Prakahl (Prak-call)

Prakahl means "traditions" in the language of Southwestern Izekra, and it is a religion that refuses definition. It is often called "the old way", "the traditional way", or "the ancestral way", and it varies so dramatically from town to town that it can be difficult to draw cleanly on a map. It is considered a dead religion by many mortal scholars, a footnote of a pre-Ishkibite past lost to the ages. Those scholars are wrong. Prakahl is alive, is changing and thriving and adapting. It is alive both within the Ishkibite temple of Southern Izekra, where the ancestral cults preserve the old rituals, and it is alive in the places that proudly defy the new order.

Structure

Prakahl is not a religion for formal hierarchy; local priests pass down their knowledge to successors, major clans perform their rituals in support, and the community comes together to legitimize religious practice.

Mythology & Lore

In the beginning, there were four elements: Fire, Water, Earth, and Air. They lived together in the sea of chaos, the only beings alive. They decided to create a world together, to cure their loneliness and create a shared home; each element made their corner of the world, inhabited by their children - beings of pure earth, water, air, and fire. At first, there was harmony in isolation and purity, but the world mixed together as time went on. Species comingled and became the creatures we know today; the lands blurred at their edges. The elements tried to draw sharper lines between one another, but this created war, and hatred, and disharmony. A terrible war overtook the world. And since their creations were spiritually connected to them, the war brought disharmony into the hearts of the elements. The world became rotten at its core.
The elements came together to discuss the evil growing in their hearts. They realized that they could not co-exist with their children forever; there must be change, for the world to be stable. Water created Death; Air created a Gate to a world beyond Life; Earth created roads forward, that others may follow; and Fire created lights to guide them into the Beyond. The elements as Gods created Harmony - intermixing that was perfectly stable and composed of pure peace - and they died, so that it may rule. They passed into the afterlives, which they carved from chaos. Their most precious children, the eternal original elementals and intermixings, became the spirits - the Firstborn - who transformed into ghosts, ponds, diseases, forests, monsters, ethereal beings, masters of the dead. The Elements carried on beyond the afterlives, to the true Next World where none may go. 
The world has been seeking harmony and balance ever since. Some species are more of one element than another, so they brought their arts and spirits together to create whole and balanced communities. Every community has their own relationship with the spirits and the Elements, which they alone can negotiate. Every tribal network also has its own religious history beyond this origin, with its own cast of characters.

Cosmological Views

Prakahl is a religious tradition much more focused on what is known than what is not known; it generally doesn't exclude anything from existing. Other gods, other afterlives, other magical things are all possible - the Firstborn (spirits, the original people) took many shapes, and the Elements are not evenly distributed in all places. The world does not need to justify itself morally or intellectually. It is what it is. 
The worldview used to process these limitless possibilities is mostly based on elemental harmony. This is not entirely literal (things don't need actual fire in them, for example fire can be energy, movement, life, color, or growth. But the basic idea is that something must have a balanced life and balanced components (determined by food and air, usually) to be healthy and internally harmonious.
As for death and the afterlife, Prakahl adopts an "everything maybe?" approach; reincarnation, bad afterlives, good afterlives, it's all there, probably. Death, like life, depends on how it is done - a corpse quickly hidden from the other elements into the Earth will likely gravitate towards reincarnation, as Earth is preservation.

Tenets of Faith

• Keep Tradition Alive: The Past is a guide to the future, and should not be discarded without good reason. Preserve knowledge, preserve ritual, and honor your ancestors
• Honor Your Family, Your Community, Your Elders: Your family is your bond to the world and the next. Respect your parents to honor the Gods and the natural order; be kind to your children, that they will respect your wishes and guide your spirit to a good afterlife. Be loyal to your community, for without it you will be alone in a hostile cosmos. And to be truly alone is a fate worse than death
• Observe the World: To be a loyal child of the Gods, you must listen to their voice. Watch the ecosystem, the weather; memorize what is strange, and that it may be recorded and known to the entire community.
•  Seek Peace: Peace is the desired state of life. Compromise is a part of peace; be flexible. Seek no conflict, and you will win every battle.
• Reject Pride: The young see the world as theirs, because ignorance breeds pride. Listen to your elders; reject the pride of youthful ignorance. 
• Seek Harmony: Life is made of balance; welcome all the elements into your life and community in healthy ways. Let your diet be of the sky, the sea, the earth, and of flame; let your homes and settlements venerate them equally.
• Do What It Takes To Survive: To live and survive is what the Gods made you to do. The world is harsh and survival must be taken from it. Do not seek conflict, but be pragmatic. 

Worship

Worship in traditional Prakahl is typically something shared; one's connection with the Firstborn and the Elements is reinforced in family ritual, community ritual, and the little rituals of work (typically shared together - work is seen as best done with others).

Priesthood

Priests are always one of the elders, typically one of several candidates scouted for decades by the former priest. Religious secrets are given in segments to the other elders when they are accepted as true local elders, so that the old folks of the town can piece the full picture back together if the priest and all candidates die. Elders teach bits of their knowledge to the major family patriarchs and matriarchs, and so bits of ritual and practice trickle down across the community.

Sects

There are two major forms of Prakahl: the lowlands traditions of the dryads and humans, and the mountain traditions of the prism-led communities. The lowland traditions form a more interconnected and consistent network, where local spirits and the Elements are revered and communities swap priests and artifacts. The mountain traditions tend to be more focused on individual townships and their ancestors.

Type

Religious, Other

Alternative Names

The Old Ways of Izekra

Demonym

Prakahlan

Deities

• Halcyon
• The Chimera
• The Hidden One
• The Masked One

Location

Izekra