Faith of the Bell

One's Keep on the Iron River in Aurelia

The Faith of the Bell is a religion of the Tioderonese Family and one of the world’s oldest organized faiths, based on the writings of Ancient Tsarkese-speaking writers of the first centuries CE and runestones left behind from the Upper Paleolithic. It has a dualistic cosmology of good and evil within the framework of an eschatology which predicts the ultimate conquest of evil by good. The Faith exalts an uncreated and benevolent deity of wisdom known as the One as its supreme being. Historically, the unique features of the Faith, such as its dualism, messianism, belief in free will and judgment after death, and its conception of heaven and hell may have influenced some other religious and philosophical systems.

With possible roots dating back nearly 100,000 years ago, the Faith of the Bell enters recorded history around the tenth century BCE, when runestones were first inscribed with classical Tsarkan folklore telling of the core histories and tenets of the Faith. It served unofficially as the primary religion of various Tsarkan principalities, city-states, and kingdoms, until the Tsarkans were subsumed by the Imperium of Hochlande and open practice of the Faith became taboo. The Faith declined throughout the era of Hochlander rule over the Tsarkans, but by the 1700s, the Faith began growing at an exponential rate worldwide, as Tsarkan missionaries and private colonial ventures spread the faith to Aurelia, Ameridia, and Masio. Recent estimates place the current number of Bell Faithful living in the world to be around 300 million at most, with the majority of this figure living in the Confederated States of Aurelia; their numbers have continued to increase, most prevalently in Masio and Turan.

The most important texts of the Faith of the Bell are those contained within the Boek van Een, which acts as a consolidation of runestone writings and provides new interpretations made by contemporary Bell Faithful. The contents of the runestone writings are widely regarded as the most important, however, and tradition claims that most, if not all, of these runestones were etched by the assumedly mythical Tsarkan leader, Sjor. The religious philosophy of Sjor divided the concepts of good and evil into two simple beings - rejecting the existence of a pantheon of deities - espoused the importance of the concept of *vrede*, and proclaimed the One as the supreme creator, the creative, and the sustaining force of the universe through *vrede*. Sjor's philosophy

also proclaimed that human beings are given a choice between supporting the One or not, making them ultimately responsible for their choices. Although the One has no equal contesting force, the Great Other (a destructive spirit / mentality), whose forces are born from *aandoening*, is considered to be the main adversarial force of the religion, standing against the One and *vrede*. Interpretations of ancient runestone writings vary in their approach to the origins of the Great Other. While some hold that the being was always meant to be a separate, malevolent entity to stand in the path of the One as the Devil might to God in Katharianism, others believe that the Great Other was originally a part of the One itself, as chaos is to order.

## Beliefs

*Vrede* is considered the core maxim of the Faith of the Bell, especially by modern practitioners. In the Faith, good transpires for those who do good deeds not in seeking reward but in supporting the One against the Great Other. Those who do evil are said to have been confused and manipulated by the Great Other into serving its ends, or are espoused as willful supporters of the Great Other. Both groups of sinners are considered dangerous and shameful to the Bell Faithful, and discrimination against proclaimed sinners is still harsh to this day.

In the Faith, the One is the beginning and the end, the creator of everything that can and cannot be seen, the eternal and uncreated, the source of purity and goodness. In runestone writings, the Bell Faithful acknowledged the highest devotion to the One, with worship and adoration also given to the One’s physical manifestations on Orpheus, such as the Holy Bell and other lost artifacts.

Purity is representative of the sum of one’s spiritual conscience and attributes, which through a person’s choices the One is either strengthened or weakened. Traditionally, the tolling of bells blessed by the Holy Bell and acts of goodness are both equally powerful, and vehicles through which the One is strengthened to maintain good and fight evil. All physical creation was thus determined to run according to a master plan - The Single Path - and violations of the order were violations against creation, and thus violations against the One. This concept of the One versus the Great Other should not be entirely confused with Katharianist notions of good versus evil, for although both forms of opposition express a moral conflict, the One versus Great Other concept is more systemic, and is also used to represent order versus chaos, or creation versus uncreation. Moreover, in its role as the uncreated creator of all, the One is not the creator of the Great Other, rather it is the antithesis of the Great Other, and both beings are manifested by the pure or impure choices of mortal beings.

In this schema of the One versus the Great Other, mortal beings, both Orphean and animal, play critical roles. Here, in their lives, they are active participants in the conflict, and it is their spiritual duty to support and defend the One, which is in constant assault and would decay in strength without counteraction. Throughout runestones and the later-authored Boek van Een, it is therefore emphasized that deeds and actions within society are imperative to support the One, as well as inactions, that is, not succumbing to baser desires of lust, greed, jealousy, rage, etc, that stem from the antithesis of creation and purity, the Great Other.

Central to the Faith is the emphasis on moral choice, to choose the responsibility and duty for which one is in the mortal world, or to give up duty and so facilitate the work of the Great Other. Similarly, the concept of predestination as exists in many interpretations of Katharianism is rejected by Bell Faithful, with the absolute free will of mortal beings being core. Orpheans bear responsibility for all situations they are in, and in the way they act towards one another. Reward, punishment, grief, happiness, all depend on how individuals live their lives.

Interactions between Bell Faithful and followers of Katharianism have done little to change the core beliefs of the Faith of the Bell. Indeed, it could even be said that attempts by Katharianists to supplant the Faith with their own beliefs have only strengthened and radicalized the Bell Faithful further, as many conflicts were fought throughout the Middle Ages against Katharianist missionary companies so as to safeguard the Faith of the Bell.

## Churches and Denominations

*Further information: List of Faithful denominations by number of members and Schism in the Faith of the Bell*

The Faith of the Bell can be taxonomically divided into five main groups: Ordered, Engbertic, Revivalist, the Creed of Nyasa, and the Turanic Sect. A broader distinction that is sometimes drawn is between Faith Orthodoxy and Faith of Old, which has its origins in the Silent Revolution of the seventeenth century. However there are other present and historical Faithful groups that do not fit neatly into one of these primary categories.

### Faith Orthodoxy

The Faith Orthodoxy denomination consists of those particular bellholds, headed by houders, in communion with the bewaarder, the houder of Vollesingen, as its highest authority in matters of faith, morality, and church governance. The Faith Orthodoxy maintains the stance that it is the sole guiding body graced by the One, but recognizes some other denominations as legitimate and works towards reconciliation among all believers.