Madelinism

Madelinism is the religion of the vast majority of the population of Earth. Madelinism is based around a handwritten text, known as the Bible, and its related pages, which were written by Lecrivain, the younger brother of one of the major gods of the religion. While essentially the entirety of the world follows Madelinism, there are many ways to follow it, and different cultures and groups engage with the religion in very different ways. Madelinism is credited with shaping much of modern history.

## History

Madelinism began in the year 3000 AD, or 1 AM, following a series of events related to two mysterious figures: Madeline and Patrick.

Beginning sometime before 2995 AD, networks of Anti-New Wealth activists began organizing minor rebellions and thefts across the globe. Of these groups, one figure began to emerge as the most well known and most wanted by the New Wealth. The only facts known about the revolutionary were that he was a man living in Paris who went by the code name Patrick. In 2995, he was captured by authorities and imprisoned. According to Lecrivain, this was a calculated surrender in an attempt to protect his family and closest associate, a New Wealth mole named Madeline.

Patrick was imprisoned at the Paris Military Academy's prison, meaning only those enrolled in the Military Academy could gain access to him. Madeline enrolled and began sending secret correspondences to Patrick's family in Paris, using code names for them and herself. It is unknown what Patrick or Madeline's real names are. During her time at the academy, Madeline rose to the second highest position at the school, behind a young man who she referred to as the Lamb. The Lamb began to suspect her Rebel sympathies and regularly urged her to abandon them and join him in his loyalty to the New Wealth.

During her fourth year at the academy, Madeline discovered Patrick had been killed during an interrogation, when the Lamb was present. She waited for the National Military Celebration and enacted revenge. As the top two students in their class, the Lamb and Madeline were selected to act as the celebration's only guards, while the majority of the highest ranking military officers and New Wealth nobility celebrated at the academy. Madeline beheaded the Lamb and trapped the New Wealth members in the school before organizing a massive explosion, killing both her and most of the world's leaders and army. In her final moments, Patrick came to her as an angel and turned them both into major gods, who would rule over the world and attempt to stop it from ever becoming how it was again.

Following hearing the news of Madeline and Patrick's death, Patrick's siblings went into action to memorialize the two new gods. Lecrivain, Patrick's eldest brother, compiled the letters he'd received from Madeline, as well as his own description of the events after and leading up to each of the letters. He bound his book in sections, splitting them up based on the strengths of his surviving siblings, who he would use to spread the reach of Madelinism even further. Texts which outlined the specific beliefs and suggestions of Lecrivain and Madeline were given to his siblings to protect until their deaths. To his sister, Ecoute, he gave translations of the Bible, and a text describing the beliefs Madeline had hoped people would follow. Ecoute moved to the abandoned land that had once been where their family was from and opened a school, where she instructed her students on music, linguistics, and Madelinism. She quickly gained followers and began the country of Raynland. She kept two of the texts, one describing the messiah, and another describing sin, to give to her sons.

For his youngest brother, Rester, Lecrivain tricked him into burying him alive with his original copy of the Bible. Rester, who was blind, was successfully tricked and felt immense grief and guilt following his brother's death. Unbeknownst to him, Lecrivain survived for a week after his burial, protecting his Bible and writing the final passages of it as he starved to death underground. Rester decided to leave France and moved to the newly rebuilding Newmerica as one of its first citizens. He quickly married and had a child, and the family spent their lives spreading the word of Madelinism in memory of Lecrivain.

## Main Beliefs

There are three main beliefs which are common throughout all the various sects of Madelinism: the Messiah, Transamelioration, and La Paix.

### The Messiah

In Lecrivain's original Bible, a Messiah is briefly mentioned in his comments on Madeline's death. He wrote that as her and Patrick became gods to ensure a kinder world, they also swore to come back to Earth in the event that it was ever too far removed from their vision to be saved without intervention. Many years later, when King Gould died and his text was made public, more details of what this would entail were released. His text contained a series of information about the appearance, personality, and birth of said Messiah. While various translations over the years have changed some of the details, certain ones remain constant. The Messiah is believed to have purple eyes, short stature, a mark (or multiple marks) on his face, extreme courage and charisma, and the ability to hear Madeline's voice. Interestingly, almost all translations agree that the Messiah will have been born in the year 2000 AD, which had already passed a century before Madeline's transamelioration. Different sects of Madelinism have different beliefs on what exactly this means.

### La Paix

The purpose of the Messiah is to protect one of the other core beliefs of Madelinism: La Paix. La Paix is a term coined to represent the overall beliefs of Patrick before his death. Through political papers written by Patrick, as well as Madeline and Lecrivain's accounts of his beliefs, he is understood to have been ultimately interested in a global peace. After witnessing the Exodus and the rise of the New Wealth, Patrick grew a distaste for wealthy and volatile people. He had the vision of an ideal world, where equality and peace were possible for all, but that people would remain vigilant and aggressive in pursuing their own justices. La Paix means wildly different things to different sects, however, and varies based on translation. In Fransay translations, La Paix mostly represents the confidence and bravery to protect one's ideals and loved ones, or taking a stand for what one believes in. In Raynish translations, La Paix is taken more literally, with the pursuit of peace being seen as its ultimate goal.

### Transamelioration

The final core belief of Madelinism is transamelioration. According to the Bible, transamelioration, or the death and rebirth of a human as a god, is a process which occurs when someone either lives a sacred enough life, or dies in such a sacred way, that they are recognized by Madeline and Patrick. On a more minor scale, people aim for minor transamelioration, essentially the pursuit of a happy and meaningful life and death, which causes one to be remembered for their accomplishments. Only a small handful of people have achieved major transamelioration, almost all of them genetically related to Patrick. It is also possible to achieve transdeterioration, the opposite of transamelioration, wherein a person is not reborn as a god, but rather remembered for their cowardice for eternity. Only two people have achieved major transdeterioration: the Lamb and King Lot I.

## Sacred Figures and Rings

Levels of sacredness are determined after someone's transamelioration or transdeterioration and they are placed onto the corresponding "ring" of sacredness. There are five rings: Gods, Most Holy Sacreds, Direct Sons of Patrick, Near Sacred, and Wretched. There are two figures in each ring. The two Gods are Madeline and Patrick, as they are the gods of Madelinism. In the second ring, the Most Holy Sacreds, there is Lecrivain and the Messiah. In the third ring, the Direct Sons of Patrick, is Ecoute and Rester. Near Sacreds are Jack Daniels and King Udhin Gould. The two Wretched are the Lamb and King Lot I. All members of any ring besides the first and fifth are referred to as Sons of Patrick, regardless of gender or relation to Patrick.

## Historical Madelinism and the Lamb Movement

In more recent years, there has been a pushback against Madelinism as the world's religion. This push has been split between two main groups: Historical Madelinists and followers of the Lamb Movement. Historical Madelinists believe in the actions of Madeline and Patrick, but not their transamelioration nor Lecrivain's Bible and account of the situation. They believe in La Paix and that all of the figures recounted in the Bible were real, but they don't believe in Madeline and Patrick as gods and do not pray to them. By extension, they also do not believe in the Messiah. This train of thought was started by Lot I, before his transdeterioration, and is still exceedingly popular in Lot.

The Lamb Movement takes inspiration from Historical Madelinism, however it was started in Olde and has many idealogical differences. Instead of La Paix, they believe in Le Chaos, the opposite of it. They believe in Madeline and Patrick, but don't believe in their transamelioration. However, unlike Historical Madelinists, their lack of belief is not from a skepticism of the supernatural, but rather because they believe Madeline and Patrick were undeserving of being gods. They believe that the Lamb was justified in his indifference towards Patrick's death, and that Madeline's murder of him and the New Wealth were overreactions caused by blind anger. They worship and pray to the Lamb, who they believe is alive and sentient as a god, though kept in chains by the spirits of Madeline and Patrick. The Lamb Movement is highly controversial and has faced intense criticism from many human rights groups, for its misogynistic interpretation of the Madeline Rebellion.