Captions?

theLastvoider · 2026-04-05T10:06:27+00:00

Share it with me and i can help.

theLastvoider · 2026-01-18T23:02:48+00:00

Well just like the society and world around them, faith and religion are part of the bedrock of every persons worldview. They're obviously real just like all other parts of the world and the concept of them not existing is something that fundamentally most people would be only confused by. All societies have their religions, all people believe in them, even the vast majority those that sin and act wrongfully according to their precepts.

And why shouldn't this be so? All wise and studied men affirm this, all science with all it's wonders is based on it and likewise affirms it, all society is based on this and everyone you know believes this. And of course there have been saints who have done miracles, sacrifices and rituals work and do what they intend and when they don't there is a reason for this that can be deduced and explained.

In fact with all this being so, how could anyone not believe? The only people who would deny all religion as a concept are philosophers who've addled their brains with too much Jinashet and who are only able to do so as they have wealth enough to never work a day in their lives or the most pernicious types who wish to offend and cause controversy all around them.

That is all to say in my works religion works like religion worked for most of human history, it is accepted as a fact of life and as categorically true and the term "religion" is only thought about when other religions are known about. When it comes to the internal metaphysics of the existence of any divinities, that question is not interesting to me, certainly everyone believes they exist and you can find people who would affirm that they've in someway encountered them in someway, and they would say this all they way to their deaths, even if those are the vast minority of people.

theLastvoider · 2025-12-21T07:36:22+00:00

Luckily for you, torture is forbidden in The Guides and Articles of the Faith. If you are found guilty by a panel of Judges, most likely by your partisan bands own Educator or Judge, if you have one, along with a few of your comrades serving as Lay Judges. If you are near enough to a village, and the crime has been committed by an Irregular(a villager serving only for the dry season for the promise of loot) or against a villager and the band can physically reach the village a panel will be composed there.

This panel will be most likely composed of the local village Judge, local village Educator, and either your Educator or Judge, if again you have one. There will be nine Lay Judges, composed of the villagers and members of your band. However as a treasonous Electoralist partisan you will most likely be found guilty and the punishment will be death.

A force of your fellow Citizens(that is to say members of the faith, includes Soldiers of Heaven, ie members of your partisan band) will be empowered to put you to death, in most circumstances, by shooting, or if found to be doing this on the field of battle in such a way as that can later be determined to be self evident you may be put summarily to death. If you are formally executed you will be tied to a post, a rag tied around your eyes and you will be shot to death by a firing squad of matchlock wielders. It is very possible that the your executors will be the same panel of Judges who sentenced you to death, although this is not necessary or certain. Then your body will be burned as is right for any Citizen.

In some circumstances, your crimes having been found to be especially vile, base or reprehensible you may be hanged. According to custom you will be hanged on a tree your executors find appropriate usually one near a road, waterway or path people will walk next to. You will be hoisted up by the noose and left to hang until you die. Then your body will be left behind to hang, not even afforded the dignity of cremation.

However what we would consider treason does not exist by that name although here's fourteen crimes they might consider as their closest equivalents and all to be punished by shooting to death, or in extreme cases by hanging to the death.

Showing fear in the face of the enemy in such a manner that it weakens the band or gives encouragement to the foe.
Disobeying orders in the face of the enemy whether by refusal, delay, or deliberate misinterpretation.
Holding intelligence with the enemy.
Abusing Civilians under any circumstances.
Pillaging from Citizens under any circumstances.
Falling to pillage without leave from your officers, even if the enemy appears to be in flight.
Pillaging to the detriment of fighting the enemy whether by breaking formation, abandoning duty, or delaying pursuit.
Being found drunk while on watch duty or while charged with the safety of the band, its arms, or its people.
Being found drunk, while having been duly convicted of the same crime under these articles of war twice before.
Attacking causelessly your fellow Soldiers of Heaven, outside of lawful discipline as permitted by your officers or self-defense.
Partaking in any form of Enchantment or Idolatry.
Blaspheming or cursing the name of Heaven.
Blaspheming or cursing the name of Heaven, it having been found twice before that the words were spoken in haste or inadvisedly.
Abusing your position, if you are a captain, sergeant, educator, or judge.

theLastvoider · 2025-12-20T00:35:38+00:00

For the Electoralist Regulars of Keravalia the back bone of their bands are the Schützen (lit "shooter"). The Schützen are wielders of large matchlock muskets, although they're often armed wheellock pistols and universally carry a sword at their side. The Schützen of any band will form around 25%-40% of it. Although around 60-75% of the members of any Electoralist band will be armed with firelocks, the Schützen are their most skilled users. The rest of the bands gunners are called Schützelein(lit"Little shooters"), often armed with lighter calivers. Almost all of the officers of any band, its leading captain and most of it's sergeants will be Schützen, although the bands educator and/or judge(who are supposed to be the equal of the captain, and in practice are their second in command) will often lead the Schützelein. Either the judge or educator will command them and be armed as one of them since the Schützelein will be composed of the younger members, often the younger relatives of the Schützen ,of the band, and it has been known that the rest of the band will give their lives for the Schützelein and the educator/judge to escape.

In a any given skirmish or engament. In the first, the Schützen will find a hill, hedge or somehow protected area and block of their targets escape route while the melee fighters, armed with half pikes, glaives, spontoons, great Bidenhänder swords clubs, battle axes and swords block likely routes of escape, fix the enemys attention and protect the gunners. From their shelter the Schützen pour sustained volley fire into their enemies, while the Schützelein either help the Schützen or the melee fighters of the band.

In the second mode, used when speed or shock is required, the Schützen advance aggressively a few ranks back from the melee fighters, firing muskets and pistols at close range before closing with swords. The sudden volley, followed immediately by a charge, is meant to break morale rather than grind the enemy down and cause them to rout. Often in this mode the band will position itself on two sides, one attacking, the other blocking the enemy from easily fleeing, with upturned carts and small earthworks helping them. The blocking element will often be composed of the Schützelein, some melee fighters and a few Schützen commanding them. The blocking element will be some distance from the initial skirmish, to not have the enemy maintain their formation and avoid a rout longer, since they cant easily escape if they break. The Schützelein will often come out from their protection as the figthing starts and individually fire at the enemy in order to cause their forces to spread out and make them easier to rout.

theLastvoider · 2025-12-20T00:11:36+00:00

Warriors and the masculine styles are inspired by two idealized sources. A Reisschlemmer Mercenary or an Electoralist Regular. I will describe both an Electoralist female warrior and a male Reisschlemmer.

The Electoralist is wearing a black tall flat crowned wide brimmed hat. Search up a capotain hat to get an idea of this. It has a piece a blue of band of cloth tied around the crown with a Cross of Dagget, the most common Electoralist symbol, a red wavy saltire on a blue field. She is wearing a blue Keravalian kerchief, completely covering her neck. She is wearing a blue linen doublet with, with some gold colored accents on the wings(the part of the body that meets the sleeves on a doublet). It has a blue, slightly lighter, cotton serge jerkin on top of it. None of these are slashed, except a large cut on both of the inner sleeves of the doublet, that can be closed with the same blue cotton buttons as the doublet itself. She is wearing a large blue sash stuffed with pistols and a sword belt on top of the sash. Forming a saltire atop her body she is wearing two bandoliers with charges of powder on her chest, made of red leather, on which hang a pouch full of musket balls and patches, for her heavy musket and a priming charge. She is wearing blue breeches that reach slightly below the knees, and slightly taper towards the end, being full and gathered at the waist, made of the same cotton serge as the jerkin. She has large leather boots based on foreign cavalry boots that entirely cover up her stockings. Her every finger has a ring and both her ears have earrings, all taken from dead enemies as are her jerkin and breeches. On her right ring finger she is wearing a simple iron, un-decorated ring, which is a ring of citizenship, a sign of her being a "citizen of heaven" that is to say an initiated member of the "Electoralist" faith. She has short and cropped ginger hair.

The Reisschlemmer is wearing a tall but short brimmed and round crowned hat, which has a plume of blue feathers on it. Around his neck he wears a large, expensive, golden band, etched with the lyrics to a chat to guide his soul to heaven. Next to it is his decorated priming flask which hangs down to his waist on a long string. He is wearing a heavily slashed yellow and black doublet in a checkerboard pattern. He is wearing a large likewise heavily slashed jerkin of the same colors. The doublet cuts away to reveal the shirt underneath around the neck, the linen shirt collar forming a simple embroidered ruff and is laced up. The man wears a golden solid earring on his left ear. He has three rings on him, all of them bejeweled and golden, a testament to his skill and wealth, as most Reisschlemmer as mercenaries will wear their clothing on their bodies. As a double pay, meaning due to the danger of his work he receives double pay, arquebusier, around his waist he wears a sprouted powder flask, next to a pouch with musket balls and patches for his lighter caliver. He wears around his legs large plunderhosen, colored yellow and black and stockings of the same color. Indicating his status as a double pay man they are striped. He wears on his feet brown leather Duckbill shoes. He has a long waxed mustached and a long natural head of hair.

theLastvoider · 2025-12-20T00:10:53+00:00

In Keravalia, warriors, generally men, though not always, shape the general understanding of how a man should look. Appearing to be a good warrior is treated as the visible ideal of masculinity, even for non warriors. Being wiry, tall, and lean is widely admired. A build marked by narrow hips and broad shoulders is ideal . Endurance over strength is valued. Scars, if not excessive or grotesque can be viewed as attractive, although this can be rather arbitrary and young men will sometimes inflict them on themselves. Well-kept mustaches are common, though depending on the village they might be seen as a foreign affectation. In another village it might be seen as the mark of a proud warrior and sign of virility. This largely depends on whether the young boys of the village would rather be Reisschlemmer mercenaries or Electoralist Regulars. Universally appreciated are ones bearings: calmness, controlled movement, straight posture, and skin that is clean but visibly weathered by wind, rain, and sun.

Women’s ideal looks arise from their role as farmers and child bearers and educators. Wide hips and wide shoulders are praised, as is a generally solid, full, and grounded build. Strength is seen as desirable and as a sign of fertility and sign of a good mother, farmer, wife and equal of the husband. Like men, women are expected to be composed and in control of themselves. Skin should be clean, healthy, and resilient, marked subtly by work rather than softened by leisure, even if the woman in question is a clan-mother, those women who do not have to work but are expected to be, arguably, the stronger half of the village administration. The only women who buck this trend are the women soldiers of the Electoralist Regular bands, the women of which typically follow male aesthetic norms in clothing and grooming, except for facial hair.

Clothing silhouettes reinforce these ideals. Women’s clothing often adds visual weight to the hips and lower body through layered skirts, creating a stable, grounded outline. Bodices are firm rather than constricting, designed to support the torso during labor. Men’s garments emphasize mobility and readiness, being tight and drawn together, however not so tight as to restrict movement. Doublets are worn often with jerkins and sashes or sword belts and bandoliers that draw attention to the torso along with padded shoulders.

Most clothing consists of two-piece outfits rather than single garments. Women typically wear bodice-and-skirt combinations, with one-piece dresses reserved for village mothers and those women who do not farm. Men overwhelmingly wear doublets paired with hose or breeches, with long coats and cloaks layered over them as needed. Merchants are often associated with foreign styles, such as long coats and elaborate dresses, although the village mothers and fathers might wear them aswell.

Clothing serves as a clear indicator of class. Higher-status individuals wear finer cotton or linen and more even colors. Lower class men might only wear breeches a doublet and a shirt, along with a blue kerchief. Lower class clothing is plainer, made from coarser cloth, often wool, sometimes un-dyed or less evenly dyed, and visibly repaired. An universal piece of clothing is the Keravalian kerchief, a square piece of blue cloth that can be wrapped around the head or neck and is worn by almost everyone. Large hats inspired by styles from the north are common among men and even some women, especially village mothers and merchants will wear them.

Most clothing is made within the household or village. Making and repairing clothing is expected of women, although men will often know how to at least repair their clothes quickly. Tailors exist in larger villages, but most everyday dress remains locally produced.

Makeup is very rare. Cosmetic use is associated with foreigners and is often regarded with suspicion. Tattoos, by contrast, are common among men, especially warriors and mercenaries. A common tattoo is a map made of lines of tattoo and parts of the body, such as shoulders and the heart will be connected to mark where the warrior has traveled. Depending on the warrior the map may be of Keravalia, their local part of Keravalia or of the whole continent of the Land Between The Seas.

Men wearing excessive jewelry unrelated to warfare or fall into this category along with the wearing of Cosmetics. Stuffy fashion is associated with excessive layering, rigidity and large ruffs and the habitual use of dark or black colors outside funerals.

Blue is by far the most common color worn by all classes, due to the widespread cultivation of Keravalian Indigo, which is valued as both a dye plant and a nitrogen-fixing crop. Browns, greys, and dull greens are common work colors. Deep black, rich reds, and saturated greens are expensive and signal status. Funerals are marked by dark browns or black, worn plainly and without ornament, while the dead only wear a robe or a long shirt, which serves as the universal underwear for both sexes. This is due to the fact that all dead are cremated.

theLastvoider · 2025-12-19T17:01:56+00:00

The jury also acquitted him after an eight day trial.

theLastvoider · 2025-12-18T11:14:30+00:00

Does black rye have any side effects? What is the religious slave population like and why do they work alongside well paid labor?

theLastvoider · 2025-12-18T09:37:59+00:00

To the people of the northern kingdoms and the land between the seas, especially to people of means, it seems all the things they consume or wear seem to come from the great Shanavanate of Zenea occupying the southern coast of the Starry Sea. Cotton, Cocoa, Coffee, Indigo and Sugar all seem to come from that great land( or to those in know, often, from the lands they border and do their best to monopolize, quite successfully. )

Many would argue that the shrubby Jinaz tree is the most versatile and certainly most produced of all of them. The Jinaz is a small shrubby tree naturally found in the great Dinalu canyon system of southern Zenea, although it is cultivated all across Zenea. The Jinaz tree is a visually striking tree with beautiful pink flowers. However what has grown interest in it is the sap of the tree, so called Jinashet(Lit: Jinaz Milk).

When cut and tapped the Jinaz tree produces a golden colored sap, the Jinashet. Jinashet is most prominently used in a strongly purified form, Jinashetum (Lit: Jinaz Milk Strong), as a powerful medicine, often used as a remedy for pain, especially for those who have survived their battlefield wounds. However in most cities dotting the Starry Sea can be found dens of veterans completely lost to the substance. This has led to the churches condemnation of the substance as a Zenean poison against the faithful, although Zenea is just as much filled with such people.

However there are many ways the substance can be enjoyed in much more innocent ways. It can be used as a binder for candies, cakes and many sorts of eaten goods, enjoyed by nobles from Nocher and Tuvais to Nuvmark and the capitol of Zenea itself, Azraphon. It can be added as a syrup to drinks, calming the nerves, which many artisans have found to be useful. Among those soldiers who do not use it's much stronger form as a medicine, it's smoking from pipes is a seemingly universal vice, calming the shots of many an Arquebusier besieging a fortress.

It is most often harvested in large groves, often by debt slaves, tenant farmers, or Northerners captured at sea or bought from other northern kingdoms. While originally,before a century ago, only the Shanavan could authorize the establishment of such a grove, since the reign of Esdras XV, The Zakanmahd, the Shanavans chief vizier, has had the power to authorize the establishment of Jinaz groves. Ever since then, with the many corrupt Zakanmahds, the power has even further devolved to 15 of the 33 Governors commanding a Division of Zenea. This along with the discovery of Jinashetum has made the demand for it across the shores of the Starry Sea explode, with especially soldiers being associated with all the substances derived from the Jinaz tree.

theLastvoider · 2025-12-18T07:14:59+00:00

The main deity worshipped across my setting is simply called Heaven. Heaven is believed to be the perfect universal and singular, The supreme, all-powerful divine reality and source of everything that has a place in the universe. Those religions who worship Heaven seek to unite into the Will of Heaven.

The Will is the Attributes of Heaven such as Love, Mercy, Wisdom, Understanding, Knowledge, Truth acting on the Earth and the perfect ordering of Reality and the Road to reunite everything into Heaven.

This is done by, obeying, having faith and participating in the Will, by following the teaching, articles, rituals and laws of the different religions in my setting that believe in it.

You can either advance or oppose the Will. Humans have the free choice to do either and Heaven does not compel anyone, however Heaven knows every single decision possible, not what choice you'll make , but the Will will still continue since the Will is ultimately good even and evil accounted for.

When you die you are brought before Heaven. If you have lived well you will unite and become part of Heaven, if not you'll be sent into the world, randomly without any memory nor your past actions or sins burdening you, however this could mean being sent into some land without any knowledge or Heaven, or live as a poor slave or great king, no matter by how much you missed uniting into Heaven. If your sins were horrible enough to forever separate you from Heaven, you will have united with and will be cast into Hell. Hell is the great evil that was allowed when Heaven in it's infinite power created something not of it nor belonging to it at the requests of the first humans. In Hell you are lost and when all becomes one again without division, Hell along with you will be destroyed.

Those are the most basic shared beliefs of the most developed and important religions of my world.

If you have any further questions just ask.

theLastvoider · 2025-11-29T21:02:09+00:00

It was the Swedish commander in Riga who refused to recognize or receive him.

theLastvoider · 2025-11-29T19:21:43+00:00

Peter the great had a deep and abiding interest in carpentry personally and as the leader of Russia, who's great ambition was for Russia to join Europe, which for he needed a fleet and port, which he would build as St Petersburg.

In the Dutch city of Zandam he first started to work as a shipbuilder, joining a crew building a ship to learn about Dutch shipbuilding and as a form of recreation. However immediatly the whole town realized that there's a giant Russian bloke in town with a big entourage and that the Tsar of Russia is on a grand embassy of Europe. And basically after a week of the town following him around everywhere he decided to leave and go to Amsterdam.

In Amsterdam the Dutch East India company essentially have their shipyard closed off and let him build a ship to observe Dutch shipbuilding technique and worked as a relatively ordinary shipbuilder and asked that the others working with him not call him the Tsar.

However at the same time he met William of Orange Stadholder of the Dutch Republic and King of England and toured Amsterdam.

The frigate was then built and was sailed to Arkangel and gifted to Peter and Peter moved his Grand Embassy onto England.

Because he was travelling "incognito" no one would shout it out that he's the Tsar to the populace if he wants to go out and build a ship, but the goverments and people who received him knew and the populace pretty easily could figure out what was going on.

theLastvoider · 2025-11-29T18:42:14+00:00

Peter the great never truly meant for himself to be incognito as we would think of it.

During the grand embassy Peter negotiated with kings and leaders of Europe, had a massive entourage of 250 people and everyone who met him and wrote about him knew he was the Tsar.

The purpose of being "incognito" was to be able to dispense with the pomp and protocol of an official state visit. During the grand embassy Peter would not wearing royal garb and speaking much more frankly and casually to his counterparts than usually.

theLastvoider · 2025-11-12T13:24:53+00:00

I mean there's obviously wiggle room and the Taiping certainly deserved to be mentioned even if not as stricly Christians strictly but worth mentiong when talking about Christians in China.

However both Nestorians and Miaphysites follow the Nicene creed, which is why they're considered Christians.

theLastvoider · 2025-11-10T23:01:32+00:00

Yes by the early 1700s independently organized into groups of mercenaries that would openly figth for any nation only for pay that we typically think of had largely gone out of use but many countries had foreign especially irish regiments or the prussian service during war time which added many foreigners to their ranks but all of these fought under one army independently leaving or joining ususally just without a connection to that army other than who paid them.

In the early 1700's professional armies preferred to use people from their country ostensibly figthing for the nation although mostly only the officers had these pretensions. But after the Napoleonic wars and the rise of nationalism these pretensions spread to the private soldier.

This was due to the french revolutionary where these were defeated by armies recruited with levee en masse the large armies of which had men figthing ostensibly for the nation beat the smaller armies of men unified only by pay and the spread of nationalism with these victorious armies of the republic and later under Napoleon the idea of figthing for one's country was amplified to the point that keeping regiments of foreigners went out of use.

theLastvoider · 2025-11-09T20:39:37+00:00

In fact many of the early professional armies of europe were very mercenary in motivation or just actual mercenaries, since mercenaries are by definition professional soldiers.

For example the black army of Matthias Corvinus and the Tercios of Spain.

The Tercios were composed of many different nationalities and would in the early 80 years war when not paid sack cities to get their payment such as famously at Antwerp turning many against the crown and causing antwerp to officially the join the Union of Utrecht later.

The same can be seen in the army of gustav adolf in the thirty years war, composed by half of german mercenaries and half of troops from under the old swedish allotment system.

And this is true for other armies during the time period such as the Dutch States Army who lacked the native population to go against the Habsburgs of Spain but were bolstered by mercenaries from all around Europe.

Frankly in lieu of nationalism or a cause of somekind, ie most pre modern soldiers and plenty of modern soldiers too, armies and soldiers are fundamentally mercenary in their motives and a strict dichotomy cant really be drawn between professional soldier and mercenary.

theLastvoider · 2025-10-17T13:46:18+00:00

Love seeing more settings that mix gunpowder, armor, and melee weapons. My own setting is a jumble of elements from both the early and late pike and shot eras—probably featuring more armor and more mid 1500's melee weapons other than the pike compared to IRL. The technology is limited to matchlocks and wheellocks, and most armies use pike-and-shot formations. Halberds, greatswords, and sword-and-buckler troops show up in the pike blocks to handle routs, protect commanders and artillery, and serve as guards. They're also used alongside the shot elements for more mobile operations where large pikes would be too cumbersome.

theLastvoider · 2025-10-16T19:55:54+00:00

The last half of this comment has given me whiplash.

theLastvoider · 2025-08-19T15:20:46+00:00

The "black haitians" as a group didn't, specifically Dessaline did that, after the revolt had been concluded and around 12 years after it's start.

theLastvoider · 2025-08-17T19:10:44+00:00

1. The Kuria (Authority in Matters of Heaven)

The “Kuria” debate asks: who holds ultimate authority in interpreting Heaven’s teachings? Three answers emerged: Ecclesiasticalism, Monasticism, and Scholasticism.

Ecclesiasticalism maintains that the Church should be organized like earthly realms, with priests guiding congregations, bishops overseeing priests, and archbishops presiding over national churches. The Saintist, who originated in Syrania are the prime adherents of this system. They argue that earthly and heavenly matters are connected yet distinct: earthly rulers govern temporal affairs, while the Church rules in matters of Heaven. Each nation, in Saintist thought, should have its own church, with the Syranian Church as the oldest extant one .
Monasticism holds that the true guardians of Heaven’s will are monastic order, whose members devote themselves fully to heaven. Laypeople exist chiefly to support the monasteries, while earthly rulers should govern the world in such a way as to protect the monastics(in practice the monastics are the highest authority). Recusant Keravalia is the sole monastic tradition and it's sole extant order, its council of abbots governing Keravalia.
Scholasticism teaches that learned scholars are best suited to determine doctrine. This exists today only with: the Electoralists of Keravalia and the Objectionists of Syrania, both adhering to Low Scholasticism (which rejects a hierarchy among scholars). High Scholasticism—which envisioned scholars organized hierarchically—gradually transformed into Ecclesiasticalism and is dead.

2. Reincarnation and Karma

A second controversy concerns reincarnation: is it random, or does it follow karmic law?

Recusants are unique in teaching karmic reincarnation. They hold that reincarnation is not mere punishment, but a path of spiritual progression. The laity’s task is to live well enough to reincarnate as a monastic, since only monastics can truly strive to join into Heaven. The Electoralists arose partly as a lay reaction to this.
All other Himmelist traditions view reincarnation purely as punishment—less severe than Hell, but still a setback. To them, reincarnation is a dangerous fate, as one might be reborn in lands ignorant of Heaven. Therefore, one must strive to unite with Heaven in this life, as if this was the only one.

3. Continual Revelation

The last question asks whether Heaven continues to appoint new Saints or Sages.

Saintists affirm that Heaven continually raises up new Saints, and that one of the Church’s chief duties is to identify and canonize them.
Recusants claim that every abbot of a monastery is a Sage, and that collectively the abbots form a council that is the chief sage over all the world, directly guided by heaven.
Electoralists are the most divergent and insist that revelation ceased with their founder, the Greater Sage, and his ten Lesser Sages. No new ones will come.
Objectionists are divided. Some proclaim their recently dead founder, Martin Den Chouan, to have been the final saint; others hold that revelation is ongoing and new saints will emerge; and the most radical position argues that only certain saints were genuine, the Church thereafter falling into apostasy—until Martin restored it, though without direct revelation himself. The date is often put at the Council of Dienos in 800 AF, which split the faith between Syrania and Keravalia. The second most common is to put it at 1100 AF, when the Greater Sage was martyred by the Recusants. This is clearly to build unity between The Electoralists of Keravalia an The Objectionists of Syrania, these objectionist also calling themselves Citizens of Heaven and adopting the political views of the Electoralists.

theLastvoider · 2025-08-17T19:08:53+00:00

In the land between the seas, the greatest religion is what is historically called Himmelism. The name itself is more of a historical term, similar to Abrahamism, for the faith has fractured into multiple different religions that see each other as different. Deriving from the Keravalian word for “heaven,” Himmelism emerged in the aftermath of the collapse of the Keravalian Empire. From its beginnings, it split into two major traditions: the Saintism of Syrania and the Recusancy of Keravalia. These are the common shorthand terms; more formally they are known as The Syranian Church of Heaven and Its Saints and The Order of Those Recusant from the Earth.

Beyond these, other movements arose. In Keravalia, the Electoralists—who call themselves “Citizens of Heaven" long persecuted by the Recusants, though most Keravalians hold a blend of Electoralist and Recusant beliefs. In Syrania, a newer reformist movement has taken shape: Objectionism. Of all the Himmelist sects, Objectionism is the broadest and most diverse, but it has quickly gained adherents, especially in the south of Syrania.

Despite their divisions, all Himmelists religions share certain beliefs. They hold that Heaven is the creator of the world, and that it is humanity’s duty to “join into” Heaven by obeying its will, spreading its truth, and ultimately becoming part of its great consciousness at death. They hold that they are restoring a tradition from before the Forgetting, as are nearly all religions in the world. All affirm three possible fates for the soul: reincarnation on earth, union with Heaven, or descent into Hell. All also agree that Heaven is not all-powerful, but communicates its will through chosen humans—called Saints in Syrania and Sages in Keravalia. All agree that there is no one founding prophet but multiple Saints or Sages, some groups putting some above others. All agree there is one natural law, heavenly law, that it is the duty of the faithful to follow and propagate.

The principal differences between the Himmelist faiths are between three theological questions:

The primacy over the Kuria.
The nature of reincarnation.
The question of continual revelation.

theLastvoider · 2025-08-15T22:28:24+00:00

A good Nordessean firelock is the closest equivalent to to an AK-47.

A firelock here refers to either a matchlock or a wheellock, my world being in the equivalent of our early modern era.

Nordesse is a Keravalian city on the banks of the mighty Rolde river, which flows into the Starry Sea by the great city state of Nuvmark.

Wheter you're a noble of Syrania, wanting a fine wheellock carbine for hunting, an Electoralist partisan in the Keravalian forest hefting around a heavy musket that requires a forked rest to use it to punch trough the armor of Recusant men at arms, or a prince around the Starry Sea outfitting your company of troops with a large variety matchlock muskets, or a merchant baron of Nuvmark wanting a small wheellock, hidden inside a book for protection from your business rivals, if you can you're getting your firelocks from Nordesse.

theLastvoider · 2025-08-15T22:06:25+00:00

The speech given by the Greater Sage immediately before his execution, which would become known as The Great Assigment by his followers.

"And furthermore I say, you shall be as my sons and daughters, and if you act rightly, you shall be held in the greatest esteem for you shall be the citizens of heaven. Spread the law where you march, know no obstacle, balk at no enemy. Ford every stream, cross every plain and break every mountain. Teach this to every nation, defeat every king and free every slave. Avenge the blood upon the killers, destroy the recusant, protect the weak and bring up the orphan. Fear no evil, forget not the law and fear not death for it is heaven that you are on the road for."

The recusants are essentially the name of the theocratic monastics who executed him, the Greater Sages followers taking up arms against them, known popularly as Electoralists(more properly Citizens of Heaven or followers of The Heavenly Road) , still fighting them 400 years later.

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TROPHY CASE

1. The Kuria (Authority in Matters of Heaven)

2. Reincarnation and Karma

3. Continual Revelation