Valideisen (Vah-lih-dye-sen)
Valideisen is an ostracized druidic circle based in northern Brist which is based on the belief that there is a Godling named Eisen trapped in the far north who, every winter, uses the strength she saves throughout the rest of the year to freeze the Broken Sea.
Mythology & Lore
The Valideisen believe that, early in the Godswalker epoch, there were two strong Godlings in the north who lived in relative harmony with one another. These two Godlings, Eisen and Pol, helped northern Elotia thrive and grow and prevented other Godlings from damaging the creatures that came to life during that time. However, a major feud between several Godlings spilled into their lands and Eisen and Pol were unable to completely prevent the lands they protected from damage, causing both Godlings to rage and build a plan to fully enclose their area away from others.
While Eisen and Pol worked to create a barrier to repel other Godlings, some of the feuding Godlings were told of their plan by creatures who lived in the to-be protected land, but who wanted to feed on the death and destruction that unprotected lands often featured. So, some of the feuding Godlings put their differences aside long enough to work together and create their own effect, one which would cause Eisen and Pol's barrier to backfire and instead capture them inside. At the last moment, when Eisen and Pol were about the finish their work, Pol detected the treachery and poured all they had into the barrier, effectively killing them but saving Eisen. Eisen, in their rage, shattered their land off of Elotia, but that work took too much of their energy. The other Godlings, enraged by their failure, blasted Eisen and their land north into the Broken Sea.
Now, every winter, Eisen uses what magic they can collect from their land to freeze the Broken Sea, reaching back to Elotia to try and join with the land once more and to collect what sparse magics from Pol that they can.
Some Valideisen texts allude to Eisen and Pol being partners, of a sort, but these allusions are generally considered to be misinterpretations of events passed down through oral traditions.
Divine Origins
The origins of the Valideisen are not fully clear, though it has existed in some form or another for as long as Brist has existed. The stories of Eisen were passed down through the Blaenor, but the druidic circle was not created until shortly after the Canopies were established. The first (and only) Valideisen sacred building was constructed on a cliff overlooking the Broken Sea around 200 VL, and many of the written texts that the Valideisen use or study were written after the building was constructed.
The writings of two early Valideisen, Guswa-Pol and Renor-Eisen, form the basis of most teachings and rituals used by the druidic circle. These two druids claimed that they took an excusrion across the Broken Sea one winter, reaching the land that they claim still holds Eisen to this day.
Cosmological Views
The Valideisen believe that Elotia was created out of the ice. They believe that the world as a whole was once a complete ball of ice, and magical eddies from inside the world helped thaw and form the ice into land, becoming Elotia. Valideisen, unlike many other faiths in Elotia, do not believe that creation comes out of darkness, but rather that creation is borne in ice but only revealed out of the melting eyes of light.
Tenets of Faith
All Valideisen must follow the four tenets of Eisen-Pol:
- All life should be preserved.
- Silence and tranquility are sacred.
- Patience will reveal all.
- Deceit, like a raging fire, should be snuffed out.
Priesthood
There are no true priests within Valideisen, and instead all druids who are part of the circle are given equal right to speak and to preach and to lead rituals. However, some druids in the cirlce are revered more than others. Those who go on a pilgrimage to the north, out into the Broken Sea, are said to have reached closer to Eisen and are therefore held in a higher regard. In effect, though, they do not wield any additional power.
New druids are brought into the circle either through birth within the circle (very rare) or through exposure to Valideisen at the Canopies.
Type
Religious, Druidic Circle
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