FleThols

The Religion of Magic

The FleThols worship magic itself. This is done through daily rituals of devotion at dawn and dusk when their energy is renewed. They devote themselves completely to Arcane Energy, and have a great love for Thols, the Vlosodo Power of Magic.

The majority of magic users are believed to follow FleThols beliefs, because in doing so they come under the protection and oversight of the Magus priests. The FleThols as a religion have a Writ of Tolerance, allowing their believers to openly practice magic. This is very attractive to the average person who longs to learn the magical arts but does not want to run afoul of the law or an irate dragon.

FleThols faithful are generally poor, neglecting all other Energies save for their basic needs for food, shelter, and rudimentary social interactions. They are not learned beyond what they require to practice their magic. However, they are a peaceful religion focused on quiet and simple living, so they are often much beloved by others in their communities. These are the soft-spoken helpers just trying to do what they love and make the world a better place.

Tenets of Faith

• The Arcane is the Ultimate Source and should be pursued above all
• To seek to fully understand Magic is to destroy it.
• A unified Arcane Energy combines both Spell and Praxis
• The Four Prohibitions
• Magic is a gift never to be abused
• Magic is never to be used to harm another
• Magic is never to be used for selfish gain
• Magic is never to be used to deceive or manipulate
• While the Arcane is primary, one who neglects their own body, mind, or emotions is an anathema.

Ethics

The FleThols do not proselytize in any official or strategic way, but they welcome anyone who wants to join them. They are most often joined by the young who are curious about magic but want to pursue their curiosity legally.

They do acknowledge the existence of many other Vlosado Powers and even the divinity of the great Dragons or Fae, but they believe that to be FleThols requires a single-minded devotion to Thols herself. Some followers will debate that she is more powerful than any of the other divinities, but this is hotly contested even within the FleThols themselves.

After death, the FleThols believe the energy of their souls will join with the Arcane Source of Thols. This is their ultimate longing, so they await death with hope and longing, for then they will finally be free of the other three Sources.

Worship

Each Spell or Praxis is considered an act of worship. They believe that using arcane energy unites the believer with the soul of Thols, the Goddess of Magic herself. So it is their goal to pull from this source as much as they can, seeking to align every fiber of themselves with Thols. This means that believers intentionally seek ways to replace the other Sources with Arcane Energy in their lives. If something can be achieved by Spell or Praxis, they will do it even if it would be far more logical to use other means.

To the FleThols, the sacred rhythm focuses on dawn and dusk when their energy is renewed. They set aside these times as sacred and devote themselves to music whenever possible at these moments, to celebrate through holy arcane melodies. The FleThols firmly believe that all music holds Arcane Energy in the way it can influence the soul. Dawn songs tend to be gentle and hopeful while Dusk songs are strong and brave to greet the incoming Shadow with defiance. These songs are often laced with magic in whatever way the faithful can imagine.

Priesthood

Due to their ability to hold larger amounts of Vin, Olkette almost exclusively hold control of the high priesthood for the FleThols, known as High Magus. They are known as Devotees from other cultures look upon them with wonder and, often, resentment. In rare cases, a Shulte will find the means to do the near-impossible task of crossing worlds to join the Olkette and become one of them through their cultural initiation. This is only an option if they had not previously been initiated into one of their own cultures.

Common priests are simply called Magus, or Magi in the plural. They embrace a humble life of pursuing union with the Arcane and helping others. The Magi's devotion to the Arcane results in a life of near poverty and simplicity. For this reason, communities often feel posessive and protective of any FleThols magus among them and responsible for their safety. Indeed, it is a common scene to find village grandmothers and aunties nearly forcing a stubborn Magus to receive a cloak or home-cooked treat.

Political Influence & Intrigue

After the Fell Calamity and the Draconic prohibition then regulation of the use of magic, the FleThols were heavily persecuted in all lands, being martyred for their beliefs and blamed for the Calamity itself. Over the next three hundred years, they practiced in secret while slowly advocating for permission to practice their faith. Eventually in 413 AFC (After Fell Calamity), the Arch Dragon Egu granted the highest FleThols Magus the first Writ of Tolerance and allowed her to publicly engage in magic acts once more. Over time, the FleThols religion as a whole was given a Writ of Tolerance, though they are charged with policing their own users to assure that no one Magus or layperson uses too much magic.

The current draconic decrees allow any FleThols initiate to cast individual Salt Magic spells or FleThols praxis. However, any larger religious rite or magical ritual must have either direct approval from a High Magus or a specific Writ of Tolerance from a dragon. Individuals who deviate from these laws are cast out from the faithful and can never join in FleThols gatherings again.

Multiple times through the centuries dragons and powerful people have attempted to force, bribe, or influence the FleThols to help capture rogue magic users called malefactors. More often than not, the FleThols have either refused due to an incompatibility between their tenets and hunting down others, or they have simply been bad at helping. This has resulted in the FleThols being an generally considered endearing but harmless religion.

Sects

There is currently a major schism between three factions of FleThols: the Relationalists, Rationalists, and Practitioners.

The original rift occurred not long after the Fell Calamity between the Sects now known as the Relationalists and Rationalists. FleThols as a religion had already existed among the Gik'i for several hundred years at this point. But due to the horrific loss of Skylands dropping out of the air and the overuse of Arcane Energy being blamed, the FleThols found themselves targeted with intense persecution from others and severe internal infighting.

The major debate was about the Thols, the Vlosodo Goddess of Magic herself. If she was real and if she was aware, then why hadn't she helped or even stopped the Fell Calamity? Why had she allowed such a thing to happen? The Relationalists argued that Thols was both real and aware, but that she had been unable to alter the events for reasons that are still highly debated to this day. The leading theory is that she was struggling with an unknown Vlosodo Power of the Physical and that this Physical Power had dealt her a severe blow. She remained undefeated, however, because most of the Broken Chains Skylands still fly, defying the Physical laws. Relationalists believe there is an option to interact with Thols on a relational level, though few can ever offer proof of this beyond a strange vision or dream. Relationalists believe they hold to the most ancient tradition of the FleThols, and often call themselves Orthodox FleThols or Traditionalists. Though they are the least numerous, there is a current wave of interest in the Relationalists among the Gik'i youth.

The Rationalist FleThols argue against non-believers to loudly proclaim that Thols is real and one of the most powerful of the Vlosado. But they do not believe that it (for they never call Thols "she") is aware. They say that to attribute awareness or even morality to a primal force like magic itself is illogical and backwards, believing that prior generations of FleThols were primitively projecting their own experiences as simple people upon an unknowable entity like a Vlosado Power. With this perspective, they state there is no problem with Thols not preventing the Fell Calamity. For why would a systemic force care about the morals or ethics of a skyland fallign? Rationalists still follow all of the tenets and practices of other FleThols, they simply do not yearn for a relational connection with pure energy. This faction is most popular among the Alai.

Only around two hundred years ago a third sect rose among the FleThols, first coming to light with the logical Yenyi followers. They simply call themselves the Practitioners, and their stance is that they don't know if the Relationalists or Rationalists are correct but they don't think it matters. Instead, they focus on the practices of FleThols and devote themselves to that. They argue that if the Relationalists are correct, that Thols will honor their devotion and have mercy on their limited understanding. And if the Rationalists are correct, then they have not wasted their time pursuing a relationship. The Practioners are the most common sect currently across all worlds.