| “ | The soul returns to the land. |
„ |
| — Leah Bellot about Church of the Earth Mother on Circle of Inevitability, Chapter 80 | ||
The Church of the Earth Mother was officially founded after the Cataclysm in the Third Epoch. They helped humanity through the Cataclysmic Era.
This organization is in control of the Mother Pathway and is one of the Eight Orthodox Churches. The Church of the Earth Mother is the state religion of the Feynapotter Kingdom.
The Church's scriptures lacked any mention of animosity between orthodox gods. The Earth Mother believers could freely enter and exit the cathedrals of all orthodox gods but couldn't participate in acts of worship.[2]
The Church of the Earth Mother is divided into two departments: The Blessed and The Favored.[3] Later, the Goddess of Origin group suffered a blow within months after The Day of Many Disasters.[4]
After The Apocalypse, the Church became one of the secondary religious choices with limited influence, below the three main religions (the Church of the Fool, the Church of the Eternal Darkness, and the Church of the Ruler of Calamity) and the Church of the God of Steam and Machinery.[5]
Bible of Life[]
Concepts of Good and Evil[]
The good and evil emanating from the same source made them inseparable. The sermon emphasized promoting good and suppressing evil.
There are two Abysses. One is material, and the entrance is somewhere in the real world. The other is spiritual, and the entrance is deep in everyone’s hearts. Sometimes, these two Abysses are separated, but most of the time, they’re one.
Good intentions and evil intentions come from the same source. It’s inevitable for us to harbor evil thoughts like jealousy, hatred, destruction, greed, harm, and arrogance. This is normal, not sinful. However, if we act on jealousy, hatred, greed, and arrogance, killing someone—our souls will gradually sink into the Abyss.
When the time comes, one can only repent to the Mother, just like this. "Merciful Mother, I have fallen into the Abyss of evil...
Core Belief[]
They believe that every life is a plant, absorbing the nutrients from the earth; growing slowly, prospering, and withering. When they wither, these lives fall to the earth and return to the mother’s embrace. In the coming year, they grow again. They would blossom, then wither, year after year. Life is such, one life after another.
Sacred Emblem[]
The symbol of the Church of the Earth Mother is the Life Sacred Emblem. It is represented by a baby surrounded by the symbols of wheat, flowers, and spring water.[6]
Prayer Gesture[]
When they pray, they place their hands in front of their mouths and noses, with their fingers clasped together and palms empty. This is the unique prayer position of the Church of Earth Mother.[7]
When praying to Earth Mother related phenomena, the believers cross their arms and makes a pose of hugging a baby, and kiss the ground.[8]
| “ | Praise the Earth, praise the Mother of All Things! |
„ |
| — A concluding words of the Earth Mother believers on Circle of Inevitability, Chapter 511 | ||
After the Earth Mother regained "Her" lost authority over the Moon Pathway, the Church of the Earth Mother adopted a new posture for formal occasions; they position their legs slightly apart, and raise their hands high. The meaning of this prayer gesture is as follows: “The feet connect to the benevolent earth, and the palms reach towards the spiritual sky. In the middle resides the light of life. This is the domain of the Mother of All Things.”[9]
History[]
Originally, the Church of the Earth Mother and the Church of the God of Knowledge and Wisdom jointly governed the Feynapotter Kingdom. However, after the Battle of the Violated Oath in 738, the Church of the Earth Mother became the state religion in the Feynapotter Kingdom, and no other churches are allowed to proselytize there.
The Church of the Earth Mother has a limited influence in the Loen Kingdom despite the suppression of the churches of the Evernight Goddess, the Lord of Storms and the God of Steam and Machinery. Nevertheless, they are still permitted rather than considered an enemy like the churches of the Eternal Blazing Sun, the God of Combat, and the God of Knowledge and Wisdom.
In the Loen Kingdom, they only have a few churches with very few believers, to the point that they didn’t even need to form a team of Beyonders. And even if they did, they wouldn’t be recognized by the government and couldn’t cooperate with the police department. They would be considered as vigilantes.[10] But after the World War in 1352, due to a lack of official Beyonders in Loen, the Church of the Earth Mother received a request from the Church of the Evernight Goddess and the Church of the Lord of Storms to set up three to five Beyonder teams in Backlund, the main members are the Sanguines.[11]
In the World War, even though the Church and the Feynapotter Kingdom were initially on the Intis Republic and the Feysac Empire's sides, in the end they withdrawn their troops from the battlefield and were not affected by the post-war effects like Intis and Feysac because they lost to Loen. Because the Earth Mother betrayed the God of Combat and allied with the Evernight Goddess to regain "Her" lost authority over the Moon Pathway.[12]
The Church of the Earth Mother is also extending its reach to West Balam due to the weakening influence of the Church of the Eternal Blazing Sun and the Church of the God of Steam and Machinery there because they supported the losing side in the World War.[1]
In the year 1360, The Day of Many Disasters lead to the coming of the Crimson Moon and causing many corrupted believers to appear, notably the corruption of Matriarch Roland who became a puppet wandering a certain part of the World of Ruins.[4] After the Death of Primordial Demoness, the Earth Mother also fell to help the Earthlings harm the Great Mother, who was accommodating the Brood Hive on the Western Continent. The accommodation also caused the corrupted ones to sacrificed themselves to aid the Great Mother, freeing the Church from "Her" influence.[13]
Characteristics[]
The Church of the Earth Mother's Cathedrals have had vegetation flourish and mushrooms quietly sprout. The scent of wheat and milk provided a calming atmosphere. People who prayed there had their lives become more intense.[14]
The Church of the Earth Mother promotes the greatness of life and the gratifying of harvests and is also known to promote gender equality between men and women, as does the Church of the Evernight Goddess, however they place more emphasis on reproduction, treating it as the holiest matter.[15] The Earth domain is associated with fertility, healing and life.[3]
The Church's clergymen's attire is a brown uniform.[16][17]
The nuns of the Church of the Earth Mother do not take vows of chastity. Instead, they pledge to have as many children as possible before a certain age. If they're interested in someone, they'll be quite proactive in approaching them. The young folks in Feynapotter love showcasing their bravery in front of these nuns in the hopes of catching their eye.[18]
Different from other Churches, which hold that having a child in a cloister was a grave matter, deviating from the teachings of the deity, a symptom of succumbing to carnal desires and blaspheming faith, in the Church of the Earth Mother. The more nuns and monks had children in the cloister, the more aligned they were with the doctrine.[17]
Sanguine Recruitment Tradition[]
The Church is also known to routinely recruit and convert Sanguines as priests.[19] This tradition likely came about as a result of the fact that the true identity of the Earth Mother was the Sanguine Ancestor Lilith.
After the 1350 World War in the Fifth Epoch, the Sanguines merged with the Church of the Earth Mother, with Emlyn White as the representative of the Sanguines in Backlund.[20]
Pathways[]
Complete[]
Incomplete[]
Hierarchy[]
| Position |
Detail |
|---|---|
| Matriarch | Leader of the Church. |
| Cardinals | Advisers to the Matriarch and electors of the next Matriarch. |
| Archbishops | Responsible for overseeing multiple dioceses. |
| Bishops | Responsible for overseeing a single diocese. |
| High-ranking Deacons (Hierophant) | Sequence 4 and higher Beyonders loyal to the Church. |
| Priests | Serve as spiritual leaders of individual parishes. |
Departmentalization[]
Earth Mother had long noted the false revelations sent by the Mother Goddess of Depravity to the Beyonders of the Moon and Mother Pathways. To prevent the Beyonders of the church from being deceived, she ordered the Church to divide itself into two departments: the Favored and the Blessed.[21]
- The Favored refer to Beyonders who belong to the Goddess of Origin group
- The Blessed refer to Beyonders who do not belong to the Goddess of Origin group.
The Favored and the Blessed must co-sign a document to validate it, otherwise the order will be ignored. Not even a direct order from the Holy See herself can breach this requirement.
After The Day of Many Disasters of 1360, the Church of the Earth Mother still existed, with "Her" Blessed maintaining a tenuous hold with the aid of other official Beyonder organizations to prevent the goddess from losing "Her" anchors entirely. The Favored of the Earth Mother had suffered significant losses. Many had mutated or lost control during the descent of the Crimson Moon, and subsequent blows had further diminished their numbers. Only in the past two months after "The Day" had they attained some measure of peace. Their numbers now were less than half of what they had once been.[4]
Enforcement Division[]
The Church of the Earth Mother has three combat orders.
Fertility Order[]
A division formed of Beyonders from the Church of the Earth Mother, they usually act undercover as law enforcement. They primarily deal with Beyonder related crimes, cults, and influences.
List of Buildings[]
Dioceses[]
- Harvest Church (Backlund, Loen Kingdom)
- Unnamed Cathedral (Port Santa, Feynapotter Kingdom)
- Unnamed Cathedral (Hanth Island, Berserk Sea)
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Circle of Inevitability, Chapter 633
- ↑ Circle of Inevitability, Chapter 663
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Church of the Earth Mother Weibo Post, 2021-1-4
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 Circle of Inevitability, Chapter 1129
- ↑ Circle of Inevitability, Chapter 1179
- ↑ Lord of Mysteries, Chapter 261
- ↑ Lord of Mysteries, Chapter 421
- ↑ Lord of Mysteries, Chapter 656
- ↑ Circle of Inevitability, Chapter 550
- ↑ Lord of Mysteries, Chapter 240
- ↑ Lord of Mysteries, Chapter 1311
- ↑ Lord of Mysteries, Chapter 1266
- ↑ Circle of Inevitability, Chapter 1148
- ↑ Circle of Inevitability, Chapter 628
- ↑ Lord of Mysteries, Chapter 651
- ↑ Lord of Mysteries, Chapter 306
- ↑ 17.0 17.1 Circle of Inevitability, Chapter 626
- ↑ Circle of Inevitability, Chapter 538
- ↑ Lord of Mysteries, Chapter 571
- ↑ Lord of Mysteries, Chapter 1279
- ↑ Lord of Mysteries, Chapter 1310
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| Related Articles |
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| God Worshipped | |||||||||||
| Pathway(s) | |||||||||||
| Related Group(s) | |||||||||||
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| Loen Kingdom | |
|---|---|
| Intis Republic | |
| Feysac Empire | |
| Feynapotter Kingdom |
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| Lenburg · Masin · Segar | |
| Rorsted Archipelago | |