Sept of the First Virtue

The Sept of the First Virtue is a small, dualistic religion in southeastern Rathnir, focusing on exploring the cyclical nature of the world, especially the unending tide of life and death. The religion is known by many other names, but officially brands itself as the Sept of the First Virtue.

Origins and History
The Sept of the First Virtue has been around perhaps since life first began at the beginning of creation, when the Second Circle was born from the fracturing of the Spheres.

Long before Rathnir, even Jagdas, the religion existed, though unknown to many. It slumbered like a great beast, waiting to awaken and enact the will of the Gods.

Most of the Sept went extinct long before the creation of the current world, with nearly all sites and information lost to time, with the exception of the corpse city of Cimeterium (despite attempts in the past to conquer it), though most, if not all of the people that remained there also lost the knowledge of the old times.

While Cimeterium continued to survive under the guidance of the Undead King, the religious beliefs of the Sept were lost, with many of its people turning to other religions, such as Lux or the Blue Phoenix. This time is considered the "Great Emptiness", as though the city and its people (who would later come to be known as Osseus) flourished, culture and knowledge was almost entirely lost to the world.

For many years, this continued until the Kartek Diarchy fractured, and the first Painted Mummer in a thousand lifetimes came to be in Rathnir. He came with the blessing of the Matron of the First Circle, and set about restoring the religion to a stable place, beginning with the reunification of his own sect, Nomos-Eikos (translated from the Old Tongue as "Images of the Law of Gods"), and Osseus.

Following the collapse of Osseus, many followers of the Sept turned to Caligo, seeing him as the true face of the Shrouded Lord.

Beliefs

 * Death is a natural stage of life, as well as impermanent. It is the holiest ecstasy to be dead, dying, or undead, and the places where the line between life and death are to be revered and respected.
 * The World is divided into three circles, the First (and uppermost) being the domain of the Mother of Dreams, called the Aetherium, containing the jade city of Kehanetşehir, the Second being fractured into the Overworld and Nether, and the Third Circle being the home of the Shrouded Lord, and containing the corpse-city of Stygias. Below the third ring is the Void Sea.
 * The Sept sees themselves as having been granted a goal by the Shrouded Lord, though each member’s goal tends to differ. Many have the idea of returning what was lost, as well as granting the gift of the Shrouded Lord to others.
 * Those who are blessed are able to outwit the Ferryman’s toll and return to the world of the living, while the unworthy are doomed to wander the Third Circle or cross the river. Once one has crossed the river, they are unable to return to the Second Circle.
 * Those who are blessed return to the Second Circle to complete their goal, returning the world to a state of equilibrium where only those who are worthy of the Shrouded Lord’s blessing remain, as they are safe from the abyss, and all things that remain are touched by death.
 * Death is the true state of the world, and freeing people from the fear of it ending is important to the faith, as well as central to the goal of the cult.
 * Death exists as an extant form of life.

The Shrouded Lord
(Also known as: The Undead God, The Many-Faced, Many-Named God, The Stranger, He With Many Names, Prince of the Evening Sky, Him of Many Tongues, The Stealer of Faces, The Nameless King, The King Beneath the Shadow of the Moon, The Dealmaker, The Smiling Lord)

The primary God of the Sept, the First Virtue is the name of death itself. He is Lord of the Third Circle, where the Citadel and the Milk-White River can be found. He is rather malevolent and holds dominion over death in all its aspects, including resurrection and undeath. He is prophecised to one day destroy the central Circle. He is sometimes associated with Caligo.

The Ashen Mother
(Also known as: The Mother of Dreams, Matron of the First Circle, Lady of the Eternal Paradise, Mother of Chaos, Lady of War)

The Mother of Dreams is the less brutal (but still not benevolent) deity of the religion. She rules over the First Circle, the Aetherium, and grants visions to those she favours, but her visions, as well as her realm, are dangerous, and can easily drive one mad. Her dominion lies in madness, prophecy, loss, and sleep/dreams. Where the Shrouded Lord destroys, she creates.

The Ferryman
A strange, hooded figure that waits on the shore of the Milk-White River and carries the dead across, for a fee. He is who weeds out those who are worthy of the Shrouded Lord’s favour and those who are not. The Ferryman always requires the same toll, two gold coins, in exchange for passage to the Otherside. He carries a blade, and has an air of madness. He is the patron of liminal spaces, where the border of life and death are particularly thin. He is sometimes also associated with Caligo, though less frequently than the Shrouded Lord.

The Wyrm Who Shall Devour the World
A great beast that lives in the vast and empty sea beneath the third circle. She is the patron of doorways and paths, and will bring about the destruction of the world. Until then, she remains in the abyssal void, devouring those who fall into it as she grows large enough to coil about all three circles of the world and consume them.

Literature

 * nεκρόνόμεἰκών - One of the old texts of the Sept, this book was lost during the Emptiness, but many continue their search for it. It contains the secrets of the Circles, and describes in detail the fracturing of the Spheres, as well as the creation and end of the world.
 * n̸͕͖̐͋̅̒à̵̢͔̣̜̗̳͎̿͗̑̋͊́̈́͜͝͝͝m̷̳̓e̷͓̘͉͑̃͒̎̃͛̆̋͝l̸̨͔̠͇̈́̍e̴̹̼̮̝̫̻̅͋͊̐͜s̸̨̪͚̮̫͍̄͛̑͗̓̀s̷̯̳̥̪̓ ̴͙͝ķ̵̬̺͖͈́̏̆̾̉̇̚͜͠i̶̡͇̖͖͔̭̲̭͇̮̿̀̀̏̾͝n̸̛̫̆g̴̡͖̭̳̪̳̫̣͙͎͎̀̃̑̏̈́̕̕̚ͅ - A strange journal written by the Painted Mummer, containing information on the Gods and Rings. 3 copies exist currently, one in the Stoneforge library, one in the Voskovy Library, and one in the Mummer's personal sanctuary.
 * Of Tekhelet Blue - A play written before the Emptiness that has been translated to Traveller's Tongue. It describes the end of the reign of Angharad the Splendid during the war between Yhtill and Naqsh-Eşehir thousands of years ago.
 * Kneel Before The Altar - A journal named by the poem that prefaces it.

Holy Sites

 * Cimeterium -- The Corpse City, Cimeterium is the only concrete location that stands from before the Emptiness, as well as being where the Sept operates from for the time being.
 * Istanboulder -- The land that Istanboulder sits on is significant to the Sept in many ways, being both the alleged historical location of the Lost City of Naqsh-Eşehir, as well as being the site of the brutal Ferryman Wars, leaving the area as a place where the veil between life and death are particularly thin. Boulderist control of the land is a source of distress for much of the Sept, as the land was originally going to be the location of the main temple complex, but for now the Sept has acknowledged the Boulderist's claim on the land.

Trivia and Meta

 * This page is currently a work in progress.