Church of Tubbius

Summary

The Church of Tubbius is the official name of a religion devoted to the worship of Tubbius, an Amasynian god of the harvest, natural growth, and gluttony, with followers drawn from both the humans of Amasynia and Myrken Wood and the fairies of Old Hibera and New Hibera.

Origins

As noted in Sabinus Willoughby's Legends of Myrken Wood, the modern order of the Church of Tubbius stems from the worship of the nature god, Ploav, who was revered by a druidic community in central Amasynia approximately five centuries ago. The final leader of this group, a man named Tobias from nearly three centuries past, proclaimed that the full name of their deity was "Ploav Tubbius" and that the god was slowly starving to death without a proper understanding of what He wanted from them. The Great God not only demanded the obvious acceptance of their beliefs about natural growth through the following of their existing rituals and services, but He wanted evidence of their devotion shown through corpulence as well. By gorging themselves on their divinely granted harvest bounty, they were showing outwardly to others not only that Tubbius was blessing them beyond what they needed but also that they were physically, obviously different from all others. The new practices caught on quickly, and, within five years, the formerly frail Ploavians were fully faithful, rotund Tubbians given over to their new beliefs.

Current Beliefs

The teachings of Tobias both revived and reorganized the faith, expanding its reach to include the deities Marta, Libri, and Porcus. The Tubbians believe simply that Tubbius is husband to Marta, the Amasynian mother goddess; father to Libri, the deity over scholarship; and owner of Porcus, the Amasynian mother to pigs. They also believe that their Tubbius Regalis--the ultimate head of their order--is the human conduit of Tubbius Himself. Finally, despite the focus on gluttony and self-importance, the Tubbians are commanded in their scriptures to help see to the needs of their communities out of their excess that they receive.

Until February 13, 2022 (A.R. 222), the reality was that The Glutton was secretly a multiple-bodied deity, being the core in a series of divine characters including Tubbius, Marta, and Porcus. This has all been set to rights, with the Glutton losing a great deal of its own power as its existence was fragmented into its component selves, with Tubbius, Marta, and Porcus each going their own ways and dominions. Now, the Church of Tubbius truly is only the Church devoted to Tubbius with no other underpinnings of which they are unaware.

Church Leadership

The single Tubbian who knows the truth about the deities behind the faith and the faith itself is Aloisius Treadwell, descendant of Tobias and the mortal body of The Glutton. Of course, it is in his best interest to keep everything going as it is: smooth and easy, with no alterations or disruptions. Thus, Treadwell voluntarily keeps the rest of the Church uninformed about the truth behind the above internal misconceptions, letting them believe the much simpler framework that more easily appeals to them.

Church Membership

The Church of Tubbius has several churches that meet throughout Amasynia, Myrken Wood, and New Hibera.

Orson: A four member church composed of a single family of brothers in the middle of the Amasynian plain.

Chigurh: The members of this small church were ousted from their hometown by the town council following the failure of a harvest in 215 AR. Their Lady Tubbian, Lavinia Davors, found Aloisius Treadwell at the Broken Dagger to inform him of their predicament.

Mountain Grove: A ten member church in the forest at the base of the Wekslo Mountains. Known for disregarding the mandates of their Tubbius Regalis.

Chalmbury: Found in the Amasynian plain near a small river, this church hosts twenty, containing the town council, the local governor, and several of its moneychangers.

Furt: Far north of Myrken Wood on the coast, the church at Furt is a self-sufficient group of fourteen housed in a tower outside the town itself.

Wane: Out of a town of ninety-two, all are devoted faithful. These include the most prominent members of the town: Mayor Tom Kutch and his family; Edgar Bumpo the innkeeper, his wife Mabel, and their family; farmer and swineherd Manfred Blinney, his wife Lotha, and their children; and local blacksmith Ned Smith. Because of their focus, the town houses a life-sized statue of Aloisius Treadwell in its central plaza. Of special note is one Father George Cobble, a faithful preacher of both Marta and Tubbius, a former gaunt and elderly man who has since fattened out and taken up a firm belief in the Great One. In part due to his influence, the town has seen a rapid increase of Tubbian faithful, expanding to its current proportions from only a small eighteen out of seventy some years ago. As of the end of July, 217, Aloisius Treadwell personally named Cobble as Lord Tubbian of Wane.

Colmouth: A town on the coast between Myrken Wood and Furt, the forty-six meeting here make for one of the largest of the human churches devoted to Tubbius. Colmouth is destined to be the ultimate home of the Church of Tubbius in years to come when Lord Tubbian Harvell "Harvey" Urias Treadwell assumes the Mayorship there.

Westenford: Twenty-eight of the twenty-nine seated members of the Westenford Ruling Council are the active members of the Church in Westenford, overseeing the town's politics and part of its religious activities. The final member, Doug Wiggins, is a firm believer of the One True Faith.

Myrken Wood: This location currently serves as the seat of the Church. Counting Aloisius Treadwell, there were fifty here until August 214 AR, when Treadwell asked most of the members present to leave to return to where the Church was founded and worship there in order to avoid potentially conflict with the One True Faith. The church building itself in Myrkentown was briefly converted to an orphanage, although with the reemergence of the faithful in Myrkentown and an accompanying reopening of the church building for services, this institution again flourishes under its leadership.

New Hibera: The Tubbian faith is royally mandated by Richard Aengus and Dr. Orin Barrin, and it is thus divinely supported; Tubbius has blessed the kingdom with constantly rejuvenating food and drink, allowing all of the roughly thousand fairies there to grow very fat, very happy, and, admittedly, very lazy. In short, the fairies of New Hibera are in many ways the ideal Tubbian faithful.

The Merchant Company of Captain Gord Griffum: Twenty-five seafaring dwarves formerly of Stonepath, this company is led by Captain Gord Griffum, great-great-great-grandfather of Aloisius Treadwell. This is by far the most mobile of the Tubbian churches, covering much of the northern coast of Amasynia in its mercantile pursuits.

Church Benefits, Symbols, Scriptures, and Attire

Given the Church's devotion to natural growth of food sources--including grains, fruits, vegetables, livestock, and swine--Church members and their families are generally highly knowledgeable of farming and raising animals and are normally well-fed to the point of exorbitance. In most of the individual congregations, many of the members are upper-classed or are placed in important positions, making being in the Church a mark of usually high socioeconomic status. This is especially visible in Westenford, Wane, Chalmbury, and Colmouth.

The primary symbol of the Church is known as the Rings of Tubbius: two circles, one inside the other, with the inner circle offset lower inside the outer. These Rings are not only sewn into the fronts of the robes and undergarments that the faithful wear, but, in the cases of Aloisius Treadwell and his young son Gideon, the man and boy were born with with them and display them as fatty, puffy circles in their bellies. In the elder Treadwell's case, these Rings have been shown to serve as a rare conduit for magical energies that are infrequently used but provide a brief, golden glow when active. Very few other faithful have ever shown evidence of these; James Wilde, former Tubbius Princeps, had these Rings appear on his stomach at his initial blessing from Tubbius, as has his successor, Langley Treadwell.

The singular scriptural book for the Church of Tubbius is known as The Folds of Tubbius. A slim volume combining prose, hymns, poetry, and religious laws, it dictates displaying ultimate obedience to farming practices of many kinds, celebrating the harvest, and enjoying the gluttonous desires of the flesh meant to accompany life as a Tubbian. Originally written down by Tobias as the product of divine inspiration, the book itself has been copied and passed down many times over.

Due to the Tubbian emphasis on size, padding, and girth, the ceremonial attire for Tubbian brothers is a multi-layered outfit composed of an outer robe, an inner robe, a light vest, a light pair of trousers, and a one-piece, buttoned up, pajama jumper beneath all else. Matching gloves and boots accompany the outfit. For Tubbian sisters, the outfit is instead exchanged for a flowing dress (with a hood or hat) and accompanying undergarments, although there is no prohibition on their wearing the same robes and pajamas as their male counterparts if they wish. All of the clothes are embroidered with the Rings of Tubbius at the stomach. Allowed colors will vary depending on the wearer's rank in the Church: hunter green, burgundy, purple, or yellow. The highest ranking officials--the Tubbius Princeps in his purple or the Tubbius Regalis in his yellow--may wear extra garments or may wear the colors of lower stations if desired, as well. The Tubbius Princeps wears a white sash around his middle with a purple alb and miter during church ceremonies, and the Tubbius Regalis usually wears a yellow sash, alb, and miter, and he may carry a ceremonial staff topped with a sculpture of the Rings of Tubbius.

Church Rankings and Advancement

Five ranks exist within the Tubbian Church: Novice, Member, Lord Tubbian (or Lady Tubbian), Tubbius Princeps, and Tubbius Regalis. Novices wear the hunter green garments; Members wear burgundy; Lord and Lady Tubbians wear purple; the Tubbius Princeps wears the same purple attire as the Lord or Lady Tubbians with the addition of the white sash, purple alb, and purple miter; and the Tubbius Regalis is the sole member allowed to wear the yellow ceremonial vestments.

Advancement within the Church is a matter of two factors. One factor is girth; faithful seeking advancement beyond mere Novices or Members must constantly seek to gain weight, many pushing themselves to dangerous levels of obesity. Another factor is stated approval; faithful seeking advancement, even those who have reached a peak of their weight gain, must seek a blessing from a higher official in the Church, either given through an oral test and confirmation or through explicit recognition of a miracle or of outstanding devotion to the principles of the Church. However, there can only be one Tubbius Princeps and one Tubbius Regalis in the entire organization. Otherwise, at the local level, the highest rank that can be attained is Lord Tubbian or Lady Tubbian.

Church Holidays

There are certain days established as holidays, usually in memory of particular events in the Church's history. Despite the faith's emphasis on the members staying very well fed, these days in particular take their feasts a few extra notches.

Birth and death of Tobias, the Church's founder.

January 22: Feast of the Shrine of the Faith, the date in 208 AR when Aloisius Treadwell miraculously appeared in the church at Orson and devoured an immense amount of food in under an hour before being spirited back home. From this date on, he received direct, divine information from Tubbius until the time that Marta the Great Mother and Libri the Scholar revealed his true nature to him.

February 28 and March 10: Known as the First and Second Doubling of Food, respectively, these were the dates that the Tubbians witnessed, by the doing of Aloisius Treadwell, a monumental increase in their food and drink stores. The Second Doubling of Food held another miraculous event, as well: as before on February 23, at their Council of the Round, which was a meeting of their senior members, the Tubbians saw an immense, shimmering, obese spectral body around Treadwell: a ghostly manifestation of the body of Tubbius, affirming his power and his connection to the god they serve.

June 1: Birth of Aloisius Treadwell

December 25: A date of special significance commemorating when Treadwell accepted his role as leader of the Church.

There are also variable feast dates tied to the times of planting and harvesting.

Impressions of the Church by Other Faiths

When multiple religions are in an area, with the Church of Tubbius among them, Tubbians usually face an uphill fight to prove their usefulness and worthiness in a community. For example, in Furt, the Tubbians are shunned by the city officials and are close to being social outcasts, thus yielding their self-sufficiency in their tower a mile outside town. In Myrken Wood, the opinion is generally either negative or apathetic, with only marginal acceptance given to it thanks to Aloisius Treadwell's multiple roles in the town. By contrast, when the Tubbians are in a position of power in their respective communities with few other influences, such as in the unique case of New Hibera or in the example of Chalmbury, the Tubbians are seen as beneficent, generous individuals who help control and oversee the careful, proper distribution of food in the area.