Providence

Overview

Providence is the nation of Grouce’s third largest religion. Its practitioners are known as The Gifted. The Gifted’s beliefs are centered around the idea that there is only one true divine being: the God of Entropy, Vremya. Vremya’s gift to everyone when they are born is merely the ability to exist; yet the followers of the religion claim that this gift must be revered and cherished lest you return to the chaos.

The original founders of Providence were the orcs of the plains of Granhan. Having always worshipped various gods of the chaos and change in the world between their tribes, after the War of Unification had ended and the Orcs began construction on the city of Drogbar. Despite no historical record of divine intervention of miracles, each of the orc tribes (now the orcish province) worshipped effectively the same god. Once the appointed religious leaders of each of the old orcish religions realized this anomaly, they sat down for exactly one hour and determined that they should do away with these extraneous beliefs and worship the one god they all revered as a unified front as Blood Pact 2 was signed.

The practices and rituals of Providence are few and far between. The gifted do not believe in praying to Vremya as Vremya is not inclined to listen to the struggles of the common people. A common mantra amongst The Gifted is “The gift of life was all that Vremya will give”. This leads instead to Vremya being paid reverence at every festival and celebration that its followers hold. This is often in the form of group silences in which the worshippers are supposed to ponder their current life path. Anyone who comes to the conclusion that their life path is not the best use of their gift of life is encouraged to speak up so that the community can help right them.

The practitioners of Providence make up nearly the entire population of the city of Drogbar and the surrounding province of Granhan, though the religion rarely is found outside its borders (with the exception of Sherpburg). This religion heavily influences the residents of this area and impacts most of their culture and customs as a result. Visitors to this region are expected to abide by their practices or risk ostracization from the citizens.

Core Beliefs

The core belief of Providence is that all things in the universe came from Vremya, and in the end everything will return to them. Vremya is an unknowable being who has created the material plane, the Sun, the Moon, all gods and all peoples. They have blessed all with the gift of life and when we have completed our times as they have predestined we will return to them. Even other afterlives are simply a detour on they way back to Vremya, and when the world eventually grows old and crumbles, when the moon falls from the sky, and the sun is extinguished they too will return from whence they came.

While we may fight Vremya's will we eventually all fall it and we can only fight because they allow it. That is not to say that the gifted should not strive for improvement. Instead they should do their best to live fulfilled lives and make a positive difference in the world before their time is up. While Vremya's goal is not known what is known is that they created all beings for a reason, to toil and waste one's life is to imply that Vremya was wrong when create them. Each being and object was creeated to serve a purpose even if that purpose may not be obvious. In those cases part of the purpose of that being is to find its purpose. Adversity is created to help grow people and challenges are simply Vremya's way of making their following stronger to better serve their purpose.

The final major tenant of the Gifted is that once something has served it's purpose and returns to Vremya it should not be mourned. Whether it is a person, object, or creature it has played its role in Vremya's plan and has now returned to it's creator. To mourn something is to imply that it did not fulfill its purpose. To try and resurrect something is to imply that Vremya was wrong when they were first taken. It is due to these teachings that the gifted do not believe in resurrection. Instead they believe in celebrating the life of those who have passed and that once something is lost it should be remembered but not craved.

When followers of other religions opt for resurrection, those of Providence see it as going against the flow. However, as all to Vremya one day returns, it is seen not as an affront, but a more winding path. The Gifted simply believe themselves to be taking the most direct route, as they know it to be the most true.

God

There is only one god of Providence Vremya. They take no form and do not communicate with their followers, instead simply acting as a creator and destroyer.

Name	Pronunciation	Portfolio	Alignment	Domain	Favored Weapon
Vremya	Vree-meya	Entropy	N	Any two	Any one martial or Orcish weapon

History

The history of Vremya and Providence is a short one. Before the War of Unification 37 orcish tribes roamed the south and east of what would become Grouce. During the war Amersham made a deal with the Orcish tribes in exchange for aid in the conflict they would be given a piece of land to create a new homeland for themselves. The Orcs agreed and made Blood Pact 1 with Amersham.

After the war as the tribes discussed their beliefs and religious practices certain patterns and commonalities became apparent. Each tribe worshipped a blend of various gods and different concepts, however a sense of unity and finality was present in all of them. Following these threads the tribes came to a new religion. Instead of chaotic and random arrays of gods that served a variety of specific purposes the new religion focused on one god who would serve as a master of all domains. With their new decision the tribes united under Blood Pact 2 and the formation of the church of Providence was completed.

Relationships with other Religions

Providence views all religions in the same light. They are all simply stops and stalling of the one true path. No religion is invalid and should not be looked down upon as it's followers have simply not be enlightened yet.

Notable Locations

Providence has no holy sites or places of religious importance. Even the field where the religion was founded has been turned and farmed for generations. Instead the gifted treat the entire world as a holy site to be worshipped and enjoyed. They believe that since everything was created by Vremya then everything is holy.

Festival

Providence has no major festivals. Instead each gathering of the Gifted is considered a holy time.

Practices with the dead

Providence see's death as the final stop in life. As the dead do not return their bodies are little more than carcasses left behind. To remember those who are gone and to utilize what they left, corpses are often used for greater purposes after death. Meat will bait traps or be used to feed farm animals. Bones are ground and used in smithing or construction as even in death the Orcs serve their communities.

Providence sees all death as in service in Vremya and will treat all the same as their own dead. Members of Providence will also take care of their dead within hours, not seeing a reason to prolong the process.

Members of Providence rarely write wills as it is not a particularly materialistic religion. Even when available, the faith of Providence keeps spells like speak with dead from being cast to discern will. The family of the dead will often take a few items that they care about but the rest will be given to those who need it.

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