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The Awaken

The Awaken believe dreams shape the world. Each person has a destiny to follow, though not everyone fulfills it.

  • Religious Family: Vurd (Tangible Word in Traen)
  • Current Status: The faith is becoming more militant as followers take up arms in answer to the Waker’s call.
  • Creed: Monotheism. The Waker is the only true god.

Deity/Deities

  • Main Deity: The Waker, who speaks through dreams.

Relics

The Awaken worship a recovered stone, said to have broken the old world.

Places of Worship

The Sacred Grove is a fortress in the wilderness at the edge of Grungred, in a small valley between mountains.

A simple altar in Coldwharf serves a growing number of followers.

Religious Affiliates

The Dividers are a group of largely independent mercenary companies whose leading figures belong to the Awaken. Many call them cultists.

Core Beliefs

  • Virtues: Ambition, deceit, zeal, and temperance.
  • Sins: Contentment, shyness, cowardice, gluttony, revelry, and greed.
  • The Waker speaks only through dreams. To the faithful, dreams matter more than waking life.
  • After death, people enter the dream realm.
  • The Awaken believe power lies within people. Through dreams, the Waker awakens that power and asks for acts in return. Dreams are their communion with the deity.
  • Grain brings wealth, and wealth corrupts the spirit.
  • The Quiet are those who have not heard the voice in dreams.
  • Entering the dream realm while alive requires an ancient ritual, now almost forgotten.
  • The waking world is full of lies, so deceit is no sin.
  • Undead must serve the living and work the fields, so humans do not have to.
  • The Awaken foretell the coming end and the return of those long gone.

Main Doctrines

  • Gender: Men and women are equal.
  • Religious attitude: Fundamentalist. The Awaken regard other religions as lies.
  • Rituals: Anyone can perform rituals.
  • Authority: The faith has no single head. Anyone can gain authority, and some prophets are recognized by all.
  • Marriage and Family: The Awaken place few limits on love and family. They recognize one spouse, accept other relationships, and consider children born outside marriage legitimate.
  • Conduct: The Awaken accept much that other faiths forbid and consider witchcraft virtuous.
  • Holy war: The Awaken call a great holy war the Red Reckoning.

Religious Practices

  • Followers gather for rites in the Waker’s name.
  • Followers live simply, keep only what they need, and share the rest.
  • Joining the faith: Guides win newcomers’ trust and persuade them to join. After their first dream of the Waker, they are confirmed in the faith.
  • Seeking answers: Followers close their eyes and observe the moving darkness within, looking for answers.
  • Pilgrimage: Only a select few are drawn to the Sacred Grove through their dreams.

Holy Texts

  • Wrathen: Written by many prophets who heard the Waker in dreams, it promises justice to those wronged by the world.

Holy Days

  • The Red Harvest: In autumn, they "hunt for peasants" as new recruits.

Guides

Guides lead rituals, interpret dreams, and bring in new followers. Some also recruit fighters for the Dividers.

  • Gender: Men and women can be guides.
  • Marriage: Guides remain unmarried, but may have partners.
  • Appointment: The most influential guides appoint or remove other guides.

Religious Hierarchy

Standing depends mainly on charisma and the loyalty a person inspires.

  • Prophet
  • Chosen
  • Disciple
  • Acolyte
  • Zealot

Artwork

Awaken sketch