The Church of the Mirthful is a radical death cult that worships the two Mirthful Messiahs, who are yet to come and yet have already been here. The cult was founded by humans, but they welcome converts of all species. Much of their worship centers around the idea of the Dark Carnival, an afterlife where souls gather to be judged for their sins in life. The structure of the Dark Carnival is complex, and it informs the structure of the church itself.
The most important part of the church’s teachings is the prophecy of the Mirthful Messiahs. It is prophesied that there will come a day when the dual messiahs of the Dark Carnival will rise and spread the teachings of the Church of the Mirthful across the land. Some prophecy is unclear on whether the Mirthful Messiahs will already be within the church or if they will come from without. It is also unclear whether or not it is possible for the messiahs to be metaphorical and thus occur in one person. The dual messiah prophecy is so crucial to the church’s dogma that two is considered the most auspicious number and duality is an extremely important part of the mythos.
Some dualities include: the two messiahs, the Hatchetman and Milenko, heaven (the Carnival of Celebration) and hell (the Carnival of Carnage), the Day of All and Nothing (also known as Lienda, a high feast day), tragic-face and comic-face (schools of ceremonial face paint), Jacques the Sinister and Jacob the Just, the faithful and the haters, the hatchet and the sling, Tilatek Ila (opposition from within) and Mar-shahl Mathir (opposition from without), necromancy and hatchetcraft, the left and right Hands of the Church.
When a soul is sent to the Dark Carnival (either through a faithful life, death at the hands of the faithful, or through rejection by other gods) it faces the Riddle-Box, a music box that determines the soul’s placement within the carnival. If a soul is deemed worthy, the box reveals a vision of paradise and the soul is escorted to join the ranks of the blessed. If a soul is damned by its actions, it sees a terrifying vision of hell and is cast into the void by the twin judges of the afterlife. These judges are Jacques the Sinister and Jacob the Just, also known as the Brothers Jeckéll.
The Wraith, or the Wicked Reaper, ushers unjudged souls to the Dark Carnival for judgement. Its helper-spirits scour the soul-wall for those souls who deserve greater punishment or reward. It is seen as the most important entity of the Dark Carnival besides the Messiahs, and most prayers not directed towards the Messiahs are directed towards the Reaper.
The Great Milenko is an illusionist and adversary who uses his illusions to block the path of the faithful and tempt wayward souls into perdition. He has two servants: Tilatek Ila, the false prophetess who creates unrest and division within the faithful, and Mar-shahl Mathir, an agitator who turns the hearts of the infidel against the church’s teachings. Although Milenko is an adversary, he is just as much a servant of the Dark Carnival as the other mythical entities. He is considered to be the origin of the Church’s necromantic tradition, being that he bends death to his will, though it is death in the mind (unbelief) rather than death in the body. The necromantic monks of the Church are known as the Order of Milenko, or Milenkites. Their secrets are closely-guarded, and it is extremely rare for a cloistered monk to leave the abbey in which they study.
The counterpart to the Order of Milenko is the Order of the Hatchetman. These monks train their bodies in the traditional forms of the hatchet and the sling. These arts were passed down from the Hatchetman, an avenging angel of the Dark Carnival who strikes at the foes of the Church.
Author's Notes:
Contrary to what it might look like to someone reading this after the Locked Tomb series exploded in popularity, this idea of a hierarchical necromancy church that places great importance on face paint and has a system where there's a duality between wizard-monks and their martially-trained retainers was NOT in fact inspired by Gideon the Ninth, which had come out just a year prior to this bit of worldbuilding (written by me on April 7th 2020). It was in fact inspired by a DIFFERENT piece of Tamsyn Muir's writing: the Homestuck fanfiction she co-wrote with her friend that was about Terezi and Gamzee navigating the labyrinthine political structures of the indigoblood Juggalo church while they blossom into a beautiful kismessitude, years before those characters' abusive kismessitude was canon in Homestuck proper. So jot THAT down. I also did a frankly absurd amount of research into Juggalo history for this worldbuilding. I'm glad it's finally got a home on my website so it can get the respect it deserves.