UNIVERSAL TRUTHS

There are many different interpretations of things in this world, each being true to those who believe it. For example, Fina may be a goddess to some, while others believe her to be a saint. This page is dedicated to explaining the Universal Truths of this setting.

THE ZEITGEIST

The collective belief, will and consciousness of mankind, humanity and all sentient beings is a powerful force that has the ability to manifest things into being. If everyone on the planet believes that you need to breathe to survive, everyone must breathe to survive. The more people that believe in something, the more powerful that thing becomes, until eventually it becomes a reality. This phenomenon is known as the Zeitgeist, and only occurs if a belief is collective and understood by large regions, groups, ethnicities or cultures of people. A child may believe he can fly, but that does not make it true unless his entire community and the surrounding area believes it too. This means there is a high bar to beat when it comes to changing, altering, removing from or adding to the zeitgeist, but it is not impossible.

This collective belief is why some things are the way they are in this setting. The gods, the four humors, magic, monsters, the arcane, all things fantastical and unexplained are as real as the dirt beneath your feet because they have been willed into existence by the collective consciousness of mankind.

No living being understands this phenomenon, so it cannot be gamed. A peasant cannot just will themselves into being wealthy just because they told their whole village they are. Mankind's innate skepticism and urge to question things that are out of the ordinary is the equal and opposite force which counters the Zeitgeist.

Most of the Universal Truths in this page owe their existence to this phenomenon.

THE GODS

Though many interpretations exist, the gods are real and tangible beings that exist not of this world, but of a divine celestial plane known to most as Heaven, Oddegand to some, or by many other names to others.

Though the gods are just as real as the rocks on the ground or the birds in the air, they are distant and aloof. They have not meddled in the affairs of men in any significant way since the end of the Dragon Wars of ancient antiquity, approximately 2000 years ago. Some gods may occasionally make their presence known, but only to select groups or individuals. It has been so long since the gods played a significant role in the affairs of men that some people doubt their very existence, or believe they don't exist at all.

In Kingdoms like Chauncey or the Gottesreich, most gods are seen simply as saints. This does not nullify their existence, and to the gods in question, they see it simply as another form of worship.

The gods maintain their divine status through the act of worship. If this act lessens in frequency, the gods lose their power and become lethargic. If worship stops and the collective consciousness of all sentient beings forget the god exists, the god ceases to exist.

ANGELS

Angels are interpreted in many different ways by many different people in this setting. In the western-influenced area that this setting takes place, Angels were described as winged humanoid beings of pure heart and mind. They were charged with the duty of releasing the souls of the recently passed with the use of a holy hand bell. Angels would ring this bell to unbind the soul from the body so that they could guide the soul by hand to a place known as Purgatory, where all souls go to wait. It was believed that there was at least one angel per living person, who was responsible for looking over them from heaven.

During the Dragon Wars of ancient antiquity, the angels were commanded by the gods to teach humanity holy magic to aid in the fight against the draconic foe. Some angels resented this, seeing it as a betrayal by the gods to be commanded to give up the one thing that set them apart from humanity. With humanity's knowledge of holy magic, what use were angels other than guides for the dead? This resentment planted the seed which eventually led to the angels' downfall.

Though some angels harboured resentment to the gods, they loved humanity with all their hearts. And when a mighty host of demons rose from hell to combat the forces of heaven, the angels cast down their holy hand bells to the hands of mankind, passing on the torch of responsibility. Seeing their imminent annihilation in front of them, the angels, in a final act of love for mankind, gave up the last thing that they held dear. The ability to release the souls of the dead.

Now all the angels are gone, hunted to extinction by the forces of hell approximately 1500 years ago.

BELLS

Unless explicitly stated otherwise, bells are inherently holy in nature. All bells have the ability to release the souls of the dead, however, all man-made bells are very inefficient at this task. Only the holy hand bells once carried by angels are 100% efficient, but these are very rare nowadays, and often indistinguishable from man-made bells.

This inherent ability to release the souls of the dead is the reason why bells populate every belfry in almost every city, town and hamlet in the world. Through the centuries, the bell's holy purpose has been almost forgotten except by those in religious institutions or in organizations such as the Bell Bringers. Everybody knows bells are holy objects, but the reason why is not something an ordinary person knows.

To most, the tolling of bells is simply to tell the time, call for religious service, alarm people of imminent attack, or to bury the dead. To the educated, all of these things serve to release the souls of the dead within earshot. Bells toll every hour of the day and signal religious service not only to tell the time, but to begin the unbinding process of the souls of those who may have died within the hour. They toll not only to warn of imminent attack, but to also save the souls of those who may die in said attack, be them friend or foe.

When the angels cast down their bells to the hands of mankind, they passed the torch of responsibility to those who would bear it. The first of these people was Saint Octavius, founder of the Bell Bringers. It is believed that the Archangel Titus hand-delivered his personal hand bell to Octavius after realizing their imminent defeat and eradication.

In the early days of this transition from the hands of angels to the hands of men, Octavius and his bell bringers scoured the countryside and collected every hand bell they could find. These bells were melted down and cast into three mighty bells known as Celestial Bells. It is said that if all three of these bells are rung at the same time, they had the power to release the soul of every deceased person in the world. Unfortunately, two of these bells have been lost to time and never found. The one that still remains is housed in Notre Diurnité Cathedral in Pontignac, Beaugencie.

These man-made celestial bells are facsimiles, mere copies of the true celestial bell said to be in the great belfry of Heaven. This true celestial bell of heaven has the power to release all souls from purgatory so that they may be judged worthy and granted access to heaven. This bell, however, has not rung since the death of dragons at the end of the Dragon Wars in ancient antiquity.

PURGATORY

No matter what one believes or doesn't believe, Purgatory is a real place that exists. It is not of this world, but instead a plane that exists between the realm of the living and heaven. Purgatory blurs the lines between life and death, a place where one is "purged" of worldly sin and made fit for heaven. Because of its close proximity to the land of the living, the souls of the dead sometimes materialize in the world. This is often caused when the living fail their duties to the dead. Some souls appear with malicious intent, while others may be completely harmless, or even seek to help. These spectral apparitions are the physical manifestation of the souls of the dead, transported by circumstance to this realm from the next, purgatory.

Whether or not someone believes in heaven or hell after death, purgatory remains a universal truth for most of the inhabitants of this setting. It comes in many different forms, with many different names and interpretations. Some believe purgatory is hell, some believe it is heaven, some believe it's simply just where you end up after you die, and most believe it is a transitory realm between heaven, hell and the world, where one is purged of sin and made fit to stand trial for final judgement.

When the angels died, there was a brief period when souls were left to find their own way to purgatory. The god Death was appointed custodian of purgatory, and her duty includes ferrying the souls of the damned to this realm.

The celestial bell of heaven has not rung in approximately 2000 years, and it probably won't ring for many more centuries or millennia. This fact is not known by the inhabitants of this setting, or the souls in purgatory. Only the gods know when they will ring the celestial bell next.

MEDICAL KNOWLEDGE

Though antiquated and proven false by modern science, humorism was the practice of medicine for centuries and was only definitely disproved in the 1850s. For this reason, and because of the Zeitgeist explained at the top of this page, humorism is as real and true as the dirt beneath ones feet. In humorism it is believed that blood is produced by the liver. In this setting, it is literally produced by the liver. If a doctor in this setting tells someone to wear a red hat because it will alleviate their headache, it will literally alleviate their headache.

You can find more information about humorism and how it works in this setting here.

MAGIC

Magic exists in this setting, but is relatively rare depending on where you are. Some people may go there entire lives without seeing magic, but they typically know it exists. To the common layman working the fields, magic is a mysterious force which is mostly used for evil. To anyone educated in magic, they know that it's more complex than that.

In some regions, magic is very, very rare. In others it's relatively more common, but not to the point where it's seen or used for everyday utility. Magic is more of a thing which is used for combat, either to kill or injure enemies, or to heal and bolster friendlies.

MONSTERS
Monsters are tangible and real entities in this setting. They are materialized by the Zeitgeist of a region, manifested into existence by fear. They are the physical manifestation of fear.

GHOSTS

DEMONS
...MORE TOPICS