Valley Kingdoms: Understanding Sivanism

The last entry focused on some basic concepts of the Sivan faith which pervades the Valley Kingdoms, but I don't think it was as organized or as thorough as it could be. Therefore, we will spend another episode of the Kingdoms contemplating the strange order of Ya and its subordinate deities, and addressing the modern narrative presented by the priests of Ya.

Excerpt from...
THE THEOLOGICAL HISTORY
(Roz Nangar deBayab)

IN THE BEGINNING the Valley was shrouded in the darkness of Yibrum, and there was only shadow. Yibrum is a vast god, neither male nor female, like our Yasivan of the Living Fire, who blanketed the whole earth. We do not know what happened outside the valley in those days, but there came a time when Yasivan entered our Valley and blessed it with light. 

This was the PROCESSION OF THE FIRE out of the wasteland. The Living Fire came in the hands of the High Priest, who brought it to Engan to reside. When it arrived there, the Valley Kingdoms began to awaken, to become truly Alive. Outside of the Valley, there are strange and many gods, but inside the Valley there are only those which were given life by the sacred presence of the Living Fire.

Sivanism posits that all of the pantheon of the Valley gods existed purely by reference to the Living Fire ensconced at Engan, which is itself an expression of Yasivan. If the Living Fire were to be extinguished, it is possible that Yasivan itself might be slain. Thus, the fanatic devotion around which the propagation of the Flame at various temples is faced is directly tied to the ontological need to keep the chief god of the Valley alive.

The Theological History is a narrative account of Sivanism, but the central holy texts are known as the Letheb Scrolls, which are the Scrolls of Trials. These were kept by priests entering the Valley and collected after the first settlements, to serve as a record of the rites and faiths of all the peoples under Sivanist rule during the very early history of the Valley. It is likely that the scribal workshop of Medenva gave that island its importance, causing the Yasivan priesthood to eventually locate there.

THE OTHER GODS
Yibrum. The god of darkness and unbeing, the primal opposite to Yasivan, Yibrum is not much worshipped in the valley. It is often associated with the lands beyond the mountains, and the wastes are said to be holy to Yibrum. In some ways, Yibrum is also identified with or perhaps in alliance with Febass, the Goddess of the Underworld.

Vihu. Vihu is the lord of luck and cats. His shrines are located in many small villages, and he is thought to be a good luck charm against travel, weather, etc. Cats themselves are considered sacred to him, and therefore many strays are fed and congregate at the little Vihan altars.

Febass. Febass is the goddess of both the open sea, and the underworld. Within the bounds of the Valley, water is the domain of her daughter, Flokay, who is much more pleasant than the chthonic and terrifying Febass. However, she is invoked at all ceremonies for the dead, and is asked to give them safe travels to her drowned halls where it is believed those with the Fire in them will be taken.

Ram. Ram is the god of roads and travel, and his waystations are seen all throughout the Valley Kingdoms. His appearance is often that of a horse, though he is often represented simply by a horseshoe or a wheel. Ram is a vagabond god as well, and his name is often invoked when someone is seeking hospitality from the road.

Othi. Othi is an angry and powerful god, who is in command of the storms, the skies, and the weather. He and Veged are said to be married, but he is known to have had dalliances with Ram. His altars are found in lonely places atop hills, or within the Yasivan temples along with everyone else's.

Iva. Iva the Smith is a mighty goddess, who is also called the Fabricator. She is the patron of all handicrafted arts across the Valley, and there are many potters, chandlers, and smiths who give her prayer. Her symbol is an anvil, which can be found in many homes or hung from many throats.

Veged. Veged is the goddess not only of the open fields, but of the dense forest. She is the tamed growth of the farm, and the wildness of the wood. She is a mysterious goddess, as powerful as the storms and as kind as the rivers. Her worship may have predated that of Yasivan, but her old forested altars have gone to seed, and she is only worshipped in the context of the united faith in these modern times. Her symbol is an acorn.

Rosu. The household goddess; Rosu is goddess not only of weaving, but of future-seeing, childbirth, and medicine. She is worshipped by physicians and midwives the Valley over. She is a kindly goddess, but furious when roused. Many families keep small icons of her distaff over their doors to protect their hearth and home.

Valley Kingdoms: Religion in the Valley -- overview and Yasivan

The faith of the Valley Kingdoms is a complicated one, accreted over many centuries by the influx of various peoples and cultures to the Valley. The earliest settlers, Sangaegrun from the desert, brought with them the faith of the Thingatha Empire. The Thingatha faith, known as Yafaba (the Light of the Fire), was focused on the worship of Ya, a principle representing light, flame, goodness, and creation. Ya was inevitably the creator of Yibrum, the Darkness, to whom he was immortally opposed. This dualism has marked faith in the Valley permanently.

A Note About Unity: Most faiths of the valley are unified under the worship of Ya. That is, priests of Ya serve as the general priesthood of the valley and specialized priesthoods often serve under them. The center of most faiths resides in Engen, the Holy Island, in Medenva, the City of the Fire, within the great Palace of the Priesthood overlooking that city. The Unification of the Temples happened under the Empire of the Throne, as part of a bid to reduce the political strength of many of the great temples.

As a result, the most powerful religions were subjugated beneath a single religious leader. This so-called Archpriest is the final authority on the Unified Faiths of Sivanism (see below).

A Note About Localism: The deities of the Valley are believed to be extremely local gods. That is, though they are very powerful deific beings, their spheres of influence do not extend outside of the Valley. Yasivan and Yibrum are the twin creative forces that gave birth not to the world, but to the Valley. The gods of the outside are unknown here, and the gods of the Valley have no power against those alien deities of the land beyond the mountains.

Yasivan, the Living Fire. Ya stands at the apex of Valley theology. Since the early Migration Age and the time of the Thingatha Empire, however, Ya has since been identified as an androgyne rather than a masculine principle. Her counterpart, Yibrum, is also utterly without fixed gender. Unlike the ancient Thingatha faith, Ya is not the first principle; rather, that distinction now belongs to Yibrum, the Dark. Yibrum is depicted as prior to, and not necessitated by, the existence of Ya.

YA is also called Yasivan, the Living Fire. The majority faith of the Valley is commonly referred to as Sivanism, that is the Faith of the Living. Yasivan altars are cylindrical in shape, and always contain a vessel (sometimes of bronze, copper, gold, or other precious metal, sometimes of stone) in which a fire is set to burn. The feeding of this fire is one of the chief duties of the Sivan priesthood.

Ancient Thingathi Yafaban Altar

Modern Sivan Fire Altar

When the early Sangaegrun priesthood entered the Valley, they carried with them a brand of the original Yafaban flame from the Grand Temple of Thingatha. This flame was placed into early Sangaegrun temples and legend claims that it fed the Sacral Fire on Engan, which burns to this day.

WORSHIP: Yasivan, the Living Fire, is worshipped in thousands of different ways, but the most common is the destruction by fire of various objects. It is not uncommon to burn small effigies of precious wood or clay. The fires are usually fed with incense and other fuming substances, and the priests of Yasivan are well known as manipulators of fire—that is, they carry with them many fuming incenses or powders to cause the flames to redouble, or swell, or change color.

Almost all towns have one temple of the Faith. Large cities have many more. These temples serve other gods besides Ya, as well, but generally at the bare minimum they will possess a few priests (called Attendants) to tend the Temple Flame, which is meant never to go out. If a Temple Flame is extinguished, it must be relit by the Flame of the next-largest temple, with the grandest temples only able to be rekindled by the Fire at Engen.

STRUCTURE: Priests of Ya adhere to a strict hierarchical structure, with the Attendants and Novices at the bottom.

Larger temples generally have a number of novices and attendants in service to a Divine Speaker, who will themselves be subordinate to the Lightbearer, or chief priest of that temple. In very large temples, there is a council of nine Lightbearers (nine being a sacred number). Lightbearers are subordinate to the High Divine of their region, which is a priest elected to the leadership of a large temple, usually one located in a major city. The High Divines answer none but the Archpriest himself.