In Myrel’s memory, their father had taken them to an old temple where once people had worshipped the spirits of Wind and Sunfire. It had been remade into a boiler room for factories below, pipes punching through the walls and furnaces hissing, but the doctor that had brought Myrel into the world – doubling as a soothsayer to any who would listen – was there with a few other children. Myrel had still been young, barely ten, too young to understand the radical nature of all these children in a place like this. In Myrel’s memory, they played with the other children, running among the pipes, ducking and vaulting and chasing, while their father and the soothsayer spoke of magic.
-"Maniaque" Chapter 39
For nearly a thousand years, starting in the antiquity of the Unwritten Calendar and lasting until the early 500s CR, the city of
Pharaul largely exercised the faith practices of the Rhyqir peoples. However, economic cooperation with Vont granted Pharaul new technologies and resources, beginning a gradual transition away from magic and spirituality. In modern times, in Pharaul, there are no active religious or spiritual organizations of any notable size, and most places of worship are either abandoned or have been converted for alternate uses. While some Soothsayers of Wind and Sunfire do still exist, this profession does not serve any integral role in society.
Blessings of Wind and Sunfire
The classical faith of the Rhyqir peoples was an animism that revered a small number of significantly powerful spirits which were attached to nature, believed to have great knowledge and a broad range of influence. In its most ancient form there were a large number of these spirits, though most Rhyqir peoples seemed to choose either one or a small number to focus their attention upon. This is the case for
The Laines, where most people have faith in the spirit of natural life called the Green, and was once the case in Pharaul, where emphasis was placed on spirits called the Wind and the Sunfire. While these spirits were thought of as sources of wisdom and knowledge, it was understood that their minds and intentions were otherworldly, concerned more with the function primordial domains and duties than the mundane lives of their devouts, so it was rare that they were directly prayed to or asked for favours.
Instead, the spirits were seen as an essential component in the proper function of the world, and it was the role of their devouts to aid in their essential functions and interpret their needs. This was the role of the Soothsayers: watch and judge the state of the natural world, to call for rituals that could alter or affect the function of the natural world, and to interpret signs and portents offered by the natural world to gain warnings or foresight. Because of Pharaul's challenging climate -- being built high on the slope of Meidr, where there were few natural resources, permanent bitter cold, an endless ice storms that only varied in severity -- they placed their greatest ritual efforts into the proper function of Wind and Sunfire; that is, into weather, light, and heat.
Survival in Pharaul was ever at the whim of the blizzards and storms, and it was explained by the Soothsayers that if Wind and Sunfire were properly supported and able to adequately complete their work on behalf of the natural world, the storm and sun would remain stable and spare Pharaul undue challenges. Whenever the weather turned and starvation or freezing became a real danger, the Soothsayers would blame improper performance of religious rites, and see to it that spiritual activity in the city increased.
In antiquity, one of Pharaul's six seats of government was the Seat of the Mediator. This seat was chosen by popular election, with eligible candidates being the Soothsayers with the largest and most active congregation of devouts. There are periods in Pharaul's ancient history when this individual was elected to the highest officer leadership, being named the August Seat.
Survival in Our Own Hands
In 505CR, an economic partnership with Vont gave Pharaul access to new technologies and resources. Great pipes were constructed in the Rhyqirja Mountain to funnel hot steam directly from Vont to Pharaul, as well as overland trains that connected the populations of the two cities. Over ensuing decades, boilers were installed in most of Pharaul's buildings, making hot water readily available, and radiators became commonplace to heat interior spaces. With the invention and proliferation of electric lights, Pharaul's citizens could remain in comfort regardless of the darkness and ferocity of the storms. Factories were constructed to provide Pharaul's denizens with a full supply of perfectly-crafted cold weather gear, so that even poor laborers could be fully outfitted with everything they needed to live well regardless of any turn in the weather.
This came, naturally, with decreased interest in the proper performance of the duties of Wind and Sunfire. The process was gradual but cumulative. As fewer of Pharaul's denizens performed the rites to maintain the spirits' proper function, people noticed that this made no change in the pattern of storm and weather. Regardless of what rites were and were not performed, the function of the natural world more-or-less matched historical records. Seeing no need to continue to practice faith acts, and being rewarded for their increased dependence on machinery, Pharaul naturally moved away from spirituality. This brought with it a movement away from magic, as well, as few people in Pharaul felt the need to learn how to conjure warm fires and light when they could acquire both with the opening of a valve and the turning of a dial.
History Quietly Endures
As of 1090CR, though Pharaul still technically maintains six seats of government, the Seat of the Mediator has sat empty long enough to now be referred to more often as the Empty Seat. No congregations exist of sufficient size for any Soothsayer to be eligible for the seat, and Pharaul's modern leaders have stated that no new religious organizations will be formally recognized. Without formal recognition, it is technically impossible for the seat to be filled. Temples are no longer seen as sacred places. The largest have been converted to other uses, and smaller temples are largely in disrepair. What soothsayers still practice mostly do so as a secondary interest, and are otherwise employed in more modern professions. The role of the soothsayer in Pharaul is mostly that of a historian, their beliefs regarded not quite as superstition, but largely as evidence of societal progress.
Despite this, Pharaul does find it necessary to keep a few soothsayers in good standing with its governing forum. One of Pharaul's oldest allies, the Laines, still actively practices the animism of the Rhyqir peoples. One of the two heads of government of the Laines, the High Mediator, is equivalent to what once would have been the Seat of the Mediator in Pharaul, and there are several diplomatic traditions expected by the Laines for which Pharaul requires a traditionally-trained soothsayer of adequate rank. If only for this reason and no other, Pharaul is unlikely to be completely divested of its spirtual past, even if the soothsayers no longer serve the purposes they once did.
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