The Order of the Divines
A pantheistic religion established across the Remnant Continent. The Order venerates seven deities believed to govern the forces of the world — through spirits, through Ren, through the fabric of existence itself. Individual sects vary considerably in practice and belief, and any given sect typically holds meaningful influence only in relation to a specific city-state or region.
Temples to the Order are found everywhere. Worship is common. Most ordinary people participate in Order observance alongside other faiths without seeing any contradiction.
For the cosmological context behind the spirits this faith worships as gods, see Cosmology.
The Seven Deities
Section titled “The Seven Deities”All seven are acknowledged by Order members. Personal devotion to one is natural and common. The darker ends of the pantheon — A’mest and Berathenia — occupy a different category of worship than the rest.
| Deity | Title | Domain | Primary Value |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hadrine | The Orator | Creation through speech | Knowledge |
| Kalsta | The Chronicler | Memory, she who records all | Knowledge |
| Gormand | The Storm | War, martial force | Power / Justice |
| Irdrin | The Fixed One | Containment, preservation | Order |
| M’Madei | The Blood Moon | Connection of all life | Love / Sacrifice |
| A’mest | The Shadow | The Void, Death, that which consumes light | Power |
| Berathenia | The Perverter | Corruption | Growth |
A’mest is acknowledged and appeased rather than celebrated. His domain — the void that consumes everything — is real, present, and cannot be ignored. Those who venerate him more actively exist within the Order but represent a small and quieter portion of it. The posture is fearful respect rather than devotion.
Berathenia’s active cult is considered mad by the Order at large. Acknowledging her as a force is orthodoxy. Worshipping corruption as a devotional path is not. The line between the two is where most Order members draw a hard boundary.
Branches
Section titled “Branches”The Order has no unified doctrine. What it has are three broad theological positions that have developed over time and often exist in tension with one another.
The Orthodoxy holds that the seven are distinct divine beings who govern spirits and operate through them in the world. Worship is expressed through ritual, temple observance, and festival participation. This is the position most ordinary people occupy — civic religion, community practice, culturally embedded. Both Rennim and Renak are found here. Rennim practitioners often find it the most natural fit: they have direct experience of powerful forces moving through Ren, and the Orthodoxy does not ask them to reduce that experience to abstraction.
The Ascensionists hold that the seven are Yndryr — offspring of descended spirits and mortals — who ascended past spirithood into something beyond. The theological implication is significant: if ascension is possible, then mortal bloodlines carry divine potential. Ascensionists tend to venerate known Yndryr and view extraordinary lineage with reverence. Rennim with strong polarity inheritance sometimes find this branch compelling. The Ascensionist position is in open tension with the Yrialin, which does not recognize mortal-born divinity and views the claim with skepticism at best.
The Naturalists hold that the seven are conceptual groupings of spiritual force rather than individual beings — that what people call gods are patterns in Ren, not persons. This is a Renak-heavy intellectual tradition, common in academic environments. Rennim practitioners typically dismiss it. Someone who has directly felt what Ren is — what spirits are — tends to find the Naturalist position reductive and unconvincing. The Naturalists remain within the Order but are not well-regarded by practitioners.
Values
Section titled “Values”All Order members share:
| Value | Why |
|---|---|
| Faith | The foundation. Belief that the seven are real and active, regardless of theological position on their exact nature. |
| Tradition | Temple observance, festival participation, and ritual practice are how relationship with the divine is maintained. Cultural continuity is the backbone of the Order’s continent-wide presence. |
Beyond these, values tend to follow personal devotion:
| Primary Devotion | Values Likely Held |
|---|---|
| Hadrine | Knowledge |
| Kalsta | Knowledge |
| Gormand | Power, Justice / Honor |
| Irdrin | Order, Peace |
| M’Madei | Love / Sacrifice |
| A’mest | Power |
Tenets
Section titled “Tenets”The seven are real. Their existence and power are not in question within the Order. How they came to be, and what exactly they are, is debated. That they govern the forces of the world is not.
All seven deserve acknowledgment. The pantheon is not optional. You do not get to acknowledge only the comfortable deities. A’mest and Berathenia represent forces that exist whether or not you look at them.
Personal devotion is natural. Honoring one deity as your primary focus is understood and expected. It does not diminish your relationship to the others.
The world is not empty. Against the Yrialin’s monotheism and the skepticism of those who have never felt Ren, the Order holds that the divine is present, plural, and active. Spirits are evidence, not metaphor.
There is a line Berathenia’s followers have crossed. The Order acknowledges death and corruption as forces that exist. It does not venerate them as a path. Members who move into active Berathenia worship are viewed as having left something behind.