The Writing of a Treji Ritualist: The Union of Fire By: James Treji Larkson (Ritualist of the Treji Clan) ______________________________________________________________________________________________ Sections Intro The Union Ellea Lanarra __________________________________________________________________________ IntroIt is a rare day when the beliefs of a Ritual Clan are put to paper. Essays and missives aren't commonly written speaking of such a personal religion as ours, for ever relationship with the Gods is different and every person entitled to their views of the Divines, yet this is not a common time. Just a short time ago the Void had poured out into Regalia threatening not just the Empire but the World then through the efforts of a united people the void was driven back. Yet now as our fellow brothers and sister of the faith are once more dragged from their homes and their bodies put to a flame by disgraceful cowards unworthy of anything but to be cast down by the cold and just hand of the Imperial law. Through these events I have realized how fragile our traditions have become, thatwhen our flesh is burned and our numbers ever dwindle despite our efforts; few records remain of our ways and our teachings, so by the allowance of Julla and the guiding of Handrin. I've resolved to put the beliefs of the Treji Ritual Clan and my own additions to its legacy to paper. In honor of Francis Treji Larkson, devout of The Union of Fire, who remains a shinning example of both a Father and a Husband to our village to this day. As a student of his, I shall now have the honor of enshrining his beliefs, the canon spawned by the beliefs of our ancestors, and my own views of the Goddesses into writing. ___________________________________________________________________________________________ The Union In the Pantheon of the Old Gods, each individual God and Goddess were formed from parts of a central being known as the All Being which formed existence. Each of the Gods and Goddesses were bound with another in a divine symmetry, these halves were bound to an element of Aloria which connected with their purposes and their natures. In creation, the All Being split its heart in two and from these halves created Ellea, The Maiden, and Lanarra ,The Nurturer, one of bright, guiding, passionate blaze and the other comforting, warm nurturing heat fanning ember into flame, yet always prepared to burn any who would seek to snuff out the flame. This binding of flame and heart would become the symbol of the bonds of love, the bonds of family, the bonds of momentary attraction, the binds of love in all forms. From the Binding, stories diverge as to the relationship of the Goddesses some contend the Goddesses were lovers other that they were friends or siblings or mother and daughter, yet while my Uncle put stock in them being lovers. I believe that what they are to each other isn't as important as what they do for each other and what they help us do for ourselves. The Stories told by the Treji Clan tell of a young maiden, a goddess of endless innocence, passion, and hope who meet a older wiser women whose heart she touched. This women nurtures and protects the maiden helping her by teaching families born from Ellea's guidance how to care and protect one another. ___________________________________________________________________________________________ Ellea "Ellea Guides" The common refrain of my Uncle, "Ellea Guides" was his assurance to the heart broken, the blessing to the beloveds, the celebration on wedding days, and the slight nod to the seducers and the night's willing partner. In the Treji Clan we hold the purpose of Ellea is to guide people to one another from their it is our job to act with honor and care. We believe fervently that Ellea punishes abusers and beasts who desecrate love, we also believe that those whose hearts are redeemable are corrected by Ellea and if they repent. They will be guided by Ellea until such a time they evolve from blackened coal to a bright ember. It is at this time Ellea guides them to one, or more in the case of some, with whom their heart will unite to form a loving flame. My own story is a tale such as this, I was an Ailor broken by anger and hate from a crusade I thought dictated by Alu. My heart was a cold, callous lump of coal untouched by the flame of love or mercy for many years by own choice. In this state I left my kin behind and stumbling through darkness meet a women who only wished to show me the light. In turn for my coldness and my neglect she became pained by my ignorance and slighted by my false love, so she turned to the void and sanguinism to try to reignite my heart with power and trick. In her desperation, she only became another victim of my crusade. In the Aftermath of this act, a small ember of grief took root in me and I swore my Oath to Ellea and over years of broken act after broken act I grew and changed becoming a better man and when Ellea deemed my penance done. I meet the women with whom my heart is now bound in blessed union, I meet her like how my Father and Mother before me meet and how my Uncle and my Aunt meet before them by Ellea's Guidance I was in the right place, turned at the right time, and introduced myself to a the right women. Hermaeus, with whom I would spend the chaotic moments of the clicker attacks and in the quiet moments when we shared a cup of tea. Through these moments a tattered Ember grew into a fervent blaze, my wife was much like myself a soul whose flame had been smothered by tragedy since the day she came of age, yet that ember found the love and the mutual grace to become a roaring blaze. It is from this, I came to understand and to believe with all my being that "Ellea Guides" and her flame burns ever on in all who accept it. ___________________________________________________________________________________________ Lannara "Protect, Nurture, Bind the Ties" Lanarra tasks her ritualists with seeking out the young, the orphaned, the abandoned, those who lack direction and support. Her lessons are to protect ones kin, though I will not advocate vigilantism there is a time in which the right of Self Defense must be utilized to protect ones family and ones friends. Yet it is not just our kin Lanarra asks us to protect and nurture but also those who have no family. In the Treji Clan, the task of finding the lost and protecting them as though they were ones own kin is a sacred thing to us and for that we forged a creed"Blood before Oaths, Blood before Gods, Blood Before everything" in our clan ones culture, faith, or personal beliefs are secondary to the fact they treat their fellows as Blood Kin bound together as a family to protect, to nurture, and, when they find those in need and of worth, to bind the ties of kinship. In my case alone I have forged a young ritualist of Julla from a niece adopted from the streets, I have adopted two girls touched by tragedy whom now stand loved and cared for, I have shouldered the Flames of Grief ingrained into a Atalar whose grief at slain family drove him to accept the Gift of Flame from an Aluian ritualist. We all stand as family, we protect each other with a loyalty beyond blood, we nurture each other and those around us, and we have bound ties sacred and unspoken into a flame of warmth with a heat like the Sun. This is what Lanarra wishes that we take in the needy and together make each other strong. To become one flame, one family, and one warmth. ___________________________________________________________________________________________
Edited to compensate for Backstory re-write (not much changed but its a good read so feel free to re-read it)
