12-24-2023, 02:44 AM
While mystery is good and all, I decided to put together some of my general concepts I've been working with for Annwyn's views on faith and religion in a place where they can be used by others if they wanted to use the place, rather than just assuming this would get approved, I decided to submit it as separate lore. It's also worth noting that this will be distorted by your clan, family, or even your own personal beliefs either in potentially major ways. Annwyn doesn't have a high priesthood enforcing a single canon, and it's mythology and folklore can get fairly overgrown because of that. Add in the fact that people who know the old stories might be eaten by demons and you have a recipe for inconsistency. Because of this inconsistency, it's perfectly valid to make up family myths or legends. While this information isn't impossible to find outside of the Fens, it would be obscure lore, of interest primarily to scholars and those who make a habit of traveling to distant lands. In any case...
Dawns Y'bedd
Dance of the Grave
The people of Annwyn lead hard lives, and their peculiar cultural fascination with personal strength makes those lives all the harder, perhaps as a result of this they have grown a cultural familiarity with, and fascination for, the process of death. Where other cultures might study the nature of spirits, or metal and machines, the Annwynites have made a study of death. Though a more opaque subject of study than others, the body of lore built upon this has lead to a unique view of life, death, and faith in the swamps. Though known by many names and possessing many variations as befits the individualist nature of the Annwynites, the most common of these is the 'Dawns Y'bedd' or the dance of the grave. Rather than a single faith, with a single master, the Dance is more of a framework, a foundation upon which the people of Annwyn base their view of the world.
To the people of Annwyn, reincarnation is not simply a theory, it is a fact. Each child is taught not only of their living family, but of their past lives. Sages, possessed of spiritual abilities, divine hints as to a youth's past identities. And it is believed that the nature of one's birth is determined by their predecessors. That a person's life is just one step on the journey of the soul. One face among the thousands you have worn over the years. It is this perceived continuity that has led them to declare mankind's collective status as a Constant. For as they say, Men may die, but Mankind endures. Thus, much is made of the gifts given by ones immediate predecessor, and personal deficiencies are perceived through a lens of intentional handicaps. If you have no skill for swordsmanship, perhaps in a past life you were a swordsman without peer, and your soul wishes to try something new. Your life is influenced by your ancestors not only indirectly, in the form of the world you are born into, but directly, as your spiritual predecessor forms your nature.
Each man is thus, a fraction of mankind. But even a sliver of infinity is still infinite. A man can die, and live, as many times as they wish, so long as none of those incarnations bring themselves out of line with the cycle, selling eternity for a single span of power. The wheel of ages turns, and with each turning, mankind has opportunity anew to grow stronger. To rise to greater heights, this is the origins of their 'Prophesy of Arawn' that one day this growth will reach beyond the bounds of the world. That one day, they who are not yet Arawn will be born. Arawn will kill the children of Mortyl, and in doing so take their power, before rising to challenge Mortyl themselves. Taking the constants throne for humanity. So the tales go, that once Mortyl has fallen, mankind will grow without limit, or restraint. Humanity will come upon the void, and the void itself will be torn asunder and cast aside to make way to the final foe as the creators children make war upon the origin realms.
Though most families tell some version of this tale, it holds many variations, depending on the beliefs of the teller. Those cults of the Primordials with purchase in the fens believe Arawn will be blessed by their chosen patron, the necromantic cabals of the Gwaredwyr will say that Arawn will be one of their number. Men claim Arawn will be a man, and women tend to believe Arawn will be a woman. Each believing in their heart of hearts that some day the name will be theirs to claim. And each with their own version of the golden age of prosperity to come after Mortyl's fall. To some it is merely a fanciful allegory to encourage people to strive for great things, while others consider the tales as true as steel.
Names of the Divine
Though the fens have tales of many familiar entities, they have their own names and perceptions of these beings. And a few figures that they alone believe in.
The Seven
Gofod Giantfather: The Annwynite name for the Primal of space, Amier. He, like most fallen gods, is perceived favorably by the people of Annwyn, both due to their belief that fallen gods are reborn as mortals, and due to Gofod's particular role in ending the tyranny of the six. Despite this overall positive perception, he is not infrequently portrayed in story or song as foolish, a man born with everything, without the will to do what needed to be done to maintain his place of power. Yet for all that, his actions lead to mankinds victory in the Primomachy.
Mother Bywyd: Alacritas, is known in Annwyn as Mother Bywyd, and despite that familial name, she is seen as something of a distant uncaring figure. Certainly she provides food, and shelter. But she also provides that to your enemies as well. Where other cultures might see that as a call to unity and peace, the people of Annwyn see it as a mother stoking conflict amongst her children, an all too common practice among the fens.
Amser of Ages: Known more frequently as Memoria in the lands of Meranthe, Amser of Ages is seen as an Aloof god, a trickster who may offer help, but never without some manner of price or catch. Many is the tale of a prophesy given by Amser's aid, only for the Prophesy itself to stir events to it's own completion. A Sage is foretold to be killed by a man in red. And so he reacts to all who wear the color red with violence, thus starting the fight in which he is destroyed.
Gobaith and Anobaith: The twin Constants, the bickering siblings. Hope, and Despair. Pylae and Moros are seen among the people of the Fens as.... childish beings. Unworthy of contract and even more unworthy of veneration, though Gobaith is marginally more respected than Anobaith, both of their domains are seen as falsehoods, trickeries of perception. Hope is a willful self deception, and admission of ones own inadequacy. And what room is there for despair in the endless reflection of mankinds glory? To embrace either is a weakness of the spirit and betrayal of mankinds own nature.
Marwolaeth: Last and most dreaded of the six, Mortyl. Constant of Death. In many ways, it could be said the people of Annwyn worship her. Certainly much of their cultural and religious beliefs, and outlook are shaped by, and towards death. The people of the Fens have a morbid fascination with the primal, that is only matched by their desire to kill her. To contract with her is to begin dancing to her tune rather than mankind's, and to support her or her children is to invite the enmity of all of Annwyn.
Dynoliaeth: Though by the reckoning of the other nations of Aegis, there are only six Constants, the people of Annwyn believe in a seventh. Dynoliaeth, the essence of humanity itself. For though men may die, each of them is reborn, and thus mankind endures. Though individually men may be weak, when brought together they become strong beyond reckoning. Mankind itself is the Constant of Ambition, for what is more human than to look up at the sky with a desire for more? Thus it is each mortals duty to break their chains, to grow stronger, and pave the way for the future.
(I'll try to come up with more lore for how the Pantheon is seen, and possibly on cults & cabals another day.)