Places of worship,The Basins of Shalimyn

The churches of Shalimyr, found in most seaside towns and cities, are called basins of Shalimyr, for they collect the outpourings of his worship. His worshipers, the Shalimyn (SHALL-uh-min), congregate before any great sea journey to bless the sailors and their vessel, and pray to Grandfather Ocean for their safe passage. For particularly important journeys they make elaborate sacrifices in the water, cutting open chickens, lambs, and even bulls, letting the blood and water commingle. This is to symbolize that all things owe their life to the water.
For common sailing expeditions, such as the daily voyage of fishing vessels, most sailors meet at the beach before dawn, where a mariner of Shalimyr joins them and prays for their journey. Sacrifices are uncommon in such settings.
The basins collect worship, and their clergy and other holy orders help others honor the god. But just as Shalimyr hates pride outside his faithful, he hates it within their ranks. The holy orders must not, and do not, represent themselves as necessary for a connection between the individual and Shalimyr. They are wise and the basins are there for guidance, but a faithful Shalimyn does not require a basin, a member of the clergy, or anyone or anything else to connect with Shalimyr—his is a highly individual faith.
While the basins are usually places of religious devotion and pious prayer, they are also home to wild and raging festivals accompanied by hard drinking and sometimes more carnal activities. The Shalimyn are both peaceful and wild, just like the waters.
Shalimyr is more involved with the daily lives of his worshipers than any other god. He is so involved that it is likely he oversteps the boundaries of the Compact. None of the gods complain because just as often as Shalimyr sends one of his saints to aid one of his worshipers, he sinks a ship filled with them or wipes out a town of Shalimyn who have grown fat and arrogant. Worshiping Shalimyr is hard. It involves constant wrestling with one’s faith and, often, with one’s god. It means tests of one’s humility, the constant threat of death, messages from the sea, and aid or doom from a god’s hand.
It is a dramatic religion, as Shalimyr is a dramatic god, and its practitioners are rarely weak-hearted. Shalimyr feels as though his worshipers are the only mortals who truly understand him. While all people who worship the gods of the tree and travel on the sea or river pay homage to Shalimyr, they do not live a life of constant servitude to Him as he believes is warranted. Among the gods, Shalimyr constantly murmurs he will destroy them all someday, but none of the other gods take him seriously. However, some scholars believe the day will come when Shalimyr floods the world, destroying everyone but his worshipers. Most view these scholars as only slightly less batty than the Shalimyn themselves.

Regardless, because they have developed a system of showing Him such elaborate respect, Shalimyr is quite involved with the Shalimyn, is fond of them, and is saddened a bit when he must wipe out entire ships of them because they have made him angry.

Type

Cathedral / Great temple