The First Service of Enochiel

Ahsch woke up to note Avery's absence - hardly surprising, given that she slept every night in her own bedroom, without exception - and a slow, sensuous blowjob from Ariin. As he woke up, Mahat shifted to gently caress his chest and nuzzle against him, laying gentle kisses on his neck and face. His sister looked up, smiling around his cock, but maintained her pace, allowing Ahsch's pleasure to slowly build until he came with a deep groan down her throat. She let his cock slip out with a pop and gently licked his length, cleaning up after herself. The trio rolled out of bed and made their way to the bathroom attached to Ahsch's room, which had adjustable heating and something approaching a proper shower.

Once they were cleaned and dressed, they went out to join the staff for breakfast. Given the size - but relative emptiness - of the Temple, there were an even 40 sentries hired to guard the temple (with 12 guards on a given shift, two for each entrance and four on interior patrols, plus a few to be on-call for any emergencies and a captain to organize everything), with an additional 80 various servants to clean, prepare meals, and perform other simple duties. Eventually, the population of servants would go up, as would the total number of people, as Ahsch intended to have members of his priesthood remain at the temple as much as they could, at least until his religion was influential enough to afford a building in the Capital (and were big enough to not be harassed by the other religions). As it was, he knew the 30-minute walk from the Capital to the Temple would loose him some interested worshipers, but he was hoping the the safety and size he could work with outside the city would be more worthwhile than that loss.

As the day went by, the Dominant Mage made a point to meet and talk with as many of the 120 people working at the Temple as he could. To his mind, he was trusting them with access to one of his most precious assets, and not bothering to make nice with them at least a little was a good way to end up with unhappy helpers. Even though he knew he wouldn't be able to remember all their names, he did go out of his way to memorize and become acquainted with the key people, namely the heads of the cooks, custodians, and administration, as well as the captain of the sentinels. Those four individuals had been recommended by Butler, and had then gone on to expand their individual staff with people they could at least generally trust. For the time being, Dorin was Ahsch's go-to administrator for all the staff, at least until he could find a priest or priestess to manage all of that.

As the day wore on and Ahsch met more and more people, he made a point to ask if they needed or wanted anything, in the interest of making his 'employees' as happy as he could. Most declined to ask for anything - which wasn't surprising, given everyone knew who he was as Lord Ahsch Odestag and 'Prophet of Enochiel,' their employer - but a few braver souls made some simple suggestions that he was more than happy to look into (namely some kind of uniform, and housing for families that was closer than the 30-minute walk to the Capital). The uniform he knew would have to wait - iconography was still a struggle for him - but he had Dorin make a note to help him remember to see about commissioning some kind of efficient housing nearer to the Temple - perhaps simple apartments out-of-sight? That would easily become an issue, given the distance from the rest of society - a lack of any services in the area would necessitate either that long walk to the Capital, or building it himself in the woods, and he was doubtful about getting the required permission to basically build another town right next door.

He put the requests to the back of his mind and continued to meet and talk with his them, though he refrained from asking if they would be attending the service that evening - he had no intention of pressuring anyone into attending, purposefully or not. From the sound of things, the angels and their minders (and Ariin's speeches) had garnered decent interest, though Ahsch tempered his expectations.

It was around 6:30 in the afternoon when the first people began to arrive, with the service scheduled for 8:00. With the exceptions of the hotsprings, servants, and priests' quarters, the whole of the temple was open to the public. At first it was a slow trickle, one or two people at a time, or a small group, but after 7:00, they were arriving in a much steadier stream, with one group entering as the next became visible from the gate. A handful of administrative staff were on-hand at the gate to keep a head count, tallying each arrival so that they would have an idea of the turnout for the first service.

Ahsch was moderately surprised that the prospective worshipers came from all walks of life, as he saw poor people in dirty, worn garments; working folks in utilitarian clothes; and even some nobles - or possibly even royals - in fine outfits. He knew that, himself aside, at least one royal would be present, as Avery had promised to attend for at least this first service - only in support of her husband, she insisted, since she wasn't wild about worshiping a man she _knew _was as dumb as Ahsch could be. Still, at 7:45, there were still people arriving and the count was up over 300. At 7:50, some of the administrative staff began to circulate, announcing that the service would soon start and everyone should head into the main hall to take a seat. It was at that time that Ahsch went back to his room to don his outfit for the service.

In keeping with the risque nature of Ariin's new getup, the Dominant Mage had decided on something less covering than he usually would, while still trying to keep an air of authority and dominance about himself. Rather than any sort of religious robes, there were two separate parts. The top was kept brief, more of a mantle over his shoulders which only came as low as his sternum in the middle, and which covered his left arm down to the middle of his forearm, while only going midway down his bicep on the right arm. It was primarily a dark, royal violet color, with some blacks thrown in. With matching colors, the bottoms were loose, with the pant legs only reaching just below his knees. A cloth panel hung both in front and behind, each also only knee-length, and both unadorned past the black trim around the violet.

The hrafthi examined himself in the mirror, finding his appearance suitable. Due to the mixed biological/mystical functioning of his physical body, he could maintain his figure with his Mana or by exercising and eating well. He tried to focus on the latter as much as he could, but as he became more and more sedentary within R'sath, he found himself using Mana more and more. His goal was the body of a lithe athlete, perhaps a swimmer or a runner, lacking any sort of bulging muscles, and therefore his exposed midriff was defined, but not 'chiseled,' with subtle abdominals. Not an **** body, but definitely one that would - or rather, should - take effort to maintain.

Magic was nice a lot of the time.

At 8:00, he walked out onto the raised platform in the main hall, Ariin on his right, and Mahat in her fox form on his left. Looking out over the crowd, which filled the hall enough that some were standing in the open spaces, he idly wondered just how many people had shown up.

Dorin says the final count was 369, Mahat provided with a mirthful though. I think the phrase here is 'break a leg!'

Restraining his urge to glare at his familiar, Ahsch took a deep breath, then stepped up near the edge of the platform. The chatter had quickly died down at his appearance, and he was quite aware of just how quiet it was now that everyone was looking at him.

You can do it, husband, Avery said confidently.

A swallow, a pulse of magic to the sound-amplifying enchantments along the platform... "Thank you all for joining us this evening. For those of you who do not know me, I am Ahsch, recently a Lord of House Odestag. With me are my sister, Ariin, and my familiar, Mahat." He gestured to the girls in turn. "I am also the bearer of incredible news: a new god is coming to Euphoria, a god quite unlike any who can be found within the Kingdom of Starlight. He goes by a number of names, but the one he has given to us is Enochiel. He has chosen me to be his first representative among the mortal population, but he has also gifted us with the presence of three of his angels: Aena, Nyrin, and Sifthi." As they were named, the three strode out from behind the platform. Each of the angels were clothed quite similarly to Ariin, though they lacked the prominent chains and were actually more covered, with the addition of narrow panels over the front and back of their pelvises and instead of a simple curtain over their breasts, a wrap-like bikini covered their chest, which went behind their neck, down over one breast, behind their back, and then back up over the other breast to cross over itself and start over behind the neck. All three were also allowing their gnostic aura out, so all present simply _knew _that they were, indeed angels. "Due to his limited power as of now," Ahsch continued, "they are minor angels, not quite as powerful as even myself. However, they are undoubtedly divine servants of Enochiel.

"Even for those of you who have heard my sister's speeches, or who have read the writings we distributed, much has not been made public about Enochiel, and so I shall begin by recounting his divine domains and the commandments he has provided for those who wish to worship him. Now, two of the domains may be known to you, as they were already in the writings we passed out, and they are that of bonds, and sex. I assume sex is fairly self-explanatory, so I will delve deeper into that subject later, but bonds may be confusing. To be sure, it is a broad domain, one which can encompass many, many things. At its core is the bonds which link things together - perhaps the bond you have with your family, or friends. But also the bond you have with your home, be it your house, or the city, or this very Kingdom. It also encompasses other forms of bonds, such as your bonded word that you give as a vow, your binding oath; or even, yes, the bonds one may choose to involve when engaged intimately with their sexual partners.

"Enochiel further has two lesser, yet equally important domains. The first is one of dominance. This is tied quite closely with sex, but is not limited to it. He teaches that dominance over others is a gift given by those who submit, not something taken by ****, and this can be seen in many places: within the domain of sex, one may submit to sexual use by another, but to take and **** someone is ****, and is anathema to Enochiel. But this also exists in daily life: after all, what are lords and rulers without the service of those they rule? One who obtains the willing submission of their subjects will find themselves with a far more prosperous nation than those who conquor the unwilling, who will resist and rebel against tyrany.

"Enochiel's final domain can be seen in my sister, that of bodies. This is another somewhat complex domain, but in essence, Enochiel wishes his followers to take care of their bodies, and to be honest with them in all things: for Ariin, that is as a worshiper of Enochiel, and as a submissive, placing herself subordinate to another, and very much as a sexual being. She bears no shame in this honesty, but pride."

Ahsch paused, taking a moment to scan the crowd. Despite his worst fears, most actually seemed intrigued, though he did note a few who seemed bored here and there. Reassuerd, he pressed on. "The keystone of his religion are his commandments, of which there are ten. In order, they are:

"The bonds you make are sacred. You may end them, but do not break them.

"Your word is your bond. Keep it.

"Respect the bonds of others. Do not seek to break them.

"Sex can tie a deep bond between partners. Know beforehand if you and they wish to tie that bond.

"Sex is not a single-faceted thing. Ask for what you want, and respect what your partners want.

"Consent must be maintained throughout sex. Sex without consent is blaspheme.

"Respect the gift of dominance over others - it can be revoked.

"Those who dominate do so to nurture and protect those who submit. Those who submit do so to serve and empower those who dominate. One can be either, both, or neither.

"Preserve your body. It houses You, and should be kept healthy and clean.

"Your body is the You which is shown to the world. Be honest with it, and feel no shame for it."

Again, Ahsch paused, looking over the crowd. "As you all can see, despite his unique domains, Enochiel is a kind and loving god, who wishes for his followers to be honest, enjoy the pleasures of life, respect one another, and be who they truly are. Yet, one might wonder: if Enochiel is the patron of dominants, of those who rule over and control others, who is it who looks after the submissives? After all, mortals are fallible beings, and it is not impossible for someone to use a message of respect and kindness to harm and **** others. Therefore, Enochiel has given us one more gift: a Divine Submissive, or ****, or perhaps Thrall - all are equally correct, with different subtleties to the titles. This Divine Submissive is one who is completely and utterly within his thrall, who serves him from their very soul, and who is, most importantly, elevated to a position to watch over those who fall under the auspices of those Enochiel is patron to." With a grand gesture, Ahsch indicated his sister. "Ariin, my sister, has been chosen to fill this role. Where those who are dominant may pray to Enochiel, or come to me in person, for guidance on their path, those who are submissive may seek her out." A small smile came to Ahsch face. "While it is not a commandment as such, it is expected that all the dominants who worship Enochiel allow those who submit to them to seek counsel with his Divine Submissive. Bear in mind, the Divine Submissive is not a goddess herself, and Enochiel welcomes the worship of those who would seek her guidance - after all, the gods are equals, without one to reign over them all, and therefore it is impossible for one god to dominate over another in the way of Enochiel."

Again, Ahsch paused, giving his audience a chance to absorb his words. "There are only two more topics for this evening, so this service will be brief. However, all are welcome to remain until midnight as we celebrate this momentous occasion, so do not feel like you must immediately turn around and return home after your journey here. First, as I mentioned before, Enochiel is a new god, and is, in fact, not quite present on Euphoria. Just as he teaches that those who dominate receive their lordship over others as a gift from those who submit, Enochiel is a god who receives his divinity from the worship of those who wish to gift it to him. Note that he is not a jealous god: you are free to worship him alongside any other whose teachings do not conflict with his own. He accepts worship in many forms, but has two clear guidelines, and several suggestions. The first of the guidelines is that those who wish to offer worship in the form of prayer must do so daily, once every twenty-four hours - it need not be long, nor even formally structured, but it does need to be earnest, and ideally within the bounds of that which is his domain. Alternatively, one may offer up sacrifice in his name once every eight days; the sacrifice need not be massive, nor even impressive, but it must again be earnest and have meaning. Sacrifice may take many forms: for example, Ariin sacrifices her freedom to Enochiel every moment of her life, as his Divine Thrall. Perhaps, should he become further present on Euphoria, similar opportunities to sacrifice freedom to him will become possible. Appropriate sacrifice may take other forms: as a god of sex, dedicating orgasms to him, or more appropriately, sacrificing those orgasms - and the pleasure of them - to him would serve well." Ahsch faltered as knowledge, quite similar to the gnosticism of his angels angelic nature, became clear to him. "Dedicating the act of sex itself to him would also be appropriate, but know that this has a requirement of at least thirty minutes, and the pleasure you generate cannot be used for other things, such as generating Mana or amplifying magic. A sacrifice of pleasure itself, serving or receiving service without pleasure to oneself, is also possible - you merely need dedicate the act to him.

"My final message to you is that Enochiel is not a selfish god. While his power is limited for now, those who worship him may invoke his name in times of need, and he may choose to gift you a spell from his knowledge for a time. But bear in mind that you will not gain his power, and it is up to you to use that spell appropriately... and using such a gift in violation of his teachings will mark one as a heretic and blasphemer." The final bit Ahsch added on, again obtaining the knowledge, the gnosticism of its truth.

"For now, that is all: it takes much effort for Enochiel to reveal his teachings to us on Euphoria, but know that he has much more to share: you need only dedicate yourselves to him to have it revealed to you."