The Faith of Lord Longstor – An explanation by Victoria Ferris

Longstorians… I have heard us called by many names. Feral, unfriendly, cold, antisocial and, my favourite, ‘weird.’ I suppose to an extent this is true of some of us, but it is also true many, many people who are not of our faith. I suppose our the warm way we greet life and death could make us… unpopular amongst people, but that is simply because they do not understand certain aspects of our faith, and that is what I hope to clarify here.

Lord Longstor, the God of Nature, the Hunt, and the Cycle. In many ways He works alongside the White Lady Vleybor and the Lord of the Dead, Kharach. As Vleybor brings life and Kharach brings death, Longstor watches over this and all that happens in between, keeping Arda balanced – where there is death, new life will bloom, and where there is life there has been death. Natural creatures, plants and beings fall under His domain, and He cherishes both their lives and their deaths for He knows that without both the Cycle would fail, and this must not be allowed to happen.

Therefore Longstorians attempt at all opportunities to keep the cycle in order, and prevent needless interference with the natural way of things. Though Longstorians will hunt for food, they do not hunt simply to harm natural creatures unnecessarily. Though Longstorians will understand the need for wood to build homes, keep families warm and such, wanton destruction of Longstor’s forests and lands is against His way. In this sense, consider the Rolborian belief – take what you need, but do not take needlessly, do not be greedy, for this is the way of darkness. Consider it the way I do – if you had worked for a long, long time to create something diverse, and beautiful, with every piece unique and every piece natural and wonderful in its own way, how would you feel if somebody came and picked bits of it apart? How would you feel if somebody set fire to a section of it, just to watch the flames?

Now consider how Longstor may take it, and why his followers respond the way we do.

All natural creations of Longstor are beautiful, though perhaps not in an obvious and striking way. The rose is beautiful, but personally I find its thorn has a beauty of its own. It is a protector, it is strong. The thorn is one of the reasons the rose has continued in the cycle. There is beauty in natural strength, in the abilities of natural creatures and how they operate, in plant life and forests and oceans… if you look for it, Longstor’s light has touched almost everything on Arda, and under His gaze and under the protection of His followers, all of this wonder will continue, like a perfect seem-less circle. The circle has no beginning, and no end… unlike the spiral.

If Lord Longstor preserves the cycle, the Mother of Monsters certainly has the correct symbol – a spiral. Consider the circle, perfectly equal, never ending. The spiral has a clear beginning, and a clear end. Kryganites do not create, they corrupt. They begin with something wonderful and natural, and try to ‘improve’ upon it. As Longstor’s natural creations are perfect as they are, they cannot be improved upon, and so the result is almost always a twisted, corrupt and selfish monster, which turns in on itself, becoming more corrupt inside until it either destroys itself or is destroyed by the followers of Light – the inside end of the spiral. It is a broken circle, a twisted version of the cycle, and though a circle could spin forever and stay the same, a spiral would inevitably have both a beginning and an end.

Corruption must be prevented at all costs, be it by cleansing that which is corrupted, talking down those who wish to make monstrosities, or moving the corruptors to the next stage of the cycle – it is important that something happens. Longstorian’s will often talk of ‘returning to the cycle’ when we die – which, if taken literally, would imply that whilst we live we are outside of the cycle. What Longstorians actually mean, and what I have always said, is ‘moving into the next stage of the cycle,’ and this proves how important expression and words are to our faith.

I hope this explains, at least a little, the Longstorian faith.