BUILD YOUR OWN WORLD Like what you see? Become the Master of your own Universe!

True Faith of the Fourteen Signs

Mythology & Lore

Eldar religion, referred to by its adherents as "The True Faith of Fourteen Signs" is the religion held to by most elvish civilizations in one form or another. Eldar Religion holds that Tol-Lorak was formed by the efforts of Fourteen Great Leviathan Gods: Imris, Celinar, Saerosaer, Modhraen, Uthin, Nelayaser, Eleyedas, Ithinwe, Evrir, Tanelyer, Atasmir, Duilenmagl, Nilariel, Engon. This primal perfection and chaos was disrupted by the Outsider,  Gathamuriel, frequently identified with KOL. He slew the great Leviathans and cast their remains into the sky, where they formed the basis of the Eldar Zodiac.   Millenia later, in order to bring about Their Will, the Leviathans brought forth the elves to take control of a world torn between Dragons and Giants, to cast down their ordered ways and institute true freedom under a new Eldar hierarchy. These elves brought forth the great Elven Empire long ago, which prospered greatly and ushered in a great era of light, beauty, glory, power, and bountiful chaos.   All was not well, however. From the earliest days that the Eldar had walked the earth, that Divine Test, that Divine Gift, Death had haunted the steps of the Eldar. But this, too, had been corrupted by Gathamuriel, who had long ago twisted its purpose in order to draw all Sapient Beings ultimately to Himself.  Thus, their Empire established, the Eldar sought to find ways to circumvent this travesty. And, after twenty-five thousand years, they at last discovered it: through the use of the newly forged Fourteen Leviathan Stones, they were able to cycle Eldar souls endlessly, keeping them from the grasp of Gathamuriel. From that day, Eldar souls continued to be purified and perfected through their own efforts over the course of long millenia. This work accomplished, they instituted a long era of wealth, power and prosperity to all the elves. And for those Elf-Friends who labored for them, was afforded the chance of rebirth, of perfection in a new Eldar body in their next incarnation. A true Meritocracy was born amidst the Chaos, but not one that strove futilely against it.    This work accomplished, the Eldar sought to restore the broken bodies of the Leviathans who had brought them forth, who had taught them, who had made them powerful. They shifted the continents back into place, brought down the shattered remains of the gods from above, and drew ever closer to restoring them, altering even the passage of time to comport more fully with the Leviathans. But on the verge of restoring the form of Holy Imris, supreme goddess of all nature, First of the Leviathans, KOL again struck. Through the work of his wicked servants, among them the Dragons, he cast down the works of the Eldar, burned their holy woods, shattered their cities, ended their Empire and their works. These were the Burning Days. In the midst of these days, the great stones were cast down and hidden, and so a veil was drawn between the Eldar and their purified souls. From then onward, but a trickle of Eldar souls could re-enter the material plane, though those whose bodies fell could remain.    And so it became imperative that the worshippers of Chaos should come to embrace order in one Aspect: That they should enforce birth and purification so as to ensure that elven souls continued to return, and that neither inferior forms were filled with elven souls, nor should the trickle slow.   It is here that the great schism occurred among the elves. The Elves of the Ascendancy followed the will of the priests, while the Elves of New Aeterna on the seas elected instead to ensure that the monarchs and warriors controlled the process. The Elves of Paradisa viewed the fall of the Empire as a sign that the Leviathans had turned their back on the Eldar for imposing too much order on Chaos, and so turned to anarchy. Many other elves turned their backs on the faith all together, and followed after other gods, or even interpretations of the Leviathans so novel as to truly be a different faith.

Cosmological Views

The Leviathans formed the world through the formation of the the Great Ouroboros: biting each another's tail and forming two great wheels, they spun up Tol-Lorak into its primal, chaotic, existence.

Tenets of Faith

Orthodox Eldar Religion holds strong tenets of Purification: that one needs to purify their soul to ascend to higher station; Birth: that one needs reproduce carefully under the guidance of either priests, nobility, or the will of the Leviathans in order to ensure proper ascendance; and Chaos: that the only ultimate truth is Power, and that the purer the soul, the greater the power.

Worship

Elvish relic parade a la Yazidism (shards of Reincarnation)

Priesthood

The Priesthood is comprised of elves of the Sky Elf Caste.
Type
Religious, Organised Religion
Deities

Comments

Please Login in order to comment!