Of Sea and Creation

 "Men fear sea because of things in it that they can't explain and refuse to sail out far from coasts, leaving overland as the only option for travel. The church has taught us that the land was formed by Varchic, the first to climb up from the Pits of our earth and who gave us land to build and live on. There's now an offshoot cult of the church promoting seafaring and venerating the things from the ocean that nobody's been able to explain that has been causing unrest and gathering concern from the conventional church. They speak of Leviathan, a rotting carcass deep in the depths of sea that holds an infinity of secrets and answers.

They must not get to it..."

This madness was given rise at the OSR discord server, and I shall now deliver you excerpts and my interpretation of it. It is a tale of Land and Sea, or Light and Deep as some may call it. A glimpse into the beginnings of the faith of the First Church as well as the longing for the deep by their offshoot believers who would turn towards the sea and forsake the land.

"Those of the deep are never to be seen in the light of the sun, for that is our only blessing as children of Varchic.

Amen, amen."

In the beginning all there was was a sea. A sea and a pit deep into the earth. Out of this pit crawled Varchic, lead up by the light shining from above. As he rose from the pit, Varchic created land amidst the endless sea for his people to stand, live and prosper on. That is the land that is blessed by the light from above. As Varchic grew hungry, he cast his hands deep into the sea and fished up Leviathan. He roasted the great infinite whale over a flame, the embers of which were put into use by his people. When Varchic was sated he cast the corpse of the infinite whale Leviathan back into the sea and laid to rest, his calm breaths giving his people winds and seasons. And thus his people prospered.

This is what the church teaches you and what nearly all of the land's citizens believe. They live their lives fearing the sea for that is where the great infinite whale Leviathan was thrown back and pieces of it's rotting carcass drift endlessly in the sea. As a direct result of this the amount of coastal towns is very low and nobody sails out to the sea. Travel by sea is regarded as something only madmen would attempt, although in the rare coastal towns fishing is still a popular way to provide food for the community.

"The Demon King of the Undersea is not yet dead, though your kind claims to have killed him.

You are not worthy to speak his true name."

Within the church there have long been different views on the story of Varchic. While some see him as the figure to have lead his people to land and given them the tools to forge their prosperity, there have also been interpretations of the great infinite whale Leviathan's role in the myth of creation. Some claim the whale to have been a symbol for infinite wisdom and knowledge which Varchic ate of, thus blessing his people with the knowledge to use what he had provided for them. Another theory suggests that Leviathan's nature as the great infinite whale held within itself everything, even the real beginning of creation from which Varchic is but a mere detached fragment.

Such claims have always been a hot debate within the higher ups of the church but largely gone un-noticed by the masses until recently, when a section of the church broke off claiming they had been called by Leviathan to fix the wrongs of the First Church. They spoke of infinite warmth within the deep, of the Infinite Leviathan who yet lives on within the deep and of Varchirc's vain attempt to tame the infinite sea with his finite land for his finite people. They would strike out to the sea and to the deep to find their rotting lord of the undersea of whom Varchirc had eaten.

"The hero rose from the pits of the earth and gave us land, gave us stability and things to put our faith in. Yet you would so readily refuse the blessings of him and his kin?"

The current state of religion has now become fractured. The new sect of Leviathan is slowly gathering a following, but convincing people out of their beliefs and generations of fear for the sea and the deep takes it's own time. Meanwhile the First Church is hunting down followers of Leviathan, for not only do they disrupt order and cause unrest within the people, the church with it's beliefs is afraid of what might happen should this new offshoot sect manage to find or contact whatever might be left of Leviathan's rotting carcass in the deep, or worse yet if the great infinite whale does in fact still live.

"Seek thee not the warm blanket of the Ocean and the Deep, where all things are peaceful? Peaceful until Varchic came, indeed."

"You come here, speak such things about the very blessings by which's grace you've lived your good life and turn down your God. There truly must be no place than the Deep that would even take you in no more."

"I am no child of Land, my place is in the Deep!"

"Then you have forfeited your humanity and become something lesser."

"No! I have become far greater than I was before!"