Arlianism

 

The ecclesiastic divisions of Arlianism in 15 AR

Arlianism is an Urulian religion widely practiced throughout Central Urulia. It is a polytheistic religion, which entails the belief of multiple gods and goddesses (known as arls). In most varieties of Arlianism, there is a belief in a supreme creator god. The religion has existed for centuries prior to the Great Fall and spiritual authority has traditionally been centered at the Arlsmoot.

In the decades after the Great Fall, Arlianism underwent a period of standardization that began with the Council of Hearthallow in 6 AR. The Council developed a synthesis between the Cult of Rhysan and the Cult of Alrianmhar, which became the orthodox faith enforced by the Arlsmoot. The War of the Rhysan Protestation was the first post-Great Fall religious war waged between fellow Arlians as Arlian orthodoxy was forced onto the Duchy of Quarrine, which had been largely Alrianmharist and whose leaders (principally Duke Delcob) rejected the divine status of Rhysan and the subsequent apotheosis of Raedan.

Orthodox Arlianism includes belief that the world undergoes a continuous cycle of rebirth and death across cosmological eons, with the natural law of the universe governed by various arls. It predicts that the end of the world will result in a permanent "occultation" where the physical world will cease to exist. Prior to the Council of Hearthallow, the religious tradition lacked any standardized form of moral code, ontology, theology, dogma, or holy texts. Following Hearthallow, Orthodox Arlianism under the auspices of the Arlsmoot, began developing a rich corpus of religious traditions and laws.

Overview

Arlianism is a polytheistic religion which espouses belief in deities known as the arls. Pre-Council Arlianism was a diverse system of thought and philosophy that included influence from non-Arlianist sources such as animism. Post-Council Arlianism is more defined and systematized under the authority and purview of the Arlsmoot, with a number of non-Council-accepting sects of Arlianism lying outside of Arlianist orthodoxy.

Variants

• Cult of Rhysan – also known as the Cult of the Phoenix or the Cult of the Immaculate Flame, one of the dominant branches of Arlianism, historically associated with the Ridings of Alderheim. Central beliefs of the Cult include worship of the sun god Rhysan who took on the incarnation of a phoenix to kill the Great Lordstrom Serpent. Pre-Council Rhysanism had henotheistic and pantheistic undercurrents, predicated in the centrality of Rhysan as a deity to venerate and worship.
• Cult of Alrianmhar – one of the dominant branches of Arlianism, historically associated with Quarrine. Central beliefs of the Cult include strict, exclusive worship of the creator god Alrianmhar, widely accepted by other Arlians as the creator as well. Other gods and goddesses are acknowledged to exist and viewed with varying degrees of respect or devotion. Classical Alrianmharism is iconoclastic as graven images or sculptures of the arls was seen as offensive to the gods for depicting them in diminutive, physical creations of humans.