Religion and the Afterlife
Religion is an odd subject in the Accordlands, for the very stories that talk about the creation of the land also detail the deaths of the Gods. In early history, shrines and temples to the various Lords of Thunder were built and maintained to honor their sacrifice. Over time, however, those feelings became more and more distant, and tangible miracles ceased to be anything but a memory captured in stories and fables.
In today’s day and age the Divine is an esoteric subject that has some strong cults, such as the Great Dwarf Clans worship of Kohn Peacehand, but is mostly a relic of a forgotten era. Most temples are in disrepair, with little onus to repair them. This had led to many regions becoming a bit more superstitious, with local legends and spirits taking the forefront.
There are many localized traditions, though, that persist in this day and age. There are rumors of pockets of folk that still offer prayers to the Lords of Dusk, beseeching them for power. Others have joined cults that worship the Darkness or local spirits. The Dawnwood, though, still pays homage to the great Primal Powers, deities so old they were rumored to have created the very land itself.
The Afterlife is an interesting domain, and students of it will come to learn about the Well. The Well is the fountain of life created by the gods, and all living things are given a soul from the Well. When something is born, the body is the vessel for a soul drawn from the Well, but the soul itself is simply a mixture of everything before. When a person dies, their soul is absorbed back into the Well, where it is broken down into its elemental parts. The ramifications of this are a sort of quasi-reincarnation. You as an individual are a sum of parts forming a new whole. However, particularly strong souls may maintain more of their form when they return to the Well, meaning that when reborn they retain a large portion of WHO they were during a previous life. It is in this way that great heroes can be reborn, for the essence of a person is their character, not their memories according to this interpretation. The dark side, though, is that the Lords of Thunder are believed to be within the Well itself because they have perished. This has led to legends and stories of so-called Thunderborn individuals who possess a very tiny piece of a Thunder Lord’s soul.
The art of Soulcraft is referred to any study or magic that interacts with the Well. It is elegant yet dangerous, as it deals with holding the very essence of life. Soulcraft has thus become Taboo in most areas except largely by the Calix Elves, parts of Derevenia, and a select few at the Magic Obscura University. Many years ago, the University released a study on the Well, in which a detailed account of it as another plane overlaid on the material was described. That study has long been filed away, but the account of the afterlife is largely accepted.
In today’s day and age the Divine is an esoteric subject that has some strong cults, such as the Great Dwarf Clans worship of Kohn Peacehand, but is mostly a relic of a forgotten era. Most temples are in disrepair, with little onus to repair them. This had led to many regions becoming a bit more superstitious, with local legends and spirits taking the forefront.
There are many localized traditions, though, that persist in this day and age. There are rumors of pockets of folk that still offer prayers to the Lords of Dusk, beseeching them for power. Others have joined cults that worship the Darkness or local spirits. The Dawnwood, though, still pays homage to the great Primal Powers, deities so old they were rumored to have created the very land itself.
The Afterlife is an interesting domain, and students of it will come to learn about the Well. The Well is the fountain of life created by the gods, and all living things are given a soul from the Well. When something is born, the body is the vessel for a soul drawn from the Well, but the soul itself is simply a mixture of everything before. When a person dies, their soul is absorbed back into the Well, where it is broken down into its elemental parts. The ramifications of this are a sort of quasi-reincarnation. You as an individual are a sum of parts forming a new whole. However, particularly strong souls may maintain more of their form when they return to the Well, meaning that when reborn they retain a large portion of WHO they were during a previous life. It is in this way that great heroes can be reborn, for the essence of a person is their character, not their memories according to this interpretation. The dark side, though, is that the Lords of Thunder are believed to be within the Well itself because they have perished. This has led to legends and stories of so-called Thunderborn individuals who possess a very tiny piece of a Thunder Lord’s soul.
The art of Soulcraft is referred to any study or magic that interacts with the Well. It is elegant yet dangerous, as it deals with holding the very essence of life. Soulcraft has thus become Taboo in most areas except largely by the Calix Elves, parts of Derevenia, and a select few at the Magic Obscura University. Many years ago, the University released a study on the Well, in which a detailed account of it as another plane overlaid on the material was described. That study has long been filed away, but the account of the afterlife is largely accepted.
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