Delarism

Delarism is the principal, though not only, religion of human cultures on Burros. Historically, there were several other minor and even major gods, but approximately 450 years ago, the previously unassuming island nation of Eldys launched a series of fanatical campaigns to spread the message of their God-King Delar, who had been slain some two decades earlier.

Delar is a real historical figure, not a mythological one, though nonbelievers would argue his stature certainly is something of myth. Born in relative poverty, Delar rose to prominence with intense political acumen and famous skill as an orator. It was said that those that listened to him were utterly captivated by his lofty description of an Eldys destined to spread its influence over the entire southern continent of Burros. While the educated may certainly know more about Delar via the numerous books and treatises left from that time, the average Eldyian colonist would know this much:

King Reman Delar was born shortly over five hundred years before the expedition to Hyphae set out.

He was born with the special ability to see the truth in people's hearts, speak inspiration and inspire true loyalty in those who listened to him. These powers were divinely ordained.

His immense charisma led him to first amass a fortune as a silk merchant on Great Eldys.

His fame grew until he was married to Princess Fiona auv Sindain, the eldest daughter and only child of the largest merchant baron on Great Eldys.

Following an economic struggle with the other merchant barons, Delar proclaimed himself the first King of Eldys and founded the royal house of Delar.

His relationship with the merchant barons would remain cool even as fanatical devotion rose amongst the populace.

He selected twelve disciples from his most trusted followers and trained them in the supernatural powers derived from divine manipulation of beams of light, forming the basis of the Eldyian school of Luminescent Magic.

Delar was slain by Fiona auv Sindain during a visit of dignitaries from Petrel, one of whom it is said used foul foreign magics to confuse her mind and turn her into an implement of assassination. When she came to her senses, she threw herself from the highest tower and into the sea.

His twelve disciples and the merchant barons ruled as regents for his son, Gideon Delar the First, until he came of age.

Twenty years after his death, a great earthquake said to originate in Petrel shook Great Eldys and collapsed the great statue of Delar, only newly built. This injustice, presumed to be more foul foreign magic, spawned the first Great Crusade.

The Myths and Cult of Delar is a varied thing, and additional beliefs and stories vary from place to place, mutating and persisting as the religion spread across the land during the four hundred years of crusading that followed. Since then, twelve prelates of the Church have always guided the Cult of Delar, in honor of the twelve disciples that Delar originally trained. While historically extremely militant, in recent decades, Delarism has split into factions primarily along the lines of willingness to continue conversion by force, causing domestic turmoil in the heartlands of Eldys as well as other conquered nations on Burros.