Saraka
Great stone temples of holy fire, decorated with moons and dragons and phoenixes. Stern monks and priests in red-trimmed robes marching in silence. Music and prayer based in repetition and very plain clothing among faithful believers, with strangely-clad and often masked mystery cultists behind them. Extremist groups and mystery cult monks ritually flagellating, fasting, and even self-immolating. Foreigners (especially the Zihari ) see Saraka as something of a backwards, mystical, repressive religion. The explosion of hedonism during the annual ceremony of renewal only solidifies that reputation - after all, if they were not so repressed and mystical why would they need a night to go wild?
But beneath that dull and exoticized veneer of "mystic flagellating zealots that are serious but secretly wild" is a very constructive worldview of simplicity, redemption, discipline, and cooperation. They share a great deal of theology and cosmology with the bleak and nihilistic Zihari, but reject the conclusion that the world is damned or temporary. Instead they see the world in a perpetual state of death and renewal, sin and forgiveness. The end of the world began but it can never be complete; the world is out of our control and everything is temporary but that doesn't mean we can't carry our families and homes within us. The individual is what began and what all returns to, but it is only complete when part of a greater whole. To forge stability in the face of eternal destruction and creation requires discipline, focus, cooperation, and humility.
So how does a religion founded from Zihari deviate in nearly every way? The long and short of it is that Saraka reveres the prophet Oriska, a mystic who made contact with the goddess Tira the fire mother. Tira, it is said, revealed that she was the goddess of our world and had finally broken the cycle of perfection and decline by forgiving the world of its sins. The fire of her forgiveness mixed with the frost of the end-times and created a world that is always changing, always ending, but will never be gone. She provides as much time and as many lives as necessary for every soul to eventually ascend.
Saraka has a fairly balanced stance towards species-preference, but tends to culturally lean towards keeping species communities separate. Sarakan states tend to legally prefer the species of whatever ruling clique is in power.
Structure
The Temple of Saraka is extremely centralized, with immense power given to the Heirophant. Most positions are elected from within the priesthood though, and elections are seen as the main way for priests to have a voice in the upper echelons. All positions are for-life unless they are specifically demoted or defrocked.
Mystery cults do not fit clearly into this hierarchy, but typically answer to the regional Arsha. The difference between a monk and a priest is both one of discipline (typical monks live in small groups devoted to disciplined living) and one of administration (monastic cells often own tracts of land with vassal farmers).
| Title | Selected by | Role | Number of Titleholders |
|---|---|---|---|
| Heirophant | Synod of Arshas | Leader of the faith | 1 |
| Arsha | Regional synod of land priests | Regional leader and state advisor | 6 |
| Land Priest/Master Monk | Priestly election | Leaders of cities and sub-regions | Many |
| Priest/Monk | Selected by land priest, often hand-picked by last priest | Community leader or bureaucrat under a higher-up | Many |
History
Early West Garadek Religion and Zihari Syncreticism
In the early days of West Garadel, religion was fluid and local. Every group had their own gods, ancestors, and customs. With many names and many local myths, a shared pantheon existed led by Tira the Fire Mother. She represented the world as it was- much of the region was periodically decimated by Fire Termite fires and she represented that periodic destruction and renewal that they brought. Religion and tradition was vital in coping with this fragile way of life. Sedentary living was impossible and failure to be vigilant could lead to death or great loss, so these traditions were a way to teach and understand the disciplined nomadic existence (particularly on the plains, where this was at its worst).
In the 800's Zihari missionaries arrived. Much of what they said was readily accepted- the end of the world seemed very natural to the local groups, and the lunar pantheon had been of little assistance. Instrumental to Zihari's rapid expansion was also the rising empire of the Mizram clan in Northern Tolzel- a nomadic tributary empire that rose from 812 to 980 ME. The Mizram may not have ruled for long, but they brought Zihari theology and missionaries wherever they went. However, with the collapse of the Mizram empire and with no successor rising in their stead, the Zihari Holy League lost all administrative control over the West. Attempts were made to reconnect the Western trade network, but it proved prohibitively expensive for the Holy League and it was ultimate abandoned. In the late 1000s, The Ember League of Zihari arose from Zihari mystics and merchants attempting to create their own Holy League in the West. This network struggled greatly and derived much of its power from mystery cults and existing priestly lodges, which ultimately took over much of the dogma and administration. It would be semi-accurate to say that the West was never truly Zihari, it only adopted Zihari structures as a trade coordination tool.
The Ember League grew more centralized and coherent over the centuries, bringing together traditions and cults from across Western Garadel in a unified Western tradition.
The Schism of 1680 and The New Doctrine of Saraka
In 1580, a Selkie explorer named Shanaku created trade agreements and outposts in the West and published a travel guide in Samvara detailing the wonders there. Speculation that even greater magic and treasures lay there untouched motivated an explosion of trade and investment. Demand for Western goods and investment soared, along with colonial ventures into Loanua and exploration of the far Western fringes.
From 1582 to 1680, the Holy League and Pearl Temples of Zihari competed to exert influence over the Ember League. The Holy League in particular sought to hammer Western doctrine back into orthodox Zihari theology, causing internal disputes, arrests, and infighting. The Ember League resisted outside influence and positioned itself as an equal of the others and completely within orthodox Zihari dogma. In 1612, 1640, and 1675, the Ember League left communion with the other Zihari leagues briefly in protest of Eastern aggression, but when the Holy League sent a mercenary army into Nalastra in 1680 to forcibly arrest and replace the Western Heirophant, the schisms turned into a permanent break. A massive trade war paired with many small military disputes ripped apart the West and East and weakened the Ember League significantly. In 1682, the Prism Mystic Oriska the Redeemer took advantage of the situation to preach entirely new doctrine. Drawing off the mystery Cult of Tira the Fire Mother, Oriska claimed to have divine revelation that rewrote the entire cosmology. Oriska's revised holy book (known in Zihari as the Oshkion) was declared by her to be the "final book of revelation". This became known as the Saraka (which is a traditional ritually-sanctified shortening of Saran-rakaseneskion-karlia or "the all-encompassing destined book of burning liberation-renewal"). Oriska and her Saraka courted the mystery cults that ran much of the Ember League, and from 1682 to 1684 rapidly converted much of Western Zihari to this new faith. While the Saraka did not revolutionize much of the on-the-ground theology (as it borrowed a great deal from dominant local beliefs and practices), it did formally and permanently break from any idea of being Zihari. By 1690, Sarakism had completely supplanted Western Zihari and created its own more-centralized structure. The Holy League continued its shadow war with Saraka into the 1730s, after which peace was signed between the West and East.
As the West has developed into a more-settled form of life, Saraka has changed with it. It has become more formal, more hierarchical, and more administrative. It has spread into Senelon, Ezekra, and Eastern Loanua, forging its own center of power in Western Garadel.Mythology & Lore
The Many Worlds and the Rebirth of Ereba
In the beginning was the original god of all that is good: Izikiro. Izikiro made many worlds, but every time he made one it would quickly collapse into sin and self-destruction. He grew tired and disillusioned and retired back in True Heaven with his one friend, Ereba. Ereba was one of the first people ever made, and her pure good heart meant she never aged and was spared every world's end. She had become his friend over the cycles, and as Izikiro retired she asked if she could try one more time. Izikiro gave her the fire, water, ash, and bone needed to make a new world and she went to work crafting it with love and care: every hill, every forest. The moon and sun were her windows to the true heaven and with its light she wove the spirits. But as she grew tired and went to sleep, she asked the spirits to watch over the world for her. A group of them grew proud and seized the world for their own- and claimed to be the moon itself. They impersonated Izikiro and their terrible sin formed into a terrible monster: Zened, the incarnation of endless cold and terrible endings. Zened consumed land after land, and sent terrible storms and plagues to destroy the peaceful peoples.
When Ereba awoke, she was furious. She sent out the dragons, the phoenixes, and the unicorns- but the unicorns were scared and so asked the pangolins to replace them- to call together every spirit and every person to try and find out what had happened. The phoenixes were all killed and rose to Izikiro to tell him what had gone wrong; the dragons were sly and escaped, leading their pursuers to Ereba; the pangolins arrived last but her able to hide under their scales and survive the attacks on them. When all the spirits converged upon Ereba, they were ashamed when she denounced them for their crimes. Most were so proud that their shame turned to rage, and they attacked her without provocation. But a few let their pride wash off of them and they asked quietly for forgiveness.
Ereba was unable to survive such powerful spirits attacking her, but she she lay dying she said in response: "I forgive you". Her forgiveness was first to those who asked for it, but she repeated it three times: to those who had killed her, to the world that had fallen, and to Zened who was destroying it. Izikiro descended with lightning in his hands to destroy the world, but when he heard her words he put it down. He picked Ereba up and took her to heaven, forming a second moon as a gateway. He took her to the source of all goodness which formed him and dipped her bodily into it. She exploded in flame, reforming as a goddess on equal footing to Izikiro. She became Tira, the fire-mother, who returned to the world with newfound wisdom and power. She forgave the world for all its faults, and Zened fell back in pain. He vowed to commit crimes beyond her forgiveness, to force her to lose hope in the world- but he will never succeed.
The Redemption of the World and the End of Loneliness
Tira's forgiveness redeemed the world and saved it. She sent down gifts of fire across the world to forever drive away the cold. She sang to every creature her cosmic truth of forgiveness, promising that through her they could ascend. Everywhere her song drifted, Zenek and the Lunar Gods sought to silence it. It echoes still under the world and the termites can still hear it. That is why they explode with such frequency: they are trying to explain that the world is both ending and renewing with Tira's gift of eternal flame. The cicadas sing it every year but Zenek will not let us listen.
Tira allowed every person to be born again and again until they achieved enlightenment, but the Lunar Gods intervened. They jealously stole the souls of the dead into their palaces to distract and confuse them. Those who remain there are slowly drained of energy while they drunkenly revel until they are but husks. The pangolins Tira saved for their services to live forever on the moon in perfect meditation. The humans refused to obey the lunar deities and were thrown to Zenek's pandemonium after death in punishment. But in Zenek's unholy fury, enlightenment can be found.
To strengthen mortals in this chaotic world, Tira taught them to lift one another up. She gave them a ritual known as the soul-binding, to let them rise together as one. To protect these communities as they rise, Tira set the redeemed spirits to work:
- Eseko, the hound of sin who hunts Zenek's minions and scares away plague; Eseko create dire greyhounds to protect mortalkind
- Losara, the many-faced child of Ereba who rides a dragon-horse; spirit of the hunt and protection
- Nokoro, the sun guardian
- Makita, the spirit of war and will
- Dimaka, the monster-spirit of testing and strength
- Mirizi, the ascended spirit of knowledge and revelation
Cosmological Views
Constant Renewal
The world dies and is reborn every moment. By sinning, you injure yourself mortally; by being forgiven, you are resurrected. This is figurative for your body but literal for your soul- you actually kill and create a new soul for yourself through public religious acts of forgiveness and being forgiven.
The world and its spirits are in constant flux. Eventually all will be redeemed and all dead souls will ascend, but time is eternal and the specifics are beyond mortal knowledge. The Lunar Pantheon is not to be trusted, but they are slowly being redeemed: specialists can carefully interface with them.
Sharing the Individual
By investing yourself in your community, you become one with it. The connections between people are not "material" but spiritual and can even bind people together beyond death.Tenets of Faith
- Redemption is the Only Path: No one is pure enough to ascend in a single life. Only by seeking forgiveness and paying penance can we hope to rise beyond suffering. We must also forgive the world itself for its cruelty, for doing so redeems and empowers us.
- Strength and Purity of Body: The world seeks to destroy us. We must have disciplined minds and strong forms to be self-sustaining and help our communities. Inebriating substances are dangerous because they make you vulnerable to threats and less helpful to your community.
- Humility is the Supreme Virtue: Pride is the source of all evil. It is an obsession with the self, which kills our connections to the divine. Kill your pride to save your connection to the divine. Do not wear great ornaments, do not tell lies, do not claim titles of great power. Pay penance, be open with your flaws to your community.
- Spare the Rod, Strengthen the Child: Do not strike servants, animals, or children, only their pride. Humiliation is punishment enough; if you must, strike yourself before you strike your lesser.
- Become Greater than the Individual: Serve your community and let everyone correct and assist one another. Let holy spaces be spaces of community communication and forgiveness.
- Beware the Material: The chaos of the world makes material things untrustworthy. The individual is spiritual; the community should act as an arbiter for material things
- Magic Serves Mortals: Magic is a tool for making the world better, not a sign of rulership. No magician shall rule simply for being a magician; they should serve the community instead.
Priesthood
Priests and monks wear brown robes with varying amounts of red trim to designate station. Arshas and Heirophants often wear white robes instead, to symbolize moonlight. Priests often have elaborate tattoos as a form of self-expression and designation, as they keep close-shaved.
Priests are expected to be literate and good with numbers. While some focus on asceticism and mysticism, most are expected to manage community property and coordinate investment. Like any Garadek religion, the Sarakan church structure is a kind of trading guild, with the Heirophant setting regional trade policy.
Sects
There are a few sects outside of the mainstream, but they lack much power or draw currently. The primary heresy is doctrine of the Ember League (those who seek re-connection with Zihari trade and dogma), though there are a smattering of mystical outliers who have other kinds of heretical beliefs. The most glamorous of these is the Cult of Zened (the anthropomorphized god-form of the end-times), which is often blamed for famines, plagues, or otherwise.
Within the church, the greatest variety and deviation comes in the form of mystery cults. These often serve as the nucleus for political factions and have their own theology and interests. The following are particularly important mystery cults:
The Cult of the Holy Geometry, important in the mountains of Ezekra
The Cult of the Emeno the Laughing Sun, important in the plains of Tolzel
The Cult of Senekirol the Eternal king, important in Senelon
The Cult of Nitren, the Season-Turner, important in Linorn
"No Hope but Forgiveness, No Life but Rebirth"
Founding Date
1682
Type
Religious, Organised Religion
Alternative Names
Sarakism
Demonym
Sarakan
Leader
Subsidiary Organizations
Permeated Organizations
Related Ranks & Titles
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