Religion

## The Faith of the Fourborn

Once the primary religion found all throughout Incarcia, the Faith of the Fourborn has greatly declined in recent centuries due to the Gods' own fall. The Fourborn are the Gods responsible for Incarcia's Creation as well as the direct creation of the dwarves, elves, gnomes, giants, and many more. The Faith worships each of the four Gods as a collective pantheon, operating out of the kingdom of Burg as their headquarters with smaller holdings spread sparse throughout the rest of the world. Priests of the Fourborn typically maintain these temples and holdings, with few ever receiving actual divine power through objects known as Vestiges, objects touched and blessed by the Fourborn's physical forms. In the lands where the Faith is most stable, Vestiges are highly important relics that are documented and archived, only granted to high priests, high ranking templar, and the leader of the Faith themselves, the Pontiff. However, in the lands where the Faith has fallen most, Vestiges are lost and forgotten, quite easily falling into lucky hands who might not even know the power lurking within them.

The Fourborn are made up of the following deities:

* ***Neverother,*** *the God of War and Order*
* ***Venokath,** the God of Knowledge and Secrets*
* ***Aranarch,** the God of Chaos and Madness*
* ***Hessuria,** the God of Light and Creation*

Since the Fourborn's fall during the Heavens' Defiance, they have spread far and wide in hiding across Incarcia, operating in secrecy with very few knowing of their true identities. Many believe that they've even begun religions of their own, abandoning the pantheon entirely to serve themselves, while others rumor that they secretly lead the world's powers. Some even say that the Fourborn are long dead, slain by the many nameless killers to be found throughout Incarcia.

**The Dark Vestige.** During the events of the Dark Vestige campaign, it was revealed that the conqueror Kalon Polareign was truly Neverother in disguise, who wished to correct the wrongs of the broken Fourborn and exterminate the vampiric menace from the face of the realm. However, upon the Alkhaz's seizing of the Dark Vestige, a shard of Innara swollen with dark magic, Kalon simply disappeared, abandoning the ambitions of the Peninsula for reasons unknown. It is believed by many that he was either slain by the vampire King Xul during the Siege of Wendon City, though the faithful suspect otherwise, considering Neverother's power.

## The Church of the Black Seeker

A religion nearly as ancient as the Faith, the Church has seen a great rise in recent years due to the spread of Sincarnus's influence and the sheer loss of hope in other Gods. Far less centralized than during its initial founding, the Church is less of a structured religion and more a set of decadent ideals meant to further deify Sincarnus and allow his presence to infect all of the world, with its followers doing so in the belief that by unleashing the Black Seeker they may unbind the barriers put in place by the House and the Fourborn, ultimately leading to the freedom of the Expunged Slayer, October. Followers of the Church believe that by doing this, they shall be greatly rewarded by October and may even reach deific status themselves. In most areas of the world, the Church is unorganized and disconnected from many others, with priests interpreting the tenets differently wherever one goes. However, in Sertheron, the Church has risen from the ashes of the fallen kingdom, and now holds a greater hierarchy. The Church's tenets are as follows:

* ***I. Sin.** The Seeker's presence is a Gift that must be spread.*
* ***II. Offering.** Wherever Sin breeds, you will follow to ensure the Seeker feeds.*
* ***III. Enemies.** To undo the work of the Seeker is to become the Enemy.*
* ***IV. Indulgence.** To Sin is not to commit atrocity, but to feed the Shadow within and without.*
* ***V. Emotion.** Emotion is the pathway to Sin and must be pursued and enjoyed.*
* ***VI. Ascension.** Those unbreaking of these tenets shall rise in the wake of the Dance in Darkness.*

## The Boundless Lord

The Boundless Lord is a God from beyond the known realms located deep within the Astral Plane, a God who is believed to not only be present on Incarcia but in many other worlds as well. Rather than demand worship, however, the Boundless Lord collects memories and knowledge, granting his greatest followers with an ability known as Channelling: the ability to gaze upon the past, present, and future as if a memory of ones' own. Priests who worship the Boundless Lord make offerings simply by learning and making their knowledge the Boundless Lord's, effectively serving as his very eyes and ears. The Boundless Lord is not worshiped much outside of high elven and scholarly society, primarily due to distrust or even the lack of knowing that he exists. Those in following of the Lord do so because he represents knowledge of the unknown, and on Incarcia, it is the unknown that is feared most, and so the Lord's following has grown much in the latest years. Furthermore, it is said that the Boundless Lord offers power even greater than that of Channelling, known only to his greatest of followers and those chosen specifically by the Lord to wield his Secrets.

## The Court of Storm and Frost

The Court of Storm and Frost is a Fey order founded by the Archfey Belicira and Remogg, once two of the highest lieutenants of the Fourborn themselves. After the Heavens' Defiance, where a collection of fiends and celestials overthrew the weakening Fourborn in order to guard and protect Incarcia from itself, the Fey appointed Belicira and Remogg as the newfound Gods of the land and their order, who then shaped the Feywild from the physical body of Incarcia itself. To followers of the Court, Belicira and Remogg symbolize the dichotomy and duality of the concepts of lightning and frost, a symbolism of great importance in the Court. Lightning represents immediacy, retribution, and light, while frost represents caution, persistence, and darkness. Followers of the Court must claim dominance and understanding over these tenets, for in the magically flowing plane of the Feywild, simply comprehending the forces at work there will grant one limited power over them. As well, formal priests of the Court are given rank within their hierarchy, becoming jurymen, judges, informants, and more, depending on the individual's skillset and the Court's needed use for them.

The Court's holdings spread far throughout Incarcia, but remain centralized in the more civilized lands of the world in order to keep what peace there is. Many branches of sects exist beneath the Court, some favoring one of the Fey Gods over another, others dedicated only to serving the realm, while others exist for the purposes of study and academic magical practice. Some places welcome the order instated by the decrees of the Court, while others see the Fey as a threat to mortal freedom and choose instead to reject them. Others, like the Faith in Burg, even still hold a hatred for the Court due to their rebellion against the Fourborn held in legend.

## The Grinning and Guidance

Considered by some to be a force even darker than Sincarnus itself, the Grinning is an avatar of undeath and all that is unnatural. Where Sincarnus seeks to destroy and incite chaos, the Grinning takes solace in warping and perverting the laws created by the Fourborn themselves, granting necromancy and witchcraft to its followers with promises of an eternal afterlife in undeath. The Grinning governs the Everblack, his mere aura exerting blight and decay in the colorless realm. His followers serve their dark guide in secret, traversing the world and toying with the divine order as they see fit. This has led to the creations of things most abominable and even great discoveries, such as the disturbing concepts of lichdom and the gift of lycanthropy. However, do not think that the Grinning is purely a malevolent being. Oftentimes, innovators and artists have turned to the God, forging experimental pacts that have led to the creation of some of Incarcia's most glorious works, as it is in the uncanny, abnormal, and strange that the Grinning holds power so.