The Old Faith Pantheon
In the beginning, there was only Sun and Moon drifting in an endless sea of black, glowing in the companionship of one another. Then the power trailing and churning behind them as they soared across the empty ocean coalesced into Magic and Change, the chaotic forces that would unravel existence as they all knew it. The two wily new gods grew bored in the vast emptiness, and they devised a plan to make it more exciting. Using Magic’s boundless energy, the two deities attempted to create something new, but Magic’s power was not meant to be used this way. A great cataclysm was unleashed in the universe, and Moon’s body, once so solid, was torn apart by the energies the two had unleashed. From her body sprang four new entities, two pairs of deities that served as foils to one another: Life and Death; Nature and War. War and Death embodied Moon’s anguish, and they pursued Magic and Change for many millennia as Nature and Life reshaped Moon’s broken body into the world we know today. Nature molded the planet and its creatures out of the fundamental elements, and Life breathed a soul into each living thing. The seven moons are all that remains unchanged from the cataclysm Magic wrought, a constant reminder that magical forces are never to be trifled with.
This mythos has shaped the beliefs of all Old Faith adherents on Tanju, and they constantly pay homage to the gods, wary of forgetting their lessons. Most tribes and even some individuals choose a patron god, but most pay respect to all of them lest they be punished for their negligence.
A major aspect of the Old Faith concerns the makeup of the human body and soul. The body is believed to be made up of essential elements that are found in nature all around us, and these elements affect the resultant being’s temperament and overall health throughout their life. The animating force for all things is breath, a gift from Life that leaks out if ever a body is wounded. Should it be tended to with injuries small enough, a person may be made whole once more, but Death seeks leaking breath and can steal it away, leaving nothing but a shell that can never be repaired again.
Comments