Adleric Religion

The Adleric religion was the various intertwining beliefs and deities worshiped by the Adleric-speaking nations, now still practiced by a mere few holdout regions around the Ninequick Sea, esp. on the larger populated islands.
== Current ==
Villages in Istad, Skara, villages on the coast in Fotla, and villages near the sea in Dalsland still keep the old gods.
Swachen and Sweben are only partially Dionist.
The northern Skaren counties of Muspel, Bega, and Dals, and the island of Han, though officially Dionist according to the crown, are ruled by lords who serve the Adler gods and nearly all of their subjects follow suit.
== Traditional ==
Far in the past, cultures speaking Adleric languages worshiped gods similar to those still worshiped in the remote Skaran regions. Traces of their names and stories are found all over the cultures of Gretchland, Skara, Falken, Shwachen, and Sweben. In Gretchland, the beliefs are quite different as they have been intermingled with the Corvic gods encountered there upon the Gretch people's western expansion. Likewise, in Dalsland there are borrowings from the Tanusian gods—but the predominance of Gelaithism holds the greatest sway in beliefs across the kingdom.
=== Cultic Deities ===
Name 	Patronage	Weapon	Meaning
[chief god] 	old ruler, henotheisticly supreme
sacred groves
sacrifice
chains, worshipers chain themselves
wolves are nemesis
weapons taken in battle first ritually hung from a tree before being kept
(depiction always rather youthful, made decidedly young in some sects/cultures when [the wandering war god] ascends to the throne (after his initiation ritual / trial))	hands 	'god' (sky)
[wandering war god]	wandering, divine messenger, prophecy, poetry, knowledge, wisdom
ritual magic, esp. shadow and dark magic
war, warriors, armies, battle
ravens
death, psychopomp
father	spear 	'furious'
[thunder god] 	lighting, thunder, storms
oak trees
strength (cf. Tulkas), protection
fighting dragons and serpents
largest tree in Skara attributed to him	hammer	'thunder'
[success god] 	king - high priest (judge, priest, general) [cf. Ancient China]
penis, virility, male fertility
prosperity, wealth, good weather (sunshine)
pleasure
horses
pointed hat, pointed beard	sword 	'lord'
[beauty goddess] 	beauty, female fertility, love esp. love songs
foresight, divination, fate reading
weaving
meadows
ships (esp. enchantedly of air or land)
falcons
flying spells and enchantments
altars (piles of stones)	staff,
cat familiars	'lady'
Ruling, presiding male. Triad of male companions beneath him (one of whom (the wandering one) fathers more children than the highest god). One female.
Nature spirits and family guardian spirits are female. Secondary, votive cult practices for them. Land spirits are animals.
==== Minor Reverence ====
feasts, votive, and prayer
Name 	Patronage 	Meaning
[dawn goddess] 	spring, dawn 	'dawn'
'east'
[fertility goddess] 	agriculture, crops, earth mother; grove on an island near the shore; covered cart only priests can touch, moved with cows and attended by the priests the whole time, the cart is washed after	'strength'
[attendant] {f} 	attendant to the lady goddess, servant, messenger
ash wood, chests, protecting possessions
secrets 	'bountiful'
[guardian goddess] 	bright, shining
shimmering beauty hard to behold
protection, attacks enemies with burning light, weather 	'fenced'
[mother goddess] 	woman, mother, grief 	'mother'
[brothers] 	elk brothers
cross dressing priest 	'elks'
[tutelars] {f} 	spirit ladies
placation, protection, fate
filgie 	'goddess'
[fate spirits] {f} 	fate, fate nudging
leading trio of ladies rising from a lake 	'twine'
[battle spirits] {f}	female warrior spirits, battle
fallen in battle, psychopomps 	'corpse chooser'
[nature spirits] 	land guardians
often animals 	'creature'
Sacred groves
Sickness attributed to spirits (alfs, demons, etc.).
Many spirits are believed to always take a form mimicking neighboring kins, in exaggerated fashion: kobolds (described in dwarf form), sprites (described in childish elf-like, gnome, or halfling form), mares (also described in dwarf form), bug / drude / sickness spirit (described in thurse form).
Emphasis on written spells, esp. in ancient alphabets. Spoken spells also important, usually sung.
Shadowy "ghost" army of the wandering war god (blackening their shields and bodies, they raid at night).
=== Cosmic Deities ===
Name 	Qualities 	Meaning
[perfect] 	bright, shining
fairest, most handsome, most skilled
well spoken, smart, wise, intelligent
white flowers
invincible, protective spells
dying god, resurrection, rebirth	'bold'
[perception] 	bright, shining
glittering, scintillating
white
watchman, incredible hearing, incredible eyesight
warning, magical signal, summoning and manifesting spirits, awakening ghosts	'home-bright'
'radiance of the world'
[death] {f} 	ghosts, psychopomp 	'hidden place'
[youth] {f} 	rejuvenating fruit 	'ever young'
[knowledge] 	knowledge, memory, wisdom, lore, scrying 	'memory'
[bard] 	poetry, singing, words 	'poetry'
[agriculture] {f}	ploughing 	'giving'
[messenger] 	messenger 	'war-spirit'
[vengence twin 1]	ritual silence, no hand washing, and no hair combing for vengence, during revenge quest/posse	'wide rule'
[vengence twin 2]	created for vengence; surviving, enduring 	'little warrior'
[war] {f} 	battle 	'battle-mother'
[sunrise] 	bright, shining 	'dayspring'
[sun] {f} 	sun
shadow wolf chases 	'sun'
[moon] 	moon, man in the moon
shadow wolf chases 	'moon'
[day] 	day 	'day'
[night] {f} 	night 	'night'
[earth] {f} 	earth 	'earth'
[earth] 	formation of earth, natural cycle, chimeric birth 	'two'
[sea] {f} 	ocean, waves, esp. rough seas 	'robber'
[water] 	holy water drawn out of spring in silence 	[borrowed from Gelathism]
[shore] {f} 	turns sand red 	'sand-red-dye'
Personified: fame/glory, courage, might, strength
Fae dwarf-like people are considered the original inhabitants of the land that built the ruins and megalithic structures found in the area. (The elves contest it was just ancient humans.)
[supernatural trickster]	knots, loops, tangles
roaring spider
spider webs, nets
wyrm/wurm/orm
accusation, verbal roasting, oracular contest
shapeshifting
long horizontal mustache, curling on end
(sometimes has horns)	'loop'
fire necklace: sunny, gleaming, amber
=== Dalsen Variant ===
 	
Himi	ale
 	
 	
== Cultural References ==
Even in Dionist nations, four days of the week in Adleric languages derive their names from the four most revered gods.
A spell for telekinetically moving or animately enchanting a sword is called [success god]'s Sword (or "Sword of the Gods".
== Meta ==
* tiwas (sky, bright)
* ansuz (breed, reproduce, create)
* gudã (poured (offering), invoked)
Category:Adleric peoples
Category:Falken
Category:Religion
Category:Skara