Old Pantheon Archive
Introduction
INTRODUCTION GOES HERE
The Loom
The Loom
Worship of the Loom as a god is the majority religion in the city-state of Embrathis. But even those who lack religious zeal can not deny the existence and active presence the Loom has on everyday life within the Boundary.
This archive gathers average religious practices, temple customs, Threadtenders, and the Loom’s cultural influence across modern Embrathis.
Temples & Shrines
Temples & Shrines
Temples range in size and splendor, from the magnificent main temple in Central Embrathis to humble wilderness shrines.
Temples are often cornerstones within their community. The major temple in each region hosts a large, ringed courtyard where the crowds of Embrathis gather on Determination Day to be gifted their magic for the year.
Even auxiliary temples remain places of note, as funerary rites are often conducted here, especially among the wealthy and/or devout.
Central Embrathis
At least 80 temples
Farmlands
Around 30 temples
Outer Embrathis
Around 40 temples
Wilderness
Various shrines
Tapestries & Prayer
Tapestries & Prayer
While they vary in grandeur, each temple, and some larger shrines, has a tapestry within that remains in progress for prayer before being finished and hung with others throughout the city.
Tapestries may depict simple patterns, but are more often unique kaleidoscopes of color as individual prayers come together as one. Each tapestry takes nearly a year to complete. The largest is housed in the main temple, which takes five years to finish.
At both temples and shrines, people can try to communicate with the Loom, and sometimes, the Loom will answer. Supplicants seeking the Loom’s attention stitch a single metallic thread into the ever-growing tapestry to pray to the Loom.
Threadtenders
Threadtenders
Those who tend the tapestries at temples are called Threadtenders.
There is a Head Threadtender of each region, always the Head Threadtender of each major temple, whereas smaller temples are generally autonomous.
Larger temples have a rotating staff of live-in Threadtenders. Smaller temples or shrines have caretakers who live nearby.
Cultural Influence
Cultural Influence
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FAMILY TAPESTRIES
Among devout households, the remaining golden thread from the betrothal may be used after the wedding to begin a family tapestry.
Traditionally, the newly married spouses begin the first stitches together sometime during the days following the wedding. The tapestry then grows alongside the household.
Births, marriages, adoptions, deaths, changes in household membership, and other important family events may be woven into the record over the years.
In aristocratic families, new marriages may contribute individual panels to a much larger ancestral tapestry. Other households may divide their tapestries by generation or maintain smaller pieces that are easier to preserve and pass down.
Some family tapestries also contain genuine soul-thread belonging to deceased relatives, incorporated according to sacred Embrathi death customs as an act of remembrance.
The handling and preservation of soul-thread follows its own established religious and funerary traditions.