Gatherers of the World

A Religion of Stories

In the Gatherers of the World's beliefs, Reality is made up of 5 things:

1. Stories
2. Silence
3. Time
4. Language/Retellings
5. Recordings

The Gatherers of the World build great libraries, which are their churches, and can sometimes be almost mini cities of their own. Some church members are called to roam the world gathering stories as Gatherers while others may live and work at their local church. In general, they believe that when a story is written down, or stops changing, that story has lost it's life, but stories never truly end, unless they are forgotten, never told, lost to the silence. Sometimes they write down endangered stories, killing them to save them from the silence, but ideally the stories would be passed down orally from person to person. Followers can join the church by joining one of the libraries. They may become a librarian, protecting and organizing the great libraries of the world, or they may become a Gatherer, searching for new stories to add to their vast collections if they work their way up.
While there is no afterlife where people go when they die according to the Gatherers of the World, having stories told of you is considered to be the next best thing, as people get to live on through their stories. When a loved one dies, friends and family will tell stories of them at the funeral.

Public Agenda

The gatherers of the world hope to collect as many stories as they can, and spread them far and wide. They hope to spread understanding and acceptance, as well as give people and stories life so that other's can hear and appreciate them.

Military

Smaller libraries, as well as those that may be in less safe locations, will often have 1 or 2 Hands of the Defenders who live in library grounds, if the place is big enough. Larger libraries may have even more defenders. For more information on the Military, read about the Defenders of the Library.

Tenets of Faith

1. Be Kind to Eachother
2. Learn from the stories you hear
3. Seek to understand your fellow beings
4. Keep wonder in your hearts, and curiosity in your minds

Worship

People who follow this religion are encouraged to tell and listen to stories. Many will bring their kids to be educated at the libraries which often become centers of learning, as well as for entertainment.

Political Influence & Intrigue

In many nations, the Gatherer's libraries become enclaves of power for the church. They have a lot of influence however in their land of origin, in southwest Klocios, having their own nation state, out of which the Defenders of the Library are based.

Sects

The most common sect believes in a pentamerous reality, with the following parts and titles:

1. Stories, The Creator
2. Silence, The Ender
3. Time, the forgetful
4. Language, The Life Giver
5. Recordings, The Killer

Stories are at the top of reality, responsible for it's creation, and the world. Opposite it is silence which peacefully ends a story when it is done being told. Every story will have a final silence. As well ass Time the forgetful, ultimately loosing stories as well as changing them, and letting them live. to the left of Stories is Language the life giver, through which stories are told. Language sits opposite Time, and Recordings. Recordings, the final element is the last resort for preserving stories, bringing them into the future, but also killing them by stopping their change.

If you're having trouble, visualizing this, imagine a 5 pointed star. Reality is in the middle. Stories is at the top. Silence is on the bottom left, Time is on the bottom right, Recordings on the right, and Language on the left.

Another version is:

1. Stories, World's Doom
2. Silence, The Inspiration
3. Time, The Life Giver
4. Language, The Medium
5. Recordings, The Preserver

Other variations:
While the pentamerous idea of reality is most common, a few quadrigeminal models also exist in other sects.

1. Stories, The Creator
2. Silence, The Ender
3. Language, The Life Giver
4. Recordings, The Killer

1. Stories, World's Doom
2. Silence, The Source
3. Language, The Life Giver
4. Recordings, The Preserver

Founding Date

-200

Type

Religious, Organised Religion

Capital

Ingemoith /ɪngɛmoitʃ'/

Training Level

Trained

Veterancy Level

Trained

Government System

Theocracy

Power Structure

Federation

Economic System

Barter system

Official State Religion

Gatherers of the World

Permeated Organizations

• Defenders of the Library
• Gatherers of the World

Related Ranks & Titles

• Gatherer
• Seeker Errant

Related Professions

• Children's Speaker

Controlled Territories

• Ingemoith /ɪngɛmoitʃ'/
• Nuhfastu
• Pillar of the Lost
• Sarenkey River
• The Great Library of Ingemoith

Related Items

• Leroy Bard's Notes on the Adventures of Varenda The Salty

Notable Members

• Leroy Bard

Related Myths

• Entemardatoi (genre)

Founded in the year -200