Church of Voimakas

Encouraging competition and self-improvement wherever they are, the church teaches the tenets of Voimakas and protects the innocent all while teaching the value of exercise and fair play.

Structure

Not actually members of the religious order are the osallistujas, these are the especially devoted lay members who may perform small tasks around the church. Above the ostallistujas are the kilpailija, these are students of the faiths that hope to one day rise through the ranks of the order through hard work and study. Next up are the haastajas, kilpailija who have proven themselves as devotees of the church, haastajas are generally given charge of several kilpailijas as trainees. Next are the erotuomari they are in charge of a specific temple or shrine, responsible for the training of the haastajas and kilpailija. Finally there are the tuomaris each is in charge of the temples and shrines in a given kingdom. There are no ranks above the toumaris, if the need comes for cooperation between the orders of different kingdoms a leader is determined through an athletic competition such as wrestling.

Public Agenda

Voimakians see competition as the road to self-improvement. So they encourage competition by arranging contests of skill and athleticism and offering rewards for the winners, usually small cash prizes to encourage commoners to compete. The Voimakians work closely with the churches of Rohkea and Kello to encourage the common folks to learn skill of arms, and improve their physical condition. They also work with the church of Azu to encourage competition among artists and craftsmen.

Assets

The church doesn’t have a great deal of assets. While the faithful often donate to the church, most of what the church receives goes to arranging contests and prizes. In particular, most of the money the church takes in goes to hosting the Voimakia Festival in the summer. Because most of the resources the church takes in goes to arranging contests temples and shrines of Voimakas tend to be simple affairs without lavish decorations.

History

The worship of Voimakas started in the northern part of the Old Kingdoms. From there it spread throughout the Old Kingdoms, becoming one of the more popular religions. When settlers from the Old Kingdoms first travelled to the New Kingdoms, the Church of Voimakas saw the challenge of settling a new land as something worthy of Voimakians. The elves in the New Kingdoms were slow to adopt the worship of Voimakas, but the dwarves quickly adopted him as Icrål (the Champion). The worship of Voimakas became as popular in the New Kingdoms as it was in the Old. Naturally when settlers began moving to the Frontier Lands Voimakians went with them. The worship of Voimakas is very popular in the Frontier Lands with every community having at least shrine to Voimakas.

Mythology & Lore

Sometime, not long after the godswar Arammu had a brief dalliance with a mortal male. The name of this mortal has been lost to time, but he had a lasting impact. Shortly after breaking off her affair, Arammu discovered that she was with child. Arammu gave birth in secret and left the child who she named Voimakas in the care of a mortal couple who were unable to have children of their own. She visited every month when Kuu was new. Once his foster mother left him unattended while she gathered some herbs from her garden for a meal. A panther slunk into the cottage and would have killed the child, but Voimakas in a feat of divine strength snapped the panther’s neck killing it.

As a youth Voimakas sometimes had difficulty controlling his great strength which made him somewhat unpopular with the other inhabitants of Terman, his village. When he reached the age of majority, Arammu , who continued to visit him, took him to Aklonitos to train him. Under Aklonitos’s tutelage his strength increased, but so did his control until he became a skilled athlete and warrior. When Aklonitos felt he was ready, he took Voimakas back to his home village which had come under the control of a despot, named Kawed, who ruled by strength of arms. On the 19th of Parmouth Voimakas challenged Kawed to single combat, without weapons. Laughing Kawed accepted and the two began grappling. The two fought for half a day before Voimakas caught him in a hold and snapped his back. Once ostracized by the villagers Voimakas was now a hero to the people.

While he enjoyed his newfound acceptance, Voimakas didn’t linger. He travelled the lands looking for people to help. He soon picked up a companion, Taavi, who joined him on his journeys, assisting him where he could. The two travelled, righting wrongs and liberating oppressed people. When there was no one to rescue, he took delight in open challenges to wrestle or duel. He seldom lost either, but when he did he always warmly congratulated the victor. After performing a number of great deeds his mother, Arammu petitioned her grandfather Utu allow Voimakas to join the ranks of the gods. Utu initially refused, but when Arammu persisted, citing Voimkas’s record Utu agreed provided that Voimakas could complete six tasks. The first was to capture the Tuulikki boar, a great half-fiend dire boar that was terrorizing the town of Tuulikki. The second was to build stables for queen Maarikawho had been granted a herd of immortal cattle by the goddess Eresu. The third was to exterminate the Ovokki rats, a huge swarm of rats that had overrun the city of Ovokki. His fourth task was to capture a pack of cerberi, vicious three headed dog-like fiends from the underworld. For his fifth task he was tasked to slay the Milja bear, a vicious creature whose hide was impervious to weapons and whose claws where razor sharp. The bear had been terrorizing the village of Milja for some time. His sixth and final task was to capture the Olavi goat, a giant goat who was terrorizing the island of Olavi. Upon completing these tasks Utu welcomed him into the fold of the gods.

Elevated to the ranks of the gods, Voimakas began undertaking bigger challenges. Rohkea took him under her wing and found that he had a talent for war. Of course, he retained his jovial nature, and habit of challenging worthy opponents to athletic contests.

Cosmological Views

In Arda the cosmos is divided into the inner planes and the outer planes. The inner planes consist of the prime material plane, which coexists with the First World and the Plane of Shadow. They are surrounded by the four elemental planes or air, earth, fire, and water, as well as the positive and negative material planes. All these planes “float” within the ethereal plane, the plane of ghosts and other incorporeal beings.

Surrounding and encompassing the inner planes is the astral plane which connects the inner planes with the outer planes. There are seventeen outer planes, nine each aligned with the cardinal alignments as well as eight that sit on the borders between alignments. Sixteen sit in a sort of metaphysical “ring” round the seventeenth. These planes are Mechanus the plane of Law, next is Arcadia, then Mount Celestia the plane of Law and Good, followed by Bytopia then Elysium the plane of Good, then comes The Beastlands and Olympus the plane of Good and Chaos after which is Ysgard then Limbo the plane of Chaos, after which comes Pandemonium then the bottomless Abyss plane of Evil and Chaos, followed by Carceri then Hades the plane of Evil, next is Gehenna followed by the Nine Hells plane of Evil and Law, then Acheron which brings things back to Mechanus. In the center of the ring lies the Outlands plane of Neutrality.

Tenets of Faith

Value life and be patient.
Strive to bring others into the light, as all beings deserve a second chance.
Be ready to kill those who refuse redemption.
You must never knowingly harm an innocent, or allow immediate harm to one through inaction when you know you could reasonably prevent it.
Your strengths are a responsibility to be used to help others.
Always strive to be better than you were before.
Never refuse a fair challenge.
When you cheat, you cheat only yourself.
You can help yourself best by helping others.

Ethics

Life is the most important thing, and should be protected whenever possible. Patience is important to life and should be cultivated by all followers of Voimakas. No being is without hope and every being deserves a second chance. The faithful need to always seek to bring others into the light for redemption is always possible. However they need to be realistic as well, not all beings accept redemption, there are those who refuse and a believer must always be ready to perform the sad duty of slaying those who refuse. However, the innocent should always be protected. No believer will ever intentionally harm an innocent, or allow an innocent to come to harm if it’s within their ability to prevent it.
Voimakians value strength, not just physical strength but any strength. However they do not view their strengths as a privilege, but a responsibility to be used to hep other whenever they can. Whether it’s physical strength or strength in a certain skill. However, they never settle for what they are given, but strive always to be better than they were. To that end Voimakians never refuse a fair challenge. The key being fair, they are free to refuse a challenge from someone who clearly outmatches themselves, but may accept it as a road to self-improvement. They might likewise accept a challenge from someone clearly weaker to give them the opportunity to improve. With someone they are equally matched with a Voimakian almost never refuses. They also never cheat in a challenge. Voimakians abhor cheating, believing it is better to lose with dignity than to win through cheating.
Voimakians believe in using their strengths to assist others whenever they can. Most Voimakians are always on the lookout for an opportunity to use their strengths to aid someone else, and most Voimakians accept such assistance with grace. Voimakas teaches that the best way to help oneself is by helping others, and all true Voimakians take this to heart.

Worship

Worship services take place approximately every six days when possible. Worship starts with congregants taking turns telling how they have used their abilities to help their fellow man. While this may sound like boasting, and indeed some use this opportunity to boast of their deeds, most adherents modestly recount their feats hoping to inspire their fellows. After the recounting of deeds, the congregation sings a hymn or two in honor of Voimakas followed by a sermon from the high priest exhorting the congregation to uphold the tenets of the faith.
Approximately once a month they hold a challenge service. This proceeds much like a regular service except at the end, congregants are given the opportunity to challenge another member to a duel. This can be a duel with weapons (usually to first touch), a wrestling match, foot race, or any sort of athletic competition. Congregants are free to decline, but most seldom do. Such duels are always friendly affairs, done with an eye towards both challengers using the duel as an opportunity to improve themselves.

Political Influence & Intrigue

Voimakians don’t engage in much intrigue, preferring to work in the open. They seek to encourage rulers, like all people, to be the best they can. They also seek to inspire rulers to work for the betterment of all their subjects.