Vudeghir

"Heathens who murder for money to fund their debauched orgies."

―Lord Camáil Adenhero

The Vudeghir (Cassidian: Budeghyr [vudɛkxʷɨr]), pejoratively referred to as Dustmen or the Order of Pedicants, are a Cassidian pagan group of assassins.

Origins

Founded by Warga Resenddala in the 24^th century, they were initially created as a group of trained auxiliaries, scouts, and spies to help the newly independent Cassidian kingdom fight against the encroaching Enzimian empire. Following the defeat of the Cassidian rebellion and subsequent conversion of the Cassidians to Furanism, the Vudeghir continued to resist their new Enzimian overlords, hiding in hidden forts throughout the mountainous Cassidian homeland. A far and inhospitable province for the Enzimians, little effort was taken to completely eradicate them, and later the successful Dacian Revolt would lead to them being in an independent Dacia much friendlier to non-Furanists. Over time, their political aspect waned while their religious aspect waxed. The history or their order is obscure and exactly when and how they changed is unknown. Their primary deity, seen as the patron of their order, is Thalit, an ancient Cassidian deity of plots, secrets, sex, and revolution.

An emblem of the Vudeghir: the Sign of Thalit en-
circled by the order's motto, faith, not by words or prayers, but by blood.

Structure

The structure of the Vudeghir is extremely egalitarian, with the only official title being that of the order's master, the kaphyn nnupalğ(ų). Besides initiates and the relationship between teacher and ward within sinttire, all other power and influence is informal.

The Sinttir

Thalit being associated with sex, their sect has developed many rituals and traditions surrounding sex. Their entire order operates as pairs of lovers, sinttire, a ddera/e, the teacher or husband, and a mųlleģ(ų), the ward or wife. The words husband and wife are used in this case without respect to sex, and notable in this is the egality of women and homosexuals in their order. These pairs are together almost always, and even perform their work together. A sinttir is made through a ritual like a marriage in which a peryn(ų), seeker and a former mųlleģ(ų), and a mųllğena/e, an initiate or wife-in-training, partake in the mųlyt rojsa, the so-called sex dust, a sort of powerful aphrodisiac and hallucinogen. The couple then enter a private chamber to consummate their union, the seeker taking on the symbolic part of Thalit and becoming husband to the initiate, who becomes a new wife. In the night, Thalit is supposed to visit the initiate and formally ordain them into the order and grant the signature magic of the order. If in the morning the initiate has not been visited by Thalit and granted his power, the peryn(ų) must kill the initiate, and can take another one after 6 days of mourning. If the initiate was visited, the pair become a new sinttir, and are bound together for life. When a teacher dies, the ward becomes a peryn(ų), a seeker, and can take an initiate under their wing to eventually become their wife. If a ward dies in a way the teacher could not have reasonably prevented (such as illness), they may take a new initiate after 18 days of mourning. If a ward dies preventably, the teacher must either take their own life or else be put to death for failing to protect their ward. If any in the order are found having slept with any but their husband or wife, they are put to death.
Their motives are obscure, and they have been known to refuse contracts, though they refuse to give reasons. They do not work with or for Furanists. They are known for their all black dress and donning grinning white porcelain masks with red painted lips. They shun gunpowder and firearms, likely both because they prefer to operate stealthily and because gunpowder a symbol of Farnne.

Thalit

Thalit is the name of an archaic Cassidian deity, noted in Vallaran works and conflated with the Vallaran deity Jellenus. Little is known of the original mythology that surrounded Thalit, and he seems to have been a relatively minor deity, but worship of Thalit, as Jellenus, was generally seen as distasteful by the Vallarans, as Jellenus in their mythology was known for his rape of his own mother who then gave birth to the Sarrinides, demons of conquest. The Vudeghir would later tie Thalit to Ghamnu, a minor nature goddess or spirit. Ghamnu is briefly mentioned a single old text as the wife of Thalit.
In his current interpretation, Thalit is a god of plots, secrets, sex, and revolution. According to post-Enzimian, Vudeghir tradition, Thalit originally was the nature goddess Ghamnu, before being burned black by Farnne, the Cassidian name for Furana, and being reborn as Thalit. This burning and transformation is symbolic of the Varaso and later Enzimian conquest of Cassidia, the Enzimians being infamous for their scorched earth tactics in the region. The use of male pronouns is not entirely correct, as Thalit is seen by the Vudeghir as hermaphroditic, his own pair or sinttir. Thalit's blackened appearance in Vudeghir tradition and the Vudeghir's use of magic has led many to conflate Thalit with the Onyx Lord.
The most obvious superficial tie of Thalit to the Vudeghir is their use of the Sign of Thalit: ♅. Often adorning their clothes or bodies as tattoos, and used as a sort of calling card, they carve or brand it into the flesh of their victims. The sign is ancient, carved into several Cassidian burial stones, but its ties to Thalit are debatable.

Names

The order's proper name is Budeghyr, rendered Vudeghir in Varaso and Dacian, meaning "trailers" or "followers" in Cassidian, likely referring originally to their role as scouts and spies, but now taken to mean followers of Thalit. They are also known by several pejoratives, notably as "Dustmen" and the "Order of Pedicants". Both of these pejoratives refer to their unusual sexual practices, which are widely misunderstood and viewed as immoral by most outsiders. The name of Dustmen refers to the mųlyt rojsa, a psychoactive substance used in their sexual rituals. A somewhat euphemistic name, it's seen as less pejorative than their other nickname, the Order of Pedicants, which derives from pedicator, an archaic Vallaran word meaning "sodomite", thus meaning, approximately, the Order of Faggots.