considered a cruel and violent deep-sea entity beyond their extremely niche society living in the depths of Hadar. This society is made up of a mixture of Mai-Allar and Finullen who belong to no nation state, but have a curiosity for all that lives on the surface.
Xeradon is fear-worshiped by land-walkers, but for the true believers deep below, Xeradon is the master of all seas and the most glorious being that can swallow whole islands as if they were appetizers. He is terribly powerful, some say even more so than the Dragons themselves, and is solely responsible for preventing any of the deep-sea creatures of Hadar from turning into Void or Exist-infested Demons like they do in the east. Xeradon's true full appearance is rarely seen (survived), though a depiction of it can be seen in the art. Xeradon is also known to shapeshift into more humanoid and human-sized appearances, particularly as the Finullen Admiral known as Finbul, or the Allar cage-fighter called Qar. Xeradon's worshipers know these secret identities, but they are not known in the outside world. Xeradon's Will is in general considered a hedonistic religion, which prescribes the world as the faithful's oyster, and land-walkers as temporary playthings. It does not have an Afterlife or Tenets (beyond just being amazing and worshiping Xeradon as the ultimate being), merely a chaotic view of the world of the living, and the endless silence of the deep that follows after. Rituals and traditions often involve water prayers, and activities in and near the water.
Xeradon is the only currently known Pagan God that also produces Godborn called the Deep Ones. However, information on the Deep Ones is rarely known outside of their own religious circles, because Xeradon's will is already an obscure Cult religion, and because its members deign land-walkers to be too inferior of mind and comprehension to behold Xeradon's true glory. Even if Xeradon walked in Regalia, the faithful would suppress their urge to praise and worship him, and work with him instead as if he were their stern father, because none should be alerted of his true identity. Occasionally however, when Xeradon's faithful have established some sort of social rapport (read: feel their social contacts are pet-like/subordinate enough to them that they would not spread the word), they will inform them of the glory of Xeradon in the hopes of converting them. This usually goes paired with a longer running attempt to either magically mutate them to allow them to breathe underwater, or attain some part-aquatic Racial distinction to allow them to swim underwater with them.
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Eldertide Cult
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A Calemberg father's worst nightmare, the Eldertide is an unknowable entity that exists somewhere between reality and the dream state of those who subconsciously hunger for its affection and carnal passion. The Eldertide is a monster that resides in the minds of those who have unexplained feelings towards the Occult, or have illicit dreams they would not divulge to even the most secretive of confessors. It contacts them in their dreams, slowly revealing itself in a plane of astral awareness and metaphysical existence until the subject of any gender gives in to lust and spends a carnal night in this Eldertide's arms (or tentacles!). The Monster itself is never described the same by every person who has had contact with it, leading to the assumption that it is a shapeshifter. Some describe it as a charming Ailor with horns and claws, while others describe intangible horrors and mounds of flesh and appendages. It is generally assumed that the Eldertide appears in whatever way plays into the dark desires of the subject, but that its real appearance is incomprehensible. Its subjects wake the next morning with an infant in their arms, having been born from their pairing, called an Eldertide Godborn. This Eldertide Godborn is born as a Monster. While normally the Races of Aloria can Transform into Monsters with the right powers, Eldertide Godborn can only Transform out of being Monsters. They are born with multiple heads, appendages, shapes, horns, claws, wicked fur, spikes, beastly traits and so forth. From this point, there is usually a junction, either the subject violently rejects the child and their dream, and the child is thrown into foster care or ends up on the streets, or the subject gives in to their dark desire and joins the Eldertide Cult, raising their child as one as well.
The Eldertide Cult is one of monsters. It is not a traditional religion with an afterlife and a code of conduct, but rather a single ideological belief: the Eldertide is truth and divinity and freedom all at once, and the world is full of monsters. All people, ideas, philosophies, systems and concepts are monstrous and in hiding of their corrupt truth. Only the Eldertide and its children appear as they are in honesty, revealing the ugly truth of the world in the physical, and relishing in it. The Cultists seek to return to the loving arms of the Eldertide in their dreams, while its children roam the world either as wretched and hated outcast, or as truthteller that reveals the rot in the wide world for all to see. Some are brazen in their monstrous appearance and consider it true beauty, while others try to hide their status and fit into society as best as possible. Many of them end up hunted by the Lothar and other anti-Monster forces. The exact nature of the Eldertide is not known, some have speculated that it is a Demon, though its coloration is distinctly orange, and has never seemingly cast any kind of Magic besides the creation of its astral reality. The Eldertide is feared wide and far, because its visitation on good and pious Estelley and Unionist homes usually is followed by family drama and misery, as the true allegiances of one of the family members are revealed in due time, breaking the family apart. As a result, the Eldertide is sometimes also called the Homewrecker, a term that is commonly used in vernacular to deride adulterers who lead themselves and others astray.
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The Blood Covenant
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The Blood Covenant is still a very much living and breathing religion that originated from Old Ceardia, but has since spread almost globally, at least wherever Velheim settlers have gone. The Blood Covenant is seen as part ancestor, influencing, but also being influenced by Foprnoss, as it predates Fornoss as a religion, and may well be one of the oldest Ailor religions still around. The Blood Covenant is by some Fornoss faithful considered a heresy, because it denounces Arne, and the other Fornoss, favoring a very much fixated focus on Halfvel and the Godcursed Marken. The Blood Covenant is still existing in various parts of the world, but is particularly popular in Talahm Gall, the more clan and tribal lands of Gallovia where the Gallovian Ailor live, and few Regalian missionaries dare go for the tales of Marken who defend their Queen of Blood.
The Blood Covenant worships a monotheistic female Marken goddess called the Queen of Blood, or the Matron of the Covenant. The Blood Covenant was once a very different religion thousands of years ago, but an event called the Bloodrot which coincides with the betrayal of Jord and Gro in Fornoss, swiveled the Blood Covenant from a fairly peaceful wolf-worshiping religion, into a rather violent cult of Marken with a vengeance. It is said that Halfvel, the only god recognized from the Fornoss pantheons, is the consort of the Queen of Blood, herself a massive wolf goddess, and that the Marken are her children. She however is barren, and so killed a god, from which the rotting corpse oozes so-called Rotten Blood, which if consumed causes a person to become Marken. This phenomena is somewhat studied because it happens somewhat close to Regalia, with scholars verifying that the Blood is not quite Occult in origins, but causes manifestations of Primal Revenants in those who consume it, that turn them onto a dark path of violence.
The central command of the Blood Covenant is to consume the Rotten Blood, as to fight the "encroachment of all that is golden", but also to avenge the event called the Bloodrot (though it remains somewhat unclear what this means, it just instills a dislike of Fornoss worshipers). The encroachment of all that is golden appears more like an analogy against the march of progress, in essence: fighting against anti-Magic sentiments, fighting against colonization, fighting against the eradication of tribal or uncivilized societies by centralized states, fighting for the autonomy of culturally dissonant regions, and having an intense hatred for lies, deceit, and falsehoods. Worship of the Blood Covenant is done by sacrificing animals (and sometimes, people), and consuming their heart before going on the hunt, with the hunt being either literal, or figurative for an enemy.
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Malefica Cults
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As the main “branch” of Ordial Cultism and worship, the Malefica is an entity of pure, uncompromising malice and evil, seeking nothing less than the absolute death and destruction of every living thing on Aloria. Worship of it has existed in many forms, the most prominent of which was an underground Allorn-Era cult called the “Cult of Kruphos,” led by the prophet Zenalläeia. The Malefica has never had a singular unified religious cult or clergy, however, as even amongst its own worshippers there is fierce competition and double-crossing to ensure that its followers are always on its “good” side, or at least the side where it ignores them. The majority of the Malefica’s followers are Undead and Shades who manifest chained to its will, whether by a misguided choice, or by falling victim to one of its schemes. The Malefica itself has never been directly seen or recorded, and is only known as the original “entity” in the Ordial Plane, and also the most powerful. It is said by some Shades who return from Bintaar that the outermost constructs of its domain appear as many-armed skeletal figures of sharp, jagged black-iron, with malformed skulls of green fire that appear halfway between a human’s and a bird’s.
The Malefica as an entity is considered to be the origin point of many of the worst catastrophes, mass-death incidents, and bloodiest wars in the History of Aloria. While the Malefica is not solely responsible for the evils that people commit, it is almost always there to nudge things along to ensure that more people die in anguish and agony. The Malefica cannot leave Bintaar to directly enact its will, so it relies on its heralds, followers, and minions to act for it. It has no tenets, no hierarchy, and no commands or dogma other than to detest life and see it ended. It will frequently target people of great power, influence, and importance, in order to corrupt them to its will and turn them into agents of death, promising power, immortality, or the souls of their loved ones. The purest form of Malefica “worship” is to directly or indirectly cause people to die before their time, and offer souls up as fodder for the Malefica to capture and use for its own goals. The Malefica grants considerable power to its followers, enticing many to pledge allegiance in an attempt to spare themselves the proverbial sword.
There is no uncertainty or nuance about what the Malefica wants, and what it is willing to do to get what it wants, so direct, knowing worship of the Malefica is one of the most abhorred faiths in Aloria. Even the most bloodthirsty Gods, like Blodrúna in Fornoss, find no kinship with the Malefica because people must first be alive for Blodrúna to kill them, but if the Malefica had its way, the concept of “life” itself would cease to exist. The only Gods and Beings that “collaborate” with the Malefica are the ones that it has ensnared to its will, and all of them seek to break free. Worship of the Malefica is miniscule amongst the living, but death-rotten Undead who have lost all hope will often turn to it for the promise that everyone will end up like them, if it were to have its way.
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Consigner Cults
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The Consigner is one of the most peculiar Ordial Entities of great power and note, because functionally the Consigner does not cause any death at all, at least not directly. The Consigner is more generally known as a trickster and deal-maker God, who is willing to broker with mortals and Gods alike for information or assistance. What the Consigner is best known for, however, is that no matter who or what he deals with, he almost always comes out on top. His main method of manifestation is offering knowledge, artifacts, power, or any number of worthwhile things he has collected, in exchange for memories. While the likes of The Thousand Eyed God desire to learn information from others, the Consigner always desires to take it from them. Whatever he is given, the giver forgets entirely, and cannot ever truly gain back unless someone else bargains with the Consigner to have it returned to them. He is known as one of the most shrewd deal-makers of all the Gods, capable of pulling one over on even the Malefica. The Consigner personally never causes death or destruction, but the knowledge that he gives to others, or the deals he brokers, often do. Some scholars also posit that the Consigner represents the “true death” that occurs when someone, or something, is completely forgotten.
As far as Ordial Gods go, the Consigner is perhaps the most popular to worship, but also the most fickle with his followers. The Consigner does not treat members of his cult any differently, and always expects that they have something of value to offer him for his graces and favor, even if they steal it from someone else. Memory-theft is a common method of worship, with the memories taken being offered up to the Consigner in exchange for power. To him, however, all memories are not made equal. Easy to replicate memories (such as, for example, eating a kind of food) are never something he is interested in, but important, irreplaceable memories are what he often asks for. The Consigner manifests in Aloria as a harlequin merchant, brokering deals himself. In many cases, the Consigner will often ask for the majority of someone’s memories, leaving them with little knowledge outside of their deal. While it is well known that the Consigner always skews deals in his favor, countless people still seek to make deals with him, because of the vast knowledge he has collected, and the rare and powerful artifacts and objects he can offer. It should always be understood, though, that bargaining with the Consigner will haunt more than it blesses.
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Machinist Cults
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The entities with the most power and influence in the Ordial Plane (also called Bintaar) often represent twisted, corrupted versions of concepts or things in Aloria. The Machinist is the perfect example of this, as he is the God of technology and machines, but specifically of highly advanced technology that is hoarded and used to bring about death on an industrial scale. The Machinist’s followers, usually Undead who have incorporated technology into themselves, or living people who have become undead by virtue of the amount of Ordial-corrupted technology they have replaced their body parts with, steal and collect these kinds of technology for their master. The Machinist covets information, schematics, and knowledge of Technology fiercely, storing it all within his “body” in Bintaar. The Machinist’s manifestation in Bintaar is known by his most fervent worshipers and the Qadir people to be a vault of immense size, filled with vast knowledge, the greatest library in existence: tended for by a legion of Shades that care for what he has meticulously hoarded. The Qadir, or more accurately the Sariyd, have a long and sordid history with the Machinist, which is explained on the Sariyd History Page. It is because of the betrayal of the Sariyd that the Machinist’s presence and power in Aloria was severely diminished for a period in time, but their reliance on his power and technology eventually returned him to life. The only thing that Machinist Cultists need to know, however, is that the Qadir (save those few who remained loyal to him) are the Machinist’s sworn enemy, and are, in the modern era, the main target of his hatred and schemes.
The Machinist has two main methods through which he manifests and spreads his influence in Aloria, through his followers. Firstly, the Machinist instructs his servants and followers to steal knowledge, schematics, and physical machines from mortals, especially revolutionary technology and inventions. Machinist Cultists will often murder inventors, stealing their souls and turning them into Shades to serve the Machinist, and offering their technology up to him. The Machinist is also a temptor, who offers revolutionary advancements to those who are willing to serve him. No matter how well it goes initially, however, it always results in a magnitude of death to pay off his investment. It is for this reason that the Machinist can often be insidiously harmless, as his worshippers will pose that all he wants is knowledge, and technology, and look at how much good technology has done for the world. What they always fail to mention, however, is that the end result of his influence is almost always a massacre, as that is how he reaps the most knowledge and shades in his service. The Machinist also lives through all of the technology he grants to others, and powers, especially Necrotech, which grants him a vast awareness of the world, where his technology is spread. Secondly, the Machinist demands of his followers that they replace their organic bodies with machinery. Undead followers of the Machinist are frequently made of rusted, corrupted metals, and many of his living followers replace so much of themselves with machinery they become functionally Undead themselves. They also attempt to impose this ideology on others, preaching the benefits of technology over a mortal body, but conveniently leaving out that this would ensnare them to the Machinist’s will.
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Trivia
- Pagan within the canon universe refers to religions pre-dating Unionism. While this technically also includes Fornoss from the perspective of the Ailor, because Fornoss is such a large and populous religion in the modern era, it is not included in classical categorization, even if some Fornoss worshipers refer to themselves as "The Pagan".
- Not all Pagan religions were Monotheistic, but in general the majority of them are, and at least all the Pagan religions that are well known or to some degree understood and still around. Why Ailor religions suddenly swapped from monotheistic to polytheistic is unknown, though it is speculated to have been related to a widening of perspective on the world from only regional awareness, to global awareness.
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