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Of Spring and Earth: Aeline
The gods come to be
The gods were not always gods; once upon an eon ago, they were mortal Felk. The Felk had been at war for centuries with a race of earth-bound creatures they named Durrits. The Durrits, unable to stoop to the cruelty that the Felk would steep to, were losing the battle very badly. In desperation, they turned to the Earth and created a ceremony, drawing power of life out of the world. In turn, they poured it into four captives: Two sets of twin Felk; two female, two male. Aeline was one of those females.
Ascendancy
After destroying the creatures that had tortured them, the altered Felk Twins had attempted to return to their own kind. Seen as abominations of order, however, they were turned away. Worse than turned away, however, they were also hunted. Realising that while they had infinite powers that could be drawn from the elements about them, they could not fight off their whole entire race. With brief conference, they decided upon flight, and used the wind to carry them away from their own kind.
Storms lashed the land they landed on; the wind tossed and turned and heaved the waters into a furor. The land rumbled and shook and fire fell from the sky. The creatures that inhabited this land saw this and fear struck their hearts; they saw the creatures so like them but perfected descend from the storm-tossed sky. These were gods, their small minds decided, and they fell to their knees before the four Felk. The Felk, in turn, glanced at each other. This was not a bad alternative.
It quickly became evident that the use of one element of the world would unbalance the others, so the Four decided to split the elements amongst each other. Air would go to Wyr, for their flight he had mastered it more completely than any other. Water would go to Dyr, who soothed the waves down around their new home, bringing them into calmness. Fire went to Rone, who with a sweep of his hand halted the firestorm, and protected their new subjects. Finally, the rumbling of the Earth beneath their feet subsided as Aeline soothed it into complacency.
Provinces
As time passed, it became evident to the gods (as they now thought of themselves), that they could enjoy each other's company at any time, but their people would fight over any conceivable difference. Fire was stronger than Water, Earth more useful than Air. Blood was shed, wars broke out, and people died. This grieved the gods, who had opted to become as unlike their Felk brothers and sisters as possible. In order to halt the bloodshed, the four decided to split the lands.
The first province went to Dyr, and she called it Ijs - meaning Ice in the Felken language. The took the northeast quadrant of the continent as hers, since it was lashed the most by watery storms. She bid those who would call her god to hasten with her, and they departed.
Rone went next, calling those to him would would worship Fire and the hot season of summer. He chose the northwest quadrant of the land, a land where warm currents brought warm air, and the dry lands before the mountain would be playthings for his flame. He bid it be called Vuur, Fire in his native tongue.
Aeline chose the southwest quadrant for hers, the land of verdant plain. She felt deep kindship with the land she drew her power from, and felt that she could mother the plains best to provide life. "Come to me," she bid her people. "We will name this land Aarde, meaning Spring."
Finally, only Wyr was left standing in their old home, the last of the four quadrants. "I will name this place Vuur! Land of the Winds." And so the provinces came to be, and so it was.
The Religion of Earth