Telanism

**Telanism**, known to its adherents as the **Pure Faith** and the **Supreme Cult**, is an Inecurian religion founded by the Nesarian prophet Telan at some time in the 820s AD (2340s INC). The religion would not gain prominence until after its founder's death, becoming a major force in Nesaria by the 880s and rising to significance in Avamorica and Epsilucia by the 900s. There were also notable populations in southern Roulonne and Onshitama and the west of Raskev by the 910s.

Telanism is often considered a monotheistic religion by the general populace, but a more accurate descriptor would be monolatrous. Telanites do indeed only worship one god - who they name the Supreme Divine, Supreme Being or simply the Supreme - but they believe in the existence of another god, the Deceiver, an evil deity who is to be cursed rather than worshipped.

Though Telanism was perhaps the fastest-growing religion in Inecurian history, it was persecuted just as quickly throughout the Time of Troubles; by local governments, by the Inquisition, and by unruly mobs. Although the persecution of Telanites is sometimes compared to that of Christianity, the two instances differ since the Imperial State never passed legislation repressing Telanism and never officially decreed that the religion should be eradicated, and some pretenders to the Imperial throne attempted to gather support by promising safety and freedom for Telanites - though, despite the claims of contemporaries, there is no evidence any of them were personally Telanites. The persecution of Telanites was bottom-up rather than top-down, and when the Time of Troubles ended with the coronation of Emperor Amelos in 960, he punished many Inquisitors who had targeted Telanites for their faith - but took no action against local governments who had been responsible for the same crime.

Though Emperor Amelos put a stop to the persecution of Telanites, the religion had already been either eradicated or forced underground in Nesaria, Avamorica, Onshitma and Raskev by the time of his coronation. It only maintained a significant - though still far lesser - presence in Epsilucia and Roulonne, and the Telanite populace in Epsilucia almost entirely disappeared with the arrival of Christianity, as they were amongst the first Epsilucians to convert. In modern times, the only Imperial Country with more than a few thousand Telanites is Roulonne, which as of the last census had 32,000; almost all of these are concentrated in the Bourronais town of Telloubonde, which was founded by Telanites in an attempt to escape oppression and live by themselves.

## Telan

The prophet Telan, the founder and namesake of Telanism, was a Cafanian who raised as a devout Elvetan. However, according to Telanite tradition, one day he was badly wounded by a feral cat who tore his face to shreds, and infection took hold of his body. He was taken to a healing mage too late for them to help, and all that could be done was to wait for his inevitable death from disease. In the last few hours before his passing, however, he experienced vivid visions and semi-coherently rambled to his friends at his bedside about a "Supreme Divine". He soon fell quiet, as did his heart, and his friends departed to get a priest to deliver the rites - but when they returned, Telan was alive and perfectly healthy, the grievous wound on his face having become a scar, and he asked for food as he was extremely hungry.

After eating, Telan requested a pen and lots of paper, and isolated himself for the next few days, spending all his time incessantly writing. When his task was done, he revealed that in his near-death experience he had received visions from the Supreme Divine telling him the truth of the universe. In return for being healed from the brink of death, Telan had sworn on his soul to immediately write down all that the Supreme Divine told him "before memory should corrupt a single word". When Telan's friends read the texts, they noted that the prose was eloquent and the writing was neat and flawless - which was very much unlike Telan, as he had little education and had previously been a poor writer and wordsmith.

All of Telan's friends believed his story, unable to explain his miraculous recovery and sudden writing ability in any other way, and recalling that Telan's delirious ramblings matched what had been written. The only exception was Rion, who dismissed the visions as simply delirious hallucinations, and thought Telan's recovery was entirely natural. As Telan tried to convince Rion, his heart only hardened against him, and Rion eventually named Telan as a heretic and claimed that the reason he had been attacked by a feral cat in the first place was that he had angered Yésa, the goddess of knowledge and of cats. Telan counter-argued that the source of his visions being a cat - the traditional Elvetan symbol of knowledge, due to its association with Yésa - was instead a symbol from the Supreme Divine and proved his truthfulness, but Rion was not persuaded.

Telan spent many years preaching and painstakingly copying his texts so that they might be given to new followers. Though it was difficult to convince Elvetans of his new truth, the scar on his face and the testimony of his friends - who witnessed his instant revival from the very brink of death - eventually gathered a congregation of several hundred. However, Telan was still hurt and distressed that his lifelong friend Rion refused to believe him and had cut ties with him over his so-called heresy, and he sought out Rion for a last attempt to try and convince him.

The search for his friend took several months, as Rion had jointly purchased mining rights to a newly discovered iron ore vein in the region with an Elf named Yarion. Telan sought out his friend and was told that Rion was conducting an inspection within the mine, so Telan went inside to meet him. Upon seeing Telan, Rion grew angry and told his old friend that he was trespassing, and demanded that he leave - but their conversation was interrupted when a key support beam snapped and the mine began to collapse. There was no time to run, and Rion cursed his luck that the last thing he had to see was the face of a heretic - but as the ceiling began to fall, Telan stretched out his hand and bellowed, commanding the earth to remain still - and it did so.

Upon witnessing this miracle, Rion recognised his friend as having divine favour, and the two tearfully reconciled - and the miners who had been saved from certain death too recognised Telan as a prophet. Rion renounced and apologised for his earlier words, and he once again became a close friend of Telan, eventually becoming his most prolific ally and preacher. Rion's business partner Yarion requested to read Telan's texts upon hearing the story, and after doing so he announced that Telan was a true prophet of the Supreme Divine.

Telan never married, claiming that he did not have the time to attend to both the Supreme Divine and a wife, and that to try and divide his life between the two would be a disservice to both - however, Rion already had a wife, and the two bore a son named Valan. After Telan passed away of old age in 851, and Rion passed the year after, it would be Valan who was elected to lead the Telanites and carry the torch to a new generation.

### Reaction to Miracles

Telan's three miracles - his recovery from the moment of death, his sudden ability to perfectly read and write, and halting the mine from collapsing - are seen by Telanites as proof of his divine favour. Although his recovery could potentially be possible with extremely powerful healing magic, there has never been a mortal healing mage powerful enough to save one whose heart has already stopped beating, and neither of the other two miracles are explainable by magic.

Given the testimony of numerous eyewitnesses, few Telanite critics are willing to say that the events were entirely fabricated; a conspiracy to lie about events on this scale is simply not feasible. The main accusation levied by critics is instead that Telan was a Witch who channelled the power of a Dread Titan, and that his teachings came from a malevolent Titan who invented a new theology to destabilise the mortal world - or, possibly, simply because they found it entertaining.

The accusation of Witchery was likely the main factor as to why Telanites came to be so intensely hated and persecuted, as they were believed to be demon worshippers; this justification was used by the Inquisition in particular, who were not allowed to persecute a religion without being able to prove that it was a demonic cult. Telanites, of course, have always fiercely denied this accusation, arguing that the behaviour of Telan does not align with other examples of Witches.