TOTM

The Relationship Between Meat and Hammer
The universe can be boiled down into two constant forms of energy: Meat and Hammer. Meat signifies growth, development, satisfaction, but also decay, warping, disgust, and entropy. The Hammer is volatile, destructive, and painful, but also signifies the overall idea of change and the prolonging of ideas, nations, and objects through change over time. Without the Hammer, Meat is nothing but the beginning to an end, beginning as nothing but growth yet leaving nothing but disdain. Without Meat, the Hammer is just a volatile force with nothing to change. The Hammer needs to smash the Meat so that they can unify and guide the universe along.

The First Smash
According to Meathammer, the universe had started with The First Smash, where one giant "hammer" struck one piece of "meat" hard enough to create the energy and matter around us. It geographically varies on how people interpret this. There is the Orthodox form of Meathammer that interprets it literally, with one universe-sized meat being smashed by a universe-sized hammer creating the universe. There is also the Reformed Order of the Meathammer which believes that it is an allegory for The Big Bang, where the singularity of The Big Bang was characterized by the Meat, and the expansion was characterized by the Hammer.

Origins of Meathammer
In 2016, The Order of the Meathammer was created in the town of Mzaltad by a mortal man named Jammy791, who had not tenderized his beef he bought at the local market before cooking it and began to see visions of decay. Seeking the truth, he came to Mzaltad to speak with clerics, necromancers, healers, even the town drunk, Kleinman791. Eventually he went with the town drunk’s idea because they had matching numbers in their name. The idea of the Order of the Meathammer is that there are two fundamental principles of the universe: Meat and Hammer. Within Mzaltad, The Order of the Meathammer had been increasing in size exponentially, there had been several attempts by a small group, named Swordswraith, to start a coup against Mzaltad’s lord, Lord Zuck. Meathammer had remarked disdainfully at Swordswraith’s attempts at power grabbing, calling them one of the “meatless.” The coup had lasted for two months until Zuck, with the blessings and militia of Meathammer, began invasions within Swordswraith’s encampments. With Zuck being witness, Jammy had unleashed his earth-shattering speech unto Swordswraith’s ruler before he had been beheaded for his crimes against Mzaltad, Kraftfall, and Meathammer. Jammy, upon delivering his speech, had been named the Messiah of The Order of the Meathammer, being given the name Beef Supreme Highfive Flexington and uniting all of Atheiropa to Meathammer in the process.

Jammy's Monologue
"Hark! You MEATLESS corpse! The HAMMER shall smash the MEATS into the new reality, one where the MEAT and the HAMMER are one, and so the MEATHAMMER is born, supreme in royalty and power! None shall stop my rise, LORD MEATHAMMER, HAMMERER OF THE MEATS! Tremble, doll, you meatless effigy of the glorious meat bags! Your features are nothing! You are not MEAT, you are not HAMMER! The two supreme concepts in the universe of universes are lost upon you! You shall never wield true power! Never will you experience the ascension! You shall forever be condemned to squirm in the meatless mud, never becoming great, never smashing the MEATS! Your purpose is naught! Never will you feel the brace of the raining CHUNKS, delicious and powerful! The glorious HAMMER will pass you over in favor of the MEATS, and you will be left in the darkness, never to arise to glorious MEATHOOD! The HAMMER shall arrive from the heavens, and from the earth, and from the seas, to smash the MEATS of all humanity into the next era, nay, the next epoch! You will be a relic from a MEATLESS time, lost, hopeless, pointless, a petty afterthought of a concept of a mote of an idea, infinitely useless, adrift in a sea of nothing, left behind when the SMASHING by the MEATHAMMER will decimate the universe, taking all MEAT and purpose from the dreary realms you inhabit! You may be MEATLESS but you need the MEAT in order to prosper! Your only purpose is to STAB and SLICE the MEAT! Heresy! MEAT is to be SMASHED! That's the only way to preserve the sanctity of the JUICES, and the only route to acquire the blessings of the SWEETMEATS! You ruin the MEATS, defiling the only good and wonderful thing in the universe! And so you will be passed over when the SMASHING will come to pass, you will watch from your sad, pointless, empty perspective as all the glory of the MEATS will be delivered into the greater plane! Embrace the MEATHAMMER, serve its glory and, maybe, you will be saved, and delivered into the supreme place!"

The Trial of The Helms
Before the Holy Kingdom of Heshlo embraced Meathammer as their core religion, they have attempted to persecute Jammy and Kleinman for their crimes against the state. The most common capital punishment in Heshlo was death by anvil, so they were sentenced abruptly from their clerical lives. At this point, Jammy and Kleinman had become embodiments of duality within the universe. Jammy represented Meat, i.e. overall growth, change, and prosperity. Kleinman represented Hammer, i.e. a catalyst of change. Upon sentencing, Jammy was first to be executed, but donned a royal helm beforehand. As the anvil fell and hit the helm, it broke in two in the ground beneath him, leaving Jammy unharmed. This magnificent display of godly power has shocked, frightened, and amazed the onlookers. Of course, the event had caused resentment towards Kleinman's execution date as Jammy and Kleinman were now seen as godly among the locals. A peasant's revolt had been declared just before Kleinman's execution and the king of Heshlo, King Queegharious I, was forced to pardon both. The helmet that Jammy had donned had since been known as The Holy Helm of Smashing, and had been hidden in a discreet location by him. The location of the helm, at this current time, is not known to most.

Atheiropa
According to The Order of The Meathammer, Atheiropa was the fallen continent in Eldham that had been located east of Stoneguard. It once housed five different nations before being lost to the world: Laponset, The Kingdom of Kraftfall, the Minrithian Empire, and The Holy Kingdom of Heshlo, and The Phantom Empire. According to the very few who had survived the Fall of Atheiropa, the ground sunk beneath their feet as the continent suddenly sunk into the ocean to be lost forever. The most popular theory among Meathammer was that the continent had been too full of "Meat" i.e. prospering development, and had little to no "Hammer" i.e. wars and strife, so a Hammer had repeatedly struck the ground until it bended to the will of the ocean.

Laponset
Laponset was more of a tribal faction than a nation, with people coming and going as they pleased. Laponset’s name came from Lapis Lazuli, its main export. Mostly it was simple wooden huts, cobblestone towers and walls. With an ongoing famine and dwindling population, the public rallied against the current leader, Thorn, and eventually paved the way for a new ruler. Historical documents are scarce after this time and it is not known whether or not the new leader had caused Laponset to thrive or struggle. At its peak the population was 30, during the famine it fell to 7.

The Kingdom of Kraftfall
The Kingdom of Kraftfall, or Kraftfall by many, was the nation that first bore the religion that became The Order of the Meathammer. It started with a noble named Thorn and a nearby merchant, named Tips, as two kings. Kraftfall was created to be a diarchy, a system of feudalism with two kings, each decision requiring a unanimous vote. Bauenmore was the first town, and soon became the economical capital of the region, and was the first place Thorn arrived when he deserted Laponset. Machtshire became the Nobility capital that was on the border of a desert and savanna, separated by a river eloquently named Glochid River. It was adjacent to a large mountain with a near vertical cliff facing us, etched into the cliff was eloquent housing that will soon be the foundation of Mzaltad’s architectural style. Mzaltad was built on the highest mountain in Atheiropa, and became one of the best towns to live in for magical or clerical purposes, especially after the town adopted The Order of The Meathammer as its primary religion. As the kingdom expanded, civil unrest grew. It was depicted as more people coming in and out of towns, wanting to join and wanting to work, while some are there to steal whatever isn’t nailed down. At this time there's also political unrest, since all of the lords have realized that anyone within their ranks could destroy their entire town's reputation, potentially. With large, unprotected areas around each town swarming with bandits, the massive fluctuation within its population, and almost half of Kraftfall’s nobles dying in a banner shop fire, Bauenmore soon became a ghost town, with only a fraction of citizens of what it used to have. As Bauenmore fell, Kraftfall’s reputation and might as a kingdom had fallen with it.

The Minrithian Empire
Neighboring Kraftfall is the Republic of Minrith. Minrith was led by a group of representatives of each town and guild of the nation, one of those representatives being Representative Queegharious II. Within Minrith, each major city is within a province, which has equal voting right representation on the activities of the Republic. The golden age of Minrith came right after the fall of Kraftfall, as refugees from Kraftfall flooded Minrith’s gates and led Angasal, the capital town, to be the centerpiece of the continent for a time. To combat the rampant number of bandits, the fortress city of Heshlo had been established. Heshlo grew in size by its strategic location as an island for trade and eventually declared independence. Minrith was not as large as Kraftfall, but it was well-polished and more respected than Kraftfall ever was. Unfortunately, every single representative within the Republic had been assassinated except for Queegharious II, who had managed to evade his attempted killer with overwhelming luck. Queegharious, being the only leader in the governing body, had been appointed Emperor ever since, thus creating the Minrithian Empire.

Holy Kingdom of Heshlo
Although Kraftfall was the birthplace of Meathammer, the Holy Kingdom of Heshlo was the first nation to make it the official religion, declaring any other religion punishable depending on severity of heresy. The nation had once been the town of Heshlo in the Minrithian Empire, but had since gained its independence, both by diplomacy and bloodshed. Though being a fraction of the population, the Holy Kingdom soon overcame the Minrithian Empire in terms of economic and military might. Other towns that had left the empire to join the Holy Kingdom of Heshlo included Tatsuyama Slandats, and Nyefko among many others. Tatsuyama was culturally different than most of the other towns, and its leader had survived the Fall of Atheiropa and created a new Tatsuyama within the Merchant's Guild of Osria. Slandats was a farming and fishing town that produced the majority of Heshlo's food supply. Kagan Kal, Glochidale, and Nyefko were small towns of not much significance, though Nyefko was founded by Kleinman791, one of the founders of Meathammer.

The Phantom Empire
The following is an excerpt from SirLagsALot31_, leader of the former empire and one of the only survivors:

"Phantom is a complex entity. It has experienced various stages throughout its lifetime. Phantom was founded as a town long ago on the roof of the nether, naming the place "The Phantom Lands". Its uniqueness is what gained it popularity. Throughout its early life, it remained a monarchy with a King, a 2nd in command and a 3rd in command. Phantom eventually became a Kingdom as it expanded into the overworld where it gained most of its success. After a civil war, Phantom was officially declared an empire where Wraith City was announced as the first vassal city with plans to build 5 other cities. However, despite the newfound power, Phantom was wiped off the face of Atheiropa by a force named Indigo. Phantom was not Indigo's only victim, however. Many other nations who had risen, collapsed in the blink of an eye. Such power was disgusting and was this event was named "The Indigo Purge" by many. Since then, Phantom struggled to retain its title as an empire and eventually collapsed when attempting to reform. The Holy Phantom Empire emerged from this and attempted to uphold Phantom's legacy as its 2nd iteration. Holy Phantom eventually derived from growth and remained a small and elegant to which point it shrank back down to the size of a mere Kingdom before also collapsing. Phantalia, was a rumored project that would be worked on by Holy Phantom but never came to be. After many months of silence, the Barony of Phantalia was born as the 3rd Phantom iteration. A spark of hope for the people of Phantom."

The Thousand-Year Refuge
The way Atheiropa had fallen had been ungodly. During a summit in Mzaltad, which was nothing more than a Nobleman's excuse to visit the town, a sudden and abrupt earthquake had decimated large portions of the continent, with coastal cities such as Angasal and Slandats descending into the deep ocean. Several minutes pass and another "pound" has occured, bringing more coastline into the ocean. Several more had occurred in the span of a few hours and most of the continent had sunk. Mzaltad was the last town to be destroyed, with the water being a meter high within the city before the Nobles within the summit, as well as the citizens of Mzaltad, started to create makeshift rafts from roofing material and sail through the ocean as the last town of Atheiropa had sunk into the ocean. Most of the boats had been shoddily constructed, as the majority of refugees having drowned halfway to Stoneguard. The nobles that had survived included Queegharious of Minrith, Kenshin_ of Tatsuyama, and SirLagsALot31_ of Phantom. The three nobles, alongside a handful of skilled and educated labourers, had sailed to Northern Stoneguard and established two towns within it, one of them being the the present-day capital of Meathammer that is Ankontiniyye. The other one being Phantalia, a sort of embodiment of the former Phantom Empire. Those two towns, alongside a neighboring town of Gabensberg, had created The Merchant's Guild of Osria, now a part of the nation of the Uraki Imperium.

Shrine of Tmhmmmemh
The Shrine of Tmhmmmemh is an ancient building located inside the city of Ankontiniyye. It had been the first shrine constructed in Eldham dedicated to The Order of The Meathammer. It depicts a large, hollow, stone head of a villager with blue eyes. Later on in construction, the hollow interior has been transformed into a small garden. Tmhmem (Short for Tmhmmmemh) is a minor Meat Deity in the form of a villager head. He is the first deity deciphered within Meathammer and is symbolic of all Meat. As you know, Meat is symbolic of growth/decay and Hammer is symbolic of change/volatility. Since Tmhmem is purely in meat form, he cannot change and does not answer prayers, as he does not intervene. He is the most constant being in the universe, with a faint "mmm" sound in the wind nearby the shrines of him as Eldham when good times are a'head'.

Some time later after construction, the head mysteriously started to dispense water from its mouth. According to some Meathammer followers, this symbolizes the head drooling for meat.

First Church of Meathammer
The first holy church has been constructed in the city of Ankontiniyye. It has been the origin of Meathammer's spread within Eldham. It has been constructed with blue tinted glass as a placeholder, but local popularity has made it permenant.