Asura

Asura is a Hyborian god. He is worshipped in secrecy in Aquilonia during the Hyborian era. Rivaled by the god Mitra and the Stygian serpent-god Set, and only worshiped by a small number of devoted servants. Most Vendhyans worship Asura. He teaches that life is illusory and the only final truth comes after death, in the light of the soul. The cult will devote itself to "penetrating the veil of illusion of life". According to his priests, Asura has no true form, but is a part of all cosmos. When the god wishes to send messages to his followers, he does so by the reincarnation-birth of an exceptional mortal. Asura's doctrines reveal that all beings reincarnate, and that the purpose of life is the paying of the karmic debt against the soul. Each evil act extends the cycle of reincarnation; each good act shortens it. The people who suffer earned their trials in previous lives; they are not to be pitied. Some priests of Asura wander the land as beggar-priests, while others are members of the upper caste of Vendhyan society, the Brahma are scholars and rulers. Everyone participates in rituals of meditation and purification, including ritual baths in the holy rivers of Vendhya. The priests command the lowest caste, the Untouchables. During cremation ceremonies, where the dead are burned to dust on great funereal pyres, their ashes are blessed and spread on the winds. Anyone not properly cremated may wander the earth as undead.

Religions