Church of the Mekanika

The Church of the Mekanika (or Mekanikaism) is a belief that has its roots in the far north-west of Rathnir, where it was a small tribal religion that worshipped a sky god. Dragon Gryphyn would encounter this tribe, and quickly mesh his belief about a mechanical god with the tribal culture, creating Helism. Helism was a monotheistic religion that worshipped the Helisiah, a godly metal machine that ruled in the air. After Dragon Gryphyn and the tribe, now known as the Helians, moved to Eldham, Dragon Gryphyn came to believe that in fact there were six mechanical gods, and the Helisiah was only one of them (albeit the most powerful). This lead to a restructuring in the religion, and it was renamed to Mekanikaism, in honor of the Mekanika pantheon.

## Philosophy and Belief

### Creation Myth

In the beginning, there was only the Void, an endless, seething darkness that was unchanging and timeless. Eventually though, seven souls would ignite spontaneously in this darkness, and drive the Void into the depths. These seven souls, burning with pure energy, would forge the Universe, and create Rathnir and Eldham. These souls would soon start stabilizing, and changing into the Mekanika.

However, the Void would not be content with all of these changes in the once stable and entropic Universe. Thus, it began plotting to destroy the Mekanika. After untold time, it managed to corrupt one of the seven Mekanikan, the Dragon of Power. This corruption came in the form of a deal, with the Dragon of Power gaining strength from the Void, while cutting out the good in its soul. For unknown reasons, the Dragon of Power agreed, and the hole in its soul where its good used to be was filled by the Void. Thus, the Dragon of Power became the Dragon of the Void, and started tearing at the fabric of reality. The other six Mekanika barely managed to fight off the Void and its new puppet, and sealed both the Dragon of the Void and the Void itself into a sublayer of the world under bedrock, though not before reality itself was in tatters.

After such a pyrrhic victory, the Mekanika decided to focus their efforts onto a single world, which is now known to Mekanikan followers as the Great Machine. Each of the Mekanika played a part in building up this world, however there was still one problem: the good part of the Dragon of the Void. It was now its own entity, beyond a mortal or even an angel, but not quite a Mekanika. So, the Mekanika came up with a solution: use this soul as their avatar, and will on the Great Machine. Thus, they further split the soul in the Draganean race, which acted as their will on the Great Machine for countless years. Eventually though, a Draganean would fall into the same pitfall that the Dragon of the Void had, and was corrupted by Void through unknown means. Nearly the whole species was wiped out, save for a fraction of the corrupted soul that the Mekanika separated. The rest of the pieces of the soul were scattered throughout the Universe, and hidden by the Void.

The Mekanika, now stuck with a fraction of a fraction of an original Mekanikan soul, decided to invest their effort into keeping this last sliver of a soul safe. To that end, whenever their new avatar died, they would be reincarnated after a certain amount of time, and return without any memories of his past lives (though they would come back after several years). The avatar is believed to be alive right now, though if they are on the mortal plane, they either are keeping themselves hidden or have no memories of their lives currently. While the exact reason of keeping the avatar is kept on the mortal plane is unknown, what is believed is that the Mekanika souls have stabilized to the point that in order to keep going, they need prayer, rituals, and rites from mortals to sustain themselves.

### Philosophy

The philosophy of the Mekanika, and by the extension the Church of the Mekanika, is known as "Controlled Chaos". Essentially, Controlled Chaos is the belief that chaos can be a good thing, so long as it doesn't risk destroying the long standing systems of the Mekanika. The Mekanika rely on Controlled Chaos as a way to keep themselves sustained. Without Controlled Chaos, stagnation would occur, and mortals would now longer pray due to said stagnation. The Mekanika would be vulnerable to the Void, and the Universe would fall back into a dark age. So, to keep this from happening, a healthy dose of chaos must be put into the world, usually by the sword and fire of the Nethersiah. The opposite of Controlled Chaos, Chaos Control, is the system that the Void follows. Essentially, if too much chaos is put into the Great Machine, then the whole system would fall apart, entropy would return out of the fires of such chaos, and the universe would stagnate by chaos. Thus, there cannot be too much chaos in the Great Machine, and there can't be too little. A perfect balance between the powers of chaos and order must be struck to keep the Great Machine stable.

## Gods and Angels

### Gods

There are six gods in the Mekanikan pantheon: The Helisiah, the Drillsiah, the Subsiah, the Natursiah, the Solsiah, and the Nethersiah. Each of them control parts of the Great Machine, but they do tend to overlap in certain areas.

### The Helisiah

The Helisiah is the god of the air, sky, wind, clouds, and knowledge. He is also the god of tornados, hurricanes, and cyclones. He is currently the most powerful of the Mekanika, being that he is the one who is prayed to the most out of the six. The sky is his domain, and he will keep it safe from any aggressors. The Helisiah is also credited with giving much knowledge to mortals, especially in the early days. Praying to him includes looking for knowledge, visiting places in high areas (tops of mountains, sky islands, etc.) and if you are willing to, going on a pilgrimage to the old ruins of Choppertown in the far north-west of Rathnir.

### The Drillsiah

The Drillsiah is the god of stone, dirt, minerals, and gems. His domain is underground, and all that is made from stone and rock is under his command. He is the king of mountains, the lord of iron, and misuse of underground materials will get his distain. Mining is his prayer, and if you mine for long enough, he might form some valuable just ahead for you to find.

### The Subsiah

The Subsiah is the god of the sea, ocean, rivers, lakes, ponds, and water in general. He is also the lord of the undead Drowned, Krakens, and dangerous tides. The legions of the Drowned are under his command, and obtaining a trident should be considered a gift from him. Prayer to him includes fishing, growing kelp, and taking care of sea creatures. If you fish for long enough, he might send the tides to give you an enchanted book.

### The Natursiah

The Natursiah is the goddess of trees, animals, grass, and nature. However, she is also the goddess of disease, famines, and dangerous wildlife. From the smallest virus to the largest jungle tree, all non-sentient living things are lead by her. Without permission, killing an animal or tree can be a grave mistake, as the Natursiah is known to wrathfully execute mortals who dared kill her pigs and chickens. To appease her, you should sacrifice some sort of natural thing, be it leaves or pork chops to her in some capacity, but never use fire as a way of sacrifice.

### The Solsiah

The Solsiah is the god of the sun, moon, and blacksmithy. He is also the god of solar winds, and eclipses. It is said that in the hot fires of the sun he forges metals into their shapes, then cools them in the cold waters of the moon. Creating weapons and armor of high quality requires his blessing, and if you create something of low quality, you angered him in some way. Truly though, a great way to make him happier is to create weapons, armor, and tools as much as you can.

### The Nethersiah

The Nethersiah is the god of blood, fire, war, weapons, bravery, and the realm known as the Nether. He rules the creatures of the Nether with an iron fist, and is perhaps the most malicious of the Mekanika. He is the source of all mortal strife and war. Due to that, he is the one who contributes the most to the "Chaos" part of Controlled Chaos. Pleasing him can be achieved in a simple way: kill, kill more, and kill more in glorious combat. Death and war are his bread and butter, and he is most satisfied with a mortal when the blood on their blade is constantly fresh.

### Angels of the Mekanika

The Mekanika employ many angels for their own purposes. Some were created from parts of their own souls, others were forged out of the remnants of the good part of the Dragon of the Void, still others were once mortals that were blessed by a certain Mekanika for their good deeds. Each of the Mekanikan angels serve a specific purpose.

#### Helisiah Angels

* Jytal - Angel of the clouds
* Virtony - Angel of the wind and storms
* Aibot - Angel of knowledge

#### Drillsiah Angels

* Utir - Angel of dirt
* Utiragh - Angel of rock and stone
* Utirajai - Angel of minerals

#### Subsiah Angels

* Kijunmo - Angel of the tides
* Moirtary - Angel of marines
* Nivorna - Angle of the waves

#### Natursiah Angels

* Nobino - Angel of plants
* Virtina - Angel of animals
* Marboron - Angel of disease

#### Solsiah Angels

* Kiro - Angel of hammers
* Hyron - Angel of anvils
* Urt - Angel of furnaces

#### Nethersiah Angels

* Jiklad - Angel of swords
* Nlier - Angel of valor
* Daginama - Angle of discord

## Holy Sites

Currently, there are only three holy sites: the ruins of Choppertown, Terebros, and The Rotorblades. Choppertown was the city where Helism was formed. Since Helism was the pre-religion for Mekanikaism, it has high spiritual value. In a similar note, The Rotorblades is a floating city that is the center of Helisiah worship. It is believed that the islands keep flying because of the magical energies in the area. It is also believed that the magical energy was created (either purposefully or on accident) by the Helisiah. Terebros has a minimalist temple for the Helisiah, and is prayed to frequently whenever people go mining in the area.