Cosmic Church

This is a religious page. All 'facts' presented as history may be disputed by those not affiliated with this order.

The Cosmic Church is the most common religious affiliation in the cosmopolitan world. With roots in marran, tibanese, Elven, and even Turathi tradition, the fusion of these faiths has been spread by trade across the face of Mondevai. From turathi and hael traditions come the association of the Verogods with travelling troupes (bards are as likely to be holy men as the clergy!), the marrans and tibanese contribute the origins of magic and the stories of creation. Other, smaller religions are often gently blended in as they rise and fall.

A pantheistic religion, many followers choose to accept the grander faith but focus only on a single patron Verogod to follow, emulate, or worship, becoming a regional henotheistic sect. Each Verogod has a symbol associated with them, which is in turn used by the clergy of the church.

Background

For the church, the faces of deism are collected into the Verogods, those who cannot stand in heaven, as war and strife bar them from eternal rest. Ancient magic prevents their death, but forges a pact at the same time, granting the bearer powers that far outclass those of mortals. There are three types of Verogods, though many in each category.

Godyr, the mortals who were spared from danger, now traveling the world. Vigils, little more than forces of nature to most of the world. Danzamal, mortals who joined in rebellion against heaven and were cast out.

The verogods all source their powers from a weapon or implement of great power- an item crafted entirely of Fahrstone. While these artifacts grant the verogods the ability to control or dispel the Flows of Chaos as well as protect their followers, they also carry a heavy curse. Tied irrevocably with the Flows, they draw magic to themselves, along with whatever the arcane material has integrated itself with. Thus the wanderings of the verogods are met with mixed reactions; the earth and water follows in their footsteps. While a Godyr might bless a village with a fine harvest, his departure may very well swallow the region into the depths of the earth, or level it with a massive tsunami. These are a few of the legends or myths that have been told and retold through the ages:

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History of the Verogods

Clerics of Ariese hold that before modern history, an ancient battle occurred in the halls of eternity. The angel Vai had been shamefully exiled from paradise for blasphemy; transgressions that encompassed various counts of sin. The former solar's most loyal friend, Fahr, fully corrupted by these same pleasures and no longer even remotely loyal to the creator, chose to appeal this decision with war. Beyond the now meager sins of Vai, Fahr and his supporters were rooted from heaven in an equally violent inquisition, under the guidance of Nemo, who took his duties to the far extreme, executing those who had ever spoken in praise of Fahr and Vai—even before the exiles. Many were killed, their shattered souls falling from the celestial realm. Some of the traitors did not perish or fall to the earth, but arrested their catastrophic descent, and came to rest somewhere between the heavenly host and Mondevai, out of reach of Nemo.

Chaos, however, had the final word in the events. From the slain angelic souls rose a substance alien to the once righteous universe, screaming down upon Mondevai and the helpless human population. These were the Flows, the elemental chaos, and the world was set on course to die. Nemo, too, did not escape with his honor. For his unceasing and unholy vengeance, he was cast into the rising tide of chaos, shattering both his soul and his mind.

Mankind, however, was not destined to be lost that day. Vai, for all her failings as a heavenly guardian, had the best interests of the Highest in mind. Espying a few mortals entreating her in song, she shielded them the best she could from the growing terror, placing them upon high mountains, out of reach of the Flows. Fahr followed suit, but, without the interests of heaven in heart, the banished mortals he rescued became warped and corrupted as he. Millenia passed.

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The Origin of Magic

Verogods, excluding Vai, Nemo, and Fahr, derive their divine status from a large quantity of Fahrstone. From these (literal) instruments of power flow the divine magics of clerics worldwide. Due to the fact that the size of a piece of Fahrstone holds a finite amount of energy, the verogods can only supply power to a limited number of followers, and most are forced to choose carefully who will be holy instruments in the world.

In an attempt to empower followers without weakening themselves, both Ariese and Sirrien separately developed a means by which their chosen could wield great power without taxing the verogod themselves. From Ariese, the Eladrin were granted the gift of sorcery, and from Sirrien, devils were granted the pacts of the warlock, the wanton channeling of the Flows through higher entities. The elves were able to tap into the nature of the world by itself, finding the strict control of wizardry abhorrent, and formed the more subdued magic of the druid and shaman as taught by Jaklodin. In a gambit befitting his nature, Savulcian briefly took Sirrien as a lover, and wrested from her the secrets of the arcane. After the ill-fated tryst came to a conclusion, the jilted necromancer desired revenge. Unable to bring the demonic army to the surface of Mondevai, she instead looked to a race with great intellect to sow the seeds of revenge. The dravon of Crease became, unwittingly, instruments of corruption. The cults of Sirrien spread the rigid teachings of wizardry, or the strict and defined control of the Flows, amongst the apt scholars of the race.

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List of Verogods

Godyr - the Sacred Troupe

Godyr are widely considered to be benevolent, fighting against the the incursions of the Danzamal while wandering the world.

Vai - "The Musician of the Spheres"

Sarice - The Voice

Hlyn - Percussion

Ariese - Strings

Jaklodin - Woodwinds

Savulcian - Brass

Vigils - the Eternal Laws

The Vigils have lost the compass of morality entirely, and now retreat from civilization while carrying out the forces of law in the world. Vigils are not typically revered in the world so much as looked upon as inevitables. After all, say many, no civilized man would worship the wind or rain.

Nemo - "The Immutable Justice"

Banikon - Death

Iilikos - Chance

Thain - Time

Dara - Change

Ximena - Life

Danzamal - the Wayward Lords

Fahr's former mortal followers, they are associated with movement, and usually looked on as demons who followed the path of rebellion against their creator, their father, and their country. Each is symbolically assigned a direction of influence, and blamed or acknowledged when the world shifts in favor of a particular race.

Fahr - "The Lord of the Dance" - Zenith

Nairo - Nadir

Gyrum - North

Revannah - South

Sirrien - East

Urien - West

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Regional Differences

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• Turathi extreme hatred of Fahr & Danzamal
• Marran Empire influenced by ancient Crease
  • ”Drieon” instead of “Fahr”
  • ”Sirrien” and “Urien” instead of “Orien”
• Ginwil and Ethasadril views influenced by Sylvanism
  • Jaklodin and Hlyn held in higher esteem
• Tiban’s perception as a warrior culture
  • Hlyn and Nairo seen as the two Great Generals
• Confederacy of the Scale views of Sigil
  • Banikon the former emperor and his children Hlyn, Orien, and Sarice