Lord Samhain

> ***"The fear of death follows from the fear of life. A man who lives fully is prepared to die at anytime." - Breyson Ankou***
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### Description and Depiction

Lord Samhain's full title is Lord Samhain the Esoteric, and he is the god of arcana, death, solidarity, trickery, and twilight. Lord Samhain teachings say that we should think of death as we do birth as a new stage of life, to always take risks, and never take the path most travelled. He says you aren't allowed to change religion. Lord Samhain believes that if heretics attack his followers, then they should expect revenge. He is depicted as a middle-aged man with a short and slim build, wearing a deer skull with large antlers as a mask. He has a long black robe that doesn't have any sleeves. His common symbols are cats, corn, darkness, disease, the moon, moss, owls, pumpkins and rot.

### History

Lord Samhain was born before Huldain like the other gods. Jólnir was the one who created Huldain, Aestas, however, was the first to start a religion, then Ostara copied Aestas but perfected it with the use of candles, Aestas and Jólnir then copied Ostara. The three gods then convinced Lord Samhain to join in. The Lord Samhain gains his power from the candle ceremonies. Lord Samhain’s candle ceremony is a rather grand affair not as massive as Aestas’ ceremony, but it is still quite big with many activities. The days leading up to it are filled with preparing for it. Lord Samhain can access Huldain through a tower called Otsum Tower, built by Jólnir. Lord Samhain played a very minor role in Huldain's history for a long time because people thought he was just the keeper of death and not a god in his own right. Lord Samhain didn't care to change this preconception believing having a following wasn't necessary until he was convinced by his brother and the growing of Farltiff's society to make himself known. He has since got hooked on the power it brings. The Lord Samhain' religion is the only religion that wasn’t founded by the god, the mortal who founded it was a human named Manfred who spread the word with Farltiff. Lord Samhain’s following began when Manfred felt that his country wasn’t cursed but instead blessed by Lord Samhain, the god of death, he then convinced Farltiff he was the prophet of this god. It has changed since then by becoming more palatable and less about the grim and horridness of death, it began as a religion that believed that it was a black sheep of religions as it wasn’t even started by the god themselves.

### Relationships with the Other Gods

He is the youngest out of the four gods of Huldain. Lord Samhain respects his siblings, but he doesn't like them, though he has no intention of getting rid of them just replacing them. Lord Samhain believers think that Ostara is the Lord’s Lady, Jólnir is Lord Samhain’s advisor, and Aestas is the court fool.

### Lord Samhain's Congregation

The places of worship are the churches of Lord Samhain. People don’t have to go to church to pray as they can just pray to the moon. Lord Samhain followers’ praying procedure is concise compared to other religions, but this is because the followers do them often. Lord Samhain has some sacred songs and scriptures. The members of the faith are the nuns/monks, priests, high priests and Farltiff residents. Being a nun/monk, priest, or high priest is a full-time position but being in that position just means you are supported by the Lord of Farltiff Lord Samhain teaches to only attack people that attack first. The leader of Lord Samhain's religion is the high priests. It is believed the high priests are chosen prophets that are granted the ability to speak to Lord Samhain. High priests are picked from priests during a ceremony that occurs on blood moons. The Lord Samhain religion is only technically a part of Farltiff’s power structure. The sins are being habitual, anxious of death, languid, lethargic, oppressive, or worthless. Righteous action is doing something unexpected, especially if it’s a trick or prank. The nuns/monks wear their regular street clothes with a black hooded poncho (that is shorter than the High priests’ poncho) over the top and a Canoa hat. The priests wear long black flowing robes with a dark orange or dark purple sashes around their waist, they have knightly gauntlets that have claw-like fingers, to cover their face they wear Venetian style masks and with a Cappello Romano on their head. The High priests wear the same as a priest, but with a hooded poncho type cloth over their robe and instead of a Cappello Romano they wear a mitre with antlers coming out the side. Their ceremonial garbs are armour made out of bones complete with a skull helmet which through magical means has glowing eyes, they also paint their skin completely black. The hierarchy of the congregation is the high priests at the top, then below them is the priests, the nun/monks and the Farltiff residents at the bottom.

### Worshippers

Lord Samhain is worshipped mostly by the inhabitants of Farltiff, they believe that Huldain was created by Lord Samhain's magic in his image out of the darkness. Lord Samhain was late to the party of starting a religion compared to the other gods. Unlike his siblings, before he started, he already had a following as the people of Farltiff felt they were cursed and so decided to worship Lord Samhain even without his input. People worship him by asking neighbours for his blessing, praying to the moon and putting candles inside of pumpkins. Lord Samhain gathers followers usually via the books of his teachings. The followers are not required to make sacrifices, but they are appreciated. All Lord Samhain followers that die end up in the same place, Lord Samhain’s realm. This is not a place of punishment or reward, it is known as either as the second stage of life. However the souls that end up here only last as long as someone alive remembers them. His followers have a deep fear of Lord Samhain's wrath so they created stringent traditions such as the Hallow, the ceremonial garments are worn during the candle ceremony, and before the service starts going to your neighbours and asking for Lord Samhain's blessings. Birth is celebrated by using candles to predict the baby’s death and finding out if they are null or magi. Marriage in Lord Samhain’s religion is celebrated by the partners committing to each other via suicide pact. Death is not a sombre affair for Lord Samhain believers. They gather family and friends and use candles to communicate with the dead person’s fleeting soul.