Elven Angelicism

An Angelicist cathedral

**Elven Angelicism**, also referred to as **Angelicism** in the shorthand, is a religion that originated with the elves of Inverhond during the early Third Era. It has spread throughout many different regions of Eukitia as the primary religion on the continent, regularly competing and butting heads against Portuzism, the continent's second largest religion. Angelicism has split into multiple smaller sects that largely get along, however have differing levels of religious intensity and adherence to their holy text, The Absolutist of Ramiel.

## Beliefs

Angelicist beliefs focus on the worship of the Angels, a pantheon of deities that work together in order to ensure the safety of the races of Rosenwelt. Due to the lack of gender in elven culture, all of the elven Angels are typically represented as genderless. Like other polytheistic religions on Rosenwelt, each Angel has a different domain that they have control over - such as the domain of fire, domain of light, domain of war, etcetera. Some Angels have multiple domains they rule over.

In the Angelicist origin story, the sun was once the first and only thing in all of the universe. From its fires rose out Ramiel, Angel of the sun and life. Ramiel was once many-limbed, before he split off his limbs to form the other Angels. Together, the Angels formed Rosenwelt from parts of themselves - Gagiel's left eye was plucked out and his blood formed the oceans, Empyrean's skin was flayed to make the sky and heavens, and finally Morael's bones were used to create the plains and mountains. Ramiel then blessed the world with two gifts - the gift of life, from which all races and animals and plants on Rosenwelt appeared, and the gift of the first book, The Absolutist of Ramiel, which would become the holy text for Angelicists.

The Absolutist of Ramiel describes how to worship the Angels, each Angel and their duties, and how to live a life worth living. It espouses the tenants of devotion, humility, and giving.

Upon death, Angelicist belief states that the soul will be carried by valkyries to Azrael, the angel of death. Azrael will determine whether the soul lived a life worth living by weighing their soul against his own body's weight. Should they be lighter, they are sent to Empyreum, the Angelicist heavenly city that sits atop the sky for all eternity. Should they be heavier, however, they are damned to work in Azrael's realm, Plutoneum, as a slave for the rest of eternity.

Due to the origin of Angelicism being in Inverhond, Angelicist belief sees dragons as creations of Perpetiel, an angel who has found themselves jealous of Ramiel and the other angel's creations and devoted themselves to the destruction of Rosenwelt. Dragons are seen as the agents of this evil Angel and are exterminated at all costs - entire armies of Angelicist belief often marching upon supposed dragon lairs at the slightest suspicion of a dragon living there. This belief exists in stark contrast to the Second Era worship of dragons, especially by elves.

## Practices

### Communal Worship

Communal worship is deeply important to Angelicists. Each sect of Angelicism has a different day in which they choose to gather as a community in the local cathedral or church to read passages from The Absolutist of Ramiel. Typically a cathedral leader, known as a Cardinal, will lead the service and espouse a moral lesson taught by the Absolutist to those in his flock.

### Prayer

Prayer is a regular practice in Elven Angelicism. Followers of the religion will regularly practice prayer by getting on both knees and looking up to the sky, or holding a pendant with an Angel's holy symbol to their heart. To begin a prayer, the words "*Ni maquen-ti*," believed to be a form of ancient Elvish language that roughly translates to "I heed thee." Following this, the prayer is spoken in whatever language is native to the speaker (typically Common), directed to whichever Angel the speaker feels appropriate.

### Religious Warfare

War is a form of worship in Elven Angelicism. While Angelicists do not espouse warfare necessarily, some sects are certainly more militant than others and seek destruction of enemies of the religion. Paladins of Angels, especially Tartys and Azrael, are not particularly uncommon. The Angel Iofiel is the pantheon's angel of dragon-hunting.

## Elven Angels

The following is a list of the major Elven Angelicist pantheon, known as the Angels; other angels do exist however may not be listed as they are considered minor deities.

* Ramiel, angel of the sun and life and creator of all other angels
* Azrael, angel of death, the first angel created by Ramiel and ruler of Plutoneum
* Empyrean, the flayed angel of the moon, sky and ruler of Empyreum
* Gagiel, the one-eyed angel of the ocean and ocean travel
* Morael, boneless angel of the earth, land and of sacrifice, who sacrificed their mobility to create Rosenwelt
* Ophiel, patron angel of monarchs and kings
* Morael, angel of love and loss
* Amnayel, angel of agriculture and hearth
* Douma, angel of the forge
* Tartys, angel of war and strategy
* Verchiel, angel of knowledge and studying
* Araquiel, the angel of commonfolk and trickster deity
* Ubaviel, angel of mounts, especially horses
* Iofiel, angel of dragon-hunting
* Perpetiel, traitor angel of dragons
* Phounebiel, angel of storms and weather
* Kalmiya, angel of the forest
* Dahlia, angel of holy justice and law
* Mihr, angel of alcohol