Religion in Ethendle

The topic and history of **religion in Ethendle** is expansive, being founded as a monastery town and being holy to three different faiths and important to one other. The city is holy to the faiths of the Pantheon of the Old Gods, as it is dedicated to Ethendel, a vessel of the God of War, the Ad'Min Heresy, and the local Ethelnecronian cult. Ethendle is also important to the worshippers of the Abyss as it is the home city of Vami, the Saint of Pride, and to the Cult of Xan as the site of one of their conquests and the place of burning of many heretics to their faith in the city.

## Ad'Min Heresy

*Main article: Ad'Min Heresy*

First and foremost, the roots of the city were laid by First Grandmaster Vami\_IV of the New Templars when he founded the first Blitzen Abbey in AoD II 2. It was there, just as in the south with the Night's Watch, that Vami misconstrued the original Pantheon of the Old Gods for their various vessels, and he dedicated the abbey to Ethendel, the most famous of the vessels of the God of War. The New Templars built for their worship of the "god" an alter of gold and gems in the church's north end, and it remained there until the Sackings of Ethendle.

The abbey, then Third Blitzen, also played host to the Diet of Ethendle in AoD II ??, which gathered the leadership of the various elements of the Valdian Republic and of the dying Order in the city to put to code their religious beliefs. It was there that Hochmeister Vami\_IV tried to finally put to rest the Heresy, to the shock and dismay of the Night's Watch, and succeeded, having the vessels declared "Saints" at the price of the Ad'Min Cult's leader, noobman, declaring Iconoclasm as a tenant of the religion.

Ethendle, the Holy City, was the last major outpost of the Ad'Min Heresy, with the religion prospering there until the city was literally decimated in the final collapse of the Axis of Evil and was then replaced by the Ethelnecronian Cult. Today, no denizen of the city follows the religion that brought their city into being.

## Pantheon of the Old Gods

Despite being the Holy City for the entirety of the Ad'Min Heresy, the city was still nonetheless important to the true worshippers of the Old Gods because of its dedication to Ethendel, the dwarf and former avatar of the God of War. Since the collapse of the Ad'Min Heresy, the trickle of pilgrims to the city has neither grown nor shrunk, but has remained constant from all over The Ancient World. Those Ethendlites who are not of the Ethelnecronian cult belong to the Voskan faiths or to the Pantheon.

## Ethelnecronian Cult

*Main article: Cult of the Ethelnecron*
*See also: Culture of Ethendle*
Following the traumatic collapse of Prussia, the Order, and the church of the Ad'Min Heresy, all past faiths were abandoned but also rolled into another, new, single faith: Ethelnecron. The former Prussians, now citizens of Nova Spencoria, had nothing for themselves to stand on but the ruins of their city and of their society, and so developed a reverence for the dead and for Ethendel, the mystical Sword-Saint who graced the city with his mayoral rule and with his mortal flesh.

The city that entirely by itself planned, funded, and built Blitzen Cathedral has a nearly complete devotion to the Cult of the Ethelnecron and around 96% of its families maintain a shrine to both Ethendel and the Revered Dead.

## References

1. ↑ *The Histories of the Prussian Orders*, Vami\_IV
2. ↑ Testament of Kreuzkins, AoD II ??