Church of the Allfather
"This religion should be founded in Dwilight within the year. This is to be considered as a description of the religion to be used as a reference for discussions regarding the religion."
Below is an impartial treatise on the Church of the Allfther
The Church of the Allfather is an ancient religion that flourished in the more rustic of the noble families of the world and amongst isolated peasant communities. Its followers do not draw attention to themselves with the exception of those in the Octavius Family.
Core Beliefs
The Allfather
The Allfather is the religion’s sole deity, He represents all gods and worshippers believe that all other deities are merely aspects of the Allfather Himself. He is worshipped as the supreme creator of the world and as the entity whose angels taught the first men how to farm and how to hunt. In terms of temperament His worshippers view him as the benevolent father of all as opposed to a bloodthirsty war god. This is undoubtedly what attracts so many peasants used to war destroying their livelihoods to worship Him.
The Holy Writ and Word
Worshippers draw spiritual guidance from two sources, those who are literate may read the religion’s holy book known as the Holy Writ, and all followers may listen to the Word as taught by the wandering priesthood. The Word is a collection of holy stories and fables, passed down from older priests to younger priests. As such the Word changes slightly over time whereas the Holy Writ is fixed and immutable. At the core of the Holy Writ are the Eight Teachings. These are followed by stories of the creation of the world, the earthly appearances of the Allfather, the founding of the Church of the Allfather and the early history of the church, all of these are found in the Holy Writ in that order. Appended to every copy of the Holy Writ is a series of writings known as the Apocrypha. This consists of a mixture of prophecies, stories of latter day martyrs and, chiefly, a set of Edicts written by an unknown head of the church from ages past who apparently reformed a decadent and overly powerful priesthood and laid out the strict Edicts concerning priestly conduct to prevent a return to the Age of Zealous Terror.
The Apocrypha contains numerous description of the Age of Zealous Terror but these are a confusing jumbled mess with several segments missing. All that is clear is that at some point in the past the Church of the Allfather was far more powerful, indeed there are tales of Kings and entire noble dynasties being wiped out by the priests for “heresy against the Allfather”, apparently during this time the priesthood grew rich and decadent while the people lived in squalor, some priests amassing vast personal fortunes and waging private wars against rival priests. There are also some references to a terrible shadowy organisation of warrior-priests known as the Ordo Inquistiono. This period was brought to an end by the pious priest whose Edicts form the core of the Apocrypha.
The Eight Teachings
In order to give some idea of the beliefs of the Church of the Allfather the Eight Teachings are to be found below:
One - Thou shalt not worship the False Gods.
Two - Thou shalt not steal.
Three - Thou shalt honour the Allfather.
Four - Thou shalt defend His Holy Church.
Five - Thou shalt not harm a priest of the Allfather.
Six - Thou shalt defend the innocent from harm.
Seven - Thou shalt not kill unless the lives of others are in danger.
Eight – Thou shalt not break an oath until freed from it.
History
The Holy Writ is unclear in its descriptions of where the Church of the Allfather was founded since all the places referred to in it are no longer to be found on any maps. This also makes it impossible to date the age of the faith and whether it originated in Atamara where the Octavius family hail from or whether it was brought there by immigrants fleeing their own realms. Indeed, it is entirely possible that maybe just one priest arrived in Atamara and spread the faith whilst the Church of the Allfather was replaced entirely by other religions in the areas where it had originated, it is impossible to say for certain.
Following the collapse of the first Church, much knowledge was lost. As a result, there is no one individual or place where the full details of the faith are gathered. It will take direct intervention from the Allfather, as well as much time and effort, in order for the lost knowledge to be regained.
After the faith seemed on the verge of extinction a follower named Asriel Octavius travelled to D’Hara on Dwilight after being led there by strange dreams and what he described as “something tugging at my heart”. He spent many years travelling through Dwilight until he found a place where he was commanded to refound the Church. That place formed the centre of the faith reborn and
Organisation of the Church
The Priesthood
At the core of Allfatherism is the wandering priesthood. After the fall of Allfatherism from its position as a dominant religion the priesthood became wandering in order to cater for followers who were spread thinly over large areas. As a result the priests are mainly low ranking in terms of the potential hierarchy and are mostly either the children of priests or the assistants of priests who take over their duties when they die. Nevertheless there is a quite clear hierarchy amongst the priests of both position and duties which is displayed below:
| Position | Type of Temple (location) | Duties |
|---|---|---|
| Archfather | Huge Cathedral | Head of faith for realm |
| Highfather | Cathedral | Head of faith for city and duchy |
| Abbot | Abbey | Head of faith for townsland |
| Patriarch | Large Church | Head of faith for region |
| Layfather | Church/Local shrine(s) | Head of local parish and shrine attendant |
As is shown the highest position within Allfatherism is that of Archfather who is in charge of the Church of the Allfather in his or her particular realm, however, all the Archfathers form a council with which earthly control of the faith rests. A point worth noting is that, though the position titles remain the same, all ranks of the clergy are open to both males and females.
The Edicts
Priestly conduct is limited by the Edicts which place a vast number of restrictions on them. The overall aim of the Edicts, however, is to prevent priests from amassing large personal fortunes and from becoming out of touch with the people. The basic core of the Edicts is that no priest may own or rent their own home and, though they may marry, they may not live in any property owned or rented by their spouse or offspring. There are also regulations regulating their diet to ensure that they do not enjoy levels of luxury that would distract them from their faith.
Whilst the Edicts are recorded, it is not possible to disclose them here at this time. It is hoped that it will be possible to remedy this in the future.
Everyday Religious Information
Religious Ceremonies
There are various religious ceremonies that may be performed by any priest and these are listed below along with explanations:
Wedding – A simple ceremony performed by a priest on the closest thing to holy ground available in which the bride and groom exchange oaths of loyalty in front of witnesses and exchange symbolic rings before receiving a blessing from the priest. As the newly-weds leave it is normal for a hymn to be sung.
Consecration – A priest blesses an area of land, clearing it of malign influences to make a fitting site for a shrine, burial ground or any type of holy building. The priest walks around the ground whilst making the sign of the Allfather and praying for the Allfather to cleanse the land of evil.
Burial Service – The priest performs a service to mark a death along with the actual burial. Normally friends and relatives of the deceased will say a few choice words before the priest leads those present in prayer for the soul of the deceased. This is sometimes followed by the singing of hymns.
Note: Divorce is allowed in Allfatherism since, although breaking of oaths are forbidden by the Eighth Teaching, if one of the couple rescinds the other's obligation to them then the marriage may be considered null and void.
Afterlife
The Holy Writ describes the journey a soul takes after death. It says that the dead person must relive their whole life and only when they truly repent all the bad they have done in life will the dead person be permitted to move on to the Plains of Peace where they shall spend the rest of eternity in a perfect paradise the nature of which may not be revealed to living mortals. Of course there is much speculation as to the nature of the Plains of Peace and some have claimed to have had visions of it although the main word used to describe it is unfortunately ‘indescribable’.
Relationship Between Ordinary Followers and the Allfather
The common believer has just as much of a connection with the Allfather as the priesthood. The Allfather does not require ornate temples, intricate ceremonies or weighty sacrifices in order to commune with Him. Any man or woman may commune with Him merely by the act of kneeling down and lifting their hearts in prayer. Sometimes the Allfather will answer, sometimes He will not. But He will always listen. As such it is the function of the priesthood to spread the teachings of the Allfather rather than to act as intermediaries between mankind and the Allfather.