Gisdalfgoda

Gisdalfgoda (or The Church of Six Divines in Traveler's Tongue) is a polytheistic religion originating from the city of Illerya, a colony of the Kingdom of Daelyria. It's a modernized version of the pagan beliefs practiced by the ancient Nortfolk on uncharted islands north of Rathnir. Years ago said islands froze due to a drastic climate change in the region, forcing their inhabitants to seek refuge south.

The modern iteration of the Church of Six Divines came to being because of the Prophet, Kazmeer III of The Tribe Unmourned, who transformed loose pagan beliefs into an organized religion to make it more palletable to more civilized people of Rathnir. The followers of the new religion spent years traveling between the northern kingdoms, until finally settling in the city of Illerya, where they were accepted into the society and allowed free practice of their religion. This is where the first humble temple to the Six Divines was raised and became a holy site to the believers.

Followers of this religion often become self proclaimed preachers, traveling across Rathnir spreading their faith far and wide. They don't consider infidels heretics, rather misguided souls who worship their own deities under different names and will try their best to convert said infidels into worshiping the "correct forms" of their deities.

Beliefs
Church of Six Divines believes that all intelligent lift shares the power of the long dead deity Populus inside of their souls, and that it's their sacred mission to use it to guard the delicate balance of power between the ever fighting Divines, for no single deity has the wisdom required to rule the realm without destroying it in the process.

To understand the beliefs of the Church of Six Divines one must first understand the concept of Essentia - mystical energy (or matter, scholars are still unsure of that.) that binds itself together in many different aspects to create all animate and inanimate matter in this realm. The mountains, the oceans, the trees and the rocks - all are made of essentia. Essentia can take many different aspects, every aspect of essentia manifests itself as a separate Divine.

Before our world was created, all essentia was without proper form, floating through time and space in the Realm of Chaos (known to most as The Void), domain of the first Divine - Chern, the God of Chaos.

'' "In the begining there was Chern - the Chaos, both everything and nothing, everywhere and nowhere, always and never." ''

 ~ Book of the Six Divines 

The world remained in metaphysical chaos for an unknown period of time, until two droplets pieces  specks  particles units of essentia were bound together into a rock-like substance impossible to break by any mortal being (suspected to be the Bedrock). At that instant the second Divine of The Holy Six was born - Byel, the God of Order. Thus Byel began assembling essentia into his perfect order, while his brother was destroying it, turning it into it's primal form. The two deities began their endless battle, both equally powerful, neither strong enough to win.

'' "From chaos, The Order was born, when two droplets of essentia bound into the stone unbreakable. Byel was his name and in his hands a speck of sand became a pebble, a pebble became a boulder and a boulder became a mountain. Chern despised his brother's creation, he used his hands to tear the stone apart and take it back into his realm. Both brothers were of equal strength, thus their struggle was endless and neither could win." ''

 ~ Book of the Six Divines 

The battle between the two almighty beings released unimaginable amounts both chaos and order essentia into the Void. This energy, combined in the right proportions created the remaining four Divines of The Holy Six - Igni, the God of Fire - Vikhr, the God of Air - Terra, the God of Earth - Aqua, the God of Water. Newly created deities join their brothers in their endless war over the domination of the plain of existence created by Byel. Unlike Chern and Byel, the new four divines had both the power to create and destroy, and in their struggle to take control next "generations" of deities were created. Eventually, the endless battle transformed the realm of Byel into a habitable world, the one we call home.

'' "The battle of almighty brothers was intense. The blood, sweat and spit they shed in their effort was full of life-giving essentia tainted by both order and chaos. The essentia mixed in the void, like the waters of two mountain torrents birthing four new warriors into the celestial battlefield - Igni, the Flame, who warms the realm and burns it to ashes - Vikhr, the Wind, who gives the realm breathable air and blows it with hurricanes - Terra, the Earth, who tills the stones into fertile soils and tears them with mighty earthquakes - Aqua, the Water, who sprinkles life-saving rains and floods the land - each able to both create and destroy, capable of chaos and order. The four and the two before them were the names of the Six Blades Ever crossing, from sparks they shed new blades were forged, the blades that cut the land and it's inhabitants into proper shapes and sizes - so their followers may forever keep them equally strong. Amen." ''

 ~ Book of the Six Divines 

After the Realm was shaped and filled with flora and fauna, the last divine was created from the remaining essentia - Populus, God of Men. He was the lowest in the divine hierarchy, yet the wisest among his brethren, he refused to waste his power on the endless combat over the Realm of Byel and instead used it to create Humanity. Men were a perfect creation, able to utilize other types of essentia to achieve the goals of Populus. Other Deities felt envy, seeing the perfect creation of Populus, each one fruitlessly trying to either copy or destroy it. After many failures the other deities understood the pointlessness of their action and came up with a plot to destroy Populus instead. The God of Humanity was assassinated, his body torn to shreds by his brothers, furiously trying to consume it's pieces to take control of his power. To protect his creation, in his dying breath he turned his essentia into souls and bestowed every human with one, giving each of his children a free will to praise any divine they wish so the sacred balance might be forever kept. When escaping the maws of power hungry divines, souls fused small parts of other essentia into themselves, and this is why every mortal is a combination of different and unique personality traits. The domination essentia within a mortal often defines the deity they will fill the closest connection to in later life.

''"Long after the fighting gods shaped the realm and filled it with life, from the dust that remained on the celestial battlefields the last almighty was born, the one unlike his brothers. He refused to participate in the battle over the realm, for he was wise and knew it was pointless. Blue was his blood and Populus, God of Men was his name, he used all the strength in his hands to shape humanity. His creation was better than any of his brothers could achieve and it could rival any other force in the realm. His brothers envied him. First they tried to create something better than Men, but they failed for they wasted their strength on fighting each other. Then they all tried to destroy his creation, yet failed again, for they wasted their strength on fighting each other. His brothers understood that the power within humanity is the key to winning their endless struggle, so they all turned against Populus. Filled with envy and rage, the Divines attacked the God of Men, each one tearing him apart, trying to feed of his flesh and control the humanity, but Populus with his mind free of anger was wise and in his dying breath whispered to his children: <<My name is Populus, the master crafter and father of Men. As my divine brothers turn on me, craving the power within my flesh to break the sacred balance I come to you my kin, with my final gift. Yesterday I gave you life, today I divide my godly essence equally between all of you, gifting you with soul and free will so tomorrow you can praise my brothers to keep my power equally divided between them all. Do not fear praising the wrong brother, for with my power I gift you a piece of my wisdom and as long as you listen to your heart you shall never choose wrong>>. His word turned into action and his children were all gifted a soul, that like a sponge gathered tiny droplets of essentia from his brothers, giving each human unique personality, goals and ideals. Now go, turn my words into action, walk this realm and help your fellow kin see the way of the Divines so we may all guard the gift of Populus and keep his brothers in balance. Amen."''

~ Book of the Six Divines

Known Divines
Followers of The Holy Six recognize the total of 34 Divine beings, each one representing their own aspect of essentia. The Divines are divided into three categories:

Primary Divines, known as The Holy Six who are the original spirits that begun the world creation, as a collective they are universally praised by all believers, no matter of their chosen patrons.

Secondary Divines, known as the Positive Spirits who bring health and well being into the world who are worshiped openly and most often chosen as patrons.

Tertiary Divines, known as the Negative Spirits, often worshiped in secrecy and associated with evil, shame, blight and curses.

All 34 Divines are listed below as follows:

The Soulfires
Soulfires (nflk. Zolfiers) are the most important part of Nortfolk rituals, they are torches, lamps and pyres fueled with a mix of dyes, powdered soulsand and magic that makes them everlasting and gives them a dim blue glow - as the color blue is associated with Populus, humanity and the soul. They symbolize the life itself, every believer is gifted one at birth or at the moment of their conversion and from that moment they are tasked with the upkeep of this personal holy flame. If the flame goes out or gets extinguished, it is considered a sign of incoming death by the followers of the Six Divines - one might call that a superstition, but the observations by foreign explorers confirm that no child up to this day has ever survived the infancy without their respected soulfire.

The Birth
Child's Soulcandle (nflk. Zolkandel) is crafted by the child's father during the mother's pregnancy with the help of a local shaman or mage. Wealthier families often decide to build a proper fire-pit instead of a simple candle. Shortly after the birth the Father adds a single drop of child's blood to the Soulcandle and takes it to a local burial mound where it is lit with the fire borrowed from the candle of the child's chosen dead ancestor, it is believed that at this point a child is gifted a part of said ancestor soul and shall be bestowed with their respected skills and abilities. Along with that, the child is often given a second name after said ancestor preceded by the "soulflame of" title (ex. Chernoslav, Soulflame of Beowulf). After that event comes a small feast and the Soulcandle is placed within the household to guard the newborn family member from danger and disease.

PS: It is unknown how the father knows which Soulcandles on the burial mound belong to the ancestors of his family, but it's speculated that the correct ancestral spirit guides him to the correct Zolkandel.

The Patronage
When the child grows up, it must perform a ritual of Patronage to fully enter adulthood. This is the time when the child chooses one of the Divines to become his patron and guide him trough life. After picking a deity, he must locate it's shrine and travel to it, the shrines are often located in different part of Rathnir, so the travel may take months. After arriving at the location, the child lights the shrine's fire with their Soulcandle, then places an offering to the deity (usually the fruit of their first hunt or crop) in the fire and recites a prayer while his offering burns in the sacred fire. After that the child is considered adult and is allowed to leave the family home and start his own family. It is worth a mention that if a child shows a trait favored by a certain deity before he comes of the right age, the ritual might be performed prematurely, with the help of it's parent.

The Marriage
Before two lovers can marry it's important that the man must provide a home for the newly created family, by either buying or building one. After the ceremony, both newlyweds enter their household with a priest to light the hearthfire of their homestead with both their soulcandles. After that a large feast for all the invited guests often proceeds.

The Burial
In the final moments of a believer in this realm, his Soulcandle must be placed near his deathbed. After his death a funeral pyre is build on top of the local burial mound, then his body is taken to the mound along with the Soulcandle of the deceased. He is carefully placed on the pyre and cremated with his Soulcandle. During the ritual cremation, his ashes fall onto the burial mound while his soul escapes the body with the smoke and shall be carried by Mortuus, God of Death to his afterlife. If they led a good life they'll be taken to the Hall of Populus to feast by the side of the God of Men, if not - to the Void, realm of Chaos where their soul will be disintegrated into formless essentia. When the funeral pyre burns out, the candle is placed around many others on the burial mound, if the soul of the deceased ended up in the Void the Zolkandel will burn out on it's own, if not it'll keep burning until one of their descendants decide to light the the Soulcandle of his child with his flame, giving his soul a new body to carry his legacy.

Burial Mounds
Rathnir is well known for wide variety of burial forms among it's varied cultures, from modern cemeteries to ancient catacombs. But the art of creating burial mounds practiced only by the Church of Six Divines and by the Nortfolk, suspected to be as old as first human tribes settling the realm. The Nortfolk chose this form of burying their dead mostly because of very limited surface of their long lost archipelago, they simply couldn't afford to waste precious land on large cemeteries or tombs. Each burial mound starts off as a large circular hole in the ground secured by a parapet of excavated dirt around it's perimeter. Over hundreds, sometimes thousands of years it is filled with the ashes of deceased believers. When the hole fills up, the ash start to be pilled on it and secured with more dirt on the outer layers. Eventually the burial mound gets completely filled up and is closed up with dirt, leaving a characteristic grass-covered hemisphere.

Soultrees
When an ancient burial mound is filled to it's capacity and closed up, a local mage or shaman plants a tree sapling on the top of it. The sapling grows using nutrients and spiritual energy contained in the ashes, turning them into Soultrees (nflk. Zoldrevets). The spiritual energy in the soil has an unusual effect on the tree's sap, turning it light blue and increasing it's production, making it leak trough the bark. The sap of the Soultrees has psychedelic effects when consumed, making them objects of religious importance in Nortfolk society, who considers the sap a way of receiving visions from the divines and the ancestors.

Soultrees can also grow without a burial mound, for example - by feeding off the souls of fallen on a battlefield, over mass graves and other places where large amounts of mortals lost their lives without a proper burial, those soultrees are considered dangerous by the faithful and avoided whenever possible.

Evil Spirits and the Undead
As mentioned in the previous chapter - the followers of the Six Divines prefer to stay away from the Soultres that didn't grew on the burial mounds. The reason behind this phenomenon is that a Soultree requires spiritual energy of deceased people to grow, and without a proper cremation (and a burial mound marking it's place) the soul can't escape the realm in the sacred crematory smoke, so it's forced to stay in Rathnir. The spirits that are stuck between life and death often grow envious of the living slowly turning spiteful towards them. Said spirits can often cause harm, bring disease and misfortune to people who spend time around them. Some spirits my even re-enter their long dead bodies, turning them into undead, who pose a physical danger to the living, attack every living person they see.

The Krysser Populum (The Blue Diamond)
The Krysser Populum is one of the most recent religious text of the Church of Six Divines, written after the Nortfolk settled in Illerya. They recognized King Unburnt I Blackfyre as their leader and gifted him a powerful artifact called The Krysser Populum (nflk. The Crystal Blade of Populus) aka. The Blue Diamond. According to legends after Populus was torn apart by other Divines his blood fell onto Rathnir, crystalizing into a deep blue diamond-like substance. The ancient Nortfolk used said crystal to create a powerful weapon that became a symbol of divine recognition of one's right to rule the Mankind.

The Melding is Nigh
The Melding is Nigh as a religious song depicting a possible apocalyptic event from The Book of The Six Divines known as The Second Melding - where one of the Deities (in most tellings either Chern or Infernus) manages to win the eternal battle among the gods and takes the sole control over Ranthir. The deity is then unable to upkeep all the realms alone, causing Ranthir to meld with the nether bringing a thousand years of suffering onto it's people, before inevitably destroying both realms in the Void.

It is worth to mention that according to said book The Melding already happened once before, taking both the races of Ash Elves and Piglin (who according to the legend previously dwelled in Rathnir) to the nether and slowly corrupting both into what they became now. This might be the Gisdalfgodian explanation for the existence of ruined nether portals across Rathnir and various fortresses and bastions in the end.

Sects and Splinter Groups
Some temples and groups chose to focus on certain gods while still acknowledging the Holy Six as the most powerful. There are currently two known splinter groups of the main Gisdalfgodian canon of faith:

Fislankif Sect - A group focused on communing with spirits and the goddess of necromancy.

Sitel Sect - A group focused on the gods Voy and Creatus. Primarily found in the Imperium of Eisenland.

Saints and Prophets

 * Kazmeer III of The Tribe Unmourned: The ancient founder of the Gisdalfgoda religion. He transformed loose pagan beliefs into an organized religion to make it fit better into more civilized societies of Rathnir.
 * D3athClawPL, The Lost Author: D3athClawPL documented, wrote and transcribed many of the core beliefs of the Church. He codified the history of the Nortfolk and built the first temple of the Holy Six in Illerya.
 * Josu Mogrus, Necromancer of Fislankif: Nortfolk immigrant in Arcturus, who founded Fislankif sect, delved into necromancy to find a cure for death and has written several books. After his death, he became seen as a saint.
 * Ablaze, God Kaiser of Eisenland and Champion of Voy: Voy sent the Kaiser a vision of a reformed Kizdaubarian kingdom, led under Eisenland's banner. He was gifted great strength pulling up the island Kaiser Haven from the sea, and used it to begin his divine mission.
 * Egizzo Architeoss, The First Tifimtilon: Egizzo, being the last remaining Tipla priest, appointed himself as the Head of The Church – Tifimtilon – he has since resigned from this position and renounced his faith.