Fyrirhugun Orkanan
Fyrirhugun Orkanan, also spelled Fyrishugun or Fyrhuggin, was the main and default Orkanan denomination within the Orkanan Realm of Stoldavia. It is generally considered the original form of Orkanan as a large, organized religion. However, it was based on smaller Orkanan congregations active in the region around Skiöldavik before that.
History
The inspirator, now known as Exemplar Vala, had a series of epiphanies in the late 5040s or early 5050s, which laid the foundation of Fyrirhugun. According to the Scriptures (Second Book of Kings), Vala experienced her first epiphany after getting lost in the Blue Mountains, revealing the concept of Vind's master plan. This event is said to have taken place at the exact location of Hederkulla in Kulla Crown Domain. Her second epiphany led her to introduce the concept of exemplars, or "good examples" of an Orkanan lifestyle, to help Vind achieve his master plan.
The first mention of Fyrirhugun dates back to around 5050 RH, although surviving written accounts from that era are scarce. The Orkanan calendar can be traced back to the year 5056 as year 1, which is strong evidence that Fyrirhugun was an established religion around that time. Vala, however, was not the centerpiece of the new cult; she was used as a figurehead by ambitious local warlords to support their claims to subdue neighboring territories as part of gathering more workers for Vind's master plan.
The name Fyrirhugun explains some of the basic tenets of the belief system. The prefix "fyrir" relates to leadership, both religious (Førredome or exemplars) and worldly, as in the Stoldish word "Führer". The suffix "hugun" has a double meaning: it initially related to hay, an important crop in the Stoldavic crop rotation implemented at the same time, and it also means "written down". The concept of written accounts coincides with the widespread application of the Orkanan crop rotation. The rune system used at the time was called Fyrhugn after its first seven characters of the alphabet, and it is generally accepted that the name of the religion and the alphabetical order are related in their origins.
Fyrirhugun gained its expansionist character under the leadership of King Arnfast, who successfully combined religious and worldly leadership on a large scale. Arnfast proclaimed the Orkanan Realm in 5091, following years of civil and military unrest after Vala's death in the late 5080s. He united all Orkanan factions under his banner and formulated a missionary goal to convert surrounding peoples, especially the nomadic hunter-gatherers who practiced agriculture only during the warmer era of the Tirrean Oscillation. During the first decades, Arnfast and his successors built up a resident agricultural population of Dulmer people in an area previously dominated by Aldsay nomads.