The Foundation of Faith for Millions
Valentinism is a variation of the Celestii Magni faith practiced mostly in the west of the First Continent, outside the borders of the Khazigiri Empire. People of all races worship its myriad of angels, who often appear as males or females of any sentient race and indeed, even as humanoids, beasts and inanimate objects from time to time. The essence of spirit is infinitely polymorphic, and as such, most races visualize the angels as looking just as they do, but with distinguishing solar appearances.
St. Valentinus was a great teacher and scribe in addition to being a famous orator and statesman in the waning millennia of the Cumaean Empire. While not one of the original visionaries of the faith to actually personally receive the divine Gnosis, he was the first to organize and codify the names, precepts, ideals and holy feasts from what had been up to then a heterogenous collection of scriptures, oral traditions, disconnected and often contrary theses, and the teachings of individual itinerant philosophers in public squares across the Empire.
Though a contemporary of Basilides, Valentinus never came eastward further than the eastern border towns of the Cumaean province of Dregaius (now the nation of Dregagt). Basilides theoretically could have met the early saint in his own journeys to the southwest if the legends are to be believed, but stories of Basilides travelling even as far as Ysont are probably apocryphal. As a result, the two streams of religious thought are best seen as arriving very close to each other spiritually based on the same source materials, but materially different in their emphases and some key interpretations because neither one significantly influenced the other. Arguments over which came first break down into semantics arguments, as the adoctrinal Early Epoch preceded both, and both were responses to perceived threats to the core of the faith that arose independently in the different parts of the world - Valentinus in the east and Basilides in the west. And despite living within one generation of the other, it was fully a thousand more years before Basilidies' followers formally split off, or were split off, from the Valentinians during the Council of Chigrin over irreconcilable doctrinal differences; until then they were simply believers within the acceptable doctrine of a single Celestii Magni faith.
The split was over an interpretation of where the celestial power actually comes from, and though it seems minor to most outsiders, it is a fundamental point of belief. Valentinians maintain that the power of celestials comes from within themselves and is not derived from any other being or source; Basilideans believe that the power of celestials is the power of creation, the power invested in them by the demiurge, and they are merely keepers of that power - not the origin of it.
Both denominations worship the same Prime 73 celestials (Prime meaning primary but also, not coincidentally, the number 73 is the 11th prime number), but their ideas of which of the group constitute the Holy Nine differ. Both denominations are very fluid on the gender of the Angelic beings, who are spiritual and able to take on either genders appearance or role in procreation as it suits them. For ease of explanation we use the usual pronoun but all angels have appeared in the writings and tales as either, both or neither gender (asexual beings or animals, or sentient inanimate objects) depending on the specific story referenced.
The Valentinian Holy Nine:
- Phanuel (FAN-you-ell), over Kings, the noon hour, the sun; Solariel is his son.
- Niphonel (NIF-o-nel or NY-fo-nel), over peaceful nature, 3PM to sunset, life cycles, health and fertility.
- Apuatel (a-poo-OTT-el), over endings, twilight and the sunset Hour, the first stars in the sky at night
- Bretranel (BRETT-ran-el), over labor, honest hard work, fairness, and the working class.
- Astionel (ASH-tee-uh-nel), over valuable things, wealth, banks, treasure and commerce.
- Tarshiviel (tar-SHEE-vee-el), over hidden things, the dark, Midnight-4AM, witches, secrets, mysteries and magic arts
- Typhoneth (TIF-uh-neth or TY-fuh-neth), over violent nature, storms, hurricanes, earthquakes, tornadoes, battles, chaos.
- Ycebiel (yuh-SEE-bee-el), over winter, death, decay, endings; nightfall to midnight.
- Adelis (uh-DEL-us), over farming and domestic animals, crops, seedlings, cultivation and the harvest.
Significantly, people do not simply pick one patron and devote all their worship towards it to the exclusion of the others, as is the case in most game systems; quite the contrary, the purpose of religion is to flatter or at least pacify the angels so that they, in their capricious lack of concern for individual people, will not seek to actively harm the worshipper. Most people are elaborately careful to fulfill the rituals and participate in the feasts of all the angels, and while they may favor the stories or evident personality of one over another, people take care not to court the rage of the less lovely or lovable angels by ignoring them, either.
As such, these nine are best considered the prime movers, the ones through whom most of the intrigues originate and flow, and from which most enlightenment derives - but the other 64 are critically important, and the saints of the faith and other lesser celestials are also invoked in both the Valentinian and Basilidean rites.
Those beings that have turned up in stories or games before are listed, but do not feel constrained by this list or to these details; the faith has been followed for longer than history itself on Earth, and in that time any number of re-interpretations, contradictions and later evolution has taken place.
Other Celestials:
- Teniel (TEN-ee-el),over books, scrolls, libraries, learning, civilized pursuits. Often opposes Tarshiviel.
- Solariel (so-LAR-ee-el), the light of the sun (separate from the sun itself; note the moon doesn't have these rays but the sun does. Center of the Sol Invictus/Yule festival on the 22 of Ysebiel's month (Dec 22)
- Aishapriel (eye-SHAPP-ree-el), over insects, creeping and crawling things
- Baraeon (buh-RAY-on), over justice, authority, law and order, obligations, duty
- Arsisiel (ar-SIS-ee-el), over love, sleep, procreation. Daughters are Oriel and Auriel, over romantic and pure love on the one hand and impurity and lust on the other; their names sound the same when spoken and they are usually impossible to tell apart, even in sculpture, painting and sacred texts.
- Oriel (OR-ee-el), over romantic love, affection, attraction, physical beauty, and lovemaking. Or maybe that's Auriel.
- Auriel (OR-ee-el), over lust, sex, irrational desire, unrequited love, envy, and addictions. Or maybe that's Oriel.
- Aeaneth (AY-an-eth), over cleanliness, health, healing, recovery, pure thoughts, chivalry.
- Metaneth (MET-uh-neth), over patience, resilience, endurance, self-sacrifice for the greater good.
- Bellesiel (bel-EE-zee-el), companion to Tarshiviel. Over abominations and the necromantic arts.
Valentinian Saints:
Valentinian Celestialism is less generous with sainthood, though it does maintain a list of saints long enough for each day not marked by the feast of a saint to have a feast of a single saint. Valentinians may say a short prayer to a given saint on their day, all year long, but the major saints correspond to their major feasts. Basilideans have multiple times more saints to keep track of, with some days of the calendar dedicated to five or more, and one day dedicated to all of them who might have been missed on the other days (First of Typhoneth's month, Nov 1, "Allsaints"). Saints have special intercessory powers, such as the ability to speak directly to the angels with whom they share a common spiritual substance, even when the mortal is sleeping or otherwise occupied. Saints and angels are often invoked in very similar ways in practice, but only Angels are to be true objects of worship. The Valentinian saints of note include:
- St. Valentinus (va-LENT-in-us), the scholar and teacher who was the first to codify the Valentinian Way upon which both Valentinian and Basilidean faiths are based.
- St. Harmonax (HAR-mo-naks), the leader of the order of nuns who initiated the conversion of the Pan-Celestial cathedral from a pagan temple into the core temple of the Celestial Magni. It's worth noting that while Khazigur and the empire where the temple is located are generally Basilidean, Basilideanism emerged about a thousand years after Valentinianism, and the two denominations share most angels, most saints and this holy place of worship is the supreme temple for both branches.
- St. Serebrine (SAIR-uh-breen), a Valentinian abbess who first translated the bulk of the sacred texts from Old Cumaean into Imperial common.
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