Master Historian Aridi Mordagan traveled through the Old World in search of the truth behind the origin of man.  When he returned from his travels and revealed his findings to the heads of the Calusian Korgurate, they cut out his tongue and severed his fingers before burning him as a heretic.  His life's work was deemed malefic and consequently destroyed.  A century later, small compendiums of his works have emerged, traded on the black market and copied into a dozen different languages.  Take heed the Inquisition not find you reading these pages. They are considered heresy.

The Liber Evantes places the rise of mankind in the midst of an apocalyptic nightmare.  Nothing is spoken of the Old World, other than it was brought low by a full-scale invasion of daemons from the Vorx.  What brought about this reaping is never fully clarified, but a warning that such an event will one day inevitably reoccur is very prevalent throughout the work.  As it is perhaps the most well documented and accessible of religious texts, I will include only a brief summary here.

The Old World was a shattered pit of horrors.  The daemons of the Vorx, great ancient enemies of Man, had opened the doors to our world, slaughtering and ravaging everything in their path. The peoples of the Old World were consumed by this cataclysm. The daemons bled the world of hope and light, sowing darkness and despair in their wake.

All was lost.

In the plains of T’kor were born twin brothers, sons of The Rai, The Lord of All; destined to save mankind from this virulent horror. Lord Tekuryo and Lord Zenthien rose to power and gathered the survivors beneath their sacred banner.  Together they waged Holy War on the hordes of the Vorx. This was the First Great War, and lasted for uncounted decades. (Some interpretations suggest that this war lasted as long as five centuries) After the carnage finally ceased and the smoldering, blood-soaked ruin of the Old World lay in bitter silence, Lord Zenthien and Lord Tekuryo, the Twin Pillars of Man, forged the Calusian Brotherhood in the Holy City of Calus, where a direct portal to Kalhalma is said to exist, deep in the confines of the Calusian Cathedral of the Great Works.

From the Thrones of Splendor, the Twin Fathers ruled over all, until The Rai summoned them back into His Eternal Light.  The Twins tasked the Calusian Korgurate with the leading and guidance of man, and placed at their feet the Order of Paladius, the Blades of Holy Light.  These noble Paladins were charged with defending the true faith and cleansing the world of all who might once again bring back the unbridled fury of the Vorx.

By the Will of The Rai, Mankind was granted prominence over the recovered world and all its inhabitants.  Beast and Tree are born to be put to purpose, as are all the lesser races.  The Great Works of Man are deemed paramount, to unite the peoples, raise them beyond the dross of flesh, and one day protect those who are left when the gates of the Vorx reopen.  All who are loyal to the Korgurate are loyal to The Rai, and upon the time of their deaths, will be welcomed into His Perpetual Grace and here be protected from the ravages of the Vorx.

Within the Calusian religion are other, lesser deities that are revered for the different aspects they represent. They have been an intrinsic part of the Calusian mythos since the rise of Tekuryo and Zenthien in T’kor. There are scholars who believe the inclusion of these deities to be a dilution of the Brotherhood’s might, but this is an anemic, poorly investigated view point.

Hermera:

She who sits upon a golden throne atop The Ziggurat of Splendor. She is known as the mother of politics and commerce. A patron deity of traders, politicians, merchants, bankers, and quartermasters. Known also as the Lady of Coin, she is prayed to for successful transactions, the delivery of expected goods, and the attainment of privilege. Her symbol is a golden disk with the inscription “Great wealth is held only by those who can withstand its weight.” Known to favor the bold and cunning, she is a patron to gamesters and thieves. To ask the Lady of Coin to protect wealth earned is a sign of weakness, yet nowhere is her iconography seen more evidently than in the banking system. Hermera’s Seal is a sign of divine protection. Bankers claim to have her divine blessing and swear no loss can ever be taken under her watchful eye. Her holy items are coins, disks, and crowns. Coin earned through guile is a common sacrifice in asking for future blessings.

Chenestinon:

Once known as the Lady of Rings, she was the mother of marriage and willful reproduction. In her following, women had absolute authority. Men were placed through trials to prove their worthiness if they wished to have children. The Lady’s Great Houses were filled with tomes teaching the secrets of self-actualization through deep meditation and spiritual sex practices. Women held all the important rolls in these places, with men serving at their whims. The faith granted charms of fealty, virility, fertility, pleasure, cleanliness, seduction, and adoration to their supplicants. Childbirth was a miraculous event, and sex was an act of union and transmutation.

Over time, social standing became the defining attribute of a person’s worth to bare children. The Lady’s tomes of sexual rites were lost or destroyed. While many cultures adopted the sacred rite of marriage and kept the symbolism of her Rings, the Houses of Chenestinon fell into shadow, were slowly corrupted, and became little more than brothels. She was later adopted as the patron of prostitutes, bar-owners, pimps, smugglers, and soldiers on leave. Now she is known as the Lady of Cups. An ancient tradition of placing a coin inside a chalice before entering her hallowed House was adopted by brothels, pleasure barges, and gambling houses.

Kerrosus:

The Lord of the Feast and patron of bounty, he is worshiped by farmers, brewers, food merchants, and alchemists. He is a god of transformations, forges, ovens, crucibles, and the stomach. He is routinely sacrificed to in hopes of fertilizing a field, blessing a strong forge-fire, or granting a healthy birth. He is a god of fire, death, and rebirth.

Nearly every festival of harvest, celebration of birth, or successful creation made in fire, was once attributed to mighty Kerrosus. He is viewed as a benefic deity, who blesses those who guard their grain and thank his gracious generosity before meals. “Blessed are the portly” is one of his most quoted teachings of old.

The Feasting Halls of Kerrosus were once vast and took great strides to feed pilgrims, travelers, and the impoverished. Over time, the lands owned by the faith were seized by the Crowns of Man, making such generosity difficult. A respected deity among fishermen, hunters, and cattle-wranglers, he is sometimes called Lord Hearthfire and is even believed to be a son of Infris, the Great Fire Serpent. His shrines — statues of a portly man, sitting cross-legged, holding a knife in one hand, a hammer in the other, and having a stove for a stomach — are commonly found in kitchens, forges, and alchemy labs, burning their daily sacrifices. He is the sworn enemy of Locus, the Lord of Plague, and Kaxxil, Lord Famine.

Taselia:

The Still One. The Eye of the Storm. The Silent Lady. A deity of healing and mercy, she is worshiped by physicians, apothecaries, and midwives. Her temples are centers of healing, filled with baths and surrounded by (or encompassing) floral gardens meant to help heal the troubled mind and spirit of its visitors. These are places of rest, contemplation, and self-discovery. While many cities have created baths and adorned them with the iconography of Taselia, few are ordained temples to the goddess and maintain a looser set of regulations. In Taselia’s temples, none are allowed to speak. Only whispers are allowed and only when absolutely necessary. The priestesses have devised a system of pictures and gestures to help their visitors communicate without speaking. A separate wing of the temple is reserved for the treating of the injured and infirm. As Taselia’s ministrations are given freely, her temples are only present in places where they have a heavy patronage by wealthy locals. One of their most sacred vows is to allow none to suffer, even those who mean them harm, which is why many consider her calling zealotry and even madness.

The Zoniran faith emerged from the Holy City of Calus, when Saint Malaan, the living reincarnation of Zenthien, Son of The Rai, came into the world to warn mankind that Tekuryo would one day betray The Brotherhood. Saint Malaan wrote the first scrolls of the Liber Sciodomini, the Zoniran Sacred Text. Here he depicts the tale of how in the Old World, before the First Great War, Lord Zenthien and Lord Tekuryo had an elder brother named Galvarin.  He was the First Born, Son of The Rai, favored, and rightful inheritor to the World of Man.

The three brothers were as One, and known by their followers as The Triada.  Their Holy City was called Mordra and sat in the Heartlands of T'kor.  This was where the Holy War against the Vorx began, so the Liber Sciodomini claims.

Greatest of the Three, Lord Galvarin led the charge against the hordes of the Vorx.  He and his armies braved the madness of the Old World while the Twin Pillars stayed behind to guard and keep the cities of Mankind.  Though Galvarin was great and blessed by His Father's Grace, he was eventually consumed by the very darkness he fought.

When he returned with his armies to the untainted lands, he betrayed the Twin Pillars and attempted to conquer Calus with is legions, nearly destroying Man’s one and only hope in a time of unfettered darkness. Lord Zenthien and Lord Tekuryo were forced to join against their elder brother and after a long, terrible conflict, laid their brother’s legions low. Their victory however, came at a terrible cost.

During their long years of struggle, many attempts were made to make Galvarin turn away from darkness and return to the light, but the Elder Lord had used these very talks to poison Tekuryo's ear with the twisted promises of the Vorx. While Galvarin was eventually defeated and banished to the Vorx with all those who followed him, the seed of temptation and corruption had been planted in Lord Tekuryo.

While his insidious betrayal was yet to occur, Saint Malaan prophesied that one day a great darkness would sweep over the world and all would know Tekuryo’s true face. Those who did not denounce the tainted Lord and cleanse themselves of his influence would exist forever in a state of schism —half light, half dark, and would never know peace. The newly formed Zoniran faith, in reverence to Lord Zenthien, was the only true path to salvation and the Light of The Rai.

As word of this prophesy spread, Saint Malaan was slowly accepted as a messianic figure, and small sects to Zenthien purism began sprouting across the land.  At first, the Messiah's preaching was ignored and dismissed as deluded fanaticism by the Calusian Korgurate. His truest believers however, kept the teachings of the Liber Sciodomini alive even after The Rai had summoned Saint Malaan back into His Eternal Light.

The Zonirans feared the power of the Vorx and its ever seductive lies, and spread this fear of darkness wherever they went. Legends of Galvarin and his fallen legions began to sprout like weeds in the Korgurate’s garden, with Zenthien being tauted as the only path to salvation, but these sects remained small and relatively harmless.

Centuries later, the Order of Paladius betrayed The Brotherhood by committing heresy and summoning the Kragten into our world. As the Kragten War waged on, the prophesies of the Liber Sciodomini were brought to the forefront once more by Saint Cieriss, the second coming of Lord Zenthien, Son of the Rai, born in the city of Canterdune.

The Second Saint proclaimed that the Paladin's betrayal of the Korgurate was the very heresy he had foreseen in his former incarnation as Saint Malaan. Tekuryo had been corrupted as foretold, and must be cast away. Society itself needed to be rebuilt in pure golden light under the protection and guidance of Lord Zenthien, the True Light.  It was for this purpose that Saint Cieriss brought the Order of Paladius to trial before the Court of Testament and brought about the Fall of Paladius.

After the Great Kragten War had finally ended, Saint Cieriss brought the Order of Paladius to trial before the Tarivan High Magistrates on charges of heresy. In the Halls of Testament, The Lady of Law deemed the Paladin Order guilty, and ordered them all into bondage.  All of the Paladins’ holds and wealth were revoked, and their lands and powers forfeited.  Those Paladins who were not captured or killed outright, fled into exile.

By order of the Court of Testament, the Calusian Korgurate was henceforth forbidden from building an armed force of any kind.  With this adamant edict, the great military power the Korgurate had wielded over the course of centuries, crashed down around their ears.

The First Saint’s prophesies about Tekuryo’s betrayal were viewed as undeniable.  Thus, the Second Saint’s claim, that it was their Lord's gift — The Seal of Balis* — which had put an end to the nearly unstoppable Kragten, also remains uncontested.

The Zoniran faith exploded after the Kragten War.  Entire nations turned their allegiance away from the Calusian Brotherhood and converted to Zonirism. Enormous funds were granted to The Second Saint by kings and nobles to build His Churches and arm the Aegis of Man, the Order of Holy Ashuran Knights, who would replace the Order of Paladius. The Ashurans reclaimed the fortunes and lands lost by the Calusian Paladins and sought fervently to save, convert, or purge those who were lost to pagan faiths.

When Saint Cieriss was summoned back to His Eternal Light, he left the Throne of Radiance in Canterdune to his Vicar, the Ascended Eye. The well-being of mankind he left in the hands of the Zoniran Priesthood.  His final proclamation was that one day he would return, when Zenthien’s fallen brothers, Tekuryo and Galvarin, united in the Vorx’s unrelenting treachery, and rose from the darkness to bring about the downfall of Mankind. This would be the Final Great War, and decide the fate of All.

In the meantime, the Zoniran faithful are under Holy Commandment to grow in strength and numbers and follow the Path of Amounting**, so as to challenge the malice of the Vorx when it returns to the world in force. While many still hold true to their Calusian faith, the rise of the Zoniran Priesthood has continued to expand while Calusian Temples, once the shining jewels of man’s many cities, have begun to crumble with absence and disrepair.

*The Seal of Balis: The Runic symbol which can be seen hanging in every Zoniran Church, carried by every Ashuran Knight, and etched into countless fetishes of worship, is the faith’s most powerful ward against dark spirits. The symbol was said to come to Saint Cieriss in a dream, given to him by a Seraph of Lord Zenthien, with that promise that it would vanquish the evil of the Kragten scourge.

**The Path of Amounting: “The Path to Celestia is Paved in Golden Light,” is a phrase from the Liber Sciodomini that in this humble scholar’s opinion, has been transmuted and defaced over the centuries. In its modern interpretation, it is spoken of by the very priests of the Zoniran Church, to mean that the only way into the Celesial kingdom promised by Zoniranism, is through the literal amassing of gold. In many places, the Church of Zenthien works very much like a banking cartel, taking in not only tithe, but holding the investments of its flock, in their own salvation.

What is known today as the Calican Faith, began as the Old So'Raian Mythos, brought to Obsal by its first native migrants, who sang their faith and passed it down to their children by word of mouth; until the clans were finally united and formed the nation of Bergal.

It is a rich and colorful tale of creation, divine incest, and the unity of natural and cosmic forces. A great effort was made in writing down all of the fables and tales by the scholars of Bergal in a grand compendium of works, of which now only the Solar Scrolls survive.

This is a tale of man’s place in the world, vastly different from the ones told by either the Calusian or Zoniran faiths. It stood as the first great religion of Eastern Obsal until the collapse of the Bergal Empire and lives on as part of modern Calicanism. (I will cover the Calican Faith in later works.)

Here I have composed a simple, annotated anatomy of the Solarin Mythos, as derived from an exhausting body of work that includes folk songs, mural paintings, faded ceremonial ceramics, written fables, epic poems, and of course, the sacred Solar Scrolls.

Tharis:

The Father of All, Tharis is the Lord of Time, Fate, and Death. All that is, exists because of He. Known by countless names, Tharis is the primordial force behind existence. He is the Light of Fullness. From Death do all things come, and to Death do all things return. He is the beginning and the end.

Unlike his role of Dark Stranger in the Calican Faith, Tharis is not an active participant in the So’Raian Mythos. His role is creator and destroyer, far removed from the trivialities and fumbling comprehension of man. As he, the mighty sleeper dreams it, so the world is.

So'Rai:

Highest and Most Revered. Morning Star and Father of all Life. Before his light, even Mother Night (see: Arisia; Goddess of Night) must take her leave.  He is inheritor and guardian of our world, eldest son and Master of the Orb.  As his sister Gaia is mother, so he is Father. In the Solar Scrolls he is depicted as a golden heron who flies across the heavenly dome. (In the Calican Faith, So’Rai becomes Cal-Siege. In Calusian and Zoniran faiths, he is known as “The Rai”)

Gaia:

Our Grand Mother and Matron of the Sphere. She is the very World of which we are all a part. Sister to So’Rai, she is the World-Womb. To truly understand Gaia as portrayed in the So’Raian Mythos, an important distinction must be made between her and her daughter, Terra.

In the beginning, So’Rai and Gaia’s union birthed the Five Primordial Serpents; Infris, Atlevitas, Tarrak, Aeros, and Terra — also called the Five Elemental Knots.

It is Terra who by conjoining with her brothers, (and in some tales, however paradoxically, her sisters) gave birth to all the multitudes of life on our world. Without her, our world would be barren rock of storms and chaos.

I will speak more of Terra in a separate entry.

Gaia, however, is an enigmatic creature, and closely knit to the creation of mankind. While granted the utmost respect for her birthing of the Elemental Knots, in her oldest songs, passed-down stories, and scattered texts, she is known as Mother of Wrath, Mother of Monsters, and Black Lilium, among others. She is depicted as a cruel being of darkness and hunger with a strange, even nightmarish countenance. Historians and Excavators have found paintings of her in ancient, half-buried ruins, portraying her as a variety of unspeakable horrors who is fully intent on the destruction of mankind for a most curious reason.

The Origin of Man in the So’Raian Mythos is far from graceful and may leave a bitter taste on the tongue. Still, I will endeavor to piece this fractured vase back together as faithfully as I can.

Translations scribed from these scattered, pictural legends speak of a monstrous abomination known as the Anthros — an enormous creature with the body of an ape and the head of a boar — who rose from the mad pits of the vorx when the world was still young. His lust was insatiable and his seed was so strong, it could sprout life in the womb of any beast. This horrific being wandered the land, killing the males of any species it came upon and forcing itself upon their females.

From these savage, unholy unions, were born not only the first tribes of Man, but also the demi-human races. The Legend of the Anthros claims that we are all, human and demi-human alike, the spawn of some ancestral, rampaging, lust daemon.

While most humans decry and deny this origin story as both hateful and ludicrous, the demi-human races; like the xial, dunites, and incottas, have embraced it fully. For this reason, they have long sought to free themselves from the blood-taint brought on by this dark origin.

While we may hold many similarities to these peoples, they strive to distance and differentiate themselves from us at ever turn. They accuse us humans of falling prey, willfully and full-cloth, to this violent, black stain lodged in our souls. Our long history of war, cruelty towards each other, and enslavement of others, has only solidified this belief among the demi-human races. For this, they have communally dubbed us the Anthropaki, Sons of Anthros, or simply anthrops for short.

These ancient So’Raian parables seek to explain Gaia’s desire for humanity’s destruction, as if we as a species were some kind of mistake she has yet been unable to correct. Yet the faith itself does not condemn humanity’s existence. Instead, it seeks to save it from its sin of birth. By following the path of light and seeking to deny the dark taint of our terrible heritage, we might yet find salvation. These compassionate, merciful teachings brought the people of Bergal together for generations before their fall.

Unfortunately, Gaia’s distaste for our existence does not end with her. With Terra being the exception, her other four, furious children have, since recorded time, been portrayed as monstrous beings who actively seek to extinguish humanity. While the Calican Faith does not acknowledge the tale of the Anthros as man’s origin point, it still retains a healthy fear and respect for Gaia and her primordial children.

In the beginning, before man, bird or fish, Gaia gave birth to the Five Knots of Elemental Power, whose movements form the shape of our world.

Tarrak:

The Deep Worm, The Shatterdoom, Lord Dragonglass, and World Knot, are but a few names given to Tarrak, God of Stones. The very ground we walk on is but the skin of this colossus. He is not singular, but manifold. Tarrak is said to be a swarm of great stone worms, tied together in a knot that forms the surface of our world. When these worms shift and slide over each other, the world trembles. Within their depths however, are other worlds, far older than our own, forbidden to us, and filled with dark mystery.

The Deep Worm has had a tenuous relationship with mankind since before we began taking picks and hammers into his realm.

Sometimes simply by shifting his weight, the ground beneath our feet breaks apart, shattering homes and swallowing cattle. Sometimes a part of Tarrak will simply open wide and swallow a village whole without warning. Sometimes terrible, hungry things will crawl out through his skin and wreak havoc on everything we hold dear.

No sane miner would ever enter the dark realm without saying a prayer and offering sacrifice to Tarrak, and no excavator or explorer will climb into his depths looking for buried histories without paying their respects, for the Worm broaches no trespass without concent.

Atlevitas:

Perhaps most enigmatic of the Five Elementals is the Goddess Serpent of the Sea. She flows through the deep crevices and cracks of Tarrak’s multiform. She soothes her brother’s dry, temperamental form, and where they unite, life flourishes. She is bountiful, tempestuous, rejuvenating, and destructive. Her ever-moving body may be visited but not survived at length. Within her liquid spirals live uncountable forms of life, ever dependent on her waters. She is a world unto herself. Her depths, unimaginable, her secrets, unfathomable.

Sailors and Fishermen have long learned to fear the fickle whims of Atlevitas. Even a short, simple voyage could become a catastrophe if the proper rites and sacrifices are not performed. Some of the wildest tales of horror, told and retold, come from those who dare allow the shore to leave their sight while sailing during a misty day or under a darkened sky.

A remorseless hunger is attributed to the denizens of the Sea Serpent’s realm, and all sacrifices are made in blood — the more the better. Still, no sailor, despite their rituals and fetishes, casts off without the shadow of fear in his heart, for even if the words are spoken true and the blood spilt freely, there is never a guarantee of survival when dislodging from the comfortable safety of firm land.

Infris:

The Lord of Flame and the Molten Serpent, Infris lives deep in the bowels of Tarrak. Some would call him Tarrak’s son, but ancient texts claim this idea false. Infris is Tarrak’s brother, and his greatest foe. He is pure destruction, furious and relentless. He is Gaia’s passionate rage made manifest. To the denizens of Tarrak’s impenetrable depths, he is warmth and life. He agitates and irritates the sleeping Worm, breaking at times through his skin and pouring his fury onto our world. He is known as First Son, So’Rai’s purest conduit taken form, and Deathknell, Gaia’s greatest weapon.

To the ancient peoples who I have spent my life studying, no greater terror exists, than mighty Infris, Serpent of Fire. While he is meant to reside in the unfathomable depths beyond Tarrak’s already unexplorable darkness, his presence is a constant in our world. His spirit so indominable, it reaches out into our hearths, our torches, and candles. He is fire incarnate. His power is an indispensable tool, but it is never without its dangers.

When angered, the Fire Serpent will rise and destroy everything in its path. He will emerge from the mountain, leap from a forge-fire, or bloom from the heart of a forest like a deadly flower, spreading in every direction. He is light and warmth, death and destruction, tool and weapon. Like his father, So’Rai, he is both creator and destroyer.

Aeros:

The Sky Serpent, Lord of Winds, Thunderbird, and Granter of Rain. The churning drafts of our sky are the passing of Aeros’ manifold. He comes as breeze, gust, and squall, shower, storm, and hurricane. The most fickle of all is Lord Aeros. He is the planter of seed, the singer through the branches, and the air in our lungs. He is the might of the thunderbolt, the bludgeoning of hail, and the clouded heights.

It is easy to take this great Serpent for granted, until his displeasure brings forth a storm so devastating, it floods the plains, drowns the crops, and tears down all we have built. Free and fickle, the Lord of Wind watches us from above, but a piece of him lives inside us, always. He knows our deepest selves, and can sense the darkness in us.

With a whip of his tail he can summon his brother Infris to bring chaos into our lives. Sailors and Farmers have learned to show reverence to Aeros, accepting their need and fear of him. Without Aeros’ mercy there is no wind and there is no rain. Birds cannot fly and pollen cannot spread. So many who beseech his favor do so in Terra’s name, offering her fealty and respect in the same breath, as all know the love Aeros holds for his benevolent sister.

Terra:

The youngest of Gaia’s children, Terra is the Lifebringer, Summer’s Eye, and Mother of Green. While Gaia is a primordial force encompassing the fullness of existence in our World, Terra is the progenitor of life in its many forms. From the lowest blade of grass to the highest soaring bird. From the insects that crawl under Tarrak’s skin, to the fish who swim within Atlevitas.

Even we, mere mortal flesh on two clumsy feet, owe fealty to Mother Terra. Her love for us brings forth the harvest, puts meat on our plates, and is perhaps the only force in the way of Gaia’s full, unbridled fury. For her sake, the Grand Mother keeps her claws at bay, striking in anger only at the foolish few who trespass or overstep.

The Farmers, Shapkas, Shamans, and Gardeners of the world hold Terra in the utmost regard, for in the fruits of her creation, all solutions can be found. She is a wonderous mystery box, full of surprises and challenges. In her bounty there are poisons and cures, maladies and remedies — life, death, and transmutation. Without her, there would be no eyes or ears to behold the mystery, only Light and Dark, Push and Pull, dancing forever through uninterpretable eternity.

Mother Night and Mother of Mysteries, Arisia is the void of night and keeper of secrets.  The music of her stars reveal the future to those who can hear their song.  In the So’Raian Mythos, all of creation is encompassed in her heavenly being. Arisia is Tharis’ feminine aspect, his sister, bride, and dark reflection. By their bonding did existence come into being. They are Black and White, Fullness and Emptiness, Within and Without. So’Rai, Gaia, Meridia, and every star in our sky, are held within Arisia’s Womb. (It serves to note that Arisia is the primary source of xial faith. I will be covering this subject in other texts.)

The Lady of Night, daughter of Arisia, is Meridia, the One of Many Faces. In Old So’Rian mythos, each of Meridia’s faces is considered a different aspect, with its own name and personality, each depicted as and represented by, a different animal. (This is a practice the xial have continued and hold most dearly. Most peoples know Meridia now simply as “the moon”. Few cultures still refer to her by her ancient name or remember the names of Her Faces.

The Crescent. The Child Moon is the Goddess of the Hearth, and protector of mothers, childbirth, and family.  She is prayed to for the safe return of a loved one, for the safety of children, and the unity of the home.  She is a goddess of protection and healing, kindness and mercy.

She is depicted as an amber owl and is known to accept berries and sweetbreads on her altar. In cultures where she is worshipped, the presence of owls is seen as a fair omen, and those who keep owls without the use of cages are considered people worthy of trust.

The Full Moon. The Hunter's Moon is god of The Hunt. Kiyo is prayed and sacrificed to by hunters, trackers, and woodsmen.  Respect and reverence for the Hunt and the Kill are his demands.  The use of all parts gained by such a sacrifice is also mandate.

Kiyo is depicted as a regal white stag, and is said to appear to those who hunt at night. His appearance is considered both a blessing and a curse, for it can mean the hunt you are on is destined to be successful, or that something is hunting you, and will likely succeed.

The Gibbous. The Harvest Moon, Goddess of Plenty.  She protects crops and grants the bounty of fish. She is the goddess of feasting, festivals, wine, and the harvest.  She is depicted as a great bear, with fur the color of autumn leaves.

She is depicted as a giant bear with fur the color of autumn leaves. Songs to her are sung during the sowing season and a festival of thanks is given in the fall. A portion of every harvest is burned as an offering to her, in prayer for a bountiful next year and for her blessing during the trials of winter.

The Half Moon, Twin Moon, Still Moon. She is the balance. A time of equality between light and dark when no sides are taken and no prayers answered. Nirin the impassive, is said to watch without care and will never intervene.

Nirin is the patron of those who wish to walk their own path and pay tribute to no-one. Those who worship at the altars of The Faces, see him as a god self-reflection and self-reliance. He is a reminder that one must not depend only on the gods to provide, but must also put in a piece of oneself.

The New Moon. Black Moon, and Storm Moon, Alciren is the God of Discord.  Also referred to as "Old Ren", "Bloodmoon", and "Grimnight", Alciren is a feared and respected deity.  Known as fickle and willful in his habits, his very presence heralds tragedy.  He is sacrificed to so that he remains appeased.

He is depicted as a terrible black wolf. Prayers and sacrifices of appeasement are made to Alciren in times of war, during difficult struggles, and in the months of winter. He represents fear of the divine and the unpredictable nature of existence.

The Calican Faith could be defined most simply as an expansion of Calusian beliefs.

While the Calicans believe that man owes its origin and fealty to Lord Zenthien and Tekuryo, just as Calusians do, those of the Calican Faith seek to embrace the divinity of all cultures and races. They do not wish to abolish or decimate other faiths, but to learn from them, and adapt them into their own expanding belief structure. The Calicans do not believe in instilling their own unilateral ideology, but seek to give humanity an understanding of its origin and place in the world — not as rulers and purveyors of all, as the Calusians see themselves, but as a part of a greater whole.

In this religion, the stories, gods, and creeds of the So’Raian Mythos are retained. Though despite the Calican’s welcoming nature to these beliefs, they did not absorb the So’Raian deities full cloth. Many took on different interpretations, names, and aspects when adopted, likely to minimize contradiction and paradox.

As a prime example, So’Rai (The Rai) is known as Cal-Siege. (The reason for this change remains unclear) “Cal” being an honorific, meaning Lord God, and “Cala” being the feminine equivalent; Lady Goddess. Arisia, for example keeps her name but is known as Cala-Arisia. This also applies to Gaia, who is referred to as Cala-Gaia, as well as her children; Cal-Infris, Cal-Aeros, Cala-Atlevitas, Cal-Tarrak, and Cala-Terra, respectively. The use of this honorific is the most readily identifying mark of a Calican faithful.

In the Calican Faith, Tharis is known as Cal-Tharis, and while he remains a manifestation of Time and Death, he is not seen as the progenitor of all creation. He is Cal-Siege’s twin brother and rival. He is a grim, dark being who seeks every opportunity to steal people away from the glory of life. He is the antilife. A feared and unwanted stranger. A dark seraph who commands a legion of muriks; winged specters whose duty it is to collect the spirits of the dead when their time finally comes.

The most prominent story that demonstrates Cal-Tharis’ darkness and jealousy of his brother’s glory, is found in the Song of Eclipto, in where Cal-Tharis takes Cal-Siege’s daughter, Cala-Terra, by force, in hopes that in her fury and shame, she would end all life in the world. Cala-Terra however, knew no such hatred, and instead forgave her uncle, ultimately nourishing and giving birth to his children, the Four Dooms.

The Four Dooms

Torinkast:

The god of Carnage and Fury, the Roar of War demands only one thing: bloodshed. Nothing matters other than the overpowering of the other by any means necessary. There is no prize or punishment in how one dies as all become part of the Citadel of Skulls in time. The pleasures, plunder and conquests achieved in life belong to the victor but those sacrificed to Torinkast are his to keep.

Death and destruction of all life are his only goals. Violence and mayhem by any means as long as it is violent and gruesome. Those who forsake mercy and honor for the sake of victory as the blessed of Torinkast. He has no churches or temples. Pillar-totems are built in the bone and viscera of victims.

He is the mortal enemy of Aranath, the War Saint of Testament, who promotes a chivalrous, more gentlemanly kind of warfare and who denounces Torinkast’s endless bloodshed and carnage.

Locus:

When the Slender One walks through the land, death comes for wheat, corn, chicken, and cow. The culling of the herd is his calling and she has no mercy. One of the Four Dooms, Locus is an agent of destruction and once unleashed is rarely appeased. ‘The Slender One cannot know hunger’, is a saying most farmers understand. Even in lean times, she is sacrificed to in hopes she does not come, for she is known for her endless gorging when awakened.

While Terra is the beginning and Tharis is the end, equal parts to a whole, their daughter Locus, the Angel of Famine, is a blight, willing to punish those who have strayed from the natural path by starving them, forcing them out of their lands, to fight one another, and experience the pain of loss.

Kaxxil:

Dreaded Kaxxil, the Wrath of Tharis, can come in many forms but is always deadly. Aside from Torinkast, The Angel of Pestilence is Tharis’ most powerful son. He grows in power the more people come together in filth and disregard. The greater the mass of people, the greater his power and influence. He strikes when least expected and spreads like wildfire.

His coming is feared most of all because little can be done to thwart him. Prayers and balms are sometimes of no use. He sometimes nibbles, he sometimes gorges. He is summoned by people’s own foolishness and consumes all in his path. He is depicted in the most terrific way; A leper, covered in boils and melting flesh.

The son of Death and Life, Conetus is described as a being of paradox. The Undying Prince is the black sheep of the Calican Faith, shunned by both Cal-Siege and his own father, Cal-Tharis. For this reason, he refuses the honorific of Cal and declares himself the son of two mothers, Cala-Terra, and Cala-Arisia.

Born with mastery over of both Time and Death, he grants those who follow him the power to deny both. His worshippers are The People of the Endless Night, honoring their lord by living under Cala-Arisia’s mercy, instead of Cal-Siege’s light, and in this darkness, they are said to live forever.

While the gift of immortality is something many would gladly seek out, the following of Conetus is rumored to have a keenly dark edge that many fear as unnatural, hinting at human sacrifice, daemonic worship, and even cannibalism. These rumors are further exacerbated by the secular nature of this nocturnal conclave. Even suspicion of being an Eclipto* is reason enough for summary execution by public burning, which has forced the religion into hiding, further worsening their reputation.

*Eclipto: A title given to followers of Conetus by other Calican faithful. The followers themselves refer to each other as Eternals or The Undying.

It is important to note that the practices of human sacrifice and daemonic worship are likewise attributed to the Calican Faith’s most renown dark deity, Cala-Neteri)

The Mother of Lies , Queen of the Vorx, and Most Tainted are but a few of the titles the Calusian Korgurate and Zoniran Priesthood have granted Cala-Neteri. Before the Neterian Purge however, she had vastly different titles. The Mother of Sephrins, Teacher of Lost Secrets, Seeress of Pearl, and Nexus Gate to name a few.

The Neterian Faith as we know it began in the island nation of Mudora, just off the wild shores of Lunary. A Council of twelve women calling themselves the Sephirot ruled the island, unrestrained by the edicts of Sacred Parliament. The exact shape of Mudora’s economic and civic structures were lost when the nation was toppled and its cities razed during the Purge, but volumes of speculation have been written since.

Neteri’s teachings spread quickly through Mudora’s wildly successful trade routes. The massive ships called Nightengales anchored at every major port and brought kelashin with them, as well as the alchemical teachings needed to work it. Kelashin, now known as marrow, bone-shinn, or core-shinn, changed the world forever.

The rise of Neteri was meteoric, bringing forth the Age of Reclamation. Neterian Academies were built in every major city across the known world. They were centers of learning, commerce, and academic exploration. Man’s most erudite masters, artists, and inventors flourished in the Halls of Neteri. Cala-Neteri was deemed a goddess, more powerful than all others. The people of Neteri worshiped the Winged Serpent and worked diligently to increase her wealth and influence, raising temples and monuments to her honor. The Neterian Sephirot soon grew to threaten the power of both the Calusian Korgurate and Sacred Parliament.

The Age of Reclamation ended when the Neterian Sephirot was brought before Parliament, accused and subsequently found guilty, of heresy and vorxcraft. The Knighthood of Paladius and the Inquisition’s Order of Hammers, were charged with purging the world of all Neterian influence. For this purpose, the Mastiffs of Rashnal were chartered into being and set loose upon their enemies.

Threatened with annihilation, the people of the Winged Serpent took up arms and fought back. Neterian Dragoons, Drake Knights, and Wyrvens clashed against the Mastiffs in every major city. This terrible holy war carried on for decades, threatening to drown the world in blood and fire. While it is known today as the Neterian Purge, the conflict was popularly called The Ballad of Tharis and The Shi’Ka War.

Countless lives were lost in those black years. Near the end, the conflict began to turn in Cala-Neteri’s favor — The Mastiffs being hard pressed to respond to Neterian might. Most historians agree that Neteri’s forces would have ultimately won the war, if not for the summoning of the Kragten.

The Court of Testament is a unique faith which has said to exist since man began to use the written word. At the apex of this faith sits Lady Testament herself. The Shaper of Form, the Lady of Scales, and Grand Calligrapher, who is said to have shown mankind the incredible power behind writing down their own legends and stories.

This ancient faith sprouted from the untamed sands of Southern Ardia, from a singular, massive structure called The Tetrahedron. The Lady of Law is assisted by the Tarivans; tall, thin beings with skin the color of slate and wide, unblinking eyes, black as pitch. These robed, hairless oddities have no mouths and communicate only through the written word.

In the Court of Testament, the very act of writing is a holy rite, the written word itself, a sacred expression, and the intention of what is written, a divine imperative. When a Tarivan writes something down, it becomes a reality, or a Truth of Order, as they call it.

Rarely does a Tarivan ever write anything down, so respectful they are of this power. However, if asked to write down a Truth, or make something a Truth of Order by writing it down, they are willing.

Through this practice, before knowing how to write themselves, mankind found a way to codify its first Scroll of Law. Spoken agreements became Contracts. A promise to repay normally made by a given Word of Honor, became a Letter of Debt, and so forth. While the Tarivans refuse to create Truths of Order, they will inscribe Truths dictated to them, binding them with their strange power.

The Lady of Scales and her Tarivans are a people of Order before all, and by their teachings, helped mankind resist the onslaught of chaos which befell the Old World. Testament was heralded as the Great Enemy of the Vorx, and became known as the Mother of Law and Matron of Sacred Parliament. She is the patron goddess of judges, lawyers, clerks, and scribes.

Aside from the Lady of Law, the pantheon includes four Martyred Saints who once served in the Tetrahedron.

The Martyred Saints

Sadrah Arcavi:

While it is not the place of the Tarivan to write the Truths of man for him, there was a need for a human who could learn and teach the powers of writing for mankind. For this purpose, Sadrah the Teacher was chosen. Proving her worth by completing a number of tasks and puzzles, she demonstrated she could understand and express he people’s desires through the written language, forming a bridge between the Tarivans and humans.

She created the curriculums that people would use for millennium after to learn to both read and write. She invented Arcavian, the very language that Aranath and Qunei would use in their contracts, and created the foundation of thought in where education is a written construct and superior to the passing down of song and story.

After her death she became the Word Saint, goddess of librarians, scholars, and educators, taken to Testament to ensure the passing of knowledge is never lost to the waves of chaos the would certainly strike the world.

In her name, the Sadrahvian Guard; Watchers of the Temples of Testament, Keepers of the Scrolls, and Guardians of Children, were instituted.

Sol Aranath:

While in the Calican Faith, Torinkast is both a son of Tharis and god of War, even they know and respect the name Aranath. A human chosen as Testament’s Arbiter of War, Aranath wrote the Declarations of War and Peace Treaties that framed every conflict among the first nations of man. These Rules of Engagement were considered an absolute necessity by all leaders who wished to ignore the wanton bloodshed and chaos promoted by the war god Torinkast.

Aranath’s philosophical writings about the necessity of war, and the beauty of civility during conflict, earned him the moniker; War Saint. After his passing, it was written the Aranath was taken under Testament’s wings and brought into her divine fold to watch over every theater of war, and ensure the letter of law was always followed. That he was accepted by Cal-Siege into his pantheon to challenge his brother’s dark progeny. So Aranath became the Calican’s God of War, and Torinkast was relegated to God of Destruction.

Miria Qunei:

The Lost Saint, Miria Qunei was burned as a heretic for coaxing a Tarivan Archivist into writing The Qunei Stone of Parliament, which set the parameters of rulership for all persons invoking the power of the Crown under Parliament Scripture, and stripped monarchs of their right to judge and execute their own people.

Until this intrepid act, the rulers of clans and nations had been using the power of Tarvian Truths to cement their unchallengeable power in their realms indefinitely. They killed rival families and clans, enslaving survivors, and consolidating land and power that was then inherited by their children.

The Qunei Stone limited the powers and freedoms the Crown could grant itself, and gave its populations inalienable rights and protections against being decimated by their own rulers. It turned the power of Parliament into a two-bladed sword, which balanced the relationship between monarch and landowner, and granted the power of Judgment and Execution to the independent Magistrates of Parliament, instead of the Crown.

Long after her passing, Miria Qunei was pardoned of her heresy and granted the posthumous titles, Tourniquet of Kings and Mother of Parliament. She is the patron of rulers, lawmakers, baliffs, Arbiters, and Magistrates.

Suli Mordagan:

The First Hammer, and this humble historian’s ancestor, knew that Testament as not only an anchor of Order in a world dominated by Chaos, but a power that could be wielded like a blade against it.

While sacred Parliament protects mankind from Chaos entering its politics, the Vorx is ever insidious and requires a heavy hand to keep it from growing and spreading. New structures needed forming.

The Mordagan family has had a long, bitter relationship with the vorx and its agents since pre-recorded time. We have pushed back against the vorx’s corrosive influence and strived to serve as beacons of hope and retribution. Mine is an ancient lineage of Daemon Hunters, and from the mind and will of Suli Mordagan sprouted the Edicts of the Holy Inquisition.