Quintalasism

Quintalasism is a religion branching from the belief of Creationism with a different outcome to the conflict, where the four children of The Creator won their fight against their celestial parent. The four main gods that make up the pantheon are based off of the orders of the world, Naka-hara is the goddess of Life, Haku-mura is the god of Death, Sheeran is the goddess of Balance, and Melka is the god of Chaos. Quintalasism was said to have been brought to the people of Latani by the very gods of the religion itself, wishing to have a more concrete presence with their followers then The Creator had from Creationism before.   As scripture goes, The Creator was an unfathomable celestial presence made from the cosmos itself. The Creator wanted to craft a solar system for their own to rule over, so they made one using the elements of space around him. In doing so he made a planet to experiment with air, a planet to experiment with earth, a planet to experiment with life, and his perfect final planet of magic and loyal followers. The Creator then gave birth to four children, created from the particles of space and The Creator's very own body. This religious passage is identical as it is in Creationism, but where it differs is with the conflict that ensues afterward. In Quintalasism it is said that the four new gods saw their father as nothing but a restrictive and controlling tyrant bent on enslaving the populace of Seroma and destroying his sandbox of life that was Latani, they also saw that his obsession with magic would eventually cause civilization's destructive downfall. They decided to fight back against The Creator for the right to rule over the planets, the battle raged on for one hundred days and one hundred nights until The Creator was shattered into a million pieces. The pieces retreated back to his perfect planet of Seroma, leaving his four children to rule over Latani of their own volition. The gods then began to sculpt the world, the land and the life withing, raising their favorite beasts to intelligence so that they might one day have followers that might accept them.   According to Quintalasism belief, it is because of the gods influence that allowed the many peoples of Latani to evolve past their monstrous, primal forms in order to gain sentience and self-thought. The peoples of Latani were then left alone to organize themselves, develop themselves, and evolve all on their own for a while. Eventually the four gods revealed themselves to the people, ready to guide them, lead them, and make their lives better. This was said to be the beginning of the age of gods, where the gods gave the people the choice to follow them, they were never forced to partake, nor were nonbelievers punished, not that there were many considering the vast majority of the population accepted them as their new gods. This so-called "Age of Faith" lasted for approximately 800 years, during the beginning decades of which, the gods began having children with the people of Latani, eventually resulting in five demigods per god. Each of the twenty demigods were designated to certain roles by the gods and were worshiped by the people just the same as the main gods, giving rise to Quintalasist pantheon. Life during the Age of Faith was one of the greatest in Latani's history, the gods and demigods controlled most aspects of life, shapeshifting to mingle with the commonfolk or tower above them. Worship and religion was the forefront of society for centuries, with people following the will of the gods.   The Age of Gods came to an end when the gods of balance and chaos, Sheeran and Melka, fought each other, resulting in the destruction of a large part of the continent. Scripture reads that this conflict started when Sheeran gazed into a vision of the future, where Latani was destroyed and burnt into a lifeless wasteland. Panicked and without thinking she turned to Melka in blame, somehow believing that he would be somehow responsible. No one knows who one, after a while of intense battle, they both just disappeared, with Naka-hara and Haku-Mura soon to follow. Confused, scared and panicked about what happened and what to do, the demigod Teyamo fought and killed the demigod Vito, resulting in the first recorded death of a demigod, up to that point the demigods didn't even know they could die, madness followed. The demigods started a ten year conflict known as the "Demigod Massacre", where the demigods warred against each other to the death, with some battles lasting months at a time. Some of these battles were so intense that they changed the entire topography of the land, with thousands of deaths in the destructive collateral damage. In the end only five demigods remained, Ledoux, Krimson, Serro, Torren and Mara. The huge corpses of the other demigods are still scattered around the lands of Latani to this day.   The fallout of the Demigod Massacre resulted in a huge drop in Quintalasist belief, as one can expect after such a religiously shaking event, many deities who were once worshiped and respected under a single united pantheon had violently killed each other, with the main gods hiding away, believed to be playing a more hands-off approach to their religion. Today Quintalasism still has the largest percent of followers in Latani, with most followers believing that the gods are still watching over them and influencing the world, though in a much more subtle and passive way. The remaining demigods are no longer prayed to or seen as divine, but are still highly respected and powerful beings. The main symbol of Quintalasism is a four-pronged cross named the Axis of Being that represents the four aspects of the world, life, death, balance and chaos. This symbol can be found nearly everywhere in Latani.   The afterlife of Quintalasism comes in two distinct places, Heiva and Selk. Selk is a vast, barren, grey expanse were evil-willed souls wander alone for the rest of eternity. The Quintasists believe that an eternity of silence and nothingness is worse than an eternity of pain and torment. Heiva on the other hand is a blue, wispy ethereal palace, given to the good-willed souls who pass on in the mortal realm. The halls of Heiva are said to be filled with blue lights, endless food, entertainment and festivities every day. For those who die as a Quintalasist, their souls are said to travel to the oceans, where massive creatures called the Soul Rays gather their spirits and escort them safely to Heiva somewhere in the night sky.