The Wanderers
The major religion and the official one of Vesilia is that of the Wanderers. It is a religion based on oral traditions. There are many variants of devotion to the gods who are known as the Almighty.
Wanderers worship in general, all four almighty. They often represent different parts of life and death which is why the separation of one or more almighty is difficult. Death always follows life which is one of the basic principles behind this religion.
In regards to morality and good vs. evil, malice is often attributed to the Beast and nightbringers. However, it is believed that people are responsible for their own actions which is why there are heretics; murderers, people who go against the Unborn, and more who are called out for being “shadow-walkers” – individuals choosing to enter the realms of the Beast.
The Almighty
The Wanderer
The Wanderer is the representation of life. The Wanderer is said to walk the land carefully, watching the events of life. It watches over every living soul. It guards the balance between nature and humans. It is said to walk with the souls of the departed. The Wanderer is neither female nor male.
It is said that the Wanderer decided to walk the earth after the Almighty’s Justice to come closer to its subjects and protect them from the Beast. The Wanderer is the only Almighty who walks the earth.
The other three only appear occasionally. The Wanderer knows everything that happens. It passes judgment on the living. It may at times decide to hand humans to the Beast willingly if a human displeases it or the Unborn.
It keeps The Beast at bay and is in an eternal struggle with him. In conciliation with the Unborn, the Wanderer finds suitable places for the Unborn to become Wanderers of life.
The Wanderer leads the souls of the departed on an endless journey at its side.
The Keeper
The Keeper who many claim to be the younger sister of the Unborn is who carries the dying into safety. She protects them against the Beast. When a human is dying he/she is at their most vulnerable to falling prey to the Beast. The Keeper is the one who stands between the Beast’s servants and their prey. She fights them off but is unable to protect humans against the Beast. Only the Beast and the Wanderer are equals in strength.
The Keeper offers humans the chance to move forward and leave the earth. She brings them to walk beside the Wanderer. Once a person is on the brink of death, the Keeper weighs the actions of the individual. She makes the judgment on who she will keep out of harm’s way from the Nightbringers. Beware is a cautionary tale told throughout Vesilia to remind people of the judgment the Keeper will make. It serves to sway people from vile acts.
Scroll down further to read the tale.
She is referred to as the bringer of light. When she appears to save a dying soul, the light follows. Her features are ever-changing but her protection is not for those who deserve it.
The Keeper stands for death, hope, freedom, and protection.
The Unborn
She is the guardian of the unconscious souls of the unborn. She protects them. A child is unborn until the age of four. When they reach four, they are wanderers and therefore protected by the Wanderer. She is said to be more like a spirit and may also be referred to as such.
In great battles or tragedies, the Unborn is said to protect those she has chosen to become parents. When someone lives through a tragedy or battle, it is considered rude and disrespectful to the Unborn not to father children. If the Unborn is unhappy with a survivor, she might revoke her decision to let them live and let the Beast have them.
The Beast & Nightbringers
The Beast or Nightbringer is he who stands for misfortune, mysticism, and chaos. He is the oldest and the most vicious of the four. Not many dare pray to him since it is feared that praying to the Beast will bring great misfortune. The Beast is the master of the Nightbringers, who gather the dying for him to claim. Once a person is taken by the Beast, he/she falls into his domain, where they drown for thousands of years inside his stomach. It is a place of torture.
Depictions such as in art are not often created as it is believed to bring misfortune to all who display depictions of the Beast. Artists and painters have instead used symbols such as strong winds with rain that cuts through everything, smoke, and ash.
When described, the Beast is an ever-changing form of utter chaos and power. It is even said that the Beast may sprout thousands of legs and arms as it is in an eternal battle with the souls trapped within. As large catastrophes occur the Beast is held responsible and said to have lost the battle with itself. The Wanderer needs to step in to get the Beast back into its proper form.
Nightbringers
Creatures who roam the earth in search of the dying. When they find a person who is dying they gather around the human like a pack of wolves and guard the soul until the Beast claims the soul for his own. “A fading man shrieking is a lost man,” is a common expression when speaking of the Nightbringers guarding a soul.
Nightbringers may also stalk prey for a long time. They personify the pray’s beloved to fool them into an early grave. There are several accounts of people seeing a Nightbringer but believing it to be their close friend or beloved family. Of all the creatures in this religion, the Nightbringers are very hard for people not to believe in since there are many accounts of witnessing Nightbringers.
Celebrations & Special OCCASIONS
Awakenings
When a child turns four there is an awakening as a wanderer. The child leaves the care of the Unborn and enters life as a wanderer.
At four years old it is a lower chance of dying and the life expectancy increases greatly. With every Awakening, there is a presiding Guide who brings the child from the Unborn to the Wanderer. The ceremony lasts for an hour at the most where the parents sit by the child’s side while friends and family offer gifts for the child’s journey through life. The Guide is the last one to present their gift which is an anklet to be attached to the child’s foot. The anklet is later replaced with a bigger one as the child grows.
The anklet counts the number of years the person has walked the earth as a wanderer. Every year that follows the anklet is resized or replaced with a new one. This is called a Yourday which is the equivalent to a birthday.
Enfoldings
Just like the wanderers celebrate and acknowledge Awakenings the tradition of blessing people in the name of the Unborn continues with Enfoldings. An Enfolding is a ceremony where a man and a woman make a promise to the Unborn to accept a child into their household. They are blessed by the Guides who ask for the Unborn’s protection. Being married to a person in Vesilia refers to this ceremony.
For the lower classes of society, these ceremonies may be entered into lightly while the upper classes have a much more rigorous one.
Memorials
At the Awakening, people are presented with their first foot bracelet which symbolizes the walk by the Wanderer’s side. Once a person dies the footlink and usefully the shoes the deceased wore (at the time of death) are given to the Halls. The body itself is of no consequence to the memorial and is burned. Their ashes are gathered and also handed to the Halls which have a memorial for the deceased.
The footlink, shoes, and ashes are placed by a table and a wake is held. It could be at a person’s home or the Halls. The most important part is that the individual is honored and spoken about at the ceremony.
The belongings are gathered and buried within the Halls. There are no tombstones or any indicator of the deceased’s life except for the footlinks.
Clergy & Religious Grounds
The Halls
The Halls are buildings that house the religious practices of the Wanderers. These octagon-shaped buildings bring security and peace to all who enter. Within its walls memorials, enfoldings, awakenings, and the occasional healing is conducted.
In every town and city of Vesilia there should be at least one Hall. The Halls have a sanctuary inside the courtyard. Flowers, plants and trees are cared for by the Guides. These gardens are used for reflection, burial and peace.
The Guides
There are only a select few who work within the religion of the Wanderers. The Guides who can be found in the Halls are the official clergy. Their duties are to guide the living on a path that will end by the Wanderer’s side after death.
The Guides perform and lead the rituals connected to the Halls and the religion. Their mission is to steer souls to the Wanderer and keep them away from Nightbringers and the Beast.
Religious Practices
Sharing One's Pyre
The wanderers are bound by duty and their beliefs to invite a traveler and stranger to a place by their fire in the wilderness. If a stranger approaches and one turns the stranger away, it is believed to bring severe consequences. If one turns the Wanderer away the Wanderer is said to let the Nightbringers and the Beast claim the souls of those who rejected it.
Sharing one’s pyre is an old tradition harking back to the days of the explorers. There is no official law to share a pyre but it is custom as it shows a person’s kindness and hospitality.
Duties to the Unborn
After decades of war and famine two centuries past, the religion focused on the worship of the Unborn. As thousands of people died there was a desperate need to replenish the population of Vesilia.
Before this calamity the duties to the Unborn were fairly unheard of and ignored. The last two centuries have changed its approach to her and the duties every adult has to fulfill.
To refuse to bring life is the worst thing a wanderer can do. By the age of twenty two, all men and women need to provide the Guides with proof of their intention and devotion to create life.
If one refuses to provide proof of intent or a willingness to honor the Unborn, the Guides may decide to mark the accused by mutilating an eye. They are later excommunicated from the faith and tarnished as Shadow-walkers for the rest of their days.
Proof is provided through childbirth or a signed letter from an approved brothel where an official has proof of a man or woman successfully having intercourse on more than one occasion.
Beware...
Beneath a crimson sky, a fight ensues. The mist lies heavy on the clearing where Cassius and Serell clash. Once standing abreast as brothers, see their weapons bloom with the torment of the other.
Beware the creatures wrapped in smoke. For they prey on those ill-fated. With the dwindling light, they spawn.
Moss and grass rejoice the brothers’ fall. It bathes in drops of blood.
Akin wolves, bringers of the night, engulf a passing soul. Their master is yet to come. The wailing men endure their deadly game.
For all, the bright sun does not reach. For some, the master comes, unbeaten, undefeated by the bringer of light. For Cassius, no light will keep him safe. His crimes far too grave to quell; thieving, lying, butchery, and carnage. As one has lived, one shall die.
The master comes, his servants hauling Cassius onward. The wailing man silences, crawling blindly into a plague of ash and dust. His soul devoured, forever tormented.
For those who keep their hearts safe from evil, the light may be first to reach. The creatures of the night show no mercy. Claws and teeth rip and gnaw. Serell stays silent; he knows that she will come. The warrior, the savior, the Keeper.
A faint candle grows into a bursting orb, the creatures of the night retire. See her ever-changing skin, first pale, then ebony. A golden armor protects her frame as she clashes with evil. For Serell is not theirs to claim. He has lived true, kind, and faithful. The Keeper reaches the dying soul to bring him to the side of her sibling. The one who fights the Beast. The one who guides the living. The one who wanders.
Beware the wailing man, for he is in the hands of the bringers of the night. Stray from evil. Stray from its lure.
Seek the Keeper, for she seeks you.