Ni Hüre Lena (/ni ˈhure ˈlena/)
Ni Hüre Lena (Lüota: The Last Boat) is an apocalyptic sect within the larger Halfling religion of Imire. Founded near the end of the Earth-665 iteration of reality, Ni Hüre Lena is centered on the belief that the so-called Four Helmsmen of the Apocalypse were responsible for the destruction of the universe—and that they will soon arrive to destroy Eden as well.
Origins
During the Earth-665 iteration of reality, a large group of halfling explorers were swept off-course and found themselves on the continent of Australia—a place heretofore unknown to them. For ages beyond counting, they lived there in peace with the Aboriginal people—tall folk who had been there since time immemorial, but who seemed to have no interest in the domination or exploitation of their new neighbors.
And yet, not all human beings were that agreeable. These halflings knew that already from their travels around the edges of the Pacific, and the Aboriginals had tales of their own. They told the halflings of a people they’d been running from when they came to this place, a fierce and seemingly unbeatable warrior culture who wore stone skin into battle. The Aboriginals told the halflings to run and hide if they ever saw a people such as these.
It took millennia of isolation and peace before it happened, but eventually the Australian halflings did meet these fearsome people—just not in the way that any of them expected. One day in the year 437 CE, a tribe of nomadic halflings came upon an eerily quiet Aboriginal village on the continent’s northern shore. What they found there would forever scar them and lead to the foundation of their new religion.
Bodies. There were bodies everywhere, and not just Aboriginal bodies but bodies of the supposedly invicible stone-skinned people as well. And yet, there was no sign of a struggle between the two opposing forces. The stone-skinned people hadn’t brought many weapons, and they’d left them all in their ships. It was plain to see that what had killed everyone was another kind of struggle entirely—the struggle with pestilence and plague.
The halflings, surprised to find themselves immune, burned the village to keep the disease from spreading. But the sight of the burning village caught the attention of the other villages nearby, and the Aboriginals, not understanding what had happened, declared war.
The conflict lasted seventeen years, ending only when severe drought brought famine and the two sides were too hungry to fight any longer. A year later, the Earth-665 iteration of reality came to an end in a catastrophic Calamity—bringing with it death, death, and more death.
As you can imagine, this kinda bummed out those who managed to survive—the founders of Ni Hüre Lena most of all.
Core Beliefs
Like the followers of Imire, the Wemu of Ni Hüre Lena believe in a goddess of the sea, a goddess of fire, and a god of the sky. Unlike the Imire O‘ki however, the Wemu believe in a fourth diety: Aiki I, a vengeful earth god who wants the peoples of the world to remain still and show the proper love and reverence for the place where he has placed them.
The Wemu in Eden believe that the world can be saved from Aiki I’s wrath only by abandoning the ancient nomadic ways of the halflings and remaining in one place for the duration of one’s life. If they cannot convince all of the peoples of Eden the virtues of stillness and stasis, then they believe the Four Helmsmen of the Apocalypse will be sent to Eden’s shores to destroy all that the other gods have created here.
Interesting that in your world, where the world ends... all the time, that there aren't more of these cults!
Learn about the World of Wizard's Peak and check out my award winning article about the Ghost Boy of Kirinal!
I should make more of them, huh? It could be a lot of fun.