Provision of the Mother
The Great Mother is said to be the first of all the civilized peoples, she who transcended the instincts of the beasts, born of the purification of a fish that lived a thousand years. Her following is the worship of the rational mind and superior intellect, and it is the belief of the scaled mers that the savage mammalians and humans who do not believe show improper gratitude for what they have been given.
Structure
The Provision of the Mother is closely tied with the government and culture of the scaled mers, and as such, its "highest member" is the Ruler of the mermaids. Following that is the Representative of the Mother, an elder female of some relation to royalty, who has been an Attendant since her childhood, and serves as a sort of "religious advisor" to the current ruler. The Attendants, then, are mers who have dedicated themselves to the worship and study of the Great Mother. They live isolated lives of scholarship in an annex of the royal palace, and have taken vows to forsake the calling of their instincts beyond what is absolutely necessary to survive. The social background of the mer in question is not important and they can be of any age, but it is rare for males to be accepted as Attendants unless they have shown a life of exceptional restraint, as they are thought to be more susceptible to their base instincts, and weak in spirit. Attendants are accepted by the Representative of the Mother, and the annex they live in is attached to a network of caves empty of water, which are kept meticulously clean and store thousands of shells into which are carved a majority of the religious and philosophical writings previous Attendants left behind. As such, Attendants are some of the only mers who are known to be literate.
Mythology & Lore
The current great legends are:
The origin of the Great Mother.
The birth of the first lesser mers.
The interaction with the dragons.
The creation of males.
The elevation of the landwalkers.
Tenets of Faith
The basic precept of the Provision of the Mother are relatively simple and predicated on the denial of one's immediate instincts. Of course, necessities such as food and water are to be taken care of, but letting gluttony, desire, and various emotions rule one's actions are thought of as the actions of the lesser beings (and therefore things such as crimes of jealousy and vengeance are not only punished as crimes but looked down upon as the sign of one being inferior). Nature worship is also seen as a disgusting practice of the savages, as is racing and hunting for sport.
On the other hand, all of the refinements of culture are thought to be an act of worship itself. Dancing, music, art, architecture, and spoken poetry are all well regarded. Mers are supposed to spend some time each day dedicated to some form of careful thought and to pass down their wisdom to their children. The laying of eggs and their fertilization is not considered either bad or good religiously, though children are culturally adored and the acts of reproduction are technically moved by instinct.
Type
Religious, Organised Religion
Demonym
The Lifted
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