Melcer Worship
Once he was praised upon all the lips of the Forzorian People, he was their father, their protector, it was him who gave strength in their sword arms, it was him who blew wind in their sails and he who graced the rule of their lords. It was him who the Imperial Family cast aside, it was him who protected them until they rejected him, Melcer is known as many things, but to the scholars of history he is first and foremost the God of the Fozor people, before they cast him aside for a God of their own making.
Within the Hymn, it is sung that Melcer had made the Wind his Wife, leading to theories that a prospective pantheon Melcer was apart of had him married to a wind goddess of some kind, or perhaps it was a poetic way of explaining other stories where it is said he blew the wind into the sails of the Ancient Forzor People crossed the sea.
The Hymn also speaks of Melcer Tricking a trickster for the ships, and blinding a watchmen in the depths of night. What the exact context of these verses are, remains unknown, but assuming what can be inferred from archeological evidence, other hymns and stories and vague references in old Forzor culture, has lead to the belief that these would refer to two gods from a Pantheon Melcer was once apart of, with the Trickster and Watchmen being gods Melcer contended with to get his followers across the Sea.
Whatever the truth on the matter, what can be known concretely is that when the first Forzor people stepped foot on the continent, they did so singing praises and hymns to the God Melcer, proclaiming him the God of their people as they marched to stake out a part of this strange new land for themselves, songs of his strength sung in battle and his symbol, a circle with a dor in the center painted upon the forehead of Forzor warriors.
The exact state of his worship is not known in this period, as it would take a century before the Forzor people began to stabilize into dozens of small states across the Modern Heartland, with the division among them shown even in the worship of Melcer himself. There was no unified Church towards Melcer, no singular tradition or holy scripture, instead stories and traditions were passed down in songs and hymns, priests known as speakers memorizing hundreds of songs and stories to pass down to worshippers and the next generation of speakers.
As the Petty states of Forzoria began to consolidate, so did the religious institutions of Melcer Worship, each petty state having their own hierarchy of churches and worship, the songs and hymns often clashed between the different churches, from minor differences in certain words in the most important songs, to entire lines or whole songs being radically different from each other depending on where exactly one was in Forzoria.
Melcer Worship around this time would adopt a fully monotheistic idea, proclaiming Melcer not simply as the God of the Forzor people, but as the only God to exist, who ever existed and who will ever exist, this belief in Melcer would lead to intensive conflict among more radical local sects of Melcer Worshippers with the Stullmen, with religion coming to the forefront as radical sects of Melcer Worshippers began a protracted campaign against the Stullmen tribes, seeking to destroy their religion and culture under the guise of enlightening them to Melcer.
This Drastic Religious division would continue until the invasion of the Tekederian Empire, with the conflicts between the Forzor people and Stullmen temporarily put to the side as both groups united to resist the invaders, but despite their best efforts the Tekederians would conquer the region and begin their 135 year long rule of the region, bringing changes to culture, language, religion and all of Forzorian Society.
With their religion suppressed and violent guerillas being the most well known Melcer worshippers for a century, there would be a slow decline of faith among the Forzorians, while not converting to the Tekederian Pantheon, or becoming atheist, this period would see many songs and hymns lost and forgotten, with the many facts and mysteries of the faith forever forgotten.
The Tekederian Temples would, in an attempt to continue forced syncretization, try to gather and codify the hymns of Melcer Worship into a single text, with creative manipulation and editing to support their efforts to merge the identity of Melcer with Palma Steel. The Veritas Melcer, Truth of Melcer, would be fully implemented in 324 BIC, almost instantly the book triggered a revolt among the most radical sects of Melcer Worshippers, who would burn down the Newly Built temple to Palma Steel in Westliches Tor, burning the priest responsible for introducing the book alive and going on an aggressive guerilla campaign for 3 years, that would only end after the arrival of 3 whole Imperial Legions that suppressed the cults and sent them back into hiding.
This revolt, known as the Revolt of Truth, despite it's failure, left a lasting legacy on the efforts of the Tekederians to turn Melcer into Palma Steel, and the Melcer worshippers across Forzoria. These radicals, once reviled and feared by their countrymen and fellow worshippers, were now sung as heroes by the devout, remembered as martyrs for centuries to come for their fight to resist the defilement of their God by the Tekederians, with the Tekederian Temples abandoning any attempt to enforce the Veritas Melcer, instead moving to fully suppress worship of Melcer with no exception, instead trying to force the narrative that Melcer is a false inferior god struck down by Palma Steel, something that would only trigger further revolts and resistance against Tekedrian Rule and it's religion.
This Status Quo would continue until 265BIC, when the Tekederian Empire fell into Civil War as the 13 Forzorian Noble families rose in revolt, joined by mercenary armies, roaming bandits paid off to attack the Tekederians, and sects of Melcer Worshippers seeking to finally destroy the Tekederian Temples and drive the worshippers of the False Gods from the Land. While the larger armies would battle the Legions of the Emprie and Tekederian Nobles, these Melcer Sects would seek out the destruction of Tekederian Temples and the death of their priests, destroying them en masse as temples were burned and sacked, their treasures seized and destroyed. The Brief Rise of the Forzorian Empire would see Emperor Heinrich Kaldin, among other things, attempt to unify the many sects of Melcer Worship into a single unified church, but any attempt would fall apart after his death without an heir, the Empire collapsing and his unified church project left to collapse with it, once more dividing the faith along national lines as the Warring States Period began.
Melcer worship during this period would not experience the grand revival that many of its adherents had hoped for when Tekederian Rule was overthrown, instead it would stagnate and falter amid the chaos and confusion of the Warring States, with many churches being destroyed and even more knowledge and songs of the faith lost during the chaos, hindering the faith further as people began to turn away from Melcer.
This would last until the ascension of the Daggerov Family, who successfully subjugated or destroyed it's rivals among the Warring States, consolidating Power and forming the new Kingdom of Forzoria, this new kingdom would once again work towards unifying the Melcer churches into a single tradition and hierarchy under the Crown, this attempt would be stymied by uncooperative churches and the inability to unify the faith behind a single doctrine without ostracizing large swaths of the faithful.
This attempt by the Daggerov to increase centralization would end during the reign of Leonhard II, who's great purge would trigger a civil war with Augustus Manstein, ending in the destruction of House Daggerov and the Manstein's usurping the crown of Forzoria, The new Manstein rule would have no interest in the church itself, and would leave the disparate churches and sects of Melcer Worshippers to their own business as the new King would begin his conquests and expansion of Forzoria.
This Status Quo would be broken following the Death of Augustus, as during his reign and after his death cults would spring up across the Empire, while there were many dividing tenets and ideas among the many cults across the Empire, he would serve as a central figure in all of them, ranging from divinely inspired figure to outright God. This would have a drastic effect on Melcer Worship, as many turned to worship of the Emperor before them then the God that did nothing for them, while other sects would attempt to die the reign of Augustus directly to Melcer, as a Avatar or champion of Melcer upon the mortal world.
During the Religious Wars, which began during the reign of Alexander I, grandson of Augustus I, the many cults entered into open conflict over their theological differences and conflicting interests. Melcer Worshippers were common targets by smaller cults unable to face their larger opponents, and often faced extreme persecution by power noble cultists during this period, it was only due to the direct intervention of Alexander I and the Imperial Army, which he used to wage a campaign across the Empire against the cults until he cowed the last of them into submission.
During this Period, the Melcer cults that regarded Augustus as a Champion or Avatar of Melcer would find themselves locked in conflict with the Imperial Army, more mainstream Melcer Churches, and larger Augustine Cults that regarded their beliefs, based in continued acknowledgment of Melcer as the sole God, as heresy. However the radical tradition among Melcer Cultists would find itself revived in this cults, who waged brutal guerilla wars against their enemies, until the very end of the Religious Wars.
Following the Conclave at the Capital, which codified the belief and orthodoxy of the new Credo Imperatoria, the Melcer Cults would find their ideals wholly thrown out by the Conclave, with their ideas considered heresy and destabilizing, with Alexander I's journal revealing his opinion that attempting to adopt or accept their beliefs could cause the conclave to split and restart the religious wars, and perhaps even radicalize the mainstream Melcer Churches, harkening back to the Revolt of Truth centuries ago.
While the Conclave would establish a defacto state religion, no attempt would be made to suppress or convert Melcer Followers, with a strange status carved out for the worship of the paternal god of the Forzorians, by which the Credo Imperatoria and state would not interfere in the many churches, in part out of respect and in part of not wishing to start more religious conflict.
Since then Melcer Worship has slowly carried on, spreading with the Forzorian Language and culture, founding communities wherever Forzorians are found, the faith slowly expanding even as it resisted any attempt of centralization within, always falling back on very personalized and localized church organizations over any overarching temporal authority. This status quo would remain until the late 600s, with the rise of theologian and preacher Helmut Roth.
With the rise of new Social Movements, and the growing ideas of liberty and progress, Melcer Worship was undoubtedly going to see more divisions among it's communities as these questions came to consume the worship of their God, such questions were raised by Helmut Roth, a preacher and speaker from the Capital, who began to travel the Empire and speak his new interpretation of the Songs and Hymns to all who would listen. Traditionally Melcer maintained the trappings of a War God, a defender of tradition and strict Father of all Forzorians, but Roth preached that Melcer was a protector of the Forzorian People, not their traditions, and that he was not a War God, but the loving father and protector, something he argued was not something a War like God could be. Roth's teachings would spread like wildfire across the Empire, with congregations embracing his new interpretation or splitting between new Rothist members and the more Orthodox believers.
This division between Rothist and Orthodox should not be seen as regimental and strict, as the decentralized and localized form the Melcer Churches have taken means there is no single consistency between a Rothist Church in Grenze and Rothist Church in Liglen, just as there is no single consistency between an Orthodox congregation in Moldexia and a Orthodox congregation in the Capital. However these basic facts and ideas about Melcer remain at least solidly consistent between those Churches that claim to be Orthodox and those that are more Rothist.
The Speaker is the head of a Local church, it is their duty to memorize and speak the songs and hymns of the Faith, along with serving as a spiritual advisor to members of the congregation when needed, they maintain the Church personally using whatever donations are provided by the congregation, and serve the duty of passing on the songs and hymns to the Listener.
The Listener is a member of the Congregation chosen by the Speaker to carry on the songs and hymns, they are expected to learn them and memorize them as the Speaker has, so one day they may serve as Speaker and pass them on to a Listener of their own, keeping direct connection to the first Speakers when the Forzor people first landed on the continent, meaning that all Speakers can theoretically trace direct succession to the First Speakers. While Most congregations have one Listener, it is not uncommon for more than one Listener to exist, though typically this is for the purpose of the additional Listeners to, once they have learned the songs and hymns, to move from their community and found a new congregation where they will serve as the Speaker, though this has grown less common since the end of Forzorian expansionism.
History of a God
Worship in a Age Ago
The Traditions of Melcer, spoken in stories and sung in hymns passed from generation to generation, speak little of the God before his people's arrival on the continent, those stories have either never existed, or were lost over the centuries as none committed them to writing. What is known is mainly known in the Hymn of Landing, which has 3 verses that vaguely reference events and people before the landings that give the Hymn it's name.Within the Hymn, it is sung that Melcer had made the Wind his Wife, leading to theories that a prospective pantheon Melcer was apart of had him married to a wind goddess of some kind, or perhaps it was a poetic way of explaining other stories where it is said he blew the wind into the sails of the Ancient Forzor People crossed the sea.
The Hymn also speaks of Melcer Tricking a trickster for the ships, and blinding a watchmen in the depths of night. What the exact context of these verses are, remains unknown, but assuming what can be inferred from archeological evidence, other hymns and stories and vague references in old Forzor culture, has lead to the belief that these would refer to two gods from a Pantheon Melcer was once apart of, with the Trickster and Watchmen being gods Melcer contended with to get his followers across the Sea.
Whatever the truth on the matter, what can be known concretely is that when the first Forzor people stepped foot on the continent, they did so singing praises and hymns to the God Melcer, proclaiming him the God of their people as they marched to stake out a part of this strange new land for themselves, songs of his strength sung in battle and his symbol, a circle with a dor in the center painted upon the forehead of Forzor warriors.
The exact state of his worship is not known in this period, as it would take a century before the Forzor people began to stabilize into dozens of small states across the Modern Heartland, with the division among them shown even in the worship of Melcer himself. There was no unified Church towards Melcer, no singular tradition or holy scripture, instead stories and traditions were passed down in songs and hymns, priests known as speakers memorizing hundreds of songs and stories to pass down to worshippers and the next generation of speakers.
As the Petty states of Forzoria began to consolidate, so did the religious institutions of Melcer Worship, each petty state having their own hierarchy of churches and worship, the songs and hymns often clashed between the different churches, from minor differences in certain words in the most important songs, to entire lines or whole songs being radically different from each other depending on where exactly one was in Forzoria.
Melcer Worship around this time would adopt a fully monotheistic idea, proclaiming Melcer not simply as the God of the Forzor people, but as the only God to exist, who ever existed and who will ever exist, this belief in Melcer would lead to intensive conflict among more radical local sects of Melcer Worshippers with the Stullmen, with religion coming to the forefront as radical sects of Melcer Worshippers began a protracted campaign against the Stullmen tribes, seeking to destroy their religion and culture under the guise of enlightening them to Melcer.
This Drastic Religious division would continue until the invasion of the Tekederian Empire, with the conflicts between the Forzor people and Stullmen temporarily put to the side as both groups united to resist the invaders, but despite their best efforts the Tekederians would conquer the region and begin their 135 year long rule of the region, bringing changes to culture, language, religion and all of Forzorian Society.
Tekederian Rule
The organized Melcer Churches across Forzoria would be heavily suppressed by the Tekederian Authorities, with the religious authorities of the Empire attempting to forcefully synthesize Melcer with the Tekederian God Palma Steel, God of War, highlighting similarities between Melcer and the Tekederian War God, this would backfire for the Tekederians, as the belief of Melcer being the only god was universal among the Forzorians, so those violent sects that once waged war against the Stull would turn into violent guerillas against the Tekederian EmpireWith their religion suppressed and violent guerillas being the most well known Melcer worshippers for a century, there would be a slow decline of faith among the Forzorians, while not converting to the Tekederian Pantheon, or becoming atheist, this period would see many songs and hymns lost and forgotten, with the many facts and mysteries of the faith forever forgotten.
The Tekederian Temples would, in an attempt to continue forced syncretization, try to gather and codify the hymns of Melcer Worship into a single text, with creative manipulation and editing to support their efforts to merge the identity of Melcer with Palma Steel. The Veritas Melcer, Truth of Melcer, would be fully implemented in 324 BIC, almost instantly the book triggered a revolt among the most radical sects of Melcer Worshippers, who would burn down the Newly Built temple to Palma Steel in Westliches Tor, burning the priest responsible for introducing the book alive and going on an aggressive guerilla campaign for 3 years, that would only end after the arrival of 3 whole Imperial Legions that suppressed the cults and sent them back into hiding.
This revolt, known as the Revolt of Truth, despite it's failure, left a lasting legacy on the efforts of the Tekederians to turn Melcer into Palma Steel, and the Melcer worshippers across Forzoria. These radicals, once reviled and feared by their countrymen and fellow worshippers, were now sung as heroes by the devout, remembered as martyrs for centuries to come for their fight to resist the defilement of their God by the Tekederians, with the Tekederian Temples abandoning any attempt to enforce the Veritas Melcer, instead moving to fully suppress worship of Melcer with no exception, instead trying to force the narrative that Melcer is a false inferior god struck down by Palma Steel, something that would only trigger further revolts and resistance against Tekedrian Rule and it's religion.
This Status Quo would continue until 265BIC, when the Tekederian Empire fell into Civil War as the 13 Forzorian Noble families rose in revolt, joined by mercenary armies, roaming bandits paid off to attack the Tekederians, and sects of Melcer Worshippers seeking to finally destroy the Tekederian Temples and drive the worshippers of the False Gods from the Land. While the larger armies would battle the Legions of the Emprie and Tekederian Nobles, these Melcer Sects would seek out the destruction of Tekederian Temples and the death of their priests, destroying them en masse as temples were burned and sacked, their treasures seized and destroyed. The Brief Rise of the Forzorian Empire would see Emperor Heinrich Kaldin, among other things, attempt to unify the many sects of Melcer Worship into a single unified church, but any attempt would fall apart after his death without an heir, the Empire collapsing and his unified church project left to collapse with it, once more dividing the faith along national lines as the Warring States Period began.
The Warring States Period
The Warring States Period would see the return of open Melcer worship and the status quo from prior to the Tekederian Invasion, with different sects and churches forming alone national line and local communities, lacking any form of greater hierarchy or unity during this period, the Melcer Churches would suffer from the near constant conflict between the warring noble families and other forces in Forzoria.Melcer worship during this period would not experience the grand revival that many of its adherents had hoped for when Tekederian Rule was overthrown, instead it would stagnate and falter amid the chaos and confusion of the Warring States, with many churches being destroyed and even more knowledge and songs of the faith lost during the chaos, hindering the faith further as people began to turn away from Melcer.
This would last until the ascension of the Daggerov Family, who successfully subjugated or destroyed it's rivals among the Warring States, consolidating Power and forming the new Kingdom of Forzoria, this new kingdom would once again work towards unifying the Melcer churches into a single tradition and hierarchy under the Crown, this attempt would be stymied by uncooperative churches and the inability to unify the faith behind a single doctrine without ostracizing large swaths of the faithful.
This attempt by the Daggerov to increase centralization would end during the reign of Leonhard II, who's great purge would trigger a civil war with Augustus Manstein, ending in the destruction of House Daggerov and the Manstein's usurping the crown of Forzoria, The new Manstein rule would have no interest in the church itself, and would leave the disparate churches and sects of Melcer Worshippers to their own business as the new King would begin his conquests and expansion of Forzoria.
Reign of the Mansteins
The Grand Coronation of Augustus Manstein as Emperor was a grand affair, with dozens of religious officials from faiths across his empire attending to coronate him, including several religious leaders of Melcer Worship from the largest churches in the realm. Despite this involvement in his coronation, his new Imperial Government did little to affect the Churches, leaving them to exist outside his government's interference.This Status Quo would be broken following the Death of Augustus, as during his reign and after his death cults would spring up across the Empire, while there were many dividing tenets and ideas among the many cults across the Empire, he would serve as a central figure in all of them, ranging from divinely inspired figure to outright God. This would have a drastic effect on Melcer Worship, as many turned to worship of the Emperor before them then the God that did nothing for them, while other sects would attempt to die the reign of Augustus directly to Melcer, as a Avatar or champion of Melcer upon the mortal world.
During the Religious Wars, which began during the reign of Alexander I, grandson of Augustus I, the many cults entered into open conflict over their theological differences and conflicting interests. Melcer Worshippers were common targets by smaller cults unable to face their larger opponents, and often faced extreme persecution by power noble cultists during this period, it was only due to the direct intervention of Alexander I and the Imperial Army, which he used to wage a campaign across the Empire against the cults until he cowed the last of them into submission.
During this Period, the Melcer cults that regarded Augustus as a Champion or Avatar of Melcer would find themselves locked in conflict with the Imperial Army, more mainstream Melcer Churches, and larger Augustine Cults that regarded their beliefs, based in continued acknowledgment of Melcer as the sole God, as heresy. However the radical tradition among Melcer Cultists would find itself revived in this cults, who waged brutal guerilla wars against their enemies, until the very end of the Religious Wars.
Following the Conclave at the Capital, which codified the belief and orthodoxy of the new Credo Imperatoria, the Melcer Cults would find their ideals wholly thrown out by the Conclave, with their ideas considered heresy and destabilizing, with Alexander I's journal revealing his opinion that attempting to adopt or accept their beliefs could cause the conclave to split and restart the religious wars, and perhaps even radicalize the mainstream Melcer Churches, harkening back to the Revolt of Truth centuries ago.
While the Conclave would establish a defacto state religion, no attempt would be made to suppress or convert Melcer Followers, with a strange status carved out for the worship of the paternal god of the Forzorians, by which the Credo Imperatoria and state would not interfere in the many churches, in part out of respect and in part of not wishing to start more religious conflict.
Since then Melcer Worship has slowly carried on, spreading with the Forzorian Language and culture, founding communities wherever Forzorians are found, the faith slowly expanding even as it resisted any attempt of centralization within, always falling back on very personalized and localized church organizations over any overarching temporal authority. This status quo would remain until the late 600s, with the rise of theologian and preacher Helmut Roth.
With the rise of new Social Movements, and the growing ideas of liberty and progress, Melcer Worship was undoubtedly going to see more divisions among it's communities as these questions came to consume the worship of their God, such questions were raised by Helmut Roth, a preacher and speaker from the Capital, who began to travel the Empire and speak his new interpretation of the Songs and Hymns to all who would listen. Traditionally Melcer maintained the trappings of a War God, a defender of tradition and strict Father of all Forzorians, but Roth preached that Melcer was a protector of the Forzorian People, not their traditions, and that he was not a War God, but the loving father and protector, something he argued was not something a War like God could be. Roth's teachings would spread like wildfire across the Empire, with congregations embracing his new interpretation or splitting between new Rothist members and the more Orthodox believers.
This division between Rothist and Orthodox should not be seen as regimental and strict, as the decentralized and localized form the Melcer Churches have taken means there is no single consistency between a Rothist Church in Grenze and Rothist Church in Liglen, just as there is no single consistency between an Orthodox congregation in Moldexia and a Orthodox congregation in the Capital. However these basic facts and ideas about Melcer remain at least solidly consistent between those Churches that claim to be Orthodox and those that are more Rothist.
The Clergy
Due to the Nature of it's complete lack of overarching organization, there exists very little positions within the Churches, though some with larger congregations may have ranks and positions unique to them, there exists only two roles consistent between all Melcer Churches in the Empire: The Speaker, and the Listener.The Speaker is the head of a Local church, it is their duty to memorize and speak the songs and hymns of the Faith, along with serving as a spiritual advisor to members of the congregation when needed, they maintain the Church personally using whatever donations are provided by the congregation, and serve the duty of passing on the songs and hymns to the Listener.
The Listener is a member of the Congregation chosen by the Speaker to carry on the songs and hymns, they are expected to learn them and memorize them as the Speaker has, so one day they may serve as Speaker and pass them on to a Listener of their own, keeping direct connection to the first Speakers when the Forzor people first landed on the continent, meaning that all Speakers can theoretically trace direct succession to the First Speakers. While Most congregations have one Listener, it is not uncommon for more than one Listener to exist, though typically this is for the purpose of the additional Listeners to, once they have learned the songs and hymns, to move from their community and found a new congregation where they will serve as the Speaker, though this has grown less common since the end of Forzorian expansionism.
