Unity Foundation

I’ve come up with a new twist on Unity

4. Unity Foundation

Polytheistic religion that has unified the main gods of mankind into one faith

Beliefs

The Empyrean is the name given to the main pantheon of gods worshiped within the Unity Foundation. Only temples to the Empyrean can be found within the capital city of Lucidia.

Despite their varied nature, the personalities of the Empyrean continue their harmonious relationship, thanks mostly to the political machinations of the Concordat Council

Janar

Janar is seen as the creator of the world. Janar is the God of Kings. During ancient times, it is claimed that the some kings proclaimed himself the son of Janar. This bold declaration was quickly followed by the riots and destruction of the capital and the loss of its central areas. This lead to a rapid decline in the worship of Janar and he is often considered to have removed himself from the affairs of the world.

Anar

Anar is the Goddess of the Moon and Lady of the Night. She brings with her the tides and is worshiped by mothers and midwives. She is often called upon to to bless the birth of a child. She is a goddess of cycles and is thus often prayed to during funerary services.

Choosing my religion

I created a new monotheistic religion for Ebonyr. It’s called the High Faith of Matria. It’s based on a “mother” figure god who is all knowing and powerful. Here’s a snippet:

History

The
creation myth of the followers of Matria says that all the sentient races are
descended from one single original ancestor.

 

The
division into separate races happened when Matria spiritual messengers, the
Celestians, became jealous of Matria creations and corrupted the “First
Ones” as the original race is now called by the church. Matria split the
First Ones into many different races and threw the Celestians out of the
Chamber of Stars and they are now known as the Kenrah. 

 

Matria
rose up her first prophet among the humans called Magian. He wrote down the
seven holy virtues and developed the Book of Prayers. A dwarf scholar names
Herias Stonghand was raised up by Matria to finish the Holy Book of Matria.

 

The
church has a presence in all the Five Kingdoms, but especially Myrcia and
Lucidor.

You can read the rest of the writeup here. I’ve also developed some religious orders to go along with the church.

NPC names

Today was thinking of the NPC’s that the PC’s will encounter during the first three adventures.

Here are a few WIP’s (work in progress):
Grippa – 3rd level fighter – self-styled pirate lord
Maradus 2nd level magic-user – 2nd in command to Grippa
Sippio – 3rd level fighter/cleric – leader of a cult
Felca Braks – 2nd level cleric – member of the cult run by Sippio
Marf – 2nd level fighter – she is a the leader of a slavers on Blood Island

Struggling

I have really been struggling with the main religions/faiths on Ebonyr. I want to make the unique, but there’s the old saying “nothing new under the sun”. So I have been going back to the drawing board as you can tell.

I think I’m going to have the humans have two major religions and including ancestor and druidic worship.

I have also started getting concept art for the Sanctorian Knights. Check out the picture below.

"Unity gods"

I have working on the Unity gods this week. Here are the 4 gods of unity
Megaris – chief god

Madriel – the earth goddess
Othar – god of wind/air
Aquarius – goddess of water

Religions and maps

I seem to have had some writers block, but that turned out to be a good thing. I was looking at what I had for the human religions and I came to the conclusion that there wasn’t much role playing material there. I needed more of a back story to tie in all the religions on Ebonyr. I created the Genesis with some material from other websites. (the old adage “there’s nothing new under the sun!”)

The two human religions may/could have adherents from all the races.

I also updated the main map. I added several new place names.

Ebonyr religions

I have been working on some religions and faiths in Ebonyr. I created the Deisonite Church which is Christian-like, in nature. Next I am developing the Unity Church. The background I am aiming for, and sometimes I’m way off, is the Unity of a particular pantheon during great strife or warfare and only 2 or 3 gods survive to create the Aura. The Sanctor, or leader of the Unity Church, is Pope-like and controls a vast economic and military organization.

The background of Unity
The Ruhk tribes have been united and are ravaging the human lands. Kingdom after kingdom fall to the savages. The Coastal colonies of the Meridia are next in the line to be conquered.

The founder of the Unity Church is a man by the name of Yosek Roak. Yosek lived in a small village in the province of Aronas during the time of the Meridian Coastal Colonies.

One night Yosek was wandering his village when suddenly a ray of light from the sky struck him down. Yosek became unconscious and when he awoken he felt a new spirit of energy inside of him. At first Yosek was unsure of what this could mean, but soon he realized that the ray of light that struck him created a connection between his soul and the essence. He had been given the gift to communicate with the essence in a way that was more powerful than the conventional signs of weather and various mystics used by the clerics at the time. He had been given communication with the divine!

Through their new communication, Yosek and the essence (which he began to call The Aura) discussed the purpose of the the coming battle and what will happen to the colonies. He was told that his colony of Aronia were meant to be the protectors of this land; the ones who would make it into the utopia it was destined to be. Yosek was encouraged to rally his people together and organize them under these new revelations.

It took Yosek two years to travel all the coastal colonies delivering his new information. He would teach lessons, as well as deliver sermons on his almost daily revelations. The colonies started to unite together. The Aura brought forth new military tactics and the Ruhk leaders were killed the Ruhk tribes were defeated and were turned back to their homelands.

This caused large portions of the human population to convert to the Unity Church. Offers of money and land flowed in. Roak proclaimed himself, Sanctor, which came from one of his revelations to offer sanctuary to all that converted to the Aura.

The old pantheon of gods was abandoned by most humans, though some still worship the old ones in remote sections of Meridia.