Acts of the Saints

'The Account of Saint Kwalesa' on a surviving 16th-century manuscript.

The Acts of the Saints (Hlenderian: ܟܫܕܽ ܝܠܟܶܥܟܬܾ translit. "Kasdu Yalkakati", literally "Saint-Tales") is the most widely known book of scripture in the Hlenderian religion. Compiled in stages over the course of the 16th century, Acts of the Saints records oral traditions of saints, heroes, and holy-men known among the three peoples of Hlenderia. Unique among Hlenderian scripture, Acts depicts Vrotri, Kwari, and Mūni figures together and is accepted by most practitioners of the national faith, in contrast to older works which were specific to each ethnic group and venerated only in certain parts of the country.

Acts was commissioned by wealthy scions of the early Hlenderian nationalist movement, and written by a panel of religious leaders. Most scholars believe that the intention of the commissioners was to create a unified religious document that could aid in the creation of a pan-Hlenderian identity. The book contains thirty stories of varying length depicting the lives and missions of already-venerated Hlenderian ancestor-saints, ten for each of the country's three ethnic groups. In determining the stories to be included, the authorial panel picked the most widely venerated saint cults from across the island.

The collection of accounts take place over a period of at least 1500 years. The oldest oral tradition, "Saint Chobal Rides the Orca", is a Mūni story believed to have originated in the 1st century BCE. The most recent, "Saint Addi-mor's Great Realization", is a syncretic Vrotri story combining aspects of Ademarism and local religion, and was only a century old when Acts was recorded. Twenty-four of the tales included in Acts take place in what is modern Hlenderia; the other six take place in what is now Joralesia, and are important for religious scholars as they preserve a record of life on Hayaneste before colonization.

Hlenderia's national motto, "Many houses, all alike in dignity", is derived from Acts' most famous story, "Ramis and Yulveni's Love". This story, which opens with the line "Two houses, both alike in dignity", depicts two teens from feuding families who fall in love. After their accidental deaths, their families are reconciled. This tale is a local variation of the "star-crossed lovers" folklore theme, common across Urth.

Background

The earliest reference to what would become Acts of the Saints is from a letter dated to 1541, from early Vrotri intellectual Hlonven Assuranith to Kwari political leader Shindrilusan Yeshdri. Assuranith expressed his desire to see a "single volume" recording the most prominent folktales particular to the island's ancestor cults, and said that he had acquired a printing press for that very purpose. The reply, if any, from Yeshdri does not survive, but an invoice found in the Kwari settlement of Thanelen indicates that an organization to which Yeshdri was known to belong, the Fraternity of Kwari Advancement, purchased its own printing press in 1550.

Printing presses, which made their way to Hayaneste from points further north on Gondwana, were essential for the production of Acts, as expensive handwritten manuscripts - though important to compiling oral traditions - could not be easily disseminated by the early Hlenderian nationalists. Surviving correspondence from the year 1560 indicates that, by that point, the Fraternity of Kwari Advancement, Oramintanu College in Vrotri territory, and three Mūni chiefs agreed to cooperate on producing a book recording the most essential Hlenderian folk tales.

A panel of religious leaders was convened to determine what would go into the book that would become Acts of the Saints. This proved to be a difficult task, with arguments over how many tales from each group to include, which tales should be considered the most important, and how to approach the issue of Vrotri syncreticism. This latter point was especially important to Mūni shamans, who resented the adoption of foreign customs by their western cousins and felt that incorporating accounts such as "Saint Addi-mor's Great Realization" could legitimize what they saw as unacceptable foreign intrusion on their way of life.

Surviving records indicate that, by 1573, most of these arguments had been resolved. The earliest surviving printed copy of Acts of the Saints, held at the Royal Museum in Pelachis, is dated on the inside cover to the year 1579, though it is believed that the book began to be distributed a year or two earlier. Acts proved to be an instant success, and the record of previously oral-only traditions was popular among Hlenderians across the country.