Religion

[Roxilicious]

Spiritualism and religion are a significant part of the everyday lives of the citizens of Osoa. Many actions and decisions are heavily influenced by the Hexadus, or the Six. In fact, magic on Osoa is due in part to the gods. Alternatively, there are still those who worship the Santach, or the Selfish. Continue reading for further information.

The Hexadus

Responsible for holy magic, the Hexadus are a group of six primordial gods very significant to the creation of Valtava, the realm of existence that holds the planet on which Osoa exists. They were born from the interaction of two nameless gods only regarded as Time and Space.

In the beginning, there was nothing but the Void. Two beings found themselves in the Void but separate from each other. Time moved forward, though His presence is useless in his corner without Space. Additionally, Space found Herself almost useful... If there were movement in her corner of the Void. She remained stationary, waiting for something to happen. Eventually, mobile Time made contact with motionless Space. They interweaved their purposes, completing each other. From their connection, the Hexadus and the Santach were born as powerful, godly beings, but they were not referred to as separate groups of gods at the time. They were just the children of Time and Space, who later sank into the background and provided structure to the Void.

The Hexadus were tired of living in the Void. They had no purpose like their parents. As a result, the Hexadus decided to create a new world, one in which they would have purpose and significance. They offered the Santach this wonderful opportunity, but the Santach turned them down. 'Sacrifice our powers?' they'd ask. 'I would never sacrifice my powers for mortals.'

And so, the Hexadus created a new world, known as Valtava, the mortal realm. In this plane of existence, they made a planet, Orbis, upon which the mortals could live. Two smaller realms were created as well: Zerua and Meprise, informally known as heaven and hell, respectively. The spirits of those with moral tendencies would travel to Zerua after their bodies perished, and the souls of those with wicked tendencies would travel to Meprise.

There are five sects of the Hexadus. They are:
• The Unity: all six members of the Hexadus united as one.
• The Duality: Opifex and Auctor, governors of life and death, light and dark, day and night, dreams and nightmares. Polar opposites. They can be collectively called Aether.
• The Trinities: Lux (Opifex, Xavia, and Kyreer) and Nox (Auctor, Skaviir, and Noctzar).
• The Tetrad: Skaviir, Xavia, Noctzar, and Kyreer, also known as the Seasons.
• The Hexadus: each god individually.

Each sect of the Hexadus gave different things to Valtava. The Unity gave them rapport. The Duality gave them different schools of magic as well as life and death. The Trinities gave day, the sun, and light; and night, the moons and stars, and dark. The Seasons gave them air to breathe, water to drink, earth on which to stand, and fire to cook and heat. The Hexadus gave them individuality.

OPIFEX
Gender: unspecified, though he is regarded as male
Patronage: life, birth, fertility, dreams, light, day, and the sun
Spirit Form: white phoenix
Mortal Appearance: n/a
Personality: Kind, gentle, infinitely loving, Opifex is a passionate father figure. He rarely appears to mortals, and when he does, it is only in his spirit form. Opifex is very understanding, mellow, and lenient, but if mortals invoke his wrath, he will not hesitate to strike his mighty hand upon Valtava. He is responsible for the birth of mortals.

AUCTOR
Gender: Male
Patronage: inanimacy, death, sterility, nightmares, darkness, night, and the moons
Spirit Form: black griffin
Mortal Appearance: n/a
Personality: "The bad cop" equivalent to Opifex, Auctor is a bit colder and less forgiving than the other gods. He governs the polar opposites of what Opifex governs, and, as he is responsible for the death of mortals, he also rules over the afterlife, both Zerua and Meprise as well as their respective angels and demons. Auctor is known to be more ruthless and harsh.

SKAVIIR
Gender: Male
Patronage: the solid movements of everything, autumn, serenity, sturdiness, practicality, patience, stubbornness, envy
Spirit Form: winged stag
Mortal Appearance: a tall, muscular Vedial knight with medium-length, dark brown hair and light brown eyes.
Personality: Skaviir is known to be a lionhearted warrior who is keen on knighthood. He is patient, forgiving, and actually a bit stubborn. Skaviir rarely loses his cool.

XAVIA
Gender: Female
Patronage: the rapid movements of everything, spring, intellect, creativity, intuition, aide, quick-thinking, wisdom, closed-mindedness, superficiality
Spirit Form: pegasus
Mortal Appearance: an olive-skinned high elf with long, blonde hair and emerald-green eyes.
Personality: Xavia is the wise, the intelligent, and the creative goddess of magic. She believes everything happens for a reason, and she will not answer selfish prayers that beg for something to happen that shouldn't. Xavia is known to be generally impartial.

NOCTZAR
Gender: Male
Patronage: the erratic movements of everything, summer, confidence, vivacity, fearlessness, enthusiasm, craftiness, cunning, determination, wrath, moodiness
Spirit Form: black wolf
Mortal Appearance: a tall, gangling man with ivory skin, black hair, and slate-grey eyes.
Personality: Noctzar shares a personality similar to Auctor. He is usually cold and distant, but he is practical all the same. He is a darker god who is merciless, clever, and surprisingly loyal. Noctzar is a big strategist, and his authority as a Hex god is usually questioned due to his sometimes selfish nature.

KYREER
Gender: Female
Patronage: the fluid movements of everything, winter, passion, empathy, sympathy, imagination, nurturing, nature, sentimentality, escapism
Spirit Form: green dragon
Mortal Appearance: a short, fair-skinned woman with very light blonde hair and pretty, pale-green eyes.
Personality: Much like Opifex, Kyreer is loving and motherly. She has a fondness for nature. She's very passionate and much of a dreamer. Kyreer loves helping mortals and often does so more than she needs to.

The Santach

The Santach, also known as the Selfish, are the numerous deities who did not participate in the creation of Valtava. They chose to keep their powers to themselves. Generally, the Santach are not evil per se, but they do enjoy interfering with the lives of mortals for their own, personal amusement, some much more than others. Each member of the Santach created their own plane of existence in which they live and rule. These beings are also responsible for the existence of selfish magic.

There are deities who did not participate in the creation. They are known as the Santach, and they instead used their immense power to create their own planes of existence. They are considered ‘wicked’ by the mortals, but they themselves do not have an inherent sense of good and evil. They are only ‘wicked’ due to their selfish nature: they kept their powers to themselves, they love interfering with mortals, and to them, the lives of mortals are just a game. Despite their greedy nature, they are widely worshiped across Osoa, though the worshipers themselves are looked at with disdain. The Santach are as follows:

(note: "interference" refers to how much a god likes to interfere with the affairs of mortals, 10 being the most.)

ANAXES
Gender: Male
Realm: Anaxes actually thrives within Syndethite's Greenhouse. Instead of using his powers to create his own realm, he helped her bring life to hers as well as many of the other realms, including the one in which Osoa exists.
Role: Very close to Syndethite, Anaxes is a lifebringer. He plays a role similar to Opifex in the Hexadus. He brings life to decay, even when it is not his will to do so (unlike Opifex, who does not revive the dead and lets whatever happen, happen). All it takes is walking over dead soil to raise grass, or one touch to a fallen rabbit to help it run again. Anaxes true form is that of a stag with white eyes. He looks much like a uri, but he's bigger, and he never takes a human form.
Personality: Anaxes is very calm, very quiet, and very indifferent. He does not speak. Ever. He cannot speak. He's a stag. Even through telepathy, he is fairly silent. Anaxes often visits the mortal world, though few recognize him for he looks like a regular stag or uri. Only his eyes are different.
Interference: 1/10

APEIROS
Gender: Male
Realm: The Archives, a vast, never-ending library. Shelves of books, scrolls, tools, encyclopedias, and more tower at unreachable heights. They create endless corridors and unbounded halls of infinite information. It’s not just easy to get yourself lost in Apeiros’ Archives; it’s inevitable.
Role: He is the unofficial ‘head’ of the Santach, and he knows infinity.
Personality: Apeiros has the least contact with mortals, but he is known to be very calm and philosophical as well as a great listener. He has little tolerance for ignorance. For the most part, he has better things to do than interact with his worshipers.
Interference: 1/10

CORACINUS REX
Gender: Male
Realm: Coracinus Rex's Hidden Paradise, an indescribable paradise abundant with everything your heart desires, including the freshest and sweetest of fruits on every tree, endless vistas and gorgeous scenery, infinite gold and silver, cities full of beautiful people, only the finest cattle to be slaughtered for meat, and servants to make enjoying these pleasures only that much easier. Unfortunately, his realm is blanketed in a sheet of pure darkness, making it impossible to navigate, see, and experience its glory.
Role: Coracinus Rex is the Prince of Darkness. He rules over shadows, mystery, darkness, night, and the hidden motives of others.
Personality: Intimately engaged to Nivema, he shares similar personality traits. Coracinus Rex is very bored with his life as a god. As a result, he likes to induce nightmares and scare the living hell out of mortals. He's very cruel.
Interference: 7/10

ERZES
Gender: Male
Realm: Erzes' Colored Chambers, an expanse of multiple, solid-colored, square rooms that are devoid of anything except two doors: one leading to the previous colored chamber and one leading to the next.
Role: He is the Master of Emotions, Feelings, and Psychological Decisions that are greatly affected by feeling.
Personality: As he is the patron of emotions, Erzes' personality is dynamic. He tries to remain as apathetic as possible, but when he begins to feel emotions, he takes it to the extreme. Anger, he is an explosive fireball just waiting to erupt. Sadness, he is a melancholy sack of hopelessness and despair. Elation, he is bright as the shining sun and feels too much forgiveness. It continues for every emotion possible. Sometimes he likes to play with the emotions of others, depending on his very own mood.
Interference: 5/10

FAERYM
Gender: Male
Realm: Faerym's Melodious Sin, a desolate wasteland full of bones, ash, embers, and wandering wraiths and ghosts who moan and cry with mournful sadness in harmony with the faint sound of the most beautiful music ever heard.
Role: As the Prince of Sound, Faerym is responsible for those creeping thoughts inside your head. He is the ruler of music, thought, voice, and noise, though he’s primarily known for his association with music.
Personality: Faerym does interfere with mortals as he is responsible for your thoughts, sounds being stuck on repeat in your head, music, and voice. He is essentially everywhere, but he is a fairly forgiving member of the Santach. As an impartial god, he doesn't love to interfere with the mortals, but every once in a while he'll be there in a frightening scene, providing that ominous and unwanted background music to scare you to hell and back...
Interference: 4/10

KAIROS
Gender: Female
Realm: The Maelstrom, a small, hovering island surrounded by a powerful whirlpool that is constantly being attacked by unrelenting storms, rain, and harsh weather conditions.
Role: The Queen of Weather and Mother of Storms, Kairos is responsible for varying meteorological patterns across Osoa.
Personality: Kairos tends to enjoy bringing in bad weather at an inopportune moment for mortals, especially the bestial races due to her unsurmountable bias toward them. She is quick to anger, and her wrath is not to be invoked.
Interference: 7/10

MANDATH
Gender: Female
Realm: The Labyrinth, lit dimly by blue- and green-flamed torches. Every time you solve one of the mazes, you come to a puzzle that requires open-mindedness and a lot of thought. If you complete it, you move onto the next maze. If you don’t… You perish, only to be reborn at the beginning of the maze again.
Role: She is the Queen of Puzzles, Riddles, and Enigmas.
Personality: Mandath only speaks in riddles, and she is very fond of those quick-witted enough to figure them out. She absolutely adores confusing mortals and striking fear into them with her enigmatic words. Mandath has a strong hatred for Nivema and consequently, Coracinus Rex.
Interference: 9/10

MESIAC
Gender: Male
Realm: Moonrise, a peaceful world devoid of night terrors. Mesiac's Moonrise is said to exist within the core of Exequor, the larger of the two moons to orbit Orbis. The sky is a peaceful shade of midnight blue except for one night out of the month when it is black. The temperature is always cool but never cold, the stars are plentiful, and there are three moons to illuminate this beautiful world. Monsters and scary things, as well as day, do not exist here.
Role: Mesiac, brother to Sontse and son of Nivema and Coracinus Rex, rules the moons, Silentis and Exequor. He gives birthsigns to newborns, and he partakes in a never-ending game of tag with his sister to bring night to the world.
Personality: Mesiac is much more introverted than his playful sister. He only comes to the mortal world during the night, but even then he prefers to keep to himself, wandering about the world as a nameless face, observing the interactions that occur within nature. He rarely cares for mortals and their choices, and he has yet to interfere with their affairs, with the exception of giving them their birthsigns.
Interference: 1/10

NIVEMA
Gender: Female
Realm: The Artifice, an infinite forest with twisting paths that lead to nowhere, despite the signs that falsely claim to point in the right direction. Her evil cackle can sometimes be heard as you wander the forest alone.
Role: She is the Duchess of Deceit, the Matron of Mendacity, Queen of Quick Wit.
Personality: Nivema, intimately engaged to Coracinus Rex, is a master strategist, though she uses this ability only to cheat others and benefit herself.
Interference: 5/10

ORPHAAS
Gender: Male
Realm: Rumored to dwell within the darkness of everybody's heart, Orphaas' sphere is Darkhaven, a torturously grim world of decay, corpses, and the walking dead. Vampires are the master race here, and mortals who survive this realm become one of Darkhaven's vampires, a slightly more powerful version of the standard variety. They are considered more pure.
Role: Orphaas is the Unyielding Bloodthirst, Master of Vampires, and the Leader of Parasitic Leeches.
Personality: A sickly schemer, Orphaas is a creature of the night much like all of his vampiric children. He is rather intelligent and feeds off the souls and blood of mortals, but he himself does not pass on vampirism. He has a hissy voice and is much like a bat or a snake or a feral cat in his sassy, hateful personality and raspy tongue. Orphaas despises the living and seeks to torment them in any situation he can.
Interference: 9/10

POLEMOS DASI
Gender: Male
Realm: The Battlegrounds, an open expanse of fire, blood, and death. You’re thrust into battle, only to die, be reborn, and battle again.
Role: Sometimes known as PolDas, he is the Prince of Bloodshed, War, and Uncontested Rivalry.
Personality: Responsible for the fall of the Ancient Ones, Polemos Dasi is notorious for being barbaric in nature, extremely temperamental, and infinitely unforgiving. He loves seeing unnecessary hatred and violence among mortals, and he thoroughly supports archaic rivalries. He has a strong disliking for mortals, and his archenemy is Tyras.
Interference: 10/10

RAEMAR
Gender: Male
Realm: The Crystal Ball, a forest cloaked by the night, the sky illuminated with an innumerable amount of stars and three moons. The vegetation is all bioluminescent. The stars spell out your future, and in the waters, you can see the reflection of your past.
Role: Raemar is known as the Prophet. He spins the thread that will be woven into your future, and he can tell your future if asked.
Personality: Unfortunately, Raemar has a bit of a problem with lying and over-exaggerating. He is often regarded as The Mad One by the others, because Raemar is notorious for being wildly insane, perhaps due in part to his ability to see the future. Most of the other Santach do not associate themselves with Raemar the Prophet because of his instable mind.
Interference: 6/10

SIYANIE
Gender: Female
Realm: Siyanie's Divine Radiance, an open garden that is saturated by blinding sunlight and bright, cloudless skies. Some say it is almost too beautiful to look at.
Role: Siyanie is the Viscountess of Vanity, Baroness of Beauty, and Queen of All Things Radiant.
Personality: Highly arrogant and extremely self-centered, mortals considered Siyanie the most selfish of the Santach. She is very egotistical due to her divine, otherworldly beauty and elegance. She is snobbish and absolutely adores making her hateful, jealous, female mortals look ugly. Siyanie is very promiscuous and often associates herself with the beautiful men of the mortal world.
Interference: 6/10

SONTSE
Gender: Female
Realm: Sontse's Dawn, a world rumored to exist within the center of the sun. Much of her world is similar to Orbis, but the colors are all warm and fiery, and there are ten suns in the sky, and the heat is unbearable. Night does not exist here.
Role: Sontse is the sun; she hurdles herself across the sky, chasing her brother in a never-ending cycle from the eastern mountains and sinks into the western plains, bringing dawn, daylight, and dusk to Orbis. She is the daughter of Nivema and Coracinus Rex.
Personality: With a personality reminiscent of a curious, innocent child, Sontse is one of the more favored of the Santach by those with good morals. She can be fairly oblivious and does not seek to harm mortals; rather, she is much more interested in hearing of their personal affairs as opposed to messing with them. Sontse can be quite energetic and playful and likes to prance around the mortal world as a blazing horse with a mane and tail of fire. Another common form for her to take is a bold, majestic eagle with flaming wing tips. She does like to play with mortals, though she's less likely to reveal herself as anything more than a curious child.
Interference: 2/10

SYNDETHITE
Gender: Female
Realm: The Greenhouse, a beautiful forest of endless plants and animals to live peacefully amongst each other.
Role: Syndethite is the Lady of Nature and Wife of the Environment.
Personality: Perhaps the most forgiving and sympathetic of the Santach, she has a profound love for all things living and prefers not to mess with mortals. Those who harm plants or animals for a reason beyond their own benefit, however, will see the Wrath of Syndethite. As she is usually the most passive of the Santach, many find themselves in a quagmire when they underestimate her. Her Wrath is not to be provoked.
Interference: 2/10

THYLICA TRYPTITE
Gender: Female
Realm: The Slumber, a quiet world as natural as the real one. There are trees and gardens and fields, but there is no sun. Only the stars and ten moons, each of varying size with their own names. It is said you see visions of nostalgia, foresight, dreams, and nightmares here.
Role: Thylica Tryptite is the Matron of Vision, Bride of Memories, Foresight, Dreams, Nightmares, Illusions, and Hallucinations, Monarch of All You See, and Lady of Light and Color.
Personality: Responsible for almost everything, even if in a little way, Thylica Tryptite gives everyone vision, gives things color, and commands light. She is constantly made fun of for her ridiculous name given to her by Time and Space, but she does not blame them as they gave her great power. She's generally grateful and has little to do with messing with mortals, but she is everywhere you look... Literally. Thylica Tryptite is mature and will only take away your ability to see if you do something to belittle the Santach, her in particular. She and Faerym do not get along well as they constantly disagree with whose patronage is more important: sound or sight.
Interference: 3/10

TYRAS
Gender: Male
Realm: The Bloodlands, a ring of arenas in which gladiators fight for eternity or until death, only to be reborn into the arena again.
Role: Bold, battle-hungry, and bloodthirsty, Tyras is the Prince of the Arena, Gladiators, Warriors, Knights, and Guards.
Personality: He loves seeing mortals kill each other in grand battles. Tyras hates the clever assassin and his skillful way of murder unseen. As such, he and Nivema do not get along very well. He is a boisterous and powerful god.
Interference: 8/10