Covenant of Heaven

The Covenant of Heaven is a promise and agreement supposedly made to mortalkind by Halcyon. According to Suweskivari religions (Pratasam, Areto, Rueka, and Halikvar), Lily of Red revealed the Covenant of Heaven to mortalkind after ascending to the Lunar Pantheon - and in doing so, made it clear as the basis for moral society and the relationship between Gods and mortals.   The Covenant of Heaven is essentially a promise that good and moral behavior will receive spiritual rewards. This is most commonly interpeted as "rewards after death," as a promise that all good souls who follow the laws of Halcyon will be assured a pleasant afterlife and protection for all eternity. It is also often understood in social terms: to act by the Covenant creates a more just society and world that shall benefit one's kin and self.   It is believed that even those who go to Paradise are not saved forever, but may fade away or face a time when heaven falls and is remade. When such a time comes, the Covenant of Heaven will protect the good and the faithful and will not protect those who entered heaven by other means. Some also see the Covenant as allowing a true return to the God-being, where the faithful can blissfully merge with all of existence or with God.   The reward of eternal salvation and divine love is vague but clearly desirable but the demands are material and specific. Different sects and faiths that believe in the Covenant tend to interpret these demands differently, but there are some basic agreed upon points:

• The Covenant of Heaven is to tolerate the "Covenant of Earth," which is generally understood to be Akadism and Kima Cities.
• Violence is to be used only in self-defense or to destroy evil
• Do not harm others for greed - be charitable
• Do not harm others for cruelty - be compassionate
• Do not harm others for revenge - be forgiving
• Give hospitality to strangers and do not turn away foreigners in need of a home
• Do not tolerate and ignore evil
• Accept your place and limitations in the world
• Do not excessively take from nature

These were the terms that Halcyon made when giving Druidism to Lily of Red many thousands of years ago. The Covenant of Heaven essentially is the belief that these terms extend far beyond Lily herself and that she was a stand-in for all mortalkind. She [all mortalkind] received the promise that she would get druidic magic [God's grace] to get justice and receive a homeland [Paradise] as long as she followed the rules.   Several of those rules (not to kill for greed, cruelty, or revenge or you will become a Sintree) were then made magically binding for all Druids of her tradition. This is a sign that these rules are universal and not just for Lily individually. Lily's elevation as the first Lunar God was similarly a sign that this Covenant was not just for her family or nation or continent, but for all mortalkind.   So the Covenant demands mundane behaviors for divine rewards, but there is a lot left vague about this. Many of these rules are more principles and values than hard-set behavioral taboos. There is a tension here in how interpretable these rules are. If this is so important, why is it so unclear?   In Pratasam and its regional sect of Rueka, the fact that the Covenant was formed through the prophet Lily as an individual leader, and that her druidic heirs carry a magical burden tying them to her promises, implies that leaders or specialists should carry the burden of interpretation. This is the basis of Elite Salvation, a religious belief that only educated leaders and elites carry the moral burden of interpretation - but that in doing so, they gain the divine right to rule. Non-elites or those too ignorant to interpret morality gain salvation through a combination of faith in Halcyon and obeying whatever their moral superiors say. That combination of faith, humilty, and obedience is enough to satisfy the Covenant and ensure salvation even if the leaders fail and guide them into committing sins.   Halikvar rejects Elite Salvation in favor of Individual Salvation. Basically, the Halikvar believe that everyone is their own fully capable individual who has their own responsibility and ability to fulfill the Covenant. To the Halikvar, the fact that salvation requires difficult moral interpetation is just part of the challenges of life and a reason that education for all people is important. Prayer and rituals are essential for both invoking Halcyon's wisdom and guidance and her mercy for when one makes a mistake.   The Temple of Areto walks a weird middle-line. Essentially, they argue for Communal Salvation: that communities inherently share in most of their moral choices in what they enable. While you are still responsible for your own salvation in Areto, there is moral bleedover from your broader community. Individual salvation is often imagined as a "weighing of the scales" by Halcyon counting the good and bad things you did or enabled. A community of the faithful is essentially a heavy weight in favor of your salvation: love and cooperation is inherently good, so a community with gentle clerical guidance is a moral safety net.   Then there is the question of faith, belief, and heathens. Can you benefit from the Covenant of Heaven if you don't pledge yourself to it but still end up following all the laws?   There are some who claim that the Covenant of Heaven is a promise to all mortalkind regardless of their faith and that all who follow the rules and values are protected even if they are foreign heathens. There are many more who claim the opposite, that faith in Halcyon and an active participation in the Covenant is required for it to take effect. One must enter the Covenant of Heaven, it is said, through belief and public devotion. This is particularly true in Pratasam, Rueka, and Areto, which all demand that devotees wear accessories as public displays of affiliation representing the Covenant: the Covenant must be proudly and visibly opted into. Halikvar's individualism is actually a bit more flexible on the matter, though it is understood that Halikvar law and ritual is necessary for everyone to enter Halcyon's grace.   It should not be surprising that there is no single set of agreed-upon demands and rewards for the Covenant of Heaven. There are a number of common interpretations, but the original words of Halcyon were anything but direct. Some common interpretations include:

• No Murder
• Give to charity
• No Torture (except potentially for judicial purposes)
• No vengeance violence
• Accept refugees
• Give hospitality meals and shelter to strangers
• Do not claim unnatural dominion 
• Intervene when you see someone kill or abuse
• Do not completely destroy natural spaces deemed spiritually valuable when using them
• Do not eat cow or pig meat
• Do not contaminate yourself or sacred places with spilled blood
• Study ethics
• Do not boast or claim power above your station
• Do not steal

Now, the meat taboo in particular tends to be weird and flexible. While total vegetarianism is seen as preferable, various communities have historically pushed to allow for fish, poultry, and perhaps some hunted meat. Cattle, pig, lamb, and goat meat are all seen as generally unholy, though.    Do people in these religions entirely follow these tenets? No. In fact, they often accept that total success is impossible and seek to do active good and perform absolution rituals to help recover from inevitable sin. Communities and governments can often latch on to a handful of interpreted demands as symbols of goodness while ignoring the rest, acting in blatant contradiction to their stated values. Such is religion.    As for the rewards of the Covenant, they are a guarantee of a better eternity after death. The rest of the specifics are vague and often shaped by personal or cultural belief.    For such a basic principle of Suweskivar religions, it can be shocking to outsiders that Halcyon did not directly promise this Covenant to basically anyone except Lily of Red. It was Lily who extended this promise to the rest of mortalkind. There is supporting evidence that Halcyon had intended this, but no direct words.    Some people are troubled by this, but not many. Suweskivar religions consider Lily of Red to be Halcyon's chosen prophet, so it may as well have been directly stated. And Gods rarely speak directly or clearly anyways, so it fits the spiritual logic of many religions for Halcyon to have kept the "business" elements of the Covenant unspoken. Besides, Halcyon loves Good Things, so doing things that Halcyon considers Good would naturally grant her favor.    For what it is worth, Lily of Red has been upholding her own version of the Covenant independently. She has been quick to grant Deliverance (the ability to go to Paradise on death) to any mortal who follows any Suweskivari religion to the best of their ability.