#alteyr

oho, this is going to be a long one! :) Senki is the biggest religion in the Rāmian Empire. It originated in the Sen valley in the Rāmiq Highlands about 4000 years ago and is based around the divinely-given Annals of Prophecy and a loose collection of gods that varies depending who you ask. It has been deliberately spread around in the past millenium as the empire has grown to try and form a cohesive group identity among the various conquered peoples, so its very prominent and also comes in a lot of variants, since it has syncretized with the local beliefs in so many different places. The Senki denominations that feature in Aros Against Fate are: Norvic Senki, which holds the mythology and in some cases the gods themselves to be allegorical and has a prevalent theme of order versus chaos (based on the original two Norve gods, Alteyr (order) and Manir (chaos), who in broader Senki are watered down to language and weather but are still the most important figures in Norvic Senki), and in which Saints are historical figures but not extant divinities. Gharan Senki, which has the figure of the Artisan of the World (the creator) above any other gods (they don’t consider the Artisan a god- the Artisan is on another level entirely), who are sometimes considered independent beings but sometimes considered aspects of the Artisan, and in which there aren’t really Saints. Dak Senki, which holds the gods and myths to be literal and in which Saints are Resurrected (sometimes the gods bring people back to life) who have fulfilled their divine purpose and ascended, and within Dak Senki: Lowlands Senki, popular in the Rāmiq Lowlands. Saints are popular. Medeis Senki, which reveres magic above all else as a divine gift from the gods. Mages are seen as inherently superior/closer to the divine due to having developed magic naturally, and the study of magic is a holy pursuit. Senask Senki, which is heavily syncretized with pre-Rāmian Se-Naskan beliefs; small gods are everywhere and a common practice is to have little wooden icons as household gods.

Telēso: believes that the dead become part of a greater collective consciousness, and honour and seek guidance from that ancestral collective.

Vatki: There was a being known as the Creator who became the world and everything in it, so Creator and Creation are one and the same, and everything is equally sacred, as the Creator gave herself to bring everything into existence.

Jumalusk: originating in Berysek, this religion worships the Three-Faced God. The Three-Faced God is one god with three aspects: the Maker (a woman), the Scholar (a man), and the Kether (parent, belonging to the Beri third gender of kolman), who each have dominion over different parts of life; roughly speaking the three domains break down into physical, mental, and emotional, and they also represent the trinity of established Beri genders. They believe there are no other true gods.

Sarkjyn religion: There is a closed pantheon of gods, each with domain over their own element. The six elements- one for each cycle of the year- are fire, light, air, water, ice, and earth.

Alteyr is the Norvic god of order (but when absorbed into broader Senki is mostly the god of writing). Manir is the Norvic goddess of chaos (but when absorbed into broader Senki is mostly the trickster goddess). They’re the major two Norvic gods, and they’re siblings, and they’re a duality. They are, on the face of it, opposites. And their colours are opposite! And I did the colour thing totally by accident!