Sworn by the Light of the Moon

Hello, friends!

Today we’ll be talking about the guiding faith of Ishli, the Moonlight Vigil.

The last great battle of the War in Heaven is known as The Lamentation of the Gods. This was a siege upon the city of Erenar, a shining jewel within Aegis, the outermost layer of the world. Under a hail of blasphemous cannon fire, towers of delicate crystal shattered. Palaces of gold and marble and ivory collapsed into rubble. Houses of coral and living trees were reduced to sand and splinters.

The last of the gods huddled in the wreckage, their dwindling forces out of position and unable to properly defend against the dynasty's attack. When the cacophony of blasting artillery at last went silent, the Hounds of Oblivion were unleashed, manic in pursuit of their godly prey.

Much has been written about the struggles that followed: a blaze of glory as the gods made their last stand, and how the heavens erupted with a rain of tears upon their passing. In truth, the end came quickly, and with little fanfare.

Dynasty forces sifted through the ruins for two days before heaven's armies returned to the field, and the dynasty withdrew. Dwindling supply lines would soon force the invaders to end their campaign. The war was effectively over.

The city of Erenar had been a meeting place, adjacent to all of the outer realms, where the servitors of the gods and all manner of other heavenly being could mingle, collaborate, and settle their differences. It was a place of great importance to the pantheon, and its devastation was a symbol of the pantheon's end. A symbol that many were not ready to accept.

As the forces of heaven fell into disarray with the loss of their sovereign gods, a circle of angels gathered in the ruins of Erenar and swore a pact to restore what was lost. Erenar existed in perpetual night, illuminated by the stars and the pale moon, and it was in this light that the pact was sworn. The pact of the Moonlight Vigil.

Below in the mortal realm, the sun had gone dark, and the people suffered. A delegation from the Vigil came down to the city of Ishli, a train of angels shrouded in black for mourning. They spoke of what had happened in the heavens, how the blasphemy and greed of the dynasty had brought calamity upon the world.

Ishli was long known as the city of temples, with shrines both great and small tucked away in its rolling verdant hills. It was here, surrounded by icons of the fallen, that the Vigil first chose to spread their resolve into the hearts of mortal kind. At the core of their teachings was a message of hope, that one day gods would rise again to sit upon the heavenly thrones and hold the world in balance. But until that day, it would take the prayers of those who remained faithful to the old church, to fortify the holy realm of Aegis, which binds and protects and makes the world whole.

Two of the angels stayed in the city then, and you can find them there today. Armoni, a child of Gerdhun with affinity for the sea, made her home in the waters of Ishli, where she tended to the kelp beds and kept them bountiful with fish. And Szonael, a rhanna from the realm of Estati, who shone with a thousand dazzling lights, brought vigor to the surrounding fields and orchards, to provide a supply of fruits and grain.

The rest of the angels walked the world for a time, giving aid and spreading their word. Adherents to the Moonlight Vigil were thus affirmed throughout the remnants of the civilized world, with sizable followings taking root in the western countries of Traul and Nibana.

When the light of the sun had returned, some of the angels settled into the mountains of Nibana, and were dubbed by the people there as living saints, a title that in time would be conferred to other minor rhanna in that country who were once aligned with the old church. It is a theological quirk of the region that confuses many outsiders who see it as a regression to animistic heathenism, or as some kind of compromise with the Old Covenant.

Today, adherents to the Moonlight Vigil can be found in every city, even within the Imperium, where they are banned from assembling, but not from private worship. They are often mocked as blind traditionalists who are woefully behind the times, but their faith endures. Whispers come on the wind at times, about secret societies that serve the will of the Vigil, seeking to make good on the angels' promise to put new gods on the old thrones.

That's all for today folks. Stay safe and stay healthy!