Canárlia

The Canárlia^listen is the state religion and military of the Bláthaofa Kingdom. Primarily concerned with the respect of nature and the drive for serenity, the Canárlia is deeply intertwined with the Kingdom, having been around virtually since its founding. It remains the driving force behind life for the majority of Bláthoans.

Hierarchy and Organization

The hierarchy of the Canárlia consists of its archdruids, druids, and auspices. Authority typically rests with the archdruids, with the druids and auspices serving as their assistants or subordinates. All clergy may preach, teach, oversee common rituals, witness marriages, issue judgements on criminal or civil cases, and conduct funeral rites. Only druids and archdruids can lead celebrations of the holy festivals, consecrate sacred groves, and excommunicate individuals. Only archdruids can administer the Rites of the Wilds, by which elves are initiated into the clergy.
The Breimú is the head of the Canárlia and possesses all the powers of the lower ranks. New Breimú are selected by the archdruids in a secret ballot. Any member of the clergy may put themselves forward as a candidate for the position, but in practice it is another archdruid who is elected. Frequently, the previous Breimú makes their wishes known for their successor, who is usually elected. By tradition, the Canárlia must seek approval from the King of Trees before the new Breimú is officially anointed. In practice, the king cannot reasonably refuse and thus always confirms the appointment.

History

The Canárlia was formally created on Thelire in the first centuries of the Bláthaofa Kingdom, arising as the young elves learned how to survive in their barren wasteland territory. The early druids learned how to manipulate nature magic to promote the growth and survival of plants and animals, slowly transforming their home from a desolate waste to a fertile garden. At first, they were loosely organized, consisting of only a few druids who preached their faith and instructed others in magic. As the Kingdom expanded, the needs of an expanding and less centralized population demanded more structure from their religion, resulting in the creation of auspices who provided their services to small communities and druids who oversaw sacred groves and larger settlements.
When the Kingdom went to war with the mountain tribe, the King of Trees put the druids of the Canárlia in charge of the military, trusting in their druidic magics to lead them to victory. The Canárlia selected a supreme commander from their ranks and called them the Breimú. With the defeat of the mountain tribe, the King of Trees assigned a druid to oversee and convert each clan, further strengthening the Canárlia as a governing force.
With each new conquest, the Canárlia expanded, gaining more faithful and more druids. Eventually, it became necessary to have another layer of organization, thus the archdruids were established to oversee entire regions with multiple druids beneath. When the Kingdom expanded into the Sora, the Canárlia served as the primary administrators of new realms, with archdruids becoming the governors of entire realms, druids overseeing the sacred groves and major cities on the realms, and auspices serving the smaller villages.
During the previous century, the Breimú has grown in power as well. With the logistical difficulties of controlling such an expansive territory, the organization of the Canárlia allowed it to grow independent from the King of Trees. As more citizens of the Kingdom are born on realms other than Thelire, the King's power and influence waned to the degree that the Breimú now serves as the head of the government of the Kingdom.

Main Principles

Chosen of the Gods

According to Canárlia scripture, the Bláthaofans were created as a joint effort from the gods of their world. As they were the last tribe of elves created on their world, they were the last to select where their lands would lay. As such, they were left with the inhospitable and infertile wastes. While their cousin tribes had more bountiful lands, the Bláthaofans were forced to struggle and strive to survive. However, the gifts given to them by each of the gods allowed them to attune with nature and slowly turn their wastes into verdant forests and green fields. According to the priests of the Canárlia, they were given the following gifts from the gods:

• Bhonnfabh, the goddess of rivers, life, and wisdom, gave them their innate connection to druidic magic.
• Ciubhinn, the goddess of deserts, fire, and crafting, gave them knowledge of pottery, allowing them to store their potable water safely.
• Cléarifo, the goddess of oceans, storms, and vengeance, gave them the drive to overcome the greatest odds.
• Faopútól, the god of light, plains, and fields, gave them knowledge of how to till the land and bring fertility to it.
• Froslugei, the god of taiga, virility, and domestication, gave them knowledge of how to tame animals.
• Grua, the god of marshes, magic, and knowledge, gave them curiosity.
• Mheim, the goddess of the savannah, predators, and the hunt, gave them knowledge of bows so that they could protect themselves from the dangerous beasts of the wastes.
• Pisil, the goddess of the mountains, darkness, and ambition, gave them adaptability so that they could always improve themselves.
• Pultiard, the god of islands, fishing, and sailing, gave them courage.
• Rofiúsc, the god of forests, birds, and prophecy, gave them the knowledge of divination, allowing them to locate underground springs.
• Rosc, the god of tundras, war, and the afterlife, gave them the fear of death so that they would not give up despite their hardships.
• Sastátcea, the goddess of the jungles, warmth, and sleep, gave them the knowledge of healing.

Primacy of the Natural World

The Canárlia promotes harmony with the natural world throughout the Sora. They believe that civilization should exist hand in hand with nature, rather than replacing it. To this end, they advocate for sustainable exploitation of resources, working with native species of plants and animals rather than replacing them with staple crops and livestock. As they are also a military organization, they often utilize force to protect and advance their beliefs, using the justification that temporary strife can lead to future harmony.

Propagation of the Wilds

Many barren, lifeless realms float in the Sora. The Canárlia view these as opportunities for improvement rather than exploration. As such, they frequently use a combination of horticulture and druidic magic to bring life to these dead worlds. They always utilize life native to Thelire, expanding the reach of their faith and gods to foreign realms. Once plantlife has been established on the realm, they bring animal life to populate the world.

Practices

Minimal Impact on Nature

As part of their harmony with nature, the Canárlia emphasize the minimization of impact on the natural world. As such, they do not engage in traditional agriculture or farming, instead only collecting food that does not cause needless harm to either plants or animals. With plants, this means they will not eat anything that causes the death of the plant, such as root vegetables. With animals, they only consume food that can be collected without harming the animal, such as milk or honey, unfertilized eggs, or other similar by products. They will, however, utilize animals that die of natural causes or those that must be killed because they are attacking other animals or people.

Sacred Groves

Larger Canárlia cities and districts are defined by their sacred groves. These collections of trees are consecrated by druids, which allows them to grow supernaturally large. Worship, rituals, and festivals are held in these groves in all but the most extreme weather. Each is overseen and tended to by a druid, who leads the rituals for their district. Each grove has one fruit tree, usually native to the location, which is the centerpiece of the grove. The fruit from the tree grows extremely ripe, becoming far more succulent and delicious than any other. It is used in a number of religious rituals and is reputed to have significant healing properties, though it is rarely allowed to be used by outsiders and is considered highly valuable.

Rituals and worship

The Canárlia practice a variety of rituals, most of them utilizing the fruit from their sacred groves. The most important rituals are the Sacrament of Growth, the Rite of the Wilds, and the Rite of Admission. The Sacrament of Growth is held during any large scale planting or sowing operation. The local druids and their acolytes perform magic and offer sacrifices to Freupiútólf (or the local equivalent) to bless the seeds and bring them to successful growth. The Rite of the Wilds is the official initiation ritual into the Canárlia clergy. The archdruid for the region is in charge of administering this rite, which happens twice a year, and has all the accepted acolytes initiated in a mass ritual. It involves a day of prayer and displays of druidic magic, as well as consumption of a sacred fruit by each initiate. Finally, the Rite of Admission is administered to children after their first year of life.
The Canárlia place worship of primal nature itself above the gods, though the names of the gods tend to be invoked in prayers or psalms. However they have no difficulty accepting worship of foreign gods. They simply overlay their rituals and rites atop the native gods of any realms they vassalize, continuing to allow any rituals that do not directly contradict those of the Canárlia. Their official canon only refers to the gods of Thelire, but they allow local gods to replace their own gods in the canon as they choose.

Festivals

Canárlia festivals and holy days are usually focused around natural events such as solstices, equinoxes, harvests, first frosts, first melts, and the like. These rituals often vary by realm and even location in a realm, as some may have photopartums which do not lend to seasons or have different weather. These festivals often feature large feasts, parades, and other festivities which take all day. Dancing and music tend to be large parts of these festivals as well, often staged as reenactments of historical events which happened on those festival days.

Judicial Powers

The Canárlia serve as judge and jury among communities of worshipers. For local communities, the auspicies serve as the primary legal official, proclaiming judgements which are accepted as binding by most. Appeals to higher levels of the clergy are allowed, but are rare. In Canárlia enclaves outside of the Bláthaofa Kingdom, adherents often bring their disputes before their acolyte rather than before the official law of the realm.

Scriptures and Texts

The canon of the Canárlia is maintained in a series of texts known as the Roots, Branches, and Leaves. The Roots contain the foundational scriptures of the religion, created in the earliest days of the religion and capture the teachings of the earliest druids. The Branches are major texts that came during the expansion of the Bláthaofa Kingdom following their rediscovery of their cousin tribes and feature teachings of later druids. The Branches are not considered as important as the Roots and much fewer rites and rituals are drawn from them. Finally, the Leaves are the most recent additions to the scriptures and comprise the texts written by druids following the final conquest of Thelire.

Order and Harmony

Type

Religious, Organised Religion

Demonym

Canárliao

Parent Organization

Bláthaofa Kingdom

Permeated Organizations

• Bláthaofa Kingdom

Location

Thelire