The Culture Column
And sometimes you're just plain looking for more detail that what can be given in a single article or even two. For that reason I'm going to be presenting a closer look at a particular aspect of a culture every other month for the rest of the year. Caste systems or family and marriage and other domestic concerns, for example. They should be easy enough to slot into a new culture, especially when I've had to neglect that aspect in a previous culture (for example, there's not really anything about the religion of Piyinis pu'Granshu) or they can be combined together to create a single culture far more detailed than anything I've presented so far. So as to both make it easier to put them all together and to reduce the amount of languages I have to work out, words for these Closer Look articles will be constructed according to the same rules.
And without further ado, I give you A Closer Look at Religion.
Overview
Nimembqodom Gosom kom Nimbobi'mbom is usually translated to mean "The Way of Improvement and Everlasting Exaltation" and can be shortened to Gosom kom, or The Way. Physically it is centered around the city Qado Ri've (formally called Qado Ri've, dipnod nolo kivo, or Qado Ri've, the holy city) and is doctrinally centered around three principles: the sacredness of family, the need for a harmonious relationship with nature, and a constant improvement of one's place through reincarnation, which is achieved through constant attention to the first two principles.
Sacredness of Family
Followers of Gosom kom believe that living thing's place in existence is preordained, from the highest god to the lowest insect. In cultures where caste systems exist it is very easy to see your ordained place. In others, the view is taken that your ordained place is not made manifest until some time into your life, just as a caterpillar only becomes a butterfly with the passage of time. The religion has an obsession with categorization and matters of relative status and in places where it has taken root you can expect to be able to find out the exact relative status and respect due to a food, occupation, ethnic group, or family.
There are no real equals in Gosom kom. Are you and another person both of the same ethnic group, same city, and even of the same occupation and position in that occupation? Then perhaps one of your families is older or due more respect for some other reason, or your families are exactly equal in all those ways (quite improbable but technically possible) but one of you is a thirdborn while the other is fifthborn, or you are both firstborns but one of you was born on an earlier date, or even on the same day, but earlier than the other person. No matter who you are, you are either superior or inferior to any other person you can possibly come in contact with.
Within the family, each generation bows to the previous generation and each person has a distinct rank within their generation based on their birth order and that of the previous generation's where applicable. For example, a firstborn son would be dominant over his younger siblings, but if his father were secondborn, and his aunt firstborn, then he would be inferior even to the fifthborn child of his aunt. Obeying these rules of status and giving honor to the family by acting in appropriate ways is the principle of Qiri'veom Qisi'olbi. Honor is given to your family by obeying the rules of status outside of the family as well, and by being pious to the gods, tolerant, temperate in all things, and loyal, while avoiding recklessness, dishonesty, irresponsibility, and envy of those who have been preordained a station in life greater than your own.
Harmony with Nature
Of equal importance is the concept of living in balance with the rest of the world. Followers of Gosom kom do not necessarily believe that they are, for example, stewards over their world, but just as the superior elements of society must refrain from abusing the inferior elements, humans must not abuse nature. This also plays into avoiding recklessness and irresponsibility too. By practicing the principle of Uolpame kimbom Osop, a person ensures that the world is stable and sustainable, just as obeying the rules of status ensures that civilization remains stable. Oftentimes there are entire occupations devoted to making sure that, for example, trees are being planted in sufficient number and at a sufficient pace to replace the trees which are being cut down, or that the current reproductive trends of prey animals are not so low that the current hunting rate will outstrip those populations' ability to recover. In fact, an emphasis is put on domesticated crops and animals, even more than in other cultures, and hunting is considered highly unsavory and associated with the lower classes.
Improvement of Station
By obeying these laws you are able to obtain Nimembqodom Liemqolmore. Those who act in accordance with these principles will be preordained with a higher station in their next life. Usually this will be just barely higher than their current station, so a man who makes buttons for a living might make candles in his next life (candles being slightly more important and profitable). If he is especially virtuous he might be able to move just a little bit further ahead than that. The ultimate goal for any person to be preordained to become one of the Ossou Qordo, which depending on accounts is either the station of godhood or of their choice servants. There is similarly no One True Doctrine on whether or not anyone has become an Ossou Qordo yet and many people believe that no-one actually has.
Piloqo
Before moving on to their next life, even the most virtuous must first spend time in Piloqo, usually conceived of as an entirely different world but which some believe is a physical place which can be reached in this world (usually by sailing south past the lands of men and past the lands which even today remain unsettled, and even further south still). Piloqo is a land of cold where damned souls are bound from head to foot in iron chains which keep them restrained to stone slabs. Piloqo is a land of eternal cold where the sun never rises and it is made colder still by its terrible winds, which are so strong that they flay flesh off the bone.
The amount of time spent in Piloqo depends on the crimes that one has committed in life. Liars must spend a single day for every falsehood which they have told. Thieves must spend a minute in Piloqo for every handful of grain which their stolen goods could have bought. For every person that he has killed, a murderer must spend a gi'ta (equal to ten thousand years) in Piloqo. The blasphemous and murderous king Logo Qali'n Qisepo, who is said to have eaten human flesh with every meal, and to have invented the Hundred Thousand Atrocities over the course of his reign, when he sought to commit a new vile act every day and eventually had to create new ones when he ran out of preexisting crimes, is said to have been sentenced to eighty-nine lexis in Piloqo (and a single lexi is equal to three million years). At the end of it, he would have been preordained to become royal governor (you can only sink or rise so far at a time, after all).
He was only sentenced there, though; some people say that he isn't still suffering in Piloqo. Ri'odops are people (if they can be called that) who have managed to escape Piloqo and for their defiance of Qedolom Liemqolmore, the Cycle of Reincarnation, they are placed at the very bottom of the stations of life and even worms and poisonous insects are higher-placed. A ri'odop cannot be mistaken as anything else unless it takes pains to disguise itself, and so they often wear heavy clothes in order to cover their skinless, bleeding forms.
Even then they can be noticed for what they are, because a ri'odop is always, always shivering, never able to forget the terrible suffering it experienced in Piloqo. Ri'odops have personalities as varied as the people they once were, but even a kindly man who told only one lie in his entire life and committed absolutely no other crime, but who could not bear the day in Piloqo which that lie sentenced him to and so escaped, will remain a ri'odop until the end of time and be as low in station as Logo Qali'n Qisepo, and will be driven to kill his fellow man in order to stay warm. Nor is his new station any protection against further stays in Piloqo; every year, on the longest night of the year, Logo Qali'n Qisepo is said to escape from Piloqo, and many parents keep their children inside for these five days, until he is captured and brought back to Piloqo again.
The Priesthood
The religion is run by priests called epopods, who are raised from birth to one day enter the ranks of the clergy. In some countries the epopods also form the whole ruling class while in other countries they are merely part of it, or are entirely separate from it. Even in countries where they do not officially partake in secular affairs an epopod can wield great influence.
Both genders can join the priesthood, an important fact since they are forbidden from marrying outside of it, and they are encouraged to have children early and often. The priestly population is very large. Epopods begin schooling from an early age and are trained in the interpretation of scripture and myth. Upon being inducted fully into the station of his parents, an epopod will have memorized not only the stories of his religion but also have read hundreds of extensive commentaries on it. Someday, his own commentary might be added to the collection of studied material.
Epopods also preside over marriages, embalm the dead, and oversee holidays, which are numerous and often long-lasting. Gosom kom encourages the creation of holidays to celebrate anything worth celebrating, meaning that most countries have many holidays (sometimes a holiday for every day of the year) to celebrate great heroes, events in history, martyrs, and the like. These more common holidays do not involve celebrations but it is not uncommon for a day to most often be referred to by the name of what it is dedicated to. Less common celebrations are for the new moon and full moon, which inspire minor celebrations which might last a few hours during a time when work is not usually being done, and celebrations for the solstices can often last for up to a week, especially if the preceding months have given much to be thankful for.
The Pantheon
There are nine gods worshiped in Gosom kom, although there is a tenth called Dopno Mopo, who little is known about and who is said to currently be living as a human due to actions in his life as a god which caused him to fall from his station. Perhaps in a few hundred thousand years he will become a god again and he will once again be worshiped.
One of the most important gods is Ovos, the goddess of spring, who gave knowledge to mortals and continues to bless them through the agriculture she taught them by allowing the harvest to be made each year. There are many statues of her near lakes, and on each day she is said to live in a different lake. Ovos regularly challenges wicked mortals to duels when they cross her path.
Xomgolom is the goddess of mountains, and also of the wind and of cities. She is worshiped mainly by village folk, who must work harder to keep her attention on them (cities are just so much more interesting to her) and her followers pray daily to her. Military outposts also frequently bear altars to her, and she can sometimes work against the efforts of charismatic humans whose actions threaten to outshine her.
Nildipnylom is the god of battle and of poetry (which often go hand in hand). His followers, often women, carry many distinctive charms on their bodies and he has altars in many cities. Like with many of his siblings he can be an antagonistic force, in his case increasing the difficulties of great warriors who have attracted his attention, in order to see how much they can handle.
Riqroom is the goddess of torment, and the scarlet-skinned goddess presides over Piloqo (where she spends most of her time, unlike the others, who live primarily in the heavenly land of Ri'ybo) and leads the yearly hunt to retrieve Logo Qali'n Qisepo and dispatches hunts for other ri'odops. The lash-goddess is associated with oaths (breaking them earns a year in Piloqo) and worshiped heavily by the elderly. Most villages have a small temple to her and she hinders especially virtuous mortals to see if they can be turned to evil through hardship.
Iqyemaqr is a goddess connected to money, dancing, rain, and life. For the first she is worshiped by the poor and the wealthy alike, for the second she is worshiped by the cultured, for the third she is worshiped by farmers, and for the last she is worshiped by everyone at one time or another. Mountains are holy to adherents of Gosom kom and like most of the gods she has many temples there.
Qisonolom is their mother, though each of the five had a different father, and she is the goddess of both famine and the friendships which can help one to weather times of deprivation through shared aid. Qisonolom is also often a war goddess, since war often leads to famine (and sometimes is even caused by it) and is worshiped extensively by the poor.
Omoq I'odep is the god of orphans and is associated with the wilderness and the hearth, both of which are places where offering may be put. He is prayed to by those whose families are dead or suffering, and also by merchants. Only a few dedicate themselves completely to him and these are marked by their ritual scars. He sends dreams to the virtuous, giving them signs of what their next life's station might be. Omoq I'odep is also the target of the jealous, one-sided affections of Xomgolom.
Uovo is his father and Qisonolom's brother, and is the god of the sky and of fire. He is associated with horses and worshiped by merchants like his son. Shrines to him are not uncommon in the mountains and he is said to have an unhealthily antagonistic relationship with his nephew Nildipnylom, and sends dreams to those who are in distress, giving them hope.
Next Month: A religious community that believes itself to be descended from a society which kept the flame of civilization alight during those dark years in millennia past, when the Black Riders tried to exterminate it. And they live in a cathedral carved out of an entire mountain.
