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| Evolism | |
|---|---|
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| Religion | |
| Pronunciation | E-vol-ism, the word is meant to evoke Evolution rather than Evil in pronunciation. |
| Origins | Unclear, Void Worship predates it, but the religion formed around 1000 BC. |
| Deities | |
| The 9 Evolist Gods bound in one single pantheon. | |
Origins
For as long as the Void has been invading Aloria, there has been such a concept as Void Worship, which is the ancestor of Evolism. Void Worship was the pure concept of worshiping the theoretical benefits of the Void through the Void Gods, which are mysterious entities that exist almost entirely within the Void. Since the Elven period, however, something changed, and Void Worship itself was revealed to be largely a charade played by those dark gods to trick mortals into ending their own existence with false promises. That being said, the Void was always capable of granting powers that the Alorian Gods could not, and the Dragons would not. In the waning millennia of the Allorn Empire, Void Worship transformed from its old world-ending philosophy, into Evolism. Evolism as a Religion preaches the brokenness of the natural world and the flaws of creation by stagnant Gods (Dragons, most notably), and professes the need for evolution of the land, the people, and all forms of thought and action. Simpler put, Evolism holds that believers must seek to ascend to some higher form of being, with each God representing a slightly different way of doing so, but all combining to form a greater whole. Evolism has waned over the years in popularity, facing an immediate crash with the Allorn Empire's collapse, but a steady rise since. Another notable event was the inclusion of Ordial Entities who stand in opposition to the Malefica in the Beyond, and Void Entities that share Alorian God-Magic and Void combinations. As a result, even though some of the Gods are almost entirely Void-themed or designed, they can all use powers with Void, Ordial, or God Magic capacity, either because they derive this God Magic from other Religions (Catheron taking from Thirun), or because they stole it by killing a Pagan God (in the case of Int). It should be noted finally, that Evolism is frowned on in the Regalian Empire, and in many other states, except the Dread Empire. To spread the faith, preach, or act towards the wills of the Evolist Gods against Regalia's interests, is illegal. There is no requirement for Regalian citizens to banish or kill Evolists, but many Evolists who are known to the public are attacked by Unionist fanatics and Purists, who consider Evolism nothing but Demon worship. Evolism is not inherently an evil Religion, and many of the Gods have extremely nuanced ideologies, but the threat from Evolism comes from its association with Spirits, Ordial Entities, and Arken, and the fact that many of the pious actions involve engaging in crimes.
Gods and Goddesses
Evolism has a strict set of Gods, though as centuries pass, sometimes Gods join or leave for a variety of reasons. Not all Gods are equally present in Aloria either, as each individual condition is different. It is important to note that Evolism definitionally excludes Exist Worship, and is not the same as Void Worship anymore, which would cause someone to worship the Arch-Void and thus want the destruction of all things. Evolists are fond of the world, they just want to make it (and themselves) better through the gifts of the Evolist Gods and the ideologies they represent.
Catheron, the Eclipse Witch
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Description |
Catheron is the personification of the Pride Arken who ascended to Godhood when he uplifted the Void Cultist Elves to Kathar and inflicted the ultimate destruction on the Arch-Exist. In the power that he gained from this act, he murdered the Void God Onu, and absorbed all of his power to breach into the Void where this superior fragment of his identity remains a constant reflection from his mortal incarnations on Aloria. Catheron is simply put the Evolist God of all things Magical, Artifacts, and Power, but so much more beyond that. Catheron's preachings state that reality in Aloria is suffering and pain and that the enforcers of reality (Dragons, and other Gods) are inflicting perpetual torture on the living through disease, death, entropy, divine laws, and decay. He raises the idea that Magic is the ultimate solution to this inflicted torment, where the sufferer can reverse the roles and re-impose reality to assuage their suffering, while also ascending to the same plane as the inflictors. He exposes the perpetual hypocrisy of the world and Purists in relying on Magic and the Arcane to save the world from repeat calamity, often inflicted by the natural state of the world itself, only for them to turn against Magic afterward and claim it was the source of all problems after all. He preaches against the hypocrisy of those forces who would try to control and contain Magic by their own designs and demands that the world be made an Arcaneocracy, where Mages hold power. He is the personification of all self-indulgent vices: Pride, Greed, Lust, Wrath, and Vanity, and embodies the relish found in feeding these qualities. |
| Virtues |
To Catheron, it is a virtue to satisfy the 6 Devotions of the Void, to be vain and self-centered, to be prideful and boastful, to be greedy and never take satisfaction with limited wealth or power, to show wrath to those who are deserving of punishment, and to have lust in partaking in debauchery without restraint. Furthermore, as he embodies the monumental power of Magic itself, it is virtuous in his eyes to become a Mage, to learn more Magic, and to become more powerful in the usage of the Arcane. Other forms of virtue are the acquisition of Artifacts, the defeat of those forces that would contain Magic (such as Aelrrigans and Lothar Knights), and generally raging against the hypocrisy of a world that has become dependent on Magic but must insist it is still the source of all problems. | |
| Vices |
Catheron's vices are the 6 Defects of the Void, in acedia causing a state of listlessness, in sloth causing a state of laziness, in sadness and self-pity, in hubris caused by detachment from reality, in gluttony to live to eat, and in loss of power by a weak mind to be controlled by others. Note, control itself is not a sin, as the powerful can inflict their will on others through mind-control but to be subjected, commanded, or controlled by another without objection is a sin. Catheron is considered the judge of the Evolist afterlife who weeds weak souls from the strong ones to pass on. | |
| Mechanics |
All worshipers of Evolism are granted the gifts of Catheron. The first is the Law of Catheron's Reflection, which causes any Curse directly placed on an Evolist to also be mirrored back on the (non-Greater Entity) that did it . This does not make the Evolist immune to the Curse, it just means an identical Curse is placed on the Curser (that they cannot remove themselves). Secondly, Evolist worshipers are granted by Catheron, the ability to subtly influence people around them, by either heightening their 6 Devotions of the Void or heightening the 6 Defects of the Void for their own purposes. |
Morrlond, the Undefeated Depths
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Description |
Morrlond is superficially a God of the sea and of the unknown creatures and dark depths within, but he represents much more. He represents struggle and competition, over land and power, over wealth and influence, and competition over who is the strongest and who can lay claim to fame and glory. It is from Morrlond that Evolists gain their drive to push outward and compete with other Religions and peoples to show their innate superiority, and largely also so many other faiths consider Evolism to be a threat to their own flock. Morrlond endears in all the Evolist subjects a territorial ambition, not necessarily to spread the faith to non-believers, but to extend the reach by which the true believers can influence events and people to their will. Morrlond demands that his followers send emissaries to tournaments and public displays of skill, where they can show the physical and mental superiority of their flock. Morrlond competes with the other traditional sea Gods Xeradon, and Vyrë over control of Aloria's Oceans, while the Estelley Goddess Sinnavei is his one true love. Though, as she is a Goddess on land, and he is a God of the sea, they are destined only to meet on land in those few times when Catheron permits, by causing an Eclipse and allowing the two opposite bodies to meet in embrace. Morrlond's origins are very unclear, it is known that he was once a Spirit Sovereign of the Void, but how he managed to become an Evolist God is never clarified. It is believed that he somehow tricked or defeated a Void God of monsters, and as a result, inherited the parentage of the creatures of the deep. |
| Virtues |
Virtue for Morrlond is simply put, to win. Winning at practically anything from a simple chess game to an elaborate Imperial Tournament, only to unfurl the Evolist banner at the very end to shock the Nobles gathered in scandal. Morrlond's virtue is to strife to be stronger, better, faster, and better, not by taking these traits from others (as Apotheon might), but by cultivating them inside. This can sometimes include Magic, though Magic is often considered the realm of Catheron, and as a result, Morrlond's focus is more bodily. Virtue is seeking out the Champions and heroes of other faiths and societies, and defeating them or making them kneel to the superiority of Evolism. Perhaps the greatest virtue is causing others to convert to Evolism, purely out of awe at the winner. | |
| Vices |
Morrlond's vice is letting others win, with very little nuance. It is wretched in the eyes of Morrlond, to think that the worshipers of Evolism no matter how small their community might be in foreign lands, has no impact on events locally or globally. The greatest sin of Morrlond, is to be so thoroughly uninformed of the ongoing of local and global events, that ignorance and inaction set in, and make Evolists and their Gods as a whole unfelt and irrelevant to the passage of time. Morrlond does not strictly punish failure, because trying is better than doing nothing, but he does punish self-pity in loss. | |
| Mechanics |
All worshipers of Evolism are granted the gifts of Morrlond. Morrlond's gifts mainly aim at overcoming losses. Any Evolist who participates in an Event-Calendar noted Tournament that involves Combat Roleplay, and should lose, gains +2 Attack Stat (breaking cap up to 11) for the next Event-Calendar noted Tournament. This effect can stack (increasing the cap by 2 each time also), until they win, after which it is removed. Secondly, Morrlond allows all Evolists to breathe underwater, but does not grant them underwater Combat Roleplay Mechanics or Abilities. |
Apotheon, the Forceful Harmony
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Description |
Apotheon is a young Evolist God that was born from the collapsing chaos of the Allorn Empire and the anguish of that imperial demise. Even though modern sentiments to Elven diversification are settled, many still hold regard for a time when they were all one before ideologies divided them. Apotheon represents in his purest form this desire to re-unify, but rather than take any one ideology or form as superior, to absorb the good qualities of all the Elven peoples, to create the perfect being. He desires to combine the Teledden gift for Magic, the free will and creative mind of the Kathar, the Maquixtl bodily transformations, Isldar sharpness of consciousness and insight, the unrivaled martial skill of the Sihndar, the control over lesser beings of the Suvial, the physical prowess and beauty of the Fin'ullen, the attuned senses of the Gralathar, the self-control and discipline of the Lanlath, and the mental acuity of the Daresalar, to create something that the Dragons could never dream of. For this outcome, however, his subjects are rarely willing, either due to ideological dissent, or because the inherent process of being reduced to genetic matter and being absorbed to empower someone else, is violent and existentially horrific. Apotheon is not only a god for Elves, even non-Elves can attune their own body and mind to the perfect being by making use of Apotheon's gifts, as few can refute the perfected and honed skills and qualities of the Elves that are worthy of envy. Outside of the emphasis on creating the perfect being, Apotheon is also a patron of fine art, artificial beauty and the power of attraction. |
| Virtues |
To Apotheon, it is virtuous to seek out those with qualities to be envied, whether born beauty, trained physique, acquired skill, or attuned traits and in essence to consume or steal them into the worshiper's own being. Apotheon's greatest virtue is a chase to become perfection itself and to trample whoever gets in the way. One specifically geared towards Elves is working towards the concept of Pan-Elvism, the idea that all Elves should re-unite as one perfect people, taking with them all the skills and honed traits to complement each other's faults and talents. Finally, a great virtue of Apotheon is to produce things of beauty, whether that means art, a beautiful painting or statue, or a macabre cabinet filled with jars with the congealed essences of beautiful and skilled people, all beautifully labeled and organized. | |
| Vices |
Apotheon's vices are the destruction and ruination of beauty and perfection. Anyone who destroys art, destroys Elven legacy or ruins, or who disfigured for example a Sapphora Godborn. This also extends to the self, with Apotheon looking disfavorably upon sloth and laziness, upon the abuse of the body through meaningless opiates and indulgent over-eating, lethargy, and doing nothing. | |
| Mechanics |
All worshipers of Evolism are granted the gifts of Apotheon. The first is to be able to manifest or have Apotheon's golden tail (or in other aesthetic) by which they are able to extract the essence of a person by drawing blood, or consuming them wholly by draining all the liquid from their body and leaving behind a husk. From there, they can choose to manifest parts of the extracted/absorbed person's appearance, skills (like being good at art or cooking, but never Proficiencies) and in essence fuse them into their being. Changes applied to appearance never count as Disguise, and cannot imitate a person. |
Armas, the Golden Order
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Description |
Armas is simply put a Love God, and while the other Evolist Gods have complex narratives and nuances on the state of the world and their intentions, Armas is delightfully simple. Armas embodies the desire of even the most wretched and undesirable people in the world to have love, their deserving of affection and compassion, and their want for intimacy and passion. All Evolists in general have a thing for wanting to be attractive and desired by others for companionship or carnal pleasure, and Armas answers all of these. He is traditionally depicted in a state of higher awareness and tranquility because he has reached a state where he can love and desire for others equal to all, and himself, and is free of jealousy, envy, and fear of rejection. His compassionate lovemaking and embrace of endearment is equally as warm and endearing to all, and he is not held back by the limitations of ideology, beliefs, religion, history, or intention. It is said among Evolists, that this is why so many of them have a thing for enemies to lovers stories and experiences because they express in the simplest form where love can reach complete perfection in being as a single thought transferred from one soul to another without all the associated baggage. Armas himself is a shapeshifter but frequently appears as a physically fit Eronidas male, covered in the pathways of affection which those who are blessed to meet him say they feel the warmth of closeness even when far away from him. Armas walks among the mortals more than any other Evolist God, particularly bedding those that are otherwise rejected as unwanted or ugly, to grant children. |
| Virtues |
Virtues to Armas are simply put to show affection, intimacy, and share passion, preferably with as many partners as possible, preferably with as little drama as possible. In his virtues, it is said that a person who truly loves themselves, is capable of boundless and equal love and companionship for all, one who is free of envy and jealousy, and one who can continue the spread of that affection through their children. It should as such not come as a surprise, that a virtue for Armas is also to have offspring and to teach them the good loving qualities of life. While ostensibly his Godborn are created as protectors of Evolism and its followers, they are just as much protectors against loneliness and embody their father's qualities to those who suffer from loneliness or rejection. | |
| Vices |
Armas does not generally speaking have vices, but one often unspoken aspect about his gospel is that love can very quickly descend into obsession or idol-worship. A common problem arises, in that the people who lay with Armas to have Godborn, end up becoming obsessed with him to the point of non-function, causing many Godborn to first-hand witness their mother wither away as a sign of the dark side of love. A potential sin is also the uneven application of affection, because Mortals do not have infinite energy and infinite grace of mind, so a person should always approach polyamory, with a clear mind. | |
| Mechanics |
Armas is the only Evolist God that does not grant gifts to the faithful, because he claims that his love itself to them, is a gift. Instead this section will discuss some miscellaneous thoughts. Armas Godborn, are considered the perfect pairing for Sapphora Godborn, with Sapphora being considered the Golden Beauty, and Armas the Golden Body. The "Golden Order" refers to a command from Armas to produce the penultimate being of love, a child born from an Armas and Sapphora Godborn pairing. Such a child gains a mix of Sapphora and Armas Godborn Traits (to be defined when Godborn Page is updated). |
Ravaal, the Glacial March
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Description |
Ravaal, sometimes also just called the Glacial, is an enigmatic entity that was born in the chaos and mass-death of the Archmage Wars in the Allorn Empire many centuries before its collapse. She was born in the Beyond as a servant of the Malefica, held in the cold and lonely death of glacial entombment. For centuries she lay in waiting, plotting both against Dragons and her master, for her ulterior motive is to kill the Malefica for imprisoning and using her, while raging against death itself. While the Malefica hates life and wishes to create Undeath life for all living things, Ravaal hates the finality of death and wants to end the concept itself (and thus, the Malefica). She acted through her greatest Champion Frisit, the Ordial Dragon who possessed the frozen corpse of Aurora and deceived the Isldar for centuries until the revival of the Dragons revealed her web of deceit. The revelation caused a civil war among the Isldar, with those loyal to the Dragons becoming the Life Isldar, and those loyal to Ravaal and Frisit becoming the Death Isldar. In a stroke of irony, the Life Isldar inflict and enforce death because the Dragons ordain that death is a necessary component of life, while the Death isldar defy death and postpone it to preserve their life in whatever means necessary, whether this means technological or magical augmentation. Ravaal represents to Evolist worshipers, the desire to cheat and avoid the concept of mortality and to refuse to see an end in things, to resist the very concept of finality. Outside of these qualities, Ravaal is also a Goddess of class and grace, embodying the old Imperial qualities of Allorn Archmages. |
| Virtues |
To Ravaal, virtue is to enforce the Glacial March, which is a common life philosophy against the concept of death itself. This can include vowing only to use non-lethal weapons, healing the sick and injured, or vowing to be a champion of ending death by saving those at risk of death or putting to eternal sleep those who inflict death. These acts always come with a twist: those "killed" with non-lethal weapons fall into an eternal glacial Cursed sleep, healing of the sick and injured is done by installing twisted death-metal machines in their body that literally force them to stay alive despite the pain or quality of life. Finally, forms of virtue for Ravaal are also ending Undead beings who are Deathrotting, or otherwise bound to the will of Malefica, for ruining the Malefica's work is the greatest loyalty to Ravaal. | |
| Vices |
Death itself is not strictly a sin, Ravaal worshipers are not disallowed from causing death as a whole, but must ensure that such a Death does not empower the Malefica, or is inflicted for no strong reason. To this effect, Ravaal aids worshipers in trapping their soul in soul-shards, to prevent the Malefica from getting its claws on them. Others vices are fear of death, and apathy to murder and death. | |
| Mechanics |
All worshipers of Evolism are granted the gifts of Ravaal. They can bless their weapons in the Glacial March, becoming ghostly and see-through. Any would-be lethal wounds they inflict will not kill, instead when if expire, they fall into a glacial coma, a Curse requiring 3 Mages with 7 Proficiency in Magic to break to awaken. Secondly, she grants Evolists the means to produce Soul-shards, which are small ice-like crystals in which they can capture the souls of those that they do end up killing, where they can choose to keep them, or let them pass on without the Malefica getting close. |
Gahan, the Demon Emperor
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Description |
Gahan is an ancient Evolist God that existed once as a God in his own right among the Dewamenet Gods, of the Aska (what would in the modern era become Khama) It is said among the Khama faithful that Gahan betrayed the Asha Gods when the Dewamenet Empire fell, fleeing with cowardice into the Void, becoming a Void God. As the Dewamenet Empire fell, and Evolist propaganda took over, the true version of events became unprovable, with Evolists claiming that Gahan stole the Dewamenet afterlife. On his back, he carried the souls of millions of dead Asha, a prison of the Dewamenet Empire kept alive in the realm of the dead. When he entered the Void, he turned this prison into an army, and quickly set about conquering the hierarchies of the Spirit Dukes and Spirit Sovereigns, eventually becoming the Spirit Emperor of the Void, ruling over the chaos as the only constant. Now, all Spirit Sovereigns and Dukes fear and obey him while they war one another, and all Spirits of the Void invariably serve him, with his own Demon Legion being one of the most formidable. In many ways, he is considered a rival to the Malefica of the Beyond, in that both command Spirits to the utmost, however, they are also oppositions of each other's ideologies. Where the Malefica seeks to end all life and free will in undeath, Gahan seeks in a way to preserve, turning the willing and unwilling into Demons of his host and spreading his influence. Gahan as a Spirit is immensely dangerous, bereft of By-laws and with unclear motives, whenever his personal involvement is suspected, many stay well clear. |
| Virtues |
Because Gahan is in a way a Death-God and the doorway to the afterlife of Evolism, most of his virtues concern the proper passage of death. To Evolists, nothing is more humiliating or ruining to the power of one's soul than being denied a good death, and so it is virtuous to help other Evolist worshipers to a good end. This can include dying in battle in one final duel, being absorbed into one of Apotheon's greater perfections, or ascending into a Void Demon or being called back from the afterlife by an Evolist priest to protect a Temple or their flock. Another unexpected virtue for Gahan is solidarity. While many Evolism worshipers compete internally over power, they must always unite when external threats are posed, even if that sometimes means working with unsavory persons to resist external pressures. | |
| Vices |
Gahan's vices concern his hatred for inflexible and unpragmatic cowardice in stagnancy. What this more specifically means is choosing to die or be humiliated unheroically, and not racing with every fiber of one's being against diminishment imposed by others. On the eve of his own demise, Gahan willed himself into a hostile world, and bent and broke it to his will, showing there is always a way for a will. | |
| Mechanics |
All worshipers of Evolism are granted the gifts of Gahan. While in a Spirit Duke summoning, Evolists can call upon the insight of Gahan to peer through potential lies and double-speak of a Spirit Duke, to uncover hidden intentions. This won't allow a worshiper to fully understand the scope of the summoning interaction, but ward against unexpected traps or misleading that the Spirit Duke may be using to deceive the summoner. This Mechanic must be actively called upon during a Spirit Duke negotiation but can be called upon any number of times, though only by the person negotiating. |
Ventra, the Elemental Vengeance
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Description |
Ventra is considered one of the more benign Evolist Gods, but one that is nonetheless capable of extreme cruelty and wroth to cast asunder whole kingdoms. Ventra is a timeless being that was once an Ordial entity called the Huntress, but broke free from the Malefica's control and joined forces with the Evolist Gods. Ventra's sole purpose once was to hunt the Undead as an affront to nature, but when she was exposed to Aloria, became so enraged by the pollution and destruction of the world that she in effect became a mistress of revenge for nature itself. She does not preach about the purity of nature in its Dragon-created form, for she is the creator of the Wylwarped woods, woods that were magically altered along with its denizens to become fantastical and incomprehensible. Rather, she despises the careless destruction and pollution of nature without sustainability, endless wood cutting and the building of brick and stone houses that deprive nature their home while factories pollute and choke out the air and rivers. She harnesses the four elements of Air, Water, Fire and Earth, and bends her Magic and arrows to strike down enemies of the natural world and fortify the creatures to fight back. Common sightings of her creation are the stag with burning antlers, the rock-throwing birds, the water-serpents that spit liquid toxins, and the cockatrice that shrieks with such shockwaves, that it ruptures ear drums. As a result of all of this, Ventra is often worshiped by nature-fanatics who both protect, and change nature to create their and its creatures' paradise, while also absorbing nature into their own being. |
| Virtues |
It should come as no surprise that Ventra's greatest virtue is the protection and expansion of the natural realm. This can include engaging in the harassment and destruction of construction sites that seek to supplant nature, or to reclaim built in areas by growing vast forests or swampland into them, thus allowing natural creatures to return. Another virtue of Ventra that stands in opposition to the many other Religion-based nature preservationists like Mana for Estelley and Gaia for Draconism, is that binding Magic in nature itself is a virtue for Ventra. In Ventra's eyes, nature was born incomplete and weak, denied the right to defend itself against the corruption of sentience. In her eyes, nature would fare a lot better with toxic spores, spikes and horns, while allowing worshipers to live in symbiosis in nature. | |
| Vices |
Ventra's sins are affronts to nature, and while she is no longer the Huntress, one of the greatest crimes in her preachings is to be Undead. To be Undead is a great vice, and one which causes other worshipers to hunt one to the ends of Aloria. Other vices in Ventra's teachings are the meaningless destruction of nature like leisure hunting, landscape planning for noble parks, and eradication or extinction of unique species and creatures. Ventra also harbors extreme hatred for those that cleanse nature that has been given the magical means to defend itself, thus undoing her and her faithful's work. | |
| Mechanics |
All worshipers of Evolism are granted the gifts of Ventra. Ventra allows Evolists to incorporate aspects of natural creatures, plantlife, or geology into their own body, for example by manifesting a bear's arms, a deer's antlers, a feline tail, rock plating, or floral patterns in their hair, all of these changes being purely aesthetic. Additionally, if they witness a person violating nature in opposition to Ventra's teachings, they can summon Ventra's bow and glowing arrows, to mark a person. From then on, until they repent to Ventra, any Evolist that meets them will know they are a sinner. |
Int, the Thousand Eyes
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Description |
Int is an ancient Void God as old as the Void Invasions themselves, and potentially the first entity of the Void that somehow crossed dimensions to teach the Seraph how to connect with the Void, causing some to thus claim that Int is the cause of all Void Invasions and the Tear in the Veil. Int is a knowledge God who hungers for knowledge and information, it controls the Wellspring of Knowledge, which is said to be a fount of knowledge so vast that to drink even a single drop, causes a person to go mad with knowing. It has gone by many names through the millennia: The Thousand Eye God, The Unknown One, Djjwa, Inthalis or Innalis, and the Worm, all drawn from the nightmares of Cultures and Peoples as his servants writhed and wormed their way into the mind and conscience of their victims to harvest memories and knowing for their master. Int is one of the most feared entities in the world because it uniquely out of all the Gods and Dragons in existence, has touched every civilization and every culture in some way and left behind instinctive fears towards the concept of the ear-burrowing worm by which it feeds on memories. Int's motivations are nebulous, as it has been found to act on small scales to encourage treason and chaos, but also on large scales to change the course of time and the direction of whole cultures. It is said inside Evolism, that Int is the architect of confusion and unknowing, and that many contradictions and false-leads of information that are sprinkled throughout history are his doing, yet despite all this power, it is always bound in the Void, only able to interact with Aloria through its disciples. |
| Virtues |
To spy, to gather information, and to be a broker of knowledge, these are all virtues for Int, but above all to whisper all secrets no matter how small, insignificant, meaningless, or dirty to Int's worms. Int's disciples are the unseen and unsuspected, masters of subterfuge and disguise and shapeshifting to avoid attention and to be considered pathetic and worthless, yet to hold their master's ear close by and be recruited to do its bidding. Int supposedly rewards its followers for great secrets and historical oddities they bring, as well as those who make conflict with Catheron, or the Pride Arken and his children and followers in other faiths. There are many tales in Evolist legend that involve Catheron stealing secrets and artifacts from Int and taunting it with them until Int seeks revenge. | |
| Vices |
Int knows no true vices, except the concept of incompetence itself. To be a disciple of Int requires a great deal of subtlety, charisma, and flexibility that are rare qualities to find. Anyone who seeks Int's favor by becoming a disciple or "worm", and fails, can be sure to have their memories and mind painfully extrapolated, extracted, and consumed by the very being that they sought to serve as punishment for their failure. Int worship has perhaps the greatest threshold of skill requirement, leading to its servants being feared even among fellow Evolists who they are ostensibly positively disposed towards. | |
| Mechanics |
Int rewards those who succeed and punishes failure. Through Int, Evolist followers can use Static Divinium to empower Artifacts in their ownership which unlocks extra Mechanics on them when it is performed. Corrupting an Artifact this way can only be done once per Artifact, with more information found on the Artifacts Page. This also Void-Corrupts it with the power of Int. If the Artifactspark is removed, or the Artifact is lost to the Evolist who owned it, the upgrades are removed and the Artifact is de-powered. |
Triton, the Envy Dragon
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Description |
Triton is complicated, because he is both an Evolist God, and a Draconism God at once. They are one and the same entity, but for both religions, Triton behaves differently, administering a different belief system to each set of believers. Within Draconism, he is strongly backing the Draconic cause, while in Evolism, his actions are more unclear, and seemingly against the better interests of Dragons. This occurs because of the very nature of the Void to refract consciousness into multiple actors, a similar condition that affects the immortal Catheron and his mortal version in the Pride Arken. While all versions of the same entity share a common consciousness, refracted actors engage in different actions based on the things they know, and their experiences. Simpler put, both think the same, but both act differently as a result of that thought. In the case of Triton, this manifests in envy of the Dragons who hoard and act in secrecy. They deny mortals the tools of creating life, they deny mortals access to their secretive Dragon Sites, and they deny mortals the knowledge of knowledge and history telling since the beginning of Dragon awareness. Triton for Evolism embodies the envy and spite Evolists feel towards Gods of other Religions but particularly Dragons, and rage that it is only Gods and Dragons, who get to be immortal. As such, much of Triton's ideology also centers around his followers seeking pathways to immortality, whether that means literal immortality, or an approximation by extending life repeatedly. Triton remains a complicated God, because he sometimes acts against Evolism. |
| Virtues |
Virtues to Triton, are uncovering the secrets and powers and tools that the Dragons hold hidden and secret from the world, and sharing them with fellow Evolists. Other Virtues are to convert Archon to so-called Darkscales by drifting them from Draconist ideology (or whatever other Religion they hold to), and turning them into Void-baptized holy warriors against the Exist, and notably Estelley as a Religion. Further virtues are Metamorphic Baptism, the act of accepting and spreading Triton-themed Void Mutations, and generally enhancing the body through mutations. And finally, Triton also rewards the offering of trinkets, trophies, or blood offerings, of the vanquished Estelley forces, such as Justice fanatics, Estelley priests, or other Exist-aligned forces. | |
| Vices |
A vice to Triton, is intentional secrecy, a point that he frequently conflicts with Int on. While some information must be kept secret, Triton in general commands the faithful to spread any hidden information (deeplore) that they acquire among the faithful so that all may act on the best information provided and available. A sin is to withhold this information for personal benefit or just for personal pleasure, thus causing potential damage to one's fellow Evolism worshipers. Another sin, is blindly doing the bidding of Dragons. While working with them is permitted in some instances, one must always know why. | |
| Mechanics |
All worshipers of Evolism are granted the gifts of Triton. Triton allows Evolists to transform into a Dragonkin of the unofficial Tyrthar Dragonfall, a Triton-inspired Dragonfall design that must have pitch-black scales and red eyes. This transformation counts as a Disguise, but can have any variety of appearances within the bounds listed. Anyone who sees this Transformed form can know that there is an Evolist underneath. This form does not confer any of the Dragonkin mechanics. |
Priesthood
Evolists have both the concept of a Lay Priest, and an Ordained Priest. A Lay Priest is called a Herad-Icon. Herad-Icons do not have official ordained recognition but usually focus strongly on a single God of the pantheon, and try to embody every aspect and virtue of that God, while largely ignoring the others. This does not mean that they do not worship the other Gods also, after all, one cannot be part of a Religion and pick and choose which Gods to acknowledge. It means that the common folk would not reach out to a Herad-Icon of Armas, to learn about Catheron, and vice versa. Sometimes however, Herad-Icons may have more in-depth understanding or a better way of words about specific gods, than Ordained Priests might, so they are still useful if a faithful wants to please a very specific God, and an Ordained Priest is not very helpful. Ordained Priests are called Dian-Icon, and have formal training from other Dian-Icons in the preachings of the Gods. One becomes a Dian-Icon by traveling the Grand Temples of the Gods, and learning the teachings from the Dian-Icons there, collecting a form of medals for each passage. When all 9 medals are acquired, they are fashioned into a long chain worn over the shoulders, and the Dian-Icon is ordained to the Gods. Dian-Icons don't hold public sermons like Unionist priests would, but are generally available to be approached about religious matters, while also acting like piety police among the faithful. They are in essence watchers for the Vices as they are recorded, and are meant to address the faithful when they fall into these Vices. Dian-Icons also maintain Evolist Temples, and many of them are also warriors because many of their beliefs are protected by combat.
Morality of the Faith
No Religion in Aloria is ontologically evil or morally righteous, all Lore is written to have inherent flaws and gray morality in place. The common idea of Evolism is not that it is evil, but that it is problematic in its approach, of generally agreeable sentiments and concepts. For example, Catheron represents the oppressive weight of the mundane world-crushing mages who often end up being crucial for resolving crises, only to then be scapegoated. While at first face value, this is an agreeable sentiment, Catheron's solution is to arm these mages with dark wicked Magic, and encourage them to inflict that same oppression back onto the Mundane by robbing them of their freedom. This section will discuss the morality of each God very briefly so that Players are equipped with a nuanced understanding. Each of these problematic aspects are also reflected on the faithful, meaning that morality also reflects on them. It is not possible to cut the problematic parts out of the Religion, without it becoming heresy.
- Catheron: is righteous because of his ideology, but problematic because he does not believe in the concept of Radiant Magic, and by arming Mages with Sinistral Magic, is unraveling the fabric of the world to chaos.
- Morrlond: is righteous because he deters stagnancy, but problematic because he creates an environment of extreme tension and competition, and always seeks violence as a solution to any problem or opposition.
- Apotheon: is righteous because he heals ideological divisions, but problematic because he does so by converting living people into genetic mass without their consent, and fusing that into his body to become stronger.
- Armas: is righteous because he wishes to make everyone feel loved and desired, but problematic because this causes a lot of drama and desire to turn to obsession, at which point free will becomes questionable.
- Ravaal: is righteous because anyone can understand the grief of watching someone else die, but is problematic because she does not care about the consent of the dying, or their quality of life after being saved.
- Gahan: is righteous because he saved a fragment of the Dewamenet Empire from erasure, but problematic because he immediately weaponized Spirits to become his soldiers, and still lets Spirits mess with mortals.
- Ventra: is righteous because she protects the weakest and smallest of nature against the march of industrial progress, but in doing so, creates new monsters that become just as much a threat to the ecosystem.
- Int: is not morally complicated, just flat-out an evil God. It toys with mortals for personal satisfaction, withholds information from those who need it, and leaves victims in a brain-dead state after eating their mind.
- Triton: is not necessarily righteous, but has a point in that Dragons are needlessly obtuse and secretive about their work, but problematic because he is the archetype betrayer within the Evolist Faith.
Trivia
- Iorwerth was once an Evolist God imprisoned by the clutches of the Malefica. Through the intervention of the mortal Emil and their allies in Regalia, Iorwerth was freed from the Malefica, and ascended to the Draconism Pantheon as the bearer of Gaia's Dragon Soul.
- While Ravaal is hostile to the Malefica, she is still trapped in the Beyond. Her worshipers are aiming to help free her, but understand that there is no single action that can bring this about in Regalia, and that rather it is a multi-decade effort in weakening the Malefica in Aloria.
- There is very little information on the Evolism afterlife, but it is said, that because Gahan stole the afterlife from the Dewamenet Gods along with millions of Dewamenet souls, the afterlife actually resembles the Dewamenet Empire in a perfectly preserved Dream-state from before the Elven war, a high-tech paradise.
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