------------- Morning Prayers

Religion has been an odd piece of galactic history for as long as I've been studying primitive cultures. Outside of the Kar'Kaine Dynasty, there has been no religion ever recorded that has valid, provable evidence of their God. To the so-called faithful, it never would occur to them to critically examine the precepts of their faith. That's what faith is, they'd all insist, many with a weapon held to your throat.

So that's the one major thing that makes Arrallon so incredibly unique. Even the Kar'Kaine Dynasty presented its spiritual basis as a belief in the core energy of the universe as embodied in Fluxstone. Only on Arrallon have the Gods actually walked. The impact of their presence on this world are untold. When living Gods stroll the mountains and wastes and forests of the world, faith is not so much a matter of blind belief in dogma, but a constant battle to overcome the very real power of all the opposing Gods of the world. Faith is not so much faith as allegiance and dedication to one leader, one master, one God out of many.

The faithful of Arrallon are even more impressive for the nature and environment in which their religions were born. To believe in an unseen God, with an unseen enemy lurking in the shadows, tied to dogmatic rules that defy the very purpose of spiritualism, with no real tests and no real danger. That's easy. To stand against the powers of darkness, to believe in the moral ethic of your divine liege, to hold true to a code of conduct, in the face of equally divine defiance of those beliefs, and to be tested daily with very immediate and very real consequences. To be faced with miracles of healing and divination and destruction whose power is directly supplied by opposing Gods, and stay true to only one. That's tough.

From the elven tree villages of Cantellzan to the burning sands of Symballa to the frozen woodlands of Hergovaine, they stand against the darkness. They are not all warrior-priests as some might believe. Very few actually are skilled in the use of weapons and armor. Some are small and frail. But their faith defends them from Orcs, Barbarian Hordes, fell beasts, Dragons and even demons. And across the face of the globe, as the first rays of Apos split the horizon, you can see and hear and feel their morning vespers.

-- Gailen McGillivrey, Journals of Truth, Crystallis, 12 Deiclue 18554.

------------- Credits

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