Estellon: Difference between revisions

From MassiveCraft Wiki
Jump to navigation Jump to search
No edit summary
No edit summary
Line 204: Line 204:
===Sapphora, Empress of Endless Desires===
===Sapphora, Empress of Endless Desires===
{|
{|
|[[File:Beastundud.png|220px|thumb|left]]
|[[File:Sapphora.png|220px|thumb|left]]
|
|
*'''Identity:''' Sapphora, also called the Sapphic Empress, is a figure many Estellon worshipers wish to forget exists, but has influence far and wide with every debauched and hidden secret.
*'''Identity:''' Sapphora, also called the Sapphic Empress, is a figure many Estellon worshipers wish to forget exists, but has influence far and wide with every debauched and hidden secret.

Revision as of 10:18, 3 October 2022

Estellon
Noimg.png
Religion
Pronunciation Es-tel-lon
Origins The Prophetess Talea
Deities
Various
Subsects
N/A

Origins

Exist Worship (Estellon) is understood to have gone back to the beginning of history, but its most modern iteration has very clear origins. In the earliest days of the Altalar Principalities, various folk religions competed for dominance. A single charismatic figure named Talea stepped forward and preached the word of Estel, her timeless creator dwelling in slumber beyond the world. Not just a prophetess, Talea was also a skilled general and politician. Her campaigns swept the land, saw the great war between the Altalar and the Dewamenet end in victory, and led to the creation of the earliest form of the Allorn Empire. At Talea's sides were the Gods and Goddesses, Estel's Pantheon, who continued to exist and offer guidance to the faithful after her death. Over the ten thousand years of the Allorn Empire's lifespan, they would disappear one by one as the decadence, Cultism, and separatism of the Allorn increased, until only a few were left by the time of Cataclysm. In the modern day, three hundred years after Cataclysm, a figure claiming to be the reborn Talea has swept through Daen followed by the Gods and resurrected a smaller Allorn state, which is still regaining its strength. Estellon worshipers around the world are bitterly divided on whether this Talea and her Gods are legitimate, or imposters wearing their appearances to garner legitimacy.

Core Identity

Estellon is a Religion centered around the struggle and journey of chasing perfection, the eventual climax of that journey, and all the skills and talents gained along the way. Estellon is not a religion that demands the worshiper live by a set of virtues like many other religions, but rather demands a high degree of success and punishes failure to achieve and reach a greater potential.

Tenets

  • Bravery: Estellon faithful are demanded to be brave in the face of adversity, and more specifically to protect each other, but more importantly, one's own soul's pureness from evil and corruption.
  • Calm: Estellon faithful are demanded to be calm and never quick to act in emotion and anger, to remain objective in reviewing the facts, and to act only in a measured manner with preparation.
  • Pleasure: Estellon faithful are demanded to see life as worth living, and for every sweet bounty to be tasted so long as it does not infringe on other Nelfin (not other Races particularly).
  • Ambition: Estellon faithful are demanded to always be bound by ambition to be the best at something, whether it is combat, magic, creating floral displays, or baking cooking. No mediocrity allowed.
  • Diligence: Estellon faithful are demanded to be diligent in their service and their work, to be hard working and hard earning the skills they will receive over the centuries of time spent.
  • Revenge: Estellon faithful are demanded never to let a slight sit, and to always make due justice for each wrong committed onto themselves, their next of kin, or their kin in general.
  • Greed: Estellon faithful are demanded not strictly to be greedy, but never to be content, and to always be in a state of want, for a content life leads to decadence and laziness.
  • Deceitful: Estellon faithful aren't strictly demanded to lie, but rather to never be always truthful if it is self-sabotaging, and to control the narrative and view of objective truth around them.
  • Ambitious: Estellon faithful are demanded to always remain ambitions with their goals for themselves, to always seek out new skills to gain, to improve, and to make a name for one's self.
  • Destiny: Estellon faith prescribes that each person born has a great destiny that only they can unlock, and when they reach it, they will re-incarnate as a more important person.
  • Perfection: Estellon faith highly praises perfection, or at least the conceptual thought of perfection (meaning, until something better is found). Perfection itself is considered holy and divine.
  • Sanctuary: Estellon faith prescribes a patronizingly protecting ideology to its followers which preaches the idea that the Nelfin are somehow uniquely more capable of protecting the world than others.

Beliefs

  • Narrative: Estellon is a religion that starts with Estel creating everything in the eyes of the Estellon faithful, followed by Estel birthing her daughter Talea through immaculate conception, after which she fell asleep, dreaming the other Estellon Pantheon into existence. The Pantheon is there to challenge the faithful to be a better version of themselves, to strive to be better, and to unlock that holy destiny and fate that is woven for every newborn by the Gods. Then, the Goddess of Death will lift the dead souls to the afterlife, where they will enter a phase of contemplation for years, or decades, or even centuries, before Cemaan weaves a new fate for them, drags them from the afterlife, and re-incarnates their soul into a newborn, wealthier if their life was full of accomplishments, poorer if it was found lacking.
  • Canon Evil: Canon evil in Estellon is hard to pin down, though the Void Arken come pretty close, and the Void Gods are definitely very high up. The general concept of evil in Estellon is more the idea of turning away from the faith and abandoning the virtues and chase for perfection. Since Void possession often causes this to happen, the worst evil to befall a faithful is to be possessed or worse, to be Kathar.
  • Identity: Estellon has no real concept of sex or gender, nor does it have a view on sexual orientation. If anything, Estellon encourages the faithful to experiment with all these kinds of things, and generally just kind of do whatever they feel like. This is often why Ailor thing that male Altalar wear women's clothes, and vice versa. Styling and society wise, the Estellon are fairly gender blind.
  • Conversion: Converting away from Estellon is a strange concept, because it did not exist for thousands of years prior to the Kathar appearing and Void Worship becoming institutional. As such, the slow-to dogmatically decide Estellon priesthood, 500 years later, still hasn't decided on an official stance on conversion of non-Nelfin, or converting away from Estellon, though Unionism is marked as a particularly vile religion to convert to, because it subverts the ideology of Nelfin superiority in Estellon.
  • Sins & Taboo: Sins and Taboos in Estellon all invariably relate to being lazy, not getting anything done, being unwilling to work, and generally being careless about one's future.

Gods and Goddesses

The Pantheon of Estellon Gods were all dreamed up by Estel, the great manifestation of the Archexist. As such, the Estellon faithful acknowledge the Pantheon of Estellon as Exist Gods, and Estellon doubles as both the main Nelfin religion, but also Exist Worship in and of itself. When it concerns Exist worship done by non-Nelfin, the pro-Nelfin ideologies are usually a bit more muted, but the concept of Nelphilia is very common, glorying aspects such as Nelfin beauty and pointed ears. Ever since the supposed rebirth of Talea, many of the Pantheon returned, not having been seen for over a thousand years. Because the Allorn Empire is closed off to Regalia, those within Regalia have a hard time verifying whether the Gods of Estellon truly have returned, or whether they are imposters. At the very least, Morrlond and Sinnavei are real, and never disappeared, with Sinnavei probably being the most accessible and easy to reach Goddess in modern times, even if she is often reluctant to speak for unknown reasons.

Elleyon, Moon-Lord of the Destiny Gates

Ulley.png
  • Identity: Elleyon is the grandfather God of the Estellon Pantheon, the first dreamt by Estel, and the wisest and most pensive of the Estellon Gods. He is also nicknamed the Great Father.
  • Themes: Elleyon's themes are protection, wisdom, agelessness, defenses, shielding, and protecting others from harm. He is the wisest of advisors, and the guardian of the Allorn Empire.
  • Depictions: Elleyon was a towering Estellon God, even larger than the other Gods, nearing four times the average Nelfin in height, even while hunched over, dragging his long hair behind him.
  • Worship: Elleyon is worshiped through balancing candles in a bowl of blue sand in front of his altar, and praying for his protections and benedictions, or to pray mid battle to be protected from harm.
  • Home: Elleyon wandered the grounds of his Temple for the majority of his life, barely directly interacting with the priests or faithful, until he disappeared during the Mage Wars, 1200 years ago.
  • Individual: Elleyon did dispense individual advice, but never spoke. He would choose a pilgrim from a crowd, tap their forehead and leave, assailing their mind with visions of the fate they should choose.
  • Worship House: Elleyon's largest Temple is the House of Lunar Eclipse, incidentally also the largest Estellon Temple, in the capital of the Allorn Empire, home to the Keywatcher Cult.
  • Altar: Elleyon's Altar is made of bright marble, and a large lockbox standing upright. The lock is always designed to unlock with a long nail, inside which is a statuette of Elleyon to worship.
  • Cult: Elleyon's Cult, the Keywatcher Cult, are warriors who specialize using a so-called "Key Blade", which is exactly what it sounds like, hunting Void-Demon possessed individuals.
  • Other Notes: Elleyon is said to have been a friend of the Dragons, and occasionally spent hours staring at a Dragon visiting his Temple, before both turned away from each other and left.

Amelaan, Swarm of the Forever Night Court

Ammuloa.png
  • Identity: Amelaan is the Mother of Necessity, the plague-god, the guardian of the dead and the afterlife, and the reaper of souls, sending forth her swarms to collect the lost and found.
  • Themes: Amelaan's central theme is death and the afterlife, though insects specifically swarm-like, run a strong theme in her general demeanor and appearance and her actions on the world.
  • Depictions: Amelaan's depictions are often related to grasshoppers and dragonflies, both creatures which the Nelfin hold in high esteem and attempt to domesticate to show off their command skill.
  • Worship: Amelaan is not strictly worshiped, because inherently she brings death, though Amelaan is frequently invoked by those creating Death Watchers to guard the living, as well as funeral rites.
  • Home: Amelaan gently floated high to the ceiling of her Temple, rarely if ever interacting with the living down on the ground, exactly how they liked it, to avoid the kiss of death.
  • Individual: Amelaan never truly interacted with the faithful, save to come down from her hive garden to give the kiss of death to an ailing sick Altalar. She too disappeared in the Mage Wars.
  • Worship House: Amelaan's Temple was the Blessed Halls of Funeral Wings, now sunken in the Sundered Lands, though it was a massive hollow dome with millions of insect nests in the ceiling.
  • Altar: Amelaan does not have a traditional Altar. Instead, the funeral table used by the Altalar is Amelaan's Altar, the soul of the deceased offered up to her to carry to the Afterlife.
  • Cult: Amelaan's Cult are the Death Watchers, Undead created through the offering of Amelaan, binding them in service to those they were willing to die for, protecting their family in death.
  • Other Notes: Amelaan occasionally left her Temple, though nobody ever figured out where she went or what she did while doing so, though some suspect to seed the land with insect hives.

Cemaan, Spark Holder of Future Lives

Brydef.png
  • Identity: Cemaan is the weaver of fate, the nails with carve out a path for others to follow, and the Goddess of future lives, reincarnation, life, rebirth, and divine purpose in life.
  • Themes: Cemaan's main theme is to be the exact opposite of Amelaan and more, to bring back life to those in the Afterlife, but also to etch the fate of the living in Elleyon's mind.
  • Depictions: Cemaan is always depicted with extremely long nails that she uses to etch fate in the mind of Elleyon, though crows and ravens are also strongly associated with her.
  • Worship: Cemaan worship is performed by catching ravens and crows, binding messages to their paws, and releasing them, believing the written prayers will reach Cemaan their mother.
  • Home: Cemaan roamed her home Temple, often interacting at height-level with the faithful and priests, offering them Magical blessings and sometimes even Artifacts to aid them.
  • Individual: Cemaan is largely the source of all remaining Estellon and Nelfin Artifacts, including Calandor, which was supposedly woven from her hardened hair shaped into the staff.
  • Worship House: Cemaan's Temple was the High Halls of Chained Judgement, atop the Kilarallis cliffs, however it was largely destroyed and burned in a slave revolt during Cataclysm.
  • Altar: Cemaan has no true altar, but each Estellon worshiping house has a large weaving device in their house which is used to pray to her while weaving cloths in somber song.
  • Cult: Cemaan's cult was the Righteous Judgers, responsible for processing and judging incoming slaves for distribution. The entire cult was killed in Kilarallis during Cataclysm.
  • Other Notes: Cemaan's loss during the Mage Wars is often considered the worst loss to the Estellon, as without her, the Nelfin believe they have no divine force creating their fate.

Aseia, Dominion of Lesser Minds

Lovuelf.png
  • Identity: Aseia is the mage-master, the creator of all things magical, the harbinger of beauty and elegance, and the master of all deception and all politics at Nelfin Courts.
  • Themes: Aseia is the patron of leaders and mages, of courtesans, of the youth and the beautiful, and those who wish to be the fairest and most powerful of all the lands.
  • Depictions: Aseia always wore the mask of the Mooan with sun feathers, a mockery of a stupid animal used to disguise the fact that Aseia was very clever, and devious.
  • Worship: Aseia is often worshiped in a passing prayer of hope, hope that a spell will succeed, hope that a plan will succeed, hope that a dish comes out well, any hope.
  • Home: Aseia roamed his halls, frequently conversing and even teaching Magic to the Methenwë Cult, but also engaged in scheming in Princely politics within Empire for entertainment.
  • Individual: Aseia is believed to be responsible for each and every Mage-Spark among the Nelfin, and also for regulating the ebb and flow of Void and Exist Magic in the World.
  • Worship House: Aseia's Temple was the Temple of Astral Brilliance, a huge complex so full of Magic that it violently exploded leaving a massive crater during Cataclysm.
  • Altar: Aseia's Altar is usually a very mundane table, made very un-mundane with passive Magic like floating candles, see-through silks, magical incense, and glowing sand.
  • Cult: Aseia's Cult is the Cult of Methenwë, a Cult that seized power in the secretive state of Methenwÿaal following Cataclysm and keeps independent from the reclaimed Allorn Empire.
  • Other Notes: Without Aseia, the Nelfin believe that the world's ebb and flow of Void and Exist becomes disrupted, and that Demons will start pouring into mortal souls.

Morrlond, Abyss Watcher Deep-Lord

Morrlond.png
  • Identity: Morrlond is the only real distinctly Void-powered Estellon God, a very clearly Demonic figure that nonetheless became a part of Estellon's pantheon when he swore to Talea.
  • Themes: Morrlond's themes are the deep ocean, monsters of the deep, sea-storms and rough cliffs, demonic vice, lust and desire, and commanding and controlling Void Powers.
  • Depictions: Morrlond is distinctly demonic with his large horns and tail and jagged limbs, but also very much Fin'ullen, his face hidden behind the Mask of Truth also worn by Amelaan.
  • Worship: Morrlond worship is done more as a form of praying that his wrath will stay away from sailors and sea farers alike, as he is the one calling the drowned to the depths in rage.
  • Home: Morrlond is the only God who was never really present at his temple. Occasionally he would appear in the distance, but never once did he walk on land, as the sea was his domain.
  • Individual: Morrlond never appeared to anyone in particular, only appearing once every year during the Feast of Whalesong to accept the offerings to the sea before leaving again.
  • Worship House: Morrlond's Temple is the Songs of the Trenches, which spans the entire docks of Ïlha Faiaal's capital, filled with offering tables and altars to please Morrlond.
  • Altar: Morrlond's Altar is usually a large granite table by the shore or overlooking the ocean, allowing anyone to push sacrifices directly from the altar into the sea below.
  • Cult: Morrlond's Cult is supposedly the Nautalar, deep-sea dwelling Nelfin, though they have only been substantiated in religious song and folklore, never met in person.
  • Other Notes: Morrlond is the only other God besides Sinnavei and Avinla who did not disappear, and continued to return to Ïlha Faiaal during the Feast of Whalesong.

Avinla, Fire Queen of the Far Lands

Elfgiodhxdhfdsdggdesf.png
  • Identity: Avinla is the mother of the Suvial Altalar, the patron Goddess of the lands of fire, who tamed the volcanos and allowed the Suvial to master fire and magma there.
  • Themes: Avinla's strongest theme is fire and magma, though her underlying themes are preparedness, contemplation, analysis and execution, and notably of state espionage and subterfuge.
  • Depictions: Avinla is always depicted with fire surrounding her shroud of the sun, though it is unclear if her long robe covers her head, or a very long crown wrapped inside.
  • Worship: Avinla worship is performed through the rites of the fire scale, which is to summon (or create) fire in a bowl and dance ritually around it in song and prayer.
  • Home: Avinla never stayed in her Temple much, instead roaming the Suvial lands on cyclical journeys, dousing volcanos and creating more land with the magma for her followers.
  • Individual: Avinla never once directly interfered with the lives of the Suvial, but often provided crucial information that the Suvial lacked in state building.
  • Worship House: Avinla's temple is the House without Shadows, an insanely well lit temple with eternally burning flames as large as Unionist Temples on the roof.
  • Altar: Avinla's Temple is usually a rose-quartz tablet or table upon which the fire bowl is placed, usually low to the ground, and surrounded by reed woven mats.
  • Cult: Avinla's Cult are the Sun-Star Seekers, who believe ancient Seraph knowledge is capable of un-freezing their Goddess and returning her to her people, while also ending the Kathar.
  • Other Notes: Avinla did not disappear following the Cataclysm, but was petrified after decades of begging from the Suvial to cease the Void-Outs, halting the last and final Void-Out.

Innalis, Whispers of the Dark Sun

Dddddddulleyinthaolis.png
  • Identity: Innalis is the God of knowledge and the keeper of memories, often seen in duality with Aseia as a plotter and a schemer of political and scholarly nature.
  • Themes: Innalis's themes are memories and knowledge, a common phrase is to call Innalis the worm that crawls into the ears of the unknowing, stealing their memories.
  • Depictions: Innalis looks identical to the Void God depiction of Inthalis, though they are different. Innalis is always depicted upside down, the hands being the focus of his sentience.
  • Worship: Innalis was worshiped more like an unknowable being that should be feared, though he was also immensely respected for being a huge well of knowledge and foresight.
  • Home: Innalis always hung from the ceiling in his temple, occasionally dropping a blue worm-like being that would invade the ear-canal of hapless victims to steal memories.
  • Individual: Innalis occasionally blessed those who pleased him and succeeded in politics with intimate knowledge of their enemies, stolen by the worms of forgetting.
  • Worship House: Innalis's Temple is the Pit of Forgotten Pleasures, which is largely overgrown somewhere in the Contested Lands between the Allorn Empire and Ailor Daen.
  • Altar: Innalis's Altar is like a table made out of marble, though the marble itself carved into the many undulating tentacles and tendrils, upon which faithful whisper their secrets.
  • Cult: Innalis's Cult was the Cult of Lost Faces, which would collect the worms of forgetting and smuggle them around the world to gather knowledge for their God.
  • Other Notes: Innalis disappeared far before the Mage Wars, during the Floundering several thousand years ago, though the worms of forgetting kept appearing in the Temple.

Sinnavei, Mistress of the Azure Waves

Sinavaallano.png
  • Identity: Sinnavei is the last remaining and easily accessible Estellon God, who lives within the borders of the Regalian Empire, in Solleria the home of the Solvaan.
  • Themes: Sinnavei is a Goddess of warriors and the mist, the water of the azure waves of Solleria evaporating and forming the mists of truth and futuresight there.
  • Depictions: Sinnavei looks relatively normal in comparison to the other gods, and in many ways, this is because she has several Solvaan forms she inhabits.
  • Worship: Sinnavei worship is done by invoking her name in battle for blessings, but also when experiencing a traumatic or bad event, citing "Sinnavei's Curses" like "Damn you".
  • Home: Sinnavei has rarely if ever left her home, only occasionally wandering to the coastline to sing to her lover beyond the waves, Morrlond, as the waves caress her feet.
  • Individual: Sinnavei used to be more communicative to her visitors. While she still does gesture blessings, she has largely gone quiet since the Five Family Rebellion.
  • Worship House: Sinnavei's Temple is the High Chair of Windwhere, a massive temple complex high in the clouds in Solleria where she receives pilgrims and vistors alike.
  • Altar: Sinnavei's Altar, is actually not an altar, but an armor stand or a weapon display case. The act of prayer to Sinnavei is cleaning or working on one's armor or weapons.
  • Cult: Sinnavei's Cult are the Mistwatchers, Solleria's legendary protectors who shroud themselves in mist as they patrol Solleria's unbroken coastal defenses.
  • Other Notes: Sinnavei has a dubious reputation in the restored Allorn Empire due to her Regalian loyalties, but is still acknowledged at least as a Goddess in her own right.

Savellon, Gilded Strike of Perfection

Magnificentmaster.png
  • Identity: Savellon is a very important God because he is the source of all perfection, innate skills, and learned expertise, making him central to any Estellon faithful's life.
  • Themes: Savellon is the God of crafting, of Gold and Silver and all things precious, of perfection, or training and becoming the most skilled at something in the world.
  • Depictions: Savellon is made of pure gold, his skin a dark gold while his hair waves like golden fire, robed in gentle pink and purple silken robes with a strong glow.
  • Worship: Savellon worship is done by creating a near-perfect item, then shattering it, then mending it with gold adhesive called golden joinery, a service to his perfection.
  • Home: Savellon wandered his Temple and freely spoke with visitors as if they were old friends, but was also capricious, demanded gifts, and would punish bad gifts with death.
  • Individual: Savellon could occasionally grant a great deal of wealth to his faithful, often collapsing local economies by causing spiking inflation from wealth injections.
  • Worship House: Savellon's Temple is the House of Superior Fortune somewhere in Kezzeret Artamon. The Eronidas stripped the domed complex of all its gold, leaving it a ruin.
  • Altar: Savellon's Altar, unsurprisingly, is often a golden anvil or some gold-plated surface upon which the tools of superior crafting rest, waiting to be used in worship of him.
  • Cult: Savellon's Cult was the Golden-Hands, fanatics who would slowly convert parts of their body into golden Magitech, believing it to make themselves more perfect in his image.
  • Other Notes: It is said that anything Savellon touched would turn to gold, even people. Anyone who offered him gifts that were not near-perfect he would turn to gold.

Mana, Mother of the Living Soil

Mothermana.png
  • Identity: Mana, often also called Mother Mana, is perhaps the more tragic figure of the Estellon Pantheon, mother of all natural things and all peace and all compassionate feelings.
  • Themes: Mana is the representative Goddess of community, communal living, compassion, kindness, forgiving, honesty and feasting, while also strongly representing all of nature.
  • Depictions: Mana is often compared to Va'sil Trees, and while they are her primary servants, they are not one and the same. Mana was always more woman-like in appearance than tree-like.
  • Worship: Worship is never done alone, always in groups around a Mother Tree in a park or social area, where gift-giving, sharing food, but also helping each other emotionally is a form of worship.
  • Home: Mana was the only stationary Estellon divine being that was always rooted in one place. She could not actually speak, but often dispensed her fruits and healing leaves to the priests.
  • Individual: Mana always had a very stern face, but supposedly, when a truly kind and pure hearted person appeared before her, her bark face would smile at them warming their heart.
  • Worship House: Mana's largest Temple is the House of Four-Clover Healing, a temple completely burned down by Kathar during the Night of the Fallen Stars, though she disappeared long before.
  • Altar: Mana has no real altar, rather, a place of worship for her is a so-called Mother Tree, a large tree in which many forms of decorations and lights are strung to make it cozy to be near.
  • Cult: Mana's Cult are effectively all Yanar, though many of them do not remember the original tenets of the cult, to convince the Nelfin away from the lure and seduction of the vices of the Void.
  • Other Notes: 100 years before disappearing, Mana started uncontrollably sobbing, her tears being found to have healing properties. It is believed she saw the Allorn's future, but could not speak it.

Ghilland, Herder of Treasured Beings

Beastundud.png
  • Identity: Ghilland is often treated as related to Mana, like a brother, as while Mana is the mother of all Nature, Ghilland is the father of all beasts and all lesser non sentient creatures.
  • Themes: Ghilland is the lord of beasts, of savagery but also of the lesser beings that need to be protected, and largely the reason why Nelfin consider slavery a holy mission to civilize and protect.
  • Depictions: Ghilland has the body of a man but the head of a variety of beasts mashed together, the fur patterns assigned in the shape of a skull to mark the danger of toying with wild beasts.
  • Worship: Ghilland worship is performed through the act of hunting, but also offering all of the hunt's bounty back to nature, by letting other beasts eat the carcass and use the hides for nests.
  • Home: Ghilland's Temple never had a roof, being a large open-air savanna-like biome, where he roamed and hunted the wildlife with his priests and faithful, teaching them lessons on the hunt.
  • Individual: Ghilland's individual teachings often led to major developments in military tactics, but also the general field of natural studies, hunting, and science of nature and reality.
  • Worship House: Ghilland's Temple moved once from one massive crater with an extremely high biodiversity to another such crater after the flight of the Violet Dragons from the Allorn landmass.
  • Altar: Ghilland's altar is the butchering table, where animals are ritually slaughtered to retrieve only what is necessary (hardly ever their meat), draining the blood to purity it.
  • Cult: Ghilland's Cult were the Dragon Hunters. For some reason Ghilland really did not like Dragons. The Dragon Hunters were a joke for most of history, until they suddenly weren't.
  • Other Notes: Ghilland is often credited for teaching the Altalar how to kill Dragons, though this is strongly contested by Dragon Worshipers, who say that the Dragons wanted the Altalar to kill them.

Sapphora, Empress of Endless Desires

Sapphora.png
  • Identity: Sapphora, also called the Sapphic Empress, is a figure many Estellon worshipers wish to forget exists, but has influence far and wide with every debauched and hidden secret.
  • Themes: Sapphora is the master of desire, a divine entity whose realm is the wants and needs of mortals, even those who deign to deny themselves the pleasures of life in ascetic bonds.
  • Depictions: Sapphora is exclusively depicted as an Altalar woman in states of undress, with pale porcelain skin, golden glowing hair, which winds down into two snake heads.
  • Worship: Sapphora worship is performed by giving in to one's depraved cravings and desires, to feast, to eat, to dance, to muse, to buy and to spend, and to give to carnal lust.
  • Home: Sapphora's home is within her temple, the inner chambers shaped like oysters, all filled with the most decadent red and pink velvet and silks to obscure view from her.
  • Individual: Sapphora, while existing at the heart of Allorn politics, was always incredibly disinterested in them, and ambivalent to worship, more content with her desires.
  • Worship House: Sapphora's Temple is the House of Tantalizing Regret in the capital of the Allorn Empire which largely doubles as a grand feasting hall, library, and courtesan house.
  • Altar: Sapphora's altar is a statue in her likeness, usually in a rose garden or some kind of garden setting surrounded by many vibrant flowers and flowing water from an urn.
  • Cult: Sapphora's Cult is the Samplers of Life, who travel the world looking for rare dishes, exquisite fabric, moving music, and those who would do well on display in museums.
  • Other Notes: Many Estellon worshipers like to pretend their religious culture is very chaste, but Sapphora always represents that undercurrent of lust found among the Nelfin.

Priestly Activities

The following is some useful information about Estellon priests.

  • They do not possess a hierarchy. Each priest is theoretically equal, but differences in charisma and stature mean that in reality some are more influential than others.
  • They are allowed to be very schismatic about beliefs - which god to favor, the legitimacy of the reborn Allorn Empire, and more - but are expected to stand together against all outsiders.
  • They used to ignore political matters entirely, until the faith was threatened with extinction in the late Allorn Empire. Now, they are often vocal about their interests.
  • They place large value on councils. Decisions are better if they are made by the group that is to be affected by them.
  • They are often also Doctors (both mundane and arcane), Mages, and scholars, not just priests. To remain in only one discipline would violate Estellon doctrine about ambition.
  • They, when particularly influential, may take priestly names distinct from their regular ones, which they sign their treatises and letters with.
  • They are considered entitled to the protection of their community, by whom they are expected to be beloved. Assaulting an Estellon priest is a death sentence from their followers.
  • Their local councils have the privilege of issuing 'rulings' on any social issue they see fit. An Estellon conclave may decide, for example, that it is forbidden to fraternize with Void Worshipers after an attack on their temple, and their followers are expected to listen.
  • Estellon priests are called Ordvaan in the Allorn tongue, a translation roughly equivalent to 'those who guide ahead.'

Arken Worship

Arken and Estellon Gods are often mistaken for one another, but Arken are distinctly different from Estellon Gods, and many would say, a lot less powerful. Estellon Gods are true to the nature of Gods, with powers beyond belief, even to resurrect the dead, and Arken in comparison, are merely cyclically re-incarnating Mages in comparison. Despite this comparison however, Estellon Worship still acknowledges the Exist Arken as a form of divine messenger or first among agents of the Estellon Gods in the physical world. While the Estellon Gods are much more powerful, because they manage more general processes of life for over three hundred million Nelfin, the Arken often feel more like the personal arm of Estellon, for those who cannot afford a pilgrimage, or did not receive what they hoped from it, especially now that the Allorn Empire is closed off, and many of the Estellon Temples were destroyed when the Allorn Empire fell.

Arken Dedications

All the major Exist Arken have so-called Dedications, which means they are loyal or at least to some degree work together with one or more Estellon Gods. These co-operating relations are not always present and up to date, though reliable and predictable enough for the Estellon faithful to seek out these Arken and reliably be able to communicate or potentially work with one that shares the same ideals as their Esttelon Patron. The Estellon Gods do not scheme against one another, so unlike the Void Gods, there is a generally more favorable working relation between the Arken and the Estellon Gods, to the point where the Exist Arken generally demand or force those they interact with to worship Estellon. The exact relation between the two forces is not fully understood, though on some level, it is known that the Arken draw power from the Estellon Gods now that Estel slumbers, and the Exist Gods can only act within the confines of their Home or their general area, while the Arken travel the world and thus spread their reach far beyond their native lands.

  • Elleyon has the Arken Dedication of Justice, as the two of them have corresponding ideals on what is right and wrong in the world.
  • Amelaan has the Arken Dedications of Beauty, as both consider death one of the most beautiful things found, the final absolute truth.
  • Cemaan has the Arken Dedications of Change, as Cemaan records the world's changes through the findings and actions of Change, her actor.
  • Aseia has the Arken Dedications of Divinity, for Magic is a spark of divinity, and the divine is aided by the projecting power of the Magical.
  • Morrlond has the Arken Dedications of Absolution, though it is a very much resentful cooperation, as Morrlond seeks forgiveness for the Void.
  • Avinla has the Arken Dedications of Ambition, a drive that is commonly found in the Suvial people and all those who subscribe to politics.
  • Innalis has the Arken Dedications of Freedom, as both seek freedom from ignorance and lack of knowledge, but more importantly to do as they please.
  • Sinnavei has the Arken Dedications of Excellence and Luck, two traits that Sinnavei always brings to her Solvaan people due to her foresight.
  • Savellon has the Arken Dedications of Maestro, for only these two could mutually appreciate the perfection in their creations.
  • Mana has the Arken Dedications of Happiness, for both Mana and Happiness want these things for all the faithful and their followers most of all.
  • Ghilland has the Arken Dedications of Compassion, for Compassion preaches the same kindness and understanding for the wild animal that Ghilland does.

Trivia

  • The similarities of Innalis and Inthalis are uncanny, but they are definitely two distinct Gods. Why they look identical and act in much the same way is unknown, with both religious accusing each other of faking and stealing their God.
  • While Avinla still stands frozen in her temple, petrified while holding the last Void-out in suspension mid-eruption in air above the city, no further Kathar Void-Outs could target the Suvial Lands, though the Suvial now also lack the means to inflict continent-spanning Fire-Scars in return.
  • The love relation between Sinnavei and Morrlond is extremely subtle in Estellon faith, though any Ailor would be quick to point out it is very obvious to them. This is because the love/hate/friendship expressions of Nelfin are radically different. Sometimes, what is normal to do between Ailor lovers only, is considered simple social behavior among Nelfin friends.

Accreditation
Writers MonMarty
Artists MonMarty
Processors FireFan96
Last Editor MonMarty on 10/3/2022.

» Read more