Salience of the Swift

## **Overview**

**Name of Religion:** Salience of the Swift

**Name of Followers:** Scamper(s)

**Number of Deities:** One

**Major god(s)/goddess(es):** Lum (Swift)

**Description of Deity:** A small, white furred lop-eared dwarf rabbit with golden points at the end of all his extremities. Unlike the average rabbit, his ears are nearly twice the size as he is, and the tips of his ears have three star point tufts of fur, giving his ears the appearance of shooting stars. He’s often depicted with either blue or gold eyes, although it’s said that the blue eyed variant is not his true eye colour, rather a side effect of his powerful blue magic. Depending on the region, Lum may be depicted with or without wings. Typically the regions that depict him with wings are located near the Sanquet mountains, as many people living there know the mountains and how difficult it can be to scale them. Thus, the addition of wings came to be to better explain Lum’s abilities.

## **History**

### Founding

The Salience of the Swift was officially founded in the year 143ADI in the country of Spracot. After the Great Infestation, the story of the Rabbit in the Moon began to gain a lot of traction across the world. The story itself had existed for several hundreds of years before this point; going through several different iterations and retellings as time went on. But, despite the vastly different versions available, they all had one thing in common. A “rabbit”, who climbed Void Peak and flew to the moon to find salvation and sanctuary from the demon threat.

The story of Lum predates Whiver as a species, and as such Historians in Spracot took great interest in it. Many Whiver in the olden days, those who were too different from the Kodin Variant people thought them to be, were referred to as “rats”, “rabbits”, or “beavers”. Because of this, the Whiver of Spracot came to believe that Lum was not an actual rabbit, but rather a Whiver who existed before the species was recognized. He was called a rabbit because it was the next closest thing, and over the years no one else bothered to make the connection.

Time went on, and as Whiver established themselves more and more as a Pure race the foundation of the Salience was created. A Whiver with enough magic to not only survive the harsh conditions of the Bexstone Mountains, but enough magic to fly himself all the way to the moon must be on some level of godhood. But the story of the Rabbit in the Moon had several other characters added over the years, which all brought up their own individual religions. Seeing this, many Whiver believed that Lum was some sort of messenger between them, as Lum, Mother Wolf, and Dreamer all allegedly resided somewhere either on the moon or in space.

The title of “Swift” came from a number of mistranslations and the general limited intelligence of Whiver as a species. The rabbit in the story isn’t mentioned by name very many times, regardless of the iteration. Most versions refer to Lum as the “young rabbit”, and he’s only called out by name in the little dialogue of the story. But there is one thing that comes up many times throughout. The phrase “be swift” comes up several times, usually in reference to the rabbit having to act quickly or run fast in order to keep himself safe. This got misconstrued into “Swift” being the rabbit’s name. To this day, both Lum and Swift are acceptable names for this deity

### Origins

Lum himself was said to have been born in a large open grassy field, with several naturally occurring burrows and cave systems to live in and explore. These caverns come up numerous times in the beginning of the story, as most of the rabbits Lum associates himself with live within them. It’s not clear where this place is on the map, although it’s generally accepted that Lum was born somewhere in the Hopeless Borderlands.

One key element about his home was the moon. Often Lum would sit out at night on large rocks or the tops of houses to gaze at the moon, which seemed to be a fair bit larger from his perspective. Lum was known to wander and get lost, so from an early age his mother taught him to navigate via the stars, often saying “the moon will guide you”.

Throughout the story of the Rabbit in the Moon Lum is faced with the death and destruction of those around him. All of his misfortunes were brought on by a demon related event akin to the Great Infestation, although the story predates the actual infestation. With every major death in the story, Lum follows the moon’s light to a new home. Eventually, after facing far too many deaths for the average person to stomach, Lum began to take his Mother’s words more literally. He believed that the Moon was a safe haven, and that getting there would protect him and his loved ones from the evils of the world.

Lum spent the later parts of the story wandering Mirror Domain, gathering powerful magic and equally powerful allies. Then, once he had enough power, he stormed the Bexstone Mountains; knowing that Void Peak was the closest place in the world to the Moon and that getting there would make his flight there far easier. Many near death encounters later, and Lum had made it to the top of Void Peak with his band of animal friends, at which point, depending on the region, he either flew them to the Moon with his powerful ears or with his wings.

Once Lum and his friends had settled the moon, they set up essentially a council of gods. The more “intelligent” gods remained in space, doing whatever godly duties people believe the gods do. Lum, still wanting to take care of his kin on Mirror Domain, decided to become a messenger for the gods. It’s believed that he’s the one to collect the offerings of mortals and bringing them to the intended recipients. This is what Lum does to this day, as well as slaying the occasional demon which tries to infiltrate the council of the gods or exit Mirror Domain’s atmosphere.

## **Major Holidays**

### The Star Festival

   A festival hosted up to four times a year, usually coinciding with a supermoon. The Star Festival is a nighttime celebration where Scampers usually congregate in their hometown’s highest peak in order to write letters to their god. Scampers believe that the super moon is a sign of Lum’s presence in Mirror Domain, as he has to “bring the moon closer” to the world to better enter/exit it. These letters are often folded into either paper lanterns or paper darts and sent off into the night sky with the hope Lum will collect them and bring them back to his home.

   These letters can be anything. Children often use these letters to send off their hopes, dreams, or wishes to Lum; hoping he’ll use his magic to grant them. Teenagers and young adults, if they write anything at all, usually use this holiday as a way to vent their frustrations. Writing about things that urk you can be therapeutic, and many Scampers in this demographic know that it’s simply a tradition rather than an actual ritual, and that no one will actually read whatever they write. The oldest demographic usually write their thanks, either to Lum himself or to the people in their life. That being said, anyone of any age can write about anything. These are just commonly noticed trends.

   As well as writing letters, this festival is also used as a time to get together as a family or a church group to hand out, mingle, and have fun. Children will band together to play night games, adults will drink and converse with each other, and there’s more often than not some sort of large dinner for everyone to partake in.

## **Lifestyle**

Seeing as Lum was very close with his mother, Scampers generally value family. Many of them want to have large families, whether they be biological or found families. Having a large friend or family circle is viewed as a good thing, as more friends means more connections. More connections means a higher chance of one person in said circle to make contact with Lum and bestow his magic, wisdom, or other gifts upon the rest of the group. Safety in numbers and whatnot.

Whiver tend to have more active lifestyles. As such, they have to find more active ways to worship their god. While many religions have some sort of mass, Scamper’s don’t. Not in the way many would expect, anyway. Saliences are built at the highest point of whatever town they’re in. If a high point isn’t available, they’ll be built as large spire like buildings. When a Scamper feels inclined to pray to or worship their god, they can be seen jogging over to the church, trying to get there as fast as possible in order to deliver their message in a timely manner.

Clothing is a big thing to Scampers. They have several articles of clothing that make their faith extremely obvious, even to outsiders. One of these are their shoes. Whiver have thick, hard pads at the bottom of their feet, so the majority of them have no need for shoes as their natural feet are protected enough. Non Scamper Whiver who wear shoes generally wear toeless shoes, as Whiver nails are long, sharp, and hard. The toes of shoes would just get torn to bits. Scampers, however, not only have toed shoes, but they have shoes with metallic toes in order to prevent their claws from damaging them.

These shoes are usually referred to as “Swift boots”, and they’re made to better protect the feet of the wearer. Lum is a messenger, after all. A messenger cannot send their messages if they injure their legs/feet, so taking care to protect them is seen as a way to show their dedication to Lum. Many Swift Boots have decorative filigree, and more expensive ones are plated in either silver or gold.

   Many other religious symbols exist as well. The church's “emblem” is often depicted as a rabbit with its ears curved upwards, holding the moon on his head. These emblems are almost always made of copper or gold, depending on the financial status of the region. Moon and star imagery are also very common. Scampers will often buy clothing with little stars embroidered onto them. Wearing religious symbols is seen as the standard. Scampers want their faith to be known, and they want to spread their message as much as possible. You can’t do that hiding in the shadows.

## **Beliefs**

Followers of Lum do not believe in an Afterlife in the traditional sense, meaning they don’t believe in any form of life after death. Instead, Scampers believe that when they die, their soul is collected by Lum and brought up into space, where it’s then released into the endless expanse of the cosmos and turned into stars. Shooting stars are believed to be old souls paying Mirror Domain a visit, although it’s not believed these souls are alive. Moreso the magic within them is inherently tied to Mirror Domain, and will eventually find its way back to recharge it’s magic.

Only those who follow a god tied to the council are thought to be turned into stars. This means that, to Scampers, only followers of Mother Wolf or Dreamer are brought to the cosmos. Anyone else has not spread their message to Lum. If Lum isn’t aware of a soul’s existence, he can’t collect it. Hard to find something if you don’t know it exists, after all.

As far as Scampers are concerned, remaining silent is the same as lying. Lum wants his followers to spread their messages to the world, so if someone remains silent on a topic it’s viewed as something “bad”. If it wasn’t, they’d have no reason to hide it from the world. Even lies are seen as more favourable to Scampers. Many lies are based in truth, and if a lie is told the truth more often than not eventually comes to the surface. The less one talks, the less Lum knows about them, and the less inclined he is to collect their souls after death.

   As stated previously, Followers of Lum will communicate with him either via letter or prayer. That being said, any form of communication is good enough, so long as you’re willing to communicate at all. You must make yourself known to contact Lum, so Scampers are usually very loud people. Loud clunky shoes, heavy footsteps, outdoor voices, and other things of the like.

   Scampers have no real opinions on anything on a gender related bias. Some religions are segregated, with some rituals or activities being restricted to a single gender, but Scampers believe it’s better to allow everyone to participate equally. Restricting practices based on gender excludes half the population from spreading their message, which is bad. Their religion isn’t even restricted to just Whiver, although many of them are quite protective over it. Whiver don’t have much of a claim to anything, and they don’t want Lum’s attention to be taken away from them.

   Recreational substances are fairly common amongst Scampers. Many mind altering drugs make some people less anxious or more inclined to speak their minds. As such, they’re welcome in the Salience, as they help more quiet or anxious people open up and have their stories told. Alcohol is the most common of these substances. Harder drugs are more controversial, but that’s more due to the health concerns and not because of religious bias.

   Because a major part of the Salience is to have one’s story told, it’s not uncommon for darker or more evilly inclined individuals to gain traction or abuse the religion to spread their fame/infamy. Scampers are known to gossip, so if a crime lord or an upcoming celebrity wants to make themselves known they’ll often take an interest in Lum, just to get more people talking. Saliences, to outsiders, are basically giant gossip factories