[OOC] Karstberg, City of Adventure

[VitaVitaAR]

Mizuko is going to be so very confused, but at least she only has to focus on the fried rice now.

[Rusalka]

Not sure if I shoulda left this here or not, but I had an idea hit me, and wanted to get approval first for it.

---

Religion Name: Necrotheism

Chief Deities: Death and his Maiden

Religion Description: Discovered by the Grey Old Ones, a secluded order of decaying monks in the Tal-Narek Mountains, Necrotheism is the worship and revering of Death as a god, but overtime, another deity was included to the nefarious and often intolerable religious practices and rituals of this ill-famed religion, she was the Maiden of Death, the reaper's bride, his queen and lover forever in the eternal comfort of his kingdom, the dark Otherworld. For some though, Death worship has become a secluded rite, often seen as indeed occult and evil to most other mono or polytheistic religions, thus leading to an exodus of the remaining Death worshipers from Karstberg, among them, Matthias Grimm, who later used his teachings by the Priests of the Holy Scythe to indoctrinate several individuals into believing that they were the servants of Death and His Maiden, all while committing several murders about Karstberg. Hence, the religion of Necrotheism only became exclusive to those who swore fealty to the Coven of Thorns. The Coven has strong belief that Death grants them their distinct power in exchange for the offering of souls through their contracted assassinations. They have also incorporated many symbols of Necrotheism into their creeds and their practices.

~Death~

"...And let it be forever known unto the earth and Hell and those who dwell amidst the lost denizens of that dark and dissident realm, that paradise of ghosts, the Otherworld, that Death be the father of apocalypse and the end of all life upon earth as we doth know it, but the beginning of rebirth and new life upon the ashen grounds of the Otherworld, where the alive in Death sing and dance and merry forever and ever eclipsed by his nurturing shadow..."

-Excerpt from the burned tomes of the Grey Old Ones

Death is the chief deity of Necrotheism, or more specifically, the personification of death itself. The concept of Death as a sentient entity has existed in many societies since the beginning of history. In human societies, Death is often given the name Grim Reaper and, from the Tenth Era onwards, came to be shown as a skeletal figure carrying a large scythe and clothed in a black cloak with a hood. He is also given the name of the Angel of Death or Devil of Death or the angel of dark and light or The Killing Angel. To most Necrotheologists, Death is portrayed as the dealer of final justice, appearing only to those who are of wicked mind and heart, to strike them down and carry them forth to eternal damnation. Others however view Death as the Father of Shadows and the Ruling King of the afterlife, where he makes his kingdom in the Otherworld. Other names given unto Death include the Akitsushima's Shinigami, the L`ankou of the Ahkshribah deserts, and various other titles, but simply to the Coven of Thorns, he is only Death, the end of mortal life and the beginning of immortal life.

~The Maiden~

"Unto a terrible storm Death did ride upon, harvesting the souls of those dearly departed from their shells of flesh by the crashing waves and the tumultuous thunder of the Sky Gods' wrath upon this city of unlawful mortals alike, but as he, the Father of Shadows, rode upon his unhallowed steed through those crashing clouds of hate for all humankind, his eyes doth laid upon her, the maiden whose Gods' hands hath struck down and shed innocent blood. He fell to her side and with the touch of his lips to hers, she awoke with new life, cradled lovingly in his arms. In thine eyes, he fell in love and lust with the woman of immortal beauty and carried her away to the shadows, forever to be his bride, and she doth proclaimed her love for him, forever to be his queen with a return of his life breathing kiss."

-Excerpt from the burned tomes of the Grey Old Ones

The Maiden, commonly considered the Maiden of Death, the Dark Bride, or the Queen of Death, is the second deity of Necrotheism. According to the ancient lore and holy writ of the Grey Old Ones, she was an innocent woman who was slain by her Gods during a purge of sinners from a corrupted city. Death found her lying dead and breathed life into her with a kiss, whereupon she fell in love with the Father of Shadows and submitted herself to him as his bride and his queen. She is seen by Necrotheologists as the comforting aspect death brings to some, as she is often foretold to appear to innocent souls in the final hours of their suffering. More than most, the Maiden has appeared to children and the elderly and those suffering from fatal diseases, consoling their troubled heart with a gentle whisper and carrying them in her arms to eternal paradise in the Otherworld. Often, she appears to soldiers who have lost their lives upon the battlefield to ferry them to an ease in afterlife.

~Ravens~

Creature Name: Raven

Creature Appearance:


Creature Description:

"I, the wings who guide the Angel of Death, do take flight."

-Personal mantra of the Coven of Thorns

In the religion of Necrotheoism, ravens are highly revered by Death worshipers. They are the messengers of the Otherworld who call forth the souls of the departed to rise from their mortal shell and await the hand of Death to ferry them to the afterlife. While various species of are known to exist around the continent, the most common of sorts to Necrotheologists and the Coven of Thorns is the Nevermore Raven. Nevermore Ravens are often seen near old cemeteries where they nest in the withering trees or upon the battlefields picking carrion off freshly slain soldiers. This particular breed of raven too has often served as a messenger bird of the Coven's assassins, not to mention some of the assassin's taming them to be a faithful companion. Their method of attack often is using their razor sharp beaks to peck at their aggressors or claw at them with their small but lethal talons. Nevertheless, there's only been a few stray accounts of an assassin ordering a raven to attack.

~The Otherworld~

"Confuse ye not that barren pit of flames and misery with the Otherworld, for the Otherworld is the paradise of the fallen and the lands upon which the Father of Shadows rules with his queen. Yea bearing be this land of peace and tranquility, of songful joy and merrymaking, eclipsed by comforting shadows of eternal night."

-Excerpt from the burned tomes of the Grey Old Ones

Often times confused with Hell, the Otherworld is a realm of the afterlife that serves as a paradise for the souls of the departed to forever live happily in eternal life. According to Necrotheologists, the land is bountiful with fresh harvest and those who dwell upon it are joyous and sing forever as they are free from the ebb and woe of mortal life. The sky is also frozen in nighttime, with a wondrous view of the moons and the stars that dot its lovely, violet-hued skies.

[Red Wizard]

Necromancy as I intended it has nothing to do with other planes. The necromancer simply animates a corpse, i.e, makes it move. It has nothing to do with souls or otherworldly powers.

[Rusalka]

Golem said
Necromancy as I intended it has nothing to do with other planes. The necromancer simply animates a corpse, i.e, makes it move. It has nothing to do with souls or otherworldly powers.

XD Darn it I read that wrong. My bad man. Sorry.

[Red Wizard]

No problem, I might have been unclear about that :)

[VitaVitaAR]

@Rusulka: I'll be honest, um, I'm kind of confused. ^^;

I honestly don't mind a death-worshipping religion at all, and the assassins have strong ties to it makes sense. What really confuses me is the Reon stuff. For one thing, they're just one religion among a vast number in the city, so they're not actually the most prominent. There's probably not one religion in particular that is the most prominent, really. They're just the first one written up, eh-heh. And while I don't think Reon's devotees would be particularly approving of a death-worshipping religion, at the same time there's no mention of regular believers doing anything that would really work them up. The only ones who kill people are murderers and assassins to begin with, for one thing. I'd understand a bit more if all the believers killed people or themselves, but the fact remains that if there's a religion in Karstberg's temple district it needs to be tolerant enough to deal with all the others around it. Or at least the sect(s) in Karstberg.

The Church of Reon would probably have bigger problems with the Grey Council given their intense dislike of mindless undead(wicked undead too but the Grey Council doesn't make those). A death-based religion would be kind of not exactly approved of, but not as much.

... That and I haven't really put much thought into the Church of Reon's thoughts on the afterlife yet. ^^; At most I have a vague idea of what a good Reon devotee would get, and no idea on what they think happens to bad people at the moment.

[Rusalka]

VitaVitaAR said
@Rusulka: I'll be honest, um, I'm kind of confused. ^^;I honestly don't mind a death-worshipping religion at all, and the assassins have strong ties to it makes sense. What really confuses me is the Reon stuff. For one thing, they're just one religion among a vast number in the city, so they're not actually the most prominent. There's probably not one religion in particular that is the most prominent, really. They're just the first one written up, eh-heh. And while I don't think Reon's devotees would be particularly approving of a death-worshipping religion, at the same time there's no mention of regular believers doing anything that would really work them up. The only ones who kill people are murderers and assassins to begin with, for one thing. I'd understand a bit more if all the believers killed people or themselves, but the fact remains that if there's a religion in Karstberg's temple district it needs to be tolerant enough to deal with all the others around it. Or at least the sect(s) in Karstberg.The Church of Reon would probably have bigger problems with the Grey Council given their intense dislike of mindless undead(wicked undead too but the Grey Council doesn't make those). A death-based religion would be kind of not exactly approved of, but not as much.... That and I haven't really put much thought into the Church of Reon's thoughts on the afterlife yet. ^^; At most I have a vague idea of what a good Reon devotee would get, and no idea on what they think happens to bad people at the moment.

Ahh right... XD It's cool Vita. You see when I was coming up with Necrotheism, I had this idea in mind that it would be an antagonistic religion to Reon belief, since I sorta looked at the Church of Reon to be the biggest religion in Karstberg , kinda like how Catholicism was for Italy during the time, since that's kinda the vague mental image I get of Karstberg being like Rome or Venice during the Enlightenment Era. There was also how Reon dealt with light and Death was well...darkness lol, but I probably albatrossed myself on that note lol XD True there isn't much of an occult ritual aspect to Necrotheism other than sacrifice to Death through murder mostly, but I just figured for a religion like Reon that is based upon the Sun, which would be light, they would have a bone or two to pick with those who worship darkness, because I could even see moon worship as light too. But anywho, sorry for the confusion. My crazy, and I believe medically insane mind just went into overdrive with the imagination and I just started typing what came to mind.

So as peace offering.....

Here

[Sam12435]

Golem said
What's to stop him from doing both? It's not like he has an obligation to the guild while he's still alive.

You know, as soon as I read that I imagined the commercial with the tacos and the little girl that is like 'Why don't we have both? '

I laughed a little bit XD

[VitaVitaAR]

I can see where you were coming from, but I wanted to avoid stating something is the "biggest religion" since I feel that kind of restricts options but, um, I don't know. If murder is a ritual all believer perform, um, yeah, they'd have some pretty big trouble with that. But just worshipping death and darkness by itself would... well, they wouldn't like it but going as far as you thought they would probably wouldn't happen.

It's okay, though, um, you're a million times more reasonable then other people I used to deal with them GMing for one thing, eh-heh. ^^; And this discussion has made me think a bit more about what I might want to do with some of the Church of Reon's beliefs and stuff.

Also adorable kitty yay!

[Rusalka]

Sam12435 said
You know, as soon as I read that I imagined the commercial with the tacos and the little girl that is like 'Why don't we have both? 'I laughed a little bit XD

XD I thought of that too really.

@Vita: I'm glad to hear that, and don't worry about me blowing up. That only happens when I get mega-pissed, and no point in jumping the gun over a little dispute like this. If you want, I don't mind editing all the Reon stuff out of the description. It's cool with me. ^_^ As for murder, since the Coven are the only worshipers of Death remaining, they are pretty much obliged to commit such, but only if they are contracted by clients to do so. I guess in a way the Coven is both a religious cult and an organization of assassins lol XD

[VitaVitaAR]

Alright, if you edit out the mentions of Reon that's fine with me. It fit the assassins really well and all, so, um, yeah, eh-heh.

[Rusalka]

VitaVitaAR said
Alright, if you edit out the mentions of Reon that's fine with me. It fit the assassins really well and all, so, um, yeah, eh-heh.

Okie dokes. I took out the mentions, but would it still be ok if Necrotheism is like an enemy to Reon worship? Nothing drastic or anything between them lol, just more of a "I don't necessarily like you because you creep me out and I'm afraid you'll kill me in my sleep <_<" sorta thing. XD

[VitaVitaAR]

That's fine with me.

... I also know what happens to good people as far as Reon worshippers are concerned now so that's nice, eh-heh.

[VitaVitaAR]

Also, um, do want to post with Mizuko again and have her finish up the fried rice, but there's some people in the scene who need to post and hm.

[Regendorf]

Sorry for the very late post...been away from the PC for a while and my mobile can't handle more than one liners.

The funk...Now how is Ezel gonna respond to you and avoid awkwardness...
May I edit a preemptive answer to the job offering? or do I post again later?

[Sam12435]

Up to you brother, im fine either way but whatever you feel like doing :D

[Rusalka]

XD If a gigantic rock dude that's like ten times taller than you says to come with him, eight times outta ten it doesn't end well.

[Sam12435]

I had a giant rock dude tell me to come with him before. It was a different type of rock dude though, he had a metallica t shirt and long hair. Naturally i got in his car. Long story short, my friend's brother drove us to a concert.

Tangents!
Where am i?

[Rin]

I remember when I went to a Metallica concert.

...Still one of the best nights of my life, honestly. Even if I couldn't hear well for the next few days... Or speak, since I'd lost my voice from yelling too much. ^^;

[Sam12435]

Hahaha yea, they are great. I was invited by a mate and it was the best ever.
I couldnt hear a thing after it XD