Nature Religions

Most cultures have their roots in the worship of nature. Some have survived. Some remain as part of the major cultures of the region. And some are kept in secret in lands where they are no longer legal. Below are the most common and well known, but there are many variations possible.

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Aukstākais

In Kardis, they honor the coldest months. The worship of the winter spirits, the sun, and the moons, the cycles of the seasons, shadow and light, and nature. Kardis gets colder than almost any other part of Ranu, save the northernmost reaches of Colesh and Vesturia. This has evolved into their worship of the cold, of winter, of its power. They respect it, view its all-consuming might as a promise, a protection, a shroud, an armor. But they recognize its dangers. They spend all year preparing for winter. They have no special hierarchy, save for some in the tribes whose role is to honor the dawn, but they all work together in their honoring and preparing. Everyone works on offerings for the winter, making them periodically, noting milestones in the approach of winter, and elders teach these ways to the young ones. Their rituals throughout the year are a mix of longing for winter, readying for it, and fearing it.

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Burevi nature religion

The ancient nature religion that was once prominent in Burev has long been outlawed and buried, but some few have remembered it or returned to it. Its name, if it ever had any, is long forgotten. It is a highly criminalized faith, considered a form of witchcraft, and those who follow it do so in the utmost secret. It is mostly tied to the various landforms of Burev - the plain, the sea, the mountains, the woods - and the elementals who those embody. These are each seen as singular figures - the Rider of the Plains, the Protector of the Sea, the Master of the Mountains, and the Wanderer of the Woods. They are all anthropopmorphized, with plant-like and animal-like features. The Rider is centuarian with grasses growing from their back. The Protector is seaweed and squid and fish all at once, coalescing into a hominid figure. The Master is a stone man covered in moss and pine, with the claws and voice of a bear. And the Wanderer is an antlered figure of dark complexion whose face is never seen, but whose skin is bark and hair is leaf. These figures are seen as demons by the Burevi Church, and those who honor them are considered heretics to be burnt alive. Worship involves making blood sacrifices and minor offerings to the one that lives closest - if you are near woods, to the Wanderer, if near the sea, to the Protector, etc., and doing what one can to protect nature.

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Coleshi shamanism

Coleshi shamanism is not monolithic, as Coleshi describes many peoples from a huge area. But those who have an elemental faith usually honor Mother Shem directly as their most ancient elemental ancestor. They practice ancestor worship, but they recognize ancestors beyond the veil of their own species, looking back evolutionarily, and seeing their elemental beginnings. Thus they also connect with animal guides and other spirits.

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Haragsha

Some Coleshi tribes honor the stars. They follow the stars, using them as guides in their nomadic movements, and worship the figures they see in them and the other cosmic entities they are aware of. Comets are especially profound to them, seen as messengers and marks of importance. Meteorites are holy and used to make special holy objects. The planets, moons, and sun are major figures in their faith. And constellations represent the most powerful figures they know of. Specific beliefs vary from tribe to tribe, but most believe the stars show their place in the universe, guide them when and where they should go, and reveal truths about the world. They honor the stars and nature in general, and they protect the wilds they wander through.

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Idangarian shamanism

Idangarian society has become one in which worship of the spirits of the Hunt are the primary focus, but an unaligned figure, one of survival. Some, though, remember the ancient ways wherein they attuned to the animals of the Hunt more profoundly, becoming fully animalistic. Though none amongst them can recreate that practice, they still honor it and make the appropriate blood sacrifices to the prey, the correct offerings of meat to the predators, and something similar to the rituals of living as wild that once were used to bond to them. These are seen as strange and absurd by other Idangarians, but not outlawed.

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Înflorire

The Campurilean flower religion. Campurileans believe flowers contain the magic of all nature in them, and they worship them and the springtime and those that serve them (bees and other pollinators). They keep certain days holy to honor the blooming of specific flowers throughout the year, and the spring is a massive festival in which they honor all flowers and the power of renewal. These festivals draw magic from nature and let them attune to it, becoming one with it, becoming part of it. Their faith is not dissimilar to some witchcraft practices, but they have priestesses instead. There are many sacrifices made in their faith of lambs, fawns, or calves, and it is expected that followers will bring these to the preotassaas when needed. But the preotassaas act as emotional support, healers, and guides to all in the community as well.

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Lainetus

Survan faith is centered on worshiping the seas. The sea is the source of life for most Survans, living in the narrow country of fishers and sailors. Honoring the Sea Mother and the elementals of the waters requires extensive rituals and offerings, recognition of her power, and many special days and rites. Their faith is tied to their livelihoods, and any threat to it is seen as existential. Thus, they are fiercely protective of their ways and resist incursions and missionaries. Besides the sea mother, other figures they honor are the moons, the animals of the deeps, the plants of the deeps, the coastal elementals, and the stars.

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Ottavian nature religions

Ottavia's famous religious freedom extends to elemental and nature religions. Anyone of any religion that isn't directly trying to destroy the kingdom is welcome to worship as they please, so there are many, many elemental faiths found here, often individually. But there are five organized ones found within the kingdom:

• Ispodism: those who live in or near caves and worship the elementals within.
• Iznadism: those who worship the Sky Father.
• Mochvara: those who live in or around wetlands and honor the elementals thereof.
• Povlachenje: those who worship magnetism.
• Vrijeme: those who worship Father Time.

Ispodism and Mochvara are less organized and more a religious and spiritual practice of offerings and rituals of appeasement and harmony. Vrijeme and Iznadism are more organized, led by religious figures who guide believers. Those who follow Povlachenje have a strange set of practices, use magnets for things others would not think of, and believe magnetism is the magic of nature.

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Paureki stone and metal worship

Paurek has suppressed the ancient elemental faiths that once existed there, but some still remember and follow some of the surviving practices. In Paurek, they honored metal and stone as the most potent things in nature, as they were sources of power and protection for the most ancient peoples there. Every stone, every rock, every metal, every solid thing had a soul to be honored, and there were different rituals done for them. Paureki people built massive structures, menhirs and megaliths to honor the stones, and they made spiritual symbols out of special, pure metals. The practice of this faith is very criminalized by the imperials.

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Rendruan / Kerremian nature religion

The deep forests and high mountains of the regions in Rendru, Gradina, Affaria, and Kerrem are home to many old elementals that some in the area remember and honor. It is more of a set of practices than a religion at this point. They believe that the dark of the forests once contained protectors and not terrors, and they seek to encourage them to return with their practices. They focus on the elementals of shadow, forest, mountain, field, flower, and weather that were once more plentiful in their realm, though they know there are thers who have been forgotten. Those who are caught by the lords of these regions are sometimes persecuted as witches.

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Repausism

Repausism is the honoring of Death Herself, the goddess of elemental death, mostly practiced by the moartalbe, the sisterhood of Death Herself, who are a mixture of funeral director and death doula for many peoples throughout Ranu, but focused in the Rendruan countries. See Elemental Faithful for more details.

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Rijekism

Rijekism is the worship of the massive river known as the Fluxul Zeitei that flows through the Kerupene area to the west, through Belasar, Idangar, Ottavia, Murja, Burev, the Rendruan countries, Kerrem, and part of Paurek and Vesturia. Peoples who live along her and rely upon her honor her as the living river that she is. They call her some variation of Majka Rijeka (Mother River) in their own languages, and they make offerings to her. She gives in return or takes when she is wrathful. She is powerful and ancient, and even imperials make offerings to her out of fear. Rijekists will kill anyone who harms her, drowning them as an offering.

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The Steppes

The steppes are a massive plain stretching across multiple countries, including Vesturia, Paurek, Kerrem, the Rendruan countries, and Idangar. Those who live on them honor a figure known (in their own languages) as the Rider Beyond the Horizon, the elemental of the steppes. This figure always appears just beyond the edge of vision, perhaps a silhouette, a breeze, a sound. They are a powerful figure who signifies the feelings and thoughts of the steppes. They precede great winds, stampedes, floods, or fires, but also harvests and hunts, times to move or stay, or discoveries of new sources of water. They are a warning, a guide, a protector, and a ferocious enemy. Those who worship this elemental honor them with offerings, perform special dances and songs, speak only in a whisper when they are near, and whistle into the steppes with specific tunes as a form of prayer.

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Svetovna Os

In Dulocha, their faith focuses on various axis mundi - the World Tree and the World Mountain. These are Svetovno Drevo, the Dulochan World Tree, an axis mundi in the deep Dulochan forests, sister to the Svetovna Gora, the Dulochan World Mountain. They worship these figures as vessels of natural law and elemental order. Each of them is a passage to other realms.

The Tree reaches above the forest and down with its roots. The Mountain has cavernous depths and its soaring peak. The roots and depths reach the seven realms beneath - Waters, Earth, Metal, Shadow, Death, Fire, the Unseen (microbia), and the Moons (when the slept during the day). The branches and the peak reach up to the six realms above - the Clouds, the Winds, the Stars, the Sun, pure Light, and Rest (in the Mists). The realm where the tree exists and the mountain rests is where Life, Beasts, Plants, and all other elemental things are. Each of the realms represents an important aspect of nature that are honored separately with different rites and rituals.

Worship involves many rituals, rites, and holy days, focused on the seasons, on protecting and stewarding nature, and one being as one with it. They believe that Mother Shem is alive, and it is their duty to be her protectors against those who would harm her. There are those among them, the drevoverniki, who have proven themselves to the axis mundi and are more deeply engrained in the faith, but there is no real hierarchy to the religion. Some are more skilled at leading rites than others, but they do not recognize priests or priestesses. Their elders teach the religion to the new generations.

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The Taiga

In Vesturia, there is the taiga, the massive, mostly coniferous forest of the north that dominates the landscape, including in Colesh. The worship of the elemental of the taiga is an honoring of the trees and nature, and it often feels to those who live within it as a worship of the entire world, as it is so vast, it feels like it encompasses everything. Worship varies greatly amongst the tribes and peoples who live there, but in autumn, before the coldest months come, worship calls for blood sacrifices.

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Vartsarguism

A small but ancient people in Kardis, the Vartsargu are a tribe that is somewhat distinct and separate from the other Kardisians. They honor the shadows as the utmost elementals, and they believe that there are 72 genders, all revealed within the shadows if the person. They believe that shadows reflect the true self, and that one must remain in the dark to find true wisdom, inner strength, and understanding. This is more a philosophical and social structure than a faith, but it has a spiritual component. The Vartsargu live under shadow now.

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Vesturian nature religions

Amongst the Drugiye and Coleshi and even ancient Vesturians, there is a great variety of nature religions. Not counting Coleshi shamanism, Haragsha, Rijekism, or worship of the Taiga or Steppes, there are dozens of others. Common themes include worship of landforms (and Vesturia contains nearly every landform imaginable, being so huge), variations on any other listed elemental faith, or worship of any other aspect of nature not listed. But the two most common nature religions found in Vesturia are worship of the tundra (Odeyalo) or worship of fire (Pozharism). The former is honoring the elemental of the vast tundras of the north, while the latter is a common honoring of the source of warmth and safety in a very cold region.

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Zverlov

In Murja and Ollygrus, the more ancient religions focused on animals and the Hunt, on predator, prey, and all beasts. It was not shamanic or involving animal guides, but instead, involved making sure to honor the animals and their role in the cycles of life. They honored nine specific figures: the Silver Doe, the Great Bear, the Red Boar, the Wise Snake, the Young Otter, the Gentle Hare, the Graceful Heron, the Old Trout, and the Spotted Butterfly. Each one represents a specific part of nature. The Doe is life. The Bear is the hunter. The Boar is nature's wrath. The Snake is nature's wisdom. The Otter is nature's joys. The Hare is the prey. The Heron is nature's grace. The Trout is ancient nature. The Butterfly is a messenger.

The practices of the faith include offerings to the different animal figures throughout the year, special rituals for hunting, taking care of sick or injured animals if they are found, and living in nature for at least a month per year (though not always at once). Zerlovians believe that they are animals as well and must be attuned to them.

Each animal in their pantheon is seen as a sign. If they see a wild doe, this is an indication of life - perhaps a coming birth or restoration of health. If they see a wild bear, this means the Hunt will be bountiful or that they are blessed in their hunting. If they see a wild boar, danger is near (and not just the Boar). If they see a snake, they are about to learn something important. An otter means happy times are ahead, a wild trout means there is something ancient and important near, the heron means something inspiring will happen. The butterfly always has a specific meaning based on the patterns on their wings. And a wild hare means either that prey is near, or that the Zverlovian is being hunted.

Those who follow this ancient faith usually hide it in these two countries, as it is outlawed, but some work openly and defiantly, trying to bring it back. These are often persecuted.