Church of Pure Ocean fluff

The Church of Pure Ocean began as an ascetic order of wizard-mystics on the north end of the continent. Through ardent preaching and devotion to their religion, they drew converts from all rungs of the society where they originated. This budding religion remained, however, ruled by wizards and exclusively human. They believed that the human mind was unique in that it could bear the awesome might of the successive revelations that occurred as one reached their inner circle. That is to say, after rigorous magical training.

Also of note is that they clashed with the established ruling elite over who should rule the lives of men.The pre-Church fathers maintained that a prophet-king would be born among their converts, marked by certain signs that heralded his arrival, who would one day rule over the entire world. This man and his descendents, they would go on to say, are the only ones TRULY fit to rule.

The time came, by and by, when all the sacred conditions had been fulfilled by the birth of a male child, the later Archt-Prophet Angeloi the First. A general rebellion against the local king occurred soon after, which resulted in a resounding defeat of the pre-Church. The remaining members fled with the child north, across the ocean. Thereafter they cursed the continent they came from, vowing to never set foot on it again. After days of sailing they came to a stretch of open ocean where the wind did not blow. Legends of the church say that the child then “let out a triumphant cry, and as he did, ripples appeared on the surface of the water and shortly an island rose out of the waters, several miles in diameter”. Angeloi, eyes glowing, then spoke his first words: “Damned land of our fathers, your time is ended! A new nation springs forth! From this spot; above, under, and on the waters shall my people make their home. These places I gift to you, my children, the sons of man alone!”

And with that, Angeloi returned to his normal, cooing self. The church’s later exploits include the enslavement and subsequent extermination (after a slave revolt) of the mer-men, and also the defeat and enslavement of the octo-goblin tribes. With the combined effort of the wizards and slaves, they have managed to build impressive underwater citadels and cities, in addition to a metropolis on the island where they first landed.