The Cult of Annen
In the grand scheme, the Cult of Annen is all but a non-entity. The goddess is aloof, indifferent, unknowable, and unmoved by petitioning mortals. Yet, there are some rarified few who feel called to her service, be that what it may. As the Prime Mover, byth'Annen is the creator of all things, and that alone warrants some deference. Shrines to the Anndruk Pantheon will have a lonely, rarely, visited, yet requisite alcove for the goddess. Clergy of the pantheon—Anndrukiyn—will usually tend the shrine and in larger pantheon temples, there will be at least one dedicated Anneist cleric. In the greater world, monasteries or temples devoted wholly to Annen are exceedingly rare. When they do exist, they are in isolated regions—atop a rocky, trecherous clifftop overlooking roaring ocean: Jrynn; in isolated peaks, astride a sheer cliff over oblivion at an altitude where breathing is pain: Solvyod, Dhaoshee—far away from mainstream cultus. It is said that the Anneist clergy find their way to her service and when called in any number, they are drawn away from civilization to places profoundly of the vastness of time, the weight of aeons. Places where the effects of time are clear: wind weathered rock, sea-consuming cliffs, shifting dessert sands. If the effects of time are prominent—be they tumultuous daily transformation or sites where change is recorded in ages—are the places holy to the Anneists. The motherhouse, if such a thing could exist among the finite cultus, would be the wooden structure built onto the sheer clifface in Solvyod, Dhaoshee. The small boxy temple has been rebuilt numerous times: having itself succumb to weathering from snow, rotted wood, cracks in the stone. The temple's would collapse and plummet to the ground thousands of feet below. The residents would all be killed. The space would then be absent until another group of devotees would feel the compelling draw and it would be rebuilt, only to succumb some time afterwards. For the monks and nuns of the cult, this made perfect sense.
Structure
Anneist cultists do not form a hierarchy in any sense that outsiders would understand. It is all by personal calling and being anointed externally, spontaneously. When an Anneist becomes recognized as significant by other clergy, or by commoners, they are given the title of hierophant. It is not an honourific that can be acquired, trained for, or sought. Moreover, hierophants of Annen are not necessarily leaders of their coreligionists per se, merely considered wise and inspired by the divine. In this quasi-leadership rôle, hierophants may suggest and encourage others, but they are equally likely to break away from their religious community and either retreat into seclusion or form another temple elsewhere. All actions are acceptable among the Anneists as growth, expansion, dissolution, decay, and change are all aspects of time. Many hierophants of Annen have, over the centuries, argued that any regular grouping of Anneists is itself a failure to understand time. Only the perpetual destruction-rebuilding cycle of the temple in Solvyod is considered legitimate as it embodies the duality of the ephemeral and the continuous.
Culture
The Cult of Annen is not a tradition that proselytizes. New members arise spontaneously in the world and find their way to the tradition. Many do this entirely on their own without ever actually encountering directly any of their coreligionists. This is considered as legitimate as those who live monstatically.
We are but ephemera / Only She is eterne.
Type
Religious, Organised Religion
Alternative Names
Anneists [ɑnːɑiɪst], Anneyi [ɑnːɑji]; Wharrist [wʰɑʁɪst], Wharreyi [wʰɑʁɛji].
Leader Title
Deities
Divines
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