Emlyn Religion

The people of Emlyn have always followed the eight primary virtues; Compassion, Honesty, Honor, Humility, Justice, Sacrifice, Spirituality, and Valor. Before the arrival of the Thorn King, many of the people of Emlyn paid homage to the Valar as the embodiments of those virtues. Once the Thorn King was firmly placed on the Arcanum Crystal in Caerleon the virtues and their divine counterparts faded until they were little more then saints and heros. Since the Thorn King has been removed a new religion known as Dana and the Seven or the Eight-fold Path has come into primary focus.

Dana and The Seven

The conversion to the religion of the Thorn King by those of Emlyn was an ever invasive de-evolution of the people’s original belief system. Millenia ago, when the Noldorians arrived in Cuiveinen alongside that of the Dunedain they brought with them a religion of spirits and trees from their homeland. In their ancient lore the two trees were destroyed, and then rekindled as the sun and the moon. The ancient spirits were that of seven male and female pairs with names like Smith, Dancer, Weaver, Judge, Champion, Rider and Mercy.

They would share land along side that of the Children of the Forest who worshipped a sacrificial king by the name of Dana, a king who was sacrificed on a great tree and the earth worshipping Fomorians. There would be little mingling of the two religions before the arrival of the Thorn King, but all the people would meet at the four yearly festivals and the great trees of Emlyn would host their shared sacred spaces.

With the arrival of the Andals, and their code of honor, which we know of as the Virtues, the native religion of Emlyn would slowly be pushed out until only the icon of a new sacrificial king was placed on the Arcanum Crystal. And there it would remain for the next two thousand years until no one remembered there was a religion before it.

When, finally the religion of the Thorn King was overthrown the people were left with very little hope or faith in anything religious. The younger generation, especially the knights, who though raised on the virtues, rejected the notion of simply replacing one god for another. It would take more than a decade and many discussions with the newly emerging non-human races for a choice to be made.

The people would return to their worship of the trees, honoring their ancestry. And alongside the image of the white tree would be set eight small figures, one for each of the virtues.

• Dana, the King of the threefold death, would be bound to the tree, and he would become Sacrifice.
• Brehon, the Judge would become Justice
• Gofannon, the Smith would become Honor
• Conall, the Champion would be come Valor
• Cainte, the Healer would become Compassion
• Nessa, the Dancer would become Humility
• Aldaron, the Rider would become Honesty
• Vairë, the Weaver would become Spirituality