Chasind: Religion

A Wilder's Faith
The Chasind have a complex pantheon, which includes both nature spirits and legendary mortals who have ascended to the heavens. This is further complicated by the fact that the pantheon varies somewhat from clan to clan, as every clan has its own sacred tales and heroes; however, all Chasind (and The Avvar too) agree on the three greatest gods.

These are:
 * Korth, the Mountain Father (paternal god)
 * Haakon Wintersbreath (god of battle/strength/war)
 * The Lady of the Skies (Goddess of Sacred Waters)

The Pantheon Expanded
Amongst the Chasind tribes over the thousands of years which they have dwelt in the swamps and wilds these people have developed an extended pantheon beyond the original Alamarri gods and goddesses. These deities represent what is the core of Chasind life and beliefs.

Vitiris - the God of the Wilds
The Chasind believe that at the heart of the Wilds Korth disturbed a faun from his eternal slumber, not realising that in fact this Immortal had been cursed by the Avvar god Imhir. The two conversed and Korth discovered that this faun was in fact the caretaker of Korcari. The mountain father named him Vitiris and the horned being became the god of wild things - appointed by Korth to watch over the Wilds and it's people.

Sirona - the Goddess of Healing
Upon the shore of Loch Kin a young Wildling prayed to the Lady, asking for her to return his wife and daughter to him. For ten years he returned to the same spot every night at sundown, hoping to get an answer from the Lady of the Skies. In time this island would come to be the site of the Circle Tower - Kinloch Hold, but for Gintear it was a holy place where he could speak to the Lady.

On the last day of the tenth year a boat gilded with carved ravens and crows bumped against the side of the island. Gintear climbed into the boat and of its own accord it took him to the middle of the lake, to the mountain at the centre of the world, Belenas. It was holy ground for from here Korth the Mountain Father surveyed the earth and sky and first met the Lady. Gintear climbed to the top of the mountain then, on the same day the following year the same boat appeared on the edge of the island and the Wilder climbed out with a babe in his arms.

This was Sirona, daughter of the Lady and Gintear. Though blessed with an Immortal for a daughter the Wilder was still human and so he aged and he grew ill. Believing that the waters of Loch Kin would heal her father Sirona brought him to the selfsame island where he had prayed all those years. Instead of a boat the lake's serpent Nathramar appeared - offering to give Sirona the power to heal. All she had to do was tell him how to get onto Belenas. Sirona, in her grief, told the serpent how to get to the sacred mountain and in return he bit her, his venom seeping into her veins.

"Drink of the Lake and you will be the goddess of Healing, with the power to keep your Mother from taking souls to the Skies and to Twilight."

However, when Sirona drank from the Lake she returned to find her father had already passed. She tried to heal him but he was already beyond her powers! Sirona fled into Korcari and entered the protection of Vitiris, vowing to teach others her skills so she might extend the lives of other Wilders. However, her actions led to the great battle between Korth and Nathramar, a battle that saw the destruction of Belenas and the banishment of the serpent from the world.

Taultiu - Ar Mhàthair (The Mother)
On the edge of Korcari, near the southern tundra and Frosthold, Korth first saw his beloved. The Immortal, Taultiu, danced with her sister around the primordial fire, keeping it aflame with their song, holding the cold winter of the south at bay with their fire. Korth watched as she danced, following every move and listening to her sweet melody, entranced by her beauty and grace. He watched her for one hundred years, the mountain father turning to stone and unable to move, so enraptured was he by her beauty. At the dawn of a new age a tear fell from the statue that was Korth, for he watched as his beloved touched the fire and was set alight!

His form became flesh once more and he ran to the pile of ashes that had once been the beauty he had never spoken to nor told that he loved. What confused him though was Scathach, for all she did was look to the sky. When the surviving twin smiled and begun to sing a Song of Passing Korth wept and looked to where her gaze fell. Above the ashes of Taultiu a portal to Twilight opened, the gates of the afterlife opening for Scathach. Yet, instead of the soul of the seeming Immortal rising the ethereal energy of Twilight descended and illuminated the ashes of Taultiu. The primordial fire burned with the same blue flame and the ashes stirred.

As the flames grew the form of Taultiu emerged from the ashes, the Immortal "reborn" but taking on the same form as before. Korth, stunned, fell to his knees but Taultiu went to him and took him by the hand, bringing him to the fire. She told him that once a century, at the turn of the Age, she was reborn. Yet, for the first time in eternity she had awoken and upon seeing Korth she wished to give her blessed gift of life. Through Korth and Taultiu the Wilders were born, the name "Chasind" believed to mean, "reborn in fire". "Cha" meaning fire, or to burn and "sin" meaning "rebirth". Thus Taultiu became the Mother goddess, giving the gift of rebirth or reincarnation only to the Chasind people. The shaman teach that when a Wilder dies they must be immolated by magical fire, so that Taultiu can breath new life into them in Twilight and send them back in another form. Shapechangers are believed to be former Chasind, reborn, given a new human shape.

Scathach - Innteach Crìochair (Gatekeeper of Twilight)
Scathach, the twin sister of Taultiu, has been overseeing the rebirth of her sister for eternity. While her sister burns Scathach opens the gate to Twilight, where she converses with the Lady and trades souls in return for her sister's life energy. The Chasind believe that since Scathach only trades with the Lady once every one hundred years they will only have new shapechangers born to them once every three generations. The rarity of such mages is explained by this deal between the two goddesses. The ashes of the dead are kept in urns in the tombs in the Wilds and every ten years years they are carried to the edge of Korcari to the Temple of the Twins, which is now just ruins with a firepit in the centre. Shaman live there and keep the fire burning, believing that in Twilight the twin sisters are doing the same. Beneath the temple, in the stone (that the Chasind believe belongs to the roots of the mountain and to Korth) there are millions of urns that hold the ashes of the Wilders, those that are broken are believed to have been reborn.

As the goddess of the Fade and deity of the afterlife, Scathach is feared and revered, often depicted at the top of the totem, just below the Lady and Korth, for she is the gatekeeper and ferries souls to the Lady. Thus she is also believed to take the form of carrion birds, the Chasind whispering prayers to Scathach whenever they see such avian. Those shifters who turn into crows or ravens are so feared and revered they are almost treated as demi-gods, chosen of Scathach and blessed by her. These mages are also heavily connected with death and many Chasind tell of the Children of Scathach, the necromancers, or in the tongue of the Chasind: Ar Or-bhais.

Chasind Nature Spirits and Animals Gods
The Chasind complex pantheon includes nature spirits and animal gods. Most clans revere the same animals but the names may vary clan to clan.

"When a tribe is created a lore page may be linked to that lists their array of animal gods and spirits."

List of Animal Gods and Spirits

 * Tureann - The Wolf God
 * Flidais - The Deer Goddess
 * Nemeton - The Ram God
 * Carravogue - A trickster spirit, usually a water or marsh snake
 * Dechtere - A bird of prey spirit, usually an osprey
 * Latiaran - A reptilian spirit, usually a lizard