Religion and Beliefs

## Astral Order

The Astral Order is a religion that doesn't focus on divine beings, instead worshiping constellations of stars. The reason for these beliefs is that the magic on the world of Andsmid flows through the arcane light of the stars, which is most commonly called the Astral. As Astral is the main source of magic, it is logical for most magic users, be it hedge wizards, druids, scholars, and even some healers (albeit, most of the "divine" healing magic finds it source from the belief in the light of Corus, see Church of Radiance) to worship stars, as they dictate nearly every aspect of their lives.

Wyrdstone is often found as a innate symbol of the Astral Order, as wyrdstone has a strange capacity of producing Astral energy, as well as it's look being reminiscent of "staring in to the heart of a galaxy".

The origins of the Astral Order are unclear, but it is almost definite that it predates the cataclysmic Shattering.

### Megastrals (The Seven Great Constellations)

Megastrals (portmanteau of "mega" and "astral", pronounced as mega-astral) are the main constellations of star which seem to produce astral energy that affects specific arcane schools.

#### The Shield (Abjuration)

The Shield symbolizes the potent protective magic of abjuration.

#### The Summoning Circle (Conjuration)

The Summoning Circle symbolizes the rituals that are performed to use conjuration magic.

#### The Eye (Divination)

The Eye symbolizes the extra-natural sight given by divination magic.

#### The Mind (Enchantment)

The Mind symbolizes the fact that most enchantment magic addles the thought processes, and thusly, the brain of most sapient beings.

#### The Pentastra / Pentagram (Evocation)

The Pentastra symbolizes the 5 base-line elements of Andsmid - Fire, Water, Earth, Wind, and raw arcane energy.

#### The Prism (Illusion)

The Prism symbolizes the fact that most illusions are the product of the manipulation of light and vision, as a prism manipulates a beam of light to produce many different colors.

#### The Polymyterastra (Transmutation)

The Polymyterastra ("the many pointed star") symbolizes the great amount of possibilities of transmutation of elements, and their innate connection between each other.

The School of Necromancy (and therefore magic that influences life and death) is the main school of the Church of Radiance, which praise Corus as the only divine entity. The Astral Order believes that life and death is controlled by something even greater, beyond anyone's comprehension, leading to a dogmatic conflict of ideologies.

### Microastrals (Lesser Constellations)

There are as many lesser constellations as there are astrolotheogians, as with each personal belief, each aspiring believer of the Astral Order will find a constellation that befits them and their own set of beliefs, but some microastrals are more popular than others, for example;

* The Dragon (Favored by lizard folk, and rarely civilized kobolds)
* The Spider (Favored by rogues, especially those of evil nature)
* The Tree (Of symbolic meaning for elves)
* The Wolf and Tiger (The meaning was lost in time, but usually symbolizes the duality of things, but also their similarities among the differences, symbol of peace)
* The Wagon (Essentially a constellation compass, as most of the constellations are pole stars)
* The Serpent (Also favored by rogues, but those that operate under the idea of being a vigilante
* The Scales (Usually used as a symbol for justiciars and reeves)
* The Hammer (Vague of meaning, most commonly craftsmen or soldiers)
* The Tome (Symbolizes scholarship and academia)
* The Mask (A symbol of anonymity, as well as a classical depiction of performance arts, favored by bards and artists)

## Church of Radiance

The Church of Radiance was a natural reaction to the cataclysmic event that was Corus no longer providing enough heat and light to sustain normal life on Dusk. The church's main object of reverence is the duality of light and darkness of Corus - light, obviously symbolizing life, and darkness symbolizing death. This duality has brought on a great support of necromantic healing magic, making it the main school of magic of the church, but also a great fear towards it's *darker* side - true necromancy. It is disputed if Corus in of itself is the source of this necromantic magic, or the fanatical belief in Corus' divine status.

Most members of the Radiant Church are zealot warriors and preachers, spreading their beliefs, but not all of them. A good portion of the members are priests, clerics and paladins, wielding Corus' light against darkness, healing the wounded and tending to the sick.

As the majority of the Radiant clergy is keen on proselytizing their faith, the beliefs of the Church have spread far in to many different safezones - coruscite shards often being the main object of worship.

Relations between the Church of Radiance and the Astral Order are mostly negative, as their beliefs conflict each other. The Church of Radiance believes that the light of Corus is the only thing that should be divine, because it is the source of life (and death), whereas the Astral Order believes that there is something greater that controls the ebb and flow of life and death.

## Elven Naturalism, Midhryn and Heimva

When the cataclysm struck, and Midhryn ("Worldspine", an enormous spiraling tree the size of a city that was key to every aspect of elven life, especially near-eternal life and memory) has been felled by an enormous meteorite, the elves have lost their connection to their divine gods, as well as the majority of their population. Ever since, they have been attempting to re-establish it by growing a new Midhryn. Elves are more connected to nature than most, as their strange semi-magical biology relies on it, believing that nature is a conduit of the Astral. Thus, elves worship nature (or what's left of it) and do their best to protect it.

It is said, that Midhryn contained the shapeless elven creator god, Heimva and it's children, which are now long lost to time, the only records being ancient books written by historians of old, but they theorize that once the new Midhryn is regrown and reshaped, the elven gods will once again inhabit it, letting elves become the greatest race on Andsmid, once again.

It should be noted, that elven naturalism finds it worshippers in beings other than elves, but primarily in beings that are equally in touch with nature, ie. druids.

## Dwarven Ancestor Worship

Dwarves, thanks to their long lives and keen intellects, never worshipped any particular deities, even before the Shattering. They instead venerated their ancestors, be it the founder or head of their clan, mountain-kings or other dwarves of great prominence. This worship has lead to a strange side effect - the souls of departed dwarves still lingered, and projected themselves as literal ghosts or spirits, whose manifestations, whilst still ethereal, could interact with their kin.

## Occult Worship

Some speak of "stars that whisper", a strange phenomenon that affects singular stars rather than constellations. These "whispering stars" make contact with singular individuals, letting them channel strange occult Astral magic. The patronage of these strange, sentient stars often leads to occult-empowered warlocks.