Ulis

Ulis is the god of death, the moon, dreams, rebirth, and the wronged.

Beliefs

"Ulis was a cold god, a god of night and shadows and dust. His love was found in emptiness, his kindness in silence." Ulis is also the god of letting go, and seen with open hands. Ulis not a god for hopeful prayers.

His aspect of being the god of the moon is at least thousands of years old. The aspect of the moon, or wolves, is "most favorable to tasks undertaken after dark." This is likely where the Devotion of the Moon, an Ulineise ritual appropriate to any nighttime undertaking, comes from. The aspect of the moon is his mildest face.

Prelates of Ulis are trained to listen, as it generally encourages people to say more than they intended.

One cult of Ulis believes that “Ulis” is not the god’s true name, which is never spoken except during initiations. Its daily ritual includes the Devotion of Folded Hands, which requires seven candles: when blowing them out, the petitioner accepts, or tries to accept, that the past cannot be changed. They also worship silently. Thara Celehar was inducted into this cult at the age of thirteen by his maternal grandparents.

Being granted a dream of Ulis is a kind of calling, often to a particular task.

Devotion of Fours: Ulineise funerary ritual that many prelates of Ulis are apparently unfamiliar with these days.

The prayer of compassion for the dead is a prayer of Ulis where the first and last words are the same.

A revethvoran is a ritual suicide in accordance with "the strict ritual of Ulis."

There are Barizheise prayers to Ulis, seemingly indicating that Ulis is worshiped in Barizhan.

A donation to the local Ulistheileian is considered restitution when one has wronged Ulis, as with murder (separate from any legal penalties).

Witnesses vel ama for the Dead are often clerics of Ulis.

Prelates of Ulis have a duty "to mourn for the unnamed dead", and mourning for an unnamed murder victim can mean tracing the steps of their murder as clearly as possible. There is a special prayer said for prelates of Ulis who have died. Many of their rites and practices are not well-known by laypeople.

The highest prelate of Ulis in an area is called the "Ulisothala".

Buildings and Objects

A place of worship dedicated to Ulis is called an Ulistheileian. Many are in caves, especially the older ones. There is a very old tradition in which one must earn the honor of worshiping Ulis in a sacred space. The chapels are carved from stone and difficult to reach: the one in the Amalomeire requires people to descend a long, dark natural chimney made into a ladder by handholds and footholds carved out of the rock. “There were still ascetics who spent their devotional hours in desolate places, carving ladders in rock, providing such chapels for those who felt they had to go even farther out of their way before Ulis would listen to them.”

In Amalo, executions "took place on the broad plaza in front of the Ulistheileian, which, in Orchenis' Clunethar's time, was typically beheadings.

There is a shrine to Ulis in the catacombs of Amalo that is thousands of years old. It is an empty plinth with worn carvings of the four phases of the moon. Nobody knows what it once supported. It is used for very private meetings.

The Amalomeire’s Ulineise chapel has no altar, as its space is considered inherently sacred. It is lit by tall lanterns carved elaborately with night creatures like bats and cougars. A junior canon must climb down daily at sunset to refill them and trim their wicks. “In theory, they never went out, but sometimes the canon might have to make the climb by the light of only one lantern. Very occasionally, they might get halfway down and discover that there was no light at all in the chapel. That was not considered an excuse to turn back and was why the job was given to a canon rather than a novice.”

Ulineise mazes are underground.

An ulishenathaän is "a token of a dead person", kept for remembrance.

Clothing

Prelates of Ulis wear black robes as well as moon masks or, during a funeral, black veils. Ulineise novices shave their heads. While all clerics take a vow of poverty, prelates of Ulis are “notoriously poor,” as are clerical Witnesses. They are expected to maintain “a suitable [drab] palette” in their wardrobe.

Canons of Ulis who are also mazei wear a single black stripe on their mazei robes to betoken their position as canons of Ulis.

Ulineisei

• Aiva Vernezar (Ulisothala of Amalo)
• Anora Chanavar
• Mer Bershanar
• Othalo Bershanaran
• Othala Bonshenar
• Othala Daibrohar
• Othas’ala Delemar
• Ediro Zanarin
• Othala Erlenar
• Othala Kelberened
• Kivora
• Othalo Prevenin
• Satha
• Thara Celehar
• Othala Umenar
• Velhiro Tomasaran
• Othala Veltanezh
• Othala Veshibar
• Othalo Vidrezhen

Quotations

• Thara: “Any prelate of Ulis will tell you that the living are the difficult part.”

Trivia

• Thara noted all prelates of Ulis are gossips.
• When one is targeted by a revethveralin, having less to do with Ulis is for the better.