Ettimenko

> "*Come, warriors of the world, and make great tales for your bards to sing of. Raise up your blades and hold your heads high, and let our song drown out the screech of hell!*"
> ― Ekkalouhi, Lady of the River
>
>

Ettimenko is the traditional religion of the native Epsilucians, present throughout the country and coexisting with Elveta until the advent of Christianity, which rapidly became the overwhelming majority. Ettimenko now exists only as a small minority within Epsilucia and parts of Avamorica. Ettimenko is classified as being part of the Common Inecurian Mythology group due to the clear similarities, but it does have significant differences with other CIM religions; namely the strong aspects of ancestor veneration and the semi-monolatrous characteristics of clearly worshipping the chief god Töriken over all others.

Ettimenko is a Häpsiluukian (i.e. native Epsilucian) word approximately meaning "glory of [the] ancestors"; *etti* translates as "glory" and *menko* as "ancestor". The etymologically accurate demonym of Ettimenko is Ettimenkolo, but the more common English form is Ettimenkian. The religion is also rarely described under the name of Ettöriken, meaning "glory of Töriken".

## Deities

The deities in the Ettimenkian pantheon are said to have sprung from the Eternal Mists which precede time and space and exist outside of the planes of reality (the world, the celestial heavens and the underworld). Unlike most CIM religions, no deities at all exist beyond these; instead, other aspects of the world not covered by these deities are watched over by deified heroic ancestors, who achieved divinity by being soaked in the blood of Töriken.

* **Töriken** is the greatest of the gods. He is the Lord of Fire and Metal, frequently referred to by the nicknames of the Burning Beast and the Blazing Eagle. He is associated with fire, light, the sun, metal (in particular iron and steel), blood, kingship, eagles, warfare and vengeance. His appearance is described in the sagas as being a giant eagle or eagle-like creature with skin of shining polished steel, constantly breathed in a blazing fire that pains the eyes to look upon. It is prophesied that one day he will return in a storm of fire and blood to bring about his final victory over Lävjetta and the Primeval Ones. Töriken does not adhere to any particular CIM archetype; he has aspects of the Sky Father, the Storm Warrior, the Metalworker and the Ancient Tree, but fits fully into none of these archetypes.
* **Ekkalouhi** is the Lady of the River. She is the goddess of song, love, family, agriculture and water. She is related to Koinen, but exactly how is disputed; some say she is his daughter, others say she is his sister. Ekkalouhi adheres to the Water Mother CIM archetype.
* **Raumiken** is the god of mining, smithing and physical artwork such as painting and sculpting. He is characterised as highly diligent and an obsessive perfectionist. Raumiken adheres to the Metalworker CIM archetype.
* **Koinen**, sometimes called the Oakenheart, is the god of nature, particularly forests and wild beasts. He is either the father or brother of Ekkalouhi depending on the interpretation. Koinen is described as resembling a man-shaped tree with a beard made of moss and the antlers of a stag. He is often described as the eldest of the gods, but it remains to this day a matter of debate as to whether this is actually true; Koinen was originally merely an actual tree before being deified by being soaked in the blood of Töriken, so in the form of a deity he is younger than the others, but the tree he was before is described as the oldest living being. Some scholars have identified Koinen with the Old Tree. Koinen is the most esoteric of the gods, with largely unknowable thoughts and desires; virtually nothing at all is known of him beyond the fact that he zealously defends his domain. Koinen adheres to the Ancient Tree CIM archetype.
* **Herali** is the wife of Kuovas, making her queen of the dead. Herali is the goddess of learning and knowledge, and also the goddess of craftiness and comedy. She is also associated with cats, which she keeps many of in her Great Library in the underworld. She is attributed with teaching the first mortals how to read and write. Herali adheres to the Knowledge Bearer CIM archetype.
* **Kuovas** is the king of the dead and husband of Herali. Kuovas is the god of death, responsible for caring for deceased souls in the Eternal Halls. He is also associated with bees, honey and mead and is said to be the greatest of cooks. Kuovas adheres to the Underking CIM archetype, though with a noticeably more jovial tone than is common for the Underkings and Underqueens of other CIM religions.
* **Lävjetta** (sometimes **Lävjatta**) is not a god in the same sense as the others, though the degree of power she is believed to have is equal to (or greater than) that of the other gods. She is the Spiteful Queen of the Primeval Ones. Though all the gods have utter contempt for Lävjetta, she is the particular arch-enemy of Töriken and Kuovas. Lävjetta adheres to the Evil Devourer CIM archetype, and is the only Evil Devourer to be female.

## Saga of Töriken

The Saga of Töriken is the main religious story of Ettimenko, concerning the tale of Töriken's rise and fall and the beginning of the eternal war against the Primeval Ones. The Saga of Töriken is split into four chapters. The first three chapters are presented as historical tales, but the fourth is a prophecy of the future.

### Chapter I: Cremation of the Sky

At the dawn of time, the world was dark and barren. The only living beings on its surface were the Primordial Tree, a gargantuan gnarled tree, and the Primeval Ones, a horde of hateful, spiteful and disgustingly ugly creatures who ungratefully nourished themselves on the Primordial Tree, or ate each other whenever they could not obtain the Tree's fruit. The greed and hunger of the Primeval Ones grew until they began to gnaw away at the flowers of the Tree as well as its fruit, and then moved onto its bark and roots, not realising in their foolishness that they were causing the Primordial Tree to wither and die.

However, by some miracle - either divine intervention or simple blind luck - one of the fruits of the Primordial Tree went untouched, and the seed within was allowed to take root by the side of a river. The water of this river was muddy and diseased, thick with dirt, bile and pus, but the water was cleansed and became clear once the white flower of the seed bloomed. In the absence of any light, the flower wilted, but the plant refused to die and clawed its way out of the soil, taking the form of a graceful silver-haired maiden. Her name was Ekkalouhi, the Lady of the River.

Ekkalouhi was greatly saddened by the state of the world, and expressed her melancholy with her voice, singing a beautiful lament. She found that her song rejuvenated and strengthened the dying Primordial Tree, and her song turned into one of joy - but the happiness in her voice attracted unwanted attention. The Primeval Ones swarmed around Ekkalouhi, their evil ears maddened by her sublime song, and began to tear at her flesh. Her death at the claws of these spiteful creatures was all but assured - but her song had also attracted the attention of another.

Out from the heavens burst forth a ray of light that shone upon Ekkalouhi. The Primeval Ones attacking her screamed, for the light burned their flesh and forced them to look upon the abhorrent image of themselves. They scattered, but Ekkalouhi was already greatly wounded and collapsed into the river. However, she found that being in the pure waters healed her completely, and she was soon able to stand. Feeling safe in the protection of the light, Ekkalouhi sang again, a song of thanks and praise to her saviour. At this, the singular ray of light exploded as Töriken, the Lord of Fire and Metal tore his way into the world. The fire that wreathed his steel body ignited the sky and spread light all throughout the world, causing screams of anguish from the Primeval Ones to reverberate through every valley and on every mountainside. The Primeval Ones fled beneath the ground into the places that were still dark, terrified by the divine light of the Burning Beast.

### Chapter II: Tyranny of Lävjetta

Unsure of how to fight back against the light, the Primeval Ones were aimless until the strongest and most terrible of them, a creature hateful to the core by the name of Lävjetta, proclaimed herself their queen. The Primeval Ones ignored her at first, until she slew all who opposed her rule with such agonising tortures that their entire race was frightened into submission. Lävjetta was not as cowardly or foolish as most of her kind, and came up with an cunning plan for the Primeval Ones to cover their bodies entirely so that the light would not force them to look upon themselves.

Lävjetta tore apart a root of the Primordial Tree that reached into the dark places, which drew Ekkalouhi near, as she desired to sing to heal the root. The Lady of the River was taken by surprised and captured by Lävjetta, imprisoned in a dreadful cage made of contorted still-living Primeval Ones who were not permitted to die. Lävjetta forced Ekkalouhi to sing for her, songs of misery and malice that caused Ekkalouhi to weep. Lävjetta was raised to a status like that of a god - but merely a foul imitation of one - through the empowering songs, and the Primeval Ones were emboldened. They returned to the surface to ungratefully feast upon the fruit of the Primordial Tree, but Lävjetta sang to the Tree to heal it whenever Lävjetta was distracted, which always prompted the terrible queen to flog her with spines as punishment.

Töriken knew not where Ekkalouhi was imprisoned, but he could still take action. To protect the Primordial Tree - and more importantly, to slay the Primeval Ones - he set alight a giant deposit of marble, giving life to the stone. From the magma emerged the Molten Eagles, vaguely Eagle-like four-legged avians wrought of magma with vicious claws and teeth, who stood guard around the Tree and mercilessly butchered the Primeval Ones. The Primeval Ones soon began to be starved of food, as they could not venture to eat the fruit of the Primordial Tree without risking their wretched lives, and could only gnaw at the tough and tasteless roots.

### Chapter III: The Sundering

Determined to defeat Töriken, Lävjetta cut a small passage through the rock leading from her underground home to the surface, allowing the miserable song of Ekkalouhi to reach the Burning Beast's ears. Now knowing where the Lady of the River was imprisoned, Töriken flew to the sound of her voice and ripped open the ground, basking the chamber of the terrible queen's domain in light. The Primeval Ones squealed and ran, but Lävjetta stood her ground and harshly called them back - and they returned, for they feared her tortures more than the light.

A great battle ensued between Töriken and Lävjetta, in which they inflicted great wounds upon one another. Töriken was clearly the more powerful being and the more skilled fighter, but a numberless horde of Primeval Ones swarmed over his body, burning themselves to ash on his flames just to land a single strike on his steel flesh. Töriken began to slow and tire from the unceasing wounds, whereas Lävjetta remained fresh and powerful from the wailing songs of Ekkalouhi. The Burning Beast knew that his physical body was failing him, and the unthinkable was imminent. Determined not to suffer the humiliation of defeat, he rose into the air and bellowed a roar so thunderous that it shook the ground, before his body exploded.

A storm of fire and blood overtook the Primeval Ones and grievously wounded Lävjetta. The fire burnt away the cage of Ekkalouhi, and she quickly dove into a stream to escape the flames, her presence purifying the horrid waters. The metal flesh of Töriken flew into the rocks and embedded itself there, becoming the ores of the earth. The boiling blood of Töriken poured all over the land, fertilising the barren soil and allowing plants to grow, and giving rise to animals to eat those plants. Only the immaterial fire of Töriken remained, as a burning, baleful eye in the heavens that became known as the sun.

Though Lävjetta was furious at the fact that the light had not been defeated, she was satisfied that Töriken had been defeated. Once she recovered from her wounds, she commanded her horde against the Molten Eagles, binding them with chains and silencing them with gags, and the magma of their flesh eventually cooled into solid marble. This is the Ettimenkian explanation for the existence of the Bound Eagles. However, her reign of terror over the world was short-lived.

The blood of Töriken that had fertilised the soil also gave new life elsewhere. The blood that had soaked into the Primordial Tree imbued it with life and divinity. The ancient being awoke from its eternal slumber, and knew that his name was Koinen - and that he was strong. In a couldron of rock where the blood of Töriken had mingled with his metal and his fire, a divine being arose from the magma, clad in steel and with a hammer in hand. He took a piece of Töriken's metal flesh and smelted it in the molten rock that had been his womb, forging it into a mighty axe. As he landed the final hammer-blow to shape the metal, he knew that his name was Raumiken - and that he was strong.

Failing to vanquish the light and faced with powerful new threats, who were themselves emboldened by the song of Ekkalouhi, Lävjetta and the Primeval Ones retreated underground once more, but far deeper than they had gone before, down into the Unseen Realm where the souls of the dead languished. However, in their hurry to burrow down below, they ignored the curious creatures that followed them; a bee and a cat, both bathed in the blood of Töriken. The Burning Beast's blood eventually had the effect of deifying the bee and the cat, awakening into a new consciousness to find that their names were Kuovas and Herali - and that they were strong.

The blood of Töriken's greatest effect was that it gave rise to the mortal folk; Humans, Elfkin, Orcs and others besides, who were immediately able to recognise the divinity of the sun burning above them - though many would later be led away from the truth by the devious tricks of Lävjetta. These folk were courageous and strong, but they tasted the bitterness of death, their souls passing to the Unseen Place when their bodies failed them. Lävjetta and the Primeval Ones immediately began to feast on the dead souls of mortals to empower themselves in the absence of being able to use Ekkalouhi's song, and so Kuovas and Herali resolved to defend the mortal souls by creating a great bastion guarded by the souls of warriors, armed with supernatural weapons crafted by Raumiken.

### Chapter IV: In Fire and Blood

The spiteful Lävjetta swore that she would annihilate the mortal races and extinguish the light forever, and began the eternal war in the underworld. Töriken, in turn, swore that he would defeat Lävjetta and tear out her still-beating heart from her chest.

The prophecy of the age to come and the Great Storm of Fire and Blood states that when enough virtuous souls have assembled in the underworld, a great offensive can begin against the Primeval Ones, reversing the unceasing defence. Heroes who have been deified by the blood of Töriken will willingly sacrifice their souls to grant power to the Burning Beast, allowing him to tear up the earth to re-assemble his physical body and join the offensive against the Primeval Ones to butcher Lävjetta with his own hands. Once the Primeval Ones are exterminated, the Unseen Place will become Seen, and will unite with the mortal realm to abolish death forever.