Faith

At first there was just void, nothingness except for a single perfect being, the being was so perfect it simply existed, it had no gender, no needs, no wants it simply was, call this being what you will for it had no need for a name, it was vast in size, it's perfect yet shapeless form extending across dimensions into infinity and beyond. This was a time before time, before the universe, before the very planes themselves, space and time simply did not exist, not as we know it...

For reasons unknown, the being seemed to awake from its peaceful slumber or calm state, this was the dawn of time, the beginning of reality, for as the creature stirred it thought. Thought to such a pure thing without needs was a pollutant beyond reckoning the thought coursed through the once perfect being, self-realisation and turmoil ensued, the creature undulated and shook itself apart, scattering its essence in a gigantic explosion, this was the birth of reality.

Millennia passed by, the essence of the creature was still expanding to fill the void, great clouds of dust and gas rushed onwards into the void, the creature itself had long passed from consciousness, it had in effect destroyed itself with a simple thought! There were three distinct groups of substances which erupted from the creature at the beginning of time, that which made up it's body, it's very thoughts and the essence of it's spirit, the powerful thought of self awareness and self determination that raged within the being held vast quantities of the original spirit intact, clustered around these thoughts in great clouds, this was the beginning of the original pantheon, the old gods, each one formed over millennia gathering strength as the thoughts formed into personalities gathering might as they bent there will on the material plane and created bodies for themselves, these beings were born of the destruction that created the universe, they were the first to be, and they will be the last.

Five beings in all were formed in this way, between them they represent the five aspects of the original thought; Good, Evil, Chaos, Order and Neutrality these are the major deities. These are the five old ones, the fathers (and mothers) of the gods.

At first the five fought terribly, each one trying to gain superiority over the others in combat, this was futile however and soon they set themselves about the gathering of power, in a cosmic arms race that has given rise to all that we know. They set about gathering the essence of the original being, for they only had a small part of it within themselves, in fact, between them they hardly made up one percent of that which was first. It quickly became apparent that the true power of the creator laid in his thoughts and his spirit the body being merely a lifeless shell that exploded to fill the void. Then began the harvest!

It was found that the spirit had scattered across the vast expanse that is the universe and sparked off life in many places, though few when compared with eternity these places where like rich mines for souls, valuable veins of raw power for the gods, or so they thought. It soon became apparent that simply feeding on these beings and draining there souls was not enough, they had one evolved defence that even the gods could not overcome, although they were weak, they had freedom of thought, this freedom of there impure and polluted thought made them incompatible with the gods, the gods unable to infuse the essence of these creatures with there own without dangerous risks.

The only way the gods could gain power was to bend these new creatures to there will, changing their thoughts to be more in line with the gods own, then they would have vast armies of souls to do battle for them in eternity. Now the five were posed with a new set of challenges, how were they to attract these souls unto themselves? Over the millennia that ensued, the greatest irony of all was to occur - the most powerful beings in the universe began to serve the weakest, simply to gain their favour!

The five took on forms which were more pleasing to there charges and they picked champions from the ranks of the mortals, and taught them all they knew, this in order to better understand the mortals themselves and thus empower the harvest. One of the five, was so amused by this new game that he (Rem) soon lost interest in the struggle for power that his brothers and sisters still fought for so fervently. Rem's goal became the continuation of the game for eternity, seeking the free will of the mortals so that their souls were unclaimed as they passed from there physical existence into the after-life...

The Gods

And so the battle for souls continues, the game as the gods call it. They play for domination of each world like squares on a chess board. The world of Dio is of particular value as it is one of the few worlds where sufficient amounts of original thought has lead to individuals being born with power of their own. Dio is one of the few worlds where magick exists.

The gods, hungry for souls and universal domination surround Dio, it fills their attention. Here they can find their champions, it is here that they can recruit demi-gods, raising them up to immortality, raising them up to further their cause.

Their are not just five gods, their are many, they number in the thousands. Legend tells us of them, they are the demons and the angels, spirits of the forest and the forces of nature. All of the gods owe fealty to one of the five. They are all part of one of the five armies of immortals.

Each of the five stand for a single aspect of the first thought, they are Good, Evil, Chaos, Order and Neutrallity personified. The five interact in a variety of ways;

Good

The good gods further their cause by thwarting the presence of evil and chaos. Great is the reward for the followers of good who keep the faith and spread the word. The gods of goodness stand for moral excellence, virtue, righteous and piety. The good gods:

Ralstan

Personality
Ralstan is the champion of goodness; justice, peace, fairness, harmony and selflessness are the main aspects of his personality.
Appearance
Ralstan appears as a white bearded old (yet powerfully built) man clad in a white toga and simple sandals, he has long flowing white hair and deep liquid blue eyes.
Motivation
Ralstan's main goal is to thwart his sister Thanavox's efforts and bring about the demise of evil; Ralstan is not a stupid however and understands the importance of maintaining the universe so that more souls can be won for the cause of goodness. Ralstan sees the other gods as necessary to maintain the game, sometimes he often parlays with them and often finds himself agreeing with them on many points, he does however regard them as secondary to his mission of replacing/renewing all that is evil to make it good.

Evil

The gods of evil are the antithesis of goodness. They bring power to their minions and themselves through the suffering of others. The evil gods are the masters of mischief, corruption, malady and harm. The evil gods:

Thanavox

Personality
Thanavox is the patron of all that is evil and twisted; corruption, hatred, anger and wrath are his lot. Evil is selfish, it puts itself before all else, subjugating others for personal gain.
Appearance
Thanavox most often appears as a darkly handsome raven haired warrior with penetrating green eyes and skin like pure white marble, he is most often clad in black. Thanavox has also been known to take on the form of a fearsome goat-like demon, a serpent and even a woman.
Motivation
Thanavox seeks to destroy Ralstan and all he has created; he sees Ralstan as his rival and will stop at nothing to bring about his demise. Thanavox's regards the other gods as snivelling, spineless fools who are so caught up in the game that they have lost there sense of purpose.

Order

The gods of order, bring law and regularity to the universe. Order offsets chaos in it's efforts to bring meaning to every aspect of existence. The gods of order:

Aran

Personality
Aran is the bringer of order, the earth mother, her belief is that all things have there place, even the gods and that all things in balance are required in order to maintain the game. Aran dedicates her time to bringing form and pace to reallity; fertillity, construction, the seasons the laws of nature. The natural way of things, birth, death and all the natural cycles are maintained by the goddess of order.
Appearance
Aran most often appears as a grey-eyed motherly figure with long (if not wild) flowing iron-grey hair. She dresses in soft leathers and a heavy green traveller's cape. Aran has a plump build and a healthy glow about her cheeks.
Motivation
Aran would see the fighting between her siblings come to an end and some sort of tacit agreement reached, however she understands (perhaps better than any of the others) that this state of war must exist in order for things to continue as they are, Aran is most closely affiliated with Rem in her thoughts as she and Rem have a common understanding of the needs of the game.

Chaos

The powers of chaos inflict disharmony and confusion upon existence. Chaos is the natural enemy of order. Chaos drags down he structure of order, confuses organisation and randomises the lives of all. The Gods of Chaos:

Billisz

Personality
Billisz is often thought of as insane, yet with her apparent insanity comes extraordinary wisdom and insight. Billisz is unpredictable, impetuous and random. Her quest to tear down order is relentless. Billisz is a paradox of confusion and chance, it is better not to cross the lady of Chaos!
Appearance
Billisz appears as an impetuous fair skinned young woman with flaming red hair and temper to match. She is voluptuous and beautiful to behold, like a raging fire or storm at sea on the horizon, her power can be felt in the very air around her. Her liquid green eyes enthrall all who look into the face of chaos.
Motivation
Billisz is both a trickster and a saboteur. She thwarts all of the other gods' plans, sometimes in a covert way, but usually with a sense of merriment and mischief. Billisz is a dangerous and unpredictable force in the cosmos. She has no concern or thought for consequences except where the consequences would bring about her own demise.

Neutrality

The gods of neutrality maintain the balance between the forces of Good, Evil, Order and Chaos. Sometimes aiding them individually, sometimes thwarting them by turning them against each other. For the most part however the gods of neutrality exhibit all of the aspects of the other pantheons only in a more balanced and even handed way. The neutral gods:

Rem

Personality
Rem is the sage, he weighs all things carefully and equally before making a decision, he is scholarly and analytical, studying the universe in a tireless manner seeking simply to understand it all.
Appearance
Rem appears as a simple man, well built with dark brown hair and fair skin. He is clad in a midnight blue hooded robe, warm for travelling with many hidden pockets to keep his secrets in. Power crackles around Rem, occasionally dancing across his robes and skin.
Motivation
Rem seeks to blend all of the forces of the universe to maintain a balance in all things and thus perpetuate the game for eternity. This wondrous thing that is the universe never ceases to amaze Rem and he constantly studies it, its beings and their ways. Rem is also the original mage, the first to learn of the powers of magick and the most powerful in his art, he is often mistaken as the patron of all things magickal, this is not correct, magick is simply a tool Rem uses and is best at, he does not seek to promote magick any more than he seeks to promote evil or good.

Gaining faith

Faith is gained only by submitting oneself to the dogma of a particular religion. You must embrace all of the worldly laws of your religion aswell as follow the spiritual laws of your god.

You have to literally live your gods will without question in order to be truely faithful. This is more than just a concious choice to follow some rules it is indeed total blind unquestioning belief in the correctness of your gods motivations.

Doubt is the enemy of faith. Not following the spiritual law of your diety soon results in a loss of faith as you become increasingly individual and seperate from your god.

In game terms, not playing your AE faithfully results in the temporary loss of a faith point which can only be restored by way of pennance. Many faith points can be lost this way until the faith score is completely reduced to zero at which point prayers cease to work. For serious infractions, permanent loss of faith will occur, this would then require experience expenditure to replace the lost points.

Aspects

The measure of ones faith can be broken to represent various aspects of the gods personallity. These aspects are represented individually with most of the faithful tending towards one or more of the aspects.

Wroth
A god's wroth is a fearsome thing. It is faith in your god's talent to smite his enemies. Combat orientated prayers and rituals of violence are part of the Wroth aspect.
Belief
Belief is a mesasure of a gods power over reality, All manner of miracles are performed through suspension of disbelief; parting the oceans, changing water to wine, feeding five thousand with only a few loaves and fish.
Sanctity
A gods sanctity is a measure of your gods power of dominion over others. Warding oneself against evil or perhaps asking your god to bless your sword before entering into combat are good examples of divine sanctity.
Life
Life is a deity's power over the living; the creation of life itself, healing, curing sickness and even ressurecting the dead.
Spirit
Spirit is a deity's influence over the souls of all creatures. Spirit governs things such as exorcism, divine commands.

Prayers & Disciplines

Prayer is used by the faithful to maintain their relationship with their god. The process of daily prayers allows the faithgul to maintain the faith score, it can even serve as sort pennance removing temporary faith point loss at a rate of one point every three days.

There are other sorts of prayer, some highly ritualistic involving ceremony and even elaborate sacrifice to ones god, their is also simply silently calling upon the power of your god in order to perform a miracle.

These prayers for specific miracles work in a similar way to spells for magick wielders. Each prayer produces a miracle that is representative of a particular aspect of your god's demeanor. Each of these sort of prayers are also learned as part of a set of prayers called a discipline. Disciplines are codified sets of known miracles each needing varying levels of faith and learning to perform, often whole orders of priests are dedicated to maintaining and furthering one or more discaplines.

Orders

Over the years, various orders have sprung up within different religions, these orders or sects are dedicated sub-organizations within a particular church or religion who are entrusted with the maintenance of one or more disciplines.

The faithful generally belong to an order, this order is the source of law and teaching, the follower supports his order and the order provides training and instruction in one or more disciplines as well as shelter and food for the body and soul.

It is rare but not un-heard of for a follower of a religion to belong to more than one order, consider a priest who takes up arms and is drafted into an order of holy knights for instance.