SFS
Religions of Arden
Here are just a few of the religions and myths of the peoples of Arden:
Norddun
The earliest inhabitants of the fertile valley of Nordlonda were the Gauldorians, an agricultural people who, using animism, assigned a spirit to every aspect of nature. Eventually, these vague spirits assumed human forms and entered the local mythology as gods. When tribes of Norddun invaded from the islands in the east, they brought with them a new pantheon of gods based on conquest, force, and heroism. The gods of the agricultural world, the Uuani, fused with those of the more powerful invaders, the Asura.
The Norddun mythos: The earth mother, Agnus, came into being from Chaos, giving birth to the sky, Rodor. Together, Agnus and Rodor created great beasts such as the faerbolga, drakkons, waelwulga and others. The faerbolga ruled the earth and when they felt their rule threatened by the waelwulga, they chained those wolfish beasts in the underworld.
At some time, the gods called the Uuani came from Uuanheim, one of the Twelve Realms. They tried to live peacefully with the faerbolga but this did not work out. The wars between the Uuani and the faerbolga tore the lands of the Norddun, which were once a single continent, into the seven islands that exist now. A treaty was finally signed between Uuani and faerbolga, giving the Uuani dominion over the mounds, hills and water.
Eventually, another group of gods, called the Asura, came to the earth from their home called Asurgahr. They were more war-like and did not want to live in peace with the faerbolga as the Uuani did. The Asura unleashed the waelwulga from the underworld and, together, they defeated the faerbolga, who receded into the farthest reaches of the mountains.
Thousands of years later, Humans came into the world and both the Uuani and the Asura competed for their worship. Sometimes the gods mated with humans and either great heroes or terrible villains grew out of those pairings.
The faerbolga rose up again to challenge the gods for supremacy. This time Humans, not waelwulga, fought at the side of the Asura. The faerbolga were defeated again. The waelwulga became jealous of Humans for being favored by the gods and waelwulga and man have been enemies ever since.
Besides the Asura and Uuani, the Norddun believe in a group of spirits who dwell in Hel, called the Wrecends, literally, the “avengers”. The Wrecends, sometimes also called “the infernal goddesses”, are female deities of vengeance who pursue those guilty of crimes against blood-relatives. The Wrecends are known as “those who, beneath the earth, punish whosoever has sworn a false oath.”
Deinyra
In the beginning, the universe was immersed in Chaos, which was a swirling mass of energy and matter. At some time, the particles of Chaos began to settle. The lightest particles rose to the top of the universe, forming the sky and the first clouds, and Ame (Heaven). Many of the particles that had not risen formed a huge mass which was called the thaear (world). The very heaviest particles of Chaos fell to the bottom, in a place of perpetual shadow and gloom, called Tyrno Kisloth (Land of Shadow).
Ame is a lofty, sacred world, home of Dyuno Ame (Gods of Heaven). The thaear became home to the Dyuno Tyr (Gods of the Land).
After the birth of the land, came the time known as Genino Dyu (Birth of the Gods). Six pairs of gods emerged spontaneously, each pair consisting of a male deity and a female deity, who was at once sister and wife. These deities, the Dyuno Ame, also known as Ashita Sosen (Great Ancestors), then called into existence twelve more lesser gods who did not have a defined sex or a partner. These lesser gods became the gods of the land (Dyuno Tyr). The Dyuno Tyr helped mold the features necessary to sustain life from the bleak lump that was the thaear (world). They also aided in the creation of all the living things upon it.
The most famous story of this time involves the Dyuno Ame called Komi and Yomi. These two deities went to the bridge between heaven and earth, Furotoru Bontno Ame (Floating Bridge of Heaven), and churned the ocean below with a magic spear called Ameno Emita Yari (Heavenly Jeweled Spear). Drops of cold, salty water formed the continent called Tyrnoahsa (Land of Ice). Komi and Yomi descended from the bridge and made their home on Tyrnoahsa. Eventually, they fell in love and wished to mate. They erected a pillar around which they built a palace of ice. Komi and Yomi circled the pillar in opposite directions and when they met on the other side, Yomi spoke first in greeting. Komi did not think this was proper, but they mated anyway. The children born from that pairing were considered to be badly formed. The dismayed and embarrassed parents placed their hideous offspring into a boat and sent them north, to die. The malformed children were found by one of the Dyuno Tyr, who raised them. Those children survived and multiplied, becoming the races of Man.
Komi and Yomi went to the other gods, seeking an answer as to what they had done wrong. It was determined that Yomi’s lack of manners was the reason for the defective births. Komi and Yomi went around the pillar again and, this time, Komi spoke in greeting first. Their second union was successful and they gave birth to the Deinyra.
Eventually Yomi died giving birth to twin dragons and she went to Tyrno Kisloth, the Land of Shadow. Komi tried to retrieve her from that dark place but was repulsed by her horrid, rotting condition. Komi fled and Yomi became enraged. She vowed to slay a thousand mortals every day if he did not rescue her, and he replied that he would create 1500 more. And so, Yomi became death, and Tyrno Kisloth became known as Bydno Kurai, the World of Darkness. Bydno Kurai is where the dead go to rot indefinitely. The Land of the Dead has a geographical similarity to the world above, except for the dark and melancholy atmosphere. Once one has eaten at the hearth of Bydno Kurai it is impossible to return to the land of the living. All deceased carry on a gloomy and shadowy existence forever, regardless of their deeds or misdeeds in life.
Samarra
All human beings possess what is known as Ayanmo (destiny, fate) and are expected to eventually become one in spirit with Olodumare (Olorun, the divine creator and source of all energy). Furthermore, the thoughts and actions of each person in Ayé (the physical realm) interact with all other living things, including Arden itself.
Each person attempts to achieve transcendence and find their destiny in Orun-Rere (the spiritual realm of those who do good and beneficial things). One's Ori-Inu (spiritual consciousness in the physical realm) must grow in order to consummate union with one's Ori Orun, spiritual self.
Those who stop growing spiritually, in any of their given lives, are destined for Orun-Apadi (the invisible realm). Life and death are said to be cycles of existence in a series of physical bodies while one's spirit evolves toward transcendence.
Ashe is the life-force that runs through all things, living and inanimate. Ashe is the power to make things happen. Orisha devotees strive to obtain Ashe through gentle and good character and in turn they experience alignment with the Ori, what others might call inner peace and satisfaction with life. Ashe is divine energy that comes from Olodumare, the Creator, and is manifested through Olorun, who rules the heavens and is associated with the sun.
Creation: According to the Samarran account of creation, during a certain stage in this process, the "truth" was sent to confirm the habitability of the newly formed planets. Arden, being one of these, was visited but deemed too wet for conventional life.
After a successful period of time, a number of divinities were sent to accomplish the task of helping Arden develop its crust. On one of their visits to the realm, the arch-divinity Obatala took to the stage equipped with a mollusk shell that concealed some form of soil, winged beasts, and some cloth like material. The contents were emptied onto what soon became a large mound on the surface of the water and, soon after, the winged-beasts began to scatter this around until the point where it was gradually made into a large patch of dry land. The various indentations they created eventually becoming hills and valleys.
Obatala leaped onto a high-ground and named the place Samarra. The land became fertile and plant life began to flourish. From handfuls of earth he began to mold figurines. Meanwhile, as this was happening on Arden, Olodumare gathered the gasses from the far reaches of space and sparked an explosion that shaped into a fireball. He subsequently sent it to Samarra, where it dried much of the land and simultaneously began to bake the motionless figurines. It was at this point that Olodumare released the "breath of life" to blow across the land, and the figurines slowly came into "being" as the first people of Arden.
For this reason, Samarra is locally referred to as the "cradle of existence".
Reincarnation: The Samarra believe in reincarnation within the family. Whenever the time arrives for a spirit to return to Arden (otherwise known as The Marketplace) through the conception of a new life in the direct bloodline of the family, one of the component entities of a person's being returns, while the other remains in Heaven (Ikole Orun). The spirit that returns does so in the form of a Guardian Ori. One's Guardian Ori, which is represented and contained in the crown of the head, represents not only the spirit and energy of one's previous blood relative, but the accumulated wisdom he or she has acquired through a myriad of lifetimes. This is not to be confused with one’s spiritual Ori, which contains personal destiny, but instead refers to the coming back to The Marketplace of one's personal blood Ori through one's new life and experiences. The Primary Ancestor becomes a “guide” for the individual throughout their lifetime. At the end of that life, they return to their identical spirit self and merge into one, taking the additional knowledge gained from their experience with the individual as a form of payment.