Religon

**Much like the time of the Industrial Revolution, people are growing up in more secular environments. Baradin-Assan is obviously a theocratic order, so they’re very religious, and some of the more traditional societies like Atlas could be religious as well.**

**The beliefs of the old Empire have long since been forgotten, but out of its fall came a variety of beliefs:**

**The largest religion by far is Avanism, which emerged from the post-Imperial beliefs of Anicism. Anicism believes that the fall of the Empire was the result of a massive war between Ani (God) and the Empire, and that the Grimm are Ani’s creatures. As a result, the Empire was destroyed, and the Moon – Ani – was mortally wounded. This discouraged its followers from reusing Imperial tech – part of why the faith came into being was out of fear of repeating the past, whatever it was.**

**Avanism emerged out of an Imeret that eventually became Baradin-Assan as an inter-religious reform of Anicism. It states that the massive war was actually between God and the Grimm, and the Empire just got in the middle of it all. Not only does this justify using Dust as a power source, but its also what started the Hunter societies en masse. Naturally, the very first ones were religious orders.**

**Avanism — comparable to Protestantism — is a belief in and of itself, but also opened the way for a number of other sects. For example, the Church of Beacon subscribes to the Gaetri belief, which is a sect of Avanism that states a human person is separated into two spheres – the “Aura” and the body. Animals, plants, Faunus, and Grimm, by this definition, have no soul. Its a religion that was founded in Gaillas and spread to the surrounding countries. There are Gaetri majorities in Atlas and the Free Banks, and a sizeable minority in Borro. At the heart of Gaetri’s doctrine is the betterment of the soul; how one can achieve enlightenment through experience and the enrichment of one’s Aura. And so a lot of this is put into practice at places like Beacon.**

**Circa 600 AE, Atlas’ Hunters, as well as a few village militias, finally pushed back the Grimm out of Marathon, and then after that — nothing. Anicism was really taking off and a large part of its doctrine said that the Grimm were basically the children of Ani, and that humankind was banished to this one enclave of Terria. There were countless debates on whether or not the Hunters should even push the Grimm out of Marathon, but with or without religion, the roads needed to be safe, and merchants didn’t want the Grimm endangering the countries’ economies. Like, what’s more important; repenting to a dead God, or not starving? So it wasn’t until rogue scholars in Salar-Assan started propagating that the Grimm were the reason the Empire fell, and that humankind was Ani’s children all along, that Avanism started being popular. This conflicted pretty badly with Anicist countries, especially Atlas. Which is ironic seeing how they were the reason Hunters even existed.**

**Specific to the Gaetric offshoot of Avanism, the Maidens in this world will be referred to as The 4 Sisters, and are each responsible for holding up a basic principle or pillar of the Gaetric faith, acting as icons which to pray to and to focus energy into individual aspects of the religion. Instead of being physical people, they would just be featured as part of the iconography of the religion, being widely known and fairly mutable between regions. However they generally fall under the same 4 tenements to the faith:**

**Spring: Representing rebirth, bravery, and courage. In some regions a symbol of youth, in others maternity. Displayed generally as an icon of peace.**

**Summer: Strength in all its forms; Strength of body, Strength of mind, and Strength of will. Commonly called upon on battlefields, or called upon in training as an exemplar of fortitude.**

**Fall: Temperance, balance. Generally exemplifies moderation in life and the control of the self when facing larger threats. Commonly displayed in temples and around confessional booths, her iconography is generally muted in color and design.**

**Winter: Sacrifice, persistence. An icon resembling not death, but rather representing the greater good of the whole of humanity. An icon generally reserved for funerals and representative of becoming one with Ani, and is seen as a guardian of the soul in the face of Grimm.**

**In this sense, to be told you embody a maiden would be a sign of ultimate respect rather than a source of actual power, basically being told you were saint-like in your actions and seen as a paragon of the faith. And also randomly, these are common baby names. So, given their faith, Jacques naming Weiss’ older sister “Winter”, and Ruby’s mother “Summer” actually have religious connotations.**

**With the rise of industry in Marathon, and the absence of religious doctrine in everyday life, there are a small few clinging to the good Avanist way of life that seems to be crumbling away — a sort of religious awakening, where powerful figures attempt to reintegrate religion into an ever-modern world, to little success. The Church of Beacon is one such example.**