(New Lore Roleplay!) Part 1: Fall of The Empire

[Under Ledzia]

Fall of The Empire
(late ancient times)

The world currently has three types of nations. Those that are part of the Empire, those that are controlled by the Empire and those that mean nothing to anyone but their gods. Jerusalem has been destroyed years ago and ironically most of the Empie that is responsible for the fall of the sons of Abraham are currently believing in a Jewish heresy known as Christianity. It's an open religion, that didn't estamblished strong chierarchy yet and will be shaped more by it's believers than it's heads.
The God Emperor is furious due to the fact that most of his empire embraced the weak Jewish heresy, instead of believing in Him. Only person that actually defends them and listens to their prayers, at least according to him and his followers. What will happen in this new era? Will the empire embrace new weaker religion? Maybe the new God will adopt the ways of the Empire? Or maybe the world will turn to chaos?

Rules

Obviously there has to be some rules.
1 - If something is not explained by rules, it will be settled by Slavic Lechia.
2 - If most people dissagree with SL's decision He has to change it untill most players involved accept it. If it's 5/5 then SL's decision stays unchanged.
3 - No godmoding.
4 - No accusing of godmoding in the roleplay. Accusation should be in telegram to Slavic Lechia, to not spam the game with technical arguments.
5 - No swearing in english. Swearing in other languages (preferably latin) is allowed unless CoL disaproves.
6 - Players cannot decide for Gods, or Apostles of the Christian church. Their decisions will be randomised. They can decide for non christian religious heads (AKA The God Emperor) if they are a part of their country.
7 - You can't decide what someone else's nation history is.
8 - You can have multiple countries as long as they are/were/will be a part of your nation states country.

Christianity

Jesus Christ came a long time ago, he was killed both by Jews and by the Empire. Christians don't have a lot of official doctrines or sacraments but there are some of them.
Official Christian Doctrines:
1 - Jesus is the son of God (aka YHVH/IEHOVAH)
2 - There is only One God
3 - Salvation through Christ's death
Official Christian Sacraments:
1 - Baptisement
2 - Marriage
3 - Penance
There are also Branches of Christianity That might believe in more Doctrines and/or Sacraments. Those mentioned here though are accepted by all of Christianity for now. There might be two christians where one believes Jesus is part of trinity and the second believes he was just a human that was a son of God, but they don't debate about such things yet for some reason.

Empire

Empire has governing bodies that you can join if you are a part of the empire. You can only join one of those in this roleplay, as long as they exist.
-Emperor (first person to claim him will be him)
You MUST be Imperial by religion as an Emperor, at least at the beggining.
Your word is holy to all Imperials and they must obey.
-Imperial Council
Every official member of the Empire (that didn't claim the Emperor) is a part of the council unless isn't the same religion as Him.
Council is interpreting the words of the emperor as long as He is Imperial, and when he changes faith it becomes the head of Imperial religion.
They can be members of the council that aren't Imperial, only if Emperor allowes it.
C̶o̶u̶n̶c̶i̶l̶'̶s̶ ̶g̶o̶a̶l̶ ̶i̶s̶ ̶t̶o̶ ̶g̶a̶i̶n̶ ̶E̶m̶p̶e̶r̶o̶r̶'̶s̶ ̶p̶o̶w̶e̶r̶ ̶i̶n̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶E̶m̶p̶i̶r̶e̶,̶ ̶a̶n̶d̶ ̶a̶f̶t̶e̶r̶ ̶t̶h̶a̶t̶ ̶I̶t̶'̶s̶ ̶m̶e̶m̶b̶e̶r̶s̶ ̶s̶h̶o̶u̶l̶d̶ ̶f̶i̶g̶h̶t̶ ̶o̶v̶e̶r̶ ̶p̶o̶w̶e̶r̶ ̶a̶m̶o̶n̶g̶s̶t̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶m̶s̶e̶l̶v̶e̶s̶

Things to explain in your first post

1 - What is Your NS Country?
2 - Are you a part or influenced by The Empire?
3 - What is your nation's state? Is it at peace? war? or is it being converted? etc.
4 - RELIGION
- If you are Imperial how does your Imperial cult look like? Do you make human sacrifices for the emperor? Do you have male or female priests? etc.
- If you are pagan What are your gods? what are your practices? etc.
- If you are Christian what is your branch of christianity? Is it one of allready existing ones? if not then what are your aditional believes and/or sacraments? etc.
5 - Do you have anything else imporntant to say?

[RCF]

1. The Roman Catholic Federation

2. The Syrian and Levantine peoples that make up the federation were rebellious subjects of the Empire, who hold a great grudge against the Emperor for attempting to force them into a cultural shift to speak the Imperial Language and behave as Imperials do. They are among the first to go into open revolt.

3. The Levantine people were subjugated early on in the history of the Empire and originally were fairly submissive. They served as auxiliaries in Imperial divisions and were known to be good guides to the fertile crescent. The Empire, in turn, built up their cities, Antioch, in particular, became a huge trading hub and one of the principal cities on the west coast of the continent. However, as the Empire became more and more centralized, the autonomy of the Levantine people slowly decreased until full-on cultural oppression had begun. It wasn't long before the once loyal Levantines fought back against the Imperial dominance of their people. Eventually, the emperors made special exceptions for the Levantines to give them limited autonomy so they wouldn't rebel. This all changed with the rise of the current emperor. With the Levantines adopting Catholicism officially as well, becoming the first state to do so, even more tension was put between the Empire and the Levantine peoples. They eventually broke away, slaying the local Imperial officials and proclaiming a "Roman Catholic Federation" in the city of Antioch. This was the first rebellion of many to break out in the Empire.

4. Roman Catholicism: As its name implies, the Roman Catholic Federation is a confessionally Catholic state. The Catholic Patriarch of Antioch is the principal leader of the Roman Catholic Federation. He is seen as a uniting factor between the different Levantine peoples and as the greatest sign of opposition to the Empire. As Antioch is a Holy City in Christianity, the Patriarch holds a decisive position in being in opposition to the Emperor who views himself as a "god". Although not the Pope, the Patriarch, as one of the five most important bishops in Christendom, still wields enormous influence.

Catholicism works here like in real life, the Seven Sacraments, Infant Baptism, Papacy, etc. They confess the faith as stated in the Nicene Creed, and view Unitarians as UnChristian. Those who do not believe Christ to be both God and Man and a person of the Trinity are also not Christian. The RCF is known to stamp out any heretics and heathens that arise in their country. 

5. The RCF is sending missionaries out to other countries. The go primarily to spread the Gospel, but secondarily to encourage rebellion against the Empire.

[Eire]

1. The Eireann Republic

2. Eire traditionally has kept an isolationist policy to the Empire, as well as to other nations, seeing them as possible invaders.  The Empire has attempted to conquer Eire in the past but has always been beaten back by stubborn Eireann resistance to occupation.  Any Eireann territory that was captured by the Empire fought a guerrilla war which always destroyed the invaders by chipping away at their resources, manpower and morale, which led to eventual withdrawal.  With this experience in fighting the Empire the Eireann state and people have perfected the art of mobile and stealth warfare, which can be used to fend off any potential invader of Eire.  

3. Eire has been at peace for 50 years, time they have used to reinforce their borders against intrusion from foreign aggressors.  The newly elected Senate of Eire has ordered a change in direction, with the days of 'splendid isolation' now put to the side.  A new force has taken Eire a storm, leading it to take Eire and its people into a more active role in the World, one which will bring the people a new destiny to follow.

4. The Catholic Church has taken root in Eire, with mass conversion happening with the arrival of the Christian missionaries from across the sea.  The culture is undergoing a radical change with all of the institutions of the nation not being spared this great transformation.  Once sacred Eireann pagan temples are now torn down by the people who had once filled them.  Ancient rituals going back a millennia are now forgotten with people burning the pagan scrolls containing sorcery in order to stop the practice once and for all.  A new dawn is breaking for Eire, a dawn which will see the people of Eire become a nation so devout to the Catholic Faith, it would be almost impossible to believe that they were anything else.

5. The Eireann Catholic Church has decreed that the faith must be spread to the four corners of the World, and will send out missionaries to spread the Word.  This mission is one the Eireann nation has committed itself to, using all the forces of the state to carry it out, even the use of military force has not been ruled out if obstacles are too stubborn for the missionaries alone.

[The Tellurian Union; GOR]

1 - The Tellurian Union of the GOR (aka Thule)

2 - Being in the far reaches of the north, the Tellurians Union is widely regarded as a barbaric, impoverished backwater unfit for conquest by the Empire or anyone else (previous incursions were made, but the Tellurians simply fled away on skis and left nothing behind to pillage). Nevertheless, through the trade of reindeer, pelts, etc to Imperial markets the GOR has come partially under its cultural influence and several Imperials even live in its boarders.
3 - The GOR is a loose confederation of tribesmen under a variety of chieftains/elders. It has no formal boarders, settlements, military, or central government. The only signs of settlement are the brochs scattered on the northern coasts and isles. Despite this, Catholic missionaries have occasionally visited the country from the RCF, Eire, among other places and managed to convert several individuals and even a few isolated tribes. Some of these missionaries have met martyrdom and local cults have started up, but usually they are tolerated, if begrudgingly, by the Tellurians.

4 - RELIGION

- Imperial - there is a small minority of people who follow a localized version of the Imperial religion out of fear/awe of the Emperor.

- Pagans - there are no formal temples or priesthood. Instead, pagans follow a number of different variants and tell many different stories centred around the common gods (Oden, Thor, Baldur, Loki, etc) and several local gods, offering personal sacrifices at their home altars. Often Imperial or even Christian elements are also included at these altars.

- Christian - a sizable minority is baptized and follows the Catholic faith. Priests are attached to a few of the larger households who have converted and operate around the countryside.

5 - Yes. Buy our whale blubber. Seasonally the Tellurians will bring large herds of reindeer down to markets friendly to them and bring a great variety of other goods to trade, they even trade overseas (no fresh reindeer though) via longships.

 

[Eire]

Religion: Eireann Missionaries begin to set off to all known nations in the world, with specific focus being brought to the world superpower, the Empire, which is distracted with uprisings, political instability and cultural shifts.  Now is the perfect time is destroy the pagan Emperors hold over his people, and show the light of the Catholic Faith to the masses huddled in the dark.

Politics: The Eireann Senate sees that the balance in world politics is rapidly shifting, the Empire is dying and its only a matter of time before it crumbles.  Now the question of whether if Eire should help hasten that certain fall beckons senators, who are more and more thinking of perhaps it should be Eire to claim the mantle of Empire before other nations do.  Perhaps efforts of an aggressive measure should be taken, alliances should also be looked at for we cannot stand against the Empire alone.  

[Under Ledzia]

1 - Slavic Lechia
2 - Jews from my country trade lavishly with the Emire gaining a lot of wealth and a couple years ago Emperor forced Jews to become His protectorate, thus gaining protection from one of his legions, that later became more Jewish than Imperial. Even though the reason they are in Slavic Lechia being that the Empire exiled them from their homeland.
Slavs are getting a lot of Imperial technology from the Jews, but the Empire doesn't know that they cooperate.
3 - Relation between Jews and Slavs is more of an cooperation than anything. Together they built two great cities Nowa Jerozolima (New Jerusalem) and Górzyce, one for jewish Sanhedrin and one For slavic Elders.
Jews are usually making the trade and scholar class, with slavs being working and fighting class, but there are exceptions to that rule. All classes are created equal in the Slavic Lechia, even women have as much to say as men.
After a while Jewish and Slavic culture started taking influence from each other, with some practices being transfered from one to the other.
4 - RELIGION

Sanhedrinic Judaism: It's Jews who lost belief in their temple and Archpriest thus making Sanhedrin as their religious heads, who are to interprete The Law.
Hebrew Christianity: It's basically pacifist christians who still follow The Law and believe all christians should, as everyone who doesn't is a pagan. Most of them also don't believe in trinity and say it's a blasphemy.
Slavic Paganism: It's a polythestic belief consisting of many gods with the most imporntant being:

Triglav - Father of the gods with three faces (kinda Trinity)

Perun - The primary god of heaven Enemy of Weles (kinda Odin)

Weles - Enemy of Perun god of the underworld

Jarhilo - War and fertility god

Marzanna - The goddess of death and winter
5 - After a while Christians and Jews started influencing the Pagan religion, especially christian missionaries from RCF and Eire. They didn't convert to christianity though. A very odd firure rose from the Slavs though, a man known as Zarca, who was very eager to listen to christians and join Jews in the synagogues if they let him in. He also is known to write a lot, as well as read Holy Bible and the Torah.

[The Tellurian Union; GOR]

The Earl of Winchester, Athelbert, has begun to permit Christian missionaries to reside safely in Thule under his protection.  The first church has been built on the southern coast of the western bay near Winchester Broch by a few monks who recite the psalms daily under the ears of the Earl.  Despite their efforts, however, he has refused baptism and no congregation exists as of yet.  A few other structures and farmhouses have begun to spring up around the Broch since the ocean currents are conducive to agriculture.  Most of the other twenty chieftains look with suspicion on these developments, especially his brother Offa, Earl of Dorchester who is an adamant pagan.  

Winchester Broch (partial view):


St. George's Church at Winchester Broch: 


Athelbert and his son at Winchester Bay:

[Under Ledzia]

When Offa's doughter was born, she was bethored to Zarca as he was a part of the family that most recently raided GOR. The marriage was supposed to end the hostility. Recently little Kirsa turned 16 thus marriage reaparations started. Zarca's parents were too old to make decisions regarding marriage and Offa left everything in the hands of the couple, so they decided that they will preaper it together.

The problem is that both of them were from different religions and were interested both in christianity and judaism so they couldn't decide what rituals to pick, and wich God should be praised at the ceremony, so they decided they will take everything.

The whole marriage according to the bride's father was a mess. All gods were called and rituals were taken from all four religions. No priest accepted to participate so the couple themselves gave each other marriage in the name of Slavic gods, Germanic gods and The Most High God.
At the end according to pagan rituals the couple ended consuming marriage in front of all guests (I'm not making this up, even christian slavs still did it in medieval times) and in that moment, when the last ceremony ended the two were illuminated by the light from heaven. All people could hear an odd voice but they couldn't understand it, because it was a mix of Latin and Hebrew, that nobody except for the new married couple knew...

The voice started talking to the couple that, was speaking very little, as they vere taking every word carefully. After the voice stopped it's speech pair was handed clothes to cover themselves. More common people started asking Zarca and Kirsa about what the voice said, but before they could even start to comprehend what happend Offa took them away to a safe place. It is said that they started speaking in chaos about what they heard and insisting that it's important, but Offa didn't listen (because he couldn't understand their rambling, or just couldn't comprehend what are they saying) and ordered them to travel with him to Górzyce where the peace treaty was supposed to be signed.

Nobody believed people who wittnessed that, as there were no priests there to confirm it.

[The Tellurian Union; GOR]

Geography (for some background): The GOR has five regions: Anglia (most populous, largely agricultural), Norwegia (fairly populous, mixed economy), Thule (fairly populous, largely nomadic away from coasts, reindeer), and Orkney and Shetland (well populated for their size, but mostly made up of fishing/whaling villages and sheepfolds).



The Isis (the Tellurian name for the Great Southern River) finds its source in the high mountains that separate Anglia from Nowegia where sheep herds predominate.



Tingwall, on the Eastern Coast, is the location of the Great Ting, the law assembly for all twenty-one chieftains (each chieftain/Earldom is named on the map, though many of these represent "center-points" of their area of control rather than actual permanent settlements, which are largely confined to the coasts and Anglia).



Each region has at least a nominal Earl who is "primum inter pares" or "princeps" over the other chieftains.

Anglia: 8 chieftains, from Canterbury to Lindisfarne (Earldom disputed between two branches of the same house in Winchester and Dorchester)

Norwegia: 6 chieftains, from Escomb to Mora (the nominal Earl is the chief of Bergen)

Thule: 5 chieftains, from Tingwall to Aith (the nominal Earl is the chief of Scalloway)

Orkney: 1 Earldom, occasionally disputed between lesser chiefs

Shetland: 1 Earldom, occasionally disputed between lesser cheifs

[feltania]

1 - The Kingdom of Feltania.
2 - Feltania is a part of the Empire as a loyal vassal.
3 - Feltania is currently at peace but has experienced an influx of Christian missionaries that the population, while currently pagan, is tolerant of.
4 - The dominant religion is a Roman paganism, consisting of the worship of the Roman gods Mars, Vulcan, and Apollo. The priesthood is predictably patriarchal as a result. Animal sacrifices consisting of cattle and lambs is common. The Imperial cult has a statue of the Emperor that members pray to often, but human sacrifice is prohibited as it is generally viewed as barbaric. This sparks some suspicion amongst the Emperor's agents, but the general loyalty of the populace and fervent prayers of the cult are enough to quell such suspicions. There is also a Christian minority population that practices the general tenets of the religion and is also growing in size as a result of the aforementioned tolerance of the Feltanians.
5 - Feltania regularly supplies the Empire with troops for its legions whenever the need arises. The troops supplied are unusually adept in archery and blacksmithing, likely as a result of their gods.

[Under Ledzia]

After Zarca and Offa signed the treaty, recently married couple decided to go on a pilgrimage to the Highest heads of all faiths they know except the Imperial faith. They told all of them what they have seen and heard and asked for guidance.

According to what they said, they have seen a light from heaven in the shape of a human like being that was shining almost white. The being had a voice of a thousand men and told them that they were chosen to spread the word about The God worshipped by gods to their people, as He became jealous of their worship.

Slavic priest did not believed them, same for the germanic onem and for Sanhedrin, but Apostles did and they told them "If the God Himself wants you to spread the world then who are any of us to oppose Him?". Zarca and Kirsa agreed and after traveling back to Górzyce, they started teaching people about what they have seen and heard from the celestial being. After a while people who wittnessed their marriage (and obviously the light and the voice) became their first students.

At first Zarca and Kirsa didn't exactly know what to teach about, so they decided to go on a pilgrimage to the Holy places. First those in GOR and Slavic Lechia, later to the ruins of Old Jerusalem, to Antioch where the first Christian cathedral stands and a supposed Pope is, at the end to New Jerusalem where most of the Apostles are. Most of their students went on that pilgrimage with them.

Slavc Holy place is a mountain in the shape of a woman next to Górzyce. According to the Legend it is Mokosz herself the goddess of Earth that sleeps there. The pair visited this place and prayed to her (to the ground with her supposedly beneath) for guidance for days along with all of their followers that came with them.

After that they travelled to the GOR to pray at germanic Holy site. (I humbly ask GOR to write a post about them in his pagan holy site)

[The Tellurian Union; GOR]

In Anglia, Zarca and Kirsa visited the sacred grove just outside the oppidum of Dorchester. The local Tellurians, however, were weary of so many foreigners coming near their groves and hedges and their stay was not overly long. Further, Kirsa surprised many of her relatives when she refused to properly reverence a small statue of Thor, responding only that she was uncertain Thor should be worshiped. A later attempt to continue their "pilgrimage" to Woden's tree outside Winchester was refused by Earl Athelred, who saw the whole marriage/vision as an attempt by Offa to overthrow him. It was also rumored that the monks he sheltered had told him that the evil one often made himself appear as an angel of light and that, after thinking over the matter, he heeded their warning. Nevertheless, they managed to pass through Wight and Reading under the threat of Offa's superior strength and to gain a number of followers there who were awed by the mysterious language they would speak at times before they disembarked upon the Isis (the Tellurian name for the Great Southern River). It was later rumored that Zarca miraculously cleansed a poisoned well, though no one could later point to it.

[Under Ledzia]

After properly asking Thor for guidance (although without worship, just like with Mokosz) The union started seeking new followers in the Anglia telling people about their celestial encounter. At the begining people didn't listen as they were not eager to listen to a young woman and a foreign man, therefore Zarca asked The most High God in prayer for guidance.

"...How do I, a simple man, prove them that You exist?" asked Zarca, and according to Kirsa and him, another voice came down from heaven and told him to go to Canterbury and ask for "The tear of Odin". He did just that.

People in Canterbury took him to the place, without hiding suspicion, because it was a poisoned well. He looked at the sky again and asked the same question as before and a voice answered Him "Tell your wife she is no longer Kirsa, because She is named Flada now. The pure, and beautyful one, then tell her to give you her shoe and use it to drink from the well" At the begining Zarca explained to the people around him what he was told to do and explained that he doesn't want to offend them, but it is said that even though most of the wittnesses didn't say anything as they didn't care, one old woman eagerly ordered him to obey the word from the sky. So he did, he changed his Wife's name, took her shoe and drinked from the well with it. The water was supposed to taste like the purest water ever and the shoe looked and smelled like flowers after putting it in the well. People around didn't believe what just hapened and they ordered him to repeat the miracle with his wife's other shoe. She agreed and it was the same with the other shoe.



Some people from those who wittnessed this joined the couple in their pilgrimage. Newly named Flada didn't dare to wear her shoes again, she puted them in her and her husbands bagages, as they planned on keeping drinking from them, as they travelled towards Antioch (I humbly ask RCF to write about this two in antioch in his post, the only thing is that you cannot kill them or imprison them, but you can force them to baptize)

[Under Ledzia]

This roleplay is officially closed due to lack of activity...