Shinnoa
In Rivain, belief in the Maker is not particularly common unlike the rest of Thedas where such belief is standard. Instead, many Rivaini believe in some form of animism. One specific animistic belief is called Shinnoa.
Mythology & Lore
"Rather than humans having personal, unique souls that simply float off to some other place when they die, all matter has roak, a word that is kind of similar to 'life force', 'soul', and 'sentience' all at once. Each single being has a given, unknown amount of roak. What is known is that roak doesn’t disappear or anything, it transfers. When you smash a rock into four pebbles, the roak of the original rock divides itself four ways to accommodate the four new pebbles. When a creature eats a plant, the plant’s roak merges with the creature’s in their body. We Rivaini believe that’s part of why people become wiser and hardier of spirit the longer they live. As they breath the roak of the air, drink the roak of the water, and eat the roak of plants and animals, they accumulate all of these things... experience and wisdom, becoming smarter and better themselves. In this sense, we Rivaini believe a creature’s 'soul' is inextricably tied to its physical form. There is no afterlife to them, because you can’t go anywhere when you’re dead. We Rivaini believe that those that deserve the most respect are the Sea, the Sun, the Earth, the Sky, and the Moon. Those five are viewed as gods. While there is a proper word for them in Rivant, other languages would see Shinnoa loosely translate to 'Founders'. The people of Aerstagg refer to them as gods simply to get the point across to foreigners. These five are beings of such magnitude that they not only hold a truly unfathomable amount of roak, but are also the beings that grant it to all others. The Sea and Sky grant rain, and the Sun grants energy, the Earth grants soil, and the Sky grants wind, all of which are necessary to create plants, animals, and humans. The Moon grants silence, rest and meditation. In its presence, all things grow calm, allowing for rest, which helps one cultivate their roak. We do not believe our gods to be omnipotent or to have grand ideals locked behind systems of belief like other cultures might. Rather, we simply treat them with a quiet respect and reverence out of both gratitude and acknowledgement to their overwhelming power, like one might treat a mysterious dragon that protects a village from raiders. We Rivaini believe that the Ceaseless are caused by a stagnant roak. Once removed from the continuous flow of the cycle of life, a creature’s roak will allow for manipulation from the Fade in order to bring it back into the cycle, into motion again. The people of Aerstagg believe that the Return keeps the Ceaseless from appearing because the Return pulls the roak of the creature into the soil and the new plant, allowing them to still exist in the flow of world."
Type
Religious, Other
Alternative Names
Founders
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