DESTINISM

While there is no state religion in Voulhire, and all of her people are free to make a religion out of whatever beliefs they so choose, you will not find many references to God— serious or casual— that do not imply the God of Destinism.

Destinism, as the name implies, is a religion centered upon destiny. However, it is also centered upon free will.

Destinism holds that every individual is free to be who they are; indeed, they guide their own lives through their own choices. The only thing we do not choose is the time and place of our birth. In a sense, the actualization of our destiny occurs not in our future, but has occurred already at our conception.

With absolute oversight of who we are, God placed us in his world, knowing what we would do, and how our actions would influence history. Therefore, in his boundless wisdom, God found a way to set the course to a perfect world not in spite of our imperfections, but because of them. All of our mistakes and triumphs lead us not into chaos, but toward a utopia.

Destinism was founded by King Saint Idus, who among being the saintly first king of Voulhire, is the first-known prophet in human history— one who has conversed directly with God.

THE BOOK OF MORTAL DIVINES, or simply THE MORTAL DIVINES is the holy text of Destinism. It is comprised of the teachings of all the verified prophets since King Saint Idus, and is therefore considered an evolving template, even though it has been nearly one hundred years since The Mortal Divines has been amended, and that was to address a grammatical concern.

The seat of Destinic power is the holy city of Yamon Soul; more specifically, the towering Diadem, which lies at its center.

The head of the church is the EIODI (eye-uh-die), who is selected by a clerical vote at the passing of his predecessor. The Eiodi is supported by a council called the heius priests, recognizable in their black robes and white stoles. Every parish in Destinism is overseen by a high magus priest, and tended to by magus priests (or magi).

MONKS are the “free custodians” of the church. They go where they please, but are sworn to do so with the interests of the church held in equal or greater weight to their own personal interests. What this means exactly falls to the personal judgement of the individual monk. In accords with church doctrine (The Mortal Divines itself), no one has the authority to impose a holy command upon a monk, not even the eiodi. Of course, this suggests that the monk is acting within the laws of the church and, secondarily, the laws of Voulhire.

In the 500 years since the reign of Eiodi Indarmo, the Church of Destinism has focused its pursuits on Godliness through magic. The church seeks to be, and for many centuries has been, the leading authority in magic. Most of Voulhire’s most prestigious academies and universities for mages are founded, if not owned outright, by the church.

THE ORDER OF JOSHUA

The Age of the Wizard-Kings (the last few generations of the Modius Dynasty), was a time of escalating difficulty for the people of Voulhire. In those days, a rift of government support expanded between those who practiced magic, and those who did not or could not.

During that time, an ambitious priest, who himself was proficient in magic, found himself upon the throne of eiodi. That priest was Maxus Indarmo. Upon his ascent, he declared not only personal support for the house of the wizard-kings, but immediately began to transform the Church of Destinism into a think tank devoted to magic.

Eiodi Indarmo was the only eiodi on record to voice his wish to revoke the illegalization of biomagic, but of course the law had already been imposed by the crown long ago. Although a powerful mage, King Modius Neverart was in no rush to legalize biomagic, but not out of virtue. In fact, he went on to illegalize telepathic magic as well. He allowed the clergy of Destinism to practice both telepathy and biomagic, so long as the eiodi relinquished his criticisms, which Indarmo quickly did.

As he strove to transition the church, the eiodi established what became known as the DOCTRINE OF INDARMO.

Gradually, priests throughout the parishes of Voulhire were weeded out in a years-long inquisition, and replaced by those who could prove themselves magically. When a priest or priestess was selected to be tried for their aptitude, he or she had the option to either retire their position or duel their would-be replacement. There was no known clergy member who ever elected to duel.

So committed was Eiodi Indarmo to this pursuit, he made it legal for the same challenge to be rendered upon his own office. Incidentally, this is a law that has never been undone by the church, even to this day.

Historians find a single thread of silver in this time of draconian inquisition, as there was a great influx of women into the clergy. Indarmo’s obsession with magic far superseded any notions of patriarchy or nepotism.

Many even questioned if it superseded his faith.

In a practical sense, the monks were not affected by the inquisition, as church cannon expresses both their freedom and lack of authority among clergymen. As such, they had neither the power nor the inclination to cause trouble for the eiodi.

But there was one monk who would become famously engrieved.

The monk known only as JOSHUA, or Brother Joshua, became weary of the ways of the church. As his own faith began to wane, he began to wander.

In time, he came to hear rumors of a town in a quiet part of Voulhire, somewhere far north, where people found happiness and healing.

Joshua came to this town, following only rumor, as the town did not appear on any map. He learned that this town had been built around a high tower, and that tower was the source of healing and serenity that the people so enjoyed. Indeed, Joshua found no signs of illness in this town, nor depression. The people were good to one another, and he was good to them.

The people had distant familiarity with the one who held the tower— they knew him as a being of great wisdom and power, though this being visited with them only once in a while. He communicated with them often enough to let them know that he had grown accustomed to their gathering around his lonely tower, and had come to love them.

Joshua was curious about this mysterious being, but he set his curiosity aside to focus on the people of this unnamed town on the northern crust of the country. He told stories to the people, enchanting them with bits of magic as he educated the children in matters of history and science, the adults in philosophy and sometimes faith. He became popular in the town, and the watchful being in the tower became interested.

Soon, Joshua was invited into the tower. The creature who lived inside it is said to have been a reptilian humanoid with a head like that of a cobra. He introduced himself as Akistry. Joshua spoke with him in his tower about society, philosophy, and the Church of Destinism. The two became fast friends, and Akistry became more interested in this kingdom that, as he confessed to Joshua, he hardly knew.

At the urging of Joshua (and, supposedly, by the command of God himself), Akistry left his tower and the little town that surrounded it. He sojourned south to Yamon Soul and began to preach there. The good people of the holy city were at first afraid of his appearance, then shocked by his kindness. He healed the sick, even those dying in hospice. He visited schools, orphanages, and prisons.

He spoke with everyone, from intellectual conversations with priests, judges, and educators, to casual conversations with guards and servants. Wealthy people invited him to dine with them, and he turned what was supposed to be an evening of amusement into one of changed minds and converted hearts. Parents and teachers soon entrusted their children to his company, and he would sit with them and talk about their dreams and worries.

“Look,” he would say to them. “Look up at the stars. How far away they are, and how big! Imagine how much work it would be to put them where they are. But He put even more work into you, because He loves you more than his own sky. So be good to your brothers and sisters, for so great and loving was the work that made them!”

As he grew in popularity, Akistry began to speak with concern about the church, and about the Eiodi himself. He noted the focus on magic, and their loss of focus on the One who invented magic.

This drew the attention of Eiodi Indarmo.

Akistry took the initiative to request an audience with him, a request which Indarmo sat on for some weeks. He knew that Akistry had profound healing powers, and feared what other powers he might have.

At some point during these weeks, Indarmo had Akistry arrested on suspicion of practicing biomagic. He was put to the test, told to treat people who were on the verge of death beyond practical help. Akistry healed them, and the mages who observed him found no evidence of biomagic being used. In fact, Akistry had managed to move the hearts of several of these mages, including a Vilendrian, who would later resign his honored post. Furthermore, this ordeal moved Indarmo somewhat out of favor with the faithful of Yamon Soul, as he had so famously voiced personal disagreement with the illegalization of biomagic.

The longer Indarmo waited to face Akistry, and the more Akistry preached, the more his people began to stray.

Finally, the eiodi assembled as many of his Vilendrian as he could fit in the throne room, and allowed Akistry to stand before him.

“Your holiness,” said Akistry with a bow. “It would seem that you have established a doctrine by whose invocation you might be legally and honorably deposed by a more powerful mage. If it please your holiness, I would invoke this doctrine now. I believe that would mean your options are to contest with me to the death, or abdicate your throne at once.”

All the priests and hundreds of Vilendrians stood about the room in perfect silence.

And so did Indarmo.

“Or…” Akistry continued, “you can end your alliance with the wizard-king Neverart, denounce him as an oppressor, and I will leave your holy city and not return to disrupt your guidance of the Church of Destinism.”

High on his throne, borne down upon by the stares of his priests and loyal guards, Eiodi Indarmo deliberated with silent haste.

Finally, he replied, “You have added an unforeseen variable to my doctrine. This is, as you should understand, a lofty decision to be made. Therefore, I will take three days to decide. Not an hour further, and you will have my answer.

On the third day, Eiodi Indarmo publicly denounced King Neverart as a tyrant.

Modius Neverart would bear the weight of this denouncement for the rest of his days as king. All of the resentment and hate he accumulated from this, but never had the fortitude to enact, he instead poured into his son, Meruvian, whose terrible acts upon his own people would lead to rebellion, both by the people of Voulhire and by the opportunistic Riva Rohavi. The War of Magic and Feathers lasted from M:799 until M:802, and resulted in the overthrow of the king and the end of the Modius Dynasty.

Akistry returned to his little town and tower to the north, but only temporarily. Together with Joshua, he founded the Order of Joshua, which stood for the unity of nature, magic, and spirituality. After the war, Akistry disappeared, as he wished to lead his kind (the Dekans) without becoming a spectacle.

His last words to Joshua: “It now falls on you and your own people what next steps your country will take.”

The humans who once lived in Akistry’s town became the first followers of this new order.

Today, nearly 500 years later, the Order of Joshua is based in their magnificent monastery on the hills of Ballerhal. Their monks dress in white robes, and their ceremonial warriors— the Knights of Joshua— are adorned in classical suits of iron armor. The order has several smaller monasteries across the country, the second-largest being in Chalethire.

Nationally, the order is thoroughly revered, but commands a fraction of the respect of the Church of Destinism, whom they continue to criticize for taking far too strong an emphasis on magic, and for dabbling far too comfortably in Voulhire’s politics.