Zurgite Varshan: Difference between revisions

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==Culture and society==
==Culture and society==
===Religion===
===Religion===
Polytheistic/Henotheistic religion, [[Arzalism]]. Sort of like Hinduism in that there are a whole bunch of gods and sectarian differences but these don't amount to exclusive denominational differences. Human sacrifice is the central and ultimate rite of Arzali worship, with archæological evidence dating it perhaps as far back as the first modern humans to arrive in the area.
[[Orthodox Arzalism]] was the sole legal religion in Zurgite Varshan, and observance of certain religious rites was compulsory for all free persons. All other religions, as well as atheism and agnosticism, were illegal and punishable by some public and particularly gruesome methods of execution. The degree to which slaves were required to observe the Arzali religion was at the discretion of their owners: Slaves owned by the temple system for non-sacrificial purposes were expected to participate in self-degrading Arzali rites regularly, whereas most private owners require only minimal commitment to the religion or none at all. Many (perhaps most) slaves privately dissent from Arzalism, and many, especially first- and second-generation captives, adhere to various native Cronite religions or, in the case of slaves kidnapped from the Occident, Christianity or irreligion. Slaves have been known to make an effort to maintain organised non-Arzali Cronite religions in secret, but these were suppressed by slaveholders and punishable by torture.
 
Varshanites were originally heliolatrists (sun-worshippers). Orthodox Arzalism was born when some emperor proclaimed the Death God's primacy over the Sun God. Ancestor worship is strictly forbidden in orthodox Arzalism and was punishable by death, though it persists as an underground, esoteric/initiatory practice in certain heterodox strands of Arzalism, especially among particular ethnic groups.
 
Gods: The Death God, the Sun God, the Blood God (especially venerated among warriors), the Pain God, the Fire-Thunder God, the Sex/Rape God, and the Soccer God. Also various God-Emperors and God-Kings. Also Rain and Earth Gods that demand child sacrifices, exclusively. Maybe Raideron and Cthuhlu got absorbed into the pantheon somehow.
 
(Warrior thing transcluded to the military section)
 
Arzalism was the sole legal religion in Varshan, and observance of certain religious rites was compulsory for all free persons. All other religions, as well as atheism and agnosticism, were illegal and punishable by some public and particularly gruesome methods of execution. The degree to which slaves were required to observe the Arzali religion was at the discretion of their owners: Slaves owned by the temple system for non-sacrificial purposes were expected to participate in self-degrading Arzali rites regularly, whereas most private owners require only minimal commitment to the religion or none at all. Many (perhaps most) slaves privately dissent from Arzalism, and many, especially first- and second-generation captives, adhere to various native Cronite religions or, in the case of slaves kidnapped from the Occident, Christianity or irreligion. Slaves have been known to make an effort to maintain organised non-Arzali Cronite religions in secret, but these were suppressed by slaveholders and punishable by torture.


===Caste system===
===Caste system===