FEF7 Lore: Religions

THE SEVEN SISTERS:

Native religion of Angeborten, it stems from charitable and holy works of seven sisters born of noble parentage, who traveled about the land, healing sick, supporting families in need and donating to the poor. Child-bearing, marital relationships, charity, fearlessness, compassion, healing the sick and fire-tending are seven Holy Virtues, each represented by one of the Holy Sisters: Aafja, Aldgonda, Kato, Els, Hede, Jeta and Ria.
Nowadays, the matriarchal Seven Sisters' Church is responsible for running city hospitals, orphanages, schools for impoverished noblemen, crafting of healing staves and maintainance of libraries and arcane research; in Angeborten, the Church is also performing supervisory role in manufactories producing vulneraries, concoctions and other everyday medicines used on the continent.
Sisters of the Church also officiate weddings, tend to funeral pyres and bestow blessings upon those in need. To rob, harm or violate a Sister is considered one of greatest offenses in the known lands, comparable to treason or regicide, and for which there's no pardon. Influential Sisters often receive much praise and respect from those they live with, and funerals of famous and long-serving Sisters tend to attract crowds of tens of thousands of mourners.
The head of the Church is The Holy Matriarch (currently Renate van Raginbrand) elected for life amongst elderly Matrons, who command younger Mothers and their convent Sisters, and bestow blessings upon young Maidens who decide to join this most holy of orders.

SIGISMUND THE MAN-KING:

Born out of love and respect for Sigismund, First King of Herzgottia, his worship took on divine and ritualistic approach about five or six generations down the line. The deceased King, due to his feats of strength, unprecedented fame and heroic deeds, in the minds of his successors couldn't be anything but a god who descended into this world to bring prosperity and unity amongst the warring Herzgottians. Sigismund was The Man who was the King; The All-Caring Father; The Eagle-Eyed Hunter; The Fearless Warrior; The Master of All Wisdom, and many, many other names that were attributed to him.
Indeed, many of Prayers to Sigismund (of which there's approximately one hundred twenty five) are actually retellings of the tales of his adventures and quests; the Prayer for Warrior's Strength is a song about Sigismund and The Metal Bear, who terrorized the Rotflus Forest before Sigismund came and wrestled with it; Oath of Vengeance is simply recounting of the time when bandits from Subi tribe violated Sigismund's wife, killed his sons and fled with his daughters, and whom Sigismund tracked down relentlessly for forty days before catching up with them and murdering them (and then ripping their hearts out to deny them entry into afterlife).
Once mandatory religion for about half of the peoples on the continent, the fall of Herzgottian Empire and establishment of The Seven Sisters' faith greatly diminished the influence of the Cult of Sigismund. Nowadays, Sons of Sigismund are the central authority of Sigismund the Man-King's worship, located in Kingdom of Sterlitz, although there are still many churches and monasteries dedicated to Sigismund in the Grand Duchy, Angeborten, Tatalia, its influence lately spreading to Norgemark in the north, across Suderbund Sea.

THE INVIOLABLE LIGHT:

A religion as ancient as Gallia itself, it was founded by Lothair the Golden, a sage from about a thousand years ago. He has been a traveling soothsayer and oracle, and has foreseen the coming of Great Light, one that would shine upon Gallia and humbly ask for reverence. Nobody believed him until The Day of Light, when the sun turned from white to golden and became twice as big as it was on the sky, speaking to Gallians in unknown, but soft yet commanding tone.
Lothair the Golden was quickly hailed as 'Scion of the Light' and became the first Archpriest of the Light, putting down foundations for the Light's theology, teachings and moral codes that Gallians would follow even today.
The headquarters of the Church however moved from Gallia to Tiberrine Republic of Scolia following the turmoil of Age of Strife and The Half War, which laid waste to both Gallia and Herzgottia. Nowadays, the upper echelons of The Church of Inviolable Light are considered to be nearly as corrupt as the Republican rulers themselves, whilst lower echelons are preaching the Greatness of the Light, asking the people of both low and noble births to donate more and more into the donation baskets.

NORGEMARK ANIMISM:

Worship of Norgemarkian animal spirits and ancestral spirits. Since the spread of the Cult of Sigismund in the last century, Norgemarkian Animism has been steadily losing ground, especially in the wealthy coastal cities. However, it remains the main faith of the tribes further inland of Norgemark Island as well as in settlements on the most remote of isles in far northwest or northeast.
The amount of Spirits and Beasts in Norgemarkian pantheon is unknown, as various scholars have tried to categorize and organize the beliefs of Norgemarks and failed. Many of the Beasts and Spirits seem to be the same thing, but with regional names spelled and spoken differently from tribe to tribe. Several of the most often encountered ones are Taavu the Raven of Propechies, Singa the Doe Queen, Hahu the Sun Bear, Ige the Mountain and Tuuvomi the Salmon of Wisdom.
This religion has no organized structure, and instead is maintained on local level by native Beastmasters and Spiritspeakers, with varying amount of influence and recognition amongst the tribes and settlements. Places of worships are simple and unadorned, often a single, smoothed stone slab surrounded by smaller stones arranged in a 'holy' circle.