Mythology of Ēmandē

The three main branches of Ēmandē share largely the same mythology and only differ in their interpretation of the Holy Scriptures.

The Baranxtuan Triad

As almost every offspring of the Meleiyan Religion, there is also a triad of deities in Ēmandē which are seen as being the most powerful and important beings, who also have power over all the other gods, goddesses and spirits.

The Baranxtuan Triad comprises

• Baranxi / Bāraŋxī, the patron of the faith and most supreme god
• Maña / Māñā, the most supreme goddess and the only equal to Baranxi
• Asuani / Asvānī, third (or second, as Maña is an equal to Baranxi) most powerful god

As with most Meleiyan triads, none of the deities in the Baranxtuan Triad forms a couple.

In Ēmandē, a special place is reserved for Mēlēja, the mother of Baranxi, grandmother of Asuani and a very distant ancestor of Maña. She is in almost all other triads, except for the Baranxtuan and Mañaian ones - however, she is the only deity that those of the triad have no power over (except for the power of persuasion).

The Pantheon

Baranxi / Bāraŋxī

Full Title: The Son of Mēlēja, Illustrious One of Life and Death, Ruler of the Lands and the Earth, He who brought us food, He who governs Our life, He who is Most Supreme, The Exalted Baranxi

Function: Baranxi is the most supreme god in the Baranxtuan pantheon. He is the god of life and death, of fertility (and thereby of agriculture), of diseases and healing.

He is also revered as the god of knowledge, learning and of the Arts (he is especially the patron of architects and actors).

Today, he is also respected as the god of love (both physical and mental), especially of love between men (he is the only deity in the whole pantheon who never had a sexual relationship with a woman). He is one of the patron gods of marriage.

Biography: Baranxi is the son of Mēlēja, goddess of emotions, and Marci, god of fire. He was conceived after Marci prevented Mēlēja's forced marriage to Šajunni, spirit of the shrub, by burning him to death.

In his youth, he invented the first script when he saw how the earth cracked open when his elder sister Atamja (in other versions Ašağēna) sang, with irises sprouting out of the cracks. He drew the formations of cracks and assigned them vowels and consonants, and gave the script to the humans. Baranxi also adopted the iris as his emblem.

Later, he was banished by Zia, the then king of gods, to a remote island, after Baranxi had created the gu tree, a tree whose fruits had the ability to make those who eat them immortal. Following this, Baranxi created the first disease in the form of his daughter Hirja, who spread the disease amongst the followers of Za. To cure the disease, they had to bring Baranxi back who then saw to the birth of a woman named Ðirja who could cure the sick.

His other accomplishments include the creation of all felines, the invention of spirits (the alcoholic variety), the birth of the Seven Gods of Bad Luck, the deifications of Maña, his half mortal sister Ašağēna and of Iratemja, the rescue of Asuani from the violent advances of Zia and the overthrowal of Zia.

Baranxi never married, but had plenty of relationships and fun nonetheless. They include Iñani (the messenger of gods), Asuani (god of joy), Uenēi (god of ecstasy), Euaseti (god of pleasure), Hēsavi (god of freedom), Tefxi (a mythical king) and many, many others.

In the last centuries, he was more and more often depicted together with Hēsavi, to the effect that today they are considered to be in a lasting relationship.

Maña / Māñā

Full Title: The Grand One from the Depths of the Lake, Ruler of all Waters Earthly and Divine, She who is Above All, The Eternal Giver of Life, The Merciful One, the Most Exalted, Maña

Function: Maña is currently the only equal to Baranxi. She is the goddess of water, of weather and of growth (and subsequently of development and evolution).

She is also the goddess of both wisdom and intelligence, of studying and of the arts (especially as the patron of writers and rhetors).

Also revered as the goddess of love, and one of the patrons of marriage. She is also the goddess of seeing into the future.

Biography: Maña was born human as a very distant relative of Mēlēja, in a time when peace and prosperity reigned the earth. However, humans forgot to pay respects to the gods, and so the gods forgot about time to the point that everything started to deteriorate - rapidly. Maña's family was the only one that stilled worshipped the gods, and Maña realised that only they could still talk to the gods.

So she walked to the Second City of the Gods and pledged with Zia, then king of gods, to save humanity. However, he demanded 'the greatest of sacrifices', namely the self-sacrifice of Maña.

And Maña walked to the highest rock, where she threw herself from the top. She was, however, saved by the other gods who were touched by her sheer will to do this. They rescued her spirit and created a lake around the rock, of which Maña became the patron deity.

Maña quickly rose to be the most important of all water deities, and innitiated the revolt against Zia.

She later helped with the deifications of Iratemja, Nida, Aka and Aira and Esa, she was involved in banishing the Four Evils and also creates the majority of rivers and lakes that exist today.

Maña also never married, but has had relationships. Among her lovers were Meihan (spirit of the forests), Ðiskani (god of death), Aŋra (goddess of the color violet), Ailjoğa (goddess of the color white) and Sjanna (goddess of the color blue).

She has also a few children, among whom the most prominent is Udama, the goddess of the voice.

Asuani / Asvānī

Alternative Spellings: Asvani, Asujani

Dialect Variations: Asbani, Ašuani, Ašbani, Ašvani, Asuañi

Full Title: The Exalted of all Joys, of Indulgence, of Carnal Pleasures and Divine Feasts, the Glorious Giver of Wine, the Illustrious One of Happy Oblivion, Asuani

Function: The third god of the Baranxtuan triad. Asuani is the god of joy, of pleasure and of fun, as well as the god of good luck.

He also is the god of feasts and entertainment, and as such also a god of the Arts, especially the patron of music and everything related.

Biography: Asuani is the son of Ašağēna and therefore one of the grandchildren of Mēlēja. He grew up in the woods and started to participate in his mother's feast at a young age.

When reaching adolescence, he met Zia, who immediately developed an infatuation for him. Zia first tried to seduce Asuani, and then to buy him, and then to use force. Asuani was saved by Baranxi, who brought him grapes Asuani made the first wine with. He got Zia drunk and could get away from him. When Zia woke up with a hangover, he wanted to imprison Asuani in an eternally burning cage, but Baranxi smashed the cage and one of the bars hit Zia with such force that he lost an eye.

Later Asuani had four daughters with the Divine Artist Sanuba. They became the goddesses of music (Uaja), of singing (Ağēla) and of dancing (Niðāra and Mēğāra).

Mēlēja / Mērēyā

Alternative Spellings: Mēlēa, Mēlēia

Dialect Variations: Meileija, Meileia, Mēlēna

Full Title: The Eternal Mother, the Ruler of Our Hearts and Minds, the Queen of the Ivory Throne, the Exalted of Honey-Sweet Revenge, She who Dismembers the Sinners, She who Commands the Deadly Venoms, the Ancestor of the Second and Third Generation of the Exalted, Mēlēja

Function: Mēlēja has a special place in the Baranxtuan pantheon. Although not part of the triad, she is nevertheless the only goddess whom the triad cannot command.

She is the goddess of emotions, wishes and desires. Those who are pure of heart may pray to her, and she can grant any wish.

However, Mēlēja is also the goddess of vengeance and justice (both were tied together in the past, and only in recent times justice was separated from revenge). She commands the Three Armies of the Vengeance Demons (which are directly controlled by three of her daughters) and the Army of the Bee People, winged humanoid creatures who also produce the Divine Honey, which can make someone immortal.

Biography: Mēlēja is one of the four children of the two deities only known by their honorifics Ša Ja and Ši Ri. These two were carved out of wood and ensouled by Harja and Oða, who hatched from two eŋs laid by Nu (and incubated by her husband, the Divine Lake Imi).
This makes Mēlēja one of the eldest goddesses of the so-called Second and Third Generation of Gods. Almost all other important deities are somehow her descendants - Baranxi is her son, Asuani is one of her grandsons, Atamja is her adoptive daughter, even Maña is very distantly related to her.

Mēlēja led her two sister and her brother to the earth that was created by the First Generation of Gods, to demand entry into the Divine City.
At first, the then king of gods, Zia, refused this and said that they would not be allowed to enter unless they had also added something to 'his' creation.

It was then that Mēlēja decided to create humanity out of a mixture of clay, honey, wood and ore. Together with her other relatives, she gave life to the humans and gifted them with everything they needed to survive.

To make peace with the First Generation, she married Bēdagi, the then god of wisdom and knowledge. She had quite a few children with him; however, he betrayed her (what exactly this betrayal was is never made clear), and so she burns him to death.

Sometime later, her sister Zēxa betrayed her by telling her son how to force Mēlēja's most beautiful daughter, Majēn, into marriage - by raping her. Mēlēja's nephew did just that, but Majēn hanged herself in shame.
When Mēlēja found out, she cut her nephew apart, burnt his remains and spread them all over the earth (thereby also creating the wind). She cursed Zēxa, so that her right arm fell of and she had to wander the earth for all eternity without a place to rest.
Majēn was reborn with the life force of her sisters Āma and Raijāma. The three transformed into vengeance demons, and their children became the infamous Three Armies of Vengeance Demons.

Later, Mēlēja was one of the most active deities in the overthrowal of Zia, and was later crowned Queen of the Gods.

Mēlēja has numerous childrend and had also many lovers. Baranxi is her son with Marci (the Spirit of Fire), Ašağēna is her daughter with a forest spirit, Ðiskani is her son with Bēdagi (the former god of knowledge), the Five Flower Godesses are all daughters with Bēdagi, as are Majēn, Āma and Raijāma.

The Afterlife

The Paradises

In Ēmandē, there are many paradises - almost every deity has its own. Each is different, and a mecand may decide for itself where it wants to spend eternity.

Upon entry into one of the paradises, the mecand is always transformed into its ideal physical state. Some say that they can change their body's age and appearance at will, although many challence this idea.

However, a mecand can travel through the various paradises, for example to visit relatives and friends who dwell somewhere else.

Māndaner Baranxtu / Māndaņr Bāraŋxēi

The Garden of Baranxi (also Grove of Baranxi) is one of the most prominent of all paradises.

It is said to be a lush garden or grove, with no boundaries and full of secluded spots. In the center of this garden, a huge city of white marble can be found, which houses a gigantic silver statue of Baranxi and a vast library with every book in the world.

Although it is of course open to every mecand, it is said to be especially for gay men, given Baranxi's own sexual orientation. Some also claim that Baranxi frequently visits his paradise to engage in various carnal pleasures with the inhabitants.

Hadu Mañatu / Mōg Māñāi

The Isle of Maña is a hilly island, usually said to be covered by a rainforest. Although its shore can be reached in short time from every location on the island, it is nevertheless said to be infinite in its size. On the southern shore, a splendid city can be found, similar in its properties to the city of the Garden of Baranxi, but of course with a silver statue of Maña.

The island is usually chosen by hermits to be their final resting place, and it is also said to house most of the 'saints' of the Ēmandē.

The island is also important because the Seven Holy Rivers emanate from the central hill. They empty into the ocean surrounding the isle and all are mirrored by earthly rivers (the most prominent is the Ašminan river Aka). It is said that the day these rivers run dry, the world as we know it will end.

The Hells

Just as almost every deity has an own paradise, they also have their own hells.

Certain sins are not punished (this allowed trespasses include white lies, theft (as opposed to robbery), adultery, suicide and blasphemy) - the usual take is that these sins are too common or too much incorporated into the human nature to be punished, especially in comparison to the list of so-called heinous sins (for example rape, murder, torture, robbery, severe betrayal of trust).

These sinners are sent into one of the hells where there are punished (i.e., tortured) until they have been purged of the sin. Afterwards, they are reborn and given a chance to live a better life.

For the different sins, the duration of the punishment varies. Theologians have calculated this by various statements in the scriptures.

For example, murderers are disembowelled in the Caves of Baranxtu. Like Prometheus, they heal again only to be disembowelled once more. This goes on until the mecand is purged - according to most theologians, one murder takes about 250 human years to be redeemed, depending on the cruelty of the crime.

Rapists are thrown into the Tree of Judgement (a tree growing in the Grove of Mēlēja). There, they are slowly cut apart into many small slices which are then fed to monstrous wasps. Then, the sinners are reconstituted and have to undergo this punishment for a long time. Rape is the most heinous crime in Baranxtuan morality (indeed more cruel than murder) and a soul is only purged of this sin with great difficulty.
Some theologians say that - considering that these forms of punishment have been in existance since the dawn of men - not enough time has passed for one of the rapists to be reborn. Others say that it takes about 1,000 human years for this crime to be redeemed.

Eschatology

Whether or not something like a Meleiyan apocalypse existed was a source of a great dispute, especially in the 1300s and 1400s. As more contact with other cultures and their religions was developed, Meleiyans noticed that most of this had some form of a predicted, more or less exactly scheduled apocalypse, often detailed in a very fully-fleshed out manner, whereas the Meleiyan Scriptures only contained three short passages which hinted at some form of an apocalypse.
These contacts apparently sparked a hot debate that, for the mainstream branches at least, lasted until the Council of Haima, which took place from 1489-1493 CE. Representatives of virtually all then-recognized branches of the Meleiyan Religion met to analyze the aforementioned three passages and searched for more passages which could also be taken as a reference to a possible apocalypse.

The first of these passages is found in the ’’Third Book of Maña’’ (a chapter of the Fourth Scripture), in which Baranxi tells his loyal followers Nadi and Nada:

’’”Behold my sons, behold [their] wrath. For as although I intended to bind [them] for eternity in the edges [of the universe], their shackles are not undestroyable. Indeed, I tell you, if they are ever broken, blood will reign the last [days] of humanity before [the earth] shall become chaos once again.”’’

This refers to the story found in the First Scripture which tells us that Baranxi bore seven sons out of his anger about the death of one of his beloved cats at the hand of Zia. These sons represented all kinds of misfortune and misery, but the first two were so horrible and cruel that he wounded them, draŋed them to the edges of the universe and bound one with chains of ice and one with chains of fire.

This saying gets specified in the ‘’Fourth Book of Maña’’, where Mēlēja says to Ihaŋin, her loyal priestess:

’’”And verily, fear the days that humans [become] savage beasts without a soul, [only] dominated by hatred and wrath. Their inner fire of bloodthirst will burn so strong that it will melt [the shackles of] Ğit, and his violence will vanquish all of your [world]. But if the soul dies within, [thus] leaving no feelings at all, you shall fear [that] too, for it will extinguish the flames [binding] Þit, and he will plunge the world into chaos forevermore.”’’

Finally, there is one passage that hints at what might happen during and after the destruction of the current world. It is to be found in the second chapter of the Fifth Scripture, also dubbed the ‘’Second Book of Asita’’. Asita tells a story to her companions, the asitavraja:

’’” If there ever comes the time either Ğit or Þit is set free, one will unbind the other, as one [controls] the other’s binding element, for their elements are water and fire, [and they are] opposites. And when both will arrive in the lower world, their will be great woe and clamouring. One will descend in the north [of the Atamjan mountains], the other in the south. Sun, moon and stars [will be] taken out, and all living things slaughtered, and the world will be [drenched in] blood, becoming chaos as it had once already been. What happens next, no one can guess.”’’

This references the Creation myth, which states that a previous world was destroyed in a cruel war that ultimately turned the earth into chaos from which the current deities emerged and which they turned into our modern world.
These relatively vague excerpts were not enough to settle the debate, as, although they most definitely did talk about an end of the world, it did not state whether something like a preordained apocalypse existed.

The debate was settled in 1493 with the publication of one of the very few dogmas of the Meleiyan Religion. In a nutshell, it states that there is no preordained apocalypse and the only way the world could end was by human interference with the divine order.
Their arguments against a “scheduled” apocalypse mainly relied on two passages, one from the First Scripture and one from the Sixth Scripture.

In the passage from the First Scripture – more precisely from the first chapter – Mēlēja says to the first humans:

’’”Go and claim the earth, not [as a] serf, but [as a] spouse; honour and love it, and celebrate it, [and be] assured of the support of us, your gods, your creators. Maltreat it, [and be] assured of our wrath. But verily, whatever [may] happen, the earth [will be] your possession and you [will be] the earth’s possession, inseparable, forever. You shall walk the earth forever, I tell you.”’’

A second paragraph from the Sixth Scripture (a rather loosely assembly of short stories, sayings and the like) states that:

’’”The goddess [i.e., Mēlēja] made earth man’s only eternal legacy, and never shall man be separated from it, not wiped out, only punished if he misbehaves, but otherwise respected in his existence.”’’

Based upon these two excerpts, the Council of Haima concluded that ‘’“humanity has been given the right to roam the earth forever. Only on their account will they be annihilated, so we have been given a great privilege by the gods, one we must cherish and celebrate by being moral in our thoughts and deeds.”’’