Zirun

Zirun is also known as "Feywild paganism" or "Feywild religion"- it simply means "beliefs" in the Mathari language. Zirun is best defined as a "semi-organized religion": it has no clearly defined boundaries and often varies from place to place, but has a shared pantheon and set of major rituals. It can be difficult to distinguish from Feywild culture and is tightly bound with both ways of life and identity there. Zirun is highly syncretic and can easily mesh with other gods and rituals. As an organization, Zirun is more of a collection of important cults that sometimes work together than a formalized religious institution. These cults share a collective importance as holy sites and oracles, but hold little formal power outside of their resident states. The majority of religious activity and regulation is done within communities and states, keeping the religion incredibly localized.

Structure

Most Zirunan priests are clan-based and passed from master to apprentice (or apprentices). In the major Feywild city-states, they are more institutionalized and are appointed by government-affiliated priestly bodies. All of these priests have their own unique rituals and stories, but all come together to honor the major gods. Five major cults set the standards for worship of the main pantheon and are revered as uniquely in-tune with the Gods:

• The Oracles of Deraksa, Goddess of Knowledge and Magic, in Okina
• The Matrons of Tonia, Creator Goddess and Earth Mother, in Nefka
• The Speakers of Vitoza, God of Winter, the Underworld in
• The High Hunters of Kokoa, Deity of the Hunt, the Moon, and Feywild Mutations
• The Seers of Erezgo, the God of Medicine and Crafts,

History

There have been several attempts by the major Feywild imperial powers to unite Zirun into a consistent organized religion, but few have succeeded. The idea gained a lot of traction after the 850 ME "Night of Terror" in Okina, where outside missionaries that had tried to take power were expelled from the city. It would ultimately take almost 500 years for the project to actually gain any international ground, though.
In 1300, priests from across the Feywilds formally agreed to a shared policy of missionary removal and shared cult. To hammer out the details, they met at the city of Nefka under the leadership of the High Seers of Okina. While no formal organized priesthood or holy texts came of that long week of argument, five great cults were formally recognized as the voices of tradition and it was agreed that guest rights no longer applied to explicit missionary efforts. While all tribes agreed to exile "traitors" who converted to Orthodox Desmianism and most could agree on Alkara, the conference completely collapsed in trying to rule of Ishkibism. The definitions for Orthodoxy and Alkara were also extremely organization-focused and essentially said little-to-nothing about belief.

Mythology & Lore

The Creation

In the beginning, there was chaos and emptiness. Where chaos and emptiness mixed, two originator gods Tonia and Vitoza emerged- beings of pure light and pure dark. They walked the infinite darkness, populating it with stars as they laughed and spoke for many years. They fell in love, with each other and with possibility. And so, they made the world. Vitoza was the sky, Tonia the Earth.

But the creators were too close to their creation and one another. The world could not grow, could not truly live with them. Their children were crushed before they had a chance to truly live, reabsorbed into creation. Tonia was unhappy with this world of brief moments, but Vitoza had no desire to change anything. To convince Tonia to keep things the same, Vitoza made the Afterlife. Now, creations would exist forever as shades rather than face eternal oblivion. But Tonia was still not satisfied, and began hiding the primordial godlings they created in an egg to survive. Eventually, Vitoza found the egg and cracked it open- and was attacked by his own children. He triumphed over them, but before he could kill them Tonia intervened. She struck down Vitoza and banished him- chaining him to the afterlife. Now the sky and earth are separate.

The pantheon as we know it was formed:

• Tonia became Goddess of life, preservation, fertility, and the Earth
• Vitoza became God of the sky, weather, judgment, and death
• Erezgo, their eldest son, became the sun and God of Crafts, Healing, and Medicine
• Kokoa, their second child, became the large moon and Goddess of the Hunt, the Wild, and Animal Life
• Kordina, their third child, became the small moon and Goddess of Cats, Agriculture, and Building
• Deraksa, their fourth child, became the Goddess of prophecy, magic, and knowledge
• They had other children, and these Gods had their own children as well, but that's the core pantheon

Despite their feud over existence, Vitoza and Tonia remained in love. Every year, Tonia and Vitoza graze together to dance or kiss or sing, and the world of the dead seeps ever so slightly into ours. Vitoza's deathly cold presence and Tonia's longing and mourning produce winter- but every year Vitoza gives the world a blessing and the gods produce gifts. That hope and love is spring.

The Rise of the Feywilds

After many years of prosperity under the pantheon, many good peoples and kingdoms rose. The Gods multiplied, and many left with their own peoples to populate new lands. Beyond the loving warmth of Tonia, peoples began to isolate themselves: Dryads to their tree godlings, Humans to their own godlings. But as they grew apart, they grew suspicious and angry.
One day, a dryad and a human were strolling along a beach and stumbled across a great treasure: a shell of a wind god, a horn that could blow massive storms or bring rain on command. The dryad and human began to bicker over it, and their tribes joined them. Fighting erupted. They began to steal the horn from one another, blowing storms across the sea to each other and causing great chaos and death. Eventually, Tonia and Vitoza came to them: Tonia offered them a cornucopia of endless food to help the world heal, but demanded they share it; Vitoza offered them weapons of cruel magic cursed to doom them to a thousand horrors. Each godling promised to take Tonia's offer, but ultimately chose Vitoza's. And so the war of blood began
Tonia was horrified, Vitoza was smug. Would no one pick Tonia's offer? Only the people of the Feywilds did, and they ate well while the world around them collapsed. But eventually, the terrible cannibalistic kingdoms of evildoers encircled their fair home- and the enemies of the world were numerous? The people of the Feywilds retreated to the highest peak and begged the Gods to send aid. They sacrificed their purest calf and uttered a hymn so heartbreaking that every major God promised their aid. Vitoza sent a great flood to wipe away the enemies; Tonia's cornucopia kept the people from starving; Kordina and Kokoa taught the ways of war. But ultimately, Tonia could not bear to see Vitoza kill every other people and begged her children to find a way to protect the Feywild innocents. And so Deraksa and Erezgo devised a plan to protect the feywild forever. They took Kokoa's blood, endless as her body, and showered it across the land with magical blessings of night and day. The world was forever changed in terrible but beautiful ways. The Day of Blood continually renews this spell, forever blessing and cursing the Feywilds. 

Divine Dualities

There are some general mythological trends in Feywild religion worth noting. One is "foil pairing", invoking two gods that are simultaneously opposites and the same and placing them in loving conflict. For example, there is a long-running rivalry between Kokoa the Queen of Beasts, and Kordina the Cat Queen. They are nigh-identical sisters, but Kokoa is older and favors the old ways, while Kordina is younger and favors innovation. Kokoa is hunting and gathering, Kordina is gardening and shepherding. Cats of nature versus Cats of residence. Kokoa and Kordina are fiercely protective of one another and are in many ways the same, but they often enter ridiculous competitions that mortals can be unfortunately sucked into (often leading to bad things for mortals unable to escape). 
Another example of traditional divine foil-pairing is Tonia and Vitoza- Life Mother and Death Father. Whenever Vitoza is in a myth alone as his own character, he tends to be a lot nicer and often acts as the ultimate impartial judge. But whenever he is invoked in the same story as Tonia, he usually becomes far more of a frightening character. Similarly, Tonia is a lot more spiteful and commanding in myths on her own but becomes a paragon of warmth and love when paired with Vitoza. 
The last major duality is Erezgo and Deraksa: the Gods of revelation, one practical and one esoteric. In pairing, Erezgo becomes an orderly, optimistic, cheery practical god that sees only the present and the past, while Deraksa becomes a night-loving esoteric pessimistic bat-goddess who sees only the past and the future. They often give opposing advice (with both sets of advice either being wise or foolish) and can have howling arguments over nothing. It is from this loving rivalry that it is said that snakes (snakes pull Erezgo's chariot) and bats (Deraksa is the first Vesper) gain their rivalry. 
As a general theme, mortal heroes are also really big in Feywild mythology. The Gods can be, depending on the themes and tone of the story, one of many things: helpful allies, stern judges of morality, or even capricious and arbitrary obstacles for the protagonist to navigate.

Cosmological Views

The cosmology of Zirun is flexible. Not only are there many gods and local spirits, including ancestors and gods from foreign religions, but major Gods often have local aspects. For example, Kordina, the Cat Goddess of Civilization, has the smaller aspect of Kordina of the Vault for her involvement in The Vault of Nightmares.

Tenets of Faith

• The Gods value Courage: Do not flee
• The Gods value Loyalty: Be loyal to your community, do not betray your friends or family, and do not invoke the Gods in an oath unless you intend to keep it
• The Gods value Tradition: Keep the old ways alive. They worked for your ancestors, they will work for your descendants. Do not dishonor the dead.
• The Gods value Compassion: The Feywilds punish those who destroy with abandon. Be careful and kind to strangers, animals, and the land

Ethics

Vitoza is a very real enforcer of justice in Zirun, punishing the wicked and aiding the virtuous. While many traditions acknowledge the species-delineated heavens as real, they also propose that Vitoza will always have their justice in their world. 
But what is justice? It can be hazy. Certain rules are set in stone: don't kill or neglect a guest or host, do not kill a family member, do not break an oath a God has been invited into. But some are more negotiable: for example, while it is bad to steal, using force or stealth to take someone's non-essential luxury items is acceptable (especially if they are an outsider) if you avoid outright killing. One should capture rather than kill, and accept fair ransom. Granted, the death of an outsider is considered less important than a death of a community member. People have blood prices, and the blood price of an outsider is noticeably lower. So fairness is kinda shaky and justice is modified by xenophobia. 
There is a kinder aspect to this negotiable justice. For example, theft of food by a hungry person is considered outright acceptable. Circumstance defines justice, and property is not valued at the top of religious morality.

Worship

Feywilders do not gather together every week for sermons, but instead rely on holy calendars of rituals and holidays and life-related ritual to engage in worship. Prayers of thanks are often scattered through everyday life as well, in often difficult-to-notice ways: little songs during weaving, specific methods of churning butter or baking food associated with specific myths or spirits. 
Feywilders rarely pledge themselves to individual Gods or ancestors, though particularly specialists or eccentrics may do so.

Priesthood

Priests are obviously important and powerful in Feywild traditions, but can blur with other positions and titles: military and political leaders often engage in religious ritual. As a general rule, the more organized the state or society, the more organized/hierarchical the priesthood (and often the more isolated from other positions of power).

Type

Religious, Other

Alternative Names

Feywild religion, Feywild paganism

Demonym

Zirunan

Permeated Organizations

• Empire of Nefka
• Kingdom of Tikra
• Serene Principality of Okina
• The Federated Lands of Palava