Vitamortem

**Vitamortem** is a polytheistic religion that worships the True Gods of Death, Life, Reality, Plague, Rebirth and Sky and serve as the only safe place for dragons. It is illegal to practice or follow Vitamortem views, being caught most of the time costs your life.

## Gods

### Death

The name of this god was long lost to time, now is simply known as **Death**, or more commonly **The Original One**. It's commonly believed within Vitamortem groups that death was the first being to exist, and originally was the **void**, of which it is believed that all **souls** go to when they die. The Original One is also believed to be the lover to **life**, and the father of the four other **true gods**.

People who worship The Original One believe that the end of ones life is the most important moment of it, it is the time when the gift of life goes to it's receiver. So they make their lives about being as good as they can possibly be for their journey to the jaws of death, they tend to be more morbid, but they don't take that morbidity as bad, because death is seen as a sacred thing that's unavoidable, these people don't tend to fear it, after all they await the day life's gifts finally get to her lover, and they are those gifts. People who worship him tend to become morticians, cemetery workers or help people with funerals. **Symbols of this god include**: The color black, skulls/bones, large reptiles and cats and the black rose.

### Life

The name of this goddess was long lost time, now is simply known as **Life** or more commonly, **Great Mother Life**. Ideas to which life spawned is heavily debated between Vitamortem scholars even now, some say she simply manifested into existence, others say life and death were once the same, the only thing that is excepted by all members is that she created the world and everything within it, mainly the soul. It is widely believed that she was the lover to **death** and the mother of the four other **true gods**.

People who worship Great Mother life believe that to live is the most important in the world, and that the best way to do it is to be charitable and help others in having a good life, they also believe that new life is sacred and will often take care of a child, animal or even a plant to strengthen their virtue. These people tend to be optimists, seeing beauty in all of life's creations and making the effort to maintain it. People who worship her tend to become midwives, caregivers to the old and young, and farmers. **Symbols of this god includes:** the color white, butterflies, bunnies, unicorns, flowers and the vitalily.

### Reality

***Main Article: Rem***

Reality, their actual name is **Rem**, but it's taboo to say their name aloud, as names hold power and Rem is often considered the most powerful and most important of the true gods, so saying their name is a way of getting the deities attention and though Rem is heavily respected it's seen as a last resort to call upon the god by name. What one would use instead is **Reality** to refer to them. Rem is the eldest of the children of life and death, and is seen widely as a protector, using their many eyes to guide the lost or directionless.

Those who worship them believes in the value of knowledge and history, to explore and learn all one can about everything in the world, from studying different lifeforms, to magic and the mind and eventually educate others on their knowledge as a form of becoming truly one with reality. They believe that they should guide others as reality had spiritually guided them. People who worship them often become: teachers, travelers and historians. **Symbols of this god includes:** the color blue, eyes, sewing materials, and the peacock.

### Plague

***Main Article: Kenos***

Known as plague, illnesses, disease, but his true name is **Kenos**, he is believed to be the second eldest of the children of life and death, though there had been some debate between vitamortem scholars. Kenos is seen as both a blessing and a curse, he punishes with plague but he can also take away such suffering. He's also the father of most non true god dragons that run about.

People who worship Kenos believe in the value of the shortness of life, and the importance of understanding even the painful aspects of the world and that it's still valuable even if it hurts. They also believe that medical care is a way to get in touch with Kenos, a huge part of this form of worship is to try to understand the uncomfortable and the grim, and Kenos and his nature as the very aspect of illness is a reminder that not everything that looks bad on first sight is. People who worship him often become doctors, alchemists and therapists. **Symbols of this god includes:** The Plague Symbol, a scythe, rats, flies, and vultures.

### Rebirth

***Main Article: Ena***

Rebirth, or his true name **Ena**, he is believed to be the third child of life but again that is debated heavily among scholars whether or not the most accepted birth order is correct. Ena is seen as a savior to those who've lost their lives too soon or to prosecution for being Vitamortem or a dragon.

People who worship Ena believe in reincarnation and the salvation of those who've died unfairly via a new start. They believe that worship and devotion to the gods strengthen their chances at a new life after death, and Ena is commonly prayed to after funerals by grieving families who pray the next life to be better for the departed. The concept of change and renewal is important to these people, as the recreation of anything can be seen as a way to honor or contact Ena spiritually. People who worship him often become: Preservationists, artists, and cooks. **Symbols of this god include:** the spiral/circles, phoenixes, lanterns, fungi, and moths.

### Sky

***Main Article: Astralocus***

The Sky, or his true name **Astralocus** is believed to be the youngest of the true gods, and his placement in the birth placements of the dragon siblings is less debated than his siblings, but that doesn't mean it's not. Astralocus is seen as a messenger, sending signs and warnings via the stars in the night sky, or the clouds and weather.

People who worship Astralocus believe in looking to the sky could give one all the answers they need and that it's always there to help you on your journey in life. They believe that the best way to understand and connect to their deity is working with the stars, they notice the exact placement and movement of the stars throughout the year and how it determines what happens, be it summer through winter or the perfect time to harvest crops, there is no doubt that the sky is useful, and no one understands this better then a Astralocus devotee. People who worship him often become astrologers, navigators and advisors. **Symbols of this god includes:** Stars, suns, moons, meteors, and the wondering star bird.

## Organization and Structure

### Places of Worship

Vitamortems worship at well hidden temples or home shrines which would also need to be hidden. This is due to the practice of Vitamortem being punishable by death that they must be hidden. But the temples themselves tend to be underground, which gives room for them to he huge beautiful structures full of tapestries, murals and stain glass depictions of their gods, every hall has a different prayer carved into the floor and walls. There's many different rooms, notably the sanctum, nave, the rooms dedicated to worship of each god, the crypts, the nursery, an orphanage, a kitchen, a library and a clinic.

Personal shrines are for those that aren't near any temples or if it's not safe to go there, shrines usually include offerings, candles, gems and a symbol or statue of the god/s they worship.

### Higharcy

#### Relkan

The Vitamortem religion is headed by a single relkan, a relkan is are the highest ranking of Vitamortem higharcy and there can only be one at any given time period, there hasn't been one since the previous disappeared. They swear their lives and soul to serving the true gods and being a leader for their people . It's an extremely respected role and incredibly hard to even be considered to be one, for starters you'd have to have had an extremely virtuous life, and know the pracitces and worship of all of their gods, they must travel to every temple scattered throughout the world, they must know all of the songs, stories, lessons and morals, and they must be intelligent, experienced and wise. It's common that a relkan will train their future successor. They must know the weight of their position. When they're ready, and the previous relkan is almost at the end of their life, they must be voted upon and when that's done they must take The Vow of Vitamortem, and lock themself in the position by saying the words "Until the Death of Rem", which binds their soul to their words and it never fades. They must organize and keep in order the temples, regularly visit them, preach daily, do charity work and maintain any holy grounds that still stand. Relkans have very little free time.

#### Temple Priest

The Temple Priest is the person who manages their specific temple and everyone within the temple. They're chosen based on their virtues, how devoted they are and significance, doing a great deed or being of draconic blood helps one gain the position. However they must be put through several purity tests of in order to actually get the position, as a corrupt head priest would be sin for the entire temple. But if they pass they may lead the temple. They also have other responsibilities such as contacting other temples, making decisions in the unspoken war between them and the exians and keep their members safe.

#### Vitam

A Vitam is what the temple staff is called, vitams first must be taught extensively in the doctrine and faith of vitamortem before permitted to work at the temple. When there they have basic chores, along with prayer they have to clean, cook, watch over the nursery and orphanage, help members who have to move into the temple because they're unsafe anywhere else or have no home, take care of the old and watch over the cemetery and divine rooms.

#### Viamor

A viamor is a religious novice, who as a part of their training are sent out on missions to spread the faith of the true gods and to be trained in battle. They study and train endlessly to advance the higharcy.

## Belief System

### Doctrine

Though much of it's history and stories have been long lost to the cruel grip of time, Vitamortems still managed to save a handful of text shared between them, Vitamortem beliefs are centered around the True Gods, these true gods were personifications of their aspects, and they were Life, Death, Reality, Plague, Rebirth and Sky.

The faith believes that everything was once the void, death. But a single light had immerged in the darkness, life. The two fell deeply in love and created the world, and then had their four children, the first being Reality. Everything was fine until the first sin, it's specifications are unknown and lost but he world was once a utopia, but the first sin dirtied it, and so pain, hunger, and every bad thing you could imagine were sent upon the world along with Plague to punish mortals who betrayed them. But they were unable to get the false gods, and had rebirth and the sky, what happened to life and death after that is completely unknown. But a long time after this terrible event the first child, Reality spoke to a prophet of the true gods, and that prophet went on to gather people and founded the Vitamortem religion.

Another thing is that Life, Death and Reality are often referred to as the nelere trinity or the holy trinity, being the most important and powerful of the true gods due to being seen as the most powerful or most vital to existence.

Base beliefs of the faith can be split into virtues and sins. Virtues being charity, kindness and acceptance to others, nothing is more virtuous than helping others in making their life better. A common belief is that all souls are a gift from life to death, and that soul is sent out into the world to develop into the best it could possibly be before it's sent to death, so it's important to be virtuous, to help others, to be kind and to learn your place in the world as a precious gift made from the love of life to the loving arms of death.

Sins would be dishonesty, theft, greed, sloth, vandalism, cheating and gambling but unforgivable sins are much worse and can get you exiled. The unforgivable sins are:

1. Violence against the True Gods, or becoming a false god. The only gods that are not true that are okay by the faith are dragons, and gods that ascended via Rem's decision.
2. Abuse against another living being, be it mental, physical, or otherwise, this sin becomes worse when it's against a child or a family member. This includes slavery and experimentation on other sentient creatures.
3. Murder on holy lands or places of worship.
4. Dragon Slaying, killing a dragon is unforgivable as dragons are directly related to the true gods. Killing a sacred animal too, is a sin.
5. Unethical magic, or dark magic. It counts for abuse against another living creature, but also nature itself, and nature itself are the true gods.
6. Tyranny, if one holds power over others, to abuse it a sin to the highest degree. To cause wide-scale suffering while you live comfortably is unforgivable.
7. Necromancy.

But one thing holds true no matter what; everyone goes to the same place when they die, everyone goes to the void regardless of the virtues or sins their life. But the only way to be reincarnated was to either be too young to die, unjustly killed, or a good person.

### Practices

Prayer and worship to the true gods is the most basic duty of a vitamortem. As a part of this art is commonly made to depict and honor the their gods, they write poems and sing to praise them.

But something that's quite mandatory when attending the temple is wearing the proper religious clothing. Long robes, a hood, a cape if the hood isn't do-able, or optionally a mask. They can be customizable as long as they still look like what they're supposed to be. Clothing can be dyed black, white, blue, dark gray, light gray and dark blue. You can sew symbols or wear jewelry with it as well.

Everyday they mourn the dead, a common practice they have is to burn their dead and spread the ashes to the sky, for they believe that just past the sky is the void, which they believe is where you go when you die, their beliefs is that life creates you and sends you to death, Rem guides you through life, Kenos punishes you if you do wrong, Astralocus guides you to death, death takes you as you are a gift, and Ena repeats the cycle.

This is also the order of worship, at the start of the weak on Neremone you are to dedicate to life, then at the end on Asremone you worship Death, Krisremone is the only break day and is used for free time and fun!

They put a lot of importance on the stars and zodiac, believing that certain patterns are messages from Astralocus, who they also believe to be a messenger. They've figured out all but 7 of the constellations, Lily, Jaws, Twins, Spirit, Infinity, Scale, and Sorrow. Which is currently a big interest for astronomers in Vitamortem. They worship the gods for 5 hours of the day, but the whole day they dedicate themself to the god, that's only mandatory time.

The birth of a child is a big deal within the cult and pregnant members will be taken care of well, because life is precious, especially children who will help grow their numbers as well as believing children to be closest to the spirit world and thus the true gods

They also have entire archives documenting all the wrongs the false gods have done, often talk ill about them, which as they get killed for not converting or being a dragon is not unwarranted.

Vitamortems remove your eyes if you commit an unforgivable sin, eyes are symbols of Rem, and if you're going to betray them then you don't deserve to wear a symbol of such an important god as reality. But of course this is just for big crimes, for smaller non banish-able crimes they just cut your hair, which is why it's taboo to have it short people will think you just got caught commiting a crime.

## Known Members

**Relkan Asyri, Life Devotee****Te'koro, Unknown****Temple Priestess Evallia, Death Devotee****Vitam Golden, Life Devotee****Atonia, Plague Devotee****Evgen, Unknown****Prophet Wisp, Reality Devotee******Cherri, Unknown********Phobos, Unknown********Kiro, Unknown******Trivia
------****### Conceptualization and Origins***** Vitamortem takes inspiration from many real religions, most notably paganism, though there are Christian influences.
* The Nelere Trinity is based off of the Holy Trinity or the father the son and the holy spirit. Here though, it would be the mother, the father and the child.****### Curiosities***** Unlike most real life religions, Vitamortems don't have problems with lgbtqa+ people or polyamory. Gender also is unimportant to the religion.****Gallery
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**References/cites
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