Over time, such trades were no longer acceptable to House Glesseal. Virgo Orosius, the 5th successor to Cito as Noble Head of House Glesseal, and faced with huge quantities of worshipers, started prioritizing those who offered goods to the Temples specifically, instead of the community as a whole. His successor, Asinia Caepio, took it a step further when she started allowing prayers to be directed to the Fullblooded for a small sum of
Aeris. Here is where Imperial records start to fail again, and officially Asinia was the last Noble Head before the war. However, a surviving religious community passed down tales of a priest whose name time has forgotten. Referred to in these tales as simply 'Prophet', this woman claimed to be sent by Vola to clean the corruption from House Glesseal and the Empire as a whole. According to these myths, Prophet replaced Asinia as Noble Head and started making sweeping changes to House Glesseal.
Prophet's Crusade
NB: It is important to note that this entire section has very little verifiable basis, is primarily about a myth rather than historical fact. However, there are a few key details, like the abandonment of the colony of Stobi, that means that this story cannot be fully disregarded.
"Prophet started her reforms in the Temple of Spoer directly, by casting out any priest that used their position to enrich themselves as Asinia had. Several dozen religious offices were stripped of valuable robes and jewlery, and the furnishings in the temple itself were melted down and spread back out among the community. From there she visited the other temples, doing exactly the same until she reached Stobi. Stobi was home to a temple to Vola and one of the wealthiest colonies in the Blue, second only to Ilysium. Prophet, upon reaching Stobi, saw that the corruption was too deep for her to root out alone, and called upon Vola to teach her followers a lesson. Vola answered, walking among the streets of Stobi alongside Prophet for ten days. They saw the greed, the suffering, the slavery, and Vola decided that she would abide by it no longer, going to cast the entire island down into the depths. Prophet stayed her hand, telling the goddess that the people of Stobi were not to blame, and Vola caught the island after it had only fallen a few feet. When asked who was to blame, Prophet directed her towards Ilysium, and Vola flew off towards the capitol of the Empire. However, she never arrived. She found more pressing concerns to deal with, but one day, maybe soon, Vola will return and the whole of Ilysium will fall out of the sky for their crimes."
-The Prophet's Tale, as recounted by Tranio Amantius, Children Elder
Stobi was abandoned shortly before the start of the Glesseal Imperial War, and there is a single surviving Imperial report of the account. It is mostly in tatters, but it does claim that the entire island started falling through the sky. To this day there is no explanation for such an event, and the official Imperial position is that the document is fabricated. However, the fact that a document hidden in a private collector's collection for centuries roughly matches a myth that was told in secret for centuries on the complete other side of the Blue leads many to believe that the Prophet may have existed in some regard.
The War
The Glesseal Imperial War was devastating for worship of the Fullblooded. A handful of temples had already been torn down in the decade prior to the first shot being fired, but in the conflict, every temple that remained standing was destroyed. The ruins of most of them can still be found,except in one case. The very earth where Temple of Spoer sat was torn from the rest of Cirta and cast down into the depths in a way that is oddly reminiscent of Vola's threat towards Ilysium in the story of the Prophet. After the war was concluded, worship of the Fullblooded was banned in every sense, and the Empire started its campaign of trying to erase them from history.
Current Day
The ban on worship of the Fullblooded has lasted to this day in the Empire, and anyone found worshiping any of the deities usually disappears without a trace, though having been 2000 years since the end of the Glesseal Imperial War means that enforcement of the law can take up to a week, giving the offending citizen plenty of time to appear to the courts or flee to the Trade Union.
The Trade Union has no such ban on worship of the Fullblooded, and as such has had a resurgence in worship. Three clusters of worship escaped the Imperial purges, and after the
Trade Union Revolutionary War, all three of them sprung up again in the Free Worlds.
Fular's Eye
By far the largest of the three sects, the Eye follows the teachings of
Fular, God of Chaos above the other Fullblooded. Fular's original temple was on Nembfer, and was rebuilt in secret a generation after the war. Kept hidden by a large storm, which the worshipers call the Tempest, the Eye was already a the size of a small clan when they revealed themselves to the Trade Union.
Prophet's Children
Followers of
Vola, Goddess of Flight , the Children claim to still be in direct contact with their God, like their namesake was hundreds of years ago. They are viewed as a bit of a fringe group, but are considered harmless by the Trade Union, and tolerated. Despite their apparent extremism, they manage to draw in many followers who hope to one day follow Vola in casting the Empire down into the depths below.
Ligo's Blooms
The smallest of the three sects, the Blooms have prayed to
Ligo, God of Rain for generations, asking him to make sure it continues to rain above
Boreana. Without the rains, the colony would quickly be turned into a slave colony, and so worship of Ligo easily found root among the colonists. However, almost the entire sect was destroyed a decade before the Trade Union Revolutionary War, and while the survivors fled to Sayles, even after a generation and a half they have not yet regained their former numbers.
Mythology
While the three sects of current worshippers of the Fullblooded have largely the same creation myth, there are differences. Mostly minor differences, and the telling below largely uses the Eye's version, but the key differences are highlighted.
Before Ilysium before the Wilde Blue, there was only the Depths. Poisonous and deadly, nothing could survive in the horrid storms of acid and poison. Nothing, but Caedis. Many times it tried to populate the sky, making creatures and setting them free, only for them to choke on the toxic gas of the world. Curious, it continued for eons. Why could it live while everything else could not? But it could not find an answer. So long did it question this topic that the Depths calmed into a gentle sea, and the Aether rose to the top. Finally, creatures could survive, and Caedis set about making them a paradise for them. It lifted islands, placed the stars in the sky, and made sure everything was perfect. Finally, it was no longer alone. For a while it was content to watch the creatures it had made frolic, but soon it grew lonely. Its creations lived longer lives now, but they still died. It decided to keep testing, as it had before, finding exactly what made its creations so... mortal. Slowly it tortured its children, pulling them apart or boiling them or crushing them, just to find out why they died. But, just like before, it never learned. Finally, in a moment of desperation, Caedis shared its gift of creation with ten of its favorite creatures. These ten, their veins flowing Full of power, had finally escaped death. But they were not happy.
Long had choices been made for them by Caedis, unable to change, unable to grow in its paradise.
Long had they been kept prisoner by Caedis, unable to explore the rest of their lives.
Long had they been harvested by Caedis, lives cut short before they could enjoy them.
The Fullblooded, all ten of them, rose up against Caedis, and using their gifts of creation, banished it beneath the Depths. But they know that one day Caedis will return, and so they stand watch, waiting and protecting:
the ability to change and grow.
all of life's freedoms.
the sanctity of life itself.
Tenets of Faith
One of the most fascinating places for differences between the three sects are in their main tenets. All three seem to be drawing from a single source of four tenets, but each has a distinct spin that very closely mirrors the domains of their favored Fullblooded.
Fular's Eye
- Do not upset the calm for only your own change
- Have your wind at other's backs, not faces
- Always progress, never regress
- Change endlessly and risk losing perfection
Prophet's Children
- Imprison no one, for no reason
- Free the enslaved if they cannot free themselves
- Do not simply fly away from the past
- A bird is still free if an open cage is the best place for it
Ligo's Blooms
- Never uproot any life before it has bloomed
- Guard the fragile flowers before they are trampled
- Do not clear the old growth simply for the new
- With each new sprout make the garden better
Tenet One
The first tenet seems to be coming from the common ground of "Do no harm to others". However, the specifics of each sect's wording reveals quite a lot. Firstly, the Eyes, who are usually all about constant change, constant chaos, understand the first tenet to mean that the calm of others, or the calm of society as a whole is more important than personal change. Next, the Children, they see imprisonment as harm, and depending on the fanaticism of the person you ask, that could range from Imperial slavery to all agreements. A binding word is still a harmful and wrong binding in some of their eyes. Naturally, most of the members of the Children do not believe such extremes, but there are those who do. Finally, the Blooms, they view all life as sacred, and shouldn't be harmed, though they make the exception "before it has bloomed" because in order to survive we must consume.
Tenet Two
The second tenet also seems rather simple, all about supporting or protecting others. Again, it is very easy to see the differences between each sects worldview just from the differences in these words. The Eyes vouch for supporting others with your changes rather than fighting against them. Among the Children, there's a bit of disagreement about the meaning of this tenet. Some argue that it should be interpreted "Free the enslaved
only if they cannot free themselves" while other say that it should read "Free the enslaved
especially if they cannot free themselves" The former of the two groups tends to be more forgiving and less fanatic, while the latter tends to advocate for raids on Imperial towns and cities. The Blooms make it clear that if they do not stand up for the fragile beings of this world, they will be trampled, and it is a duty to protect them.
Tenet Three
This tenet is a little more varied and harder to pin down than the last two, but most religious folk agree that it is about how we treat the past. For the Eyes, history is to be remembered so that the mistakes of old are not repeated, and that sentiment is mirrored in their version of the 3rd tenet. The Children seem to be addressing a common theme among followers: the urge to run away from everything in our past. Many Children run from something in order to be free, but the third tenet specifies that you should not turn your back on the past for no reason, and many priests say that even when becoming free by moving away, you should never try to forget where you began. With the Blooms, all life is sacred, but after a creature has had its prime, and it can be "uprooted" as the first tenet says, why let some old being take the resources away from a young one? Because the old growth has value inherently, the third tenet says, and will fall eventually, as all things do. Embrace it while it remains, and do not hasten into the future.
Tenet Four
The fourth and final tenet is the most different between the different sects, but when boiled down, is all about improvement, becoming the best you can, or being the the best place, or leaving the world better off. With the Eyes, much like the first tenet, it seems to be cautioning against constant nonstop change. Improvement is good, but it must be to a point. You must realize when you are the best you can be and stop forcing new changes on yourself. The Children similarly caution against always flitting from once place to another as it seems Vola teaches. Freedom in an open cage is still freedom. Some of the more conservative priests argue that this last tenet also teaches that sometimes temporary imprisonment is good, that a bird will never enter a cage of its own free will but might choose to stay once set free if it is cared for. Last, but not least, the Blooms give their members another directive: to leave the Blue a prettier paradise than how we found it.
Worship
Worship of the Fullblooded among the three sects is largely similar to the early worship in the Blue, with each community having a small shrine to which they ask for favors. With few documents surviving, most prayers and practices were passed down orally, and have shifted over time much faster than some other traditions found throughout the Blue. The most notable change is becoming more prevalent in the years since the end of the Trade Union Revolutionary War, as holidays that were small affairs practiced in secret have become huge ceremonies. Fular's Eye's holiday, named "Temersday", a sordid affair with an emphasis on spontaneity, has become immensely popular on
Sayles, despite the original only being celebrated in the center of the eye of the Tempest. The priests of Fular's Eye embrace the change, however, often taking part in some of the grander displays of revelry in the streets of Sayles.
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