Cult of Nature



The religion of the Wood Elves, although not every single Wood Elf is it’s follower, and people of any race can follow this religion, however druids must follow this religion. Altrough the faith itself doesn't have any unity or clergy, it unites a state through religion: Kingdom of Dragoc (country of wood elves). Although the laws and government of the kingdom is theocratic, the country has freedom of religion, because the Wood Elves’ religion promotes freedom of faith.

The creation myth of this religion is rather short, and it spreads through oral tradition rather than written documents. According to the legend, the proto-elves were the children of Selenna and Goronnion the proto-elves lived together with their gods (Goronnion and Selenna) on the Island of Eternal Life, but one day, they started to grow arrogant and forget about their gods, starting to exploit and destroy the treasure which is given to them and the Island of Eternal Life. Selenna and Goronnion couldn’t bear it anymore, so they expelled the Proto-Elves, and then destroyed the Island of Eternal Life. However, some of the descedants of the proto-elves, incidentally the wood elven druids returned to the loving arms of Selenna and Goronnion, and helped the wood elves to see the correct way.

The followers of this religion believe in two gods.

Selenna
Also known as Mother Nature, who is the creator of the plants and the controller of the weather, she is usually depicted as a beautiful elf woman, playing a harp. They believe that Selenna sees everything, so she can help her believers, or punish them (that’s why Thunderstorm is also called “Selenna’s Wrath” in Wood Elven folklore). They believe that they can only hurt the nature if Selenna permits them to do so, and even then, only to the smaller extent: they cut very low amount of tree, and before that, they pray to Selenna in a wish that the tree and Selenna will forgive them, and then they use very single bit of the cut tree, for example: they build their houses on the top of other trees, so the other trees will survive.

Goronnion
Also known as Father Nature, the creator of animals and warfare, he is usually depicted as a handsome and muscular elf with wavy blond hair and green eyes. According to the believers he is present in all beats, from the small ant to the great bear, this makes hunting hard, because Goronnion never lets you to gain anything without pain, and if you are not good enough, you will not gain anything, or in the worst case: you will become the hunted. Goronnion however doesn't like unnecessary killing, so when Wood Elves hunt, they pray to Goronnion for a short time, to forgive them, and they kill attacking animals (like wolves) only in the worst case, they try to pacify or tame the animal first. There is an another part of the Sanctity of Hunting: never hunt old or ill animals, good example of it is an old story: a wood elf hunter once caught a sick and injured animals, took it to home, healed it, let it to go, and next day: went to hunt it.

Their relationship
The relationship between Selenna and Goronnion is never portrayed in the religion, and is rather ambiguous. Some believe that they are husband and wife, some believe that they are brother and sister, and some believe that they are both.

Other traditions
The Cult of Nature has strong traditions of pilgrimage. Architon, Minosa, Helpulus, and Rodiou are all considered targets of pilgrimage, and there is one more: Ancestors Bay, an unpopulated (or scarcely populated) territory full of shrines and places of pilgrimage.

It is a deeply-held belief that people should be buried at either their place of birth (returning to the soil that birthed them), or at a place of pilgrimage (where they can "join their ancestors and fellow pilgrims"), therefore the religion lacks the Titanist concept of graveyards and gravestones - instead, it is believed that people should return to the soil that they feed from, and should feed the ground that used to feed them. Deceased individuals are burried in the ground, and trees are cultivated at the place where they are buried. For "grave-trees", fruit-trees are usually preferred.