The Banner of the Union of Aitah, bearing her name.
Aitahism is a messianic monotheistic faith, named for its eponymous founder Aitah. Through good fortune, and the rebirth of the Lady, the faith has now spread far beyond its original home among the Seshweay and the verdant delta of the Sesh River.
The expansion of the faith has been such that several distinct strands have developed. Orthodox Aitahism is followed chiefly in the heartlands of the Farubaida o Caroha, and is the tied most closely to the first manifestation of the Lady. Traveler's Aitahism is followed by exiles of the Seshweay diaspora, particularly among the Great House of the Exiles, and has spread to various native peoples through their influence. Eastern Aitahism (more properly, the Cult of the Goddess), founded in the Savirai Empire, has spread across the rest of the eastern half of the known world, rivaling even the Orthodoxy in membership. By now, a fourth strain -- Aelonist Aitahism -- has risen in the far north, around the eponymous, controversial "Fourth Aitah" Aelona.
The foundation of each of these branches of the faith are associated with a particular stage of Aitahism's history, a historical conceit popular with Orthodox Aitahist historians in particular. Foundation is held to have coincided with the rise of Aitah and her mission and conversion of the Seshweay. Flight is associated with the faith's expansion out of the Sesh Delta on the coat tails of the Exiles and the foundation of Traveler's Aitahism. Conversion is the stage associated with the adoption of the faith by the Savirai Empire, and the rebirth of Aitah and the foundation of the Eastern Aitahism -- a stage that can be further extended to cover the spread of Aelonist Aitahism.
Origins[]
Orthodox Aitahism is the most literary of the Aitahisms. It reveres a series of holy texts, each covering a different section of the past and present lives of the Aitah, the slightly more distant Ancestors, and the human trials of the faith..
The birth of Aitah to Aya'se and Matah is well attested in the holy books Words, Deeds, Portends, and Memories ('the Word'), which are supplemented by the Sayings of the Lady and Further Sayings of Our Lady ('the Erratum'); good conduct as demonstrated through the writings of the Hundred, The Songs and through the books of the Ancestors ('the Laws') and given context through the writings of the Father the Mother ('the Aya'setah'). Her Word has spread all over the Lovi Sea in three main stages: Foundation, where the faith spread among the Seshweay, Flight, where the faith followed the Exiles out into the world; and Conversion, where the faith made gains among the heathens. As a consequence of this historical process Aitahism has split into its major strands.
The First Aitah[]
Aitah sprang immaculate from the loins of two half Ancestors -- Matah and Aya'se -- and was thus born of the Ancestors, whole and complete, but on this mortal world - Seshweay. Her birth was marked with Portends, which marks all the strange events that plagued her enemies and raised on high her friends and allies. It details the meetings of the Hundred, the ascension of her soul upon the world, the departing of the Others - those who held court in her absence and relinquished command of Her legions, Her children, Her animals, Her plants and Her world - and her eventual birth: portended by horses walking and speaking and the scourging of her people in preparation for salivation through HER; thence she came and thence came Salvation upon the world -- for in Her word was salivation, in Her breath salvation and through Her salvation.
A word on Her Father, Aya'se, is now required: for he had come in times of trial past, to steer the ship of state, and to save the people until she should come and lift them on high. But his role was limited to that of intercessor, mediating between the mortals and the Ancestors - his own folk of sorts; for while he was of them, he was only half of them. In doing so, he could bring the gaze of the Ancestors and their divine providence upon his people - and their children - saving them in times of trial. For while the Ancestors held all power, and were all powerful, it was matters of the soul - the end, the beginning and the forevermore that held their intention and while they loved their children, they still loved them in spirit more than flesh. Yet, by the time of His Second Coming unto the world, His rebirth, the Ancestors had told him: 'of the flesh are your charge, of the spirit ours' and thus he became the sole path to salvation from flesh to spirit: the Ancestors had withdrawn from the flesh for the world of the spirit.
And in the time of greatest trouble the Ancestors foresaw that still more would need to be done - for the spirit is not distinct from the flesh, the one needs the other, world without end - and so when Aya'se cried for want of love they granted him one. This love - this Lady, the first - was to be the Matah, who was given the role of the Mother to Aya'se's father. For while he could command and fight she could cajole and care and thus came about the fulfilment of the first prophecy: and when they shall walk - two unto two they shall bring forth the One, the Beginning and the End, and in it shall we know contentment - beneath her shade, under her gaze and safe in her arms - father and mother both.
And from this came Aitah. Thus, She was above us, and beyond us, and above Her Mother and Father, but She was of us, and saw us, and loved, was loved, and sorrowed and was sorrowed for and in this She became of us, but apart from us, whole and immaculate, Mother and Father - and Lady Goddess.