Old Albic religion

Old Albic religion refers to the religion of the ancient Elves, which has changed over time.

Before Eaism

Little is known about the religion of the Elves before the reforms wuch instated Eaism, but the old religion is described as featuring "hundreds if gods" which were worshipped in "barbarous rituals", apparently including occasional human sacrifices. This time, in which the Elven nation was fragmented into dozens of quarrelling chiefdoms, is known as the "Age of Depravity".

As the name of most Eaist gods have cognates in other Indo-European languages, it can be deduced that these deities were already worshipped before the reforms, and descend from Proto-Indo-European deities.

Eaism

Eaism is the religion of the Commonwealth of the Elves.

Eaism is the belief in Éa (The One), a single creator god that is immanent in everything that exists in the world. Éa's first creations were the Veni (spirits) who assisted Éa in creating and maintaining the world. Éa is a primordial, sexless being; hence the name is common gender.

Éa was worshipped in simple, austere ceremonies, and there were no temples of Éa. Rather, the Macaveni (Great Spirits) were the deities that dominated practical religion. The most highly revered of these spirits were Are, the Sun, her consort Týo, the Sky, and their daughter Dime, the Earth.

History

Eaism is the result of a reform movement. At the end of the Bronze Age, the traditional institutions were apparently rotten: priests were corrupt, and legitimized the actions of warlords. Different tribes worshipped different gods, and accused each other of heresy. A new metal, iron, added to the mess. All this caused major distress and unrest in the common people.

In this situation, a cultural heroine, Lilde Selthare, stepped in with a call to reform. Her main "weapon" was another new technology: writing. The Elvish society until then was largely illiterate, only occasionally was the Old Albic language written, using the ill-suited Phoenician abjad known from trade relations with the Carthaginians who imported most of their tin from the Elvenisles. She devised a featural alphabet more suited to the Old Albic language, the Old Albic alphabet. The new script soon caught on among the artisans and farmers, and became the medium in which Lilde wrote her revelation of a new faith, and her philosophy. This book, the Talal il Venil a amal Verisil 'Tale of the Spirits and the Truth', was very popular among the common people, but also won over many nobles and clerics, and became the foundation of the Bandasa Chvartheril a Diminil 'League of Artisans and Farmers', a political party aimed at the overthrow of the old régime. The result was a popular revolution, which led to the establishment of the Commonwealth, and the establishment of the new religion.