Do any of the Bright Ones have names besides the four? Are they merely stars or are they minor deities? Is the Guiding Light that Alte-re makes in The Courtship sentient? Does it count as a Bright One?
The Guiding Light is Alte-reās Mnyn! And yes, Guiding-Light is a deity in their own right.Ā
Ivri-roh definitely has a Mnyn, too; they were the first of the Māega deities to have one--Ivri-roh, of course, was the one who *made* the Mnyn--made them before the Māega, actually.Ā
Ivri-rohās Mnyn is named Myn-the-Fantastic, and is commonly referred to as Myn.
The Māega and the Mnyn have a semi-shared mythology system; the Mnyn put emphasis on different things than the Māega, of course.Ā
Ivri-roh is sometimes conceptualized as a Mnyn by the Mnyn; this is a possible source of the idea of Ivri-rohās shapeshifting powers. The first meeting and courtship myths might, from a historical perspective, represent the convergence of two different belief systems--one involving the worship of the ocean, the other involving worship of heavenly bodies--and one could hypothesize that the ocean-worship religion was more Mnyn while the star-worship religion was more Māega.
The Mnyn version of the creation and courtship myths are kind of lovingly exasperated in tone; the attitude of the Mnyn towards the *Māega* deities sort of is a kind of loving exasperation.Ā āThese beautiful, well-meaning, powerful idiotsā.Ā
Which is sort of the Mnyn attitude towards the actual Māega, too--the Mnyn loved the Māega for Ivri-rohās sake, at first, because Ivri-roh loved them so. But they loved the Māega for their own sake, soon enough, and felt the urge to take care of them. The Mnyn are the Māegaās mythological older siblings, really.
The Mnyn attitude towards the Mnyn deities is more respectful, but still pretty familiar in tone; itās more like ancestor worship/worship of the dead, which the Mnyn also practice. They sing songs of remembrance, listing the names of the beloved dead. These name songs of course vary individually; some are quite long, others quite short. An individual might ask for help from one of the people in their remembrance song.Ā
Myn-The-Fantastic and Guiding-Star are also prayed to by the Mnyn, although they are immortal, not deceased.
The Mnyn pray to the non-Mnyn-shaped deities, too, but itās common to ask for things through the relevant deityās Mnyn.Ā āMyn-the-Fantastic, please tell Ivri-roh to calm down; weāve had more than enough sea storms this year.ā Things like that.
There are definitely other Māega deities, too, besides Alte-re, Ivri-roh, Khel-tek, and Malir-tek. I havenāt gotten them figured out yet, but I plan to post things about them when I do! I know all three moons are deities. (Iāve got one designed, but I havenāt yet decided on her name)Ā The Māega consider that every heavenly body/constellation is a deity, although the deity might be very minor.
Ā Even the stars and suns of other planets are deities!Ā
The Māega are very polytheistic, and accepting of other religions.Ā āOf course your gods are nice, too!ā
This is probably extremely frustrating to the leaders of any monotheistic religions from other planets who encounter the Māega; the Māega will happily add your god to their religion, but itās nearly impossible to actually convert them.
And the Māega--as they get more technologically advanced, and start discovering new stars, new heavenly bodies, and just how vast the universe is--they donāt actively worship every single star, although some of them will get very attached to odd stars or other heavenly bodies.Ā
Like how so many humans are so emotional about Pluto. The jokes about how demoting Pluto made the God of Death mad at us, and thatās why the world is so messed up right now. Itās not really a sincere belief, but thereās definitely a sincere feeling behind it. Like Santa Claus--adults donāt believe, but a lot of them are extremely attached to the concept, so attached that NORADĀ ātracksā Santa ClausāĀ ājourneyā on Christmas.Ā
We donāt believe itās literally true, but we believe in the wonder/love/generosity feeling behind it.
Some of the Māega donāt even really believe in the main deities of Māega, and this is accepted even by the temple leaders.Ā Alte-re gave them absolute freedom; religious Māega see this as encompassing even the freedom not to worship or believe in the gods.
Unbelief isnāt blasphemy. Harm to others committed in the name of a deity is blasphemy.
The religion of the Māega is primarily concerned with how you behave towards each other, rather than towards the gods.Ā












