The Journal: Church Lore and Dogma

[Malachi Drake]

My brothers and sisters in Faith;

I have recently misplaced one of my journals and, should you happen to find it, I would be most grateful if it would be returned. But there is no need to do so with great haste as the journal contains a great deal of important information on the Radiant Lord and our Church and you would do well to observe its message before returning it.

Faithfully Yours,

Father Malachi Drake
The Bishop of Wessex

* * * * *

You are passing through the hustling and busy streets of the capital city of the Duchy of Wessex. Out of the corner of your eye you spot a book hidden within some foliage. Its parchment pages are bound together in a weather beaten leather cover that bears the mark of the Church of Soldeus. Picking up the book you are reminded of the message you read, on one of the cities message boards placed near the Church, of a request from the Bishop. The choice before you is do you leave the book where it is or do you turn the page and read on...

PDF link coming soon...

* * * * *

This fictional religion has been created by a multicultural group of people with various beliefs. It draws on numerous real life religions, some more than others, to help create a functional ecclesiastical society for the game Mortal Online. There is no intention by the authors to place judgment on these sources of inspiration or to make any statement on any real world religion.

[Malachi Drake]

The twenty-first of September,
Four hundred and seven years since the resurrection of Lucius,
Three hundred and forty-nine years since the founding of our Holy Church
In the ninth year of the reign of His Majesty, King Manus Dei;

Of the cult of Sol Invictus,

Even now, three hundred and forty nine years since Lucius made the ultimate sacrifice, there are those who still cling to false ideals and follow the blasphemous teachings of the Cult of Sol Invictus. There are those within the Duchy of Wessex who hold great authority and positions of power and yet they have not the strength of will to break free from the shadows that cloud their minds and corrupt their Inner Sparks.

Because of the social status and influence of these individuals, the Ecumenical Council has decided that the best course of action is to try and reclaim these lost children of Soldeus and bring them back onto the path of righteousness and holiness.

In an effort to safeguard my Brothers and Sisters of the faith I have compiled details on this false religion so that they will be able to identify these false teachings.

To accomplish this task I must give form to the words of these heretics and in doing so I will have sinned.

Oh Heavenly Father, Radiant Lord,
Creator and Redeemer of the faithful.
Forgive me this transgression and grant me Your clemency,
I ask only for the strength and wisdom to guide Your Children,
I remain a humble servant of Your Will, upon this earthly realm,
Until the hour of reckoning, when all Sparks become one.
As it is written, so shall it be.

[Malachi Drake]

The twenty-third of September,
Four hundred and seven years since the resurrection of Lucius,
Three hundred and forty-nine years since the founding of our Holy Church,
In the ninth year of the reign of His Majesty, King Manus Dei;

Cosmogenesis according to the cult of Sol Invictus,

Before there was earth or sea or heaven, there existed only Chaos: shapeless, unorganized, lifeless matter. There was opposition in all things: hot conflicted with cold, wet with dry, heavy with light, and hard with soft. The primordial forces of earth, air, fire and water were shapeless, mixed and in constant motion. The interaction of these forces ultimately proved to be unbalanced, and resulted in the arising of a new entity. When the entity opened, it revealed Soldeus; the Unconquerable Sun. He brought order and clarity to the substances.

Being all alone, He desired for companionship and from the Chaos, He brought forth Nave, and She was the Most Beautiful Goddess: full of joy, broad-bosomed and fair in all things. Soldeus courted the hand of Nave but She, being new and curious, rejected His advances and instead enjoyed sculpting Her own Nature and Substance into mountains and canyons, lakes and rivers and seas, trees and grass and all such things.

But Soldeus was determined to win Her hand and to end the longing He felt. Of the earth, air, fire and water He created a great white bull, whom He did name Tauric. Tauric was wild, masculine and virile and was the greatest creation of Soldeus, who felt great pride and love for His achievement. Soldeus presented His prize to Nave, to show Her the power that He held.

Nave spoke to Him and said, “If You can destroy that which You revere most, then I will lay down forevermore and be Yours, for You will have proven Your love for me is greater than all else”. Soldeus followed His heart and reluctantly, turning aside His Face in sorrow, He slit the neck of Tauric. But at the very moment of the death of the bull, a great miracle occurred. The horns of the white bull were metamorphosed into the moon; the cloak of Soldeus was transformed into the vault of the sky, with the shining planets and fixed stars; from the tail of the bull and from his blood sprang the first ears of grain and the grape; finally, from the genitals of the animal ran the holy seed which was received by a chalice.

Nave was moved by this sacrifice. Honouring Her agreement, She laid Herself down, leaning on one elbow with a knee bent towards the sky. Lost in the heat of Their fiery passion and the frenzy of Their lust, They copulated in the most carnal of ways in the still-warm pool of the bull's blood and seed. This mixture coated and smeared Their naked bodies as all manner of creatures, nature and life began to spill and flop out of Her loins. At the apex of Their Passion the first man and women were carried forth from Her Womb.

From their loving communion were four sons also born; Ver who was filled with vernal greenery and youthful joy; Aestas, full of life and the most beautiful of all sons; Autumnus, the oldest and most mature son; and Hiems, gloomy and downhearted, always contesting with Aestas. They also had a daughter; Luna, a warrior goddess maiden, who was entrusted with the guardianship of the Moon and upon Mt. Sinei She forged the horns of the bull into a double bladed axe; the Labyr. Lesser-gods also came forth and they were each given a different aspect to govern and nurture and Soldeus ruled over them all as King.

Above the sky Soldeus created the Heavens and constructed the Pantheon from where He could rule over the skies and watch over Nave. His sons took up their round-dance throughout the year, Luna began her monthly cycle and Soldeus mounted his Chariot and moved across the sky; thus day and night alternated and time was created.

[Malachi Drake]

The twenty-seventh of September,
Four hundred and seven years since the resurrection of Lucius,
Three hundred and forty-nine years since the founding of our Holy Church,
In the ninth year of the reign of His Majesty, King Manus Dei;

On the blasphemy of the cult of Sol Invictus:

This cult claims that they are worshipers of our most Splendid and Radiant Lord, yet they deny the word of our Father and instead spread heretical teachings and take part in barbaric and twisted rituals. Even their most basic practices of worship are offensive and flawed.

The faithful children of Soldeus celebrate His magnificence and bask in His radiant Light, yet these cultists take themselves into the darkest caves or the deepest dungeons and shroud themselves in shadows.

By denying the existence of Umbra they have opened their Hearts, Mind and Spark to him. They believe that the terrible lord of the Shade is naught but the horns of a bull and they revere the blood and seed of this beast as sacred. Through the reverence of this beast they must also hold the Moon as sacred and in turn they pay worship to Umbra without even realising it.

A monument stands in the centre of each of their temples depicting this sacrifice as they believe Soldeus sacrificed the white bull they call Tauric. This false idol is an affront; it appears that they worship this bull and its image more than they do the Radiant Lord himself. They also create double blades axes from bronze to represent the Labyr of Luna and these axes are used in the sacrificing of bulls.

Queen Mina, who was a member of this cult, took within herself the seed of such a beast and gave birth to the first of the Minotaurs. It has now fallen to the Church of Soldeus to eradicate these dark corrupted creatures that were spawned in mockery of our Heavenly Father’s Name.

They deny the existence of our saviour and instead they falsely elevate this white bull into a position of holiness. In a time when our people are at the peak of their knowledge and understanding of the world there is a clear sign that Umbra's influence over the faithless is still strong, as who but a fool would believe that it was the essence of a beast that led to the creation of life upon Nave?. Only our Father had the power to create us and it is the Spark of life that He placed within each of us that separates us from beast, bird and fish.

They worship Soldeus as the god of war, of judgment and as the Keeper of Promises. But they pay no heed to the warnings against Umbra and do not listen to the divinely sent teachings about sin and virtue and the Inner Spark.

Their lack of true faith and failure to listen to the word of our Heavenly Lord is what condemns them to the eternity of pain and suffering that awaits them when their mortal body fails.

[Malachi Drake]

The third of October,
Four hundred and seven years since the resurrection of Lucius,
Three hundred and forty-nine years since the founding of our Holy Church,
In the ninth year of the reign of His Majesty, King Manus Dei;

I have spent too long dwelling on the heretical practices of this small group of cultists and I must now turn my full attention to those faithful children who reside within my Diocese.

After delivering the lessons on the dangers of faithlessness and righteousness I will now instruct my fellow priests to hold sermons that will reaffirm the faith of our flock.

I have decided to use my journal as a place to gather and assemble all the information for these sermons as it provides me with the perfect opportunity to have all of Soldeus’s greatest lessons in one place.

First I will recount the true tale of creationism and the fate of Lucius. I will then focus on the teachings of the Inner Spark, of Sin and Virtue and the seven corporal and spiritual works of mercy, of love and obligation, of the value of prayer and of the role of the Church in the eternal salvation of man.

Oh Heavenly Father, Radiant Lord,
Eternal is Your Flame, Sacred is Your Word.
Where there is darkness, Your Light will shine through;
Where there is despair, Your Love will bring Hope;
Where there is doubt, Your Lessons will rekindle faith;
Until the hour of reckoning, when all Sparks become one.
As it is written, so shall it be.

[Malachi Drake]

The fifth of October,
Four hundred and seven years since the resurrection of Lucius,
Three hundred and forty-nine years since the founding of our Holy Church,
In the ninth year of the reign of His Majesty, King Manus Dei;

In the Beginning;

The Longing
The First Difference
In the beginning there was only chaos, an endless Abyss. It was not light or dark, hot or cold, It did not rise or sink, for there was nothing apart from anything else, but instead all was one, and that one was everything, and as nothing, for there was no difference in place or time. But the nothing could not remain nothing. All that might be or that never would be formed and unformed without any eyes to see, without any extent, and without any duration. From this ceaseless unceasing and then ceasing again, a longing was born, and the longing stirred the chaos, and what was light moved away from all else, and became the first difference: different from what moved together and sank to itself. Thus there was up, and there was down, and the very lightest of things, the highest up, came to be the Heavens over all.

The Brothers
The Second Difference
From the Heavens two brothers were born. Though they had neither mother nor father, they were kin to each other; though they were kin to each other, they were very different, and that was the second difference there ever was.

Umbra
One was born with a cruel heart and a desire for malice: Umbra. The lesser brother; skulking; sneaking. He was untouched, though his Brother would have embraced him; he was also unknown, though his Brother would have liked to know and to cherish him. He was darkness, and he was where and what his Brother was not. His heart and hands were cold, and knew without being taught how to break and mar things.

Soldeus
The other was born with a desire to do good: Soldeus. Radiant; shining; glorious. He was the greater of the two, and He beheld all things. He, too, was what His brother was not. His desire was to touch all things, and to protect and to cherish them, and so His Hands and Heart formed, and were warm, and had the power to create and to mend.

For countless ages the two brothers lived in the heavens, always one where the other was not, growing further apart in their hearts and longings.

Nave
The Third Difference
One day the third of all differences appeared, in the form of the Most Beautiful Goddess: Nave, full of joy, broad-bosomed and fair in all things. Though small and new, She enjoyed sculpting Her own Nature and Substance into mountains and canyons, lakes and rivers and seas, trees and grass and all such things. Upon Herself in the sight of the Gods She practiced her art, expressing many of the forms that before had only gone unseen in the Abyss. The brothers were each aroused by a similar desire, to do to Her the very same as She did to herself, and they competed for Her Hand.

Pride & Perversion; Fear & Loathing; Lust & Contempt
Umbra, whose heart was cold, pridefully displayed to Her his ideas, which he considered superior to Hers. His dark and demented creations-- and his perversions of Her ideas, as She brought them forth-- he paraded in front of Her, enjoying Her repulsion and, most of all, Her fear, which was the first in all the universe. He looked forward to having power over Her against her will, to having possession of Her, and perhaps more than anything to hiding Her from his brother forever.

Appreciation & Generosity; Art & Music; Joy & Love
Soldeus, showing Her appreciation and warmth, humbly offered Her great wonders, great pieces of art and music and other things too splendid to tell, for Her enjoyment as well as His own; and, His own power in the service of Her desires; thus, He fairly won her Heart, and They announced Their love to Umbra.

Fury & Jealousy; Envy & Hatred; Theft & Murder
Umbra, bested and scorned, then created the saddest difference in all the Universe: he changed life into death. He slew Nave in a fit of jealous rage and cast her body out of the Heavens. Thus, he marred himself forever, beyond any power to mend.

Grief & Mourning; Loneliness & Sorrow
Soldeus was overcome with grief, but still loving His brother left the Heavens in exile, being unable to face him.

Mockery & Desecration; Corruption & Shadow
Umbra, in his bitterness and hatred, made a mockery of Nave’s fallen body. Upon her corpse he sculptured and twisted dark forms of life and surrounded Nave in an encasing Shadow. He continued to desecrate and corrupt the beauty of Nave.

Forgiveness & Righteous Wrath; Crime & Punishment
Time passed and Soldeus missed His home amongst the Heavens. He came to long to forgive His brother. He returned home, only to see the evil desecration His brother had committed, and was filled with great and righteous wrath. Determined to punish Umbra, He attacked His brother who, being cowardly, sent forth his creations as an army against Soldeus. The creatures of Umbra could not stand against the blazing Light of Soldeus, Who slew foe after foe. After He had thus defeated thousands of His enemies, His dark brother leapt forth from the Shade and gravely wounded Soldeus.

War & Victory; The Stars & The Seventh Day; Mercy & Banishment
Both brothers now turned upon each other and the very Heavens shook from their fury. They did battle for six days and, as they fought and tore at each other, the sky became filled with glistening stars amid darkness-- their blood and flesh, gleaming or lightless, scattering throughout and painting the Void. On the seventh day Soldeus was victorious. Moved by mercy, He was unable to slay His brother, and instead threw him down, banishing him from His sight forevermore.

Hope & Healing
Soldeus, overcome with sadness, approached the body of Nave; as He did, He saw that the pall of Shadow around her dissipated before His radiant Light and that wherever He shone upon Her flesh the evil work of His brother came undone. The nature that She had sculpted out of love was healed, and the Great One knew a measure of Content.

Nurture & Night
Soldeus would now come every day and gaze upon His fallen love,
looking at her from head to toe to nourish and nurture what She had created with His radiant Light. The wound from the great battle never fully healed, and at times He would have to return to the Heavens to rest. Ever would Umbra skulk in the Shadows and return to Nave to continue his bitter efforts whenever his Brother had left.

Man & Woman; Mind of Body & Spark of Soul
Turning His love for art and creation to the body of Nave, Soldeus
began to make creatures and animals to live upon its beauty. His greatest creation was that of sentient life; of man and woman, drawn to each other as He and Nave had been, in each of whom He created a Spark of His radiant Light, to warm and illuminate them from within.

Deception & Temptation; False Promises & The Pain of the Good God
Umbra, spying from the Shadows, saw how much Soldeus loved His creations and set about to corrupt them. Consulting and mirroring his own foul heart, and using subterfuge, he corrupted a man and seduced him into killing his brother with offers of power and false promises of eternal life. Soldeus felt the pain as if it was His own, and knew then that Umbra would continue to haunt the Universe, attacking creation and defiling Nave whenever he was granted a chance.

The Lesser-Gods; The Pantheon; The Angels & The Prophets
Soldeus created lesser-gods and appointed them each to watch over Nave. He constructed the Pantheon where He ruled over the Heavens and Nave as King of the Gods. He created Angels as defenders of His realm and sent forth prophets to offer guidance to Man.

To Guide & Warn; Splendour & Content, or Ruin & Terror Unending
These prophets came to teach the people of Soldeus, to guide them in developing and to warn them about the evil ways of Umbra. But not all heeded these lessons and the corruption of Umbra continued. Those who strayed from the Teachings or broke the righteous law of man would corrupt the Spark within themselves and would not be able to rejoin Soldeus in His Splendour and Content in Heaven when their mortal bodies failed and their substance returned to Nave. Instead, their defiled sparks would be forced to wander the Shadow of the Abyss alongside Umbra, to endure the unending terror he loved to inflict, or to fall in cinders and ruin.

[Varrick ChaosWielder]

The works here all have my personal stamp as Parson of Nave as valid and truthful.

[Casilda Tametomo]

The works here all have my personal stamp as Parson of Nave as valid and truthful.

You will want to change this, expunging much of it, immediately, in keeping with the pronouncement of the Head of the Church of Soldeus that is in Wessex, to wit:

"Lucius" is not canon. That's a heresy.

[Camarro Valkran]

Manus Dei : "Lucius" is not canon. That's a heresy.

Varrick Chaoswielder : While the Cult is mostly "harmless" and thus the Church chooses to let it be in the sake of avoiding an all-out war with the people at the time, it would be heresy to grant him official status within the lore.

Those of us called to study the arcane arts are often viewed with suspicion, and for this reason we feel the need to take greater than normal precautions to ensure our orthodoxy. To this end, I would appreciate clarification of the statements above. They seem to imply that the heresy is not so much the beliefs of the Cult of Lucius, but the incorporation of those beliefs into Canon Law. Since this could only come about by the actions of an ordained member of the Church of Soldeus, it would seem to be a heresy of which a lay member of the Duchy of Wessex could not be guilty.

Is this the case, or have I misunderstood?

[Azidano Valkran]

Please stop posting in this Holy Thread.

This thread contains the Holy Scripture of Soldeus, collected and collated by dedicated and pious people who endured torture at the hands of their enemies.

Posting in this thread, in my opinion, is ruining the sanctity and purity of their Message.

By all means, we should encourage freethinking and discussion, but perhaps it would be appropriate to do so in other threads.

I apologise if I have come across needlessly strict, but every single word jotted down here is sacred and would like to emphasise that this is not a criticism on free-thought.

May Soldeus Bless the martyrs who brought us this Scripture.