The Deep Canticle

The Deep Canticle flows like the sea itself—structured but adaptable. The church is divided into Choirs, each led by a Tidecaller, who interprets the sea's will and Thalor’s song. Above them is the High Cantor, selected during a sacred convergence of tides. Beneath them are Wavebinders (ritual leaders), Shellkeepers (lore-wardens), and Driftwatchers (scouts and sea wardens). Temples are often ships, coral sanctuaries, or cliffside shrines, each autonomous but harmonized by shared hymns and omens.

The Deep Canticle teaches that the sea is both origin and end, chaos and comfort. Its followers value emotional depth, intuitive wisdom, and resilience in the face of constant change. Music—especially chanted hymns and rhythm from drums or waves—is central. Devotees speak in layered metaphors, honor dreams as tides of the soul, and mark major life events with saltwater rites.

The Deep Canticle works to protect oceanic ecosystems, sacred tides, and coastal communities from desecration. They act as intermediaries between landfolk and sea-creatures, calm storms through ritual, and offer sea burials for the honored dead. They resist overfishing, pollution, and magical interference with ocean currents.

• The Stormbirth: Thalor rises from the depths singing the world’s first storm into being.
• Tideforging: The first Tidecaller is gifted a trident of coral and lightning to call sea beasts and shape waves.
• The Leviathan Accord: The Canticle brokers peace with ancient sea creatures in the Age of Teeth.
• Current Era: The Canticle maintains floating sanctuaries and tide libraries, protecting relics and prophecies hidden beneath the waves.

Core myths include The Coral Crown (Thalor gifting sovereignty of the sea to mortals), The Drowned Prophet (a mortal who foresaw a flood and sang the warning), and The Last Tide (a future age when the sea will rise to reclaim what was stolen). These stories stress reverence, humility, and balance.

The Deep Canticle formed from sailors and stormcallers who felt Thalor’s presence in the singing of waves and howling of winds. Early faiths sang songs to appease the sea, but with Thalor’s revelation came harmony and deeper communion. The first temple was built in a drowned cave where glowing fish spelled out hymns.

The cosmos is seen as a great sea of stars, and life as a journey across it. The soul is a current returning to its source. Storms are moods of Thalor, and sea monsters are his ancient kin. The depths hold memories too heavy for the land. The surface world is fleeting—only the tide endures.

Tenets of Faith

• The sea gives and takes.
• All life began in water.
• Let your voice echo the truth of your soul.
• Ride the tide, do not fight it.
• Storms cleanse what cannot bend.
• Respect the old depths.
• Harmony requires humility.

The Canticle condemns greed, pollution, and prideful defiance of natural forces. Honesty, vulnerability, and attunement to emotional and environmental tides are virtues. False prophets, stormbinders, and those who trap sea spirits are considered grave sinners.

Worship includes choral singing, wave-diving, shell-rattling processions, and dream-sharing beneath the moon. The High Tide Vigil occurs during the spring tides, when followers float on driftwood rafts and sing to the stars. Offerings include driftglass, salt-etched poems, shed tears, and ocean-forged relics.

Tidecallers and Wavebinders are trained through dream-journeys and storm communions. Each bears a Songshell, a conch or coral relic attuned to their voice and the sea’s will. Rituals require vocal resonance, not incantation. High Cantors are chosen when the sea itself rejects all others.

Clerics and paladins of Thalor may invoke:

• Voice of the Abyss (project a thunderous command or soothe a raging sea)
• Stormsong (calls lightning and rain woven with melody)
• Drown the False (unmasks illusions or lies within earshot)
• Tidal Embrace (shield allies in a cloak of flowing water)
• Echo of the Deep (summon haunting, resonant memories from sea spirits)