This is worldbuilding of the Winx Club HFY fanfic. Mjoraism is the main religion of the Sylvan Empire and is practiced by the story protagonist, Roxy.
Mjoraism
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Location
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World-wide
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Symbol
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The Passing Light
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Leader
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None
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Mjoraism is a Gaianistic religion that centers around survival, not wasting resources, and the idea of that all life on Earth are Mjora's children, even if they don't believe in her. Their religious text is the Book of Mjora. Mjora is the main goddess of the religion, but there are a number of lesser gods and spirits that vary based on region and oral tradition. They can also be found in large numbers across the USA, Canada, Africa, and Australia and in smaller pockets around the world.
Mjora is regarded as the giver and taker of life. She is believed to not play favorites with her children and to be mostly ambivalent, so it is up to each individual and community to survive. They also believe that she wants her children to grow strong, being why she provided her children a planet full of both dangers and the resources to overcome those dangers. It is also believed that killing another one of Mjora's children for any reason, other than to eat or for self defense or to defend your home, is disrespectful to her and a sign of weakness. This extends to the children of other gods. They practice a dietary restriction where they should, ideally, only eat “veltaistin” food, meaning the plants and animals weren’t treated badly while alive or made to suffer, but this is only an ideal because this hasn't all ways been possible throughout human history. No self-respecting Mjoraist would give another crap for eating non-veltaistin food if they needed to.
The Children of Mjora is a decentralized religion without any form of hierarchy. They believe that no one should be able to tell anyone else how to believe or practice their faith. They have no churches or temples, believing them unnecessary as Mjora is within all, but they do have Gathering, which is usually held at a member's house and resembles the Friends Church/Quakers version of Mass. Their version of worship is community service, learning, and physical training, believing that they are honoring Mjora by improving what makes them strong.
Core tenants[]
- Survive against hardship
- All life on Earth are Mjora’s children
- Grow strong
- Do not waste what you take
- Protect and guide with respect
- Worship through action
- Seek balance
Creation Myth[]
According to the Children of Mjora faith, Mjora was one of nine siblings, the Naoi Dhiane Siblín (Nine Sibling Gods). In the primordial past, she and her siblings decided they wanted to become parents. In the beginning, they wanted to parent their children together, but in the planning stages, disagreements about how they would raise their children arose and quickly devolved into arguments and fights. One fight between Brinhóid and Tromarudrom got so bad that the rest of their siblings had to forcefully separate them. Tromarudrom was so enraged that they swore that their children would destroy Brinhóid's children at any cost and stormed off. The remaining siblings decided that they should all go their separate ways and raise their children where and how they see fit.
After searching the galaxy for a suitable place to raise her children, Mjora discovered a little planet in an interesting little system, not far from the galaxy's edge. It was still cooling from its creation, but it shared its sun with two gas giants. She wanted her children to be strong and would ensure survival wouldn't be easy for them, but even she wanted to protect her children from the danger of asteroids. She fused herself with the little planet and waited for it to cool enough for her to create life, but when it was almost done cooling, another small planet collided with her planet, reheating the surface and polluting her orbit with debris. At first, she was enraged. This set her back millennia, but as her temper re-cooled with her planet, she noticed the excess debris from the impact was coalescing into something new, something with a spirit of its own. During the impact, a part of herself had been separated and mixed with the debris. That part of herself fused with the debris and became a new being, her first child. She named this child Deirfiúr Ghealach [Sister Moon] and charged them with protecting their younger siblings.
Death Rites[]
Children of Mjora practice human composting. What happens to them afterwards depends on the wishes of the individual. Tír Nan Óg Children of Mjora typically have their soil given to the Tree of Life. Children of Mjora elsewhere will often have a family tree that they're added to and that their family protects, but as people have started moving around more, the practice of communal burial trees or donating remains to conservation land has become more common.
Afterlife[]
The Children of Mjora believe that when all creatures take their final breath, their bodies and life force return to Mjora to be used in the next cycle of life, and if they don't ascend to godhood, their spirits, containing their experiences and memories, go to the Lunar Garden. The Lunar Garden is ruled over by Sister Moon, the Guardian of Knowledge. Once they arrive at her Lunar Garden, their knowledge and wisdom is added to it, where they exist in a paradise outside of time.
The Lunar Garden is represented by a crescent moon and two stars called the Passing Light (rough translation). The Passing Light is also used to denote that someone is deceased and is placed on grave markers, similar to the Christian Cross and Star of David.
At the time of their death, an Aoire na Marbh [Shepherd of the Dead] will arrive to escort them to the Lunar Garden. They must travel through the Shadow Marsh, also known as the Realm of the Banished and the Realm of the Accursed, which is filled with the most powerful Fomóir to have ever existed. The creatures once terrorized the Earth, infecting the minds of humans and causing death and destruction wherever they went. They were unkillable. Sage Sylva was forced to banish them to the only realm that could contain them, making them a problem for the dead, but that's when the Aoirne na Marbh [Shepherds of the Dead] came into being, created by Sister Moon and a raven lesser god/goddess named Valkmir [Prince Commander of the Slain].
The final goal of every Mjoraist is to be strong enough to make it to the Lunar Garden. If a person's spirit is too weak, either from needlessly taking life, purposefully wasting Mjora's gifts, or generally being a bad person, they will not survive the journey. The Fomóir will capture, tear apart, and devour weak spirits, wiping them from existence.
Sister Moon[]
Unlike Mjora, Sister Moon has a preference for humans over their other siblings due to the species' intelligence. Their ultimate goal is to amass all the knowledge of the universe to understand how they came into being in hopes of creating others like them to end their loneliness. To this end, they instilled the idea of unnecessary killing being a sign of weakness into the Children of Mjora faith so more people will live longer and amass more knowledge, and they've also taken actions that many would consider altruistic in order to preserve life.
Sister Moon is represented by mirrors, wolves, owls, geckos, rabbits, and several flowers.
Fomóir[]
Fomóirne are the demons and of Sylvan folklore. They were originally believed to be beasts that come from the depths of the sea but came to be seen as a more otherworldly threat. In modern times, it is believed that they are malevolent spirits that seek out and pray upon those that are emotionally unwell. If one falls to hatred or vengeance, keeps their emotions bottled up, or does not let go of unrequited love, they can enter their heart and corrupt them into another of their kind.
The true danger of the Fomóirne is in their ability to trick their victim into hurting those around them. They can trick their victims with visions, playing on their unstable emotions, and cause them to lash out at the people around them, particularly those that love the victim. They do this to destroy their support network, making them easier to manipulate.
They were also believed to cause unhealthy obsessive behavior in their victim, particularly towards the interest of their unrequited love, and if they attack an unborn child, they cause a condition known as ulchtakamú (missing heart), resulting in the child being unable to feel emotion, a major disability in any Emotional Magic using community. Individuals with this condition are referred to as Unseelie.
As understanding of mental health improves, more people are starting to link the belief of Fomóirne to mental health conditions, and belief in them is starting to wane. But for many, they are still very real, particularly within the Sylvan Empire, where there are still accounts of Fomóirne that can't be explained.
Trees of Life Myth[]
Mega-anna later, when life was thriving in each of their realms, the siblings, sans Tromarudrom, reconnected. The time apart had done them well. They were able to respectfully compare their accomplishments and speak about their children without devolving into arguments. Mjora, rejoiced by the reunion, took a powerful ash tree and split it up into nine pieces. She planted one piece on her world and gave seven of the other pieces to her reunited siblings to plant on their worlds. The tree was intended to link the Nine Realms together and ensure life thrived on them all. Mjora attempted to reach out to Tromarudrom to give them their piece of the tree, but they still held on to the bitterness until it turned to hatred within their heart and threatened Mjora to leave or they would send their children after hers too. Mjora left, disheartened, but still held on to the tree in hopes that her sibling would one day come around.
Centuries passed and something curious happened. A little being of blue light came to her world from another. It wasn't one of her siblings' children, so she watched it with interest. When it went back home, she sent a piece of herself to follow it and found herself in a place entirely unknown to her. She met with that place's god and was given permission to observe it. She watched the little beings with interest as they many different sentient species danced around their delicate game of politics. When the tiny beings decided to form a political alliance and set up a capital for this alliance, Mjora made herself known to them. She have them the ninth piece of the ash tree and instructed them to plant it on their alliance capital world, telling them it will ensure the planet's health.
These nine trees have been given many names in the various languages that know of their existence, but all their names translate to 'Tree of Life'.