Areto

There is good and there is evil. This is the only distinction that matters- such was the world before time and so shall the world be after time. Beneath the clutter of our material world, that fundamental truth remains. There is Halcyon and Paradise, and there is Galmog and the Purgatory. Good is defined by the will of Halcyon, and submission and obedience to that will.
Areto is a splinter sect of Pratasam that has evolved its own theology, with heavy influence from Halikvar, Ayshanism and indigenous religions traditions of North-Central Samvara.
Areto is a curious case of semi-dualism: the world is divided between good and evil, but good is ultimately stronger and destined to win. Evil is defined as that which is apart from the universe-spirit of Halcyon, embodied by the Exile God Galmog, with communion and submission to divine will being the ultimate expressions of Good. Areto rejects the strict "servant and master" dynamic of Pratasam and the strict legality of Halikvar for a community-dependent forgiveness.
Areto as an organization is a top-down hierarchical centralized religious body heavily associated with (but not controlled by) the Empire of Shenerem. There are also many autonomous sub-groups managed and regulated within the Aretan religious structure- many of which are Aretan versions of other religions. Aretan states use these Aretan "captive cults" to control and regulate other religious groups in Areto-majority areas.
The Aretan church is also unique in its religiously mandated systems of wealth redistribution. The wealthy must be taxed and those funds can only be used for supporting poor communities- to do otherwise would be to create a decadent and unjust society, exiling oneself from the grace of the Gods. The church administrates this taxation directly, and levies additional taxes on wealthy foreigners in Aretan countries (that tend to be even higher and have the added bonus of encouraging conversion)

Structure

Rank	Role	Selected By
Archdruid	Manage church law and policy, direct resources.	Elder Druids
Elder Druids	Manage Regions and upper church administration. Have an associated assistant-priest.	Archdruid
Master Druid	Manage Districts and train new druids. Have attached priests to manage non-magical functions	Elder Druids
Druid	Community/area lynchpins with magical abilities, managing community ritual.	Master Druids
Priest	Full-time community bureaucrats, not necessarily magical but can wield spiritual-political power	Druid
Lay Priest	Mixture of community leaders invested with part-time religious power and initiates that manage temples and minor duties	Priest

Advancement in the hierarchy is more by teams than by individuals: upon taking office, druids deputize 1-3 priests to manage their administration with them. While priests can never become archdruid, they generally advance in informal status along with their boss.

Culture

Species Preference: Most Populous Per Area, No Enclaves

Areto is generally even-handed in the realm of species- generally preferring humans and dryads but mandating absolute legal and social equality among the faithful. Areto manages this even-handedness by enforcing interaction- every week, faithful of all species in an area must meet and engage in ritual communion and forgiveness, and the church aggressively encourages the faithful to work together across species lines. Areas of only one species are aggressively frowned upon, as are species-exclusive enclaves. This can be a problem for Prisms and Selkies in particular- Prisms do not necessarily prosper in the same conditions as dryads or humans, and selkies need community status in The Khilaia to obtain their pelts.
That last bit can be something of a problem. Forced intermingling policies target selkies and prisms more aggressively than others (as the idea of prism and selkie "exclusionist enclaves" has become something of a trope among the faithful). And the Aretan Church's preferences for punitive taxation over more direct measures (such as forced population movement) may seem benign, but can lead to communities being forced into poverty and stigmatized. The pressure to convert and conform only grows on those communities, as access to Areto's generous welfare and charity can often come at the cost of the church controlling the community- decimating local culture, moving populations, and all that. Even worse are those communities that are too inherently profitable to convert, where pragmatic governors or priests keep the community unassimilated and constantly overtaxed and policed as a way to turn a profit.
Additionally, this weekly intermingling and the inter-species community building are not flawless equalizers. In reality, the food production and medical awareness of areas tend to lean towards the most populous species- often humans and dryads. Local laws and customs are built around these things, and as such communities tend to cater towards their own local "defaults".

Marks of Faith

Similar to Pratasam, Areto requires visible marks of faith - though they are much less noticeable than the large Suhafa bows of Pratasam. This typically comes in the form of a token necklace rather than a Pratasa bow- a band or necklace carrying a small rock or wooden token. This token is simple, and changes every week- it is crafted by another community member. Each week, the whole congregation must fashion such an ornament to be ritually traded between them. It is a mark of humility, of connection, of pride for your fellows, and obedience. It is a weight (if a small one), symbolizing the ever-present duty; its simplicity marks your humility. But it also carries the work of your neighbors and acts as a symbol of your shared affection. For one's community bond is one's bond to the forces of heaven and to the Faith itself- reaffirmation of those bonds and duties reaffirms one's covenant with heaven. It is also a way to enforce regular church attendance.

History

Early History

In the early days of the divine era, religious beliefs were incredibly diverse all around the world and often based in local worship. Samvara was not different in this regard, though a number of the pantheons of the Northeastern territories had striking similarities: sky gods associated with lightning, war, and rulership (Oster, Ahsheb, Prahtok) married to earth-embodying fertility goddesses (Debema, Devaj, Veva), with a powerful daughter-warrior associated with hunting and tool production (Natsaba, Obaj, Baji) who feuded with a powerful and evil force of some kind. This religious group was largely absorbed by Pratasam missionary efforts in the Divine Era. This was not a violent enforcement of religion, but a slow absorption that began with the merchant class and moved onto the elites through Druidic teachings. By the time of the Modern Era, Pratasam had spread in some form or another to most of Northern and central Samvara. But Pratasam was far too large to remain unified and coherent, and quickly drifted in terms of ritual and cosmology in the Northern hinterlands.
While the Pratasa circle of archdruids initially failed to care about deviant theology from some distant tribes, the rise of urban centers and empires in center made their distance more and more troubling. In 30 ME, the ascendant Empire of Shenerem convened its own Circle of Archdruids, with its own legitimizing imperial mythology. After many denouncements back and forth, the two Circles went to war for dominance in the Wars of the Five Deserts in 240 ME. It was a religious free for all, more driven by the needs of local monarchs than theology. In 300, the conflicts were finally ended when all participants were subject states of the Selkie empire. While brief, the first selkie empire brought the warring Pratasa factions together against a common enemy. When the empire collapsed into civil war in 302, the Pratasa circles entered communion. The Eastern Circle of Shenerem was to be the lesser circle, but was granted managerial power over druidic affairs across the whole North and Center of Samvara. The Circles began to drift together theologically, sharing scripture and specialists.

The Eastern Circle

That joyful time of religious unity ended in the late 400s and early 500s. In a complicated game of political intrigue, the Pratasa circles were courted by members of the Lunar Pantheon- and religious war was unleashed all across the continent in a great wave. The Western circle of archdruids collapsed in on itself, and the Eastern circle was left on its own once again. While it considered leaping into the fray, the 500s saw the rise of a unique character: Vetka, a druid of immense power and prestige that helped guide and shape the Eastern Pratasa. Vetka kept the circle independent of divine obligations and instead focused on making the temple a place of community and equity. The Circle began tithing the wealthy and channeling those funds towards charity. Community focus became the cause of the era, and Vetka was memorialized as a herald of divine will. When the Lunar Crisis finally ended in 740 and the circles returned to communion, the West found that the East was transformed. The two had more trouble than ever looking eye to eye, and the West's legitimacy had been tanked by the crisis.

For a moment in the 700s, it looked like the Eastern circle would become the new leader of Pratasam. They had begun to intertangle with the Shekotan Alchemical Healing Church, they were increasingly politically powerful, and they were quite popular at home. But the 800s brought internal chaos in Shenerem and as the empire struggled, the influence of the circle faltered. To make matters worse, competition was rising: Halikvar in the East, legal challenges towards the Circle's actions from the West, and an increasing number of converts to Ayshanism in the North. When the Empire of Shenerem collapsed entirely in 880 and Shekota refused to fully combine the Healing Church and the Circle in the ensuing chaos, everything began to slip.
First, stateless armies of Halikvari holy warriors began to surge North and claim land for their own in the 890s. Then, the Second Selkie Empire in the West cut off the Eastern circle from many of its client communities and allies. And then, after a century of that turmoil, militant Ayshan armies began to stream out of the North as the Western Circle again collapsed into civil war. The Eastern circle lost realm after realm to Ayshan missionaries and armies, even as their heartlands were under siege by Halikvari missionaries and armies. Pratasam itself seemed to be collapsing, dragging the Eastern circle with it. All the institutions that had supported the Circle gave out: the empires, the religious networks, the merchant leagues. Only the Healing Church held firm. Bit by built, the circle rebuilt its authority and institutions from its communities up. The temple of the East became a church: centralized, closely organized, and militantly hierarchical.

The Equinox Schism

In 1105, the Eastern Church of Pratasam formally splintered from the rest of Pratasam. The triggering event was relatively small: a demand to reform back to its originally structure and policy from the Western circle. While this edict from the West was unenforcable, it stirred enough rage to escalate into a full-blown schism that took place ceremonially on the Spring Equinox in a grand festival of reinvention and renewal. The Eastern Circle became the Aretan Church. And it channeled its renewed spirit into a grand campaign of religious violence against the Halikvar. By 1120, the Halikvari warriors had been driven from Shenek lands, but instead of attempting another unsuccessful purge, the Church adopted a new approach: containing Halikvari communities in a "captive temple" that would allow local worship without the risk of disloyalty.
Across the 1100s and 1200s, Areto surged across Northern Samvara, reasserting authority. In the South, Areto became associated with the rising Empire of Invara (which no longer exists, but was a major power player in the Southern sea area from 1190 to 1500). Areto, Halikvar, Pratasam, and Ayshanism fought a four-way war across the continent, which raged furiously in the early to mid 1300s. Each theater of religious war has its own history and its own ups and downs, but four areas of conflict are central to Aretan history: The South Sea (against Pratasam), the Eastern forests (against Halikvar), the Northeastern valleys (against Ayshanism and Halikvar), and the Western plains (against Pratasam). The Northern mountain ranges also saw local tribes and small kingdoms opposed to Ayshan allies convert to Areto, though that wasn't as central a theater of war. 
The 1400s saw the Eastern wars quiet somewhat, as Halikvar turned from fighting Areto and Ayshanism to invading distant Desmia. Exhaustion from religious wars paved the way for peace (as well as disillusionment). Pratasam began focusing on evangelizing overseas, and only Ayshanism remained an implacable foe for the church. Increasingly, Akada prism-colonies were also a thorn in the church's side- while Akada was usually neutral, Areto's distrust of species-enclaves had awakened foes across all the major mountain ranges. 

Weathering the Storm

The cynicism endemic to the 1400s combined with the persistent conflict across the continent set up a new wave of counter-cultural religious movements in the late 1400s and early 1500s. Most notable of these was 

Sumoxa, which was picked up by desert and plains nomads in central Samvara. It served as a religious glue for tribes across cultural boundaries, and in 1550 a great religious invasion was launched in the South. It swept across the failing Invaran empire, champion of Southern Areto; it smashed the stabilizing states of Shekota, patrons of the Healing Church; it led campaigns into the very heartlands of Areto. It was a disaster for the church (and for just about every religious group in Samvara).

In this desperate moment, the Aretan church sought allies. In began courting dissenters from Pratasam, and in 1579 managed to fully incorporate an entire Pratasa political movement into the church as a designated sub-sect. From 1580 to 1700, Areto focused on simply surviving the storms of Sumoxa invaders and Pratasa retribution. But it emerged whole. In 1700, the Empire of Shenerem reunited fully and enshrined the Aretan church as a holy institution- and while these new emperors would consistently meddle in religious affairs, they also gave Areto military and financial security. With imperial support, the church was able to reconnect with community networks in the South and mount more aggressive defenses of the faith. Some threats were still to great to overcome- such as the Ayshan invasion of the warlord Graceful-Worship in 1800, which carved out a powerful Ayshan state in the East- but for the most part it has been an era of stability.

Mythology & Lore

Galmog the Exile

Much of Aretan mythology is similar to that of Pratasam. But in Areto, an incredibly important figure is inserted throughout: Galmog, the Adversary. It is said that when Halcyon made the world, that Galmog was what was left behind- the unfulfilled possibilities, the leftovers, the things not beloved. Galmog formed into a horrible god of monstrosities, and grew fat from the disobedience and sin of the Golden Age. Halcyon welcomed Galmog into their light, but Galmog refused their holy communion. In rejecting their status as part of a whole and separating themselves from universal truth, Galmog committed to most dire sin and cursed this world with a thousand sufferings. Now they bleed plague, heresy, loneliness, and hate. They seek to spread their profane, self-inflicted exile to the whole of the universe, and to this end they marshal a legion of damned souls and twisted spirits.
The revelation of Purgatory is seen as proof of Galmog's existence and proof that Galmog is beyond Halcyon's direct power. No good god, who created Paradise, would create a Hell that sucks in the wicked and the innocent alike. That the virtuous can be saved from Purgatory is proof that Halcyon is more powerful than Galmog in the end, but that it takes mortal effort to save the innocent shows that Halcyon's power is diffused among everyone. It takes good action to drive back Galmog's evil. Faith alone is not enough.
A number of parables and poems detailing encounters of Galmog scatter Aretan holy texts, and Galmog's antagonism has been added into Pratasa stories and accounts.
As for Galmog's ultimate fate, Aretan prophecy concludes that one day Halcyon will forgive and redeem Galmog. This will destroy Hell and allow all people to revel in perpetual glory. This redemption can only happen after struggle, though: a great climactic battle known as The Scouring, in which the evil will be tormented and the good will be liberated from all pain and the world shall shatter in a climactic battle of good and evil.

Cosmological Views

The Crowded Heavens

In Aretan cosmology, Halcyon is not the only god- just the first and most powerful. Many gods, spirits, and lesser beings exist, though none are as good or as truly divine as Halcyon. There are a few gods that Areto praises in particular:

• Oster, God of the Heavens and Marshal of the Forces of Good
• Debema, the Earth Mother, Goddess of Protection, Safety in Death, and fertility
• The Triad, Goddesses of Creation, Rebirth, and Prophecy
• Shepara, Sun, inspiration, magical power, knowledge, secrets, and truth
• Sanadi, Goddess of Rivers, healing, fertility, renewal, and forgiveness

The Lunar Pantheon number among the forces of good as well, though they are not themselves entirely virtuous. Areto's approach to them is somewhat unique in that they are a test of one's wisdom- they ruin those who contact them unwisely or impatiently, but the solution to understanding them is the solution to true enlightenment. For listening to a single Lunar God is to listen to a Galmog-tainted vision. You must listen to all of them and interpret their shared vision and virtues to decipher true knowledge. To bind oneself to a single Lunar God is to spiritually exile oneself from nine-tenths of the universe.

Tenets of Faith

• Fulfill Your Duties To Your Community: Community needs trump individual needs. Duty and selfessness are virtues.
• Bring Order to the Chaos: Ignorance and disorganization are the strongest of Galmog's weapons. By properly ordering lands under the True Church, all may prosper
• Glorify the World-Soul: Preaching, celebration, art, grand temples, and other forms of loud worship are much beloved by the heavens. 
• Protect the Common Lands: Nature is a garden, kept alive in the common lands- hunting forests, common pastures, and the like. Druids, spirits, and communities alike need these lands free for goodness to prosper.
• Save and Protect the Weak: Life is precious, and the strong have a duty to protect the weak
• Be Merciful and Forgiving: Forgiveness is an act of immense power, and violence is morally repulsive.

Ethics

Group Salvation and Partial Culpability

The essence of salvation is the Heavenly Covenant to perform virtuous deeds forged long ago between Lily of Red and Halcyon- but it is only through one's interactions with others that the covenant can be fulfilled. Areto posits that communities are not just the way to do good, but that community is a path to salvation. Essentially, people are not good individually- we are weak, vulnerable to sin, fragile creatures in body and spirit. But through love and through support, we are made greater.
Because goodness is inherently social, to associate goodness with an individual is unwise and incomplete. While individuals do have free will, those who enable both their good and evil acts share in their moral culpability- partially. Aretan communities formalize this by ritually binding their souls together every week- sharing in a fraction of their good and bad deeds. The community can also absolve itself of sins through honesty and vows of improvement, centered around public confessions of guilt. 

Prophecy and Communion

Areto refashions the Pratasam narrative of oaths and duty into one of communion and destiny. Rather than interpreting Lily's discussions with Halcyon as a promise or a divine contract, Aretan scholars see it as a communion: as Lily opening herself up to the universe and communing with the divine. The emphasis is on the meeting, not on the conditionality of their discussion. Furthermore, Lily was as much chosen as she was an agent of her own will- that moment was both the meeting of divine and mortal, and that of free will and destiny. For this reason, Halcyon's words are to be interpreted "timelessly"- as both history, guidance, and prophecy. 
For this reason, communion and prophecy are greatly emphasized and encouraged in Aretan teachings and ritual. All relationships are said to include Halcyon, for Halcyon is love. By opening oneself to the universe as Lily once did is to open oneself to possible prophecy- particularly when within the holy space of community and love. Communities often keep their own books of prophecies, and young adults of low status are encouraged to enter prophetic, charismatic states. Neurodivergent people are also valued as potentially prophetic or capable of inciting prophetic visions in others. Community gatherings, weddings, funerals, and holidays are all prime times for potential prophecy or entering altered states. 

Tolerance Through Submission

It is okay to be wrong, as long as you are moral- and if your ignorance might make you immoral, the humility to obey is salvation. Pratasam taught the church this- but Areto has altered and expanded the doctrine into a way of seeing and containing other religious groups. Essentially, the drive to do good is common in all religions of goodness together (there are some religions of evil, but those are rare), and all religions of goodness therefore battle Galmog in some way. To use violence against such communities would be to do evil- and so, as long as they submit to the moral guidance of the Aretan church, minority religions can be tolerated and even welcomed. To this end, the Aretan church has regulated and controlled versions of other religions for religious minorities to "safely and loyally" exist.

Worship

Aretans are encouraged to engage in prayer four times a day, but the most recognizable form of focused worship is the weekly communion. The daily prayers are far more subtle: quick family communion over a meal, neighbors sharing a moment of holy bonding, friends sharing a ritual over drinks, holy poetry between lovers. The ritualistic exchange of gifts is often important, even if those gifts are just a rock on the ground next to you- it is about exchange, not value. 
Aretans are encouraged to never be alone for extended periods of time. They are told to travel with other faithful and with permission from their community priest, with one of their party to be deputized as a laypriest to perform bonding rituals. This can be a burden for some merchants, but can actually mean more church support for others. 
Prayer is unusual in Areto in that it is rarely done alone. If alone, it should be observable and physical- to pray purely alone within one's body is to try and cut yourself off from the divine, to contain you within your body. Also unusual is the practice of "loving with Halcyon"- the belief that, since Halcyon is in all love, that all love between two people is actually shared with the divine as well. "Loving with Halcyon" is often interpreted in very literal ways, with romantic relationships seen as inherently polyamorous (Halcyon is included in all marriage ceremonies) and Halcyon included in family ritual. Halcyon is often given a place at the table and a small shrine space in the home. For some people, this is more metaphorical than others; for some, this is a very real, physical relationship that should be treated deadly seriously. To escape the strange crossover of romantic and familial relationships, Halcyon is divided into aspects for this, with a different aspect present and unique to every relationship. 
Altered states of mind are also common forms of worship during particularly intense ritual moments, and is encouraged. Entering manic states of "possession" or trances is a way for anyone to channel the divine. Strangers to the community are not taken as seriously as insiders- Aretans are aware of the possibility of faking- but it is a way for trusted young people of low status to influence community proceedings. This is usually not a conscious decision, but a way of interpreting overwhelming emotion. 
Channeling, Loving with Halcyon, and the ceremonies of Trading Gifts are targets of frequent mockery by outsiders. To face this mockery with stoicism is encouraged as a form of devotion- reinforcing the lines between spiteful, ignorant heathens and the warm and welcoming community.

Priesthood

Aretan priests wear brown robes with a white sash or scarf. They typically wear a badge on their sash or robes denoting the Druid they are attached to. Some druids choose to dress up their priests further, but most are sworn to humility.
Druids, meanwhile, wear white or grey robes with green fringes and a green sun design over their heart. Master druids and above have red and designs fringes instead. Those above master often choose to add their own designs, particularly around the heart-sun, which can include opulent gold or silver leafing.
An unusual element of the Aretan priesthood in Shenerem is the preference for wigs, which is a cultural sign of prestige. While not mandated by Aretan dogma, many non-Shenek Aretan priests and druids choose to adopt fancy wigs anyways as a sign of cultural distinction.

Sects

Aside from the Captive Churches, the only major sectarian division is that of the Etezeva- the "Guest Church". The Guest Church is the church of Maruva, led by its own Elder Druid. Maruva defected from Pratasam in 1579 out of a desire for regional autonomy, and made a special deal with Areto to keep that autonomy. 
Maruva's Guest Church is much more like Pratasam, but has adopted an Aretan structure in the last century.

"Love and Triumph"

Founding Date

1105 ME

Type

Religious, Organised Religion

Alternative Names

Mivavar

Demonym

Aretan

Permeated Organizations

• Empire of Shenerem
• Kingdom of Ashavat
• Kingdom of Maruva

Deities

• Halcyon

Location

Samvara

Related Ranks & Titles

• Alkoa

Notable Members

• Vetka