Orthodox Arzalism
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Orthodox Arzalism is a type of Arzalism that was the official state religion of Zurgite Varshan for most of its history. Like other strains of Arzalism, Orthodox Arzalism emphasized sacrifice and believed in a large pantheon of gods. Unlike other Arzal sects, Orthodox Arzalism emphasized the role of the Death God and the preeminance of human sacrifice.
Although Orthodox Arzalism as the state religion existed for centuries, it took on most of its major features in the 15th century, when the Varshani ruler Žuqul I proclaimed the Death God as the paramount deity over the Sun God. From the Great Edict of Žuqul to the culmination of the Deluge, Orthodox Arzalism was inextricably fused with the Varshani state. After the Final War of the Deluge, Orthodox Arzalism became illegal in League-occupied Varshan and most places abroad. In the areas of Varshan where Arzalism was reestablished, it was replaced by State Arzalism while other forms of Arzalism were legalized.
Belief system
Orthodox Arzalism lacks a systematic theology or a unified canon of authoritative scriptures. There are a large number of religious texts describing Arzali beliefs, myths, and rituals, but unlike the Bible, Koran, or Vedas, the texts are not held to be divinely-inspired or authoritative in and of themselves. Rather, they are simply considered written records of the priestly caste, who are collectively regarded as divinely inspired and the font of religious knowledge.
Pantheon
The pantheon of Orthodox Arzalism is one of its main distinguishing features, particularly its emphasis of the Death God over that of the creator deity and the major presence of the Raid God.
The Sun God
The Sun God is the Arzali creator deity, responsible for the creation of the world.
Human sacrifice to the Sun God shows gratitude to the Sun God and recognition of the Sun as the source of all life by "returning" a life to them. Human sacrifices to the Sun God are only performed at certain times during the year (e.g. harvest and planting festivals), or in times of dire need (e.g. to ward off crop failure), and only at high noon. The Sun God also accepts sacrifices of animals, produce (mainly grain), and incense, which can be made at dawn, noon, or sunset. Sacrifices to the Sun God during nightfall are anathema and punishable by death, either because they are believed to have the effect of sacrificing to the Moon or because they were once used to conceal clandestine Moon worship.
The Death God
The Death God is the paramount deity in Orthodox Arzalism.
The Death God accepts both human and animal sacrifices, but the state priesthood accepts animal sacrifices only from worshippers who are too poor to afford slaves.
The Blood God
Devotion to the Blood God is strongest among warriors, who consider him their patron.
Blood priests practice many rituals involving scarification, body modification, mortification of the flesh, bloodletting, and vampirism. Bullfighting is a popular Blood devotion performed at major festivals by Blood priests who train as matadors. The Blood God accepts human and animal sacrifices, and blood must be spilt in order for the sacrifice to be efficacious. Worshippers may offer their own body parts as sacrifices to the Blood God.
The Pain God
The Pain God is the Arzali deity governing both pain and visceral, bodily pleasure, which Varshani culture understands as two sides of the same coin, referring to them by the same word (riq). Like the Raid God, the Pain God is unusual among Arzali deities in that she does have prescriptive teachings for how her followers should live. Pain priests teach that devotees should sadistically strive to maximise their own pleasure (and the Pain God's) by maximising the pain of others.
Worship of the Pain God centres on the torture of human and animal victims. Pain priests have devised (and continue to devise) various methods of tormenting sacrificial victims while maintaining their life and consciousness as much as possible in order to prolong suffering. Pain worship can also include a number of sadistic-masochistic sexual rituals, self-flagellation, and ritual scarification and amputation performed on willing worshippers (often by their own hand) to show devotion.
The Raid God
The Raid God is the deity that governs humanity, and his commandments form the bulk of Arzali doctrine regarding government, "ethics", and the social order. Unlike the other Arzali gods, whose relationship to mankind is generally limited to granting divine favour in exchange for sacrifices, the Raid God prescribes how his followers are to behave. Most Varshani social institutions, including the caste system, slavery, the policy of perpetual aggression, and compulsory military service, are believed to have been established by the Raid God.
The Raid God created the Varshani race, and a plurality of Varshanites claiming divine ancestry believe themselves to be his descendants. All ethnic Varshani (even slaves) owe worship to the Raid God. The "Martial among Gentiles" also worship the Raid God, and their devotion to him forms the religious basis of their more privileged status in society. However, they can only make sacrifices to him collectively, in order to obtain divine favour for their race as a whole, whereas Varshanites can petition him as individuals. Non-Varshanites who do not belong to the martial races are forbidden from sacrificing or praying to the Raid God, and doing so is punishable by enslavement (for free persons) or death (for slaves and repeat offenders). People enslaved for this reason become the property of the temple system.
The Raid God only accepts human sacrifices. Historically, victims were required to be captives of war, but due to constraints on the supply of captives in more modern times, it is now permissible to sacrifice slaves descended from war captives. The priestly caste has created a fairly extensive bureaucracy to certify the captive lineage of slaves and regulate the supply of acceptable sacrifices to the Raid God.
The Raid God is closely associated with the Hunts, an era of large scale military raids and demographic destruction against the North Songun civilization.
The Fire and Lightning God
The Fire God accepts only burnt offerings. These can take the form of animals, grain, incense, tobacco, oil, or burnt effigies; but the highest form of sacrifice to the Fire God is to immolate a human victim alive. Fire priests make extensive use of incense, tobacco, cannabis, and ash in their rituals.
The Rain God
One of the oldest Arzali deities, the Rain God was the second most revered figure in Primitive Arzalism after the Sun God. The Rain God is worshipped throughout the country and features prominently in the rites of Orthodox Arzalism, but a much more extensive Rain Cult exists in rural areas among the agricultural population.
The highest form of sacrifice to the Rain God is by throwing live victims into sacred limestone cenotes, although it is also licit to use purpose-built cisterns or certain sacred lakes and waterfalls for this purpose. Urban Rain Temples mostly sacrifice victims by drowning in tanks with glass walls. The most prestigious sacrificial cenote for the worship of the Rain God was [name], until 2022 when its aperture was collapsed by a Kiravian airstrike.
The Earth God
Sacrifices to the Earth God are made by burying victims alive or by burying them up to the neck and stoning them to death. There are also two Earth Temples specially authorised to crush victims using large rocks. Burying the remains of victims sacrificed to other gods is also considered an act of Earth Worship.
Victory Goddess
The goddess of victory, often referred to as dabz nakaz ("Sweet Victory"), is an important deity to the martial and civic dimensions of Arzalism and Varshani culture. As with Raideron (see above), the Victory Goddess demands captives of war as sacrifices, and such sacrifices are made to commemorate important military victories in Varshani history, as well as during times of war after successful battles. Waršani warriors do not seek Dabz Nakaz's favour or intervention to aid them in battle. Rather, they go to battle to prove their worth and devotion to her, and undertake fasts or painful acts of physical penitence in her name after military defeats. Dabz Nakaz is the most prominent Arzali deity described and portrayed with expressly feminine attributes.
God-Emperors and God-Kings
The Zûrg ("Emperor") and Preclassical Varshani kings (wuz) are accorded the status of demigods in orthodox Arzalism, being viewed (like many other aristocratic Varshanis) as having divine ancestry from birth and as semi-divine figures during their reign, before being deified upon their death. The Shorter Book of Worship, a major Arzali text, expresses this distinction succinctly: "While the Zûrg rules under the favour of the Sun [God], all owe him obedience. While he holds court in Death's halls, all owe him their sacrifices. All shall pay what they owe."
Most recorded Zûrgs have at least one temple dedicated to them, most of which were constructed during their reign and house their tomb. Several less notable Zûrgs with shorter reigns are entombed (and many more are worshipped) at the Temple of Kings, which forms part of the Great Death Temple complex in Anzo. Typically, sacrifices to a God-King peak with the dedication of their temple and steadily decline the longer they have been dead, with slight upticks corresponding to the weddings and coronations of their sons and grandsons. Temples dedicated to long-dead God-Kings are rarely visited and sparingly staffed, with clerical posts there highly sought after as sinecures by the priestly caste. However, there are several God-Kings who are exceptions to this rule and continue to regularly receive sacrifices, often at multiple temple sites, long after their death. These include:
- Biji - Commenced the Varshani transition from a migratory warrior tribe to a state society by conquering the city of Hoklo, which became the Varshani city-state of Anzo.
- Žuqul I (the Great) - Founded orthodox Arzalism by establishing the primacy of the Death God over the Sun God.
- Burušo IV (the Moonslayer) - Destroyed the Kulukusi, an advanced, Moon-worshipping civilisation that stood as the Varshani kingdom's main strategic rival.
- Angbal I - First Zûrg of the Ninth Dynasty, who reunified the empire by winning the Sixth Varshani Civil War, killing and enslaving entire cities for their allegiance to the defeated factions. He is credited with expanding the cult of the Raid God and the use of enslavement (previously reserved for conquered non-Varshani peoples) as a penalty for crimes.
Other figures
- The Moon - Sometimes referred to by scholars as the "Arzali Satan", the Moon is the most reviled figure in Arzalism, framed as the primary adversary of both the Sun God and the gods of the Dark Pantheon.
- The Soccer God - Patron of the Varshani ballgame, an organised team sport which doubles as an Arzali religious ritual.
- The Hail God - Many tribes, both Varshani and non-Varshani, living in mountainous areas of the country have traditionally worshipped hail deities. Preclassical Arzalism as practiced in the lowlands may have incorporated the Hail God as a minor god of punishment, but due to the tendency of mountain-dwelling tribes to rebel against the Zûrg, orthodox priests long ago relegated the Hail God to being the Rain God's retarded cousin and outlawed their worship. Nonetheless, devotions to the Hail God persist in isolated mountain settlements and among some Solar Arzalis.
Syncretic Figures
Many figures in Arzalism (especially regional and heterodox forms) are shared with or recognisably adapted from other Cronan religions.
- Xzibit
- [stuff from Ma'acunism]
Caste System
Reign of Terror
One of the most important Arzali beliefs is mapuz gožu, variously translated as "state of violence", "violent order", or "reign of terror". It is the idea that violence is the fundamental ordering principle of society (including non-Varshani society), and that the Varshani race has a divine mission to use violence to subjugate and exploit other groups and to maintain the integrity of the caste system. State-sponsored Orthodox Arzalism interprets mapuz gožu as the basis of the Zûrg's divine mandate to rule, and as the legitimising principle of the state and its military-first policy. However, Arzali fundamentalists dispute this interpretation, believing instead that the violent order or reign of terror ordained by the gods was not meant to create a state society, but rather a society of loosely-aligned predatory warrior bands practising an "economy of violence", sustaining themselves through raiding and the forced labour of others.
Analysis
The exotic and brutal nature of the Orthodox Arzali religion have secured it a place in the imagination of the Old World and have attracted a great deal of interest from Hesperic scholars. There are major barriers impeding the development of academic studies of Arzalism, including the difficulty and danger of visiting Varshan, the inherent ambiguity of the Hieratic Varshani language, deliberate obscurantism on the part of state and clerical authorities, and certain characteristics of the religion itself.
Many Hesperic scholars view Arzalism as a conglomeration of many different religious traditions brought together as a result of the expansion of Varshani civilisation and the consolidation of the Varshani state. This is sometimes expressed as the division of Arzalism into several different pantheons.
Nature Pantheon - Exemplified by worship of the Sun, Rain, Earth, and Fire Gods. The Nature Pantheon is commonly analysed as a homogenisation of various nature-centred pagan traditions practiced across North Punth, of the same provenance as M'acunism. The Nature Pantheon forms the focus of modern Solar Arzalism and post-Deluge State Arzalism.
Dark Pantheon - Exemplified by worship of the Death, Raid, Blood, and Pain Gods. One leading theory posits that the Dark Pantheon originates from the tribal religion of the High Varshani when they lived as nomadic warriors before the capture of Anzo. Modern Fundamental Arzalism emphasises worship of the Dark Pantheon.
State Pantheon - Exemplified by worship of the Death God, God-Kings, Soccer God, and others. It is believed that the State Pantheon developed after the establishment of the sedentarisation of Varshani society in the Anzo Basin as a mechanism for social control; resolving conflicts among rival nobles and warrior clans, and regulating relations among the castes.
Lesser Pantheon - Various minor and local deities absorbed into (mostly informal) Arzalism with the conquest of other Cronite tribes.