The Brennian Faith

The Brennian Faith

Sometimes when earth’s gods are homesick they visit in the still night the peaks where once they dwelt, and weep softly as they try to play in the olden way on remembered slopes. Men have felt the tears of the gods on white-capped Thurai, though they have thought it rain; and have heard the sighs of the gods in the plaintive dawn-winds of Lerion. In cloud-ships the gods are wont to travel, and wise cotters have legends that keep them from certain high peaks at night when it is cloudy, for the gods are not lenient as of old. -HP Lovecraft: The Other Gods

The dominant religion of the kingdom, The Brennian Church, in contrast to its cousin, observed primarily in the Holy Empire, holds that each of the Brennia is a god in his or her own right, and holds sway over a particular facet of life. It further holds that prayer, in the forms of direct prayer, intercession from a priest of the faith, or ritual, can sometimes convince the Brennia to intervene in the lives of mortals.
Six are the Brennia who receive the greatest part of the adoration, but there are many names in the holy text, The Key of Tir Uchel, often referred to simply as the Key. The Key is part prayer book and part chronicle. The former part outlines many of the most popular prayers and hymns to the gods, as well as the rituals that accompany rites and festivals held in their honor. The latter part tells the story of the immortal Brennia, from the founding of their fabled city to their war with the Muireae and subsequent disappearance from the world, to those times before the founding of the deliberative when they were said to have appeared to men and women. All of which, needless to say, casts these gods in the best possible light.

The Brennia and Their associations

Mother Arthea

Aka: The Bear Queen, The Arisen, The Lady of Spring, Mistress of Thunder, Rain and Storm.
Mother Arthea is the strongest of the gods though not the most feared, for though her rage, like the storm, can be fearsome, it usually passes just as quickly. She is often depicted as a gentle giant, either as a great bear whose roar is the thunder, or as a towering warrior Queen with wild dark hair. In all forms she wears a crown of flowers about her head. In battle, she carries a great two handed axe which splits the skies to make lightning and forms new rivers and streams where it strikes the ground.
Arthea is said to have returned from her own death, the only being ever to have done so, and as the bear returns from hibernation each year, and the land is revived every spring, Arthea is the lady of renewal and new life. When an expectant mother prays for her child to be born healthy, or a family prays for their son to return safely from war, it is to Arthea that they pray. She s also prayed to for rain, physical strength or endurance (though not usually in combat) patience, and safe passage over water.
She is the patron of new parents, midwives, sailors and fishermen. The Arthean Knights are an order sworn to the protection of the young, as the mother bear protects her cubs, as such, the bear knights are typically found acting as bodyguards of young nobles.
Her symbol is a bear’s pawprint encircled by a wreath of roses and thorns.

Lord Rhewenon o’ Calon

Aka: The Wolf King, Hearteater, Lord of Winter, Master of the Underworld, King of the Dead, He Who Commands the Wind and Snows

Of all the gods, Rhewenon Hearteater is the most feared. Pitiless and cold, he is perhaps the most fearsome warrior of their number, certainly he is the swiftest, for in the end, none can outrun him. The Lord of Winter is usually depicted as an austerely handsome man with hair of snowy white or a great white wolf with fangs of unmelting ice. His howl brings the winter wind and his cruel greatsword is said to cut the soul as well as the body.
As king of the world of the dead, Rhewenon is said to sit in judgement of all who die. He does so by falling upon them and consuming their heart. Few are the villains so terrible that he vomits out the lump of flesh and gristle, but these unhappy few are set to wander the earth as shades. Those who do so long enough without simply fading away to nothing are believed to become demons. Those whose hearts do not revolt the Wolf King are permitted to go to their rest in the underworld. For this reason it has been accounted an unforgivable curse to remove the heart from a body. Indeed small wars have been fought to recover the stolen heart of a family member so that it could be offered to Rhewenon.
Rhewenon is the patron of undertakers, mercenaries, hunters and executioners. His priests are the ones who conduct rites of departure at funerals. Folk rarely pray to him save to stay his hand, but heis occasionally prayed to for speed or the icy resolve to face death in battle.
His knights, the Knights Rhewenan have a twofold charge. The first is to safeguard the peace and dignity of the dead. This duty is often a kind of retirement in all but name for old knights. Many of these “winter wolves” simply oversee the watchmen that guard the local graveyards.
The second charge is far less peaceful. Some criminals, those who earn the title “enemy of the crown” are not to be captured and brought to trial. They are simply to be hunted down and slaughtered like animals. Such ignoble or simply unlucky souls find themselves hunted by the Rhewenan Knights. As such, many of the finest trackers who find themselves raised to knighthood find their home in this order.
His symbol is a human heart within the jaws of a white wolf

Father Dhameos

Aka: The Silver Hart, Lord of Autumn, King of the Harvest, Master of Soil and Stone, The Lord of Change

Perhaps, among the gods, Dhameos of the Silver Antlers is the most beloved by the people. Wisest and most enduring of the gods, he is ever changing, though eternally constant. Depicted as a towering silver elk whose hoof beats shake the ground, or a handsome man of uncommon dignity, though he often takes many different appearances. Sometimes he is a tall, robust, warrior, others, a kindly, grandfatherly figure. Sometimes he is a pretty young lad with rosy cheeks. In whatever form he takes, he sports a set of silvery antlers, either great and imposing, or small and charming as the form demands, and a knowing smile. The weapon he carries has always a long haft but varies along with his appearance. Sometimes a farmer’s scythe, sometimes a spear, sometimes only a walking stick. In any case, it is rarely used, for he is slow to anger. When roused however, he is as fearsome as any of the gods. Where he thumps the butt of the weapon on the ground, rockslides may descend, or chasms open beneath the feet of his enemies to swallow them. The raiment or armor he wears bear an ever shifting array of many colored leaves
Where Arthea is the lady of new life, of sowing and the blooming of flowers, and the birth of children, Dhameos is the harvest, the bearing of fruit and the coming of age of new adults. He is life whose potential has been realized. Parents pray to him for their children to learn and grow well, and for their marriages, which his priests oversee, to be happy and fruitful. Most commonly however, he is prayed to and honored for a bountiful harvest. He is also prayed to for safe travel.
He is the patron of farmers, miners, foragers and those who build roads. The Dhamean Knights are charged with mentoring and training young would be nobles in the ways of honor and chivalry as well as war. Often, when one important enough to be guarded as a child by an Arthean Knight is passed into the tutelage of a Dhamean Knight, typically on the 15th birthday when one formally enters adulthood, an elaborate changing of the guard ceremony is held as part of the coming of age celebration.
His symbol is a stag’s head with autumn leaves sprouting from the antlers

Lady Neidria

Aka: The Golden Serpent, Summer’s Liege, Queen Delirium, Mistress of Fire, The Flaming Tongue

Ever the trickster, Queen Delirium is cleverest and most subtle of all the gods. Capricious and even sometimes cruel, Neidria is also capable of great kindness and impetuous generosity for she is anything but predictable. She appears as a monstrous snake with golden scales and burning embers for eyes or as a beautiful young lady , impeccably dressed with a smoldering gaze. In all forms, her tongue is forked and comes aflame when her anger is roused. Her gold-gilded bow fire arrows which cause anything struck with them to burn from the inside out. The poison in her fangs produces a similar effect. Neidria also carries a lyre whose sound has the power to drive all who hear it insane.
Of all the gods, Neidria is believed to still walk the earth the most often, disguised as a traveling minstrel, sowing discord where she will. As such, superstitious lords are wary of how they use their power in summertime, as it is often said to be the delight of Neidria to humble the proud.
As one might expect, those who pray to the Golden Serpent are a motley bunch. Children pray to her that their parents won’t discover their latest bits of mischief. Drunkards pray to her that they might stagger safely home. In short, anything that should not be done, but being done nonetheless, must be done well, is her domain.
Aside from this, she is the patron of diplomats, blacksmiths, merchants and all artists. Though not as feared as the Rhewenan Knights, nor as revered as those of the Dhamean order, the Knights Neidrian, nonetheless perform important tasks in war. They are charged to protect the peace under a banner of parlay, ensuring no violence interrupts the negotiation. When diplomacy fails however, they are among the best commanders of guerrillas and raiders to be found anywhere in Axylus.
Her symbol is a pair of snake’s eyes peering out from within a flame.

Grandfather Golaurus

AKA: The High Father, Sun King, Lord of Ages, The Master of All Knowledge
The first of the Brennia to come to the land that would one day be Axylus, it was Golaurus who was king in Tir Uchel.
Though Dhameos is said to be the wisest of the gods, that is only because bright Golaurus transcends wisdom as mortals understand the word. The Sun King knows all, as such he has no need of erudition. He knows the shape of the future, and as such his is the wheel of the ages and his is the hand that has the turning of it. Whether this wheel merely marks the turning of the ages, or actually causes it, is the subject of vigorous debate.
Such high, esoteric concepts are the purview of learned priests, scholars and philosophers. Ordinary folk tend to pay only a general homage to the High Father and pray to him but seldom. He is however, the only god worshipped in the Holy Empire, along with Emperor Cryf, who is said to be his avatar on earth, but even this worship is shrouded in ceremony and mystery.
When he is depicted, Golaurus is shown as a kingly old man, still hale and fit, with a great snowy beard and burning golden eyes. He also is known to appear as a great orb of golden fire; the sun, manifest upon the earth. In religious ceremony, he is usually represented with a stylized golden icon of the sun, with a wheel, like the tiller of a ship contained within it. It was said that he entered battle but rarely, and that when he did, he carried no weapon. He is said to have needed none, for anyone who approached him in his wroth, would burn to cinders.
Unlike the other Brennian Knights, the Knights Golauran do not serve the kingdom, instead serving as the vanguard of the Holy Empire. They are a fanatical fighting force, raised from childhood to fight and die in the service of the Holy Empire, which they believe to be the engine that turns the wheel of ages. They are more numerous than the other four orders combined, and while they are not as specialized as the knights of the other Brennian orders, they are terrifyingly effective, fearless and fanatical warriors.

Grandmother Llacharia

AKA: The All Mother, Moon Queen, Lady of Stories, Mistress of Dreams
The wife of Bright Golaurus, Llacharia is the second of the Brennia to come to Tir Uchel, though she was never queen there.
The most mysterious of the Brennia, none can say much for certain about the All Mother. She is ever-changing, both in appearance and in aspect. What is known, is that she is mistress of dreams, though such a mercurial association does little to make her more knowable.
There are few priests or priestesses of the Moon Queen save for a handful of temples that house dreaming oracles who wake only three hours of the day to eat and report the contents of their dreams.
No knights are sworn to her service and she is almost never prayed to. This is not because she does not listen it is said, but because she does.

"Minor" Brennia

Lygodos: Called the Prince of Swarms, or Lord Pest, this is one of the least popular Brennia, only prayed to for respite from vermin of various sorts, typically rats and biting insects of which he is lord. He typically appears as either a sallow, hollow eyed man, or as a huge mangy brown rat, his coat acrawl with all manner of nasty bugs. Whichever account (if indeed any) you believe of the conditions under which the war between the Brennia and the Muireae began, all agree Lygodos was involved somehow.

Bysgodea

Called the Lady of Deep Places, Princess of Dark Waters or the Bear's Daughter. Though her actual lineage is seldom speculated on, as is the case with most of the gods, it is widely held that this aquatic Brennia is a lieutenant of Arthea in her role as queen of the waters. Thought to have dominion over the bottoms of wells, lakes and the oceans, she is often prayed to for rest for those killed by drowning or for the return of things lost to the sea. Often depicted as a woman with the scaly skin of a fish, but otherwise beautiful.

Gwelkus 

Called the Thousand Winged, or Marshall of the Skies, Gwelkus is perhaps the Brennia, excepting the main six, who features most prominently in the Key, as well as many other apocryphal tales. In many stories, he is typically the 'cavalry' arriving in dramatic fashion from the skies with a host of great hawks and raptor-like narn at his back, often to rescue one of his beleaguered people, or even a favored mortal. He is typically depicted as a mighty bird of prey with multiple sets of wings, each belonging to a different sort of raptor, though of course never so many as a thousand, (most suppose his moniker is due to the winged host he commands) or as a tawny warrior with the eyes and wings of an eagle. He carries a golden sword and shield and is said to answer only to Grandfather Golaurus.

Madragos

The Faithful Guardian of Thresholds, also known as The Moon Hound, is closely associated with Grandmother Llacharia and, fittingly is one of the more esoteric dieties of the faith. Be it the space between one's home and the outside world, or the far less literal space between waking and sleeping, Madragos is charged with guarding those spaces against those who do not belong there. Usually depicted as a great hound, fearsome, though not unpleasant for humans to look upon. Indeed of all the Brennia, he is the most kind to humans being particularly fond of children.

The Muiriae

Few are the faiths which do not have, in addition to their gods and saints, monsters and adversaries who are dreaded and reviled even as the gods are adored. The Brennia, in this respect are no different. Much is said about the great war between the two mighty peoples, that conflict which sundered Axylus from the other continents. For all that, relatively little is known of the nature of these enigmatic beings, at least to the Brennian faithful. What follows are those details which may be gleaned from the Key of Tir-Uchel and other texts which mention the Muiriae.

The Nature of the Muiriae 

Only appearing in tangible form when they wish to, the Muiriae can pass unseen by mortal senses, though it seems the Brennia always had some way of detecting them even while insubstantial. Often it is this quality that makes them convenient tools for parents who wish to frighten their children into avoiding a given place. While most take this to mean that they possess the ability to disperse their corporeal form, the consensus among learned clergy is that they seem to lack a material form of their own and weave bodies for themselves as and when they require them. What the nature of these bodies tends to be varies from one incarnation to another, but each individual Muiriae seems to have one or more signature characteristic whichn always manifests in them whatever form they might take.

Tiarnach Star-Crowned

  As Golaurus was first among the Brennia, so was mighty King Tiarnach ruler of the Muiriae. In many ways, he is said to be the polar opposite of the Highfather; the lord of the night and the darkness as Golaurus represents light, he also represents the uncertainty that the sun god’s holy wheel stands in opposition to.
It was his burning blade Chillfire which cut down Mother Arthea in a duel, leading to the mortal death from which she is said to have arisen.
In every form he takes, Tiarnach is always a mighty and regal presence with jet black skin and hair, punctuated by constellations of coldly burning starlight scattered across whatever body he assumes.

Queen Dorachea of the Ebon Mantle

The consort of Tiarnach, she is the lady of shadow. Where Llacharia is the light that still shines by night, she is the darkness that persists even by day. Those shapes he does take tend themselves to be malleable Her aspect is said to be as inviting as the shade beneath a tree on a summer's day, but as perilous as a yawning cave filled with unseen pitfalls.  She always appears in comely forms that barely conceal a roiling darkness within.  For example, she may take the shape of a comely young princess with ivory skin and honey hair, but have eyes which are so dark that the area around her appears dimmer.
Like the Highfather of the Brennia, she carries no weapon, but needs none for noone but her husband can look her in the eye lest they feel their very life force begin to drain away.

Father Gallachus the Shaper

Among his people, Gallachus is greatest among the builders and craftsmen. Even the most devout of Brennians are able to admit that, before the falling out, many of the wonders of Tir Uchel were crafted with the help of the shaper.
He is also a shaper of flesh and bone however, and all physical infirmity that deforms or mortifies the flesh is said to be his doing.
Among even his own mercurial people, Gallachus is not overly fond of any particular shape.  Those shapes he does take tend themselves to be quite malleable, replete with tendrils and pseudopodia that aid him in his work.  For this reason, when he is depicted in paintings and carvings, he is often shown as a robed, hooded figure, with all manner of inhuman appendages extruding from his cassock.

Prince Treachon the Unruly 

The most impetuous of all his people, the chosen herald of his father Tiarnach is also the fleetest of , able to keep pace with Lord Rhewenon himself.
Vain and tempestuous, Treachon always picks swift, nimble forms, always trailing clouds and cobalt sparks behind him as he moves.  When he wades into battle, he is usually seen hurling javelins which become lightning bolts when thrown
It is said that the sudden mad impulses that move young warriors to throw their lives away come from him, though it is for this that some revere him, particularly among those queenlander warriors who fight in a trance-like battle rage.

Princess Carriag the Unyielding

Save perhaps for Tiarnach himself, Carriag is mightiest among her people and most terrifying when roused to anger.
Caring little for anything save battle and wild revelry, she chooses forms of obvious and intimidating power, always with smouldering skin as hard as stone.  It is said that with her burning sword, she was able to drive mighty Gwelkus from the battlefield.
In the Holy Empire, there are a few volcanoes that show activity. While the Path of the Wheel barely acknowledges the Muiriae, the priests of that faith in those remote regions perform rituals where icons depicting her are broken before the wheel of the Highfather as a warning to her not to dare the sun-gods ire by awakening the sleeping mountains.

Adhea, of the Lost 

While the ever-shifting nature of Gallachus has often confounded those who seek to depict him accurately, he is certainly exceeded in this matter by Adhea, his sister.  But seldom, when decorum demands, does this cryptic being allow herself to be seen at all.
Preferring to take the form of a chill mist, or a tranquil pool of water whose hidden depths might drown the unwary, Adhea delights in the lost and forgotten things of the world.  She is said to treasure lost memories above all else.
When she must allow herself to be seen, still she insists on spinning herself a delicate body of crystal as clear as river-water.