Śácamþań Religion
For more information on how Śácamþań religion functions, especially outside of the Ŋorld, see Bay Mythology
Śácamþań religion (Śácamþaśá: t/upo NzAmqASo Śácamþań Páut) is a dualist or trialist polytheist faith practiced in Þunan Qumreá and Maraśa. In the faith, divine beings are separated into exclusively positive beings referred to as ‘gods’ (Śácamþaśá: jpazo Þápáj) and exclusively negative beings referred to as ‘evil souls’ (Śácamþaśá: trmi Myit). Each god has its own invocation glyph, a single Þeurilá character used logographically to represent them. This is not the case for evil souls, as to prevent invoking their name. As such, it exhibits Moral dualism.
Most other traits, however, including gender, the elements, the soul, occupations, and the world itself, come in threes. Worship is often quite personal, limited to requests for certain favours. The primary exception is worship of Áj (jo(, which is considered a necessity to do civilisation-wide to keep the seasonal cycles going. Some gods are considered more approachable than others, and the time scale on which worship is necessary varies heavily.
A temple is thus not built as a place of mass worship (though they may end up becoming such), but rather as a sacrifice to a specific god by the state itself; whereas poor individuals may worship Miŋe by simply writing a note with their wish and burning it at midday, the gods know the wealth of the government, and will not reciprocate unless a large structure is built to honour them.
History
Since its founding, Þunan Qumreá has prayed to the 5 deities of the Śácamþań Pantheon and feared the 4 evil souls. This manner of worship is known as Śácamþań Pentatheism. On the 21st of April, Rijyc Śiłja announced the extension of the pantheon with Ætérnal as the sixth deity, known as Þunan Qumreáń Hexatheism. Following this date, the Charlottist Ætérnalism inside Hexatheism began to spread as a standalone religion, particularly in Saxland. Nonetheless, this pure Ætérnalism is not condoned by the government of Þunan Qumreá.
As refugees from Þunan Qumreá fled to Maraśa, they initially forsook this sixth deity, stating that justice had been killed that day. Following Ŋod‘s reversal of the Sack of Ŋájaþáw, however, his worship re-emerged and is now flourishing once more.
The 5 (or 6) Deities
Áj (jo(, the Ocean
In Þunan Qumreá, Áj is likely the primary deity of worship, and her symbol jo ‘water’ even appears on the flag of the country, as well as that of Maraśa. She has the most extensive temple in Þunan Qumreá, off the coast of Ájásiq. Áj is thought to be responsible for the seasons, hence why the lunisolar calendar of Þunan Qumreá is named jUfa (jo( Áj Fájy. She brings the rains vital for crop growth, but also takes them away when there is time for harvest.
Áj is easily influenced by the Night Sur, who slowly corrupts her servants that bring the rains until she is forced to kill them, painting the waters red and killing its fish with the tainted blood. In addition, Sur‘s mother and son can cause her waves to crash onto land at the height of two trees, destroying all in their wake. However, she is also easily influenced by those who pray to her, and in this she is uniquely valued by the citizens of Þunan Qumreá. When the crops are withering, the country is full of blue flags, blue lanterns and blue ribbons, and Áj listens, and brings her rains. When the land is drowning and the seeds are rotting, the country fills with red, and Áj listens, kills her corrupted servants and ends the rains.
Áj is the patron deity of sailors and merchants, which are considered jobs for women in Þunan Qumreá.
Ár (0(, the Earth
In many ways, Ár is considered the antithesis of Áj. While she is easily mallable but highly responsive and wields immense sudden power, he is diverse but unchanging, slow to respond but with immeasurable long-term power. He provides the fertile soils people need to survive, but interferes little in the lives of mortals.
As a result, most of the evil souls are unable to affect him at all. The only exception is the Sky Wáw, whose unrelenting constant force aims to freeze Ár over to break his strong skeleton, killing all those who live on his land. In this way, Wáw reflects Ár like the Waves reflect the Sky: they are both long-term and calculated, but Ár uses this power to host life while Wáw uses it to destroy it.
Ár is the patron deity of soldiers and pastoralists, which are considered jobs for men in Þunan Qumreá. Soldiers pray to him for his long-term strategy, while pastoralists believe themselves to be his children, and are often located in the mountains, where frequent earthquakes drive people to fear him.
Ár‘s invocation symbol (0( is no longer used phonetically in modern Śácamþaśá, but it is the ancestor of Þeurilá punctuation marks.
Tuŋim (tu(, Nature
Tuŋim represents all that is alive, all that is moving, from waterfalls to trees to animals. They are constantly changing with the seasons and random events, providing different fruits every day. They bring emotion, writing, poetry, love and hunting.
Tuŋim‘s erraticness makes them effectively immune to the cyclical attacks of Sur or the relentless drive of Wáw, but as they suffer from bouts of emotional hardship, loneliness and rejection, Þupa finds her way into their mind and drives them mad. Tuŋim is most powerful where their realm meets that of other gods, such as chalk forests by the Ocean, and alpine groves by the Earth.
Tuŋim is the patron deity of poets, hunters, lovers and forest dwellers. Their ever-changing nature is symbol of the element of transformation, the third gender element in Śácamþań belief. Tuŋim‘s invocation symbol (tu( is the only one to be in the phonetic spelling of the word itself (though this was also the case for Ár in Khaajokhiilo).
Miŋe (mu(, Sun
Miŋe represents wealth, relationships, cyclicity (the feminine element) and vision. None can hide from her all-encompassing light, and as such she is particularly active at eliminating the servants of Jiwe. This strength has catapulted her into a much more powerful position in the pantheon in Maraśa, due to the paranoia about government destruction following the dissolution of Þunan Qumreá.
She goes toe-to-toe with Sur on a regular basis, the two of them in opposed cycles of strength causing night and day. In addition, she helps her lover, Ár, with the freezing cold of Wáw‘s attacks. Worship to Miŋe is generally done through fire, and this combined with her association with relationships have led to comparisons with Si‘ihul.
Miŋe is the patron deity of leatherworkers, merchants and politicians. Her invocation glyph (mu( represents ‘to burn’, and appears on the flag of Maraśa
Sá (fu(, Civilisation
Sá represents all that is mortal, but sentient; community, religion, light, art and science. They are a relatively new addition to the pantheon, serving as a means of deifying the Śácamþań themselves. As such, they are the only deity commonly depicted as a person, with the exception of Ityina.
The invocation symbol of Sá is (fu( ‘lantern’, representing how they are worshipped, as well as the tool mortals have to communicate with the divine. Star Tower serves as a temple to them in Þunan Qumreá. They are highly effective at disspelling the chaotic nature of Þupa, but are very weak to organised conspiracy from Jiwe.
They are the patron deity of artists, shamans, academics and teachers, all considered third gender occupations due to their transformative nature (creating something from nothing).
Ityina (gu(, Justice
Ityina or Ætérnal is the most recent addition to the pantheon, following The Great Heist and strengthened after The Sack of Ŋájaþáw. The existence of a deity with a physical form so small yet so powerful was a shock to the Śácamþań, as was the desire of a god they did not worship to help them anyway, even protecting temples of their other gods.
As a result, he was inaugurated into the pantheon as god of justice, law and protection of the innocent. The overall worship mirrors Charlottism, but with some changes due to the presence of the other gods. His invocation glyph (gu( 'Lightning' represents his powerful trident, but also the phonetic value ŋy, which he is associated with for unclear reasons.
Requests for Ityina's help are only made in dire circumstances，for he is wrathful when called for irrelevant details. When the need is most dire however, he is the quickest of the gods to respond. He is the patron deity of judges, executioners and the innocent.
The 4 Evil Souls
Each evil soul represents a deep-rooted fear of the Śácamþań, the former two physical, the latter two psychological. Four is considered an unlucky number to the Śácamþań.
Sur rsu, Night
Night represents the fear of enslavement and tyranny. Their power is cyclical and their temper erratic. They are adept at corrupting the servants of Áj, leaking their corrupted blood into the sea. At their peak, Miŋe cannot resist their might and must retreat. At one point, they worked together with Wáw to conquer the world. As Wáw restrained Ár, it ordered them to kill Miŋe. Ready to strike, they lunged upon her, but the stars shone bright and blinded them, and she escaped.
Following this, Wáw became convinced all other beings were inferior to it, and abandoned its alliance. Sur remains seething in rage, still desiring to conquer the world for itself, and enslave all its mortals.
The moons and planets (except for the Dawn Wanderer) are its four servants.
Wáw gwo, Sky
Wáw represents the fear of death. It can wait for millennia should it have to, but its relentless cold will kill Ár eventually. Following Sur's failure to kill the Sun, it has abandoned all other goals and simply desires the deaths of all. It despises life, movement and change and simply desires a return to a motionless ball of ice.
It is particularly effective at slowly breaking down the stable defence of Ár, but struggles with the more erratic or cyclical deities. Ityina tends to have trouble against someone so bone-headed. It has no servants, simply wishing to kill all.
Þupa pAzu, Ghost
Þupa represents the fear of insanity. She does not truly have any purpose or goal but to entertain herself. She will grant immortal life, take away a person's ability to respond but keep their sapience, give a river emotions until it goes insane, and countless more such fates, all for her own amusement.
She is very effective at hurting Tuŋim, who is strongly affected by their emotions. More stable deities such as Ár she considers boring. Sá's sense of community effectively renderd them immune. Her 'servants' are not truly such, but simply mortals she has turned insane.
Jiwe wIji, Mystery
Jiwe represents the fear of conspiracy. His servants are placed in a calculated manner, with the aim to destroy all order and government. He thrives in chaos and among the disenfranchised. Sá struggles immensely against him, while Miŋe and Ityina can bring his actions to light and reverse them respectively.
In The Coldban Menace Theory, he is equated with The Realm of Madness.