Religion in Artesia

Religion in Artesia is a more quaint affair than one might expect. Large cathedrals, churches, and places of worship simply do not exist, instead replaced by a variety of roadside shrines, some altars, and temporary places of worship consecrated before a service and returned to normal after. It is still an integral part of society in Artesia however, and priests are as well respected as bards and knights, forming the triumvirate of social roles for the middle part of Artesian society. There are many named gods below, but they are by no means the only gods in the Pantheon, simply the most recognizable.

Religion in Artesia is handled more quietly, consisting of small services done to commemorate events. This can include marriages, the planting or harvest, setting off on a great journey, or anything that corresponds to the deity being prayed to. An offering is made at the end of each service by those present, a small token of appreciation to the priest and the god, and can consist of some sheaves of wheat, a small token like a knife or an embroidered cloth, or whatever would be appropriate for the god.

He Who Guides
He Who Guides is the only truly universally accepted god in Artesia. He is the patron god of traveling, as well as the god of death. Anyone about to travel will invoke his name and pray to him, and “may He guide you well” is a common saying among Artesians. He is the only acceptable god for funerals, and his name is always spoken with respect. Those who travel the Fruit Road might carry the symbol of the Wheel, his acknowledged symbol.

There are many priesthoods for He Who Guides, centered around different travel routes or major population centers, but all have the same style of worship and service, instead varying only in local additions of worship made in his name. An appropriate offering to He Who Guides is a single gold coin, to represent paying the toll for the road, a horseshoe for good luck and safe travels, or a piece of black cloth for protection and guidance.

Services are short but emotional, usually held between those departing and their immediate family and friends. A sermon is given about the journey, and how He Who Guides will guide them well and truly on their road, followed by offerings, and a final goodbye, always taking place right before they depart. Funerals are much the same, short, but end in a reception to honor the departed, to remember them fondly and wish them fortune and fame on their trip to the next life. Funerals are simple affairs, burying the deceased in a mausoleum or in a roadside grave marked by stones and their weapon, though great heroes will also receive a procession by the public after the service has been concluded.

She Who Inspires
She Who Inspires is the goddess who is said to give good fortune and skill to those who practice the fine arts. People often pray to her or give an offering before an important concert, performance, or art show. The majority of worshipers are bards, artists, and actors/actresses. People who have a natural talent for the arts are said to be blessed by She Who Inspires and will wear a token to represent her blessing. These people are encouraged to cultivate their talents as much as possible under the guidance of other blessed performers, who are sometimes referred to as priests or priestesses. Said tokens usually take the shape of a piece of art or some other item that inspired them.

Most places of performance will have a shrine to this goddess in a visible area, always facing the stage. It is done like this so that the goddess can “watch” the performances. At the beginning, a prayer will be said to ask for passion or divine inspiration, and at end, there is often thanks given to her, especially if the performance went well. The shrines consist of a statue of a woman wearing a mask who is surrounded by miniature instruments or painting or sculpting tools. Priests and Priestesses of She Who Inspires wear brightly colored clothing and an embroidered mask. When a performance is dedicated to She Who Inspires, all performers involved will wear embroidered masks to emulate the one worn by the goddess’ statue.

The main form of worship towards She Who Inspires is a small festival, during which there is dancing, music, plays, and food and art stalls. The event will often be run by a family and attended by members of the community or passersby. These festivals never last longer than a day, but are well enjoyed. Offerings that might be given are pieces of artwork, pieces of sheet music, or miniature instruments carved out of wood.

He Who Rides
He Who Rides is the god of riding and horses, and as one might imagine for Artesia, he holds a special place in the hearts of those who travel the Fruit Road. His shrines tend to be sculpted horseheads, posted above every stable with a small dais left beneath it. Those who call upon him do so to receive favor in breeding horses, in seeing them healed, or when traveling, though in this case, his prayers are always said after those to He Who Guides. The majority of his priests also serve as stablemasters and riding teachers, most of whom are former knights or merchants. It is a far older and more mature priesthood, one which usually receives more respect because of it, and serves a more practical role in Artesian culture.

Each stable across the land serves as informal shrine to He Who Rides, and those who manage it the priest or priestess. Oftentimes the priests to this god are men, but there is no social stigma against women serving, being treated as equals, and there are no formal ranks either for save those who run the stables and those who simply work in them.

Services to He Who Rides are short and informal. One kneels before the dais along with a priest if one is available, making their prayer quietly, directing their words to the horse head above. Once finished, they will leave a horseshoe, a brush, a lead, or some other practical means to assist the stables on the dais and be on their way. These objects are always left there for one full day before being used by the stables as a sign of respect and to ensure He Who Rides sees the offering. Afterwards, they are taken by the stables and used to help care for the horses. One who steals from He Who Rides is considered cursed forever, and it is believed that horses will shy away from them or not allow the thief to mount them. Those discovered stealing are exiled from the community after their stolen goods and a hand are taken in recompense.

She Who Cherishes
She Who Cherishes is the goddess of love, domaining over eros (erotic love), philia (affectionate love), storge (familiar love), ludus (playful love), mania (obsessive love), pragma (enduring love), philautia (self love), and agape (selfless love). Shrines dedicated to her are found all across Artesia, marking places where family reunions and weddings are held. They feature a sculpted or carved pair of hands that are held palm-up as if to offer or receive something, and are decorated with knotted fabric, symbolizing the bonds that tie people together, and loosened knots, symbolizing bonds that sometimes must come undone. Anyone wishing to honor their living loved ones, are in a courtship, or seek comfort and reassurance will pray at these shrines and sometimes leave a gift in her hands for someone in need to take later, usually arrangements of flowers, homemade crafts such as clothing or toys, and home cooked meals.

Priests of She Who Cherishes focus on one aspect of the love she represents and base sermons on their benefits and dangers in the hopes of nurturing their followers’ emotional well-being. For example, mania is necessary to live a passionate life, but taking it too far would cause jealousy and possessiveness. Though the multi-faceted nature of She Who Cherishes causes some division among her followers, the priesthood ultimately is united by their goddess’ core ideals. They believe that the key to happiness lies with balance and an open yet watchful heart; one must readily embrace and cherish themself and those around them, but they must also recognize when a relationship or love has become unhealthy and must end. These priests are less inclined to traveling across Artesia than other religious groups, instead aiming to deepen their relationships with the citizens of a town or village and foster a strong sense of community. They run both orphanages and brothels, and act as a shoulder to lean on for those enduring hard times. A priest of She Who Cherishes makes themself easily recognizable to all, wearing clerical robes with the sleeves knotted at the elbow to both display their goddess’ symbol and to show their willingness to work.

Services are held whenever a union is created and rarely take very long. She Who Cherishes is called upon to oversee births and the adoption of new family members, anniversaries, and weddings, and worshipers ask for her blessing in the new relationship and for her support and guidance as it grows over the years. To honor a loved one is to honor She Who Cherishes, for the teachings of the priesthood asserts that her love for humanity is so great that she would rather have her people be loved than herself.

He Who Upholds
He Who Upholds is the god of justice, and the patron god of lords, ladies, and nobility in general, though also a particular favorite among many a knight. His symbol is a mace or a shield, and traditionally every lord or lady ascending to a title is passed a ceremonial mace or shield kept in the family. This symbolizes the weight of the duties and responsibilities they take on, and is only seen when court is held otherwise. He Who Upholds is called upon by all to help deliver justice through the land, by the highest lord when sentencing his subjects to the lowest commoner when they are robbed or treated unfairly by their overlords. There is no formal priesthood for He Who Upholds, though any lord or lady with a title will lead the gathered in prayer before each session of court, and before an execution or other sentence is carried out.

Due to the nature of He Who Upholds and his place in Artesian society, there is no singular or uniform way that the god is worshiped or serviced. Anyone may hold their own prayer and service, the proceedings of which is often passed down through a family. The only sign given of the god's blessing is when justice is done, and bad luck or disaster is seen as He Who Upholds taking action against those who have done him wrong. Only entitled nobles are seen as “official” priests of He Who Upholds.

During times of war, worshipers will bring a mace and shield to the battlefield. Each blow they land or block is proof, in their eyes, that theirs is a just cause. If a follower falls, it is because their motivations were selfish or unjust.

She Who Sows - Goddess of Farming
She Who Sows is the goddess of farming and agriculture. Her priests are the reeves and foremans of villages, each being ordained at the time of their appointment by having the finest wine available poured over their head. They carry a scythe as their symbol and assist and manage the planting and harvest every year in Artesia, often praying and calling upon She Who Sows to bless the harvest with rain and plentiful sun. A service will typically be short, and often farming itself is seen as the service. They also preside over the harvest feast each year, taking the meanest portions for themselves and leaving the best at the edge of the fields as a tribute.

She Who Wields - Goddess of War
She Who Wields is the maiden of war and the patron of knights. Her symbol is a sword, and it is a weapon carried valiantly and proudly by all those who ride off to war for Artesia. There is no ceremony or service for She Who Wields, simply a prayer offered, a kiss of the blade, followed by the sound of thundering hooves and hissing arrows on the battlefield. Some of the goddess' priests are field medics, though aside from a simple ordainment and ceremonial taking up the tools of a doctor, there are no other religious duties prescribed to them. Many offer a prayer to She Who Wields as they fight in hopes of victory or as they heal in hopes of a speedy recovery. A common way to show devotion to her outside of the battlefield or hospital bed is to wear a small brooch in the shape of a sword on a shield, which is commonly seen on most knights.

They Who Welcome - God of Hospitality
They Who Welcome is the deity of hospitality, and the most treasured god in the north of Artesia after He Who Guides. There are no priests to their name, but there is much ceremony and rules behind their worship. The Fruit Road Rights are much more than a social statement; they are the very worship of They Who Welcome. Bread and wine must be offered to those seeking refuge, and refuge must be given as best as it can. There is much more ceremony asides, unique to every holdfast, keep, and inn along the road, but this remains the same across Artesia: those who upset They Who Welcome or break the laws of the Fruit Road will surely find themselves shunned by the gods themselves, and most certainly by Artesia.

He Who Crafts - God of Craftsmanship
He Who Crafts is patron god to all of Artesian’s smiths, carpenters, and masons, all of whom are his clergy. With no formal temples or shrines, the only semblance of a place of worship are the homes and shops of the crafters who revere him. Adherents pray to He Who Crafts to guide their hammers or chisels and while quenching hot steel or laying foundations for a home. It is often believed that He Who Crafts forged and burnished the sword of She Who Wields, and worship of these two often goes hand-in-hand. Oftentimes, followers will have a personal altar or shrine to him, which is entirely composed of tools or objects they’ve made themselves, each carved or emblazoned with holy images and text. Whenever a blade is forged, no matter the make or kind, a devout smith will bless it for hardiness and efficiency. Ceremonial blades and other weapons are quenched in a special liquid made from anointing oils and quenching oils or water.

She Who Weaves - Goddess of Embroidery and Tapestries
She Who Weaves is the goddess of embroidery and tapestries, and is subsequently associated with storytelling and the recording of history through tapestries. While there are no official priests, the closest thing to clergy or priests are Artesia’s tailors and weavers, who believe that the very craft they partake in is a sacrament in itself. There are no shrines to She Who Weaves in the traditional sense, though sometimes a ceremonial tapestry depicting her likeness may be hung in a weaver's home. Most adherents do not pray to She Who Weaves, and the crafting of tapestries is considered to be enough as far as direct worship goes. Most followers remain solely in admiration and reverence to her.

He Who Delivers
He Who Delivers is the god of messengers and the patron to Artesia’s couriers. While there is no structured clergy or official places of worship, couriers act as his priests. Each courier possesses an iron amulet or brooch in the image of a wax seal with a scroll at its center, denoting them as men and women of the cloth. Keeps or taverns where letters are kept for delivery are often decorated with this god's symbol, and are the only semblance of a temple for He Who Delivers. While there are no formal services, those sending off important letters or packages to loved ones will often pray before passing it to a courier, hoping that He Who Delivers will bless the parcel with a safe delivery. The courier then letter stamps the parcel or letter with a ceremonial seal and ink, carried specifically for this purpose.

They Who Nurture
They Who Nurture is the neutral deity of spring and nature, whose gender is left ambiguous for the purpose of enforcing such neutrality. However, personal adherence may differ, causing some followers of They Who Nurture to personally view them as one gender or the other. It is the personal belief of the majority of their followers that the patron deity of nature be as objective and unprejudiced as nature itself. Shrines to this god differ greatly, but casual adherents will often pray over home gardens, or make pilgrimages to a forest dais to conduct prayer and ceremony.

The priesthood of They Who Nurture is unlike most. They are roving clergymen, clad in natural and earthy robes who operate in circles, calling themselves druids. While there are no formally established temples, certain circles will open up their groves, sometimes referred to as enclaves, for public prayer and open ceremony, though many prefer to remain private. The hierarchy of the clergy is fairly simple, consisting of druids, augurs, and archdruids. Druids are made known due to the totem, or emblem they carry on their person, a wooden statuette which takes a form of their choice. Druids have been known to operate closely to followers of ‘She Who Sows’, patron goddess of agriculture.

Services to They Who Nurture are careful and meticulous ceremonies, often involving sacrifice of blood, or worldly possessions and luxuries in which an adherent will cast off an object, like a ring or hand mirror, off into a brazier. Overall, however, ceremonies will differ with each circle. One tradition that all adherents partake in is known as ‘rebalancing’, in which a followers, likely a group of druids, will set out in search of an affront to the natural balance and repair it. It is the belief of They Who Nurture, and their followers that everything operates in a cycle, and that everything which lives, human or not, possesses a soul, and feels deeply.

Minor Gods in Artesia
There are many minor gods in Artesia, more than one can count or may care to count, but these usually only have a handful of truly devout followers. While it is possible for there to be gods of fire, water, or an abstract concept, and probably is, they are not widely worshiped Artesia and may receive little acknowledgment outside of a few villages or poems. Examples of these minor gods include He Who Brews - God of Alcohol, She Who Risks - goddess of luck, He Who Mends - god of healing, She Who Reflects - goddess of philosophy, and He Who Trades - god of business.

She Who Risks
She Who Risks is the goddess of luck in all of its forms, both the extreme good and the extremely bad. It is quite uncommon for Artesians to accept her as their patron, but most acknowledge her touch on their lives at least once in a while. The symbol of She Who Risks is a simple coin with a different image on either side, as one of the simplest games of chance. It is believed by some that She Who Risks is the daughter of He Who Guides and that those who carry a horseshoe with them will have better luck. Followers of She Who Risks have a tradition of wearing a coin embroidered into their hat, cloak, or jacket as a way of inviting extreme luck upon themselves, gambling with the goddess herself.

There is not much in the way of formal priesthood for She Who Risks, but those that do exist often travel alone, or in small groups, and challenge strangers to games of chance. They are often unidentifiable as a priest of She Who Risks unless asked, though most wear one or more coins embroidered into their clothes. Offerings that are given to She Who Risks are sparse, and often taking chances in life suffice as an offering. In very formal circumstances, or when making a dire plea to the goddess for good luck, dice, coins, and things with very low odds of natural occurrence (such as four-leaf clovers, double-grown fruits, and other such phenomena) serve as good offerings.

Active worship of She Who Risks is very uncommon, and followers generally just live with more risk and chance in their lives than most. Occasionally, however, during the Grand Tourney there is a gathering of followers of She Who Risks, which serves as the most formal worship of the season. The gathered followers hold a tournament of their own amidst the other festivities, challenging each other to games of chance (somewhat influenced by skill, often) until there is a victor. The victor is deemed favored by She Who Risks and leads the rest in a formal prayer before the festivities end.

Forgotten Gods in Artesia
Throughout recorded history, no gods have left or joined the Pantheon of the Many, or at least, that’s what had been accepted as true for centuries. Recent discoveries have uncovered two long-forgotten gods, She Who Whispers and He Who Pursues, and diviners, bards, and historians have been scrambling to learn as much as they can about them. Why did these gods fade into obscurity? What happened to the poetry, artwork, and music created in their honor? Speculation about these gods has sparked much interest among Artesians, and some have begun to worship them alongside the rest of the pantheon.

She Who Whispers
She Who Whispers is the goddess of secrets and the patron deity of thieves and outcasts. Her symbol, a finger held up to a half-mask’s lips, is rarely worn or used by her new worshipers and is instead alluded to through subtle gestures like tapping or touching one’s lips as if in thought. A partial translation of a lost tome suggests that She Who Whispers had been shunned by the rest of the pantheon, and historians have theorized that this was because of a shift in cultural values to honesty and valor and the subsequent condemnation of liars and thieves.

He Who Pursues
He Who Pursues is the god of beasts, monsters, and hunters. His symbol is a severed, bleeding heart held between wolf-like jaws, which has led some to believe that the proper way to pay homage to him after a hunt is to bite into the heart of their prey after killing it. Others are less dramatic in paying their respects, believing that consuming any part of the prey is enough. Some druids have begun to favor He Who Pursues over They Who Nurture, and claim that the mark of a true hunter is the ability to kill their prey with their wits and hands alone, as predators would in the wild. Though little is currently known about him, partial translations of a recovered text claim that he shapeshifted into all manners of monsters and stalked the most treacherous regions of Artesia. While it hasn’t been confirmed yet, rumor says that he did this so he could hunt the most dangerous game of all: humans.

Religious Unity, Dissent, and Conflict
Artesians believe in a number of different gods, and some of their followers don’t practice worship in the same regards. While many priests accept the polytheistic nature of worship, some will come to disagreements on which gods are the most important and debate about ‘proper’ ways to worship. Often, these debates can lead to small conflicts of groups of people choosing to disregard what the others say. On occasion, they lead to much larger conflicts of belief, and a few wars have been started by those who believe certain gods should be more important than others. All religious Artesians can agree on one thing, however: the Tosgivite and Zattarian gods are inferior to the Pantheon of the Many, even if they are recognized as actual deities by the Artesian faith.

The Artesian Afterlife
The afterlife in Artesia is rather simple. It is seen as an idealistic field under a constant blue sky, at the center of this endless expanse being the Hall of Heroes. Their horses who have deceased travel with them here, and they spent the rest of eternity riding, fighting, feasting, or enjoying performances with those inside of the Hall. Those who do not go to the Endless Field are instead sent to an endless void, doomed forever to walk alone.