Olmeid-Llopek

The islands of Olmeid have an established religion, though the religion itself does not have a name. The islanders have never thought of naming it, for the longest time, they never really had to. Most of their lore has been preserved through songs, and storytelling, mostly done by Temple priests. There is even a strong connection between music, dance and the religion itself. Many of the names and holidays oddly don’t follow Polynesian belief or naming and it is theorized this is because of outside cultural influence from the time that the religion of the Atua was banned.

Llopekai: God of goodness, and perfection.
Element: Light.
Fact: This pale pointy eared god was said to rise up from the sea and teach humans about goodness, and kindness. With him, humans learned to be monogamous, and ended human sacrifice to the gods. Llopekai offered himself in sacrifice instead of humans, claiming that because he was a god, his blood would outlast any mortal's blood.
Sacred animal: None. There is a sacred flower however, the plumeria.
Offerings to God: Plumerias strung together in a lei and incense
Holiday: Llopekai's Challenge; A week where many events are held, often to show off the abilities of mortals as if to say, you spilled your blood for good reasons. Everyone must perform a 'good deed' before the week is up, otherwise it is said you are a demonic being and are often shunned from society. Starts December 13th.

Ecksigal: Androgynous deity of Secrets, night and thieves.
Element: Unknown
Fact: Ecksigal appears to have Bat like ears upon their head. The deity appears as the same gender to whomever encounters it. Offerings are made during full moons. Ecksigals' sibling is Ipuhuelai, who was tricked into carrying extra light and doing double the work in the day time by Ecksigal.
Sacred animal: The bat
Offerings: Ear/lips of creatures to honor the secrets that the animals have kept.
Holiday: Ecksigal'not. Night where locals burn a large sculpture or pyre built up of twigs, small trees, and foliage. For a week they gather anonymous letters of secrets and burn those as a way of cleansing themselves of the old year. January 2nd.

Hina-Aerys Foritunihi: Goddess of chance/luck, chaos and fortune.
Element: Chaos
Fact: This goddess is said to play games with the god of Fate, often trying to overthrow the order of the world. Her pawns are various mortals. It has been said that once she cooperated with Fatyr to curse a group of mortals who sought to overthrow chaos and order so that they could control the land. It is bad luck to say her name. Sometimes she will bestow an unlucky mortal as being her champion where chaos and disorder will follow that mortal for their entire life, but will have an interesting life unknowingly serving the goddess.
Sacred Animal: The butterfly
Offerings: Dice, coins,
Holiday: Fortunihii's Favorites; A day dedicated to determining how much Fortuninhi likes you. It is often held with plenty of money in hand, often saving it up to try and be in the eyes of the goddess. The others who weren't so lucky must now hide their remaining coins. The children will then commence to see who is favored by hunting for the coins, then keep the coins they find. May 22nd.

Fatyr: God of fate, order, and death.
Element: Order
Fact: Fatyr has eight arms and was the first god to be born. He weaves strings to keep order in the world and to control the fates of mortals like how a spider weaves a web. When strings tangle, there is trouble or usually death. Because he finds humans so troublesome and chaotic he works to end all life in the manner of setting up games and playing against Aerys Fortuni.
Sacred Animal: The Spider
Offerings: Bracelets, to show that the people can keep order, often made of tweed, string or beads.
Holiday: Fatyr's grah. A week long holiday where people dress in all black and do not speak for this is the only time that Fatyr sleeps. This allows the dead to wake up and attempt to sneak home: Should someone speak, he may wake up. On the seventh day people celebrate with food, music and memories of the deceased, even holding parties at graveyards. Second week of november (varies. Always begins on a sunday and ends on a saturday.)

Majhilai: Goddess of wisdom, magic, and music
Element: Time
Fact: Majhilai was the goddess that taught humans how to weave magic. Her tears are said to create Majhilichite (a magical ore found near volcanic vents of Olmeid.) which she cries due to the suffering of humans as Voculele is said to have taken one of her lovers away from her out of jealousy. Majhilai is the most helpful to humans and tries to show them how to manipulate the weavings of Fatyr to avoid the terrible fates that he leads them to. Most mages worship her.
Sacred Animal: The Iwi. (A bright red colored honeycreeper)
Offerings: Aged wine, Machilichite, Honey
Holiday: Majhilai's Contribution; A day where there is plenty of music and dancing, some performances of magic, and plenty of story-telling take place to honor the goddess and her attributes. March 12th.

Helewyno’e: God of evil and darkness and the underworld.
Element: Darkness
Fact: This pointy eared god is brother to Llopekai and left when his brother sacrificed himself vowing to return to the world and bring ruin. It is widely believed that he lived far under the sea, under the ground and devours and tortures the souls of the wicked, eventually turning them into demons to do his bidding.
Sacred Animal: The pig
Offerings: None
Holiday: Helewyno's Feast; Day where the people throw their most valued possession or a facsimile of said possession into the sea in the hopes of gaining his acceptance. Afterwards, they celebrate by having a great feast. The next day they must all wash themselves several times by the ocean, so that they may cleanse their souls. August 18.

Volculele: Goddess of the volcanoes, fire and sledding. Also known as Pele.
Element: Fire
Fact: Volculele takes the form of a serpent or of a beautiful woman with a bad temper. The most active of the gods, she often disguises herself and walks among mortals. She has been known to take in humans as husbands, many however would meet terrible luck or fates. She tends to take on many mortal lovers but none of them have a good fate.
Sacred Animal: The snake
Offerings: Jewels, jewelry and food.
Holiday: Volculele's Poultice; A day where the people perform several dances and offer sacrifices to the goddess. All the while they cover their bodies in calming poultices and creams so that they may soothe Volcule's temper. July 17th.

Ema monu uellai: Goddess of the earth and fertility, life
Element: Earth
Fact: She is the mother of all creatures on Olmeid. Literally and figuratively. She is Vocule's younger sister and was hatched from an egg in Voculele's warm arms. She then gave birth to three eggs, one hatched into all animals of the sea and air, the next all animals of the land including humans and the last were all the plants.
Sacred animal The owl
Offerings: Colored stones/shells, to show you appreciate the beauty and nature of Em monu uella Sometimes youths will bring apples to offer, a forbidden love, repressed desires and sweet temptations, in the hopes that the goddess will respond and bring them together.
Holiday: Em monu uella'as - Day of Ema monu uella. Basically your Easter and Valentines Day wrapped into one. A day to celebrate the end of the dry season, colors, and fertility of the land. Usually on this day, lovers will trade gifts; friends will trade flowers and fruit. Weddings are often held on this day. People wear white and tan on this day for at the end of the day, dyes and pigments are thrown at each other. April 10th.

Aguasi: God of the sea and merchants, and pirates
Element: water
Fact: He was a conceited god who loved to see his own reflection. Out of spite for his selfishness, the other gods denied him access to land and condemned others to look at him and only see their own reflection. Merchant relation would be greed, the want for self-improvement and gain. The Moa or shark people of the islands claim the god to be shark shaped.
Sacred animal: Clam, for it must keep its pearl within.* (Llopek island) Or the Turtle. (Olmeid Island)
Offerings: Pearls, clam shells, shell jewelry, masks
Holiday: Aguasi's Punishment; Holiday in which masks are worn in order to conceal everyone's face, the masks would be worn in Aguasi's likeness and are not to be taken off, those that do are said to suffer from severe ugliness. June. 12.

Aerosk: God of storms, sailors, the sky
Element: Air
Fact: The god that often despises the lives of mortals and is easily angered. Living in the heavens, when he is angry he casts his storms upon the people to take out his anger, often for their mistakes. At one time he embraced Em monu uellai so tightly that people were squashed and had to walk with their backs hunched over. It was Maui who raised the sky by beating up Aerosk and keeping him from embracing mother earth so tightly.
Sacred animal: Greater Frigate or Iwa. An aggressive bird known to bully others into giving up their food.
Offerings: Jade, Drums (sound of thunder), Fish, anything to make him happy.
Holiday: A day that the people celebrate by giving all sorts of gifts to others, regardless of status between them. They celebrate having survived Aerosk's wrath and good health. Nov 28th

Ipuhuelai: God/goddess of the sun and day
Element: None
Fact: twin sibling of Eckskigal. They are chased across the sky everyday by the night. Ipu was said to have stolen a secret of Ecksigal and so he/she chases him across the sky every day. Ipuhuelai was said to once have many legs and was the fastest of all the gods, however a fight with Maui who removed all their legs forced the sun deity to slow down and extend the day to be longer.
Sacred animal: The tern
Offerings: Every day before sun down, there is a small prayer-song offered, sometimes Hibiscus flowers are offered instead.
holiday: None, but the seventh day of every week is taken off as a break. Shops shut down and no work is performed on that day.

Maui: shape shifting god, son of Em monu uellai and tossed to the sea after being thought to be still birthed. Maui grew up under Aguasi’s home but eventually ran away to majilichai’s place where he learned how to shapeshift and care for humanity. He died trying to crawl back into his mothers vagina when she slept in order to be reborn again and gain immortality for all of humanity.

In the beginning there was nothing but chaos. And this place of nothingness was called Kumulipo. This went on for eons, and eventually Chaos did something miraculous and unexpected even for chaos. It produced order. The order faded, but emerged eight years later. This time it was more permanent. It had eight arms, eight eyes and eight hands. He named himself Fatyr. He disliked the chaos and sought to destroy it. He tore it into different parts, the land, the air, the sea and fire. He created a coconut and formed the dome of the sky. On top of this dome he made his home and called it Buluto. From there he weaved webs to hold lights and moved them across the sky. The leftover chaos cried out in pain and writhed into a form. This weaker form named herself Aerys. From then on, she decided to get her revenge by disrupting Fatyr's order in any way that she could. Fatyr organized the world, placing the fire beneath the earth, the earth beneath the ocean and the air above the ocean. Furthest down was Kumulipo, where strange things and creatures formed. Fire did not like this and so it tore through the earth, forming at first into a snake but then finally into the Voculele we know. But as she journeyed upwards she found an egg and claimed it as her sister, She took the egg, and earth with her. Voculele broke through the wave, spitting fire into the air to make space. She made land to rest on and cradle her sister's egg. She called this land Hawaii`iki. In her warm arms the egg hatched and Emmonuella was born. The stirring of the waves formed into Aguasi who became vengeful on Voculele, and her fire spitting did scorch the air. It howled in pain and writhed into what we know as Aerosk. Fatyr looked down on this and believed that this was Aerys' doing. And so he took two of his eyes and made Ipuhuelai and Ecksigal to watch them carefully. He then sought to snare Hina-Aerys, weaving webs. She was caught and struggled but Fatyr tore her open. Her blood seemed through the elements. The blood mixed with the fire and was carried upwards. It coagulated and from it the wise Majhilicae was born.

Hina-Aerys formed again, this time smaller and more fragile. She had blue butterfly wings. In this form she set out to cause trouble. As she flew she got both Aerosk's and Aguasi's attention. She flew along, the two following her until she landed on Ema monu uella. By then she was grown and very beautiful and so the two gods tried to get her attention. But Ema monu uella was too busy shaping the land with her sister to pay them any mind. Eventually Aerosk won her over. They were happy together, and Emonuella bore two eggs. One hatched and all plant life was born. The other bore all animals of the land air, the Kupua, the Menehune, and the first humans Tiki and Hina. They populated the land very quickly and lived in paradise. Although Aguasi grew jealous of the two and rushed up onto land to snatch Em monu uella. Voculele and Aerosk tried to fend him off but were unsuccessful. As a result Emmonuella was with child again, this time the egg hatched into all of the sea creatures. From the different unions of these creatures, humans and the gods, many demigods and heroes were born.


Many of these creatures did not have souls and suffered greatly. Some metals that Voculele produced burned them and made them ill and many would die as soon as they were born. Fatyr saw this and decided it was far too chaotic and so he wove webs from left over Mana and tied them around each creature as it was born. He was then able to give them souls and control them to keep order, but in the trade they would have shorter lives and no longer grow sick from Voculele. If their strings became too tangled, he would cut them. The spirits would be free and drift upwards to his home. There they will rest and reunite until he weaves them back into new bodies, in exchange that they lose their memories. Aerys adored these creatures and often played with them, trying to stall their demise by working up chaos. However for some this would entangle them even more, causing a lot of frustration for the orderly one. Some began to get so tangled up in their life strings that they began to see the future and the past, sometimes even past lives. However this entangled them even further, bringing them nothing but pain and suffering.





There are many places or ways to end up in Olmeid after you die, although most Olmedians participate in some form of ancestor worship or believe in some form of rebirth as different spirits. The idea is that the spirit world is layered on top of the physical world although humans can’t see this world, it doesn't mean the world cannot be interacted with to some degree. Some Kahunas or shamans can peer into or travel into this kind of world by reaching a trance-like state. This is also the one of the realms that the gods live in. From there, there are also several other realms to travel to. You have the land of Helwynoe. Which is a realm of nightmares, demons and terrors far below the sea. This land is for purification of those that were cruel or evil in life, after some time will either eventually become demons themselves or eventually through atonement become purified and back to the land of spirits, or Po. (Spirit realm), where they can either be reborn as plants or animals or interact with the living. Many spirits of the dead go to Fatyr’s place to be reborn, but others may stick around to look after their descendants for years to come. However if there is no one to care for the graves and offer food and libations to the dead, the dead will grow restless and angry, becoming hungry and wreaking havoc on the living. There are other forms of restless spirits such as those that died in battles of the old days.

These souls are called the night marchers and they march across the island in search of recruits to their dead army. Sometimes their footsteps and chants can still be heard across the island as the spirits wander in search of their next battle.

So what happens to the average person when they die? Well they usually go to a grave where funerals and funeral marches are a big affair. Some wealthy may even purchase professional mourners who would self harm and wail on the way to the grave, showing off how much the dead will be missed. On the island of Llopek, in some remote villages, the people practice a form of mummification of the body where they desiccate the body using Ti leaves and smoke. After the body is completely dried out, the body is positioned onto a chair and hung about in the house and treated as if the dead is still alive. The belief is that the soul still resides in the body and may not completely leave until years later. This may have come about due to Llopeks very humid atmosphere and rocky terrain that made burials rare or difficult.

Far beneath the land and sea, there is a steep drop off point that goes into the pitch blackness of the ocean. If you can survive the ocean pressures, depths and cold, you will eventually find yourself.. Able to breathe underwater as the worlds between spiritual and physical blend completely. Your spirit becomes exposed but protects your body.

This can be dangerous as your spirit reflects your own health, well being and can be affected by corruption.

Some beings such as demigods and Souljourners are able to make the trip and find quick passage where as most souls of the dead take about four years undergoing many great trials. Most of the trials inflict pain and suffering on these souls as they travel, reflecting the pain and suffering they inflicted upon others or tapuus they have committed in life. Should they succumb, they become corrupted and lost spirits forever wandering the underworld until they can break free or are purified to be rewoven into the tapestry of life.

Some spirits of particularly corrupted and disobedient souls get dragged there. This belief seems to be a much newer belief however, possibly attributed to the belief of the Elves in the age of Colonization

The landscape eventually resembles deep crevices and mountains with occasional plumes of watery smoke and lava coming out of the ground. The plant life if you can call that are very early forms of spirits, some of them corrupted and provide some light through bioluminescence. Occasionally there is a river of light or leylines of magic, that some spirits are able to traverse to the surface if lucky. Once escaped these spirits either corrupted or not can rejoin the land of Po and perform their duties.

Furthest down in the largest pit called The Pit of Helwyno'e is a large prison like structure where the celestial leylines are tied like chains around the god Helwyno'e which he struggles against and pulls to free himself but is able to use some of his influence to corrupt and send out spirits to the world. This has been accepted as part of his duties to encourage the corruption and purification cycle.