Societal Allegory : The Radiant Wings - Religion

To ensure his continued command of Radiant Wings society, Ällora assembles his own host of deities under his leadership. Humanity was not the only part of creation to turn away from its creator; some of the energetic beings aligned themselves with Ällora as well. Of these, he selected 5 of the most powerful, creative and intelligent, appointing them as members of his own pantheon. Sitting at the head, Ällora represented Light and all its inspiring associations. At his right, Saroza, Lord of the Sun, and Stalie, Lady of the Stars. On Ällora's left, Lassier, Lady of the Moon, and Nadron, Lord of the Night. Ällora worked to diminish all knowledge of Eleyon, disdainful as he had become of the shattered trinity. Day 1 became Day 0, Light subverted the Creator.

Under Ällora, a focus on technological progress and humanitarian improvement established itself. The faith of the Radiant Wings is a strange amalgam of attitudes that we would consider 'religious' and perspectives of what we would term 'scientific'. It always struck me as rather unfortunate that science and religion should be so often portrayed as rivals, a divorced couple. Perhaps a mental retort has already formulated itself in your mind, shouting : 'Copernicus, Galileo and Darwin!' Personally, I feel that human experience is massively diminished without either field.

Well, in response to that apparent dichotomy, The Radiant Wings have a religion based on technology and science. They value skepticism, seek their own answers, test claims by experiment and observation. Their chief priests and priestesses are selected on academic merit, their heroes are visionaries and thinkers who solved the day's leading scientific conundrums. At the same time, religious aspects come into play, honour accorded to the deities who represent the various qualities of the society. Prayers are worded before experiments begin, praise is given for conclusive data.

Time to introduce the Pantheon of Light with their original associations :

Ällora

We've already met Ällora, the leader of the Rebellion, the scornful child of Eleyon, deserter of Yevassë. In his adopted position of the Radiant Wing's chief deity, Ällora chose to embody innovation, inspiration and curiousity, the driving forces of research. This was, whether he realised it or not, ultimately still an acknowledgement of Eleyon's purpose for him, albeit in a warped way. In this capacity, Ällora strove to portray himself as the source, the prime mover, the part of the human spirit that pushes for progress. Covering the original Prime Mover with a deceptive notion. On a more mythological side, Ällora was light. Light has always been associated with clarity, good and inspiration. Think of the words 'brilliant', 'visionary', 'enlightened', 'illuminated', 'insight'; they, and their connotations, all help to characterise this association with light and success, light and progress. That relationship is what I would like Ällora to personify.

Saroza

Saroza is the Lord of the Sun; like the rest of the Pantheon of Light under Ällora, he was originally an energy based being. He was one of the most powerful energy beings, along with Lassier, hence the two of them were associated with the major lights, the Sun and Moon respectively. Saroza became associated with the art of observation in the scientific process. It is by the light of the sun that accurate observations can be made, at least early on in the progress of Radiant Society. In the day, the world is clearly visible, observable and resolved. Before conducting experiments, a quick prayer was worded to Saroza to ask for accuracy, precision and a keen eye for detail. In other aspects, Saroza is associated with the masculine. In trying to portray a complete host of gods, Ällora mimicked the roles of the deols in some respects, this was one of them. Saroza was given many of the qualities that were originally in Oleris's domain.

Lassier

Lassier, Lady of the Moon, is the female aspect of the false pantheon. In parallel with Saroza's replacement of Oleris, Lassier took on many associations that were Unaven to begin with. While many ancient cultures actually had a male moon god and a female sun goddess, I have to say I'm with the Greeks and Chinese on this; the moon feels feminine to me. I had a lot of trouble deciding on what quality of experiment should be associated with her, so I'm afraid the one I've settled on here might not be final. At present I feel that she should be linked to the qualities of hypothesis and intuition. By that I mean the gut feeling that you might have that tells you to approach your research from this angle, or the sudden link that you make between two processes without firm evidence to support that claim. The moon is also associated with madness and lunacy, so intuition could perhaps be viewed as a controlled madness, an unexpected direction from logic alone. Many people say that science should be entirely evidence based, but I feel that our intuition and human desire for order often play on our minds as we hypothesize. So the Moon reveals by light, but only some things, in a restrained fashion, reducing the mass of observations to those that appear to be relevant. The monthly phases of the moon would perhaps only come into play with Lassier's association with femininity, and not so much with discernment and hypothesis.

Stalie

Stalie, Lady of the Stars, is tied to the process of interpretation. This was a much clearer association for me. The stars are so representably interpreted and connected as constellations. The seemingly random dots have become linked in grand figures or beasts. The constellations in turn have been interpreted in stories and myths. So just as this was done with the speckled array of the stars, an experimenter looks the data, identifies significant points, patterns, and draws a conclusive story about their relationships.

Nadron

Nadron, Lord of the Darkness, referring to the absence of light, stands as a reminder to the Radiant that we cannot know and control everything about our experiments. He is the patron of uncertainty and evaluation in the scientific process. In the cautious, reflective darkness, we watch our steps with greater attention. I want to be clear that darkness is not malevolent and evil, but just the absence of light. The qualities that Nadron embodies are complementary to the rest of the pantheon. He is still aligned with light, but in a less directly obvious way. 

I say that these are the original associations of the gods of light, because as Radiant Wings society changes and develops, each of them adopts other responsibilities and associations. Well that's all for now, I hope these associations between religious gods and scientific qualities makes idealogical sense. Science and religion don't have to be completely separated, do they?