The Idolatry: Scripture of Sin
As trade swelled along the currents of Elqua’s oceans, new ideas from across the Endless Blue spread like algae blooms. Being the center of economic trade, the Yaun-Teel Bights became the host of a new form of religious thinking. A renascence of sorts, the view of superstitious mythology matured into a codified system of religious teaching. The collected works of that religious rebirth, and the gods therein, are known as the Idolatry.
Suminarae, the True Lie
Suminarae is a contradictory Goddess that makes sense. She is Goddess of beauty and peace, the lie of the outside belying what is within. Not all that is beautiful on the inside is reflected on the outside, just as inner peace does not quell the unrest of others. That is where the trickery comes in, the subterfuge, the lies.
She espouses the lies that heal, the passing falsehoods that make up idle talk. The perfect false self protect the flawed true self from harm. This is the image of substance, the protection of deceit. This is why She believes in keeping the populace ignorant, as ignorance is blissful peace. The romantic metropolis as opposed to the true city, the beautiful seascape versus the monotonous blue, there is ugliness in the truth, and balm in the lies.
It was Suminarae that found the world of Elqua for the Pantheon, that slaughtered its indigenous pisceans to make room for the Pantheon’s immigration. The race that loathed itself, that denied their own worth, beckoned to Her from across the planes. They were practically begging for sweet release, and it is Suminarae that now lies about that horror, that covers it up with the lie of omission.
But the Insidious Doubt has more secrets that define Her. Perhaps the most unexpected lie of Suminarae is that She is not whom Her flock worships. She is, in fact, the shard of Trishna known as Tornesh, the male twin/face of the Binity of Desire. Be it the seduction of lies, the lust for the beauty, or the luck of random chance, Tornesh is now a twisted falsehood of His former half-self, a fully free Goddess at peace with Her lies.
Suminarae, the Omission, the True Lie, the Hidden Truth, Insidious Doubt, She Who Knows, Malvy of the Deceit
Alignment: Chaotic Neutral
Symbol: Pearl clenched in a scorpionfish’s mouth.
Domains: Chaos, Healing, Luck, Travel, Trickery.
Preferred Unguis (weapon): Spine
Clerical Unguis of Choice: Spear
Cleric Alignment: Chaotic evil, Chaotic good, chaotic neutral, true neutral.
Home of the Gods
The Gods of Elqua are unique in that their realm is the very waters around their worshipers. There is no equivalent to a Mount Olympus off of some abyssal trench or a perfect realm nestled in another dimension. The gods of the Pantheon are found in the very waters of the Endless Blue. Not any one set spot, but freely roaming the oceans like the other denizens of the water world. The Gods are out there, in the blue, to be experienced by the worthy, the unlucky, or the damned.
The souls of the departed pisceans are believed to either remain, disembodied, among the currents (such as with Ancestor Worshipers) or are absorbed by their higher power (like with those that believe in the Source of all life). This is where the Church of Olyhydra in different from her deific brethren: She promises her loyal followers an eternal respite from strife as they bask in her presence. Even the Pantheon, with all its lessons and stories, only insinuates that death is the final end. Olyhydra promises there is something more, and to a subjugated populace, that is an enticing idea.
Sekolah the Dominar
Life is divided into two parts: the prey, and the predator. Every living thing consumes something lower than itself for sustenance. It is this predacious cycle that elevates the lowest wretch to higher standing. Sekolah is the apex predator, and his chosen are His school, destined to hunt the horizon-less oceans for eternity. Eat or be eaten; but be sure you’re the former.
To say Sekolah does not care about his followers is to misunderstand the religion’s dogma. It isn’t that He does not care for them; instead He insists they take care of themselves. Sekolah personifies the belief of “only the fittest shall survive”, and His greatest desire is nothing less than all His congregation should survive. It is His greatest commandment, and it cannot be accomplished by mollycoddling they young fry. If a sahaguin cannot survive on its own skill, it does not deserve to live.
Sekolah, the Dominar, the Great Predator, Devourer of All
Alignment: Lawful evil
Symbol: A shark
Domains: Destruction, Evil, Law, Strength, War.
Preferred unguis (weapon): Jaws
Clerical Weapon of Choice: Jaws. claws, cestus
Cleric Alignment: Chaotic evil, lawful evil, neutral, neutral evil.
Part five of the summation of key points in the ENDLESS BLUE setting, this time covering the types of religion found in the Known World.
The Religions of Elqua
Worship is common below the waves. Its allure to the average piscean has been likened to the soothing balm of a current as well as an analgesic for the tortured soul. Its effects are miraculous, enabling the most down trodden to desperately cling to hope in the face of utter despair. Some religious systems are kind, others cruel; some are structured, yet other informal.
Endless Blue 