Hymneseve

Hymneseve is a Brumian holiday, celebrated most widely in the southern regions of Therimore. It is a celebration of giving, charity, and community, as each year on the Midmonth of Mirh families exchange gifts, sing songs, and tell stories. All this is done in honor of the itinerant Brother Hymne, a traveling monk whose preachings of peace and goodwill during times of hardship grew into a wide following. A church grew up around his name, and so it was called the Fraternity. A holiday was born as well, to commemorate his acts of kindness towards those less fortunate in the cold struggles of winter.
One particular church in the village of Whitenut, located centrally in the Hymnes Valley, is said to be the original priory of that famous wandering monk. Underneath the small nave lies an extensive library, which houses the greatest collection of manuscripts and artifacts relating to the Brother. The tapestries which hang on the walls of this subterranean archive depict the Brother's life and deeds, as well as his everlasting battle with his mortal enemy, a Fallen Priest.
Centuries ago, Brother Hymne was a mortal man. Hymne travelled from village to village, spreading messages of love and acceptance among one another. He was most active during the winter months. As the warmth left and the cold winds came, neighbors would shut themselves off from each other, focusing only on their own survival, leaving the less fortunate to freeze or starve. Brother Hymne would remind them of the power of community, the strength we receive from our friends, and the importance of sharing what we have with those in need. He would more often than not leave a village stronger and more closely knit than when he had arrived. Brother Hymne soon amassed a large following, those who saw the monk as divine, spreading his words of peace and love throughout the land. Small churches and congregations began to form in the villages the Brother had wandered through, and priests would take charge and relay the Brother’s teachings to the masses. Brother Hymne would sometimes stop by these churches if he was passing through the area and give short introductory sermons to large crowds, who would hang on his every word. He would soon move on however, leaving some priests of the local villages to reinterpret his teachings as they saw fit, to serve their own purposes. One such priest was Father Maximillian Gronchellan, a Fraternity Priest in the village of Whitenut. He was an opportunist, who twisted the Brother’s words of love and sharing to his own nefarious schemes. Father Gronchellan used the power of the Fraternity Church to steal from his congregation, under the guise of donating for charity. He would preach about the importance of sharing and giving to those in need, then take the offerings for himself. For years, Father Gronchellan took more and more from the people of Whitenut, and his greed grew more and more insatiable. One day, during a particularly passionate sermon, Father Gronchellan noticed a figure enter at the front of the church. Father Gronchellan surmised this man was a traveller, for he had a pack on his hunched back and well-worn sandals on well-worn feet, feet that had seen more miles than they let on. The greedy Father Gronchellan paused his sermon to welcome this traveller into the church, and instructed him to take everything out of his pack, as those in the Fraternity shared all they had. When the traveller claimed to have nothing in his pack but love and kindness, Father Gronchellan grew angry. He cursed at the traveller for his selfishness, for he could see the traveller’s pack was heavy, and thus laden with goods. Father Gronchellan moved to eject the traveller from the church, and the traveller threw back the hood of his cowl, revealing himself to be Brother Hymnes. He reproached Father Gronchellan, stating that no member of the Fraternity would ever turn away someone in need. The Brother leveled a finger at Father Gronchellan and lay upon him a dreadful curse, as Gronchellan’s greed began to physically manifest itself within the false priest. He fled in horror, his form morphing to reveal his monstrous avarice.
Henceforth, Gronchellan and Brother Hymne became mortal enemies. They battled occasionally, Gronchellan venturing down from his exile in the high peaks to wreak havoc on the nearby villages and Brother Hymne turning him away. The men became myth, and myth became legend. The Brother stood for all that was right in the world, and Gronchellan became a symbol of evil and grotesque greed. As with any power struggle, support arose on both sides of the conflict. Cults associated with the Gronchellan monster grew up around the mythos of the Fallen Priest. They worshipped him as we worship the Brother, but to much more extreme ends. They even went so far as to capture and bind the Gronchellan creature, and used his power for dreadful misdeeds. The Fraternity was able to thwart the plans of these cultists, and at last gained control of the horrible Gronchellan. With the holy divinity of the Brother housed deep within their selfless hearts, the Fraternity once and for all destroyed any remnants of Gronchellan’s presence on this or any land.