Heavens Worship
Divine guardians of life
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Profile
The Heavens are a group of largely-nameless deities who act as collective as a harmonized near-singular being. Together, they represent a large portfolio of divine aspects that create, preserve and guide life - such as nature, healing, protection, community, color, song, sun, and much more. Life on Arda was originally seeded by the Heavens, from the meekest insects, to the mightiest leviathans, and the intelligent peoples that exist today. The true nature of the Heavens is a topic hotly debated among the theologians of Arda and the planes beyond. As it's history has shown, it can exist in both individual and collective parts. This in turn, creates confusion over whether the Heavens is indeed a pantheon (akin to the Four Primordial Lords) or is a singular being. Individual churches and clerics offer varying doctrine whether it should be prayed to as singular beings or joined nature. Regardless of its metaphysical interpretations, most agree that the Heavens acts in good intentions to nurture and protect life on Arda, falling between Neutral Good and Lawful Good alignments. Likewise, clerics of the Heavens therefore can be aligned from Lawful Neutral to Chaotic Good, depending on their interpretation of the Heaven's doctrine. While the Heavens created the basis for all life on Arda, they are specifically credited for those known as the Children of the Heavens - elves, dwarves, gnomes, halflings, and men (humans). These are the original sapient beings placed to populate, discover, and actualize the primal world shaped by the Primordial Lords. Each are endowed the with a fraction of the divine spark of life as granted by the Heavens. While the Heavens have not created new forms in thousands of years, the rare exception to this is the aasimar, born from the children of mortals and the divine messengers and spirits of the Heavens. The Heavens are the self-appointed protectors of life and nature on Arda. This is in contrast to the Primordial Lords, who oversee the balance of the physical land and elemental forces of the plane, such as sky, sea, and earth. As in the past, both sets of deities continue to coexist. Between the Heavens and the Primordial Fire, they created (or are, in some interpretations) the sun and hold it aloft to shine its warmth and glory for the peoples of Arda to depend upon. More abstract interpretations (such as those of Mujmal even place the Primordial Lords as more overt elements of the Heavens itself, even despite their past conflicts. The Heavens embraces those who protect, cultivate, and nurture life on Arda. By extension, those who make the most of life's wonders and make fine creations such as art, music, or fine crafts are beloved by the Heavens. Likewise, those who seek to preserve life by healing and protection, or those who dedicate themselves to others are loved by the Heavens. As the guardians of nature, they also care for those who care the wild, untamed or cultivated, as well as for animals be they docile or feral. The latter philosophies would eventually be accentuated in the blended faith known as Druidism.
The Heavens, by a similar token, holds those who take or imprison life without due cause in contempt. Likewise, those who deprive life by bondage or by their incessant greed are unloved b the Heavens. While they value order and harmony, similarly do they discourage dull lives of stillness or silence, scorning those who needlessly creating or enforcing laws that restrict play, celebrations, gatherings, events which make life meaningful and important. The Heavens physical form has only been seen once by the peoples of Arda, during the Last of the Primordial Wars which occurred nearly 1500 years ago. During the conflict, they appeared as massive beings of colored light, enshrouded in cloud cover, which seemed to exude an aura of peace and serenity. The holy symbol of the Heavens is two hands of different colors loosely bound together in red string.
Holy Text
Title: Arda Ardens Translated from Romanoran Elven, the title Arda Ardens translates to "The Striving of Arda". It contains numerous myths and parables to raise and guide life in virtue and harmony. There are a number of variations of the book which represent theological differences, but the contents are by and large the same throughout the world. Being the most popular religion on Arda, the holy text is the most popular book in the world, with any who are able to afford books owns at least a copy of this.
History
No one knows how the individual deities of the Heavens came to be. The Heavens, like a number of other extraplanar beings (such as the Primordials or the Shadow) have existed since the dawn of time. These powerful extraplanar beings had no knowledge of their creator, but would take the inky and black void and craft it into worlds and wonders of their own. Thus did these beings create stars and planes to populate the void, and soon did the void gain meaning. The deities of the Heavens had no guide or protector, but instead decided to band together in common purpose to create life and to give it guidance they had lacked. Over time and galvanized by purpose, the deities of the Heavens had harmonized into a near-singular being. The history of the Heavens is intertwined with the history of Arda and the Primordials. The Four Primordial Lords who possessed mastery of the four elements of air, earth, fire and water were the first to begin work on Arda. Using their divine artistry, they are best known for their creation of the physical features of Arda, such as the land, sea, and sky of the plane. After the physical creation of the plane, the Heavens, came to Arda. Intrigued by the concept of life, the Primordial Lords allowed the population of the creatures of the sky, sea, and land. As the Heavens populated Arda with life, so too did it improve its complex artistry, creating the first elves. While initially intrigued by the concept of intelligent life, by the creation of the dwarves, the Primordials became increasingly distressed by the way the elves and dwarves shaped the creation of the Primordials to their own wishes. Believing these new creations would upset the delicate balance they created, the Primordials sought to subvert the elves and dwarves down a different path. The result of their intercession was the orcs and duergar. These peoples soon fell into a conflict which was known as the First Primordial War, which led to the exile of the orcs and duergar. Over time, the Primordial Lords became increasingly frustrated with the advancement and development of the lands of the dwarves and elves, believing it would lead to catastrophic imbalance. To complicate matters further, the Heavens continued to create life, creating the gnomes and halflings. Thus, the Primordial Lords made a desperate gambit and summoned yet another extraplanar being, the horror known as the Shadow. Malicious and terribly powerful, the Shadow brought ruin to the lands of the elves and dwarves alongside the resurgent orcs and duergar in a conflict known as the Second Primordial War. The Primordials would then come to create the svir and kobolds in process. The elves and dwarves were pushed back to a few strongholds in the Romanoran Empire. Not long after, the Primordials gave the final push to defeat the Children of the Heavens. Besieging one of their mightiest fortresses, Khazad-Vala, the Children of the Primordials joined with the Shadow in a great and terrible war. Facing their destruction, the Children of the Heavens prayed for salvation, summoning the deities of the Hevanes onto Arda itself. Seeing this, the Primordial Lords joined battle, and this battle irreparably scarred the land. In the fearsome destruction of the war, the deity Mendos gave its life to shield the peoples of Khazad-Vala from the wrath of the other gods. The last act of a dying deity, Mendos created the first two human children, named "Men" in his honor. So moved by Mendos' sacrifice and the birth of new life, both the Children of the Heavens and the Children of the Primordials wept tears of joy so great in number that it created the mighty river known as the Tearflood. The Primordial Lords and Heavens called for truce, and both would strive to create a balance between Arda and life. The Shadow, now denied of the war and violence it craved, fled south in search of new victims.Domains
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| Animal, Community, Glory, Good, Healing, Knowledge, Law, Magic, Nobility, Protection, Repose, Sun |
Adherents
The Heavens is the first and most popular faith on Arda, and has the numerically most followers on the plane. The religion was started by the elves, the first to given life by the Heavens. Even after millennia of struggle, they are beloved by people for their focus on life and protection, they are particularly worshiped by those place great value on life, such as the young and old, doctors, farmers, parents, woodsmen, and just about everything in between. Churches, shrines and temples can be found in nearly every town of Arda. The most notable exceptions include the elves of Cathay and the peoples of the Golden Khanate. With such far reach and span, it is unsurprising that the church of the Heavens is far from a monolithic organization. As previously discussed, a number of theological differences have caused schisms and the birth of new sects throughout their long history, even while the general mission of the faith remains the same. The largest offshoot of the Heavens faith is known as the "Cult of Mendos", which honors and places large emphasis on the noble sacrifice of Mendos. The Cult is active throughout the Eastern and Western Continent, and particularly so in Al-Andalus. It is led by the religious leader of Al-Andalus, the Caliph. The Cult is common especially among men, who credit Mendos as the god-patron of humanity. Even while the deity Mendos died to protect the Children of the Heavens and create humanity, invoking its divine memory still empowers the clerics of the Cult of Mendos.
Heavens clerics are hailed the world over for their compassion and empathy. They often serve as healers and doctors, while others take on roles of teachers, guardians, or even community leaders. The Heavens are prayed to by common folk for good harvests, fair weather, relief from sickness, safe childbirth, life and good fortune. Musicians and artists pray to the Heavens for divine inspiration, soldiers pray for protection or return, and each pray for their prosperity and success of their communities.
Afterlife
Upon their death, the souls of those who worshiped the Heavens are returned to their embrace. Each life, particularly the souls, of these individuals are the nurturing essence of the Heavens. Most often, these souls are taken into the folds of the Heavens they had served in life, transferring their soul and divine essence to the Heavens and further empowering it. In rarer cases, souls are returned and shaped into new holy spirits, messengers, or guardian angels, some of which retain the memories of their past life. These spirits will often return to Arda to guide, protect and empower the weak or reverent of Arda. The rare departed souls contacted say their return to the Heavens is pleasant, like that of a reunion between old friends. Souls may reject this repatriation, and like any souls who are atheist or rejected or unclaimed by their deities, are almost certainly bound to an afterlife as a lost soul. Lost souls are often unable to interact with the world around them, and become stuck between the plane which they died and the Transitive Plane. Such souls will often live long lives of loneliness or frustration, unless they become called upon, such as the cases of Ancestor Worship, by which they may find meaningful afterlives. It is notable that this spiritual afterlife is not entirely safe, as Shadow creatures often prowl the Transitive Plane in search of lost souls to give to its master.See Also
A part of:Quick Reference
Domains: Animal, Community, Glory, Good, Healing, Knowledge, Law, Magic, Nobility, Protection, Repose, Sun
Created: Dwarves, Elves, Gnomes, Halflings, Men, Aasimar (rare)
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