Tag: vayla

Religions of Muunfel

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Muunfel is home to many different groups with their own traditions and overlapping beliefs about how the gods should be revered (or not). Since they are far more likely to actually meet the subject of their worship, some folks can adopt an overly familiar tone when talking about them. This might be the main cause of denominations within one group, as others fully believe that the gods should not be spoken of in the same way a friend or family member might be.

Many may choose one god or only a couple to focus their devotions upon. This could range from daily prayer and ritual to draw the god’s attention and favor to simply having a token or shrine of them nearby that one passively acknowledges from time to time. This is not organized religion, and is much more personal to each individual’s comfort levels. Many gods have temples at which their most devoted keep their preferred traditions in practice.

The bigger religions focus on a certain grouping of gods, and so far are mostly centered around only the First gods (ones that existed fully as gods without having to ascend).

The Church of the Life Gods: Worshippers of Leleurya, Diakon, and their children Wiavex, Biim, and Trace. There is emphasis on the cyclic nature of life and all things, as well as a strong desire for being true to oneself in body, mind, and soul. This is the most common organized religion found in Muunfel, and many people follow it as well as a handful of ascended gods.

The four nature gods have a religion surrounding their stewardship of the world. Its most devoted followers will make a pilgrimage to each of the four temples made in these gods’ honor. However, the temple to the god of earth has been fragmented, and so the journey instead takes followers through the mountains to reflect on the power of earth against all mortal creations.

Vayla, the goddess of time, has a small but meticulous following that keeps records of her words and teachings. They work to aid in the gathering of prophecy, and many of Vayla’s followers also worship other gods as well.

Finally, there is a religion loosely called the Order of the Fall, whose main goal is for the ascended gods to return to their mortality and exit the pantheon. A group of its members was successful in preventing at least one ascension in recent history.

History of Muunfel

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( Creation Myth )

The history of Muunfel is divided into distinct Ages, which are usually defined by the word of Vayla, the goddess of time. There is some fluctuation in what scholars will call the definitive year that one age gives way to the next, but they can usually agree on an approximate length of time. There is no set length of time for an Age to last – they encompass the important events of the time.

The Ages as named by Vayla are as follows

  • Age before Ages – All time before the First Union
  • Age of Creation – Began with the First Union and ended with the Third Union, and is the time in which new beings came into existence and the world was falling into place. This is when Muunfel itself would have formed.
  • Age of Separation – In which the various peoples of the world kept to themselves, learning about the world with little interaction with others. This is the beginning of recorded history, though the disparate groups all have their own take on things.
  • Age of Expansion – The races began to expand. Muunfel was occupied primarily by Tam, Vay, and Dar. Elf- and Faekind were scattered. This age ended with the first arrival of Mankind on Muunfel’s shores.
  • Age of Tipped Scales – Mankind established a foothold in Muunfel, and the Tam and Vay empires waned.
  • Age of Borders – More retreat of the Tam and Vay, and the Faekind claimed their vast forests.
  • Age of Ascension – Began with the ascension of Luna and marks the first time the pantheon welcomed new additions to its ranks. Ended with the birth of Kidri, the goddess of heroes.
  • Age of Equilibrium – Ascension slowed down and the affairs of mortals took front stage as the new gods (and their followers) rose to power.
  • The Current Age in Muunfel has been going on for more than a century, but has yet to be named by Vayla.

Vaykind

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Beings of time, the Vay are named after Vayla herself out of respect for how much she oversees. There aren’t as many Vay as there are among the other classes of beings, but it can be argued that there are more because some of them are not fixed to one point in time. They are as mysterious and difficult to pin down as the goddess they’re named for.

The abilities of the Vay are inextricably linked to time. Some are more attached to the time of day, and others to the day of the week. Since they tend to look human and can even blend in among humans most of the time, sometimes the abilities may crop up much to their own surprise as much as anyone else’s. Some of the more documented Vaykind include:

Prophets, people who can see the future, are not to be mistaken with spellcasters who use magic to look forward in time. With Prophets, it is an innate ability that can lay dormant for generations among humans with Vay bloodlines.

Season witches wax and wane with the turning of the seasons. White (winter), Red (summer), Green (spring), and Gold (autumn) witches are most powerful at their respective solstice/equinox.

Time knights are able to step through time. There aren’t many of them, and they have strict rules about what they can do when they emerge in a new time. Their view of time is fractured compared to Vayla’s all-encompassing, linear view, and they pray to her often for guidance.

Colloquialisms in Muunfel

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Heavenly Forge – The sun. It is long believed that the goddess of the sun uses it as a forge when she creates some of the toughest metalworks known to mortals. Sunforged Steel takes its name from this colloquial term.

Leleurya’s Sweet Sleeping Earth – The planet. This refers to the fact that everything in creation was made by Leleurya singing a lullaby to put energy to sleep.

Sing that to the Gods – “Take it to the bank”. Basically, you can count on it.

The Vexing Door – The gate to the afterlife. Named for Wiavex, the goddess of souls.

Gods’ Ire – A milder, psuedo-polite version of godsdamn.

Fairy Playground – A creepy place. It earns its name from the way non-fae can become so lost within the vast forests of the Faekind. Fairy magic makes mapping such regions impossible. A place that gives a sense of lost direction often earns this descriptor.

Vayla Forget – “Heaven forbid”. An oath most commonly used in the east. It laments an event and expresses wishful thinking, that is wishing Valya (goddess of time and memory) would forget an event so that it never happened.

Muunfel: The Creation Mythos

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The world on which Muunfel resides holds a myth about the Three energies of the universe: Time, Nature, and Magic. Vayla, the goddess of time and steward to Time itself is the only being in all of existence who holds the full account of how the world came to be. This is what she has spoken:

In the beginning, there were the Three.

Time brought order and direction.

Magic formed the ever-stirring energies and the constant heartbeat of existence.

Nature brought change and renewal.

When Time and Magic reached out to each other, the First Union began. Into existence came Creation. Leleurya, mother of all things, took form. With the Lullaby of Creation, Leleurya sang the roiling energies of the Three into the universe, giving form to existence. Time provided rules and reason for the world, Nature the ever-changing vigor, and Magic the life and foundation.

When energies awoke from their slumber, there came Destruction. Diakon, partner and counter to Leleurya, took form to awaken the sleeping energies and destroy what had been created. Existence was brought into balance as they circled each other in the endless dance, voices intertwining in harmony.

Leleurya saw the universe as a place for something new. With the Song of Life, Leleurya created living beings with bodies, minds, and souls. The earliest race of mortals, the precursor to humanity, was born. As the First Union continued, Cel and Sarin were drawn into existence to watch over the death of Leleurya’s creations, and the cycle of mortality began.

Nature, not a part of the First Union, began forming its own creations. The Darkind, wild beasts and monstrous creatures, roamed the newly-sleeping land with unchecked abandon. Time and Magic created the Four to act as stewards for Nature and its Dar.

Finally, Vayla and the Twins Baota and Gem came into existence as the First Union ended, ensuring that among the First Gods each of the Three had a patron.

As Mankind, Leleurya’s first creations, expanded over the world, Magic created the Tamkind, beings of magic, and Time created the Vaykind, beings of time.

The Second Union began when Nature and Magic collided with one another. It was as fruitful as it was unexpected. The Fae, wild, diverse people, were created. The Rights of Singularity were formed, allowing the cycle of Fae Dominion and giving an otherwise chaotic people a sense of order and balance.

When the first Una and Aubry answered the call, the Second Union ended.

The Third Union and final partnership among the Three was between Nature and Time.

Polar opposites, their Union was difficult and fleeting. Elfkind, creatures of balance and chaos both, came to be. A number of varieties were created. The Ether elves, the last of all races to be created, were unfinished when the Third Union ended.

Pantheon Spotlight: The Goddess of Time

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Vayla, the goddess of time, keeps all things that have happened in her memory. Nothing that happens is beyond her recollection. While the future by its very nature is beyond her, Vayla keeps watch over the Vaykind that are privy to things that have yet to happen. She is also responsible for the naming of the ages. It’s said she has a temple somewhere in Synka near the Tower of Time, and she meditates there when in her corporeal form.

It is said that Trace, the god of mind, could potentially steal Vayla’s memories and erase portions of history from all knowledge.

If he has done this, it is impossible to know for certain.

Muunfel

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Muunfel (my setting in a high fantasy project and the focus of my world building June for 2017) is the Land of the Gods, the one continent where the gods are known to walk the earth and give their blessings (and their fury) in person. Empires of mortals have come and gone on its surface throughout the ages. In the Year of Vayla* 2219, there are 8 countries:

  1. Korvasin, the Fallen Empire
  2. Rutan, the Rebel Kingdom
  3. Meraev, the Solian’s Domain
  4. The War-Torn Crown
  5. Genfierz, the Clockwork Kingdom
  6. Heptaena, the Bleak Elflands
  7. Synka, the Timewilds
  8. Faeland, the Fair Kingom

*Vayla, goddess of time, is the keeper of memories and gives names to the ages