Constantine the Great
Constantine the Great and the Gentled Gods
Thracian Emperor Constantine, in June of 309, was fighting a great war against Demons during a high point in Thracian power. Staging battle from Cartagenna, he was fighting a major campaign against the demonic armies of Abigor, a powerful demon general, and his massive legions. The demon lord Abigor was said to know the past, present, and future at all times, and to use that knowledge to crush the armies of his foes.
The Thracian armies had suffered major defeats in three consecutive battles against the canny demon lord, when Constantive was given a divine vision. He was spoken to, he said, by a chorus of the gods who said to him that blood sacrifices gave the demons strength even as they showed honor to the Gods, and that the Gods would, for love of their mortal children, forgo the pleasures of burt offerings so that mortals would not bring comfort or strength to their enemies. The chorus of voices (typically stated as Victory and Mercurion speaking in unison when depicted in theater), declared "We choose gifts of joy over gifts of suffering." and promised victory to Constantine if he brought this about.
The next morning Constantine called the priests of his army to him, and relayed to them the vision. Everyone agreed it was divinely inspired and a true vision, and learned priests opined that the demons were indeed known to favor blood magics, though their own were distasteful and vile rituals of personal gain not humble offerings of given in honor to the gods out of selfless devotion. Constantine, then, is said to have made the declaration "My enemy and I sing the same song, I offend my own ears!"
He declared an end to the sacrifice of animals in entreaty for the gods blessings, first and foremost among his army. Then, he made a gift of his best guard dog to the priests of Aldrin and asked the blessing of Aldrin for his battle to come, beginning a long-treasured tradition of generals doing so at the outset of major campaigns. The blessing of Aldrin was invoked, and the subsequent battle was spectacularly triumphant. Some might argue that the three consecutive victories by Abigor had provoked the demon lord to overextend himself, leaving him vulnerable to just such a catastrophe, but the general and widely distributed interpretation of the event is that the gods blessed the battle to show their pleasure at Constantine's declaration and to ratify it as good in their sights. Even military historians are pretty comfortable with describing it as a major and improbable strategic achievement given Abigor's past successes. It is speculated that the favor of the gods upon Constantine's army, and that army's refusal to participate in any action that might be giving the demon lord strength, took the power of Sight from Abigor and left him open to the clever assaults of the otherwise gloriously competent leadership of the much beloved Emperor Constantine.
Constantine is remembered as "Constantine the Great" and celebrated for his triumphant military successes. This event, and his rule, then is said to be the starting point beyond which making animal sacrifices to the gods fell out of favor with the clergy in general. The practice was not explicitly banned, as religious interference was not Thracia's way, but the much quoted and reported exchange on the battlefield and his decree that the gods would find favor in them turning away from the practice made the clergy eager enough to adapt.
This change ultimately generated a modest economic benefit for the temples as well. Where previously it was considered most appropriate to sacrifice and then burn the first and best of a harvest to the gods, so that they may feast upon the best mortals had to offer by receiving it in smoke, it instead became a much more common practice to offer special or bountiful gifts directly to the temple to show devotion. This increased the wealth of temples generally, and gave them the ability to show their love of their gods by building more and more luxurious temples to show the power of their god, thus giving them more appeal to more worshipers and driving more donations. Ceremonies and invocations that previously called for the ritual sacrifice of an animal might instead be replaced by a communal feast - a bull may have died for the effort in either event, but in the latter variation those who came to the temple got to eat it, which was fundamentally more popular. The gods were celebrated more by sharing than by sacrifice, and the common sentiment became slightly less fearful and more convivial with regard to divine oversight. The slightly gentler vision of the Gods made them more accessible as well, and helped to spread and more thoroughly institute adherence to Thracian religious ideas in remote areas of the Empire and even, in due course, well beyond its borders.
