The North (religion)

The North is an Eldham religious cult based on the books written by its leader, Matriarch Snaer.

The core philosophical nature of the North is the search for the salvation to escape cleansing of the land for The North (the realm, from which Snaer claims to come from) to expand its territories. While seemingly hostile, Snaer claims that it is possible save Eldham from the aforementioned North by tricking it into believing that it is ready to "be consumed" while preserving the culture and architecture of the region.

Religious texts
The only source of all the information about the North comes from Snaer the Nomad, a humanoid creature who was found on the northern shore of Yaszuma in July 2021 and claimed to come from the world they called "The North". In a short period of 2 weeks it produced several books about the North and its life, as if remembering it in the process. The first books were written in a language close to Yaszumatti, while the later ones - in the Traveler’s tongue. The main works on which the cult is based are "re:Life" (found by the one of the Uldarash Scientific Society members, sent to investigate Snaer) and "The Never-ending Dream".

re:Life - realm of the North and the Nomads
The first book written by Snaer is "re:Life", which describes the basics of Snaer's race "the Nomads" and the realm of The North. The life of each Nomad begins in "the redistribution facility" where each Nomad receives all the knowledge from the previous “extinguished wanderers” (another name for the Nomads). However, it is not exactly a hive mind, as after "being made", the species separate from the “redistribution facility" and begin their “journey” until they finally extinguish and transfer their souls back to the facility. After that, each Nomad receives a robe - yellow, red, blue or green. It is not specified though, whether the colour means something, but it is claimed that "it is the destiny of each Nomad to receive a robe of the corresponding colour". Then, finally Nomads start their journey or "mission of the lifetime", as if they were told as soon as they were given the robes. Snaer, however, did not receive a task and it is unknown what happened after, as the next thing Snaer remembers is waking up on the shores of Eldham. The Hierarchy of the North is not complicated and yet hard to comprehend due to the different nature of the species. On the top sits the Matriarch who "oversees the flow of destiny" and possesses the white robe and "a calming voice", which "helps the lost souls to find their destiny" and "makes the deviants lose their souls". Matriarch is possibly the only one who has vocal abilities, as no other Nomad is described to even communicate. It is unknown if the Matriarch extinguishes or not. Then go the Heads who "watch over the cities" and "makes the distribution process go fair". Finally, there are the rest of the Nomads who have the only goal of finishing their task and extinguishing afterwards. However, there are deviants, but little is known or written about them.

Realm of the North is described as "an endless white plain with rare cities of immeasurable heights and lost souls waiting for their end near the fires of life". The cities, all of which have redistribution centres, are assumed to have an appearance of really high mountains with holes similar to the nests of saw-wings. It is still unknown what Snaer meant by "the fires of life", but it assumed that the fire of life is a blue fire, known as the soul fire from the Nether in the worlds of Eldham and Rathnir. An artist from Kinnomachi, Yaszuma was fascinated by what the North could actually look like and it seems that it was their works of art became an inspiration for the banner of the cult. Snaer worked with them for a little while and during the time they spent together, according to the locals, the artist went mad and was self-exiled, which rose the questions about Snaer's powers, as they seems similar to the Matriarch's.

The Never-ending Dream - dark side of the North and "The True Salvation"
The latest work by Snaer is a book fully written in Traveler’s tongue and it warns about the upcoming North, which wishes to consume Eldham, Rathnir and the entirety of Stoneworks realms to "make the Dream (note - the North) never-eneding". Apparently, the North plains are seemingly endless due to the fact that most Nomads destroy realms to flatten and turn them into the plains similar to the North, expanding its lands. The Matriarch sees it as "the salvation of the world from the greater evils" and members of the Northern Lights Scientific Community assume that Matriarch tried to take Snaer's soul, but since they could, Snaer was banished from the North with their memories wiped.

"I know those feelings of desperation and abandonment and how I would have accepted any opportunity if it meant living. I remember them. My desperate moment did not end in such darkness, but I cannot help but wonder about other people in Eldham and thus I must save it, even while it is awash with eternal conflict of power" - Snaer, The Never-ending Dream

Apart from detailed explanation of how Nomads capture the lands, Snaer also suggests "The True Salvation" in their works. While Snaer understands that it is nearly impossible to combat the Nomads in their prime, they offer another way. "The True Salivation - is the offering to the Gods. Nothing can saves us but the salvation in the twisting of the logic's truth". Snaer wants to make Eldham if not to look like the North, but at least make it to obey the North, thus preserving the realms and tricking the Matriarch into sparing the lands.

Practices and following
The North operates across the northern part of Eldham with the major following in Yaszuma. While there are no churches or temples in a traditional sense, Snaer organizes meetings in their headquarters in Umakwa, the capital of Yaszuma, and in the places with anomalies connected to the North. The followers of the North are quite secretive and even most popular followers do not speak a lot about the activity of the cult, however, it is welcome to the new followers and always try to explain the importance of the cult.

The North does not reject other religions and merely exists just for the single purpose of saving the realms of Stoneworks from the North and afterwards maintaining the established safety.

The Matriarch
Following the hierarchy of its place of origins, Snaer placed themselves at the top of the cult. As the Matriarch, Snaer searches possible ways of dealing with the North, distributes the tasks of political and military importance and expands the influence of the cult among the realms.

The Regional Guardian
The Regional Guardians, or just the Guardians, are responsible for the preparations made on each continent or region in Eldham and Rathnir. They oversee the completion of the required structures and the distributed tasks among the members and regulate the relations with the local states.

The First Tier
Other members follow the heterarchical structure, i.e. nobody is above the others. This decision was made by Snaer since the races on Eldham and Rathnir are different to the Nomads, and thus full control over everyone would put the task of protecting the realms at risk, and the importance of each role is just as important as other roles. Any single member can possess more than 1 role but no more than 3.

Cultural Defender
Cultural Defenders must travel around the realms and find the items, structures and artifacts of the most significance and report them to the HQ. After that, they must organise a process of either transfer to the North or offer the local government or state to protect them by building the Cold Pillar, which would save them in case of the assault.

Architect of Salvation
Architects are the creators of the structures, which promote the cult around the realms and protect them from the North. They build churches and temples near the anomalies of the North, so that it was easier to study them, and the Cold Pillars, a special structure, developed by Snaer, which either hide the structure or creates a warm shield which can block the Nomads' infiltration and attacks.

Anomaly Investigator
Investigators search anomalies which have connections to the North and study them to find the patterns and information on the current state of the North. They find the necessary data which can predict the appearance of the North in Eldham.

Reconnaissance Shadows
Shadows are the counter-intelligence of the cult. They find whether other Nomads are in the realms, if there are any pacts or agreements signed with the North and try to find open portals to the North.

Wings of Solace
Wings are the members of the cult, who either want to participate in every event of the cult or simply could not find a role that would fit them the most.