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<blockquote data-quote="Russ" data-source="post: 1619268" data-attributes="member: 17850">O.K. Here's a little note on Xanthos.&nbsp; I've been meaning to give the info sheet to everybody to read on their own but never got around to it so here's the overall flavor in a post.&nbsp; &nbsp;God's&nbsp; Name&nbsp; -&nbsp; Xanthos,&nbsp; known to his devout followers as Xanthos&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; the provider, Xanthos the protector. Known to heathens as &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; Xanthos the fish god.&nbsp;He holds sway over the sea, the wind, and fishing (bounty from the sea)&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp; He also shares commerce and travel,&nbsp; he controls the portion over the &nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp; water much as his counterpart controls the same over land.&nbsp;He reveres a balance in nature and elemental (natural)power.&nbsp; He opposes&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp; undeath as it is a perversion of nature, and opposes excessive greed as &nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp; it tends to create imbalance and&nbsp; injustice though he has no problem with&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp; normal business and personal profit within limits. Money leads to power,&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp; power leads to corruption and corruption leads to evil, which unbalances&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp; the course of life.&nbsp;Holy days - Every full moon. The light of the moon represents the true light &nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp; of the path to wisdom. Increased fishing harvests usually occur around &nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp; the time of the full moon and so it is a time of increased bounty, a time&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp; of plenty.&nbsp;Temples and shrines - They usually overlook the sea. Major temples have a &nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp; lot of ornate decorations - gold, pearls, etc.... usually depicting items or&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp; events from sea related activities or historically important scenes that &nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp; would be relevant to the religion.&nbsp; Minor temples or shrines may be nothing&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp; more than stone grottoes with small sacrificial altars (mostly symbolic) &nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp; with fish, oysters, coral, small statues or other offerings being presented&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp; to gain the blessing of Xanthos for whoever placed the offering. &nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp; Sometimes these are decorated with some of the rarer, more beautiful &nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp; types of coral. Major temples are always open so that those in need of &nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp; blessings may offer up their prayers or thanks day or night. During the &nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp; Full Moon ceremony and specialized events - more ritualized and lavish&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp; ceremonies are celebrated&nbsp;Priests - Though officially called &quot;Priests of Xanthos&quot;, many informally put &nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp; &quot;brother&quot; before their given name.&nbsp; I am called brother Oceas by those &nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp; who know me. This name was given to me by others at the temple when &nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp; I could not remember my true name as I was brought from the ocean. &nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp; The most senior priest will usually preside over the temple and day to day&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp; activities. There is an appointed 2nd in command and if it is an extremely&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp; important matter of faith or regional interest, then a council of 5 brothers&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp; will be convened to debate policy, procedure or politics as needed. If &nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp; there are not 5 brothers among those at the temple then word will go out&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp; to the nearest brother to please attend and sit as part of that council.&nbsp; Causes important to the faith - Spreading the faith so that others may see&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp; the power, beauty and bounty provided by Xanthos. Gathering knowledge&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp; and information is important to the order as that can be studied to further&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp; our knowledge and power and because information/knowledge can be sold,&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp; or bartered or used as leverage as may be needed by the faithful.&nbsp;&nbsp; General info - Most often the everyday wear is robes of a dark color (brown,&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp; gray, etc... but NEVER black) Special ceremonies may call for blue robes&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp; and the Full Moon ceremony always uses white robes. It shows well in &nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp; the moonlight and exemplifies our purity of spirit in the ceremony itself.&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp; The ceremonies themselves vary in duration depending on the number&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp; of followers present but normally are between 45 minutes and 2 hours.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Russ, post: 1619268, member: 17850"] O.K. Here's a little note on Xanthos. I've been meaning to give the info sheet to everybody to read on their own but never got around to it so here's the overall flavor in a post. God's Name - Xanthos, known to his devout followers as Xanthos the provider, Xanthos the protector. Known to heathens as Xanthos the fish god. He holds sway over the sea, the wind, and fishing (bounty from the sea) He also shares commerce and travel, he controls the portion over the water much as his counterpart controls the same over land. He reveres a balance in nature and elemental (natural)power. He opposes undeath as it is a perversion of nature, and opposes excessive greed as it tends to create imbalance and injustice though he has no problem with normal business and personal profit within limits. Money leads to power, power leads to corruption and corruption leads to evil, which unbalances the course of life. Holy days - Every full moon. The light of the moon represents the true light of the path to wisdom. Increased fishing harvests usually occur around the time of the full moon and so it is a time of increased bounty, a time of plenty. Temples and shrines - They usually overlook the sea. Major temples have a lot of ornate decorations - gold, pearls, etc.... usually depicting items or events from sea related activities or historically important scenes that would be relevant to the religion. Minor temples or shrines may be nothing more than stone grottoes with small sacrificial altars (mostly symbolic) with fish, oysters, coral, small statues or other offerings being presented to gain the blessing of Xanthos for whoever placed the offering. Sometimes these are decorated with some of the rarer, more beautiful types of coral. Major temples are always open so that those in need of blessings may offer up their prayers or thanks day or night. During the Full Moon ceremony and specialized events - more ritualized and lavish ceremonies are celebrated Priests - Though officially called "Priests of Xanthos", many informally put "brother" before their given name. I am called brother Oceas by those who know me. This name was given to me by others at the temple when I could not remember my true name as I was brought from the ocean. The most senior priest will usually preside over the temple and day to day activities. There is an appointed 2nd in command and if it is an extremely important matter of faith or regional interest, then a council of 5 brothers will be convened to debate policy, procedure or politics as needed. If there are not 5 brothers among those at the temple then word will go out to the nearest brother to please attend and sit as part of that council. Causes important to the faith - Spreading the faith so that others may see the power, beauty and bounty provided by Xanthos. Gathering knowledge and information is important to the order as that can be studied to further our knowledge and power and because information/knowledge can be sold, or bartered or used as leverage as may be needed by the faithful. General info - Most often the everyday wear is robes of a dark color (brown, gray, etc... but NEVER black) Special ceremonies may call for blue robes and the Full Moon ceremony always uses white robes. It shows well in the moonlight and exemplifies our purity of spirit in the ceremony itself. The ceremonies themselves vary in duration depending on the number of followers present but normally are between 45 minutes and 2 hours. [/QUOTE]

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