The most common Aludran religion is usually referred to as "Svezd" which comes from the Old Aludran "Svezdte" ("The Faith"). Svezd became so closely associated with the common religion in Aludra that it was retained in modern Aludran, with the modern word Mizanae ("(the) stance I take") becoming the general word for beliefs. Svezdi is the collective term for the faithful and Svaed the singular, though Etrusean uses "Svezdian."

Ancient History

Some aspects of Svezd probably date back to before the fall of the comet Nemesis eighteen thousand years ago, though this is impossible to determine since no written records from that period survive. What is known is that in its original form it was more heavily polytheistic than the modern form, which mostly venerates three Goddesses.

The Ancient Goddesses

The ancient pagan forms of Aludran religion have a loose central set of concepts with local beliefs and fables built on top of them. Many of the early stories do not survive or must be guessed at from their modern incarnations, but the central ideas are relatively well-documented in early carvings and temple relics.

No known record includes a story of the origin of the planet itself; it appears the ancient Alun believed there was a being responsible for this, however. Scholars semi-seriously theorise, based on the Aludran mindset, that they refused to believe any story of the planet's origin since a being with the power to create the world itself would have the Decency to tell them about it rather than letting them find out through someone else.

All of the goddesses of nature were the daughters of Kulas and Zul, and in turn their daughters were the creators of all mortal species, those daughters also being Goddesses of the traits the early Aludrans associated with those species. The Alun themselves were the daughters of Fiora, the trickster, and Alysa, the huntress.

Kulas

The Empress of the ancient pantheon and in many stories one of Locke's mothers, Kulas, goddess of the sun, was the strongest of all the Goddesses aside from the unidentified creator, so powerful that she could break through the darkness that It spread over the world to bring light to the mortal world. Kulas is usually shown as a middle-aged tigress with three eyes and a body of flames or gleaming bronze, often armed with a great axe or javelin.

Kulas is noteworthy among ancient pantheons in being a rare example of a sun deity who is not either evil or dead, a result of memories of the three days of night that followed the impact of Nemesis.

Zul

Zul, while simply the word for the planet or ground in modern Aludran, was formerly one of the two most powerful goddesses who came into existence when the universe was formed; with her first breath, she created every plant and tree upon the surface of the barren world. Zul is always depicted as a wise, stern old woman who guided her daughters in shaping her creation, and is a goddess of wisdom and learning. Her normal depiction is a figure made of earth, rocks and moss and combines feline and canine facial features, with four arms and two tails.

The two First Goddesses represent two of the central Aludran ideals of motherhood, the protector and the teacher.

Perkunas

One of the mightiest among the goddesses of nature is the goddess of the sky, mountains and thunder; she is often also associated with war. Perkunas is a figure who appears in both Aludran and Basram religion; the figure is male in Basram and female in Aludra, though it is not clear which came first. In Aludran lore, she is credited with setting the world in motion, doing so with a single blow from her great staff, and it is said that she makes the earth tremble with her voice.

In Aludra she is almost always depicted as a wild-haired lioness, while Basram depictions show the God as a giant wolf.

Locke

The story of Locke, the Goddess of stone, mesas and masonry, is found in both Garamese and Aludran lore; in various depictions she appears as either a muscular feline or an immense bear with two heads and arms made from bronze. Locke is said to be the abandoned offspring of a union between two Goddesses (which two varies greatly) who was cast down to the mortal world and made her home atop a vast pillar of rock in what is now Northern Aludra, where she has dwelled since the dawn of time.

This pillar, today still called Locke's Tower, is a truly bizarre structure, a mesa made of rock that does not match its surroundings and with the geological layers reversed, that was once surrounded by a sea of broken stones*. These stones were a valuable source of raw materials for early societies in the area.

Legends surrounding her depict Locke as a kind-hearted and lonely creature who would bring mortals to the top of her tower to be companions or lovers, and granted them her knowledge of shaping stone when she returned them to the world below. Over the years, she was re-imagined as a general goddess of craftswomen and often pictured working at a forge.

In ancient times, it was considered a sacrilege punishable by death to attempt to climb the mountain. While like the other minor goddesses Locke is no longer regarded as a being who exists in the physical world, the modern Aludran government still regards it as a sacred place, though largely just because it has always been one.

Malika

The Goddess of non-sentient land animals is Malika, a figure usually depicted as a small child and often as a rabbit or mouse; the animals are her attempt to copy the work of her older siblings, with varying results. Aggressive and dangerous animals are her earliest attempts, with friendly ones coming later as she grew better at her work, finally creating useful ones such as cattle and horses to help mortals. She is not the creator of any animal regarded as an aspect of It's influence, such as fleas and ticks, nor any sea creatures.

She is by far the most benevolent of Goddesses, regarding even mortals as her older siblings and only angered by those who would mistreat her creations for no good reason. In the modern era she is the patron of herders and veterinarians and is prayed to by small children with sick pets.

Rei

The Fair Lady, beloved goddess of death, is the central figure of Etrusea's Suunist faith, and also appears in the Aludran pantheon. Her Aludran form incorporates most traits of the pagan night goddess Vyndra, but she retains the appearance of the Etrusean deity; an eerily beautiful black deer with graceful antlers and silver face markings tracing the shape of her skull, always shown in a complex, elegant dress with a sword at her side. On her shoulder sits a white bird, the moon, and as she lifts each foot she leaves snowbells in the shape of her footprints.

The Fair Lady is not worshipped as a bringer of wisdom as she is in Etrusea, merely being a companion to the living who can be prayed to for protection.

Alysa

Alysa is the supreme hunter and one of the two mother-goddesses of all Alun. A fourteen-foot giant as strong as any ten beasts and as fast as the wind, she is a goddess of patience, diligence and duty, and a patron of hunters, soldiers and those who enforce the law.

Alysa taught her daughters to survive in adversity and all the arts of hunting, gifting to them patience, keen senses and great speed.

In early depictions Alysa was usually shown as a lioness or tigress, but over the years it was felt this implied Alun were less closely related to their Goddess than the big cat species and in all modern depictions she is a powerfully built Bengal Cat**. In her older depictions, she wore a traditional hunter's garb with furs, while modern depictions usually show her in a military uniform.

Fiora

Fiora is the trickster goddess and the other mother-goddess of the Alun, and is patron to all those who use trickery or live by chance, from tacticians to gamblers and assassins; she is often also thought of as having a liking for chivalrous criminals.

She is said to have taught her children playfulness, trickery and cunning and to have gifted to them knowledge of telling fortunes and the first butterfly knife, a weapon inseparably associated with Alun.

Despite Alysa and Fiora's completely opposed natures and the fact that Fiora is incapable of being faithful, they are seen as a loving couple, fitting the idea of opposites in a relationship complimenting rather than detracting from one another. Fiora's playfulness tempers Alysa's single-mindedness, for example, while Alysa's stern and honest nature tempers Fiora's gift of flattery. Fiora's inability to give a straight answer is consistent throughout her depictions; the best she can do is answer a question with another question***.

While older myths sometimes show her with a cruel sense of humour, over the centuries this has largely disappeared, with modern depictions emphasising that she is a gentle soul and would not do anything hurtful or harmful.

Fiora is always shown as an elegant black Thai cat wearing a more elaborate version of the traditional outfit of a travelling fortune-teller, a dress made from diamond-shaped pieces of material.

There is a tradition for Aludran parents to give their children gifts said to be from Fiora for the winter solstice, thought to reflect ancient thanksgiving rituals to the goddess Kulas for ending the three days of night. When children are old enough to realise the gifts are actually from their parents, they are told that of course they're not actually from Fiora.

That wouldn't be a trick.

It

This accursed and nameless being is the author of all evil and suffering in the world, and a principle figure in both ancient and modern forms of Svezd. It appears to have originated in oral traditions regarding the fall of Nemesis, with the story later being reworked to incorporate the Imperial family.

It has no form, no name, and is never shown as anything but a stylised Old Aludran glyph or a black rectangle. It is the fifteenth of the Major Arcana of the Aludran Tarot deck, a completely black card that lacks any text or a number. Fortune-tellers often throw the card away as soon as they get a new deck, and in card games it is a "reverse trump" which has a value one lower than the lowest card on the table; if a low ace is present, playing It is a losing hand regardless of what other cards the player has.

The Great Contest

In the original telling, Fiora and Alysa were not yet a couple and the trickster challenged the hunt goddess to a contest; if she could defeat Alysa in a hunting contest, she would win Alysa's hand. It, which also desired Alysa for whatever reason, declared that It could defeat both. In more modern tellings the two are already a couple (having already created the Alun, the original tale being disconnected from the creation stories) and the bet is that if It can defeat both It will have Alysa's hand.

Regardless of the telling, the remainder is the same; mighty Alysa goes first and proves her skills, but with her trickery Fiora manages to take one more animal. It then takes It's turn, but It does not hunt: instead, It inflicts a cruel curse on all living things, that they would weaken and suffer with age and ultimately die, and declared Itself the victor.

Incensed at this cruelty, Alysa hurled her spear into It, and the body fell to the mortal world, spreading darkness and the chill of winter across the world as It disintegrated.

The evil aura left in the world prevents the Goddesses from undoing the curse upon the living; the only Goddess who can still walk upon the cursed world is Rei, since as a night goddess, darkness has no power over her. In earlier versions, other Goddesses like Locke remained in places It's influence could not reach such as mountains and deep caves, but this is not part of the modern story.

Rei's incorporation into the later tale also changes what angered Alysa; in the original tale it was simply the evil of the deed itself, while the later version adds that Alysa was incensed at It trying to get kind-hearted Rei to do It's dirty work, knowing the merciful night goddess would not allow mortals to suffer forever.

In modern tellings, seeing the suffering of the Alun, Alysa bore Fiora's child to lead them, and this was Circe dio Alud, the first Empress. Thus, while all Alun are the creations of their Goddesses, the Imperial family are their actual descendants.

Circe dio Alud, prophet and First Empress

Circe dio Alud is a figure so heavily steeped in mythology that it is difficult to determine where facts about her end and legend begins, particularly since her story was passed down via oral tradition for centuries before ever being written down. Modern historians agree there almost certainly was a historical Circe and that the person interred in the Alud family crypt is almost certainly her, though to what extent her life mirrored the legends is the subject of much debate.

Aludran historians tend to subscribe to the "twin nations" theory that complex settled Alun civilisations had existed for a significant period in both modern Aludra and Khasan, a location in the North of what is now the Namir Desert, and that many of their religious ideas date back to these civilisations. The nation in the desert was destroyed by the Nemesis impact with survivors fleeing along their old trade routes, while the ancient cities of Aludra collapsed into ruin in the chaos that followed, with most of their knowledge being lost in the process. While this view is supported to an extent by archaeological finds and the diversity of skintones in the modern Aludran population, it is often felt to be a little far-fetched by historians in other nations.

The alternative theory is that the civilisation of Khasan did exist but Aludra was at the time a series of small temple-cities which were profitable for spice traders; this is felt to be more in line with the relative lack of Aludran archaeological discoveries, though Aludran historians explain this as most of the old ruins being salvaged by early city-planners. Both sides agree that Alysa and Fiora were probably based on existing goddesses of Khasan.

Regardless, Circe dio Alud was the leader of a nomadic clan of hunters that formed in the aftermath of the impact. Seeking guidance, Circe journeyed alone to, according to legend, the site of the modern Imperial Palace, and there was granted a vision from the Goddesses. Among her revelations was that since prey were finite, the Alud must become the guardians of their lands and forests to ensure the prosperity of their kind, and to that effect they must settle in this land.

As a proof of her meeting with the Goddesses, Circe returned from her journey holding a massive spear-like artifact, the "Queen Lance," claiming it was the spear that slew It, which Alysa had guided her to. It is generally believed this artifact was a Kraken flipper bone she discovered on the shore since its description is similar to "Tauberg's Spear," the Basram royal family's badge of authority. The Queen Lance disappears from Aludran records around three thousand years ago and its current location is unknown; it is thought to have been destroyed when the old Imperial Palace collapsed during the Seri Cataclysm, one of the worst city fires in history.

The Order of Fiora

The Order is a shadowy organisation that is often regarded as the world's oldest secret service, being perhaps as old as Aludra itself. Even the name of the group is unclear; representatives wear robes and expressionless gold masks when they wish to be known, and try to say they are working on behalf of "Fiora," defaulting to "The Order" or "The Organisation" if the former makes no grammatical sense.

From what little can be gleaned, the group believe themselves to be guardians of the Alud, descended from a daughter carried by Fiora just as the Alud are descended from a daughter carried by Alysa. It is not known how the group recruits, where it meets or how it is funded, and its representatives answer to nobody but the Empress herself.

Despite its bizarre methods, The Order is one of the most effective intelligence organisations in the world, which is probably why the Imperial family has done nothing to prevent it from operating.

The Central Church

As the city-state of Aludra became stronger, it became a spiritual as well as an economic centre. With the construction of the central temples of Alurna around four thousand years ago there was for the first time a powerful central authority of High Priestesses who started work on coming up with a central set of teachings.

Scholars gradually collated the scattered teachings of the pagan temples into a series of tomes, the Kyhadib. This was a delicate process involving much negotiation to access writings held by the scattered temples, with their priestesses initially very suspicious of the project's goals, and the Kyhadib is the result of over a thousand years of careful negotiations, incentives, and in some cases when all else failed outright theft. The precise origins of the book's name are unclear, most likely having their roots in Ancient Khasan rather than proto-Aludran.

Historians agree that the increasing power and authority of the central church in Alurna was as much a factor in the Aludran Unification War as the issue of slavery, which is more normally pointed to as the cause. The enemies of the Alud felt that the church's preaching of the Empress as the direct descendant of the Goddesses undermined their own authority, and that removing her from power would prove she was just an ordinary mortal. The war that followed would lead to Empress Keri dio Alud's victory, ending the Aludran Dark Ages and the era of city-states with the Acts of Unification.

Hira and the Modern Synthesis

From the Alcacian mercenary commander Skadi Skuldsdottir the Princess Imperial Lenka dio Alud learned of the Alcacian supreme being Hri and felt inspired to question the High Priestesses on the possibility that such a being might be responsible for the creation of the world, as the Aludran faith never assigned an identity to the creator. From this came her Aludran form, Hira. While Hri is a transcendent being that is to a god as a god is to a mortal and has never been depicted with any image but her name, the Aludran church imagined her as appearing to each mortal as their own species, since they would be unable to survive seeing her true form. Rather than being unfathomable and entirely disinterested in the mortal world, she is a figure based on the ideal of the Empress; a merciful and kind figure who cares about all of those in her domain, even if she cannot care for each one individually. It is not futile to pray to Hira, though it is thought to be unlikely to get her attention.

The Kyhadib underwent its final series of revisions under Lenka's reign as Empress, vastly increasing the powers of the central church. Most of the Aludran minor goddesses were relegated to being regarded as pagan myths or minor guardian spirits, with their temples, which had struggled to maintain themselves on contributions from small groups of worshippers, being absorbed into the central church largely without incident. She was well aware of the civil wars that had rocked Basram during their attempts at church reform, and decreed that her reforms would not damage a single temple or shrine****.

Lenka personally led the rededication of the First Temple in Alurna to Hira, making it clear that its old functions as a temple to Alysa would not be threatened by this and accepting questions from her subjects for three hours following the final prayers.

The old Svezdi creator-figures of other species were reduced to the things they embodied, since Lenka thought it presumptuous to try to explain the origins of others rather than letting them do so themselves. Instead, the Aludran faith regards their own religions as being true insofar as they are compatible with it. For example, to Aludrans the nine Chiran Goddesses actually are the creators of the Chiran people and their ideas about the Soul Gates are true for them, while their creation story is the story of how their land was created after Hira had finished her work.

This also meant that it was no longer regarded as Improper for other species to make requests of Alysa or Fiora; in the modern system they are more likely to listen to Alun, but any species requiring their guidance can speak with them. The New Code also applied changes to the goddesses that had been accepted over the years; Fiora becoming less prone to cruelty and Alysa's depiction being cemented as a Bengal cat rather than a lioness.

The old practice of giving burned offerings to the Goddesses had become more or less an anachronism over the centuries, and Lenka's reforms made official the common practice of lighting candles as a substitute. This is performed at a shrine or church, never in one's home. Chiran-born believers in Svezd will often leave traditional prayer slips along with their candle, which is an accepted variation of the ritual.

Due to the Imperial family's unbroken claim of Divine Right, the modern Church is regarded as entirely subordinate to it, and Lenka codified their duties, including signing into law their traditional duty of looking after orphaned children.

Ideals

Central to the Aludran mindset is the idea that Alun embody a quality they refer to as being Proper, that being the trait which makes an Alun a Lady; this is not a goal they must strive for, but an innate part of their being. Being Proper is characterised to other species as an incredibly complex set of contradictory rules, but many commenters have over the years observed that it can be summarised as "only Alun know how to do it."

Their role is to act as a positive example for other species and to never consider them as lesser for being Improper, to shun cruelty and excess and to be modest, kind, patient and generous, as is their Nature. It is sometimes described as a sort of "soft smugness" in which their beliefs in what they already are must be borne out by their behaviour, effectively being the principle of noblesse oblige scaled up to encompass an entire species.

Svezd regards the existence of suffering and injustice as the lingering aura of evil spread through the world by the death of It. This aura of corruption will someday fade and allow for a new age when people share the world with their creators; until that time, the Goddesses only have a limited ability to affect the lives of mortals.

The primary goal for Alun is to lead a righteous life that emphasises their Properness; if they do so, after death they will dream peaceful dreams until It's influence has faded from the world. There are different sects with different interpretations of what happens if they do not, all based around reincarnation: all agree that the merely unrighteous will receive a new life, though some have it that the truly evil simply cease to exist when they die, or endure a period of terrible nightmares before they are reborn.

Scripture

There are several major tomes to the Kyhadib, with the most important the Book of Sagas, documenting a slightly fanciful version of early Aludran history, and the Book of Wisdom, which consists of the teachings of various prophets and scholars that form the core of Svezd. The Book of The Law is an ancient description of the Kythen system and is still the basis of the Aludran legal system, though many crimes once in the Eighth Kythen (fraud) are now regarded as less severe than in the original system. A number of other tomes like the Book of Visions and Book of Sayings are not part of the actual Kyhadib compilation but regarded as complimentary to it.

There are numerous rituals associated with actually reading the Kyhadib; one's hands should be clean while handling it, and the book is normally wrapped in a cloth which is folded in a specific way and unfolded to rest it on. Tradition is to keep it on a small table on which is nothing else save for a lantern (the Kulad) which is lit while reading, symbolic of the wisdom of the Goddesses undoing It's influence. Any companion tomes to the Kyhadib are kept on the same table.

The final book is the Book of the Promise, also called the History of the First and Final Day. This documents the day when It's influence finally leaves the world and it is remade as a place without death, injustice, pain or sorrow and the righteous dead are returned to life to dwell with their creators. The book is particularly known for its final passages and the presence of four blank pages followed by a statement that directly addresses the reader.

"Those who have lived not a single Good life in the time Before will on that day perish utterly in the final death, and shall vanish from the world forever, and their names be forgotten."
"But of those who remain, all sins will be forgiven."

(...)

"Even yours."

---

*The most accepted theory for the origin of Locke's Tower, in particular based on the composition of the rock, is that it is a city-sized chunk of debris that was ejected from the Chiran crater during whatever event created it some 40 million years ago, and landed upside-down in Aludra, shearing off most of its exterior in the process. It is entirely unclear to modern scholars what process would be capable of doing this.
**While these places do not exist in this world, it would be a little stupid to make up a name for a real-life cat breed if I just have to explain what it means down here anyway.
*** One commonly quoted example of this is a story where Fiora has charmed the daughters of the goddesses of truth, purity and peace, and all three wish for her to tell the truth to prove that she loves them. She replied, "Daughter of truth, would you lie for me? Daughter of purity, would you sin for me? Daughter of peace, would you kill for me?"
****This was a stark contrast to the church-burnings and destruction of icons that had occurred under Basram's leader at the time of the attempted reforms, Baroness Helena Elias (often recalled with the epithet "the Barbarian") and ultimately led to her assassination by Duke Martis and the change from Grand Barony to Grand Duchy. This continued Basram's curious tradition of having a lower-ranked noble as ruler; Alun often wonder if Basran leaders just don't know they can declare themselves kings or queens if they want to.