Elon: A Treatise on Aedak in Elon

In this age of advancement, change and the coming together of North and South, the question of religion and the giving way of old northern religions to the State Church can be a major source of conflict. And, as is true in all conflicts, the best way to combat them is to begin by understanding, which is why I have decided to write this book. Initially, Elon and the Veakirate have had little conflict. Since Elon was itself Aedak before the conquest of the north, much of the nation welcomed the Veakirate with open arms and quickly accepted the rule of the church over them. However, as time has progressed, uneasy misunderstandings and religious conflicts have begun to arise. As priest of the Dovwynn chapel and a curious historian and theologian, I have had a first hand view of these differences. It is my hope to explain these and put them out in the open. It is not for me to decide what is to be done after that, but is my sincere prayer that peace shall continue to exist between the Church and the Elonese people.

The Surveakom religion believing in Aed and founded by the prophet Raegar, was brought north to the nation of Elon in the year of the prophet 413, by the martyr Oleo and the edict of King Evyn Christallo. However, when it was accepted, it did not replace the pagan believes already existing in the country, but rather merged with them, mingling into unique religious traditions and beliefs. For the following three and a half centuries, Aedak in Elon developed and matured independent from both Surveak and Veakirate interference or oversight. The result is a branch of the religion, which while Aedak in name and following the major tenants of, Duty, Dignity and Mastery, is, in fact, quite different once explored under the surface.

Prior to Oleo’s arrival, Elon practiced a pagan religion that, while exulting a pantheon of gods, primarily focused on communion with nature spirits, personal enlightenment, philosophy and spiritual improvement. Philosophically they held to a belief in souls and a perfect ideal, which exists spiritually for everything and, in fact, defines all things in creation. For example, a physical chair, however imperfect or bizarrely designed, is a chair, because it reflects the spiritual idea or “form” of a chair, which everyone innately knows and recognizes. This is true about everything and everyone. Spiritual “forms” define all of physical creation and their perfection is the bar by which all physical forms are measured and judged. The closer a physical form is to their spiritual counter part, the better they are. Nothing in creation is totally perfect and only by reaching enlightenment can anyone even truly understand perfection, but people can innately recognize greatness or beauty or grace when a person, creature or item reflects more exactly their true from.

People have this innate insight, because every person has an immortal soul, which came out of the perfect spiritual form of whatever they may be and lived in the spiritual realm, where all true forms exist. When a person dies their soul returns to this existence, were enlightenment and perfection are as easy to see as sunshine on the leaves of trees. When a person is born, their soul breaks from the true forms of their identity and takes on corporeal existence.

A person may reflect more than one kind of form. They may be a Blacksmith and a Father and many other things. So, in a way, when souls take on corporeal form, they mix together reflections of many things and, like a cake made of many ingredients, a human being combines many forms with varying levels of truth and success. A man may more truly reflect the spirit of a Father than he does the spirit of a Warrior, but still hold both in his soul. Besides people, everything else in creation also has a soul, including inanimate objects, because everything we see, recognize and understand, every concept and idea can only exist because there is a true spiritual form that defines it.

Long ago, spirits and “forms” were seen as gods in a sense, and the Elonese would seek counsel and advise, hoping the spirit of whichever ideal they were struggling toward would give them guidance. A father might reach out to the spirit of all Fathers the perfect ideal of a Father, hoping to better understand and fulfill his purpose when struggling with his children. In the same way a warrior would seek enlightenment and understanding from the spirit form of the Warrior. To a lesser degree, this practice continues, though the Elonese no going considered the spirits gods, but extensions of Aed and sprits of magic and creation in His service.

Before the advent of Aedak in Elon, those who were devoted to religion would spend all their days in philosophical consideration, meditation and silent prayer, trying to understand and realize the true forms and how best they and society can reflect them. Sometimes these “Wise-men” or “Wise-wemon” would achieve clairvoyance and the ability to sense, see and even communicate or command the spirits all around them; both the true forms and the isolated souls hidden within the physical prisons of corporeal creation. These people often had powers, which they would use to heal or improve those around them, manipulate nature or even see into the future. This practice is continued in a smaller degree to this day. Many religious devotes, epically among hermits and one of the Elonese monastic orders, still seek communication and enlightenment through the spirits, but prophets and wise-men/women are a less common. Usually, those that still practice downplay what abilities they have, doing little out of the mundane, save maintaining a sense of true seeing and insight, which the use to understand and so better address the problems they may encounter.

When Aedak was first introduced in 413, there was very little resistance to accepting Aed as the one and only God and creator. Monotheism, with one true and perfect being, who could embody and be the source of all forms and righteousness, actually fit quite well with Elonese philosophical ideals, as did the tenants of Duty, Dignity and Mastery. They had already held strongly to the idea that every man, indeed all creation, had a duty to try to imitate and better reflect the true forms they were derived from. Mastering your gifts and doing your very best in you place and career was both a moral and social responsibility. The roll of dignity and Raegar’s fight for freedom against tyranny brought a sense of compassion and charity to the Elonese people that the lofty philosophical teachings, and petty and selfish pagan gods had lacked and was eagerly taken up. This was especially true since Oleo arrived in times of hardship and brutal conquests and those who were downtrodden and oppressed found inspiration in this message.

However, as warmly as Elon welcomed Aedak, there was little response back from the south at the time. Oleo had brought copies of the Aedaknam and Raegarnam with him, but lost the valued books amid the struggles and difficulties he encountered shortly after his arrival. It was many decades before either books were fully translated into Elonese and the first translations were not very accurate, or easy to understand. Beside this, the dry, historical tone about places and people the Elonese had little reference to, seldom held anyone’s attention. For many years, Elonese priests taught almost exclusively through parables and songs, translating the values and lessons they were able to glean from their precious few copies of the holy books into a language and format that the common people could understand and appreciate. To this day, even after improved translations of the Aedaknam and Raegarnam have been made, books of old Elonese sermons, parables, songs and tales of old martyrs are still the primary means of teaching and worship in Elonese temples.

As a result of all this, only the well-educated clergy have any real familiarity with the two holy books and Aedak in Elon has been warped and skewed by the traditions and values of Elon’s people and history. Some aspects have been emphasized and expounded upon far more than is typically taught in the south, while other aspects have all but vanished. Most of the people still believe in spirits, as a part of Aed’s creation and servants under his wisdom. The dignity of life and the importance of truth are important, and the Elonses teach a good deal about the value of life, freedom, compassion and charity. However, the adherence to the state, the order of Vaekirate higharchy and the definitions and restrictions on magic, authority and military are all but unknown to the majority of Elonese people.

Religion is and always has been fairly unstructured in Elon, with decentralized priests, small monastic orders and holy hermits, who served the community and fulfilled charitable rolls, in exchange for protection and income from the king, the lord of their town and donations from the community. Elonese clergy have never been numerous and certainly have never had a militaristic roll. In fact, it is common for Elonese priests to take vows against violence or doing harm to anyone. In this way they can better perform their charitable duties, focusing all their energy on teaching, healing and providing for the pour and also maintaining the trust of the rest of society. Providing hospitality and protection to the clergy is considered a scared duty whomever you might be and in exchange the clergy are expected to take no part in conflicts or wars and never raise a weapon against another man. They vow to treat and care for all equally, no matter which side of a conflict they might actually sympathize with.


Elon has developed three unique monastic orders, as well as their own style of worship, which relies heavily on festivals, stories, songs, mediation and communication through prayer with spirits, ancestors, heroes and Aed himself. There also have been several collections of sermons, and books on Elonese theology and philosophy, which branch away and defer from many of the traditional Aedak beliefs in subtle, but fundamental ways. All and all, when carefully compared side by side, it is difficult to call Surveakom and Elonese Aedak the same religion, despite the fact that they worship they same monotheistic God and hold to the same three tenants.


In the following chapters, I shall explore the details of Elonese Aedak more carefully and describe the practices, monastic orders, parables and theological teachings more fully. It is a rich and deeply philosophical religion at its core, but confusing and at times paradoxical, because of its mixed origins and decentralized past. There are nearly as many contradictions and variations within Elonese traditions as there are between Elonese and Surveakom teachings.

– Hachiam -

The Hachiam monks make up the second largest order in Elon, numbering roughly 2000 and living in small communities of about 150 to 300 members. They live in mission building or small monasteries on the edge of Elonese villages and towns or at the cross roads of country highways, usually on lands which have been donated by a local lord or passed down from the founder of the mission. Most of the Hachiam do not travel, though it isn’t unknown for some missions to send out missionaries and teachers to villages or tribes, especially if that community does not have it’s own chapel and chaplain.

Hachaim monks take vows of poverty, chastity and non-violence. They may carry no weapons, do not own anything themselves, nor may they marry. The communities are organized under a governing higharchy with an abbot or abbottess at the head.

The Hachaim are best known as the monks of sanctuary and hospitality. They must do their best to extend help and hospitality to anyone who comes to their doors and this means providing food lodging, healing and protection. Though they themselves carry no weapons, a Hachaim chapel or monastery is considered a sacred sanctuary by national law and any attack made against such a sanctuary for any reason is considered a high crime. They Hachaim will not turn anyone away, though if a guest blatantly abuses monastic members, property or traditions, or if a guest has stayed longer than three months, the order has the right to then turn the guest out.

Besides provided simple shelter and hospitality, the Hachaim monks are often scholars, willing to take on students of learning and religion and they spend at least three days of the week praying, meditating and worshiping on behalf to the local people and the Elonese nation. The other four days they spend working, because most missions and monasteries support themselves through vineyards, lumber, orchards or barley grown on their lands and worked by the monastic members. Larger communities may also have a few artisans, such as cloth weavers, glass blowers or tinkers. Any profits a monastery happens to make, beyond what’s needed to support their simple lifestyle and provide the necessary hospitality is either donated to the local community or send to the church as a holy donation. The Hachiam live simple humble lives, dedication to holy practices, hard work and generous giving to anyone who passes through their doors.

Prior to the official establishment of the Surveakom Empire and Aedkom Church in the north, the Hachaim were also known for training those with magical gifts in healing and the blessing of agriculture. A good many of the Elonese mages who were turned over to authority of the church came from Hachaim missions and monasteries. Since then the order has lost a good deal of influence and recognition and surrounding communities have suffered some degradation having lost access to the magical skills the monks once provided. However, if any members of the Hachaim order are bitter about the revocation of magical learning, none of them have spoken out and it is the tradition of the order to remain passive and neutral in any matter considered even remotely political.

At the core of Elonese worship is the festival. There are over a hundred festivals each one inspired by a different saint or religious parable and each with it’s own moral lesson and story. Many of these are obscure, but it is not uncommon for parents to teach their children the lore of whatever festival and corresponding saint the child’s birthday falls upon. In this way even the more obscure stories and traditions get passed down and remembered by a portion of the common population.

Out these hundreds of festivals there are twelve main festivals, one for each month of the year. These festivals are widely known and celebrated to at least a small degree by everyone. Priests usually use the festival calendar in order to plan their lessons and each month chapels have specific songs, prayers and music that relate to the saint and festival of the month. This creates a rotating tradition of repeated moral stories and songs that become deeply ingrained. Just about any child in Elon can tell you what the saints, stories and songs for any of the twelve months of the year are and why they’re important.

Out of the twelve monthly festivals the four that fall on the yearly equinoxes and solstices are the most prominent and the only festivals that the king has made official Elonese holidays. These four festivals mark the changing of the seasons and lords and property managers must free their servants and labors of but the most essential work duties. This rule applies on those four festival days and the days immediately before and immediately after the festival. People are encouraged to use the holiday to travel to towns in order to participate in the festivals, or to take short pilgrimages to holy sites.

The four primary festivals are:

1. St. Barita’s day aka “The Day of the Hunt,” aka “New Year’s Festival” which falls on New Year’s day and the first day of spring.
2. St. Oleo’s Day, which fall on the summer solstice.
3. St. Odetta’s Day aka “Festival of Things Unseen” aka “The Harvest Festival,” which falls on the fist day of autumn.
4. “The Festival of Tindertwig,” which in on the winter solstice.

Each of the festivals has several corresponding stories, songs and plays associated and each also has a moral lesson or theme associated with it. The Festival of Tindertwig is the only one of the primary festivals that does not celebrate a specific saint, but there are still characters and legends around which the holiday revolves.

The Komari Clans are usually responsible for putting on the festivals, though often time local lords will help to fund the activities and feasts. The festival will last at least a day, though sometimes they will be as long as three days, extending to both the day before and the day after the festival proper. Dances, plays, music, sermons and traditional rituals will be preformed for each festival and feasts are held on the open square. These are days of great national and religious fervor and reflect the focus upon community and hospitality that much of Elon is famous for.

Bartia, Oleo and Odetta are not only religious, but also national heroes, whose stories are well know and beloved by all. These legends continue to expand, as more stories get told, but the core lessons and stories will never be forgotten. In many ways these festivals are the backbone of Elonese religion, at least as it is understood and practiced by the laymen and common people. What the common people know to be moral right and wrong was usually taught to them through these heroes and the surrounding legends and sermons. The encounters these heroes had with the spirits and with Aed, are how the common people see and understand Aed, the supernatural realm and its relation toward the mortal world.

Because these lessons are told through the medium of story and legend, they are not always perfectly consistent in detail or facts, but in a board view there is an overwhelming moral code and character ideal portrayed, which is reflected in Elon’s population, laws and traditions.