Religion

A page to collect religious stuff.

Aera

Deities

• Taleyira (the Warrior-Wife)
• Seyela (the Warrior-Maiden)
• Edera'yn (a trickster god)

Alliance General

• Order of the Universe
• Unknown holiday: Kasimmel. Sounds like one of the Core races, though.

Fleet

• Has a volunteer chaplain corps, which can handle many (but not all) issues.
• When funerals are performed, if the volunteer chaplain crew is not sufficient, officiating falls to the captain.

Asanii

• Oaths and sayings: "Balance,", "NiiAna," "Sun's backside," "Sun and Stars",, "Sungods," "Sun and Moon"
• Worship Nii and Ana; their religion focuses on the sun and moon, and polarities and moving between them.

Chatcaava

"We once worshipped gods outside ourselves, but now that we have traded our idols for self-worship, we cannot change."

Living Air

One of the major religions of the Chatcaava. An ancient worship tradition, newly revived.

Ideals

Old Chatcaavan religious texts refer to a time when "the Living Air held all the things to come in its invisible, ineffable body. Those things existed in a state of Perfection—holy, pure, and consistent. All things that exist were said to be memories of those Perfections made manifest... imperfect themselves, copies that aspired to their origin. A thing that is close to that Perfect version of itself has Beauty. [...] We do not have many sacred words anymore."

See also Chatcaavan Language.

Members / Clergy

• Breath of the Living Air (aka The Queen Ransomed)
• Second Stellar Downdraft, an assistant to the priests. Sat with Andrea Tran regularly at the Chatcaavan dining area.

Ciracaana

Lifehawk Tribe

• Rite of the Vessel: A sacred Ciracaana rite of the Lifehawk Tribe in which an individual is chosen by a totem.

D-Per

• The God in the Stream

Eldritch

• The Eldritch religion involves the worship of male and female divinities in two roles: as guardians of mystery, and as intimate intercessors. The Lord and Lady are the mystery; the God and Goddess are the intercessors. For that reason, males swear by "God and Lady" while females refer to the "Goddess and Lord." Each sex is assumed to be intimate with their sex's deity, and to have access to the other sex's divinity only as a mystery, not as a known quantity.
• Liolesa uses "High Priestess of the Amacrucian Church" or "Matriarch of the Amacrucian Church" as a passcode or secret identity in her communications and interactions with Reese. The queen is the titular head of the Church, making Amacrucia the name of the religion (if Liolesa wasn't just making a wicked joke).
• Priests and priestesses do not marry, because it is considered a distraction from their work.
• One ordinarily cannot take vows to the Divine Mysteries and keep one's worldly position. The Queen is the only exception, being both the secular head of state and the religious head of the Church.
• One gives personal gifts to one's priests on their natal days, but they should be modest, because the vows require chastity, poverty, obedience, and humility.
• Vestments: Ontine Cathedral's clergy wear plain blue and white robes. The arm of the Church given over to the mysteries comprises the priests of the Lord, who wear dark carmine robes. Val's elevation to High Priest involved Liolesa putting "the Lord's red stole over his shoulders."
• Catechism

The part of the catechism that is cited most often is the commandment to serve life.

So long as there is breath in me, I will serve life -- serve life -- serve life. (Said/thought by Jahir.)

With every breath in me, I will serve life. (Said/thought by Lisinthir.)

To heal is to serve life. (Said by Jahir.)

"It is what they all want, isn't it? To be useful? Why, even the catechism commands it. We serve life!" -- Bethsaida

Other tenets:

Lying is wrong. (Said by Juzie.)

To listen is the beginning and end of wisdom. (Said by Solanth.)

To find offense where none is offered is violence against the God and Lady. (Said by Talthien.)

People who love one another serve one another. (Said by Jahir.)

All that is allotted to us as mortals is a glimpse of the truth. Any other belief is doctrinal error. (Said by Liolesa.)

• Not quite religion, but closely related: the virtues that should be exemplified by a gently-bred lady, as found in Lili's Book of Hours that she gives to Sediryl for her investiture vigil, are love, temperance, charity, diligence, patience, kindness, humility, faithfulness, and self-control.

See also: Eldritch Holidays

• Saints and Martyrs

I... need a section here. Maybe the Eldritch religion page can be broken out, and the Convents page added to it.

Faulfenza

See Faulfenzair Religion.

Glaseah

See Glaseahn Religion.

Harat-Shar

See Harat-Shariin Religions.

Hinichi

• Many Hinichi have adapted Christianity to their needs. There are various Hinichi Christian sects:
  • sathet: a more liberal mountain sect
  • pruscha: a stricter mountain sect

Karaka'A

• Oaths and sayings: "Bast and An,", "Bast and An above," "Thank God and Her Partner,", "Twenty midnight hells"
• "They're all nervous as a Karaka'An in hell without a map. And you know we have twenty of them. Hells, I mean."

Malarai

• Naem-fili, avatar of the Malrai. Depicted in the Pantheon deck with teary eyes.

Phoenix

The Banners of an Eye-Trained Phoenix

The Eye of the Center of the Void is the Phoenixae major religion, which is almost more of a philosophy. It states that the object of every Phoenix's life is What Must Be Done, a mission granted to them by the Eye in the Center of the Void. The Eye sends them to this life (their only life) to discover this purpose and fulfill it; only this way can a Phoenix, on death, take his or her place with the Eye in The Where Beyond Chaos. Failure results in Dissolution; Phoenix believe that the remains of one's soul are used to craft the next people who will attempt that mission.

Only communion with the Eye reveals one's life mission, and this communion can only be sustained via detachment, so that one can see clearly; they call this detachment Stillness. People who are awash in emotion and attachment are clouded and cannot see or be seen by the Eye.

Because What Must Be Done evolves based on one's success at its pursuit, a Phoenix practices detachment as a matter of course. Most people credit the famed Phoenixae serenity to this practice.

(Stuff on Eye-Training here)

See also Holidays, Celebrations, and Observances

Seersa

Most Seersa worship the Speaker-Singer.

• Oaths and sayings: "Speaker-Singer", references to "silent hells"

This is a separate Seersan religion, which worships four elemental sisters: Mist, Earth, Lava, and... Ocean, I think.

• Rispa is the Mist Sister.

Tam-illee

• Naming practices (FoundNames)
• Iley, the Laughing God