Religion in Averius

Imperial Pantheon

The Twelve Greater Gods

The Twelve Great Gods are the most powerful deities of the Imperial Pantheon. They are the basis of the entire religion.

List of Greater Gods

Number	God	Domain
1	Creatio	Creation
2	Ruina	Destruction
3	Tractus	Space
4	Hora	Time
5	Scientia	Knowledge
6	Bellum	War
7	Anima	Life
8	Mors	Death
9	Lumen	Light
10	Tenebris	Darkness
11	Silex	Elements
12	Castimonia	Morality

The Twenty Four Middle Gods

The Twenty Four Middle Gods are the children of the Twelve Greater Gods. These gods are not as powerful as the Big 12, but are powerful in their own right, having dominion over a specific aspect of reality.

List of Middle Gods

Number	Relation	God	Domain
1	Son of Creatio and Ruina	Magus	Magic
2	Son of Creatio and Ruina	Senium	Decay and Ruination
3	Daughter of Creatio and Ruina	Libra	Balance
4	Daughter of Creatio and Ruina	Vindicta	Vengeance and Revenge
5	Son of Tractus and Hora	Vacuo	Void/Nothingness
6	Son of Tractus and Hora	Iter	Travel and Exploration
7	Daughter of Tractus and Hora	Tempora	Seasons
8	Daughter of Tractus and Hora	Fata	Fate
9	Son of Scientia and Bellum	Cultio	Agriculture
10	Son of Scientia and Bellum	Motus	Emotion
11	Daughter of Scientia and Bellum	Venatura	Hunt/Hunting
12	Daughter of Scientia and Bellum	Chlora	Medicine
13	Son of Anima and Mors	Recordatio	Memories/Remembrance
14	Son of Anima and Mors	Opes	Wealth
15	Daughter of Mors and Anima	Phasma	Ghosts/Souls
16	Daughter of Mors and Anima	Anastasis	Resurrection and the Cycle of Reincarnation
17	Son of Lumen and Tenebris	Solis	Sun/Light
18	Son of Lumen and Tenebris	Umbra	Shadow
19	Daughter of Lumen and Tenebris	Luna	Moon
20	Daughter of Lumen and Tenebris	Sidera	Stars/Constellations
21	Son of Silex and Castimonia	Metallum	Metal/Metallurgy
22	Son of Silex and Castimonia	Caelo	Sky/Wind/Air
23	Daughter of Silex and Castimonia	Aquarius	Sea/Water
24	Daughter of Silex and Castimonia	justitia	Judgement

The Lesser Gods

The Lesser Gods are the least powerful group of gods. This category also applies to demigods and mortals who are granted godship.

List of Lesser Gods

Number	Relation	God	Domain
1	Son of Senium and Vindicta	Magistratus	Administration and Authority
2	Daughter of Senium and Vindicta	Astutia	Diplomacy and Negotiation.
3	Son of Vacuo and Libra	Felix Averius (Ascended)	Unity and Imperialism
4	Daughter of Vacuo and Libra	Musica	Art and Music
5	Son of Motus and Venatura	Proelium	Marksmanship and Fighting
6	Daughter of Motus and Venatura	Bestia	Beasts and Animals
7	Son of Magus and Chlora	Prodigium	Miracles
8	Daughter of Magus and Chlora	Sana	Healing/healing Magic
9	Son of Solis and Anastasis	Purgatio	Purifying Light (Christian God)
10	Daughter of Solis and Anastasis	Nefas	Evil, Crime, and Corruption
11	Son of Cultio and Tempora	Aer	Weather and Climate
12	Daughter of Cultio and Tempora	Messis	Harvests
13	Son of Recordatio and Luna	Festum	Festivals
14	Daughter of Recordatio and Luna	Veritas	Truth
15	Son of Iter and Sidera	Trames	Travel and Transportation
16	Daughter of Iter and Sidera	Amare	Loveand Affection
17	Son of Umbra and Phasma	Morbus	Disease
18	Daughter of Umbra and Phasma	Inmortua	Undead/Necromancy
19	Son of Opes and Fata	Proditio	Betrayal
20	Daughter of Opes and Fata	Fortuna	Luck/Fortune
21	Son of Metallum and Castimonia	Sabulo	Sand, Rock, and Dirt
22	Daughter of Silex and Castimonia	Chasmatias	Natural Disasters
23	Son of Caelo and Aquarius	Fluctus	Tides and Waves
24	Daughter of Caelo and Aquarius	Procellas	Storms

Holidays and Festivals

Creation Festival

The Creation Festival occurs on the Spring Equinox, every year. This festival celebrates life and is used to pray for a bountiful harvest that year. A common practice is to dance and drink. Because one topic of the festival is life, it is often a time when couples partake in procreation.

Empire Day

Empire Day, sometimes also called Election Day is a holiday on March 15th. This holiday involves a massive festival celebrating the founding of the Empire.

Naming Festival

The Naming Festival happens in the Summer Solstice. To those who have come of age in Imperial Society, the Naming Festival is an important time of year. Those of age arrive at their local place of general worship (not dedicated to a specific god) and pray. They reflect what patron god to select and what to name themselves. Once dusk arrives, they declare their choice of name and their chosen patrol god. The Naming is then followed by a feast. To those who have already done the Naming or are not yet old enough to do so, the entire day is a festival of many activities and activities.

Festival of Talents

The Festival of Talents occurs on July 31st. This festival celebrates the creation of art and music with anyone being able to set up public displays of art and music in any format or style.

Festival of Plenty

The Festival of Plenty occurs on the Autumn Equinox, every year. This festival celebrates the use of agriculture and hunting. This festival often involves an event called the Hunt, where the participants go out and hunt for food. The hunt ends the following morning with the successfully hunted prey being presented as an offering.

Festival of the Dead

The Festival of the Dead happens from dawn of October 31st and ends on the dawn of November 2nd. This festival honors the dead and is a celebration of those who have passed. This festival often requires the ornamentation of one's residence to scare away evil spirits. It is common for persons to dress up in costumes when participating in festivities. During this festival, it is expected for a person to leave out a plate for ones deceased parents, grandparents, cousins, aunts/uncles, nieces/nephews, and siblings.

Renewal Festival

The Renewal Festival occurs on the Winter Solstice, every year. This festival celebrates rebirth and spiritual renewal. A common practice is to write down one's sins on a paper and then cast the paper into a fire. The burning of that paper represents the forgiveness of sins and the lifting of the burden of sin from the moral body.

Spire Festival

New Year's Eve and New Years Day are Called the Spire Festival. This festival celebrates the coming of a new year in the Imperial Calendar. This festival gets its name for the spire erected at exactly Midnight when the new year arrives. This spire has etched into it, twelve panes, one on each side of the spire. Each pane depicts important events from the previous year in writen and pictoral format to memorialize the events. This festival typically only has a spire erected in the Imperial Central District, but other localities have their own format of remembrance for the year.

Places of Worship

Imperial Pantheon Complex

The Imperial Pantheon Complex is a massive collection of buildings belonging to the Imperial Pantheon religion and is the center of its governance and administration.

Arce de Deorum

The Arce de Deorum or 'Castle of the Gods' is the name of the solitary tower in the middle of the central courtyard which each of the temples of the Twelve Greater Gods enter from. This circular tower is 250 meters tall and it made up of white granite. This building has a large interior space with a external diameter of fifty meters and an interior floorspace of about 1,250 square meters. The internal space is a massive place of worship with black granite floors with gold inlays. The center of the room is a massive golden statue of the first Emperor. The tower's interior has an encased stairway around the central room that leadds up to the flat roof. The central room has a domed gold ceiling. The room is made of black granite with a central skylight with glass that opens to the room below. The railings are made of a gold-titanium alloy and the floor has gold trimming.

Inner Courtyard

The Inner Courtyard measures 250 meters in diameter with the Arce de Deorum at its exact center. The courtyard has trees, a white marble footpath around the Arce de Deorum, and a covered footpath around the edge of the courtyard, connecting each of the Temples of the Twelve Greater Gods.

The Twelve Temples

Each of the Twelve Temples are large enough to be compared to full Church buildings. Each building is made of white granite with large stained glass windows.

Administrative Building

On the southern end of the Inner Courtyard, a large building resembling a Basilica acts as the administrative building for the entire complex.

Dorms

The Dorms is a building resembling a Basilica on the northern side of the Inner Courtyard. This building contains the residences for all clergy and staff for the complex and also has the cafeteria for the clergy.

Academy of the Sacred Faith

The Academy of the Sacred Faith is the college-level school located on the western side of the Inner Courtyard. This building, resembling a Basilica has the purpose of training persons for introduction into the Clergy. This building has classrooms, dorms, and cafeterias for the students.

vestibule

The Vestibule is a large building, resembling a Basilica, acts as the entryway from outside the complex into the Inner Courtyard. This building is on the eastern side of the Inner Courtyard.

Outer Courtyard

The Outer Courtyard is built in a ring around the area behind the Twelve Temples to the Greater Gods. This area has access to the Inner Courtyard through buildings connecting between the Twelve Temples.

Temples to the Middle Gods

The Temples to the Middle Gods are temples with the size and appearance of normal Churches built in a ring around the Outer Courtyard.

Temples to the Minor Gods

The Temples to the Minor Gods are temples directly connected to the temples dedicated to their parents.

The Garden

The Garden is the space between the Temples to the Minor Gods and the Outer Wall. There are four large roads from the northern, eastern, souther, and western sides of the Outer Wall, towards the large buildings on the northern, southern, eastern, and western sides of the Inner Courtyard.

Outer Wall

The Outer Wall is a large white granite wall extending 3,200 meters from the center of the Arce de Deorum. The Outer Wall also has dour entry areas that have medieval-style gateways on the north, south, east, and west side of the Outer Wall.

Basilica

A Basilica is a massive building of worship, presided over by an Archbishop. There is one of these in every duchy. These buildings provide spaces to worship every god of the Imperial pantheon. Each god has his or her own Temple within a Basilica. A Basilica is typically built in the 1st Imperial Style of architecture (irl gothic architecture).

Cathedral

A Cathedral is a massive building of worship, presided over by an Bishop. There is one of these in every duchy. These buildings provide spaces to worship every god of the Imperial pantheon. Each god has his or her own Chapel within a Cathedral. A Cathedral is typically built in the 1st Imperial Style of architecture (irl gothic architecture).

Church

A Church is a building of worship, presided over by an High Priest. There is one of these in every duchy. These buildings provide spaces to worship every god of the Imperial pantheon. Each god has his or her own Chapel within a Church.

Temple

A Temple is a building of worship, presided over by a Priest. A Temple is a place dedicated to the worship of a single god of the Imperial Pantheon.

Chapel

A Chapel is a room within a larger place of worship which is dedicated to the worship of a single god of the Imperial Pantheon. A Chapel is presided over by a single priest.

Religious Practices

Prayers and Worship

Each god has his or her own prayer and worship standards. Some require specific colors or type of clothes be worn during services.

Oaths

Each god has his or her own standards for oaths. Oaths are considered sacred and just as good or valid as contracts. Oath Breakers are considered untrustworthy and may be denied attendance to some services, depending on the god on which the oath is sworn.

The Hunt

The Hunt is a form of sacrificial worship, used to show dedication to one's Patron God. One hunts for prey and presents it to the sacrificial altar. This practice can also be used as a form of penance, allowing one's sins to be forgiven by presenting the hunted prey as a sacrifice.

Services

Services are held twice a day, at 7:00 am and 7:00 pm. Services are one hour long and involve various prayers and hymns. While there is no official requirement, it is expected that a person attends one of these services each week.

Rite of Clergy

The Right of Clergy is a rite in which a person is ordained into the Clergy.

Hymns

Hymns, or religious chants, poems, and songs, are used to exalt specific gods or to tell religious stories or lessons.

Funeral Rites

Funeral Rites change based on the Patron God of the deceased, but they generally involve either a funeral pyre or casket burrial.

The Books of Pantheon

The Books of Pantheon, is a collection of books detailing the practices and stories of specific gods and goddesses, with one book dedicated to each god or goddess. There are also various other books that fall into this category.

Book of Origin

The Book of Origin tells of the creation of the world. This chapter tells of the Twelve Greater Gods creating the World and the birth of the other gods.

Book of Laws

The Book of Laws is a book that contains the various religious laws, practices, and standards for each god and goddess.

Book of Prayers

The Book of Prayers is a book that contains various prayers and hymns for each god and goddess.

Apotheosis

Apotheosis is the book dedicated to the story of Felix Averius, the founding Emperor and the Emperor who ascended into godhood.

Book of History

The Book of History is a book that contains the history and stories of the Imperial Pantheon important for the worship of the gods. This book also contains the religious history of the religions consumed by the Imperial Pantheon.