Orycto has two actual deities, mainly known by the names Lyx and Xyl (Actual names Calthus and Amadie), they are frequently viewed as opposing and balancing forces between evil and good. Both revealed themselves in one fashion or another to early buns though neither are prone to direct interference on the world.

The following does contain much that is referring only to the beliefs of the buns in these religions and may not necessarily reflect any actual history.

Lyx

Also known as The Great Mother/Father, The True Star, The Holy Bun, The Cleansing Flame. Lyx is almost always depicted as a bright golden bun with brown eyes, 4 wings and one horn of each of the bun varieties. The few times he is not depicted in that fashion he is usually depicted as a great star/ball of fire or as a paqquer (small flying creature that eats fruit and has a thick coat of soft fur, often considered a symbol of peace and love). Neither of these are very close to his original form. But the most commonly depicted form is the one he uses to communicate with buns.

Lyx Worship

Sisters of the Sun

The Hero's Walk

Flame Holders

The True Spring

The Great Feather

The Divine Hierarchy

The buns of the Tsarcrov region refer to Lyx as Otet (Great Father) and believe that he created the world and an immense number of spirits to serve and maintain the balance. They also maintain that Ilfet (Father of Rot) was formed because Otet attained such a state of perfect balance that all of his evils separated into another whole being. They believe the first bun (the first emperor) was formed by Otet using a bit of every spirit but that he was unable to prevent Ilfet from being a part of the act. This is claimed as the source of all imperfection/evil in society. Otet then removed himself from the world in order to force Ilfet from the world as well. This left the world with Ilfet's taint to strive against but prevented her from wreaking further havok. The religion as a whole is divided into orders based on which of the spirits the order is devoted to serving/worshiping.

Monks of The Divine Hierarchy (often referred to as Sestras) emphasize working to maintain inner peace, balance, and harmony. They believe that if the domain of all the other spirits are brought to true balance that Otet can return to the world and reveal the secret of divine unity. They believe that all buns become minor spirits when they die, though most become spirits too minor to have any real sense of or impact upon this world.

Rites of worship vary in detail depending upon the spirit being worshipped but most involve minor related offerings (eg. a dish of water or dried fish for a water spirit, ashes for a fire spirit, small feathers for a spirit of the air, etc), meditation, and the hanging of small strips of text containing various pieces of Bhukalta Kneeg (The Holy Ledger) that are most relevant. Among sects that take a vow of silence or illiteracy the last two are often replaced with the ringing of bells or the chanting of those sections respectively.

They observe a very diverse array of holidays but while all observe the five major holidays (Solstices, Equinoxes, and the birthday of the first emperor) most of the other holidays are specific to the individual sect and relate to their specific spirit (A sect for a river spirit might have holidays around annual floods for example). Minor celebrations are usually limited to a specific meditation, offering, or hanging of text. Major celebrations are celebrated as the only time a Sestra may set aside their vows and usually include feasts, dancing, and other large community wide festivals.

Major Taboos Include: Primarily normal social taboos (killing, stealing, etc), the aforementioned vow of abstinence specific to each order, and all members consider it forbidden to repeat the name of Ilfet unless Otet is mentioned in the same breath (for this reason Ilfet is most commonly referred to as "Ilfet foe of Otet").

Major Symbols: A great red star with four beams/spikes extending from it, a red circle with a single white spike placed in its center (representing the horn of the first emperor), and the many individual symbols of the spirits specific to an order.

Traditional Garb: By tradition the clergy of the order wear simple skirts held on by braided cords and a lose stole. The sestra of the biggest temples often wear grey silk skirts and stoles while smaller orders wear rougher fabrics. While some orders hold that this dress is a minimum and thus other things can be worn under them the only universally agreed upon areas for personal taste are the ends of the cords and any piercings of the ears. As a result many sestra have taken to braiding beads, shells, and other objects into the cords and many have heavily pierced ears. Non-clergy followers have no specific garb but when worshiping wear a small black dot (usually smudged with charcol) on the back of each wrist.

Behind The Curtain

The following is not knowledge held by buns but reflects the actual background and nature of the entity known as Lyx.

Calthus was originally a Jukmal. He achieved immortality by using a sample of the Bacchus Serum. Once immortal he eventually accrued enough belief to ascend as a result of attempting to use advanced technology to take care of a developing race on a previously undiscovered planet. After ascension he left his own reality and ended up in Orycto where he created the planet as an experiment before being contacted by Amadie who recognized his inexperience and offered to help show him the ropes.

Xyl

Also known as The Dread Bun, The Waking Shadow, She Who Walks in Entropy, or The Sleeping End. Xyl's depictions vary heavily but the most common themes are a black pelt or skin, five long curling horns, glowing blue eyes, and long lop ears. The greatest variations are usually in whether she is depicted as a bun. Often these traits will be attributed to a strange alien creature or even stated as simple symbolism for something bereft of any actual form. Worth noting is that the consistent traits are actually traits of her original form.

Xyl Worship

The Cold Den

Kit's of The Cold Den are the tribal vulp worshippers of Xyl. The religion originates with a legend that holds that the first vulp was born to a wild animal (usually the apex nonsentient predator of the region) and was cast out due to their strange appearance. The first Vulp crawled about the world starving and alone until finding a small den. The den was cold and they lay down expecting death but instead found the darkness within the den brought her strength and voices within the shadows gave her the cunning to survive. Eventually the shadows revealed themselves as Xyl and gifted dominion of the world to the vulp (or at least that's what the tribal vulps believe). Exact detail and even the names tend to vary from tribe to tribe but the overall tone is usually consistent to this. This is also usually the only common myth to the tribes as most others become filled with tribal histories and more regional beliefs. These additional myths are usually centered around the strength of the members of the tribe, depicting dangers as monsters jealous of Xyl's blessings and depicting anything helpful as one of those blessings or as a servant of Xyl.

The Cold Den emphasizes survival by cunning or strength and the unity of all vulps against a world that's out to kill them. As a result followers of this faith tend to view each victory against other creatures (typically during hunts) as a victory against an enemy and a divine blessing of sorts. They believe that a good vulp (cunning, strong, loyal member of the tribe) will be reborn as one of Xyl's children, great shadowy creatures that dart through the sky and whose eyes fill the night (the stars) bad vulps are believed to simply stop existing.

Worship is predominately through the daily tasks of survival but culminates at the end of each day with the Toujo Envi "Song of survival" a chanting call performed by the tribal shaman. As well there are typically marking ceremonies at a vulps major points in life (birth, adulthood, taking of a partner, etc) and a feast at the end of each season.

Major Taboos Include: The smelting of metal, eating other vulps, harming the tribe, or harming vulp children.

Major Symbols: A black swirl around a blue oval, black circles (In paint or dyed woven reeds), and crossed fangs of the regions apex predator.

Traditional Garb: Vulp shamans often wear skull or hide headdresses covered in beads and dyes along with numerous fetishes and bits of decorative jewelry.

Black Towers

The Servants of The Black Towers are the city vulp worshipers of Xyl. Like The Cold Den they hold that the first vulp was born from an animal and uplifted by Xyl. But the Black Towers say that the den saved the vulp by leading them deep into the ground to the caverns and tunnels filled with life and food. Unlike tribal vulps there's very little difference between The Servants from city to city and they hold a consistent set of myths that predominantly depict Xyl as a teacher and holder of secrets offering knowledge and wisdom to those studious enough to impress her or brave enough to uncover them.

The Servants emphasize thoughtful study, introspection, and the accumulation of knowledge. However they emphasize these as necessary traits to pursue an enlightened life and are believed to lead inherently to compassion and kindness towards others. They believe that vulps exhibiting these virtues are given a home in Tour Nores "The Black Towers" Xyl's otherworldly domain where each is granted a section of the towers as a home filled with all they could ever desire.

As a result of these beliefs The Servants are highly known for their kind and charitable behavior. Most of their temples have facilities specifically devoted to acting as orphanages, educational service, and soup kitchens.

Worship is mainly conducted through public readings of their holy texts the "10 Tomes of The Towers," a series of texts containing the accumulated wisdom of every high priest/priestess of the faith. Xyl tends to discourage direct prayers in favor of efforts towards self and community improvement.

The Servants have no major religious holidays but encourage participation in community celebrations such as a city's founding anniversary.

Major Taboos include: Most normal social taboos (murder, theft, etc), the destruction of knowledge, and the destruction of a craftsvulp's tools.

Major Symbols: A single black tower, 10 black lines, and Xyl's 5 horned head.

Traditional Garb: Long Black robes with borders colored to denote rank (Red-Novice, Green-Sibling, Purple-Superior, None-Head), the high priest traditionally instead wears only a black blindfold, a simple black loincloth, and a series of 10 (five on each arm) arm bands set with jet stones, and followers either wear a dark marking/dye across their eyes or a black band around their neck.

The Hidden Hall

The Worshipers in The Hidden Hall are both shadow buns and the piente. Though the shadow buns have moved past the point of religion and now longer participate. The origin of this states that Xyl and Lyx worked together to create the first buns who were divided both between the two of them and between their social roles with all of Xyl's buns taking up the roles of destruction or death (harvest, wood cutting, mining, funerary duties, etc) and all of Lyx's servants taking up the roles of life and creation (sowing, construction, sewing, medicine, etc). Eventually on of Lyx's followers became jealous and slew one of Xyl's buns. This degraded into a war in which Xyl's servants were all but wiped out (the few survivors fleeing to the world of shadows) and Lyx's servants punished for their cruelty by their leaders being driven to the inner world of the planet and cursed while the remainder where stripped of their civilized knowledge and driven to all ends of the surface to start anew. The Piente specifically claim that at the time their own race was created by Lyx to serve his own buns but during the schism they were freed by Xyl.

The Hidden Hall emphasize law and justice with the additional requirement that they keep secret those places where the inner world and the world of shadows intersect with the surface world of the buns. They believe that those who fail those ideal will be reincarnated and those that uphold to them receive eternal peace (most of their philosophers liken it to an eternal pleasant slumber[usually with a joke about a warm bed and a cup of soup]).

These beliefs cause The Hidden Hall to take on a major role in their society by providing the courts and keepers of the law. Paladins to this faith take up service with the local police/watch in their area.

Worship consists of sermons, usually over the statutes and rules of the religion, dances, and the burning of incense.

They celebrate the believed dates (using a calendar derived from fluctuations in a variety of fungus) of both the piente being freed and of the day they founded their first cities underground.

Major Taboos Include: The knowing violation of any civil law

Major Symbols Include: A circular celtic knot made of snakes, a depiction of Lyx and Xyl in a "yin-yang formation", and a large black blossom with a large dot of red on its center petal

Traditional Garb: White silk vests with blue linings and a stole denoting rank (green for beginners, red for intermediate, and black for full priests), followers typically wear a small black bracelet on their left arm.

Behind The Curtain

The following is not knowledge held by buns but reflects the actual background and nature of the entity known as Xyl.

Amadie(AD) was formerly an Imp in another life and world who, through virtue of some exception heroics and exceptional magics, ascended to immortality and eventually slid out into other realities to act as a deity. Amadie found an aptitude in that area for positions of a darker and ominous nature and frequently offers to take up a position as "The bad guy" to make for an easier time of things for other deities. In Orycto she has not only offered to play this role for Calthus but has also taken the position of guide and mentor to the much younger deity.