Emuna
Emuna is an Acacian religion, the largest religion in the world, teaching that there is one Divine essence called the Monad, and that the Monad has three "instantiations": the Ancient of Days, the Heliand, and Se Halga Gast. Emuna teaches that the Ancient of Days created the universe through the Heliand, and that the Heliand was subsequently incarnate as a "Son of Beorn", died drowned at the hands of evil men, and was raised from the dead by the Ancient of Days. It is also believed that the Heliand resides in Over Heaven at the present, and will destroy the world by fire at the end of the age, bringing about the Second Age. All Emuna teaches that a human farmer named Acacius was the sole Prophet of the Heliand, that he formed the Berytusian Empire, and appointed his adoptive son Iban Acacias as its first emperor.
Emuna practices the seven Sacraments, believed to be the "regular, ordinary, and outwardly certain" means of dispensing the Heliand's blessings. Initiates are subject to the Covenant of Drowning, wherein they are drowned to death by a priest and raised from the dead by the Heliand. Those who are "drowned" are considered members of the Church (a metaphysical concept independent from denomination), and then have access to the other Sacraments. After drowning, initiates may be introduced to the second degree by means of the Name in Death, a secret religious pseudonym introduced before the altar of the Heliand by the priest. All those drowned and named may thereafter participate in the Liturgy of Flesh, which serves to both ward off the Eschaton (end of time), and cast away demons, gods, and Antiquities in the vicinity. The further Sacraments are espousal, the priesthood, anathematization, and the Chaos Seals. Alchemy and Thaumaturgy are heavily promoted by the religion, while invocation carries the death penalty.
Central to Emuna is the belief in the concept of sin, thought of as offense to the Ancient of Days by transgression of the laws laid down by Acacius (speaking for the Heliand). Through sin, sentient beings separate themselves from unity with God, and voluntarily choose to make themselves subject to other sinful powers. If one dies in sin, their soul is dragged down to the Under Deep eternally, while those who die without sin (and in the metaphysical Church) enter Over Heaven permanently, a paradise inhabited by the Heliand. Sin is thought to be removed by the Covenant of Drowning, and by the deanathematization issued in the Liturgy of Flesh (though only effective for drowned who privately or publicly confess their sins before the Liturgy). There is thought to be no other way to remove sin, and Emuna dedicates the last week of the year to mourning for the souls lost to the Under Deep.
Emuna teaches that Beorn the Forerunner was the first-born Antiquity, who was made in the perfect image of the pre-incarnate Heliand (called the Keter). From Beorn was split Lailah, who was his heavenly consort. All the other Antiquities emerged from the emanations of Beorn's Nomos, all successively further removed from his perfection on account of their distance. When the Ancient of Days created reality for Beorn and Lailah to inhabit, the more imperfect Antiquities (like Lothracha and Zshatlalote) sought to usurp Beorn's reign, and created the Saura and Ntefi respectively. Eventually Lailah too fell into error, consumed by lust, and slept with Qol. Beorn descended to the ground, taking an Unsouled human consort whom he named Máni, and fathered three sons: Amellion (ancestor of the Elves), Barsabbas (ancestor of Men), and Gamaliel (ancestor of the Zwergin). Each of these sons had Beorn's Nomos, and so did all their subsequent children by unsouled wives (of which each had 3). Before long, all the Unsouled had become descendants of Beorn by means of descent from one of the three sons of Beorn. When the children of Beorn threatened the Saura Empire, Lothracha determined that he should kill Beorn, thinking that Beorn himself was sustaining the children's Nomos. Beorn agreed to let Lothracha kill him in exchange for a Divine Oath that he would never harm the children of Beorn, which Lothracha agreed to, drowning Beorn in the Blood Sea. Because the children of Beorn had Nomos in their own right, Lothracha's murder of Beorn did not stop them, but the oath prevented him from bringing harm to them. The children of Beorn defeated the Saura, and thus began the Age of Amellion and subsequently the Age of Men, which continues to the present.
Several ages later, the Heliand was incarnate as a son of Beorn, born without a father, and lived a persecuted life, being drowned to death by wicked and evil men. After His death He descended to the Under Deep, dragging several pernicious Antiquities with him, chaining them in the Under Deep. He was raised from the dead by the Ancient of Days some time later, having killed a third of the demons in the Under Deep. After His resurrection, He ascended into Over Heaven, where He reigns as Lord of Paradise. At the end of time (the Eschaton), He will stand up from the Throne and destroy the world and Under Deep by fire, totally destroying the Antiquities and all those souls not under the Covenant of Drowning. The Heliand will then create a new world, inhabited by those souls He saved, and the world will begin anew without the Antiquities. According to these beliefs, any creature having Nomos (i.e. any sentient being) is capable of salvation.
Emuna
Type
Religious, Organised Religion
Deities
Notable Members
| High god | Ancient of Days, Heliand |
| Lesser gods | None*, saints, Beorn |
| Evil gods | the Antiquities |
| Scripture | the Canon |
| Magic | Thaumaturgy, Alchemy, Sacraments |
| Membership | Entirety of Eiriene, half of Libica, small numbers in Abrisom and Hinjaku |
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