Contribution:
There is a tree growing in a small wood that has been there since the dawn of the beginning. It is not mighty, it is not tall. It just is. Four branches have fallen from the tree since the Elves fell. They are full of power if one can find them.
Tale told by wandering druid.
Contribution Time!
Dogmas of the faiths of Eyros:
Although some crazy scholars rave on about what they call a "Grand Unified Theory" for the creation of Eyros, involving some ur-deity who created the world outside of time (and who knows, they might just be right), most Eyrians have neither the time nor inclination to listen to such things, nor the mindpower to comprehend such a theory. Thus, they defer to the ordinary religions of Eyros, religions that have simple explanations for the world and the way things work, and that can display the veracity of their claims through divine magic as the Unifiers cannot.
Draconic Legacy:
At first, the cosmos raged as an empty void with the energies of Summer, Spring, Autumn, and Winter raged uncontrolled. Over the eons, the edge between the four energies gave birth to Terra, the world, and the pregnant mother-lizard Maia (often depicted in Legacy stained-glass artistry and mosaics as an anthropomorphic dragon giving suck to one human child and one orc child) who bore two two sons and two daughters, one of each pair orc and the other of each pair human. These four formed a quartet marriage, and from them the races of humans, orcs, and half-orcs were born, and the world was at peace. But things could not stay idyllic forever. For the demon Taufenacht raped and impregnated Maia, bringing all sorts of dangerous races into the world: the dwarves, the elves, the halflings, and the monstrous races among them. To combat these evils, Maia and her sons conceived a new race of gnomes to be servants and friends to the humans and orcs. Alarmed at this development, the halflings and dwarves decided that they must slaughter Maia before the humans and orcs could create more allies. So they treacherously combined psionics and stealth to murder the gentle and innocent Maia. But quite unexpectedly, her corpse broke apart into numerous sacred lizards, who scampered away across the lands. All that was left on the spot of the corpse were the blessed Kohl'Tass, who swore to protect the world from Taufenacht's ravaging.
Like Maia, when the good races (orc, human, half-orc, and gnome) die, their spirits are distributed to the sacred lizards throughout the land, waiting for the return of the High Holy One, who shall free these spirits and use them to battle the forces of evil. The other races' spirits are sent directly to Taufenacht, feeding the demon and helping him one day break free of the bindings that the Five Heroes have used to imprison him, except for members of the other races who repent their evil heritage and worship the sacred lizards as a true believer of the Draconic Legacy.
Because the treacherous assasination of Maia is a tragedy to Draconic Legacy followers (on which they hold a Day of Fasting), assassins are greatly despised by the faithful, and the safety of Sanctuary is very important.
The Children of the Dawn:
In the beginning there were only the two dueling forces of Dawn and Twilight, each equal and opposite, seeking to consume the other completely and force the world into a static state of pure entropy. The positive energy of Dawn, innately vibrant and full of life, spontaneously formed the humans and elves, who each carried a spark of Dawn's power. But exposure to the malign energy of Twilight caused some of the humans and elves to become slightly corrupted, losing their beautiful features if not their entire good outlook, and becoming gnomes, dwarves, halflings, and orcs. A vocal minority of the corrupted races, however, were corrupted both body and soul. They reveled in Twilight and slowly became creatures more monstrous and evil, with the worst of them becoming undead.
From the wicked hearts of the Corrupted, the evil congealed, as only evil can congeal, to form the demon Taufenacht the Tempter, and thus the humans and elves, and their slightly-corrupted brethren, were left to use their Dawn-given positive energy to combat the agents of Twilight (the Corythian heresey says that Corythos congealed from the good of the Dawnists, and that thus mortals need not worry about battling Taufenacht, for Corythos will save them. Lasair sees this as a foolish belief that was probably originated by Taufenacht to make his enemies weak, but Lusarum believes that these heretics must be destroyed). Because the elves and humans are most pure, the Dawnists believe that it is sacrilege for elves to be slaves to the mildly-corrupted orcs, hence their position on the Masks.
When a Dawnist, human, or elf dies, their spark of Positive Energy returns to the Dawn, and the other races and religions return their borrowed power to Twilight, except for those whose selfish evil is so strong as to clingingly grasp the Negative Energy beyond the mortal realms, staying behind as undead.
The Crucible:
At first, the universe was composed of a vast and orderless morass of material, where nothing could exist as there was no space for new life. But slowly, the Flame grew among these surroundings, purging away the chaff as the purging Flame of Judgment, and leaving the world as we know it today.
The touch of the Flame brought into being great creatures of fire upon the land, and they roamed and ravaged at random until Cururultar, in destroying many of the others, paved the way for the races of orc and man, who had risen from the ashes of the fallen along with other lesser races. Thus did Cururultar act as the Flame of Rebirth.
But orc and man lived as savage animals, unable to do more than kill and eat raw flesh, until the Flame brought forth the Flame of Inspiration from the skies above.
Able to use fire, the orcs and humans began to create more inventions, as the winds carried the embers of the Flame of Civilisation to their ears.
But the other races began to maraud upon the faithful, and so the Flame of the Forge bestowed upon the humans and orcs the knowledge of weapon and armoursmithing, so that they may defend themselves, and the other races did cry out in their anguish as they were vanquished.
But even civilised, nevertheless the orcs and men were lonely with their static community, and moreover, they had lost good men to the ravages of the marauders. And so the ancient sage Maios, a thousand-year-old man who was once a strong robust warrior, bravely approached the great flame-beast Xarkavan. And Maios said, "Great agent of the Flame, my people are lonely in their isolation. And well we know that our races were created from the ashes of the Flame of Rebirth, and yet we wonder how we may increase and multiply. In exchange for your wisdom, we have brought forth unto you many gifts that our people do relish, and so we wish that you will be pleased." And Xarkavan was pleased. And he did look kindly upon the requests of Maios, and so he brought forth the Flame of the Hearth and bid Maios step forward bravely and enter the Flame, that it may bring forth the object of his people's desires.
And Maios stepped into the Flame without hesitation, and it singed away his beard and hair, except upon his head, and it burned away the muscles he had built in all his years of battle and the wrinkles of his old age. And it left behind a smaller shape, unfamiliar to the humans and orcs, but vibrant with youth and beauty. And Xarkavan said, "Behold, for now you are woman. And you shall be known forthwith as Maia. Go forth to your people, and use the gifts that the Flame has bestowed upon you to increase your numbers and live in health and pleasure forever." But the demon Taufenacht looked upon Maia and was wracked with jealousy and lust. He desired this beautiful creature for his own, and he was enraged that the Flame should bestow her upon the lesser races of man and orc, rather than he, a great demon of the Flame of Judgment, brother to Cururultar. And so, unable to have her for his own, in his treachery, Taufenacht raged the Flame of Destruction upon all the races, causing them to burn away from this mortal coil after they had reached a certain age, too old to resist him any longer, destroyed for all time by the Flame of Destruction. Only the dragons, wise to his plan, were able to avoid this fate, and so they live forever.
This is the truth passed down throughout time of the Six Pillars of the Flame, the Flame of Judgment, the Flame of Rebirth, the Flame of Inspiration, the Flame of Civilisation, the Flame of the Forge, the Flame of the Hearth, and the Flame of Destruction.
The Bloodletting:
The Bloodletting is a variant form of the Draconic Legacy that also believes in the sanctity of the Crucible's Flames of Judgment and Destruction, deciding that the Maia's wicked children (all those not of human and orc blood) should be sacrificed to the soil to gain restitution for Maia's murder. They view the Bloodwillow as a sacred sign of Maia's contentment.
Ancestor Worship of the Pillars:
This is carried out in combination with another religion. The Pillars all have variant forms of the myths of their most prominent religions that place an ancestor into the mix (for instance, a Pillar that followed the Draconic Legacy might claim direct matrolinear descendance from one of the unnamed daughters of Maia for their sacred ancestor, naming the daughter and creating a complex genealogy to prove it). They also rever their ancestors in the following ways-
Vajar- Worships Vajaros Dragonbane as a hero and uniter of the orc peoples, retelling the story of Vajaros detailed in the contribution on the Five Heroes, although Lazkani is depicted as an orc (as she is in all current tellings of the story except among a few hobgoblins and Vajar orcs, else it wouldn't be a secret)
Zhal- Nothing yet, but I'll leave this space blank until someone details an ancestor, probably a famous warrior of the Valjin War, considering how much the Zhals seem to dislike the dwarves/elves/etc
Taljik- Nothing yet, and probably someone more minor since they were not an original Pillar
Malarn- Worships Malani, a great scholar who legendarily began the creation of the Great Library of House Malarn. She taught that all good races must work together to combat evil, and thus spearheaded the Malarn tradition of accepting members of other races.
Kiron- Worships Kira, and retells her stories detailed in the Five Heroes contribution. They consider themselves to be sacred agents of the forces of good, and thus they easily embraced the newfound Children of the Dawn, retroactively and anachronistically making Kira pray to the Dawn in their stories of her battle against Taufenacht (Kira actually worshipped the same good forces as the Shamans of Ur).
Mulcibe- Worships Mulcibia as a passionate patroness of the arts, retelling stories of the divinity of Mulcibia's husband (known to legend as Hephas) and of her purity above her peers and her rise to prominence.
Draconic Messengers:
An apocryphal addition to the Draconic Legacy, there are many who have wholeheartedly adopted the veneration of these beings, although many others scoff at these as fanciful creations of whimsy. They are said to be sacred lizards who were prematurely awakened by the Celestial forces and Taufenacht (see Twiggly's post). They are-
Varkanis (Xarkavan) the Purger- A bringer of ill omen for the wicked and destroyer of the unvirtous, he destroys what people have in excess and reminds the rich that wealth is not everything. Wise people say that Mt.Xark erupts when the rich people in Eyros get to decadent and too greedy. He is imagined as a giant red dragon
Nixalos the Wise (also known to the contributors as Alsixnivis)- A wise dragon spreading knowledge among the unenlightened and unlocking the keys to the inner wisdom. He is depicted in art as a great white dragon with silver wings. this dragon is quick to anger and often sends icestorms and worse at the ones who offended him.
Aurilion the Lawbringer- A giant golden/red dragon who brought mortals the first set of laws. He is harsh but just and a great warrior. It is told that he carried the five heroes to the last battle, protecting their back as they fought against the Deceiver.
Silvaril the Protector- This female silver dragon is also called the silver flame. She is the protector of the weak and a stout defender of the innocents. Children are often given a silver necklace and even an amulet of a silver dragon if they are born in wealthier households.
Luxhara the Radiant- This shining dragon was made out of the light. She is the last messenger and aids people on the last path to the afterlife. People who came back from (near) death speak about the shining light and it is believed that this is Luxhara coming to gather them.
Ur:
The mysterious good forces worshipped by Kira and the Shamans of Ur are unknown to those in Eyros. I think this should simply not be detailed to keep it mysterious and allow individual DMs to decide for themselves.
Halflings (Sea-worship), Kohl'Tass (druidic faith), Elves (whatever the Valjin worshipped), and Dwarves (they must've had one before anyone bothered them): I'm leaving this up to the other great minds of the Eyros creators. Just remember: Shy away from gods and include Taufenacht in an interesting way, since he is supposed to be a carryover. Good luck!
