Religion

This page contains various aspects of the Sacred Scrolls, which show everything from the origin of the Seraphim to the creation of the different races in Merowe. The sacred scrolls are ancient texts, gifted to the first of the sentient humanoids. As a result, most cultures are familiar with the first few scrolls. Differences between cultures arose at different stages in history, and those differences are described in their respective sections.

## Hierarchy

The first of the Sacred Scrolls, Inception, tells of the origin of Seraphim, and their relation to the Almighty. An excerpt follows:

*In the beginning there was the Almighty. He created the Seraphim in his image and gave them a paradise to live in. Life was prosperous there, until a Seraph named Yra killed her brother. This infuriated the Almighty, who cast them out of paradise and cursed them with having to face suffering from that point onwards. After their banishment from paradise, the Seraphim were wandering around the void, the Almighty felt sorry for them and gifted the Gateway so that the Seraphim could live there. Once there, the Seraphim discovered that each one of them had different talents. They gathered underneath the great sky and divided themselves between seven stars: love, life, knowledge, time, justice, fortitude, and temperance.*

The scroll continues on by detailing each of the different tribes, and describing their interactions with the Almighty. Important to note is that a Seraph of a certain domain contains all elements of that domain. A certain Seraph of knowledge might strive to know every conversation that has ever been held, while another Seraph of the same domain might seek to uphold the laws of physics.

## The Afterlife

The second scroll, Creation, describes how the Seraphim created life in the material plane. Some of the events of this scroll are being discussed in history, but the scroll also explains the afterlife and what it looks like.

According to the Sacred Scroll of Creation, the afterlife is a place called the Meadows where the souls of sentient races go after their bodies pass away. They then remain there, living in a paradise of their own imagination. After a few generations past, the Seraphim concluded that the Meadows were filled mostly with the memories that the individuals experienced. In order to keep the Meadows a paradise, they then split it into the Light Meadows and Dark Meadows. Souls that lived a righteous life would go to the Light Meadows, while souls that were sinful during their lifetime would be taken to the Dark Meadows instead.

### The Aether and The Meadows

Based on the descriptions in the Creation Scroll, many recent scholars have come to the conclusion that the Aether is the Meadows, and spirits are souls of deceased humanoids. Although there are definitely places within the Aether that are darker than others, spirits of all alignments have been found interacting with each other. According to the scholars, this implicates that souls can travel somewhat freely between different parts of the Meadows.

## Religion Between Cultures

Different cultures have different ways of dealing with religion, as detailed below.

### The Human Kingdoms

Most humans follow Venuralas, a Seraph of love who was send by the Almighty to restore a broken relationship. Several sacred scrolls explain the teachings of Venuralas, but they can be summarized as follows:

*The most terrifying news in the world is that we have fallen under the condemnation of our creators and that they are bound by their own righteous character to preserve the worth of their glory by pouring out their wrath on the sin of our ingratitude. But there is a great truth that no one can ever learn from nature or from their own consciences, a truth which has to be told to neighbours and preached in churches and carried by missionaries: namely, the good news that the Almighty has decreed a way to satisfy the demands of his righteousness without condemning the whole world. He has taken it upon himself apart from any merit in us to accomplish our salvation. The wisdom of the Almighty has ordained a way for the love of the Almighty to deliver us from the wrath of the Almighty without compromising the righteousness of the Almighty. And what is this wisdom?*

*“Venuralas, send by the Almighty martyred, is the Wisdom of the Almighty, by which the love of the Almighty can save sinners from the wrath of the Almighty, and all the while uphold and demonstrate the righteousness of the Almighty.”*

Key to the worship of Venuralas lies the second gawvanta invasion. Venuralas was send during this invasion to aid the humans and other races. He revealed that the gawvanta were a result of the sins that were committed by the humans and other races. In order to defeat the gawvanta, Venuralas took this sin upon himself; which killed him in the process In the aftermath of the gawvanta’s retreat underground, the Almighty resurrected Venuralas. He then remained in Merowe for three more weeks, during which he taught his central message: always act out of love and according to the will of the Almighty. Afterwards, he returned to the Almighty.

### The Dark Elves

The dark elves follow a single Seraph, named Durmarlas, who is connected to both the domain of knowledge and love. Her teachings are focused on forming bonds between two people, as well as keeping secrets. She only converses with high priests.

Durmarlas is usually depicted as a woman with two faces, one on each side of her head. She is able to twist her head to make the relevant head be in the front side of her body. One of her faces is coloured white, along with the left side of her body, whilst the other face and right side of her body are coloured black. Her skin appears to be made out of silk, which is exposed between light clothing. She is sometimes depicted as wearing a belt with a thousand keys in different shapes and sizes.

### The Dwarves

Don’t worship any Seraphim, as they believe that Seraphim are both unnecessary and no longer able to influence the world. They do however, acknowledge their existence.

### eThekwaja

The native inhabitants of the eThekwajan jungle worship spiritual beings they encounter in nature. This is often based on encounters they have with a spirit that has inhabited a tree or lives in a lake.

### Asagata

The people of Asagata follow a philosophy of attaining inner peace through meditation. Asagatians acknowledge the existence of Seraphim, but they belief that you please them through tranquility.