Church of Osa
The church of Osa is one of the smaller faiths in Arda, as Osa is not as popular as many of the other deities. In truth he is venerated out of fear as much as worship, by people who hope to avoid being the butt of one of his pranks. However there are a hardcore few who see Osa as an example to be emulated and so flock to his temples to worship the Trickster.
Structure
Unlike a lot of organized religions, the church of Osa is only barely organized. It has no structure beyond the local temple or shrine. At its lowest rank are the lay members, called shelms who come to regular services and attempt to live their life according to Osa’s example. Above the shelms are the narrs, narrs actually work for the temple or shrine and spend their time between upkeep of the structure and study of the doctrines of the church. Next come the fossenreishers who are in charge of the narrs. While a temple may have as many as a dozen narrs, it usually onkly has two to four fossenreishers. In charge of each temple or shrine sashmaxer who makes the decisions for the local body of worshippers. Of course to say anyone is in charge is a bit inaccurate, those ranked above are seen as merely guides to those below them.
Public Agenda
Osa’s church doesn’t really have a unified public agenda. Some temples seek to promote individuality, others to oppose tyranny and still others to just encourage people to enjoy life.
Assets
Most of the church’s assets comes from gambling and con games that its members have pulled. Despite this the church has very few assets beyond its devoted members.
History
Always small, the church of Osa began in the Old Kingdoms, where its members would travel about doing odd jobs for money and playing tricks on anyone that struck their fancy. Naturally when humans began traveling to the New Kingdoms, they found him already worshipped by the elves who called him Nelalmug, the engine of change, and the dwarves who called him Hanramnesal, creative destruction. Naturally when humans, halflings and elves spread to the Frontier Lands the Osans went too looking for new lands to spread their gospel of individuality, freedom, and change.
Mythology & Lore
According to the belief of most peoples, Osa is the great trickster, the engine of chaos who serves to prevent stagnation and bring about change.
According to myth the primal deities, Utu, Eresu, Io, and Asmodeus formed from the raw chaos that existed prior to all things, a roiling mass of infinite possibility. The primal deities began to form and shape the raw stuff of chaos in the world as it exists. It’s said that the chaos in response to its ebbing formed the Qlippoth to defend itself from being forever locked into a single form. Apparently, that wasn’t enough for the chaos manifested in the birth of Osa on the primal first world.
Even as a child Osa was an agent of chaos breaking down what others had built to make room for new creations. He traversed the first world as a child doing just that, encouraged by the fey who saw him as and accepted him as one of their own. As he grew older, he became more controlled and more wild at the same time. His thoughtless tearing down of what others had built gave way to calculated pranks played on others that served the same purpose.
To his followers he is the engine of chaos that brings about change and growth. To them he represents the ultimate individual who rejects all the bonds of conformity to revel in his uniqueness, and they seek to follow his example, both by expressing their individuality in any way they can, and by encouraging chaos to bring about change and growth.
According to myth the primal deities, Utu, Eresu, Io, and Asmodeus formed from the raw chaos that existed prior to all things, a roiling mass of infinite possibility. The primal deities began to form and shape the raw stuff of chaos in the world as it exists. It’s said that the chaos in response to its ebbing formed the Qlippoth to defend itself from being forever locked into a single form. Apparently, that wasn’t enough for the chaos manifested in the birth of Osa on the primal first world.
Even as a child Osa was an agent of chaos breaking down what others had built to make room for new creations. He traversed the first world as a child doing just that, encouraged by the fey who saw him as and accepted him as one of their own. As he grew older, he became more controlled and more wild at the same time. His thoughtless tearing down of what others had built gave way to calculated pranks played on others that served the same purpose.
To his followers he is the engine of chaos that brings about change and growth. To them he represents the ultimate individual who rejects all the bonds of conformity to revel in his uniqueness, and they seek to follow his example, both by expressing their individuality in any way they can, and by encouraging chaos to bring about change and growth.
Tenets of Faith
- Be true to yourself.
- Encourage others to be true to themselves and throw off the shackles of conformity.
- Freedom is the gift of the gods and shouldn’t be given away or allowed to be taken.
- Tyrants are anathema to the natural order of the cosmos.
- Change is important for growth.
- Destruction is not necessarily bad as it creates room for new growth.
- Chaos is the engine of change.
- Chaos is not the opposite of order but its counterpart in the scheme of things.
Ethics
The most important tenant of the church of Osa is to be true to yourself, to never let your individuality and uniqueness be hidden under the chains of conformity. To this end followers are encouraged to express their individuality in their behavior, their habits, their mode of dress, and everything about themselves. While the church doesn’t encourage overtly evil acts, as stealing and hurting others would infringe on the freedom of others. The church also encourages those around them to be true to themselves, just as Osans do. Again, any behavior is condoned so long as it doesn’t infringe on the freedom of others. To the Osans freedom is the gift of the gods, what the Godswar was fought over, and is the birthright of every intelligent being. Freedom as the gift of the gods should never be treated lightly and should never be allowed to be taken away much less voluntarily surrendered. By extension, tyrants and dictators are anathema to the natural order of the cosmos and should be opposed at every opportunity. Nothing is worse to an Osan then to deprive another intelligent individual of his or her freedom.
Moving away from the individual, Osans believe that change is important, for without change there can’t be growth. To an Osan change is an important, if not the most important part of life. Destruction is merely a form of change that creates room for new creation and growth. So, destruction isn’t bad in and of itself, but a necessary part of the cycle of change and growth. Osans see chaos as the force that brings about change and growth, for without chaos there is only order and stagnation. Unlike many they don’t see chaos as the opposite of order, rather its important counterpart, just as light needs darkness so order needs chaos to allow growth.
Moving away from the individual, Osans believe that change is important, for without change there can’t be growth. To an Osan change is an important, if not the most important part of life. Destruction is merely a form of change that creates room for new creation and growth. So, destruction isn’t bad in and of itself, but a necessary part of the cycle of change and growth. Osans see chaos as the force that brings about change and growth, for without chaos there is only order and stagnation. Unlike many they don’t see chaos as the opposite of order, rather its important counterpart, just as light needs darkness so order needs chaos to allow growth.
Worship
As with any aspect of the Osan faith worship follows no ordered pattern. Sometimes they sing, sometimes they tell tales of their pranks, sometimes they read excerpts from Der Weg des Tricksters, sometimes the sashmaxer will give a sermon on the tenets of the church and its ethics. Sometimes the worship service will degenerate into gambling and joke telling or even orgies. There is no predicting what may happen, which in turn brings many curious just to see what will happen. At the ending of each service someone, usually a narr will roll a pair of dice to determine when the next meeting will be.
Priesthood
Osa’s priesthood is small consisting of rugged individualists who spend their time preaching their gospel of individuality, freedom, and change. They also spend their time playing pranks on those who reject their teachings. These pranks span the gamut from silly to malicious, though most realize a habit of malicious pranks would render them persona non grata in their community. They have no identifying dress with its adherents dressing in whatever garb they prefer, with most dressing n outlandish garb to display their individuality and others wearing green tunics and kilts trimmed with gold to emulate their deity’s preferred mode of dress.
Political Influence & Intrigue
The Osans have little political influence, as their message of benign anarchy is not popular with most rulers who view law and order as necessary for a stable kingdom. Consequently, Osans are just barely tolerated in the free kingdoms and outlawed in the more tyrannical realms. However, Osans don’t always try to directly influence politics, rather they try to influence individuals to live free as individuals. Only in the most tyrannical dictatorships do they take an active hand forming the nuclei of resistance cells throughout such kingdoms.
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