ALENOVITE COLLECTION

Some huge amount of time in the past: Elikommet’s life.
A slightly less huge amount of time in the past: Heresy of the Holy Blood King
544 BA - The Duchy of Kata requires every woman between the ages of 14 and 22 to have at least four children. Failure to do so means conscription into 'blue brigade'.
100 BA - Aleke the Nomad (or Aleke the Eunuch, both work) begins the 100 Year War with just his 200 strong band of nomads by taking over a starving town, giving out food, and promising revenge against the nobles in return for loyalty.
79 BA - Aleke the Nomad is killed at the Battle of Lech, his adopted son Nikolay I continues the 100 Year War.
0 – Year of the Alenov Empire’s founding after the 100 Year War (15 rival kingdoms/duchies/tribes coalescing into the Alenov Empire). Nikolay III is crowned Emperor.
121 - Emperor Boris I creates the 'Bountiful Mother' Law, inspired by Kata's law, requiring every woman to give birth to seven children. Instead of forced prostitution, a fine of three yods (1/10 of a crona) is imposed. Women who are clergy, unmarried at the time, or widowed are exempt.
122 - Emperor Boris I dies after slipping on an ice patch.
187 - Belgorod, the White City, becomes capital.
299 - The first Empress, Vieno, is crowned. Crushes all resistance to her rule and enforces an era of peace and prosperity that lasts for 200 years afterwards. She's seen as a bloody but fair butcher in the Southern Lands thanks to her slaughter of disloyal nobles and her sparing and rebuilding of towns and villages.
746 - Emperor Radomir III dies at age 79.
747 – Civil War (War of the Four Princes, quadruplets, all 40 years old)
767 – End of the War, Empress Rana (age 36) crowned.
772 - Empress Rana lifts Boris I's Bountiful Mother Law (rarely enforced at that point, however) to the cheers of women everywhere.
780 - Empress Rana passes away, Emperor Ivan X crowned.
817 – Theft of a piece of the Flesh from small Northern Territory town




The Womb: The dead go to the Womb of the Earth, a warm paradise where there's always food and somewhere warm to sleep. Different religions believe in different lengths of stay, the Alenovite Church says it is equal to the amount of time you spent alive. Then you are reincarnated into the world. Sinful dead are outright reincarnated.

Elikommet: The Unhatched Crow, Son of the Earth, Speaker of the Great Mother, The Girlish-Faced Man, Black-Haired Elikommet, whatever you wish to call him. All agree that he was a crow who became something that looked almost human. He dressed as a woman, but spoke like a man, and was considered to have all the beauty and viciousness of the Mother Earth herself. He turned himself into a human-like child, and came across a family cannibalizing their daughter (very few things grew before Elikommet, and cannibalism was a fact of life), he resurrected their daughter and followed them back to their tribe, becoming part of it. From his feet grew grass and small berry-bearing shrubs, he crafted cattle from dirt and created alcohol. Elikommet is worshiped or at the very least venerated above all ancestors. Elikommet may have looked very human, but in the religious texts and stories his inhumanity is underlined. It is from this inhumanity that he becomes merciful to humans. Elikommet married a nomad girl from another tribe named Suha (marriage name became Suha-Thana). The love between Suha-Thana and Elikommet is considered something to aspire to, and yet also a tragedy since Elikommet was not human and did not age past a youthful adulthood. He famously stayed loyal even as she aged into a small old woman. Suha-Thana and Elikommet had fifteen children together, and when Suha-Thana died Elikommet tore off his flesh to give it to the people before descending into The Womb of the Earth with his beloved wife.

A popular story is Elikommet's Three Trials to prove himself to Suha's father so he could marry her. Suha at the time was 15, and Elikommet appeared to be a young adult. Suha was a slave to her father and mother, working for her elder siblings and her parents all day and all night. Elikommet first met Suha at as the two nomadic tribes came together to trade, finding her fetching cured meat for her family. Elikommet went to her father to ask to marry her, but Suha's father was unwilling to give up a hard working slave like Suha, even after Elikommet declared himself the Voice of the Great Mother Earth herself. Scoffing at Elikommet, Suha's father challenged him to prove it and posed a series of trials on Elikommet. Elikommet wanted to kill Suha's father, but was bound by the rules of sacred hospitality and acquiesced to his demands, while coming up with a plan that would lead to the man's death.

The First Trial was to create water so that Suha's tribe would no longer need to follow the rains. Elikommet created a giant lake.
The Second Trial was to create a wedding gift that would bring smiles to the people's face, so Elikommet tore out some of his hair and threw it to the ground. Large bushes grew instantly, heavy with berries, and Elikommet ran all day and all night over them until they were a mash, then he put the mash in all the containers the tribes had and presented it to Suha's father. Inside was the first alcohol. Elikommet warned Suha's father to not overindulge in the drink, with the knowledge that Suha's father would overindulge anyway just to spite him.
The Third Trial was to create a food source for Suha's tribe, so Elikommet peeled off his fingernails and toenails which turned into fish, that he threw into the lake.

Deciding that Elikommet was worthy, a great wedding was held and alcohol flowed freely. Suha's father of course got drunk, and ended up striking Suha in front of the wedding party. Elikommet's plan came to fruitition, and with the sacred hospitality rule revoked he killed Suha's father.

Elikommet's Adoration: Made to prove Elikommet's love and promise of protection to Suha-Thana. Poisonous and thorny.
Suhiizhar: Is said by the Vaguely Islamic other religion to be a flower that Elikommet let Suha make. According to their religion, Suha asked if she too could make something for the world and Elikommet said "yes". So she created this flower (with his help) which is 'many petaled' and very sweet. It's considered very pretty and a representation of her pure soul, for this flower lacks both thorns and poison and can made medicine and sweet flower alcohol.

Mother Yvenna's Collected Hymns (volume 45, edition 3)

Reveal your Fury, O' Red One!
Unveil your wings, reveal your talons!
Gnash teeth, hiss and shriek!

Strike down the Heretic!
Tear him limb and limb!
Feed the Mother Earth!

Break his bark
Crack his bones!
Boil his blood!

Daughter of the Mother Earth!
Hand of Wrath!

Merciless Daughter of the Earth
May your Fury protect us eternally

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