Ambitus

Meridies is home to a unique religion known as the Ambitus religion. Ambitus revolves around the idea that life is a cycle, and accepts death as an important part of life that should be just as celebrated as growth. There are three main gods, representing death, life, and change. Ambitus is a story-based religion, requiring less prayer and depending more on storytelling, word of mouth, and personal interpretation.

Over time, one main story has emerged as the accepted ‘creation’ story of the three main gods: Auctus, Mutare, and Cinis. Other, smaller stories about the three’s interactions with other horses and creatures have been passed down through generations in different variations, but the main creation story is an important part of Ambitus culture. Since storytelling is a tradition of Ambitus followers, every foal, adult, and elder knows this story by heart.

Long ago, there was only the ocean. The ocean was wide, and it was empty. But one day, a current started there. Something stirred, and from the silence of the infinite water rose a great stallion. His coat was nearly white, shining with smooth patterns that reflected the sun’s light. The waves formed his swirling mane and beautiful white feathers on his legs. Auctus was a son of the sea, and so it carried him on its surface to let him see the sun. But Auctus was lonely. He reached for the sun, and found that he could only faintly feel its warmth. For a hundred days and nights Auctus watched the sky, waiting for his body to harden from seafoam into flesh.

Finally, after a long, agonizing wait of empty, sleepless loneliness, he could move. The great stallion kicked his legs up, and brought them down upon the water. Where his hooves first landed, parts of them chipped off, and grew into land. This became the island of Meridies. Still, the hollow in his heart was not filled by the new terra firma that he had stitched, and so Auctus shook his mane back and forth until hairs fell out, and they grew into grass and trees. The new canopy of the forest he had created was beautiful, but he was not yet satisfied. He wanted something that thought, something that had awareness of itself. Auctus found a great rock in the land that he had made, and rammed his forelegs against it. The rough stone sliced him, and crimson blood sprung from the wounds. From his blood, a mare formed. She was the color of dirty snow, like ashes from fire. Her eyes were pitch black. “Who are you?” he asked, for although he was the mare’s creator, all of his creations chose their names for themselves.

“I am Cinis,” the mare replied. “I come from the destruction you have wrought upon yourself, in a search for a companion. Why do you do this?”

Auctus was angry. Who was this mare, to come so boldly to the one who had given her life? “I have suffered in loneliness for longer than you have been alive. Who are you to question me?” Auctus was furious at her audacity. “You are not my own. Leave this place!” he thundered.

Cinis only shook her head. “I cannot,” she said. “I cannot traverse this sea, and besides, I am tied to the land where I was born. You need to stop this. I will not let you waste yourself.” She bent and touched her snout to the grass, and it began to wither. Auctus’ mane grew fuller and healthier as the grass died at her touch.

“How could you destroy what I have made?” Auctus asked, fury bubbling in his veins. He reared up, and charged at Cinis. She did not flinch, but as he collided with her, she only grew larger and stronger. He charged again and again, but Cinis did not weaken.

Actus thundered, “Since I cannot destroy you myself, I must create one who will do the task for me.” But he had no more of himself to give, so he breathed out from the center of himself, and from his breath, a foal took shape.

The foal’s coat looked dusted with the night, their belly a strange, warm gold, and their legs were striped with a pattern that almost seemed to shift before Auctus’s eyes.

Without prompting, the foal said, “I am Mutare. I am neither this or that, here or there. I am only the pathway between destinations.” Neither Auctus nor Cinis could see her clearly— she shifted in the blink of an eye, changing patterns and colors and shape and size. “Auctus and Cinis. Fight no more.” Mutare turned to Auctus, raging, but still breathless and panting from his feat of creation. “First god, powerful one— do not let your anger overtake your senses. Create to make beautiful life, as is your purpose. Do not seek to destroy others. Nothing good comes from hate.” Then, the strange horse turned to Cinis. “Cinis, pale one, sorrow of the ashes— let Auctus have his way, if only for a little while. His creations are beautiful, even as they are destructive. They bring joy in an otherwise empty world.”

Then, Mutare began to walk away. As they walked, the grasses turned into butterflies, trees turned into other horses, and flowers turned into bushes. The ground warped beneath their hooves until they disappeared into the rainforest.

Auctus was wordless after Mutare walked away. A wind picked up, and it stirred his mane. He began to create more animals and horses, ever watchful of Cinis a few steps behind him, who reached up every once in a while to touch a butterfly and watch it fold its wings and spiral to the ground. From then on, the three coexisted almost completely peacefully on the isle of Meridies, where the horse tribes respected their wishes and prayed to them.

Now, Auctus rarely appears, instead choosing to brood alone as he tries to think up a creation that will be able to live forever. Cinis does her duty, soothing the pain of the fallen and bringing souls into the sky to shape into stars. Mutare appears often, in many forms, bringing luck and advice to those who are worthy.

Ambitus is largely a loosely-interpreted religion, but there are a few rules that all horses must follow.


 * Never scorn Auctus’ creations.
 * Always respect the dead.
 * Do not kill for the sake of killing.

The story of the Great Storm reminds horses of what happens when they disrespect the rules of the three deities.

The Gods
Auctus

Cinis

Mutare