Confraternity of the Humiliated
The Confraternity, Poliplasteism and Polytheistic Makerism in general began in West Vlandia. There, many practices Makerism syncretized with their old pagan faiths or outright worshiped both religions at once. And as the further you went from central figures such as the Archbishop, the stronger these traditions were.
One day in the thick woods of Berghem appeared a man named Anselm the Touched (or Wicked, as others would turn to call him). He was supposedly the child of a virgin and ventured through the lands performing miracles such as saving a drowning sailor from the Lvenn by walking into the water and saving a family from five wolves with three arrows. He started to draw a large following, also developing into a retinue of devours that accompanied him. And then one night he said to have been visited by the Maker in his sleep and told how he forgave the gods that rejected him and allowed them back to the world.
This idea proved to be immensely popular and spread like wildfire. It was basically what many already believed in but legitimized by a saint. It joined Makerism with the gods of the Jumnish-Vlandian, Sturgian, Battanian, Urgu and Aserai pantheons. They called themselves the Poliplastes (“many Makers”) and voiced their heresy louder. Some priests were also converted and preached of the return of the old gods. They mix rituals from Makerism and paganism, combining orderly and ritualized traditions with natural and communal ones.
The Archbishop Heahmond, who would later be killed by the Pataria, saw this a great threat and sent a small army of Devout missionaries and armed mercenaries alike. Anselm the Wicked was tortured in public for hours before being drawn by two horses, and his memory was thoroughly spat upon and discredited. His following of fanatics were driven mad and killed the legates who carried out his execution, then following into the woods to attack churches and missionaries. Anselm is remembered by the Poliplastes as a saint, and some even consider him the Maker's fifth son.
Elsewhere, followers of Anselm propagated a message of peace, staying far away from any major civilization to escape persecution. The Confraternity of the Humiliated was born, an order of monks recognized as Makerist only by themselves, living on the hinterlands of Vlandia and regarding Anselm as martyr and a saint. They rejected the violent ways many polytheists adopted, calling it common banditry and contrary to the Maker's plan. Their rhetoric was impressive and even gained the secret sympathy of many rulers in West Vlandia. In the end, though, Makerism would gradually get more centralized and bent on destroying the old pagan ways. This, coupled with the development of rural Swadia, Polytheist Makerists were forced to flee to fewer and fewer desolate locations in the countryside, where the shrubbery is thick and pagan idols easy to conceal. However, many of the newly arrived Nords have taken interest in this new religion that unites their olden gods with this interesting sun-gold so popular among their new subjects. Polytheistic Makerism has risen from the ashes, like a wild phoenix, on the northern tip of Calradia.
Written by Borrisnator