Cult of Aora

A stained glass mosaic depicting Aora.

The Cult of Aora is a monotheistic religion that worships a singular goddess, Aora, and the Cult holds values pertaining to loyalty, martial prowess, and independence. The religion is closely related to the Pantheon of Trinity found in Arkvale.

## History

The Cult of Aora traces its origins to the transition from the Old World into the New World, with its followers being those who survived the fall of the Old World and came to the New World. The Cult is directly and closely linked to the Radiant, and is often considered an ethnoreligion because of it. As time went on the Free City of Azmarath was founded and grew into the principle city of the Radiant and thus of the Cult, and later on they would spread the religion to places like Miedzi and Noregr.

## Story

The Cult believes that the Old World was created by a pantheon of many gods and goddesses, some of which were known as the Pantheon of Trinity, all with their own personalities and personal beliefs, and as a result in this they began to quarrel and fight with one another, allowing a dark being to emerge from the Aether, the dimension of the sky, known as Izzonth. Izzonth was a vicious conquer of worlds, and the mighty dragon would soon sink her claws and teeth into the world itself, vanquishing its rulers and gods, discarding them like they were nothing more than paperweights. As time grew however, Izzonth grew slothful and so she created Humans to serve her every whim, building her great temples and offering her sacrifice, to worship her as their god and to act as her slaves. Humanity grew bitter and vengeful against their overlord, the Dreadlord they called Izzonth, and the Pantheon of Trinity for failing to defeat Izzonth, and every act of defiance was met with fires as hot as the molten lava found in the crust.

Humanity finally gained the courage and after many long years of preperation in secret, they enacted an open revolt against Izzonth, Izzonth nearly wiped out the whole of humanity for daring to defy her until a young woman soldier known as Aora found a cave. Within in this cave was a shrine to Pantheon of Trinity, those with her nearly destroyed the shrine in a fit of rage after seeing it however she convinced them not to for she saw something, a manuscript, and fragments of a strange glowing stones. Upon reading the manuscript she discovered why the Pantheon failed in their mission, they could not challenge Izzonth's strength, and so they outsmarted her and created an incantation that would imprison Izzonth into another dimension, they failed to implement the incantation but succeeded in preserving it. Aora amassed a large army, the largest single army to face Izzonth, with the goal of imprisoning her and using the incantation to do so.

After nearly ten years of near constant, worldwide warfare against Izzonth, Aora finally got her chance to cast the incantation. Luring Izzonth through a valley, she used the cliffside in order to climb onto her back and up her neck to her head, before plunging her sword deep into the skull of Izzonth and chanting the incantation: "From this plane you will be banished, for you have made us rot, plunged into the End, preserved to the end." and with recitement of the spell, Izzonth began to wither before the sight of everyone into a glowing, purple mist as her body in our plane was ripped from existence and cast aside into the End, where she is contained for eternity. In order to protect the incantation and its hold of Izzonth, a portal was created to the End to allow monitoring of the dimension, and Aora herself sacrificed herself by swearing an oath to defend the portal for all of eternity. For her act she ascended as the goddess of humanity by the survivors of the war, having not only freed them of Izzonth, but sacrified her own freedom to defend humanity and the New World.

In her ascent to godhood, Aora took some of her followers with her to act as angels, her immortal servants that act as her word and spirit while she defends the portal.

There is a lot of resentment between the Cult and the old gods due to the formers failure to defend the Old World from Izzonth being a direct cause of much strife and pain for humanity, and they view the old gods as weak and unfit to be gods. Despite this resentment however the Cult and the Pantheon of Trinity in particular have remained relatively close in their relations due to their shared heritage.

## Practices

Members of the Cult believe in regular worship of Aora, by way of sacrifice within or at a local temple or holy site. The sacrifice may be an animal, person, or items such as swords or food, they are believed to be taken by the angels and given to Aora in order to sustain her as she defends the portal. There are regular temple services as well as preachings. At the end of every prayer, they end the prayer with "Aora Verndar", meaning "Aora Protects".

## Angelogoy

The Cult believes groups of angels serve Aora during her time at the portal as she can not leave the portal. The angels are divided into four ranks depending on their mission within the New World, and they are voluntary and may come and go as they please, however their memories will not transfer between lives.

* Seraphim - The Seraph defend the portal from outsiders seeking its location, and actively thwart plans to discover its whereabouts and jeopardizing its defense. They are seen as the soldiers and defenders of Aora.
* Cherubim - The Cherubim are the angels that return sacrifice to Aora and offer miracles and gifts to followers of Aora. They are seen as the messengers between Aora and humanity.
* Ophanim - The Ophanim are silent observers, watching the New World and gathering information to return it to Aora, they are able to pierce the veil into your mind and thoughts as well as your wishes.
* Pietis - The Pietis are those who lived an honorable life and have been venerated for their virtue by Aora herself, they are typically equated to saints and are considered the lowest class of angel.

## Clergy

Anyone may start a temple, though there are requirements before being considered a holy temple, that is, one consecrated by the Cherubim. The temple must elect a Bishop, who is in charge of overseeing the temple, and a Priest who preaches at the temple and hosts services at the temple. Depending on location an Archbishop may be required, as one is needed for every continent in order to oversee all temples on said continent. All members of this clergy and any additional temple staff must be ordained in an existing temple by the current Patriarch of Azmarath, who is regarded as the religious leader on the New World. The clergy may engage in marriage freely though are expected to act decently in public spheres and not engage in things such as adultery, heresy, or crime. In order for clergy members to leave the clergy they must