Treesian Unorthodoxy

Treesian Unorthodoxy is an ancient religion, represented by various denominations in contemporary Micras. Historically the main body of the religion was the Treesian Unorthodox Church (TUC). In today, the denominations of the religion forms the Church of Elwynn, the Free Elwynnese Church and the Remnant Church of Treesian Unorthodoxy. There is also much borrowing from Treesian Unorthodoxy in the practices and rites of the Church of the Froyalanish Ancient Ways.

The name of the religion stems from the vernicular name of the first church in Treesia and Fabon. It is said that "unorthodox" was a label that the Babkhans gave to the religion, as an opposition to its own Orthodoxy, when Treesian missionaries arrived in Eura.

An Overview

The Gloss of Sagart Siskind

The more culturally permissive era of the Apollo Sector saw Treesian culture exported into its neighbours by a series of religious missions. Sagart Siskind provided a brief summation of Treesian Unorthodoxy to the denizens of Menelmacar in a sermon first delivered in the Elw year 1471 at the Cathedral of Ualinn.

"You probably all know about the Treesian Unorthodox Church - the clergymen with the weird Irish names and the missions named after the saints and everything - but (Christianity notwithstanding) a Church is only an apparatus for the spread of a faith, so, without further ado, let me explain the basics of the Treesian Unorthodox Religion.

Treesian is a polytheistic faith synchronized from Irish legend, the history of Treesia and the Apollo Sector, the twisted minds of a few Treesian bards, and, of course, Divine Revelation. Although we recognize over a hundred gods, there are only about ten major deities, each of which has a "sphere" and a mythology surrounding him or her, similar to Greek and other classical mythology systems. Rather than go into detail on each of the gods, I'll just tell, in vastly abridged form, a few standard myths here.

There are many other myths, with everything from The Sinking Of The Five Isles to How The Lyricans Became Possessed By Demons to The Fall of the Lord of Daemons, et cetera. A good place to start would be the four extant Books of the Orchids, which chronicle the Orchid cycle in vastly greater detail (and which took me uncounted hours to translate to English)."

The Story Of The Creation Of The World

In the beginning, there were (the female) Paragon and (the male) Universe. Universe was absorbed into Paragon and Paragon gave birth to the four Irdia (Gods of Beauty), Tineon (Fire), Uisceor (Water), Salio (Earth), and Gaotheoria (Wind, usually just called Gaother). These beings spent countless ages shaping the Earth and creating the seas and mountains and forests and such, after which Paragon had another set of children, the Faldia (Gods of Destiny). These were Laguna (Goddess of Love and Motherhood), Utas (God of Light And Truth), Aeon (God of Time), and Ilass (Goddess of Magick and Darkness). Laguna had five children, and these five children became the founders of five races, Men, Animals, Talking Dogs, Centaurs, and Microns. The Faldia gradually took power from the Irdia, being cleverer if not quite as strong, and under their rule, everyone lived in peace with many servants and retainers and subjects in the great many-towered city of Ennabruk in Tirbal, the Land of Might, which men call Heaven.

The Fall

Due to the evil influences of Lest (more on him later), Ilass grew evil and decided to usurp power from Aeon, who was currently king of Ennabruk. Plotting in secret, she, with Lest and many of the Elder Demons, launched a surprise attack on Ennabruk. The object was to capture Elwynn (again, more on her later). In the attack, the gods were caught totally off guard, and the weapons of Ilass and her demons blinded Laguna while Yetal, a servant of Utas who had turned traitor, killed his master. A voice then rang out prophecying that Utas should one day be resurrected and redeem the world, but that seemed scant consolation at the time. Luckily the gods managed to regroup and use their magic to journey to Kalaspier, a fortress on the very edge of Tirbal.

The Birth of Mandorallen

In Kalaspier, things seemed hopeless, and the gods prepared for the worst. Aeon fell into a deep slump over what he saw as his lack of preparedness and share of guilt in the death of Utas and Laguna's blinding. In despair, he gave the Bow of Time, the source of his power, to Utas' lover Amariaa, and bound himself to Laguna's service as god of beggars. But when the gods continued to press him for aid, saying that he was their only hope to retake their city, Aeon secluded himself into deep meditation and incantation. When he came out, he had been vastly weakened, but beside him was Mandorallen, The Champion of Tirbal, clad in diamond armor and waving a banner with streaks of lightning. He gathered together all the remaining supporters of divine order in the Universe and attacked the demons in Ennabruk. At last he triumphed, with the help of the lore-god Carding, and he cast Lest and Ilass into the PRH. However, upon learning that Man and the other races (with the exceptions of the Microns) had been, if not complicit, at least not particularly helpful in the fight against the demons, he banished them to Tirlar, the Middle Plane, which men call Earth, and charged the god Mordicc to take their lives from them after a paltry span of a few score years. But Laguna interceded and got from Mandorallen a concession that if they had been protectors of the world and benefactors of the good for their time on Earth, they could be brought by the ferryman Jestun to Heaven, although if they had been evil, they too would be consigned to the PRH.

The Orchid Cycle

After the birth of the Faldia, Paragon gave birth to one more set of gods - the two twins, Elwynn and ‎‎Lest. At the moment of their birth, a prophecy was proclaimed (which is one of the only parts I've managed to translate into Treesian of the BoO, so I'll write it here thus)

A sekel 'kmeka i'e-Tirbal zkhal

Imeh i'au-kmeka pol Ifreann

qANDAN a caroten o-sekel

Rakat i-mianthrop kme~a kleen

That is, if the two were ever to grow up, marry, and have a child, that child would be ANDAN, a being of pure power that would inevitably result in the complete destruction of the world. Luckily, it seemed unlikely that this would ever happen. From the get-go, the two could not have been more different, not only in looks - Elwynn was white with white hair and dressed only in white gowns, whereas Lest was black with black hair and black eyes and wore only black robes - but in personality as well - Elwynn was purely good and selfless, whereas Lest was the most despicable creature any of the gods, including those who had done battle with the Elder Demons in the Time before Time, had ever laid eyes on. But, by the perversity of the Universe, they did indeed fall in love, and thus had to be separated. Elwynn was given to Utas' care, whereas Lest was placed under the guardianship of Ilass, and both gods were informed NEVER to let them meet. But they did - twice - once at the Battle of Ennabruk, where Aeon snatched Elwynn away just in time, and once at the Second Battle of Ennabruk, when Carding, to prevent her from running off to Lest, turned her into a white orchid flower, and then to prevent Lest from going to find her, turned him into a similar black flower. Thus they are the two Orchids - gods of good and evil. They have had many adventures, which culminated in the following:

Elwynn currently resides in Mount Yaanek, a volcano in Hyperborea, and will answer the question of anyone who comes to her oracle (the oracle still exists, and answered a question as recently as yesterday)

Lest, in an incident much too complex to recount here, lost his orchid form and, in an attempt to take over Treesia, incarnated into the form of a human. After being kicked out by the current Ard-Baron, this human has been wandering the world ever since, doing evil deeds and stirring up trouble wherever he goes. You may be interested or amused to know that the name of this human incarnation of pure evil is Thomas Hubert.

It is prophesied that eventually the two will meet, ANDAN will be born, and the Universe will be destroyed.

Summary of the key points of Treesian Theology

-The basic fabric of the Universe was created by a power totally beyond mortal comprehension. It is not even worth our time to try and communicate with or analyze this entity (or entities, since it defies classification as singular or plural) and the Church generally does not do so, lumping it under the label "the Powers Undreamed"

-The Powers Undreamed can never be viewed or understood completely, but their relationship to the Universe or to any individual can be viewed as a pantheon of gods. These gods may or may not be omnipotent, omniscient, and omnibenevolent, depending on what aspects of the Powers Undreamed are captured by them.

-The Treesian Unorthodox faith is one such system of gods, and the one that has been used in the divine relation to Treesia since time immemorial. It does not claim to be more correct or better than any other faith, except for certain people.

-Our missionary efforts are merely so that people abroad can gain knowledge of the Treesian faith and thus convert to it if they feel it would lead to a more productive relationship to the Divine than any other. There is no reason to try and convince or argue with people who are already happy with the faith they have.

-The Treesian deities are not omnipotent, omniscient, omnibenevolent, or immortal, but they are much closer to these qualities than any human can hope to be. Gods are generally much more in tune with the Good than man, but can forfeit this harmony through free choice, as Ilass and others have indeed done.

-The gods generally act independently of one another, but Paragon on the Crystal Throne is mother of them all, and Mandorel is their king and ruler.

-The gods love mankind and all of Creation, and are dedicated to preserving and improving it. Their goals for the world are many, but often center around love and beauty.

-The gods have as an act of mercy allowed people's souls to return to Tirbal after they die. However, those who are so foul that the gods are unable to tolerate their presence are either condemned to wander Tirlar as ghosts or in extreme cases thrown down to Ifreann. This happens very rarely.

-The world will eventually be destroyed by ANDAN, who will be the child of the two Kwendia. At this point, all beings will join with the Powers Undreamed in the void that encircles the Universe.

-The gods have an interest in each personal human life, and do what they can to improve it and make it more virtuous. Their modus operandi is guidance, not punishment, except in extreme cases when the offender must be removed from Tirlar immediately. Since the gods are not omniscient, it is sometimes necessary to use prayer to remind them of certain situations that need fixing. However, the most important use of prayer is to attune the prayer to the Universe.

-The gods, not being vain, do not demand prayers of thanksgiving and worship. We nevertheless pray to them of our own free will to show our appreciation for their work. "Buttering up" the gods to try and get something doesn't work, so don't even try it.

-The relationship with the gods is not one of master-slave, but of teacher-student or parent-child, or at best, friend-friend. The gods do not want worship nearly as much as they want for the world and your life to work out, and the best form of worship is to do good deeds and live well and wisely.

-The gods do not do miracles except when necessary. They can't be everywhere, and the bad serves to accentuate the good and to bring the beauty of contrast into the world. When the situation is very dire, however, or when they wish to prove something, a miracle or two is not out of the question.

Treesian Liturgy

The basic service, called the Irraet or Morning Service, is that which is given by sagarti on the feast days. It is generally given late , perhaps just before noon, as detailed in a compromise that ended the Great Schism of 1446 (in which a faction of sagarti refused to give services at "that ungodsly hour", referring to the previous standard of nine in the morning). The order of the service is thus:

1. The Prayer of the Creation
2. The Prayer of the Many Gods
3. The Prayer of the World
4. Silent meditation
5. Invocation of the god being honored
6. Sermon
7. Rituals
8. Prayer for Guidance
9. The Prayer of the Departed
10. Ritual feast

The Prayer of the Creation

The Prayer of the Creation was written before the time of Halberd by an Ardeaspag on Khas. It thanks the gods for creating the world, states the various perfections of the creation, and provides a grounding by identifying our place in the world. Although there was originally a tune to it, it was long since lost.

Remember beauty!

When the world was first created

The unfathomable Powers

Looked at it with love and longing

With the love of the Eternals

And the love became incarnate

It became the Gods of Beauty

Tineon the Lord of Fire

Uisceor the Lord of Water

Salio of Earth the mistress

Gaother of Wind the ruler

And their myriad of servants

And they looked upon creation

And they shaped it and they smoothed it

Like a careful master sculptor

Giving rise to each perfection

To the sunset o'er the ocean

To the wind among the treetops

To the grasses of the meadow

To the gentle streams that nourish

To the mountains, tall and mighty

To the countless stars of Leaigh

That like snowflakes fill the heavens

All of these, and many others

Were the Irdia's perfections

May their work endure forever

May no flaws or stains deform it

And may humankind, who shares it

And for whom its wonders sparkle

May we marvel at it, know it

May we love and understand it

And give thanks for it together

With this blessed recitation

Remember beauty!