Morset Tributa: the Pagan Faith of the Free Provinces

Only two gods are certain: Ris and Kels.

The ancient gods of the Principalities are Ris and Kels.

Ris is personified as a white man, lame and often depicted with a crutch or leaning upon a staff. In some places he is depicted as a dog on point. His symbol is a crude arrow pointing upward, and alternately, a tower of stone. He is the personification of Law, Order, Organization, Government, Taxes. He is the immovable object. Though it must be pointed out that there is no connotation of goodness for Ris. He might be, and often is, considered evil.

Kels is personified as a black, often faceless woman. She is almost always depicted scantily clad, or nude. Her sexual organs are always hidden from view by sheer clothing, the position of the objects around her, or even just the convenient pose of her arms and legs. That said, her pose is never intentionally modest, merely accidentally so. In some places she is shown as a cat. Her symbol is a crude depiction of a snake eating its own tail, which is often taken for a circle with an arrow point in one arc, or the crest of a wave. She is the personificaiton of Chaos, Entropy, Wildness, Liberty and Death. She is the unstoppable force. Again, no moral sense of evil should attach to her, necessarily. In some situations she is seen to portend a good and favorable result.

The two deities are continually striving against one another, but not at war. They are considered inextricably linked to one another and often portrayed as lovers who are doomed to be apart. Both deities are believed to exist from time immemorial and both are immortal and undying.

Neither Ris nor Kels promise any sort of afterlife. All mortals are believed to be consigned to some shadowy existence after death. Trapped forever in some ethereal state they know neither pleasure nor specific suffering, but are consumed by loneliness and boredom in perpetuity.