Fundamentals and How the Faith Developed

When the Celts first began to arrive in Almalinė, they essentially had no religion. The only "faith" that they believed as such was that they had been created by Cardė on a sacred island. Of course, no one regarded this as a religion, because they had all actually experienced it themselves, and they regarded it as truth. Over the new few decades, the Almalae would teach the Celts about Gacatė and the role that Celts play in the grand scheme of things.

Soon, however, the belief system of the Celts was to become more defined and clear. Cardė had finally sensed the return of Gacatė, and so Cardė began to quietly spread new thoughts to his Almalae, who then passed the ideas to the Celts.

These new ideas mainly consisted of the following: In the beginning, there was a balance between good and evil in the universe; for every amount of goodness that there was, there was an equal amount of evil to match it. The hope of every good person is triumph over the bad so that the amount of good in the universe will increase; the hope of every evil person is the exact opposite. The Celts were told that they should always support first Cardė, their creator, then the Almalae, the servants of Cardė, and finally the Celts themselves. They were told that whatever supports Cardė, the Almalae, and the Celts is the ultimate good and that it should be embraced; whatever opposes those three things is the ultimate sin and should be stopped at all costs. Such ideas were very effective in uniting the Celts to protect Almalinė against Gacatė.

However, they had their downside: some Celts took the idea that they should only help themselves too personally. With the new belief system that had developed, they used it as justification for overpowering and coquering the less unified Celts. In this way, Asdhenian power spread until occupied most of eastern Almalinė.

However, after Cardė had unified the Celts to the point where they could effectively wage war against Gacatė, something that Cardė had not anticipated occurred: Gacatė would not target the Celts to eliminate Cardė's people first, but would instead invade the lands on the western side of Almalinė, which, at that time, had little purpose. At any rate, Cardė knew he could not simply let Almalinian land be ruined, even if it was quite unimportant at the time.

Cardė realized that the Celts could not easily be moved across mountains and deserts to reach Gacatė's tower in time, and so he created Men. To them he gave brute strength and the will to conquer others; however, along with this, he also gave them the desire to work together to achieve things that no man alone could do. With such characteristics, Man was a good choice to protect Almalinė.

When Man and Celt finally met, their beliefs sparked a war. The Celts were following the hierarchy that they had been taught: to serve Cardė first, then the Almalae, and lastly themselves. The Celts felt threatened by Man, and so, following their beliefs, they lashed out to stop Man at all costs. Man, on the other hand, did not follow a particular belief, but instead they simply did what Cardė had created them to do: destroy enemies and conquer their land.

Fortunately, the Almalae once again intervened, and they united Man and Celt together, so that they could better withstand any servants to Gacatė that might have survived if they returned to finish the job that Gacatė had begun.

Both Man and Celt continued on for a while, following the belief that they should show full support for what was in the interests of Cardė and his creations, and that they should violently attack anything which wanted to destroy them. During the time between the destruction of Gacatė and the arrival of Dugorm, the love-your-ally, destroy-your-enemy mindset lost some of its force, but when Dugorm did arrive, the belief returned in full force.

From an external viewpoint, one thing can be said about Almalinian religion: it is a reflection of the world in which the Almalinians live. In Almalinė, the good are forced to fight against the evil in order to survive an to increase the amount of good in the world. The religion fosters this idea entirely, and it gives spiritual support to those who must fight against evil.

Practices of Current Cardė-Worshippers

     Pledge to Raise a Child Who Will Serve Cardė
     Confirmation of Loyalty to Cardė
     Marriage Ceremony
     Death Ceremony

Pledge to Raise a Child Who Will Serve Cardė
Generally, Celts and Men practiced the same way. Just keep in mind that Man is more concerned with strength and power, and they honor and value these things more. The Celts, on the other hand, are a people of beauty and purity, and so that is what they honor more. Keep that in mind as you read their practices.

Pledge to Raise a Child Who Will Serve Cardė
Upon a child's birth, the parents are responsible for setting up a ceremony to pledge that they will raise their child to serve Cardė to the best of their ability. At this ceremony, like most other religious ceremonies, the emblem of Cardenism is present to give the event a fitting atmosphere.

The priest typically starts with a bit of introduction and a congratulation to the parents for the birth of their child. After some short background information to show how important the event is, the mother gives the child to the father. The father then presents his child to the audience, then gives his pledge. After that, the child is returned to the mother, who then makes her pledge. If the parents or a priest want to insert anything extra, it usually put after the mother's pledge. That done, the priest gives a miltary salute (which is similar in fashion to the salute of the ancient Romans) and gives a loud, enthusiastic "Ahūa!" (if the child is a human) or "Almabren!" (if the child is a celt).

Confirmation to Serve Cardė
On the fourteenth birthday of a human, and on the twentieth birthday of a celt, another ceremony is held to allow the child to pledge his loyalty to Cardė for himself. The ceremony is just like the ceremony for a new child, except that now the parents are not a part of the ceremony. The child gives his pledge (For a male, it usually entails that he will fight for Cardė if he is needed. For a female, the pledge entails that she will try to bring forth another child for Cardė if she finds a loving husband.) in front of the audience, and then the priest leads the salute and battle-cry as before. That same evening, back at home, it is customary for the parents of their son or daughter to give their child the freedom to marry someone if they choose, and to move away from home. Of course, nearly all of them choose not to marry so soon, and they usually stay at home. However, they do gain the freedom if they want to do so.

Marriage Ceremony
Although other ceremonies may or may not be held outside, the marriage ceremony is always held outdoors in nature. This practice comes from the Celts: They felt that the most wonderful creations of Cardė were nature and love, and so they wanted to combine the two for such a special ceremony. Men eventually copied this practice (as they have done for most of the way that a marriage ceremony is performed). Because Celts believe that they are a part of nature (which is one of Cardė's best creations) and that clothes are inferior to the beautiful creation of Cardė, Celtic weddings typically involve the bride and groom to be nude during the ceremony, to show to the utmost that they believe their partner is beautiful and holy in the eyes of Cardė; Men, however, are less eager to adopt this practice, and it is rather rare among them.

After some background about marriage itself, the priest usually then leads in a prayer to Cardė for his blessing on the new marriage. Following that, the priest asks each of the two if they promise love, honor, and cherish, etc., etc., etc. their spouse, and they each say, "I do." (Unless, of course, they don't...) The priest then uses a special cloth marked with the emblem of Cardenism to loosely tie the hands of the bride and groom together. The priest then says that their bond is new and fresh... If you pull one way, the bond will loosen, but if you pull another, it will tighten. Men later added the custom of exchanging rings as well as tying their hands together, although Celts dislike and never use this practice.

After that is done, the priest once again initiate the military salute and the battle-cry, and afterwards is a "reception," of sorts. There is usually wine and dancing (with the Celt couple now being clothed). Afterwards, the newlyweds mount a new family horse (bought by the female of the bride to give to the couple). The two ride towards their new home together, with the woman being in front of the man. A little ways from home, the man dismounts, and guides the horse the rest of the way to home by its reins. This short time is when he is supposed to basically show off his wife to the people who live nearby. If the new home is far from where they previously lived, the time is also used as a quick neighborhood welcome for the newlyweds. That done, they finally reach their new residence.

Death Ceremony
All Men and Celts know that their purpose in life is to support Cardė and his will, and secondly to support their own people. Once a life is gone, that life can no longer serve its purpose, and so the ceremonies for death are usually more lax and less religiously-oriented. The ceremony can be decided by the deceased by their wishes before death, or by their families afterwards. If the family decides to have a priest lead the ceremony, he will usually do the task that one of the family members will do if there is no priest: to give a eulogy for the deceased and to wish the spirit well for the afterlife. However, even if no priest is present, the standard battle-cry and salute is still used for the ceremony.

Cardenists' Opinions on Controversial Topics

     The Role of Females
     Sex
     Homosexuality
     Duties and How to Become Holy
     Death and the Afterlife

The Role of Females
The Celts reguard Celt-maidens to be equals, because they are just as important in the struggle to support Cardė and destroy evil as the males are. However, the males typically have the rougher jobs such as hunting, growing extensive amounts of crops, and handling large animals, whereas the females do most of the housework, help to raise the children, and take care of pets and small animals. This, of course, doesn't mean that a female who takes on a job of running a farm would be met with disapproval; it is simply that such a thing is not very common, although the female could certainly do it if she felt a desire to do so. The same statement applies to males who do the tasks that typically are done by females. (As a principle, a man even has the legal right to give birth to children, just in case he should ever try to do so. This law was first forced into creation by the People's Front of Almalinė (as opposed to, say, the Almalinian People's Front.) [Thanks to the movie Monty Python and the Life of Brian for this joke.]

With Man, they are closer to the Celt beliefs than they are not, but a woman who ran a farm might be looked at a bit funny (unless she were widowed, unmarried, etc.) and might recieve some talk behind her back (although nothing too serious). However, if a male tried to a job that a female normally does, he would not be very favorable and others might every once in a while say their disapproval to his face (unless his wife has been killed, or he has adopted a child, or other extenuating circumstances--if that is the case, he will probably even be well-liked for his efforts). A man who carries out female tasks would definitely be avoided in social situations.

Sex
With perhaps the exception of an unmarried person's parents, pre-marital sex is regarded as being acceptable, especially amongst the Celts. (Men are more restrictive, if only to a small degree.) However, there is one thing in particular that is quite strange: whereas Celts don't mind pre-marital sex, but are expected to be faithful after marriage, Men are somewhat restrictive on pre-marital sex, but they are rather open-minded regarding sex with others after marriage. How this came to be is really anyone's guess.

Homosexuality
For the Celts, homosexuality between females is regarded as normal and usually even expected. Homosexuality between males is looked upon with slight disapproval, although others would be not be bothered so much as to really say anything out loud.

For the race of Men, homosexuality is strongly disliked. Although relations between two women can be mildly tolerated (although this would seriously injure the social lives for the two), homosexuality between two men is completely unacceptable. Such men are regarded as abominations to the type of person that is needed to triumph over evil. Homosexual men most often are exiled from their homelands; if the men try to keep it a secret and are discovered, however, they are usually put to death by pure mob rage.

Duties and How to Become Holy--Two Related Topics
If a male fights in a war against the forces of evil that oppose Cardė, then he is regarded as having fulfilled the highest duty. Similarly, any woman who brings forth children and raises them is said to have fulfilled her duty. So long as the person who has fulfilled his or her duty remains loyal to Cardė for the rest of their lives, they be considered holy and will (maybe) receive a special reward in the afterlife. Of course, there are other ways to become holy, as well. For the most part, though, this consists of anything that supports the male soldiers and the female mothers For example, a farmer who could grow very large numbers of crops who then sold his product at a cheap price (or, better yet, donated it) to help the army would die holy. A nurse who helped to deliver children would be holy. Priests would, of course, be holy because they keep the people united together so that they can more effectively face evil.

Death and Afterlife
Men simply die in the way that you would expect: old age, starvation, injury, etc. However, Celts can live for any length of time: After their years of maturation, a Celt does not become old until he truly feels in his heart that he is old and tired. If a Celt hones his mind and maintains his zest for life, he could survive until the end of days itself (about which much is speculated).

No one has any clear idea of what his or her afterlife might be like. Some propose that everyone who was righteous will return in the end of days to fight the final battle against Gacatė (if he ever returns from the timeless void past the known universe into which he was exiled). Others say that by dying with holiness (see above) that you will be rewarded a special prize in the afterlife, and they state that those who believe in Cardė but who do not die holy have a separate place set aside for them where such people can develop their holiness so that they can eventually be with the others. Others state that there are separate, distinct destinations for the good and the evil. Really, one's opinion on what happens after death is, for the most part, a matter of personal choice.