Eskan Religion

Eskan is the general religion of the inhabitants of Auser. There are many other religions prevalent in the population, but most are just different interpretations of Eskan values and texts. The religious literature always starts with the story of the first Clockmaker, the equivalent of a mortal god. He or she is given powers by a mysterious entity known as the Clocktower, taking the form of an upside-down, obsidian-black structure that doesn't seem to obey universal laws of space and time. It will appear to the Clockmaker when it makes it's choice. This individual will be a Clockmaker for the rest of their lives and is chosen through unknown means. Their task is daunting- they must control and balance all of space-time for the rest of their worldly existence. Time is said to pass differently in the Tower. What may seem like days to anyone else can be hundreds of years for a Clockmaker at work. The Clockmaker is also tasked with shepherding the Gods through time, so they can be in multiple different places at once. There are 14 Gods within the Eskanin pantheon, but it is acknowledged in the texts that each planet seems to have its own higher power. The Gods are in charge of keeping the balance of the planet and its inhabitants, be that mental balance or physical. Through space travel, the Gods of Auser have expanded to different galactic and universal regions where their followers reside and still practice their religion.

Structure

The highest position is that of Clockmaker. Other positions underneath are considered to be subjective depending on the religious sect. Different houses, or worshipers of different Gods, will have a different hierarchy.

1. House of Didre: These individuals follow Didre, Goddess of Logic and Reasoning.They recognize the Clockmaker as the highest power in the religion, and they have positions under him or her. Each Didrest (place of worship to followers of Didre) has the equivalent of a priest or priestess in charge of proceedings.
2. House of Amina: The followers of Amina, Goddess of Home and Comfort, recognize the Clockmaker as the highest power in the religion. Each Amindel, or place of worship, is run by an acolyte that owns a copy of the religious texts, but the entire house is controlled by a collection of Caretakers.
3. House of Tagrokk: The followers of Tagrokk, God of Conflict and Rage, do not recognize the Clockmaker, instead recognizing the Clocktower directly as the highest power. Each Kol is run by an individual follower, but the entire house is controlled by an Acolyte of War.
4. House of Borr: Followers of Borr, God of Industry and Creativity, recognize the Clockmaker as the highest power. Each Faacto is run by a mechanized pastor that recites the texts daily, and a Representative of Supreme Invention runs the house.
5. House of Gagckrae: Followers of Gagckrae, God of Knowledge and Drudgery, recognize the Clockmaker as the highest power. Each Tehmpol is run by a High Scholar, and the house is run by a Scholar Elect.
6. House of Mysyx: Followers of Mysyx, Goddess of Nature, Life, and Growth, recognize the Clockmaker as the highest power. They have no place of worship, and choose to pray in designated "natural" areas. The house is run by a Guardian of Green.
7. House of Balmorra: Followers of Balmorra, Goddess of Light and Duty, recognize stars as the highest power, and worship the Primordial, the first star. Each Jundwell is lead through prayer by a Sunbeam, and the house is run by a Celestial Bright.
8. House of Vimm: Followers of Vimm, God of Love and Elation, recognize the Clockmaker as the highest power. Each Sku-ma-pol (translates, literally, to "fuck house") is visited regularly by followers of Vimm, and there is no single leader. The house is run by Vimm itself.
9. House of Nahc: Followers of Nahc, God of Deceit and Mischief (not to be confused with Loki, Norse god of Mischief), recognize the Clocktower as the highest power. There are no physical places of worship. The house is run by a secret leader, called the Hispit, but it has many followers of high status.
10. House of Soga: Followers of Soga, Goddess of Secrets and the Unknown (also seen as the Goddess of Death and Oceans) recognize the Master of Secrets as their leader, but acknowledge the Clockmaker. Each Soh-geh is run by a Keeper, and the house is run by the Master of Secrets.
11. House of Cimorath: Followers of Cimorath, God of Cold and Fear, recognize the Clockmaker as the highest power. Each Froisculp is run by a Champion, and the house is run by a Champion of Cold.
12. House of Pakmonus: Followers of Pakmonus, God of Music and Celebration, recognize no higher powers, or choose not to. There are no concrete places of worship, as the flock is constantly on the move. They are lead by The One Who Parties Hardest (it may be hard to believe, but it is a sight to behold).
13. House of Ominot: Followers of Ominot, Goddess of Harmony and Health, recognize the Clockmaker as the highest power. Each Hoimeh is run by a doctor, like a hospital. The house is run by a Healer-Elect.
14. House of Elara: Followers of Elara, Goddess of Dark and Madness, recognize the Clockmaker as the highest power. There is no official house of worship. The flock is headed by one Elari.

Unofficially, the head of the AUMO runs the bureaucracy of the religious conglomerate and controls the direction of the religion.

Public Agenda

The current goal of the religion is to spread to other planets, an agenda shared by the AUMO as its official religion. Each house offers a different agenda, and are, as of now, entirely separate from each other.

Assets

All the assets of the AUMO are available to the leader of the Eskan religion, which is currently the head of the AUMO. These include AUMO sanctioned Battalions 1 through 101 (composed of one roughly Moon-sized starship, approx. 5 star frigates, and 5 squadrons of 150,000 battle-ready spaceflyers), the AUMO Treasury, all AUMO-owned buildings, 74 planets, and all AUMO sanctioned weapons/tools manufacturers.

History

The Eskan religion was founded by the Gods themselves 9mya., when they achieved their godhood (according to the texts, the Gods themselves used to be mortal Ausran, but have ascended to a higher echelon of being through means only known to them). Clockmakers were chosen before the religion even started, dating all the way back to when the Ausran race first began to appear on Auser (Approx. 10mya.). Eskan, the first follower, was chosen by the Tower to be the next Clockmaker, and he soon found that the Gods were also allowed within the Timechamber, the highest point in the Tower (gravity is shifted in the tower. Although it is always perceived as upside-down, it's interior has inverted gravitational fields, making it seem as if the tower was right side up. Therefore, the tip is still considered the "top" of the Tower), and that he could service them by allowing them to be in multiple different places at once by manipulating the weave of time that appeared to him in the tower. He could serve all the Gods at once, without them ever having to see each other due to manipulation of the timeweave.
The Gods quickly spread the religion all over Auser, showing the limited population their extraordinary abilities that far surpassed any hux the small villages, at the time, had to offer. Fast forward 300,000 years, and Eskan disappears, something that happens whenever a Clockmaker seemingly "steps down" and quits. His loss is mourned by the Gods, who formally name their religion after the man that choose to help them unite the planet under them. They had discovered the extent of their immortality at this point, having faced many adversity and emerged unscathed. This was the beginning of Houses of the Gods, and the first separation of the Ausran people since the reign of Eskan. Some populations chose to follow a certain god, while others didn't care either way.
Another Clockmaker was chosen, but he had not revealed himself fully to the Gods. Instead, he helped them in their endeavors from behind a black curtain, figuratively and literally. During their frequent visits to the Tower, he or she (it is unknown, since they never showed their face or spoke a word) would hide behind a curtain and control the timeweave from the privacy of its shadows. There have been many Clockmakers since then, but all have used the Black Curtain at some point, mostly at the beginning of their cosmic tenure to slowly reveal their identity instead of outing it instantly.
Around the 5th Clockmaker of the religious timeline, a throne room was crafted by a combination of Gods and Ausran stonemasons, and included a middle seat for the Clockmaker. This marked the first time when the public directly drew a parallel between the Eskan religion and the Clockmaker. A few hundred years later, the first religious texts were written, and they included a whole manner of stories detailing endeavors of the Gods and the Clockmaker, some of which were fiction, but many others not.
Not much changed between 8mya. and 7mya. At 6mya., however, the first meeting with the Baru-tus, an intergalactic power already, happened. The Eskan followers banded together to form a powerful army, and thus the first Baru-tan Eradication began, an alien crusade of sorts. The Baru-tus were not prepared for the might of the hux, and they quickly folded under pressure from both Gods and their flocks, as players like Tagrokk and Balmorra fought on the front lines, and Borr and Nahc became the tacticians of the New Ausran Theocratic Government. This theocracy lasted for 3 million years, going through multiple Clockmakers in the process.
The population skyrocketed for the first time in the history of the species, going from a mere 1 billion individuals to a massive 4 billion in just 200 years. The population boom had adverse effects, however, and led to the demise of the world's theocracy. Around 2mya., the prime continent was separated into 5 regions, each having their own distinct governing body. Through this, ethnic groups were separated from one another. This was also the time that short-range spacecraft began to visit local planets, and the first Ausran set foot upon their red moon, designated Auser 1 by human astrologists. The AUMO was also founded at this time.
Not much happened afterward up until 300 years ago, when Red Snow happened. This was not the first war between Ausran, but it was one of the bloodiest. Eskan took the side of the resistance against the North, and all houses denounced their Northern sect's support of their ultra-fascist government. Gods remained at the sidelines, unwilling to help their own flocks kill one another, but understanding of their circumstances. Balmorra was the only God to lift a finger, appearing beside Easterners in a charge toward the Eastern Wall that split the regions from one another, and blowing a hole through it. Witnesses say that the blast was so large, it carved a chunk out of a mountain behind the Wall. This has become a tourist destination, although geologically it has been proven to be an odd rock slide instead of the powers of a mighty god that created the gash.
Soon after the war ended, the AUMO unanimously voted to absorb the Eskan religion into its governing body, allowing the Head of the AUMO unrestricted access to all religious assets, which were quickly converted to AUMO assets in a sweeping move that was highly controversial and resulted in a drop in numbers of practitioners.
Currently, the Clockmaker is missing, but this time, another has not been chosen and the Gods are unable to manipulate the timeweave for themselves. The Eskan religion is at one of its low points, due to the absence of the Gods and the seizing of power by the AUMO.

Mythology & Lore

In the Eskan texts, there are 6 books- Jameresh, Restir, Nahc-eh-svobda, Piteer, Yemeresh, and Tanahk.

• Jameresh, the creation myth, tells the story of how the Clocktower first appeared to the Ausran people and gave them eternal life, at a price of severe hardship for all Ausran forevermore. It is a story of greed leading to the condemnation an entire race to emotional ruin and high child mortality rates for the rest of their existence.
• Restir is a story of the relationship the Gods and the people shared, telling a tale of a united pantheon ready to protect their followers from any and all threats. The only god that does not appear in this book is Nahc.
• Nahc-eh-svobda is a more loaded piece, telling of Nahc's becoming the God of Deceit, in which he lies to his followers and manipulates them into serving him directly until the other gods intervene and punish him for his deeds, but then cut his punishment short when Soga stands up for him. This book is also the only one where Soga is recorded as having said anything. "If you would strike him, you must strike me as well. Are we not the same?"- Soga, Nahc-eh-svobda
• A less serious piece, Piteer tells a lighthearted story of a child learning to choose and service a god from the pantheon to follow. Many of these rituals are reflected in modern Ausran society.
• Yemeresh tells of a great undoing of the Clocktower, and a collapse of the universe as we know it. Many of the foretold dates have not come to pass, and this part of the texts is usually ripped out due to distrust of the scripture.
• Tanahk tells of the coming of a true immortal being, more powerful than a god. He is the great destroyer, but also a creator. He will bring the universe back from destruction when he sets his foot upon Auser after the fall described in Yemeresh. Then, he will become the new, and final, Clockmaker.

Divine Origins

The religion originated from the gods themselves, spreading word of their holiness and performing great feats of power to wow populations of Ausran into worshiping them. The gods at the time didn't have the best of intentions, but it turned into a more wholesome relationship between gods and Ausran as time went on. The Clockmaker only became part of the religion years after its creation.
Most of the practices and rituals still performed today are mirrored in the book of Piteer, and this consists of ritual sacrifice (either of an animal that has been caught as the result of a hunt, or a sacrifice of a significant amount of the practitioners time, usually the equivalent of 15 hours spent lounging around and praying to a relic every 15 minutes), dancing and creating sound to please the gods, usually by banging on drums or improvised instruments for a decent amount of time. Who came up with these rituals and why they did is an unanswerable question that the Ausran themselves can't seem to answer.

Cosmological Views

Eskanan Followers take a more scientific approach to creation myths considering the planet. They understand that there are many planets like theirs, with many different races like them. They seek to spread this understanding to other cultures and planets.

Tenets of Faith

The rules vary depending on interpretation of the texts, but a few rules are concrete across all understandings of the faith.

1. "<Treat one another as if you are brother and sister, for all need companions in this world.>"
2. "<Pray to the Gods. They have the answers to riddles unspoken and questions unasked.>"
3. "<Liars and cheaters are not brothers or sisters. They are liars and cheaters. Hence the name.>" (This one is misconstrued a lot)
4. "<Respect elders, for they have walked in your shoes before you were ever born.>"
5. "<Protect younglings, for they are the future untarnished. Grow them well, and grow them strong.>"
6. "<Do to others what you wish done to yourself.>" (Pretty much a copy of the Golden Rule)
7. "<We are the chosen of the Clocktower; this is fact, and it does us well to remember this.>"
8. "<Be humble, for there is always a larger beast. If not, one risks its jaws.>"
9. "<Pray to the Tower, for it gave us all we hold dear. If we lose faith, it may relinquish its gifts, for nothing is free.>"

Ethics

Most rules and interpretations are based on the house in which one resides, and is not directly pointed out in the texts. Sins and reprehensible behavior is fairly uniform, most sins having to do with putting your life above another's, practicing another religion (this was a recent add-on, courtesy of the AUMO), and eating sacred plants or animals.

Worship

See each individual house for more information on worship.

Priesthood

Each house has their own religious leader. Depending on the house, the leader is chosen in different ways.

• Pakmonus, Elara, Mysyx, Taggrokk, Borr: Choose and individual to lead their house, usually the percieved strongest or most devout of their flock.
• Vimm, Nahc, Soga, Cimorath, Amina, Gagckrae, Balmorra, Didre, Ominot,: Choose many acolytes to lead their flock.

Each leader is chosen by different means depending on which house they belong to, and these choosing ceremonies range from in-person visits from the god they follow, handwritten messages, and rituals.
They are differentiated from their flock in some houses, but in others they blend in. The house of Didre, for instance, has a certain headdress to make sure the priest or priestess stands out from the rest, as it is very difficult to tell one another apart when most followers of Didre are completely naked during religious ceremonies, and in general.

Granted Divine Powers

Leaders are almost always given the means to summon their deities, and some leaders of certain houses receive some extra abilities, most often an indirect tap into their god's power. Tagrokk, Soga, and Balmorra are the only gods known to give their leaders abilities along with their roles.

Political Influence & Intrigue

This religion has little power in the political spectrum, and in fact, is entirely controlled by government as of several Terran decades ago.

Sects

Refer to the list of houses for information regarding sects. Each house will receive its own page.

Our universe is made whole by the Tower.

Founding Date

Approximately 9 million years ago. There is no recorded exact date, and the Gods refuse to divulge information about the day as it may have had something to do with how they obtained their status as godly beings.

Type

Religious, Organised Religion

Alternative Names

Also known as Universalist, Eskanhus (Western), Eskananenka (Midland), and Kyellnom (Northern). Terran sentient species know followers as "Tickers."

Leader

Braccus Grier, Head of the AUMO

Permeated Organizations

• The Ausran Universal Meritocratic Organization (AUMO)

Deities

• The Eskan Pantheon

Location

Aeon, the Glimmering Metropolis