Asranism

Asranism, also known as Mikaean paganism, is an amalgamation of religious beliefs and practices which were adopted by the Mikaeans during their period of residence in Western Europe between 372 CE to 500 CE.

Burial and afterlife

Practices

Human sacrifice

Main article: Wicker man

The concept of providing living sacrifices to god had long-existed within Mikaean society, but entered into a period where humans and Mikaeans would be taken as sacrifices over animal sacrifices during the fifth century CE, at which time the Mikaeans were residing in modern-day France.

Though there was no contemporary evidence verifying their usage in Celtic paganism, . The use of a wicker man in this instance was originally limited to Mikaeans cast out from their clades, enemy warriors captured during a battle, or the bodies of the deceased during certain times of the year.

The Mikaeans following the faith of Asranism have continued to the practice of using wicker men for many of their most important ceremonies, with that being those revolving around the act of vederlag or "compensation". Vederlag is the concept of returning to God some of significant value, to repay to him something for all that he has given to the Mikaeans on the earth throughout their lives. This may be in the form of crops to share some of the fruitage of the earth harvested by the Mikaeans with God, or the flesh and blood of animals as a sacrifice for the life-force God imbues into all living creatures in the world. Regardless of the offering provided, the medium by which these offerings are given to God invariably require the use of fire to convert the offerings into smoke that will both obtain the attention of God and give onto the offering in spirit as he himself is a spirit.

In spite of official opposition to these sacrifices, and laws in affect aggressively punishing any such acts,

Practices

Utilizes living sacrifices within its practices as a means of providing the creator with an aroma to obtain his attention and favor; method of sacrifice similar to that of the Celtic wicker men attested to by Julius Caesar
Witchcraft, fortune-telling, and spirit mediums are common themes of the Asranist belief system; all three were outlawed within the Mikaegeny and are labeled as blasphemy within the Mikaean Church itself
Massive bonfires in the woods at night are common within Asranist circles as a type of worship and celebration of life and death and the relationship between them and the Mikaean god
Most of the kidnappings reported within the Mikaegeny can be directly tied to Asranist who require an extensive number of the living beings for their ritual sacrifices to their creator
The Asranists believe that most of the disasters which have befallen the Mikaegeny can be directly linked to the failure to please their god sufficiently with blood sacrifices in the form of living beings
It is believed that approximately 20–30% of the Mikaean Church's membership are active adherents to the Asranist belief system; the church seeks to stem its growth rather than prevent it so as to prevent violence within the church
Virtually all non-Asranist adherents believe the faith to be extremely dangerous to the safety of their society, and have been waging an unsuccessful campaign to destroy it entirely
The efforts to remove Asranism from the Mikaean population have been abyssmal, largely due to the fact that too many Mikaeans believe it to have validity and many highly-placed officials and church leaders are adherents of Asranism themselves
Believed that life must be taken to extend the lives of others around them as based on the Mikaean tradition that all members are equal in all things, and thus any inequality in life must be repaid for in death for all adherents

Notes

Many Mikaeans adhere to a wide range of esoteric traditions which they brought with them to their homeland in Mikaea. Several of these traditions made their way into the religious beliefs of their people, and influenced the development and practices of Mikaeanism, giving it an air of mystery and occultism which can only be blamed on the effects of those ancient traditions. These traditions have been collectively termed Asranism, which is named after the female Mikaean, Asrana, who was burnt at the stake in 1137 following a trial in which she was denounced for blasphemy and witchcraft, as well as the murder of several of her sisters in a series of live sacrifices which had served as the trial's centerpiece, and the primary cause for her death sentence. Today, Asranists continue to practice a number of rituals which have remained a serious cause for concern for the civil and religious authorities of Mikaea, as well as for the various human governments which continue to deal with the potential threat of Asranists kidnapping their citizens.

Within the Mikaean Church itself, the singing of certain hymns from the ancient history of the Mikaeans frequently allude to the dark practices and ceremonies of human sacrifice, blood offerings, and death worship which had been an important part of Mikaean culture. Of particular interest are several Celtic pagan rituals such as beheading sacrificial victims, preservation of body parts as trophies, and the burning of wicker men filled with humans and animals to bring about a good harvest or the blessings of their god. Much of the female population within Mikaea, upwards of about 20-30% of the total population, are believed to be active practitioners of Asranism. Indeed, even within the Mikaean Church itself, several of its clergywomen are rumored to be secret followers of Asrana's teachings, while the church itself is known to have incorporated many of those pagan teachings within the doctrines and practices of the Divine Praxis itself. It is widely believed that many of the rituals practiced by the Mikaeans which originated from Asranism, revolve around the goal of becoming closer to god, gaining control over the target of their obsession, and obtaining forgiveness of sins both real and perceived.

Due to the secretive nature of Asranism due to its long history of persecution from the church authorities, its members are known to be defensive when confronted with knowledge of their beliefs, and extraordinarily selective when determining who to select as prospective members of their faith. Even within their own coteries, a practicing member of Asranism will be deeply protective of her beliefs, and actively avoid any discussion of the topic with her sisters for fear of being outed to the authorities. Entry into the faith appears to be by invitation only, with active members of Asranism carefully watching for certain behavior from their sisters, convening to decide which of them would be worthy recruits for the faith. By all accounts, all selections made by these convents have either been successful or quietly silenced to avoid any threat to Asranism within Mikaea.

Those Mikaeans who follow Asranism provide ritualistic offerings in secluded areas, often wooded and at night, giving offerings of flesh, blood, prayers, and song to their god. Special occasions are marked by a gathering of hundreds of practitioners in the forests of Mikaea, near large stone edifices hidden away from the general public, where they can freely practice their faith without fear of persecution. It should be noted that many of the locations where the Asranists are known to gather are already documented by both the government of Mikaea and the Mikaean Church, though given the knowledge that nearly a third of the population belongs to the pagan faith, the government and church have been reluctant to act on this information and focus their efforts on reducing active membership within Asranism as a more viable alternative to direct persecution.

Other

Church emblem

The emblem of the Mikaean Church can be interpreted in one of two ways:

The central figure is the Allfather, who supports the weight of the Mikaegeny above his head through his spiritual guidance and the teachings of the church
The emblem symbolizes the all-seeing eye of the Allfather, who keeps a close watch over all his children to ensure their safety and wellbeing

Religious practices

The Mikaeans do not bury their dead. Rather, they cremate the bodies of the deceased and scatter the ashes in the wind or release them into the sea. In the case of females, the bones are crushed and turned into bone meal for use as fertilizer in the microclade of their birth, where they will give life to the land to aid their family once more in death. Some of the ashes of the dead are commonly interred within minne dolls for remembrance of the deceased, along with fingerbone or fragment of their skull to ensure a piece of the Mikaean's body is kept within her coterie for ritual mourning. Mikaean males receive a more grandiose funeral rite, with a large pyre built for them and their body placed within for cremation. The ashes are then scattered into the wind or the surrounding waters, though it was common in the past for many of his daughters to cut themselves and rub their father's ashes into the wounds to forever carry a part of him on their person. This practice was outlawed in 1871 by Highfather Michael XIV Neal, and security at the pyre ceremonies increased during a male's funeral to ensure none of his ashes are misued following the cremation.
Naming ceremonies for male offspring following their birth are major social events across Mikaea, with dignitaries from throughout the population invited to take part in the tradition where the father of the son will public name his child before the audience, and invite others to share in the festivities related with the welcoming of a new male into the population of the Mikaeans.

Sammenslåing

The Mikaeans believe in a theological concept known as the sammenslåing, or the "merger", a belief that soon in the future all Mikaeans will be united with God in perfect harmony, and commune with him directly and without intermediaries. Furthermore, all members of their species will be gifted with the ability to experience all that one another feel as individuals, what they think, how the feel, what they see, and every act that would be unique to that Mikaean. All members of the Mikaegeny would be united in every aspect of their lives, and thus take on a singular spiritual form with millions of minds independent of each other yet united all the same. The sammenslåing has been frequently described by the Mikaeans as a concept too difficult for them to express to humans, being akin to what would be commonly known as a "hive-mind", but without either the negative connotations or the suppression of free will. The envy and hostility the average Mikaean holds toward all others for experiences not lived, talents not expressed, or thoughts not shared in full, would be done away with, and all of the wishes they hope for would be attained through the perfect unity with both God and with each other.

Language

Æ/Ø/Å

æ = a (hat)
ø = u (hurt)
å = aw (gnaw)

Stridsjomfruer

Stridsjomfruer (s. stridsjomfru), literally "battle maidens", were a class of warrior women within Mikaean society who took up the profession of soldiering from the mid-8th century CE up to about the mid-17th century. Throughout the history of the Mikaeans in Europe and North America, stridsjomfruer accounted for approximately 5–10% of the population, with each clade within Mikaea having its own host of female warriors tasked with protecting the lives of their sisters, brothers, and fathers. Historically, the stridsjomfruer were known within Old Norse as the strīthmær, or "war-maidens", who defended the lands of the Mikaeans from their Germanic and later Nordic neighbors following their migration into northern Europe during the collapse of the Western Roman Empire. While though the accounts of the legendary shield-maidens of Nordic myth and saga have never been fully-confirmed or agreed upon by modern historians, it is commonly-believed by many researchers today that the stories of the shield-maidens was based in part or in whole on the historical activities of the old strīthmær of the Mikaeans.

Misunnelsebok

A misunnelsebok (or more commonly misubok), or "book of envy" or "book of jealousy", is a private journal within which all personal thoughts and emotions are recorded for posterity. A misunnelsebok is commonly kept by Mikaean individuals to keep a record of all personal slights, grudges, and cases of envy they experience, and provide an outlet for them express how they are feeling without resorting to violence action. The practice of maintaining a misunnelsebok was introduced around the mid-1500s by the Mikaean Church, which promoted the act as a method of venting personal frustrations in a cathartic and non-violent manner. This came at a time where violence throughout the Mikaean population had been increasing without end, and the various hierarchs of the Mikaegeny were seeking ways to mitigate the issue as best they could for their children.

A Mikaean will write out any thoughts which are bothering them into their misunnelsebok, opening up and explaining to the best of their ability the reason for their anger, and do so as truthfully as possible
Once the envious or violent thoughts have been put to paper, the Mikaean is encouraged to put the book away and never return to that instance that bothered them
During their confession at church, a Mikaean will often bring their misunnelsebok with them and present it to their aldatrix, allowing them to peer into their thought process and what it is that bothers them
The aldatrix will use this accumulated information provided by the Mikaean to provide spiritual guidance to help them deal with their anger and thoughts of jealousy
A misunnelsebok differs from a diary in that the purpose of the former is specifically allow a Mikaean to write out all of their negative thoughts and emotions, and are not meant to be read by anyone other than their aldatrix during confession
This method of documenting negative thoughts or feelings was designed to help get around feelings of embarrassment or refusal to revisit and discuss those feelings with others; this allows a priest to read the thoughts without pressing the Mikaean for information
Most misunnelseboks are limited to only 100-120 pages each, as the goal is to help the Mikaean spend as little time writing into their misunnelsebok and help them better deal with their thoughts and emotions

Etymology

History

Purpose

Personal use

Religious use

Minne doll

A minne doll is a ball-jointed doll produced by the Mikaeans as a method of honoring the memory of the recently-deceased throughout their communities. The dolls are noted for the remarkable level of care and detail placed into their creation, resulting in astonishingly realistic and anatomically-correct dolls made in the image of the deceased. Traditionally, the dolls are produced using the hair, bone, and tissue belonging to the deceased Mikaean prior to their cremation. This method of doll-making has existed within Mikaea for more than a thousand years, and remains an important aspect of Mikaean culture and society, as well as their unique manner of mourning the dead.

History

Materials

Early minne dolls were made using wood, iron, and horsehair for the doll's head. The faces of these early minne dolls were sculpted by carpenters who specialized in the field of doll-making as a full-time profession. Due to the difficulty of mass-producing minne dolls with this level of detail, most dolls prior to the 18th and 19th centuries were designed with painted faces over a partially-sculted head to provide some level of fidelity.

Notes

During conflicts, Mikaean soldiers would commonly make minne dolls in the image of all of the enemy combatants that they killed during a battle, and keep the dolls as trophies which would be moved around the battlefield as both a way of remembering victories, the valorous dead, and serve as a means of indicating the capabilities of the unit in question by broadcasting to others all the dead they have claimed during their period of combat service at the front
Many Mikaeans believe that the soul of a deceased Mikaean can be linked to their minne doll so long as a piece of them has been preserved within the doll; to that end, the head of the doll is designed with a special cavity that can be accessed from the rear of the head, and a piece of the dead Mikaean, usually a finger-bone, ashes, or piece of preserved flesh, inserted into the cavity to keep a physical link to the Mikaean in question within for the doll's caretakers
Asranists will usually make a minne doll of themselves as a precaution, as many are members of illegal suicide cults that exist in the forests of Mikaea; unlike other minne dolls, these self-made dolls will contain a lock of the Mikaean's own hair rather than a fingerbone or piece of flesh, allowing investigators to determine the faith of the doll's owner in the event they disappear; these dolls also serve as a way of ensuring the spirit of the Asranist has a link to the physical world should she be cast out of her coterie for her religious affiliation, as the minne doll created by her coterie would likely be burned and destroyed as a means of severing the coterie's link to her for her actions

Sinnets hage

A sinnets hage (Norwegian: "garden of the mind") is a Mikaean library specifically designed and built to include elements from nature within its floorplan and aestetic. Large trees dominate reading areas, grass floors are carefully . A sinnets hage is frequently cited as having more in common with an arboretum than a common library,

Fashion and grooming

Hairstyles

Hårveving (lit., "hair weaving") is the term used to describe the various number of traditional hairstyles commonly worn by the Mikaeans. Most forms of hårveving have endured into the modern-day, though nearly all of them are known to be common types of hair-styling outside of Mikaea; thus hårveving simply refers to the types of hairstyles which are most commonly associated with the Mikaeans as an integral part of their cultural identity.

History