Arosian Mystery Cults

**Arosian** is a religion in Alamayn Nation. The religion has five primary Gods (Aros, Hoggoth, Moloba, Bahiri and Feresi). The Arosian praises these gods for which they help the mortals with things like watering crops to giving light and much more. Arosian is most well known among citizens of Alamayn and some outside the country. Most Arosian rituals held are through either festivals or praying at one of the shrines of the five Gods. It was previously found in Axum nation and historically it is one of the most mysterious cults that continues to grow and be taught to this day.

## **Theology and Religious Texts**

### **Theology**

##### *The Elders*

In the beginning before the plains existed there lived 3 elders A'xio Elder of Space, Ot'embaro Elder of Life, and E'xeria Elder of time. The 3 floated there for thousands of years until 1 of them had an Idea, a game. A'xio made 3 dice appear before all of them. "Let's play a game first 1 to roll 3 6s 75 times in a row, and get the other 2's powers for the next 300 years” . The other agreed and began rolling the dice. Years went by and each dice roll carried a fraction of the elder's power due to them trying to rig it, but A'xio knew this and made the dice expel their power the moment they added it including his even though he tried rigging it anyway. After millennia of them rolling over and over, the Plain of Rathnir took shape. Earth shaped into mountains and cliffs, Seas carved holes in the earth, clouds floated above it all. Fire covered the earth till rain and after the rain life began to bloom. Animals took shapes changing to fit the chaos. But the game ended in a tie after all this time. Each of them rolled 3 6s 75 times in a row and all of them ran out of power. The Elders looked down and saw what they wanted. They loved it. But after all their energy expanded they faded into the land they formed. Their bodies' energy mixed with one another forming the 5 Main gods. Aros, the King of the gods being the oldest and was born with the sun. Hoggoth was born underground in a cave and broke through the earth after years of being in a cave with each hit on his underground roof he felt the death and souls forged within his body. Bahiri was formed in the ocean, and was quite the trickster to all the other gods. Moloba was formed from the clouds and has all 3 minds of the Elders knowing all the information they knew. Feresi was born among the animals but first was a deer, but every animal it saw it mimicked and transformed copying the animal, giving birth to its ability to change into any animal it sees.

## **The Gods**

### ***Aros***

***God of Sun, Chief of the Gods***

***God rank:*** Emperor

Aros the God of Sun and Chief of the Gods, is the Bringer of victory, Master of blessings, Breaker of dawn, Lover of gold and Ruler of the plain of God, Fe'Hornema. With his powers he gives light to all of Rathnir protecting them from evil. He is the main God that is worshipped the most by the religion and his sacred animal is a Llama.

**Description**

Aros is covered in golden armour, with a glowing sun symbol on his chest, yellow cape and at the end of the cape is sunset colours. He has his sword in his left hand and the lead of his Llama in his right. He has sandals on his feet but during war time they are switched for golden boots. He has golden glowing eyes, blonde hair, clean shaved face, and mainly has a soft smile when speaking to people.

***Rituals and Celebrations***

Rituals to worship Aros involve sacrificing the evil to him so that they may be purified and continue to protect Axum against evil. Offerings of gold are placed at shrines so that Aros will bless the people of Axum. Every March 17th the Sun Festival is held to praise and give thanks to Aros for all that he has done and will continue to do. Many dress up in their finest of clothes and wear gold accessories. The Sun Festival has many dances and feasts that happen throughout Axum, As well as ceremonies where new members are given a blessing by Aros's Avatar Amilaki Ts'Adik'Ani Saifu.

### ***Hoggoth***

***King of the Underworld***

**God rank:** King

Hoggoth the King of the Underworld and the God of War. He is a hoarder of treasure and forger of weapons. But also a master of torture. Hoggoth is a lover of iron and husband to Clovexio. Born underground (basically hell), Hoggoth is the Warden of souls and Master of curses. His sacred animal is the hog(pig). He is also the Trainer of champions and instigator of war. He is evil and those who worship him usually will die to Aros's hands.

**Description**

Hoggoth wears a complete set of iron armour with a red cape. He has four dual hand axes which change into a battle axe during war. He has jet black hair, red eyes with no facial hair and has lots of muscles. He rides on a giant boar when charging into battle and his helmet has a half  sun with spikes made out of iron.

***Rituals and Celebrations***

Rituals with Hoggoth are mainly done whenever someone dies and depending on their nobility people will honour their deaths for 1-7 days. People will honour the death of a low nobility's death for 1 day and if a king were to die today the kingdom will honour the king's death for 7 days. To honour their deaths involve lighting torches around their grave, placing silver coins on their body and placing their most prized possession in their grave so they can enter death happily and remember their time in life. if no one places a silver coin or a possession of the dead person they will return to the realm of living as a Vengeful without memories and only know to hurt all living things.

### ***Bahiri***

**God of the Sea and all sea life.**

**God rank:** Rule

Bahiri is the God of the sea and all sea life. He is the judge to those who break the rules of the sea and warden to leviathans, krakens, and the God slayers all caged in the Deep Aquarius vault. Bahiri is a teacher to all those who wish to brew alcohol and is a fan of gambling and making bets with gods and mortals. Mortals who go there are underwater and are forced to make a bet with Bahiri for either their life, money, valuables, and on rare occasions even wishes. When Bahiri is in raged tsunamis or heavy waves form. he is worshipped mainly by fishermen and his sacred animals are whales & dolphins.

**Description**

Bahiri has a straw hat, fishing pole slung on his back but during war it is replaced with a harpoon. He wears leather armour/ peasant clothes(to trick mortals into gambling with him). He always has ale in his right hand, never wears shoes cause he likes water on his feet. Bahiri has a hobo-like beard and kelp green eyes and brown hair.

**Ritual and Celebrations**

The Arosian Mystery Cult gives offerings of silver coins to Bahiri in hopes to bring wealth or to gamble with Bahiri. Every year there is a festival on June 15th that celebrates Bahiri. It is called the 'Water Festival', Serving fine alcohol taught from Bahiri to fresh fish that Bahiri gifted. This festival is usually held around October. Activities like fishing are usually done around the festival as it's the best time to harvest fish.

### ***Moloba***

**Goddess of the sky, Goddess of harvest.**

**God rank:** Empress

Moloba is the Goddess of the sky and Goddess of harvest. She brings rain, wind and clouds over Rathnir. When she is in raged tornadoes and thunderstorms appear over Rathnir. Her sacred animal is the Cumuli Sheep and is a lover of copper. Moloba is the Ruler of Skyxeria, a plain separate from the mortal plain and is the land of the clouds. Mortals who enter will float around living through their best dreams and receiving knowledge beyond human understanding till their time is up and struck back to the mortal plain. Moloba is a teacher of knowledge to mortals and a lover of books. .

**Description:**

Moloba has a book in a satchel slung on her right side, has whitish blond hair, blue eyes, wears a flowing blue dress but the dress changes to grey during war. Her wings show a beautiful rainbow that is seen in the sky after the rain as Moloba moves the clouds for Aros to shine light onto the lands. She has 3 sheep following her, each different in sizes.

***Rituals and Celebrations:***

Moloba is celebrated and worshipped through many ways. First being a festival of the Harvest held on September 21st to honour her hard work helping the mortals water the crops. Women wear flower reefs as a rosary and appreciation to the goddess. In the celebrations a feast is held and then after the harvest begins. All the crops are harvested and replanted across a few days. On the evening of the last day of the festival, dances and blessings of the harvest are held to thank Moloba. Another way Moloba is worshipped is through libraries which is basically her shrine but a place where Moloba gave her knowledge to the mortals teaching them stories, tales, fables and much more.

### ***Feresi***

**God of land and all land animals**

**God rank:** Ruler

Feresi the God of land and all land animals, creates mountains, volcanos, lands and animals all over Rathnir. Feresi is a lover of gems and their sacred animal is a horse. Feresi is often peaceful but gets agitated by Bahiri very easily. They are teacher to artists and pet keepers to animals. Feresi is merciful to orphan children and will bless them with the wild taking care of them till they are of age. Feresi is the Ruler of the Wild, a separate plain of existence from the mortal plane where nature is the ruler without the destruction of mortals wrecking natural life. And can shapeshift into any animal it sees or mortals.

**Description:**

Feresi has tree bark like skin and a greenish brown hair on its horse body. They have deep green eyes and tree leaves/vines for hair. Feresi has halberd in both hands but it's only a halberd during war, other times it's a staff with a giant magnolia on the top of it. Feresi has 5 different animals on it, each different every time. 1 animal appears on its back. 2 at its feet, 1 on its shoulder, 1 flying above. They have freckles on its cheeks and its gender varies depending on who it visits and how the person sees Feresi.

**Ritual and Celebrations:**

Arosian rituals for Feresi involve feeding of animals and praying and thanking Fersei for the land that he created with Aros. Another way is visiting the shrine of Fersei and giving offerings to him. There is also a festival held on January 4th where mortals will go out watering plants, plant trees and dance as well as helping other mortals.

## **Shrines**

* Adwa Library(Moloba) - Located in Adwa this shrine is dedicated to Moloba as all knowledge given to mortals by her is stored there.
* The Bedrock Shrine (Hoggoth) - Located near a border of Axum near a ruined town this bedrock structure was gifted by Hoggoth to Ezana Arsema Amilaki
* Fersei’s Pyramid - located near the Bazaar on the left when entering the bazaar from the palace. This structure formed from sandstone as a safe place for orphans to be protected by Fersei.