The Three Realms
The Lunars divide the world into three realms:
- Material/Mundane/Knowable/Perishable
- Divine/Cosmic/Cyclical/Eternal
- Mystical/Transcendent/Unknowable
The Material World is ruled by Malkion (Malakinus), Lord of Measure. It is the world we live in, and is in some ways the least of the three. Its magic is Sorcerous.
The Divine World is ruled by Yelm, Emperor of the Universe -- just as the Dara Happans always knew it was. He still orders the Hundred Gods, smites Rebel Gods, etc., just as they always said. (And the Hundred Gods, Rebel Gods, etc. are still a shifting cast of characters as the Empire interacts with different outsiders). Its magic is Divine.
The Transcendent World is ruled by Nysalor. We can never know anything about this for sure, although our greatest mystics have made the attempt. Its magic is Mystical.
The Place of the Red Goddess
The Red Goddess is mistress of all three realms. She participates in each. She can teach us everything about all of them. That's what makes her special.
In order to comprehend the teachings of the Goddess, you must have participated in all three realms. That's why you (Mundane) have to be an Illuminate (Mystical) and a heavy-duty priest or magician (Divine) to be initiated into her cult (see also my Note, below).
Traditional Worship in the Lunar Empire
Following this scheme, traditional Yelmic (or other) patterns of worship can continue just as they always did. Like the Carmanians (one of the root cultures for the Lunar Way, remember), the Empire is happy to preserve knowledge of the great secret magics at its heart for the elite. (Among the Carmanians, this is the Magi and their special divinatory contact with Idovanus, "too good for the masses". Among the Lunars, this is the Cult of the Red Goddess).
The populace can worship the gods they always did, the gods they want to worship; we Lunars need not rub their nose in the fact that we possess a transcendant Wisdom and Insight (through our direct communion with Cosmic Truths) which they may never know.
Note: As an aside, it's possible that supernatural, mystical and meta-cosmic beings have to gain a mundane nature in order to join the Cult of the Red Goddess. (The rest of us have that part already). This explains:
- The Red Dancer of Power having to give birth to a new child by a mortal every year while she remains in the mundane world;
- Moonson's occasional bouts of decadence, in which he positively revels in mundane pleasures;
- Great Sister's deliberate involvement with the squalid everyday realities endured by the grindingly poor and dispossessed of the Lunar Heartlands.
They're all "grounding" themselves, so they don't float off to the Moon...
