The Moon Gods and their Churches
A History: From Creation to the Present Day

This was the wisdom that Uros brought back from Mount Korvast on what was later determined to be the first day of Spring in the year 1 LE. He went onto say how the moon gods had appeared to him and whispered secrets that could be imparted to no other. He said how they were willing to support the Urovans in their quest to be free of the Hadradan occupation. The rest is history.

In this section I look at the past and present of these enigmatic gods that float in the sky above Iourn as well the churches they spawned. They are unlike many of the other 'gods' worshipped across the world. What are their goals? Why do they have such problems interacting with their faithful and what is their relationship with elves and dragons?

Creation

If you believe the teachings of Uros then the moon gods have always existed - even if they could not be seen before their manifestation in the sky 204 years ago. They do not merely represent the six elements, they are the six elements. This means that everything that currently exists - including the most powerful gods - are made from parts of the moon gods. The great plane of Void in which reality sits is simply the absence of the moon gods. Therefore everything is technically within their purview.

The appearance of the moon gods pushed the Void away and created all reality. Before the moon gods there was simply nothing. Uros says that Fate dwelled in the void, but he does not explain how Fate could have existed before reality did, and does not say how the moon gods actually came into being in the first place.

Some argue that Fate created the moon gods, or at least brought them into reality from somewhere else. After all, Fate is impotent without something to work her will upon. The five-faced god needed a reality to influence. Of course, the presence of Fate is a cornerstone of human belief going back thousands of years. The worship of Azygous in ancient Elyssenia was based around his opposition to Fate. It is possible that Fate played no role in the history of the moon gods at all, but was simply added into the equation by Uros who would have been exposed to the teachings of Fate from both the established druidic faith of Urova and Hadradanism.

Comparative Religious Studies

So, how does the creation of reality by the moon gods fit in with other religions? Inevitably, different faiths have different interpretations of how things started, but oddly, nothing spoken of or taught by Uros actually contradicts them.

Many religious traditions, including those of the elves, dwarves and dragons state that the world was created by Io, the ninefold dragon. It was named Iourn, meaning "Io's world". However, they state that Io created the world from matter that was already in existence. It is reasonable to assert that this matter was actually created by, or even part of, the moon gods themselves. Uros never spoke of the moon gods making the world of Iourn, although many present-day churches maintain he did.

Equally, the creation of the dwarves by Moradin or the humans by Azygous were using raw materials that were already a part of reality. The beauty of the moon gods as a religious force is that it is very easy to attach them to almost anyone else's beliefs.

For example, the Hadradans teach that their one god, originally called Helian, sacrificed himself for the good of mankind and allowed himself to be imprisoned in a cage of fire at the centre of all things. From this position he watches over his chosen people, but cannot actively intervene to help them. The moon faiths agree with this, but say Helian is imprisoned by the will of Calafax, a punishment for hubris. In turn the Hadradans believe the moons are an omen from Helian, and hold the key to releasing him. Many Hadradan scholars study the moons, and some even draw power from them.

Of course, this is but mortal interpretation of the will of gods, which is fraught with inaccuracies and wilful misrepresentations. However, some facts are unassailable. The six moons are fundamental sources of elemental matter. Arcane investigation has determined that they are not tangible forces and actually act as gateways to the six elemental planes. Planar travellers report an intelligence to the elemental planes, leading credence to the theories of secular scholars that the moon gods actually are the elemental planes and the moons seen in the sky is but their foothold in this reality.

The Godspeakers

The manifestation of the moons in 1 LE was but the latest and most spectacular incursion of the moons into the material world. Before 1 LE the moon gods still existed, elements and elementals still existed, so what were the gods doing and why were they so shy? There are no easy answers to this. It is quite possible that the moon gods have been influencing he world for many ages of man. An easier way to explore this issue is to look at the impact on history made by the only people who can talk to the gods.

Not everyone is blessed with the power to converse with the Moon Gods. Although clerics are able to petition the gods for power and be granted enough to work their spells, none of them have ever actually spoken to the gods. The Korvast Scrolls state that this is not because they cannot talk to their followers, it is because they choose not to. The Moon Gods choose to make their will known through certain specific individuals: Godspeakers.

Godspeakers, also known as the Moon-Touched, carry a terrible burden. They alone can understand the will of the Moon Gods, and they alone have the responsibility for carrying that message to the churches. However, even Godspeakers cannot simply talk to the gods when they feel like it. They must journey to specific holy places such as Mount Korvast, or Killantha in Genbasson. It is only at these locations, and at specific times, that the Moon Gods are receptive to their entreaties.

All Godspeakers are marked with a complicated design on their chest that resembles two crescent moons and several other celestial bodies. They feel an almost uncontrollable urge to travel to a place of power and communicate with the gods. The runes on the godspeaker's chest acts almost like a map, guiding him to the correct spot.

Uros was a Godspeaker, but he was not the first of his kind. The original Korvast scrolls speak of other Godspeakers active over the centuries that have been working for the good of the Moon Gods and the world, but Uros was had the most spectacular success of them all. So who were these other Godspeakers and what did they actually achieve?

There is no written record of their activities, the only hints of what was transpiring comes through the records of the elves. For many thousands of seasons, pre-dating the great war against Karatath, an organisation has existed in elven society called the Brotherhood of the Black Rose. These were elves dedicated to the seeking out and slaying of Godspeakers.

This was a never-ending task, because as soon as one godspeaker dies another is born, but the elves are an immortal race and they like to keep themselves busy. However, this does not explain why they want to see the Godspeakers dead. One can only surmise it has something to do with the power the moon gods are able to exercise through this representative. Uros - a godspeaker the elves failed to kill - succeeded in transforming the moon gods from obscure elemental forces into powerful and revered gods. He brought them into the prime plane.

But what is so bad about that? What do elves have against the moon gods? What makes them consider these gods such a threat? The feeling is certainly mutual. The faiths of all the moon gods speak of actively opposing the activities of elves and dragons where-ever they are found. A strange statement given that elves are legendary creatures to everyone in Urova, but one that has been enshrined in dictum.

The Brotherhood of the Black Rose has recorded thousands of killings in its long history. Most recently they been hunting the current Godspeaker, Raza de Luna, who is also one of the Chosen of Narramac. He has managed to escape them for a time and convinced them that his powers have been removed. In Raza's place the moon gods raised up a pseudo-godspeaker, Enoch of Genbasson, and granted Enoch and his followers great powers in return for their service.

Enoch and five thousand of his followers became lycanthropes - moontouched beings who alter form under the influence of their patron god. This was the greatest failure of the elves since the ascension of Uros at Mount Korvast. Apparently, it is not the first time the moon gods have employed their powers in this matter to create a powerful army that will do their bidding. Lycanthropes have walked Urova before. However, the purpose of the gods this time as well as knowledge of how to stop these beings (or even if they should be stopped) is a complete conundrum.

The role of the Godspeaker remains an enigmatic one. The moon gods have no problems in granting the divine energy for spellcasting to their clerics, but they cannot seem to influence the world beyond that without the intervention of a godspeaker. The reason why the moon gods require this conduit is a mystery, even to the elves. It is certainly a weakness, but one that has been exploited most thoroughly by the moon churches themselves.

The Moon Faiths

The origins of the moon faiths began days after Uros arrived from Mount Korvast. Rather than being the great rebel history would like to paint him, Uros became obsessed with recording his discoveries on parchment so that they might benefit future generations. He began work on a set of religious texts known as the Korvast Scrolls

The worship of the moons remains to this day a pantheistic practice. Even though individual clerics worship individual gods, every cleric understand the symbiotic nature of the elements. Every living creature, every object, even magic itself is made from a unique balance of the six elements. A mountain is a structure of earth, but it is shaped by air and by water, the deep magic that resides within it comes from a special balance of life and death, too much fire and it becomes a volcano. A human being with a fever is unbalanced, his fire element out of kilter with the others. When he dies his death element is in the ascendancy.

So all life is dependent upon all the moon gods. No one god is any more important than the others. They are all equal because they are all equally necessary to all things. These were the principles that Uros enshrined in the Korvast Scrolls. He also said that the Urovans were the chosen people of the moon gods, and that the Hadradans were merely pretenders. He beseeched his people to rise up and drive off their oppressors.

The historical perspective tells a slightly different story. The Hadradans had stretched themselves too thinly. Hadrada was being attacked by the Mannenites and they had no choice but to pull their troops from conquered lands (such as Urova) to defend their homes. This fact is not recorded in Urovan history.

In the period between 1 and 3 LE, Uros wrote and he preached and he travelled. He urged simple peasants to give themselves over to the gods, and eventually one man was able to gain granted powers and spells from the gods. His name was Crydon Veer, he worshipped Terranor, and he was the first cleric of the moon gods.

Other clerics swiftly followed, each drawing powers from a different god, a different moon. These powers were potent, and they turned them against the Hadradans that remained on their land. By 5 LE the Hadradans were gone, and the Urovans were masters of their own destiny.

It is in the following two years, until his death in 7 LE that Uros founded the six churches. The churches of Fire, Earth, Air, Water, Life and the Watchers on the Cusp of Oblivion were all founded in those early days. Uros continued writing the Korvast Scrolls up to the point that he died, continually revising and adjusting what he had written, saying that the gods were always telling him new things to set down. Some histories state that Uros did not write the scrolls alone and that a team of scribes helped him. This is dismissed by most of the churches as blasphemy.

The Kovast Scrolls stated that the new churches should live together in harmony, just as the elements existed in harmony. Uros created a Covenant that all the churches agreed to. The Covenant stated that any disagreements between the churches would be settled fairly in an Enclave. It also said that all churches were equal with one another. It also allowed for the creation of other churches, as long as they abided by the Covenant.

After he death at the age of sixty-eight seasons, the Korvast Scrolls were carefully copied and one copy was deposited with each of the six churches. However, Uros's death was the beginning of the end of a unified Urova. Remember that the continent of Urova is vast. News of the worship of the moons and the teachings of Uros had spread from the land of Norandor as far as Kerikal in the north, Calclafique in the south and Tibrai in the west. And although none of these many countries and principalities were remotely united, they all respected Uros and they all had their clergies. The death of the prophet left a tremendous vacuum that has never properly been filled.

After Uros, there was no-one to take his place. No other godspeaker emerged to converse with the moon gods, and thus the direct line to divinity was cut off. Why this happened was unclear, although it is possible the Brotherhood of the Black Rose got Uros's successor before he could cause any trouble. The countries of Urova and even Norandor itself fell into tribal chaos. The only symbols of unity remaining were the churches, and even they were helpless in the face of such rampant violence.

During these many seasons of disorder (that still persist today in many parts of Urova) the number of churches, cults and wandering mystics with a slightly different take on the moon gods exploded in number. Suddenly there weren't just six churches, there were sixty - many of which did not swear to the Covenant.

It is during these years that many of the churches that still exist 204 LE were spawned. The Arcanum Incognita, originally formed in Sorostrae to help nurture wizardry spread across the land. The Scriverners of Doom were a small monastic order, desperate to preserve what knowledge remained in a darkening time. The Church of Contention took the destructive power of fire and focused it on war. The Church of the Land protected farmers and the food supply. The Lifebane Church secretly experimented on the undead while appearing as little more than a secretive off-shoot of the Watchers.

Things could obviously not go on like this, and so it was that the eleven churches who had signed the Covenant got together in the great city of Uris in 30 LE and decided upon a course of action. Norandor was a wild place, but it was by far the most civilised of all the countries. They hoped a unifying king would stand as an example to the rest of Norandor. They had no godspeaker to install on the throne, but that didn't matter - they could say they had a godspeaker.

The man they chose for the job was a barbarian warlord called Yaddagon. Yaddagon was respected for his strength and led the largest and most powerful tribes. He agreed to the will of the churches and was installed as the first King of Norandor and Prophet of the Gods on 25 Midsummer 30 LE. The alabaster seat was filled for the first time and would never again be empty.

The plan largely worked. Norandor was eventually unified, but although Yaddagon was respected outside Norandor he didn't really have any authority there. But Uris had become the seat of the Prophet of the Gods, and as such all the churches wanted to be represented in Uris, to be close to the heart of power.

Let it be understood, Yaddagon was not a puppet king, but he did draw legitimacy from the moon churches that had installed him. They worked together, the churches dealing with matters spiritual and the kings with matters temporal. Yaddagon had a role to play in religious worship, but his position was largely ceremonial.

To the outside world Yaddagon was the Prophet - he was a godspeaker. Each successive king also filled this niche. But none of them were godspeakers. In fact, after Uros, there wasn't a whiff of a godspeaker in Norandor until Raza de Luna was briefly regent in Autumn 204. The churches liked it that way. As time passed and their position and authority was cemented they became rather afraid that a godspeaker would turn up and spoil things by disagreeing with them. They became dependent upon there not being a godspeaker.

Many more churches were created over the next few seasons, and Uris was overflowing with ecclesiastical debate. Yaddagon decided that the land didn't need this many churches, and that only a select number of churches would be sanctioned by the Prophet. All these churches had to sign the Covenant and each had to be approved by the existing churches. This seemed to work fairly well and by 32 LE there were fourteen churches - the Sylvani faith, the Odyssian and Agiostic churches had joined.

A huge religious schism almost took place later the same year. It had long been an open secret that the Lifebane Church (aka the Church of the Unbeating Heart) consorted with the undead, and the Watchers didn't really like that. One Watcher, Zendell Macinarri wrote his Discourse on Undeath which called for the expulsion of the Lifebane Church from the Covenant.

Such a thing had never been done before, and many of the other churches could see that it set a nasty precedent. However, after much debate in the Enclave of First Snow 32 LE, it was decided to expel the Lifebane Church. The Church promptly went underground and became more of a problem than it ever had been before.

Over the following years only four other churches were admitted to the Covenant: the church of Fortune's Favour, the Sensationalists, the Justicians, and the Brothers of Flame. The Brothers of Flame were a group that worshipped Calafax, but also operated a large network of spies throughout Norandor and beyond. However, the group were found to be chaoticians, organising terrorist attacks and acting to destabilise the country. They were forcibly ejected from the Covenant in the Spring of 54 LE, renamed themselves the Bombastics and joined the Lifebane Church on the wrong side of the law.

There were now sixteen churches in the Covenant, and after the expulsion of the Bombastics a line was drawn. No further churches were ever to be admitted. The Moratorium of Senthen became enshrined in the Korvast Scrolls on 18 Brightday 54 LE and since that time no "True Church" has been created.

The Moratorium caused some trouble. The Renier family were the descendants of a barbarian clan that ruled much of the land around Mount Korvast. Many years before they had given land to the churches to build a town of temples close to this holy site. The Village of the Six Churches first opened for business in 15 LE, and each time a new church came into the Covenant the name of the village was changed.

The Reniers refused to acknowledge any expulsion, so in 54 LE it was still called the Village of the Eighteen Churches, even though only sixteen churches worshipped there. Great challenges were mounted to this, it was only when King Gellridl intervened on the side of Reniers that the matter was put to rest. The Reniers remained in charge of the town until their line died out in 121 LE. By that time the name had well and truly stuck, and no-one thought of changing it.

The Moon Gods Today

Things are not all rosy for the moon gods and their churches in the year 204 LE. In the summer of this year a brief by bloody war between the Church of Fire and the Watchers on the Cusp of Oblivion resulted in many deaths. Such a thing was utterly unheard of. Although it was proved that the two sides had been manipulated by outside agents and peace has now returned, bad blood still exists between the two churches.

And what does the existence of lycanthropes in Genbasson bode for the moon faiths? Have the gods turned to another source of power to achieve their ends, and what are their ends in the first place? The elves have told the Chosen of Narramac that the moon gods are the greatest threat to Iourn that ever existed, is this actually true or are the elves mistaken?

Despite their many clergies and godspeakers, the moon gods remain as enigmatic as ever. Over the years, there are those who have tried to humanise them but ascribing qualities to them they do not possess. The stories of Terranor being the father of the gods, and of Calafax and Sharrash being lovers are nice stories, but can they possibly be true? One thing is certain, everything the moon gods do through their agents on Iourn is working toward a certain goal. As time passes that goal becomes less and less distant, and should they obtain it, who knows what the moon gods have in store for the world?

See Also:

• History of Iourn
• Overview of the Moon Gods
• Churches of Vítaeous
• Churches of Terranor
• Churches of Zephyre
• Churches of Calafax
• Churches of Sharrash
• Churches of Mortis