The Faith - Religion of Rowlem

Taken from The Musings of a Wanderer by Bevel Dart

Of all the places I have no wish to return a-quest’n, Rowlem just about tops them all. The poor nation is run by a load of loonie zealots obsessed with the notion of human racial superiority, who blame other races for all their troubles. furious illegible scribblings

Ideology

Referred to in Rowlem solely as “The Faith,” the dogma states that humans are the only real race. All other races are false constructs and must be cleansed from the world. Here the first hypocrisy of The Faith rears its ugly head: despite all the talk of cleansing the world of other races, those of other races that are captured are not exterminated as the word “cleanse” ought to infer - they are relegated to slave labor, which is supposedly a symbol of their inferiority.

Slave labor appears to be what The Faith is really about. Any of a non-human race are, as mentioned above, sent to slave labor. But the kicker is that the common (human) worker is no better off. How so, you might ask. I’ll tell you. All resources grown, harvested, mined, manufactured, or made are considered the property of The Faith. Your crops are taken from you by a band of religious thugs. Then the “planners” send you what you “ought” to have. As you can see, the destitution of the nation is thereby confirmed.

Structure & Influence

The Faith, and thus the nation of Rowlem, is structured as follows:

• High Laudites, who spout the fanaticism and enjoy the liberty and luxuries they steal from the people - molicking about with other people’s money
• Soldier Zealots; brutes, really, who gobble up the justification to do others harm
• Human Sweat-shiners, including farmers, homeowners, and business owners, who are not much more worse off than slave
• Slaves, non-human and human

Fortunately (though unfortunate for the common people caught in the tide) the stupidity of this ideology is visible in the sorry shape of the country. The Faith only truly holds sway within and nearby the two major cities of Rowlem - one in the north and one in the south. Elsewhere the laudites and soldier zealots simply don’t have the wealth and strength to subjugate the more distant areas. Oh, they still come around to steal away people’s crops and trade goods, but the good people in the countryside have an opportunity to hide and stash some of their hard-earned resources beforehand.

History

The history of Rowlem is a tragedy. For several hundred years the country was ruled by a wise synthoid. Over its long career, Rowlem prospered. A small faction eventually became greedy for power and instigated revolution through subversion and propaganda. The faction gained enough popularity from its lies that it staged a successful, bloody coup, resulting in the tragic execution of the wise synthoid. The leaders of this faction instituted themselves as the first high laudites and made up divinity named Row to be the symbol The Faith. (as a side note, the laudites in the southern city of Rowlem have jumped on this god idea more than those in the northern city - they even have a person holding the title) The purge of non-humans after the revolution was horrifying.

The zealots now claim that all the problems of the common people are caused by non-humans. Those who contest the “fact” are branded “synthoid sympathizers.” The zealots point to the lies fabricated during the revolution, claiming life under the non-human was unfair, and at least now the power was held by their “fellow” common man - now humans are free from the yoke of impurity.

Rituals

The Faith tries to make up for their failings through heavy use of ritual and symbolism. Chained non-humans are paraded through the streets, where onlookers are expected to spit on (“cleanse”) them. When the zealots come for the farmer’s crops or the tradesperson’s goods, a nonsensical ritual is performed and the threshold of the barn or shop is marked with red symbols.

It’s no wonder Rowlem’s neighbors have no desire to invade them. The nation is economically and militaristically crippled. The puny annoyances of Rowlem’s military “cleansing” forays into Curath and Caliharah are met with stiff resistance and are far preferable to the raiders from the northern sea that Rowlem buffers them from.

Travel not to Rowlem, my friends. Only lies, misery, brutality, and slavery will welcome you.

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Information for writers:

As knowledgeable as the good Bevel Dart is of the world, he has missed several important points about Rowlem and The Faith. The Faith is indeed manmade, as he says. No divinity inspired or formed its creeds or philosophy - it was merely a tool for power-hungry radicals. However, the religion now DOES have a divinity. Some years ago, a divinity previously called Enganyan arrived in Rowlem’s southern major city and proclaimed himself to be Row. A little show of power, a dash of mental manipulation of the high laudites, and he was in.

Row (Enganyan) is a parasitic divinity, and an opportunist. His power, strength, and vitality are directly linked to the volume of zealousness directed at him. He usurped the name Row to go from a nobody-divinity to a god with thousands of followers, whose zealous adoration he leaches from for his own vitality. He doesn’t care what the zealots do, only that they look to him.

Enganyan has played this trick many times throughout history, jumping from cult to church to clan. He thrives on zealot ideology.

Humorously, the high laudites located in Rowlem’s northern city are ignorant of Row’s existence. They believe their counterparts in the southern city are trying a foolish figurehead idea. They continue to preach devotion to Row but are oblivious that there is actually a divinity in residence. We can expect that Row will eventually make his way there to solidify his followers.