among the five . . .

[olivionary]

━━━𝕒𝕞𝕠𝕟𝕘 𝕥𝕙𝕖 𝕗𝕚𝕧𝕖 𝕨𝕖𝕣𝕖...

Username + ID: olivionary + 106651.
Name: Maeri.
Gender: Unspecified [they/them or she/her].

...𝕨𝕙𝕚𝕤𝕡𝕖𝕣𝕤 𝕠𝕗 𝕞𝕚𝕤𝕘𝕦𝕚𝕕𝕒𝕟𝕔𝕖━━━

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[olivionary]

━━━𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐅𝐎𝐔𝐑

Back in the old times, The Four were known as The Five. As time goes on, the followings of a God wans and with that their strength and power over the world will shift, potentially until they are no more. The Four siblings Gods that still remain continue to have a strong hold of the people that have followed them for centuries. Each play an integral role in the culture of the people that follow and respect them. Their lost fifth sibling holds onto a small following in isolated temples and villages, mostly outside of the kingdom, but not enough to keep them in the same stable position as The Four.

Where there are Gods, there are the people that worship them. Although these Gods prefer that they are prayed to privately and in silence, so that your prayer may only reach the ears of the One it was intended for, the people have still built temples - some are more grand than others. These temples are mostly used to leave items to honour the Gods and the seek blessings, although in some of these temples there are Priests who 'share the words of the Four'. Most of the temples are to honour all four of the Gods, though plenty of individual temples do exist too, including temples that were [sometimes still are] used to honour the lost fifth One.




Most of the temples remain within the kingdom's reach, but with the recent wars some land has been lost along with the temples. The majority of the follows of the Four live within the Kingdom, though there is a healthy population of followers in the surrounding countries' populations as well.









Arseneld, the One of War, Malicious Intent and Trickery. Thriving off of the fear of the people has made Arseneld the strongest of the Gods, many pray to not experience another war within their lifetime and pray for the people that continue to suffer the consequences of those battles. Most of his effort is put into preventing violent and cruel acts, particularly against those that support him, but that doesn't prevent him from indulging in mischief and tormenting individuals in entertaining ways. Do you have a fear of spiders? Arseneld will send a Spider to lay her nest in a nook of your home and wait for you to discover the tiny swarm lurking in the corner. He will soon send them on their way so that they won't bother you for long, but he will take great amusement out of watching from beyond. His least favourite task is blessing weapons for battle, it's tedious and in his opinion, unnecessary for he knows who he will allow to win.
Isaestine, the One of Fertility, Love and Disease. Everyone wants to feel loved, whether that is by their partners, their friends, their family or their companion animals - there is no one who wants to feel unloved by everyone. Isaestine blesses couples trying to reignite their flame; mothers trying to conceive; the young looking to find their first love; the elderly that simply want their family to visit; the dogs that seek a home to call their own and everything in between. Touch is important and touch is one of their many ways to express love - holding hands, hugs and absent touches - but it is also one of the easiest ways to spread disease. Sometimes illness is necessary to humble the people that worship the Gods. Priests see themselves invincible as they share the words of their Gods, but they are merely vessels that are no more precious that any other mortal and those sardine packed temples are not the path to impressing these Gods: quiet rituals and respectful words will catch their attention.
Dorn, the One of Harvest and the Hunt. We all want to eat well and we all want to be safe while gathering that food. It isn't only the people that need to eat, predators need to hunt and prey need to find food to survive and sometimes that means nibbling upon the crops. It is all about balance. If you demand too much protection for your harvest and your livestock or your hunters may be under threat, but request too many easy hunts and the harvest may end up suffering. Dorn works to maintain balance within the number of beasts that may damage the harvest, the beasts that may be hunted by the people and the beasts that could be a threat upon the people. The people are respectful, saying a prayer over the animals that they hunt for food, as well as to protect themselves, and ensuring that they do everything that they can to use as much of the body as they can - that is the only way they believe they can truly honour the dead beasts. Many people believe that if they see a white stag that it is Dorn keeping an eye on them.
Thailie, the One of Fortune and Death. Being the God of fortune and death has it's complications, not everyone understands that they do not strictly influence one another - it was not misfortune that brought an early death, it was simply how that individual's path had been planned. Often the people will seek Thailie to influence the other God's and prompt them to choose a better fate, or in some cases, to influence to punish the deeds of a wrongdoer. Ultimately, they are a unit. They are The Four; their choices influence one another, so if Thailie says it is not the day for a stag to die then Dorn will have to push the arrow to thunk against the tree besides him. Thailie does enjoy influencing the lottery and encouraging the winnings to go to those that deserve it and those that desperately need the extra income, she gains a lot of joy from seeing people thanking her for their good fortune. But she also knows that there needs to be balance and where there is fortune, there is also misfortune.

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[olivionary]

━━━𝐀 𝐌𝐎𝐍𝐀𝐑𝐂𝐇𝐘

When the end of a Monarch's reign came to an end, it was tradition for The Five to come together and decide upon a new one to rule the land. It was a divine ascension to the throne. The individual should be just and level headed, rarely did they ever make the wrong choice for the next monarch of the Kingdom. Whoever they decided upon had a divine right to the throne and everyone knew, so they were accepted as the new leader with a carefully selected advisory team that were specially trained within the castle walls. The Kingdom does include a fairly large region so a lot of care goes into managing and maintaining how to run everything as a collective. A portion of land was lost in the recent wars, so efforts are being made to prevent further loses taking place.




The main issue that The Five had was that tradition was being lost, which is among why the fifth One lost their position as a God. The last time that the Five picked a new monarch was over a century ago as the King at the time refused to pass the crown to anyone that was not from his bloodline. His logic was that his bloodline was divine for it had been chosen by the Five more than once and thus, his family were the true monarchy that deserved to rule the Kingdom. His son inherited the crown, followed by his granddaughter.

The Crown has yet to be chosen correctly since.

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[olivionary]

━━━𝐀 𝐊𝐈𝐍𝐆𝐃𝐎𝐌

The majority of the realms knows of 'The Kingdom'. Some have their own names for the King and his subjects, but formally they have always been known as The Kingdom. They are the singular strongest collection of settlements in the realm and thus many have always felt that there was no need to have a fanciful name that had any other impact. In the old days, many wanted to match the simplicity of The Five in their titles and chose to keep their home as simple and to the point.

But, as with anything the times are beginning to change and some people want to have a stronger identity as a collective than simply being known as The Kingdom. They want a stronger personal identity, they are more just the strongest Kingdom to grace the realm. The current monarch also backs this idea - further disappointing the Gods watching them from beyond.

This Kingdom will soon be recognised as The Kingdom of Effra. The family name of the current monarch.

Those within the Kingdom have begun to recognise that the current monarch has been sending people to the older, more run down temples that are not as regularly used any more. Some of the people have fought to protect these temples from the men sent by the monarch, but it was soon obvious that no nonsense was going to be taken as they damaged the temples and put up flags, new art work and a statue of the monarch within the temple. Many were enraged, but what could you do against sword wielding men? Should they accept their threats of butchery and defamation as empty words or truth? Would The Four be disappointed that they didn't stop them from desecrating the temples? Of course not, The Four have always valued private and personal prayer. The temples are shells to make the people feel better.

With these new changes taking place to the temples that are still within the reach of the Kingdom of Effra, a group of devoted followers of The Four have began a mission to destroy the temples. The only temples that will remain are Maeri's as many have forgotten their locations and many are already at a point of decay that further action is unnecessary. The walls of the temples are pulled down. The beautiful carvings are laid to face the sun. The statues are left to stand and corrode with the weather in most cases, in others they are dragged and dumped into lakes or the ocean. Why are they doing this? The Five do not care for the temples. The people do not need the temples. The monarch will simply use the temples to intimidate the people and push for respect they do not deserve. The monarch wasn't chosen by The Five, so they do not deserve a place in the temple of their Gods.

The statues and art work that depict the monarch are destroyed. The people living in the surrounding settlements are invited to take hammers and pickaxes to the stone until it's a heap of rock and dust.

Where these actions will lead? Only time can tell.

[Effra comes from the name Ifra which meaning 'giving happiness, sublimity and height'.]

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[olivionary]

━━━𝐀𝐌𝐎𝐍𝐆 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐋𝐈𝐓𝐓𝐋𝐄 𝐓𝐇𝐈𝐍𝐆𝐒

The people that follow the Gods are the most important aspect of their existence, without the belief of the people and their need for Gods to rely on, then the Gods would seize to exist - similar to what is happening to Maeri. The majority of the people within the realm celebrate holidays, regardless of their connections to the Gods as the traditions have spread beyond the Kingdom of Effra.

New Year's Day; previously also celebrated as Maeri's birthday - The first day of each year cycle was celebrated with family get togethers in the privacy of your matriarch's home or by visiting the Kingdom's capital to celebrate 'with the monarch'. Typically there was a lot of fermented drinks and food shared during this celebration, mostly anything that could be preserved for longer periods of time. When Maeri's birthday was still being widely celebrated, it was by taking flowers that had been dried the year prior and making wreaths to decorate doors and having stovetop potpourri's to also make tea with.

Isaestine's Birthday; the first day of Spring - Couples are more likely to celebrate the first day of Spring as it is also known as Love Day in some regions. Most settlements will have parties and the monarch will host a ball. There's a lot of dancing. Couples will take part in traditional activities that include superstitions to see if they'll get pregnant that year, if they'll marry that year and whether their child will be male or female. Single individuals will go to match making parties and take part in superstitions to see if they'll meet their soulmate that year. Isaestine's birthday is specifically celebrated by planting roses and gathering parties to look for medicinal herbs will specifically take place amongst other festivities.

Arseneld's Birthday; the first day of Summer - Most families have a sword or knife that has been passed down from prior wars, so to celebrate Arseneld's birthday these weapons are taken out and cleaned. Most regions take a morning vow of silence until the sun is highest in the sky and the festivities can begin. For most it is a simple day to the lake, fishing and swimming in the connected rivers while for others it is a day of mourning. In regions that were heavily affected by the wars, the day can be spent entirely in silence while cleaning stones in their graveyards.

Harvestfest; Dorn's Birthday and the first day of Autumn - Harvestfest is the busiest day of the harvesting season with crop requiring being collected, product being packed away and preserved, livestock being traded and some of the last regular hunts taking place before they slow down for the Winter. The day is spent busy and working hard, then once evening comes the communities will build a large fire to drink alcohol and thank the Gods for the animals and crop that feed them. For Dorn's birthday, most households will bake crescent shaped biscuits and bury one on the edge of their allotment or fields - if they do not own their own land for this purpose, they will bury it on the edge of the nearest hunting land or crop fields.

Thailie's Birthday; the first day of Winter - To celebrate the first day of Winter, villages will gather in their halls in the evenings to share foods and have a feast. The beginning of Winter is celebrated as the end of year is close. Typically family's will spend the morning hunting, butchering livestock and preserving the last produce of the Harvest season. To celebrate Thailie's birthday, it is customary to leave a candle on your porch until it completely melted or it blew out - if it completely melted, you shall have bad fortune in the coming year and if it blows out, you will have good fortune [in some regions, it is the other way around].

Crowning Day - The date of Crowning Day varies depending on when the current monarch took the throne. It is celebrated across the Kingdom on the coronation of the new monarch, if you can travel to the capital, you should attend. If you cannot, most make traditional foods from across the regions including main dishes and sweets. Crowning Day is otherwise mostly celebrated in and around the capital to celebrate the day the monarch took the throne, which the activities of this day will vary with the monarch. This year, the current monarch will send men to the temples who will encourage you to visit and thank the statue of the monarch for what they have done for the Kingdom of Effra - they'll be surprised to learn most of the temples no longer exist.

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[olivionary]

━━━𝐓𝐇𝐈𝐒 𝐋𝐎𝐒𝐓 𝐃𝐄𝐈𝐓𝐘

Maeri. A name that once meant so much, but now means so little. They were once among The Five, the One of Knowledge, Tradition and Peace, but as time went on the people decided: Why pray for peace when you can ask the One of War, to have no more wars? Why pray for knowledge when you can request tactics for battle; to understand love; to cure disease; for a method to yield the best crop; how to reduce the suffering of an animal with efficient traps and for an understanding of the purpose of life through understanding death? Why follow tradition when we can adapt and change?

Maeri was deemed unnecessary.

Without her presence there was little noticeable change. There was less innovation throughout the Kingdom and the people relied more upon the Five answering their prayers. They became more reliant on their Priests to reassure their thoughts and ideas rather than trusting the Gods' suggestions. Conflict came about more often with their resolutions being more difficult to come by which made mountains out of mole hills. The people don't trust themselves as much as they once did, but they chose to forget.

Maeri will never forget being forgotten.



There continues to be a small following in isolated locations, both within and outside of the confines of the Kingdom. The villages and temples that became inactive were soon readjusted to become temples for the remaining four Gods. Those that did remain active are largely isolated and surrounded by small villages that crave knowledge as the answer to their questions for the other Gods, without knowledge they may not understand the instructions of their other Gods. These remaining temples teach that peace does not simply refer to peace through out the Kingdom and beyond, but rather refers to inner peace and coming to terms with your reality - something that Maeri herself has struggled with.

Although Maeri can no longer answer prayers to the same efficiency as she once could, she makes every effort to assist those that are loyal to her. The prayers are now only whispers on her ears which creates an additional challenge when aiding those that require her to be at their side. With her position stripped, she now explores the world sharing her knowledge and spreading messages of peace.

They will often settle within the islands that now exclusively are home to the temples that worship the Fifth God, these places are where she feels safest and can expose her true reality to the people. The loyalists often believe her and listen intensely to her tales of the other Gods and the actualities of being a lost God that is neither a mere mortal nor a true divine One.

The actualities of Maeri's life has been that she has become fairly mundane. When she isn't travelling across the Kingdom, she has settled among an island village beyond the Kingdom's rule. Overtime she inherited a home from one of the locals that allowed her to board with them while she worked for them and the temple, it has since filled it with wares that she has collected during her travels. The small building is located in the centre of the village, surrounded by a large plot of land dedicated to small amounts of crop and fruit trees that can be snacked upon by the passing village folk. Her door is always open to those that need her, just as the previous owner had done. This house was integral to the emotional wellbeing of the village as it allowed for a connection among the people which was independent of Maeri's past life.

The temple on this island is still important to the people of the village, though to some it is a reminder of the actions that the monarchy took against them. There are traditions here that do not take place anywhere else and the culture has drastically shifted from that of the main land. They no longer worship the Four, but rather believe in themselves and a spiritual requirement for knowledge. Why pray to God of War when you can gain the knowledge to find an alternate path? Why pray for a cure to disease when you have hygiene and beginning whispers of science? Why ask to understand love when you can experience it? Why pray for an answer to purpose of life and death when you can simply live? They believe that the One of Knowledge is a representation of themselves and they seek to better themselves to become knowledgeable and respected within the community.

Now Maeri feels her body getting older, a feeling that she had never felt before. She is beginning to feel aches and strains in her joints that were new. It was scary, but realising that she was no longer immortal lifted a weight that she never knew she was carrying.

There are whispers on the wind, something is soon to happen. Peace will soon be needed again.

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[olivionary]

━━━𝐑𝐄𝐒𝐎𝐔𝐑𝐂𝐄𝐒

Fonts were used from here.
Concrete Man and Lady Photograph.
Icon paintings of the Five were made by me.
Maps were made by me.

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