Of Darkness and Light
Theological Work
Fifty years after being named high priest of Nosferian, Dara Kazmak Shal'Morkung collected his theological beliefs into what is now the seminal work on the Elynthi religion. This slim, two hundred page book - shorter than one might assume given the ambition of its topics - seeks to codify five hundred years of ritual and cosmology that had, until that point, been passed oral from generation to generation.With the very last of those who took part in the Great Flight passing on to Nosferian's realm due to age, Kazmak worried that the key tenets of his faith would evolve and their purity lost to the passing of time. He interviewed the eldest of his kind - be they noble or peasant, priest or pagan - achieve a full accounting of the behaviors, ceremonies, sacrifices, and prayers that they remembered from their youth. In the first part of his work - the part entitled Darkness to reflect the darkness of a mortal life - he codified every aspect of the Elynthi religion.
The second part of his work focused on the cosmological beliefs of the Elynthi. It recognizes Nosferian as the creator of Tarien. All other deities are declared as false gods with miracles of their faiths mere tricks of magic or perhaps minor aspects of Nosferian himself. The people of Tarien are cursed with an existence of suffering. While most fail to embrace this existance as a trial to earn absolution and eternal salvation. The Elynthi, as Nosferian's chosen, understand their plight. The ceremonies - more importantly code of honor - detailed in "Darkness" ensure that salvation.
Tyloma, of course, has a special place in Kamak's cosmology. She represents the anti-god. Both fallen and deceiver she and her children are a test or perhaps better translated and eternal war against which the Elynthi must strive in their faith. This last section of his work was called "Light" for it detailed the broader multi-verse in which Nosferian, the Light of Suffering, resided.