Religions

## Religious Groups

Religion is a powerful force in Oenus. For most people on the Prime Material Plane the temples and churches provide their primary access to education and medicine. Religious orders also are the main writers of history and wield tremendous influence on the kings.

About 75% of all people follow one of the interpretations of The Faith of the Many. Followers of Jaheonism make up about 15% of the world population. The remaining 10% contains Druids, Demonologists, Triadists, Athiests and Anti-theists, and the many small religions.

Across the sea in mysterious Orba the forces of religion wield much less power. Orba itself is strangely "harder to reach" than the more populous side of the world and so divine magic, the driving force behind much of the faith of Oenus, is much less common.

## Theogeny

*Note that the following information is almost certainly not known to the people of Oenus, let alone the characters.*

In the beginning, there was a single unified whole, with no parts that were in any way interesting, unique, or intelligent. Nevertheless, this unified whole contained all things, all energy, and all potential. For reasons unknown even to the gods there was a spontaneous separation of the unified whole into two equal parts, each with half of all the might needed to constitute and entire reality. These two parts were Order Infallible and Change Eternal. Within Order Infallible there were only two urges- to perpetuate existence and to put all things into their perfect place: their simplest and most elegant form and their most eloquent placement and expression of purpose. Change Eternal also had two urges: to maximize disorder and to break everything into its most elementary components. Order Infallible knew that should the two come into conflict they would not be able to resist returning to their prior form which was undesirable to both. So, in the instant before the end of reality right after its formation he proposed to Change Eternal that they give their situation a little thought and create an arrangement that would satisfy them both by suppressing their own natures for the briefest of moments. He pointed out to Change Eternal that his nature was contradictory and that the best outcome for both of them was to create something which could never be brought into perfect order. Change Eternal and Order Infallible would both need to sequester much of their power into this system, and Change Eternal would create small agents of change onto this system and the entire thing would never be complete, for each new agent would destroy another, preventing a complete structure from ever forming. Order Infallible would manage the system and bring it close to the point of order, and thus into the state most likely to ensure it's continued existence. This would satisfy both of Order Inflatable's urges and would satisfy one of Change Eternal's drives.

It was agreed and both beings cast most of their energy into something new- a reality outside of these two beings. Change Eternal Split Order Infallible into two beings- The Register with absolute power and no will and Illumos with will and comparably little power. He then split himself into the stuff of life- the agents of change upon the system they had created each with a small will and a great melting pot of power from which agents of change could be refreshed but lacking in will.

What they hadn't known in this moment was that by suppressing their natures for a moment to complete this plan, they had created a new being. From divine power nothing important can be made without also creating an equal and opposing thing. Their desire to continue existence had created a [Entropy|Mighty Devourer] which seeks to end all of existence. Thankfully, their plan had a solution to this problem. Change Eternal could bend the energies destroyed by the Great Devourer back into being. Not in their totality in his weakened state, but each agent of change could bend a little bit and if Order Infallible kept everything ordered properly, they could keep the system in balance.

For as long as their has been a reality, Order Infallible and Change Eternal has used the lives of gods and mortals to filter divine energy from the mouth of the Devourer, perpetuating reality by ensuring that none of it stops moving.