Post by Admin on Mar 9, 2015 18:42:16 GMT -5
“Climbing Sun, Light that brings us Light,
Love that begets Love, Fire that cleanses.
Deliver us from Death, Voice in our midst,
Heart, Source, End and Beginning, Our Maker.”
- Prayer of Brother Huw, a traditional Vulcanean Prayer
Like their brethren in Faucheux, the clansfolk of Vulcanis overwhelmingly follow the Faith of the Architect of Light, though He is more commonly referred to as the Maker. The Faith is commonly thought to have originated among the clans of Vulcanis before being standardized after the assimilation of the Northern clans into Archades. Although missionaries formally brought the Clans back into the fold of the Church and its Council of Inspiration in Bordelaix a few centuries after, the Faith has persisted in much older and traditionally Vulcanean forms throughout the Province.
To the clansmen, the Architect of Light is the Maker: creator of heaven and earth, who gives and takes away according to His divine plan. In keeping with the volcanic surroundings, the lore of Vulcanean Makerism is far more strongly focused on renewal and redemption. It is a common belief that the Maker never ended his creative process, and that it is always under construction. Like creation, destruction is the work of the Maker, but it bears the seeds of its own renewal in it in a never-ending cycle. Likewise, darkness and sin exist ultimately to be dispelled and redeemed by the grace and light of the Maker. For this reason, a never-ending knot is a common symbol associated with the Faith in Vulcanis.
This focus on redemption and renewal has resulted in rituals of private reconciliation with the Maker that have disappeared in mainstream Makerism, taking the form of a private confession to a priest, who then assigns a private penance and reparation and imparts the Maker’s forgiveness and blessing upon the repentant individual.
Associations of the Maker with more nature-based belief systems are common in Vulcanis. He is associated with the Sun first and foremost, but old spirits of nature have been assimilated into the Faith as His helpers, builders as it were to the Maker’s Architect. This has resulted in the persistence of open-air worship in Vulcanis at sacred locations, the most famous of them being the Grove at Llwyn Newyth. The most prominent of these sacred places have been augmented with shrines and churches. Like in Faucheux, churches in Vulcanis are simple structures built from stone or wood, with stone being more common because it is more enduring, with a single altar containing an eternal flame.
Monasticism is a strong tradition in Vulcanis, and most of the priests of the major Churches in Vulcanis are monks. The monks, recognizable by their tonsures and plain robes, started out as ascetics who sought the Maker’s voice amidst the quiet of nature in a life of contemplation. Nowadays, most monks live together in communities according to strict monastic rules, serving their communities and leading lifes of prayer and contemplation. Monks forsake their earthly clan and join their communities as a “Clan of the Maker”. Some of the greatest theologians of the Faith have been Vulcanean Monks, and their teachings carry greater weight in terms of doctrine than the pronouncements of the Council of Inspiration in Faucheux. Especially pious and saintly monks may be revered even after their deaths, with their relics placed in churches and prayers being said for their intercession.
The missionary focus of the Church is weaker in Vulcanis. Instead, the primary tenet of the Faith is one of introspection and service, prioritizing the individual redemption of the faithful over the conversion of others.