Religion

There are a number of different faiths in Elemontia based on geographical and cultural regions; while all of these worship different deities, they are all manifestations of the same divine essences of the world. Whether someone prays to Grienark, the Sølennik deity of the forge and father of the gods, Neiloth, the Palkaran god of Fire and king of all the Palkara, Senakh, the bull-headed god of fire, knowledge and mathematics of the Abet-ha pantheon, or Father Wolf, the Nelaeton great spirit that eats the sun every evening and vomits it back into the sky each morning, the same divine essence, the same deific intelligence, is being evoked.

The primary faith of Elemontia is the belief in the Palkara, the pantheon of greater and minor gods worshipped by most humans and apparently all the non-human races. The primary authority among humans within this faith is the Palkaran Holy Church, whose lead authority, the Pontifical Seat, is located in the city of Dienten in the Dienten Empire. The nation of Enalost meanwhile does not recognize the authority of the Palkaran Holy Church due to many beliefs that are considered heretical to the bulk of Palkaranism, . Finally, a number of ancient animism faiths still persist in the northern, more barbaric regions of Elemontia, espousing beliefs in a greatly distorted view of the Palkara and in ancient animal totems. These faiths are generally disregarded through most of civilized Elemontia as pagan superstition..

## **The Palkaran Holy Church**

The people of Elemontia worship under the guidance of the Palkaran Holy Church The basis of belief for the Palkaran Holy Church is that the gods, known collectively as the Palkara, watch over the world and protect it from diabolic forces which strive to destroy it. The Palkara is divided into two groups – the Alkar, or greater gods, which represent the elemental forces of nature, and the Shaeonosar, which represent the works and emotions of the intelligent races of the world.

## **The Enalosan Palkaran Church**

In Enalost and Tiren, a variation of the Palkaran Holy Church is worshipped. The Enalosans believe that Vantha and Deotha (and their deceased sister Alietha) are one individual, whom they refer to as The Lady and whom they acknowledge as the sole head of the Palkara. They also only pay lip service to the remaining four Alkar in their rituals, referring to them only as The Four Forces, and do not offer any significance to the Shaeonosar, regarding them as mere aspects or manifestations of the Lady or the Four. Otherwise, they believe roughly the same doctrine as the Palkaran Holy Church.

## **Nelaetonism**

The worship of the ancient avatars of prehistory, known as the Nelaetonar, the Great Spirit Beasts, is proscribed throughout most of Palkaranist Elemontia, but some nations of the north—particularly in the frontier regions of Oetahr, Kolkair, Erlosche, Apperna, Filern and the Skeljenisk nations—still worship the Nelaetonar. The Nelaetonar were not seen as deities representing specific ideals, but, rather, great powers that influenced the natural world in a specific region. So, for instance, the Nelaetonar known as Netressa, Father Stag watched over the region that became known as the kingdom of Arthanos.

## **The Sølennik Pantheon**

Gods worshiped in the northern Elemontian regions by those of Filardik descent. A very harsh, barbaric religion based upon blood sacrifice, eventually phased out of favor due to Palkaran missionaries in the Caerdonic Age, though some belief in the Sølenni gods persisted in the Skeljennik nations until well into the 22nd century.

## **The Abet-ha Pantheon**

Faith of Ancient Khetrim, worshiping deities often represented as being half-human, half-animal, that represented natural forces, worshiped in some form through the Kabaqi nations through the Ancient World, only supplanted by the rise of Palkaran faith in the Palandrin era and by belief in the Celestial Chorus by the Age of the Dark Lord.

## **The Alakanist Faith**

The belief that one day an individual known as The Bright One would vanquish all manifestations of evil in the world -- the Beast, Daerkoth-in-exile, Azhthor the Dark Lord -- and allow the people of Elemontia to live their lives free from external malevolent power. The faith acquired its name from the dailon known as Alak who prophesied the coming of the Bright One to Azhthor himself before being martyred for his efforts, though an earlier form of Alakanism, known as the Lemmorean Heresy, was the state religion of Lemmorae for centuries beforehand.

## **The Celestial Chorus**

The belief that the divine and diabolic powers of the world exist as energy vibrating on a specific frequency, acting to create the great Song of Creation. Founded by Panjudabhi, the faith spread through much of Iangdia, western Elemontia, and much of Durbia by the 22nd century.