The Diel and its Prophet:
The newest of the Great Faiths, the Diel is a rising power in the tropical north, competing with the ancient cults which previously held sway over those lands. During the apex of the Ushian Church's rule in the south, the tropics found themselves in the presence of a new prophet. Uniquely among the Three Great Faiths, the Prophet of the Diel's name and appearance have been erased from history, and while depictions of them are allowed, it is understood these faces are mere fabrications meant to show how the Prophet could have been anyone, for indeed this was the Prophet's desire, to exist only as their teachings.
The Prophet claimed to represent the will of the Diel, a transcendent force which sought to create Heaven from the world, rather than bring the world, or man, to Heaven. In the ancient days, when Paganry ruled unchallenged, the covenant of man and nature was writ in blood and suffering. What option was there, then? Absolute submission. The Diel is a force like that which pulls down the earth. Allow it to flow through one's soul, and it shall guide you to bliss. Human sin is what led to damnation, and it is only through relieving yourself of responsibility that one can find inner peace. In a world of lies and false gods, such words would lead to madness. But the Diel is real, and the Diel is wise. To follow it, even imperfectly, grants fortune. Still, it required trust, at first. Towards this end, the miracles of the Prophet were focused on the mastery of the mind. True to his name, the Prophet would give prophecy, and predict things which would come to pass. And indeed, they often did. Few if any have replicated the oracular accuracy the Prophet displayed. His holy book compiles his prophecies, and more have come true than not, though many say the rest simply have yet to manifest themselves, while others believe the Path takes measures to ensure their truth.
Regardless, it cannot be denied that the Diel has had a beneficial effect on its followers. Its lands are civilized and its people learned, for through the rituals of the Diel they are inspired to ever greater heights. The peasant that works takes joy in his work, for he knows it is the Diel's will that he tills the fields. All that the Path asks is nothing less than total submission to the Prophet and his far-reaching orders. Indeed, it is believed that even the Prophet's natural death was in line with the will of the Diel, for their holy book continues to advise its readers and counter the Path's foes even centuries after their death. It is as if even from beyond the veil his words echo across time, prepared for every possibility and eventuality. The future the Diel has offered is one where sin-inclined men need not lead themselves astray, for by giving themselves wholly to the control of this transcendent being perfection may be reached.
It is this seeming invincibility that sees the north grow ever more confident of the Diel's future supremacy, viewing the southern cultures as backwards and barbaric. It is likely there will be a great confrontation someday, if indeed it has not already begun. Or perhaps something even stranger will occur. Whatever the outcome, it is no doubt within the parameters of the Prophet's great and encompassing plan.
That said, if such a thing were true, to some it could be seen as a grave threat to man's spirit. If all things are to be planned by the Diel, and man's will stripped away, then what is he but an automaton puppeted by some greater being? Detractors argue that it is little but divine slavery, and must be opposed at all costs.
The Diel is not given a defined form (though it is depicted as manifesting as a glow around those who are in communion with it), and the Prophet, their name, appearance, and sex stricken from history, is portrayed in innumerable forms, marked only by the veil that covers the subject's face. The Path's symbol is as well a stylized eye, or eyes, the flags and ornamentation of the Path's property otherwise marked with verses from the calligraphy of their holy book. The faith values community, harmony, and above all submission to and trust in the will of the Diel and its Prophet over one's own free will.
On Heaven: "Heaven may be achieved right now if we were to simply let go of our inner selves. Humans are ignorant and limited, lacking the power to make the right choices with the knowledge we possess. Only by submitting to the will of the Diel, who may guide our actions and work through us, may we find true happiness. It truly only requires this, and faith that it shall be so. For even if one is wicked, that is the result of the flawed self. Allow good to guide you, and good shall flow from you. When all relinquish their pride and ego, we shall find peace forever after."
On Virtues: "The greatest virtue of the Diel is trust. This is not faith, for faith requires a lack of proof. There is plenty of evidence that submission to the Diel allows it to work through you by following the scriptures. However, few have the strength to let go of their flawed self-determination and become the puppets of the divine. Those who do are holy."
On Sins: "The greatest sin is ego. The idea that a flawed mortal could bring about paradise by their own actions is absurd. God exists and has outlined the instructions which if followed with utmost trust allow the flock to find happiness. To think oneself to be above this is madness."
Benefits: Those who follow the instructions on living as outlined in the library-temples of the Diel often do meet success. The Diel's scripts on what to do where, when, and how seem exhaustive, prepared for almost every possibility. The cultures that have embraced the Diel have often become quite prosperous, moreso than the other Great Faiths. With its emphasis on learning and literacy, the Diel produce skilled scholars and bureaucrats, and though they lack the arcane and esoteric leanings of Metan's intellectuals they are often considered better and more active stewards of their communities.
Flaws: The simple fact is that it is very rare for many human to perfectly follow the scriptures without erring. A follower may read instructions it finds unappealing and shirk them. A priest may fall into corruption and simply choose not to read the scriptures detailing what to do in such a case, unwilling to admit their own flaws. And of course, as physical places, the destruction of a library temple can lead to the ruin of a community without the guidance of the Diel. It is often described as an immense clockwork mechanism. When all the parts are in harmony, the Diel is an unstoppable force, matched only by the most potent of opposition. But cogs misalign, springs break. Human error mounts until the whole thing falls apart. As of yet, that perfect harmony its practitioners strive for has not been realized.
On Metanists: "If ever we were to require knowledge that would not be found in the scriptures, we would ask the priests of Metan. They are second in wisdom only to the Prophet."
On Ushians: "The Ushians do not see that heaven exists here and now, if we submit to divine will. Their quest for perfect bodies and souls in the name of a distant future brings ruin to the present."
On Dualists: "Like us, they place faith in the gods rather than their own deeds. However, they lack the strength to take the final step and remove the mastery of the self entirely. Their God, perhaps, is unwilling to guide them properly."
On the Sacred Host: "To claim one can do good merely by watching the divine rather than being a vessel for it is highest arrogance. While they may have their glories, they will not last."
On Multiplicitists: "Heretics who claim the Prophet as their own without acknowledging their place as a mere vessel for the Diel."
On Titanists: "The titans are the antithesis of the Diel, and cannot be allowed to take prominence ever again."
On Pagans: "The mental oblivion they seek both has no root in good and does not allow its own believers to experience the fruits of their submission. They must be culled."
On Ancestor Cults: "Surely this is proof man has always wished for their lives to be guided by something greater and wiser. We have simply been blessed with a superior alternative, and these backwards folk merely require the right push to embrace it."
The Multiplicity:
The Multiplicity is something very new in the world of El-Enlil, a mere few centuries old and spreading rapidly across the Known World. Originating in the South, the movement was started by a collection of radical theosophists, who claimed to have received revelatory visions from what would later be termed the Multiplicity.
It must be understood that in the eyes of most humans, to worship that which humanity is associated with is a backwards and even dangerous mode of thought. Humans are flawed, tainted by Primordial Sin, and even without it, allowed it to take root. Maybe not right now, maybe not them personally, but if humans are left without divine guidance for long enough, their works shall always fall to ruin. A long and prosperous history belongs to those who keep faith in the gods, the more removed they are from man's sin the better. It is for this reason that the strange and alien deities of the Great Faiths are so revered and widespread, for not only is their power mighty but so far removed are they from mankind's flaws that they are surely existences which can be trusted to guide us to a benevolent future.
Thus when it was claimed that it was mankind which was most deserving of worship, and that the earthly kings and holy men would be the gods of the new age, the new prophets only barely escaped with his life as enraged orthodox believers descended on them. However, his message was persuasive to those who listened, and his following slowly grew, particularly among the aristocracy who chafed at the power of the Ushian Church, which dominated the south at the time. Furthermore, its long reign of prosperity had indeed led to a period of lethargic apathy, and while its power waxed its support waned in the halls of the secular rulers. The principle was simple. Mankind had failed to attain divinity during the age of Titans because it was corrupt and immature, and that manner of ascendance, that of theophagy, was inherently sinful. Rather, one must strive to be saintly in life and worshiped in death, and if one is worthy they shall join the immortal saints of the afterlife, which collectively make up the whole of human spiritual power. Even Golamis, Ushia, the Mother, the greatest Exemplars, and the nameless Prophet of Diel were included in this holy court. The separation of the Great Faiths was misunderstanding and selfishness on behalf of the orthodox powers, who were corrupted by material greed and twisted by alien logic. It was a syncretic combination of the Great Faiths, ancestor worship, and the innumerable saint cults associated with such, and one that greatly appealed to those who sought a more hopeful and comprehensible view of divinity. Rallying the noble banners behind him, Hubon and his co-conspirators led a rebellion against the Great Faiths and the Ushian Church in particular, which despite their best efforts were defeated, the church's capital sacked and many of its secret arts stolen, leading to a subsequent proliferation of secular necromancers, which the now greatly-diminished Ushian Church spends much of its time combating or policing.
While wildly popular in much of the south and growing in the north, the Multiplicity is subject to a great many criticisms by those who oppose it. Primarily, it is believed by detractors to be nothing more than a confabulation on part of its originators, who was either deluded or outright malicious in his intent and sought to create a religion which could benefit and be manipulated by secular powers, ascribing them divine traits they surely did not deserve and allowing worldly powers to dictate divine doctrine, which shall surely lead to fracturing and disaster for the fledgling faith, if it has not yet become woefully corrupt already. Yet, there are notable Multiplicitists who truly seek to embody sainthood and have performed great deeds of heroism and selflessness. It is far too early to determine the truth, but should Multiplicitism be founded on lies the whole of the Known World may suffer as its believers are driven to their own self-destruction. Given the current state of things, some believe this process may have already happened. Regardless, it is one of the most persuasive and non-denominational faiths, so whether truth or lie is notable for being easy to adopt, exploit, and adhere to. Even with numerous setbacks, it has always sprung back into prominence.
The Multiplicity is simply portrayed as an assemblage of various saints of various degrees of importance, now-deceased founders among them. Its symbol is a circle with a line running vertically through it, extending downwards for a length typically half again the height of the circle. The faith values freedom, enlightenment, and happiness.
On Heaven: "Heaven has always been granted to us, and the quest for some world-encompassing ideal or quest for personal transcendance is a pointless effort by those in the thrall of alien gods. The saints above, be they honored ancestors or misguided prophets, guide us in life and judge us in death, to see if we are worthy of acceptance into their ranks in the world beyond. Live a good life as the priests tell you and the hereafter shall be your reward."
On Virtues: "The greatest virtue of the Multiplicity is faith itself. Moreso than anything else, one must believe in the Saints and trust that the scriptures speak truth. We are after all yet tainted with Primordial Sin and so must devote ourselves to the righteous path even if we are flawed and may not live up to its expectations."
On Sins: "The sins of man are many but the greatest is simply that of the extreme. The inhuman devotion of the other Great Faiths and the monstrous ego of the Titans and mad sorcerers alike bring misery. Only in a middle ground of common humanity can we prosper."
Benefits: Places which adhere to the Multiplicist faith can be beacons of secular and humanist learning, even if they do remain mired in the limitations of this era. Social and technological progress tends to emerge from these lands more than other places. Its adherents lack the zealotry and mania of the other Great Faiths, and worldly power can rise to greater heights than any other land, though some would say this is a flaw rather than a benefit. Put simply, it "feels good" to be Multiplicitist. Questions have answers and the focus is on the now rather than some grand future design or a great and difficult quest for redemption. It is a salve for the masses who sorely need it.
Flaws: To say a faith invented by humans is prone to corruption is an understatement. In many places it does indeed exist as a means to control the masses rather than comfort them. Furthermore, the Multiplicitist church has often failed catastrophically. More than any other major religion which purports to forestall this very fate, its denizens have collapsed into the hellish cannibalistic anarchy which humans are so endangered by. It burns brightly, but dies screaming. The other Great Faiths claim this to be the natural fate of those with the temerity to claim they have found a solution to Primordial Sin unreliant on the alien gods they worship, and perhaps they are correct. But in that brief window before its end, the beauty it inspires ensures there will always be another set of converts to carry on the torch, sure that this time it will be different.
On Metanists: "They are honored for their work in sealing the Titans away, but simply must part from obsession with their Metan, and turn instead to the kings which learned from it."
On Ushians: "Their veneration of the dead and undying is quite ghastly, even if their Ushia is part of the Saints. We can use their teachings without incorporating its more upsetting aspects."
On Dualists: "They are decent enough, but limited by their unending proclaimations of a future judgement, no doubt instilled in them by the alien Father and surely not the human Mother, who is of course part of the Saints."
On the Sacred Host: "If they would stop insisting the standards they hold themselves to are only possible due to echoing the acts of the inhuman paladin that begat them they would be much more personable."
On the Diel: "The Prophet's gift for order and organization are surely signs that they reside with the Saints. We could do without the loss of free will, however."
On Titanists: "As horrible as Primordial Sin and the Anthrophagies are, such acts can be regulated and managed for the sake of defending the realm."
On Pagans: "Paganism is a threat to the civilizations which grant us comfort and should not be allowed to take root among decent folk."
On Ancestor Cults: "They are close to us but misguided. The Saints, of course, guide us from the world beyond, not in this one. It is fairly easy to get them to see the proper path."
The Practical Faiths:
The Practical Faiths are those recognized by scholars as being knowledge-based and gains-based. That is, worshippers determined which gods are most suited for developing a relationship with, and through trial and error developed ways to appease or supplicate them to gain results. The disposition, attitude, and desires of the divinity they serve are irrelevant. It has that which they desire, and its demands, no matter what they are, must be fulfilled through ritual and sacrifice. Thus, it is a union of practicality, of mutual benefit. Something is sacrificed so that another thing is gained. These are some of the most ancient faiths known to man, and can be found anywhere, from massive and ancient cults to the smallest village superstitions.
Titan Cults:
One cannot talk about the Titans without first understanding what others think of them. To many, especially those of the Great Faiths, the Titans were monstrous and crude things, the originators of Primordial Sin, the great blight on mankind. But they were also our mothers and fathers, the reason humanity yet stands proud in this era, decayed and fragmented though it has become.
The Titan Cults are said to have originated from a single tribe or multiple tribes in the early history of man. This time was dominated by the Pagan Gods, those inhuman intelligences which squashed that which went against the red law of the natural world, yet also ruled it as a bestial garden. Only supplication and human sacrifice kept their wrath at bay, and man cowered at their terrible witless might. Yet in time, through sheer chance, the weakest of these beings was felled, and its flesh consumed, and its eaters granted apotheosis. These first, empowered by the Numen which now coursed through them, grew to monstrous size, wielding both great strength and crude miracles against the Terrestrial Gods, carving civilizations, the first human cities, cultures. They laughed and hunted and loved, and for a time they were noble and great.
But the hunts dwindled as the Terrestrial Gods fled to the deep places of the world, and in the absence of gods as prey their hunger grew unchecked, and brother turned against sister, father against mother, child against parent. They glutted themselves on each other, and those below them did as well. Wars of cannibalistic madness were waged, and cities ran red with butchered corpses. The shapers of human destiny were reduced to mad brutes, shells of their former selves. It was only when the first of the Great Gods, Metan, taught refined sorcery to its first priests that the Titans were destroyed, or perhaps sealed away. Though whether they are truly dead or but sleeping remains a question.
Of this event, all know the consequence. Its survivors bear Primordial Sin, the innate cannibalistic hunger which defines mankind. The knowledge that to eat the flesh of men is a stairway to divinity, at the cost of atrocity and horror. It is mankind’s greatest strength, for in times of chaos great and terrible champions are forged from their ranks, and its greatest weakness, for that same chaos may be brought about by the very act of anthropophagy.
Of those who still worship the Titans, for all their sins, there are three main derivations.
Monopantheonic Cults: The Titans live, they are but sleeping. One day they will rise again to consume the unbelievers and grant the faithful the strength to sit at their table. But as they sleep, they still hunger, and sacrifices of blood and shows of bravery are that which they sup upon. Supplicate them and you shall be rewarded. Disrespect them, and crops shall fail, hail shall rain, and calves shall be stillborn. They make their pleasure or displeasure known through the omens in the entrails of sacrifices and the movement of the sea and earth and sky. There is only one pantheon, one family, and all others are false.
Multipantheonic Cults: As above, but believe that there were multiple tribes, and claim the Titans they worship are their ancestors. They carry on the righteous struggle of their clan against their enemies and the foreign Titans which begat them. They tend to be slightly more tolerant of outsiders both within and without of the overall Titan-worshiping culture.
Transcendent Cults: The Titans may be sleeping or they may be dead, but it is irrelevant, they failed, but proved the path. For what was done once may be done again. These cults believe in the elevation of themselves, or the heads of their religions, into new Titans. As divine flesh is rare these days, this is often done through excessive cannibalism. The other Titan cults tend to regard them as ambitious usurpers at best and heretical fools at worst.
Ancestor Cults:
Compared to the Titan cults, which despite their varied interpretations and fickle natures may be broadly united by their nature, the ancestor cults are yet more diverse. Ghosts, fragments of Numen untethered by a fleshly form, have been known to exist for as long as human history. Though their true nature is unknown, with some thinking them but records of life to others thinking them the deceased themselves. The ancestor cults take the view that ghosts are indeed their still-present ancestors, watching them from the realm of the aether to ensure their own prosperity. Unlike the Titan cults, where men appease cold and distant rulers which slumber unending in their hidden tombs, the ancestor ghosts are more personal, less alien, yet also less powerful. An adherent of an ancestor cult may pray to a household shrine for a safe birth, protection from curses, or other little things. A village invokes the whole of their ancestors in a great ritual to ensure a good harvest or simply to retain their good will. They tend to preserve the traditions of the old ways, and keep exhaustive track of their histories and bloodlines so they know who to appease and how. Even places which adhere to other concepts of the afterlife and mark ghosts as but fragments and memories of the deceased rather than their true selves may seek to placate them nonetheless, for even a fragment may possess a power in it to protect its descendants from harm. Regardless of the status of the ghosts themselves, the rituals certainly seem effective.
Though, in the Known World nations which have fully adopted ancestor cults are few and far between. Only the men of the High Steppes have nations fully comprised of ancestor worshipers, with the other faiths having relegated such things to a fringe minority or superstitious practice. The remnants of mere humans, it would seem, offer less protection and power than the greater beings other peoples pay homage to.
Planetary Cults:
There are 13 great celestial bodies in the sky. First is burning Solst, around which the other bodies orbit. Closest is El-Mahrabis of beaten stone and rock, El-Jetai with its yellow clouds and terrible denizens, El-Raphtel with its endless ruins, our own worl of El-Enlil, El-Dyur of purpled continents, El-Borad the first great swirling giant of gas, Green-sea'd and gray-stoned El-Ishar, El-Bal with its reddened sky and black scorched earth, Green and cold El-Suryanra, Quiet and distant gaseous El-Kuhad, the incandescent white vaporous giant El-Immancon, El-Katal with its silvered spot upon an otherwise barren landscape, and lastly dread El-Yors and its great alien mausoleums. These lands have been visited in dreams by seers and some in waking by great practitioners of Gnosis. It is believed among many that their arrangement in the sky effects the fortunes and tendences of life in this world, and those who can understand their movements and effects can gain great fortune and wisdom. The Planetary Cults are those organizations dedicated to this study. They make no offerings and speak no prayers, only ceaselessly watch, study, and record the movements of the spheres. Given their constant appearance throughout history, and indeed their more-than-inconsequential success, they may well be privy to truths granted to them through their esoteric practices. Though it is a most unconventional faith, a faith it surely is, with people both high and low-born placing their faith in the heavenly spheres and their strange energies when making decisions of import, though its true adherents are few, typically scholars, aristocrats, and practitioners of the Gnosis. The layman and dabbler likely keep other gods closer to their hearts than the cold and distant celestial bodies.
The Incarnated Schism: A minor interpretation worth mentioning. Appearing during antiquity, the Incarnated Planetary Cult believes that the 13 bodies and El-Enlil's moon are not just impersonal celestial powers but true thinking beings just as a man would be, and have incarnated physical forms and roles in reality. Solst is the god of gods, to which the others pay homage. Mahrabis is his herald, Jetai his rival, Raphtel the general, Enlil the warden of life, Dyur the bacchanal celebrant, Borad the laborer, Ishar the mother, Bal the inauspicious, Suryanrahu the teacher, Kuhad the innocent, Immancon the judge, Katal the scholar, Yors the keeper of the underworld, and Lune as the maddened oracle. This faith was once prominent, but has since been delegated to obscure mystery cults and fanciful works of fiction. After all, to assign humanized traits to the gods is nothing short of madness and apostasy, and a flaw mankind must steadily keep in check. The gods are not to be considered human, especially where the Great Faiths are concerned.
Saint Cults:
Saint Cults are unique among the Practical Faiths in that they are derived from the Ideal Faiths of the Great Gods. There are those practitioners among them who gain great acclaim through their actions, and become in the eyes of the people minor deities unto themselves. Unlike the Great Gods, whose vast mind and long-reaching concerns span millennia, the Saints are much more approachable when praying for a healthy child or good harvest. Thus, the Saint Cults can be likened to the ancestor cults, in that they are elevated mortal spirits which intercede on behalf of the living, though unlike ancestor cults they are not restricted to blood ancestors and intercede as agents of greater powers entirely. There are many reliquaries which carry the embalmed or otherwise preserved remains of saints or other great men, just as in the ancestor cults, and these talismans are believed to be receptacles of potent Numinous power. Saint cults range from abhorred to tolerated to accepted, for while they may sway the unwitting off of the path to salvation they may also provide comfort and succor in a way the distant Great Gods do not. And indeed, it may be that the Saints do answer the cries of the people from time to time, though whether these are true miracles or simply a form of Gnosis is a contentious debate.
Chthonian Cults:
It may be difficult to imagine why one would pay homage to the creatures of read Chthon, but it happens all the same, Rhemnysia of course being the prime example of such things. The creatures of Chthon are not without guile and cunning, and indeed they can offer immense power and knowledge, progenitors as they are of the flesh-warping arts. Their demands are also simple. Living humans to be given wholly to them in sacrifice, for purposes best left unthought.
Rhemnysia was by far the greatest nation to worship demons, though it was originally believed to not be so. It was once far nobler, but grew corrupt and decadent, its aristocracy desiring ever greater power to best its rival of Haim-Haneh, culminating in dark bargains exchanged for the secrets of creating monstrous chimerae, which even now menace the lands. However, the constant presence of demonry gradually destabilized the mighty empire, and it collapsed at the same time beleaguered Haim-Haneh did, rendering their sacrifices moot. It is a cautionary tale these days, about how consorting with Chthon will lead only to ruin, and even the greatest and wisest are vulnerable to their manipulations.
Abominable cults to Chthonic entities are spread all over the known world, and utterly detested. Even the staunchest enemies may put aside differences to purge such groups from their lands. Though, it should be noted that to bind demons is different than to consort with them, though the ignorant may not make this distinction.
The Terrestrial Gods:
The fact that you can read and comprehend these symbols is proof enough of your sin, in the eyes of the Terrestrial Gods, more commonly known as the Pagan Gods. They are the oldest recorded deities in the known world, their infinitely varied incarnations springing up in myth and history among all the tribes of man. And almost always, they are figures of fear and superstition. For the Terrestrial Gods are aligned with principles wholly against civilization as humanity understands it, and when the first Titans hunted, killed, and ate the weakest of them, ascending to godhood, they developed a deep, animal hate, so it is said. They are not simply stewards of the natural world and guardians of balance, as romanticists would have one believe, but the enforcers of the Red Law which guides their every action.
Why does merely reading this constitute sin, you may ask? It is the abstraction of it. You exist one degree removed from the primal now, the state of thought unrestrained by the abstract symbolism of literature and language. To see the word tree and see four squiggles on paper and a fragment of noise which on its own means nothing yet to you calls to mind the image it represents is to the Red Law an abomination. Mankind and all others who have fallen for the deception of symbolic thought must be returned to the purity of the natural world, either through elevation into beasts or as rotting fertilizer for the forests that will grow over their broken cities.
For most, however, this loyalty is half-hearted. The sin of abstraction is writ deep into thinking beings, and most simply keep the Terrestrial Gods pleased with self-abasement, forgoing comfort and only spitting out those hated words when necessary. Using tools only with great recrimination and daring to do such a thing as count only after begging forgiveness, which itself only speaks to the sin of identity and fear of the future. In short, the Pagan faith is a faith of the mad or inhuman. But should one truly manage to shed themselves of the trappings of civilization, the rewards can be great indeed. The numen flows through them like a mighty river, and their miracles are slow and powerful things. Storms can be called up and entire forests made to move. Plagues unleashed and hordes of beasts united in lethal fury. The priests of the Red Law are demigods covered in blood and excrement.
The Marinal Cults:
Of the Practical Faiths, the Marinal Cults are most enigmatic. The gods of the sea are believed to be a like kind to the Terrestrial Gods, but unlike the Pagan gods of the land, the Titans did not conquer them. Some of the mightiest of Titans were dragged beneath the waves by shadowed bulk for their hubris, for while matched evenly on the ground, the waters were terrain too alien, and no matter the great hunts held, the Marinal Gods could never be truly bested. And so instead they were left alone and forgotten, and the oceans remain wholly wild and monstrous.
Very few humans outright worship the Marinal Gods, but seafaring cultures may offer them heavy sacrifice in the hopes their vessels survive the open waters. Sometimes it seems to work, other times it does not. It is whispered that great floods have wiped out entire peoples in the past over some incomprehensible slight or even just the whim of these enigmatic divinities. As of the present, the only known civilizations which truly have established any rapport with these unknowable deities are the man-beasts of aquatic mien, who by changing their very bodies to more mimic the creatures of the sea have had their minds warped to better understand the wills of their alien masters.
The Apostasies:
The Apostasies are schools of theological or Gnostic thought which are considered dangerous and subversive by the current ruling powers for whatever reason. Listed below are the most commonly (but not universally) recognized.
The Titan's Apostasy:
The Titans are certainly gods now. Through the consumption of divine flesh, became divine themselves. But they were men once, who turned their back on the divine, committing the Primordial Sin. Thus, while the worshipers of the Titans are grudgingly admitted as faithful due to the qualitative change theophagy forced on them, the Titans themselves, and those who seek to become them in the present era, are technically apostates. However, the first Titans are often referred to as the Forgiven Apostates even among members of the Great Faiths, for no Great Faith had existed at the time to give morality and reason to man, as far as is known. Indeed, without their actions mankind would remain cowering primitives under the shadow of the natural gods. But even so, many would prefer not to see the Titans walk the earth again, nor any new ones born, for all legends tell where that road leads. Any who even claim to seek either goal are often the subject of inquisition and holy war.
The Sorcerer's Apostasy:
The Sorcerer's Apostasy is one of the most insidious and disturbing to many faithful. In short, it posits that the Great Gods are so fundamentally alien as to not even be truly aware of humans, and their messiahs are the true masterminds of the faiths, simply sorcerers tapping into the power of those great entities to further their own all-too-human agendas. The terrestrial gods, likewise, are simply the peak of sorcery which can be attained, the Titans, Pagan Gods, and other such things being the natural end point of an individuals journey in the Gnosis. This apostasy rejects the transcendent wisdom of divinity and attributes that to humanity which it does not possess or deserve, and ascribes to the speaker themselves the potential for true godhood devoid of the qualitative change in nature which is understood to be a requirement for godly ascension. In short, that the only difference between a sorcerer and a god is knowledge. This is an apostasy of immense hubris and danger, for it drives countless Gnostic practitioners throughout history to seek divinity for its own sake, more often than not creating horror and disaster in the process.
The Anthropic Heresy:
To see humanity in the inhuman is a trait of mankind. However, it is also a weakness, for it blinds us to true divinity. Since man first looked upon the world, he has ascribed divine purpose to it. But in doing so, he has often found god where it was not, and ascribed its protection to what was in truth random chance. False gods can arise from the human tendency to characterize that which is but the blind action of natural forces, leading peoples to worship nothing and thus lack true divine guidance, which always ends in disaster. The true gods are not some fancies or reflections of the human mind but fully realized beings divorced from what a mortal may believe a god "ought" to be. Be wary of the preacher whose god seems too human, for this is a sign of a false prophet.
