God of Roots

Like their Thaner neighbors, the Gafhi hold the great peak Aktar as sacred. and also refer to their god with that name. However, the similarities between the two largely end there. The god of the Gafhi, often referred to as "The God of Roots" is embodied in the land and the ground. In the stone and the soil, and things which grow of soil. Key to the Gafhi idea of divinity is the concept of "earth memory", the idea that the God of Roots, which is also the soil, knows and remembers all that happens upon it.
The soil is held as the source of wisdom among the Gafhi, and particularly the Gafhi believe that roots drawn from the soil can be used to ascertain the will of the God of Roots. Thus, the Gafhi dig up and burn root for many important occasions, from weddings to trials, as well as on many other important festivals. Gafhi shamans are also referred to as rootspeakers.

Summary

Aktar, the God of Roots is simultaneously a god and the land itself, embodied in the soil and living in the mountain that bears his name. The roots are living things which carry the god's wisdom and will. Though the God of Roots has no holy book, and is propagated through oral tradition, the faith is broadly the same throughout the Gafhi lands. The God of Roots is rarely prayed to directly, for it is believed that the god's will propagates through the soil and all things are gradual.
The Gafhi believe that god's realm lies underground, and believe that proper funeral rites involve burying the deceased naked and without a coffin. Though considering Aktar a supreme and creator god, the Gafhi do not hold that Aktar created them or any other species directly. Rather, as god is equal to soil, life arises naturally out of divinity. Aktar is thus seen as a steward of life, in particular ground-dwelling life.