Cult of the Open Sky

The Cult of the Open Sky is a fringe religious belief on the island of La Rossa that developed following the Second Calming. It was founded in the year 9 PC by its leader Caelus Fabulus, following the retreat of the Storm that surrounded the island throughout its entire history. The event largely resulted in the death of Tempestry, the island's sole dominant but waning religion, focused around a reverent worship and rivalry with the Storm, a powerful force worshippers saw as a source of endless evil. However, a small movement had emerged with increased religious fervor, reaching contrary conclusions. Taking the death of the Storm not as the final victory of humanity over nature, but instead as salvation brought by equally powerful forces, the Cult of the Open Sky instead lovingly worships the clear skies that have ushered a new age onto the island.

Leader

Caelus Fabulus (born as Vito Camilleri, 9-9 26 TT) is the self-proclaimed prophet of the Cult of the Open Sky, and the religion's sole spiritual leader. Previously a painter and artist from a moderately wealthy family, he has claimed to have had a profound religious experience following the day of the Second Calming, when the Storm around the island retreated to reveal a wide, open archipelago under a clear sky. During the initial hysteria following the event, he had begun to preach about the death of the Storm and the rise of a new immensely powerful force in the skies of calm that suddenly stood before the land. While the majority of the population remained unconvinced, as the traditions of Tempestry had already waned and subsided over the centuries, the event would lead to him attaining a number of followers who joined him in his beliefs.

As the unknowing hysteria was subdued through the government's promises of investigation of the phenomenon, momentum for joining the movement had largely slowed. Merely a few weeks later, original followers, now boasting cooler heads had chosen to move away from the initial panic. No less convinced of his ideas, according to the Cult's own legend, Camilleri had decided to ponder alone in silence in his painting room, without food nor water, for several weeks afterwards without leaving. With fears of finding him dead in his home, a few followers had decided to check up on him. Stunningly, they had found him lively and agile, basking in the sunlight with a brush in hand. Looking at the large canvas he had painted, all of those present had reported observing a different image of what he had painted, ranging in description from abstract euphoric expressions of beaming love to realistic depictions of thousand of dancers under the sun. One person had reported seeing nothing more than a blank canvas.

Following the event, Camilleri had decided to take a vow of silence, in an act of devotion to the skies that had opened. His only words since that day, allegedly, were a single utterance of his new name, Caelus Fabulus, a largely inaccurate and butchered term from the ancient Rossan language translated roughly to "glorious sky". Caelus Fabulus has spent the following decades painting each morning, with a number of loyal interpreters coming to draw messages from his works and instruct his other followers based on them. He currently lives in a compound mansion built by his followers at his orders, located on the northern coast of the city-province of Mineria.

Beliefs and Practices

Although the beliefs preceding it very largely unorganized, the cult sees itself as a continuation of a long tradition of Tempestry on the island of La Rossa. Contrasting the Open Sky that has saved the island from the Storm that for centuries threatened it, its worshippers have come to replace a reverent fear of the Storm's destructive power with just as reverent of a love towards the time of calm that followed afterwards. Unlike Tempestry's unorganized, largely folktale beliefs, the Cult of the Open Sky has adopted a structure highly compact around its head, Caelus Fabulus, having arisen synthetically instead of organically. As a result, instead of basing its beliefs on stories that have transmitted themselves down through mostly oral tradition, the followers of the religion have organized around the teachings of its leader.

Such teachings have not been comprehensively described in any one work, but largely come through a collection of writings and interpretations from his followers. Nonetheless, a clear canon has emerged over the years, as likely each subsequent interpretation that is made will inevitably be informed by the ones before it. The religion promotes a submissiveness to what are seen as divine goals, although such goals are only ever conveyed through Caelus Fabulus himself, believed to be the only prophet capable of discerning meaning in the Open Sky, which he does through abstract paintings he makes after every sunrise. By noon, the paintings are revealed to the interpreters, and their meaning conveyed to the Cult's followers, who were all instructed to live in modest shacks on the same compound as Caelus Fabulus.

The Cult places particular importance on the changing of weather, which has in many ways become more varied following the Calming. The occurrence of rain, even in cases of slight drizzle, are often taken as signs of sin among the Cult's followers, and usually is taken to be instruction for the need of collective punishment among the members. Self-flagellation and other forms of self-harm are often undertaken as sacrifices to appease the Open Sky, believed to only occur when it blesses the island with good weather. Large storms, especially those which have lasted for several days, have been known to have led to the deaths of several of the Cult's members, after straining their bodies beyond limits. Children within the cult are not expected to hold such responsibilities, and are considered to be pure until the age of 14.

Oftentimes described as radical, the worshippers of the Open Sky have somewhat clashed with the culture on the largely irreligious island. During the reign of Dux Falcone, attempts had been made to shut down the Cult following the Second Calming, however, governments have remained mostly apathetic following the Cult's departure for its compound far outside of any major cities. Today, the Cult has established farms to sustain itself without need for the outside world, allowing its followers to remain in service without ever leaving the compound. Within the Cult, traditional familial relations are shunned. Although dozens of families have converted to its religion, their bonds have been largely broken up once on the compound, which has promoted a collectivist, communal organization without boundaries, forming a single large family. While lasting and intimate relationships with individual members have been discouraged, the Cult also does not practice a policy of free love. Instead, according to the instructions of interpreters, specially selected members of the Cult are to engage with each other as ordered by the Sky.