Valinorism
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Valinorism
Summary
Valinorism is a religion on East Continent, currently based in Sirion. It is the reverence of one of the Celestial Divines of the Church Of The Holy Sacred Grove/The New Temple, which was an active religion in the same area many years ago, and is centered around the reverence of the Elven Gods of Ancient Sirion, when the Elves still lived there. Tydalin is the Celestial Divine of the faith, and Valinorism is the worship of Tydalin as the God of Directions, Father of Sages, Granter of Wisdom, and Keeper of Forbidden Knowledge.
His plane, beyond the Sacred Veil, is called Valinor. The believers are attempting to Walk the Path to Valinor, much like the prophet Micah Smallwood, who was the first human to survive the trip through the Sacred Veil and ended in Valinor. The Path to Valinor includes studying ancient texts, expanding one's knowledge, and generally opening their minds to the Old Way, looking beyond the here and now to understand how things were to get us to *here*.
This religion is unlike many others, as it is not simply reverence for a deity. Tydalin grants visions and directly communicates with his Priests, and provides Celestial Guidance to them by these means.
Role-playing Suggestions within the religion
Valedictions
- In Tydalin's name,
- On The Path,
- Walking The Path,
- For Knowledge and Wisdom,
- For Valinor!
- See you in Valinor,
Potential Role-play ideas
- See visions of Elven priests from the "before days"
- Learn something new, like an elven phrase or discover a new text
- Stumble upon a tree resembling Iniarbel
- Perhaps you too could find an Iniarbel brand in a desk, sword, book, helm, etc.
- Locate an ancient text, perhaps in Elven. Have some dreams of learning what the book means.
- Even though Tydalin is the Divine that is worshipped, he is one within the larger Pantheon of the original religion. Perhaps you could fill in a back story of one of those?
- Forbidden Knowledge --- explore what that might mean
Location
Celestial Forest
The Celestial Forest is an important feature of Valinorism, for this is where the Elves first were created beneath the canopy of Iniarbel, the "Tree of the Beginning." There are nine Celestial Divines, as there are nine regions within the Celestial Forest. Each region has a corresponding Divine, which can only be discovered by building out the second wing of a temple in that region. Currently, only Lissambar has a temple built in it, and it is very much the region of Tydalin. As more temples are constructed, the inspiration of the builders will see which Divine's planes connect with each region.
It is theorized, by Prophet Micah, that a Priest could only potentially travel beyond the Sacred Veil into a Divine's plane of existence by being in the region that corresponds to that Divine.
Temples and Shrines
Pantheon
Tydalin
Tydalin is the God of Directions, Father of Sages, Granter of Wisdom, and Keeper of Forbidden Knowledge. He takes an elven form and wears a long green robe and has a long white beard. His plane is called Valinor, and it is a great library, one that has an endless supply of books. It contains all information that was ever created, mostly by Tydalin himself.
