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Local Gods and Powers: Difference between revisions
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→The Mother, B'aara
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*Spread the waters; its channels and tributaries are arteries of the world. | *Spread the waters; its channels and tributaries are arteries of the world. | ||
*Seek purity; to cleanse wickedness invigorates the spirit. | *Seek purity; to cleanse wickedness invigorates the spirit. | ||
<br> | |||
'''B’aara in the Sultanate''' | |||
<blockquote>The first spoke is the font of life and the patron of the line of Marib. She is the beginning of the Wheel and the rejuvenation of it as it turns. The B’aarat can be found among beggars and at court. It is an institution of vast wealth, but also of great charities. Her temples of water are ubiquitous across the Sultanate, some extravagant and others humble. The satrapies of the Sultan often appear about wellsprings, around which such temples are built, and sometimes serve as offices for their governors or Emirs. While many cultures upon the Great Disc outside the Sultanate may worship any spoke of the Wheel, most common are the cults of an analogue to B’aara. | |||
The sprawling Forum of the Limpid Pool, in the cool shade, is the navel of her church in Baz'eel, and a place of society, mingling, and reflection in the Golden City. The Chahar Bagh is the Sultan’s personal garden-sanctum, whose wondrous symmetry is based on the Mother’s ancient instructions, from which it is said he can see all of his domain through his own undisturbed image in the gazing pool. | |||
'''Her priests are expected to''' guide the great to altruism and administer their endowments, to empower protectors of peace, to lead embassies, to council leadership, to produce harmony, to exemplify grace, to provide shelter, to heal the sick and shattered, to exorcize the djinn, to be always decent and presentable, to chide the chafing and quell unrest, to prepare the community for hardship, to decorate holy places and worthy people, and to rescue the drowning and slake any thirst — water is life. | |||
Clerics of the B’aarat are known as, among other names, '''Waterbearer''' or '''Serene'''. The Many Mothers govern the faith and its many doctrines as a collective. The Godmother is the high priestess of the Wheel, who raises and instructs the Sultan’s family and anoints a succeeding Caliph or Sultan. | |||
'''She is prayed to''' when water is discovered in the Great Ash Desert, for dispelling mirages, for promotions or favors, when a pot shatters and when it is mended, when a child leaves the home, when the sun high and shade cannot be found, for the success of one’s peers, when opening negotiations, when witnessing suffering, to alleviate ailment, when thirsty, for stillness or clarity of mind, and when a toast is raised to the health of others. | |||
'''She is associated with''' wells and aquifers, miracles of healing, peace and accord, obedience and authority, diplomacy, decorum, tactful guile, bribery, the purification of water, the setar and other bright string or bow instruments, hygiene and ablutions, ceramics, petrichor, terracotta servants, silk and sable, citrus and melon, olive oil, soap, tubers, fish, waterfowl and cranes, lotus, fresh clay, introspection, vanity, social status, scrying, pregnancy and children, magnanimity and charity, grandeur, protection from the sun, the water of the Edutu, the lineage of Marib, the right of Emirs, Caliphs, and Sultans, and the light of the moon. | |||
By other names she may be known as The Sable Cloak, al-Umm, The Assurance, Clarified B’a, Nest-of-Eagles, The Deep Table, Silver-the-Moon-Tear, The Staying Palm, Comportmenta, Her Significance, and Our Peace.</blockquote> | |||
'''Among her holy days are:''' | |||
<blockquote>'''The Great Feast of B’aara''' — A solemn but sumptuous holiday of the Mother and her kin; the greatest feast in the Sultanate. The day is begun with thorough washing and ablutions. People dress in their finest, and days of prepared meals and months of stocked bottles are set out and enjoyed with decorous splendor in festooned halls, palaces, and salons. It is a time of seeing and being seen. The pious among the Mother’s faithful spend the day serving this meal to the bereft in the open markets or the almshouses. For the vain it is a game to see how engorged and inebriated one can become without losing face. Then the B’aarat lead the revelers in hours and hours of prayer and dedications to the Mother, excoriating any who fail to make it through. The ceremonies conclude with rejuvenating blessings of the waters and all their sources.<br>'''Subat 15th''' | |||
'''Sina’s Night of Lamentation''' — Remembrance of an ancient saint, Sina, who was once shunned for bringing B’aara's purpose and quenching to the ignorant. Rough-spun robes and hoods and donned, and the people ask to be forgiven — not for personal failures, but for the whole culture’s myriad transgressions, as a whole. Those who can make the journey are guided by the Waradim to a holy site known as Umm’el, where tears are shed.<br>'''Nisah 9th''' | |||
'''The Emir’s Parade''' — The celebration of Salhin, the Eagle. This is a day of gaiety, and pomp is prepared all year. Even the poorest satrapies spangle their huts with dyed flags. Everyone is encouraged to don their best and refine their most captivating stories to tell. On rare years, the Sultan will lead the parade in-person across the Exodus with a vast train, guarded by the First Legion.<br>'''Qdim 29th''' | |||
'''Mumusha’s Fastdays''' — When one may only drink water, and eat a fist-sized portion of meager nourishment at noon. Inaugurated by a pious Sayyida of old times, the three days of fast are observed by most, as a honing of the will and an especial observance of each of the Wheel’s aspects; whereon each day, in succession, three of the spokes are given particular reverence, except B’aara who is regarded again at the end of the third day by the famished who are reminded of humility. It seals the Mother's power over the Wheel.<br>'''Adar 1st through 3rd'''</blockquote> | |||
'''Among the faithful, they say:''' | |||
<blockquote>“Our hands hold what’s poured.” — An affirmation of faith and assurance of responsibility. | |||
“The sweet well settles.” — Observing things falling into place. | |||
“Precious sable, cover.” — A prayer for protection / An exclamation of scandalization. | |||
“Weep into the dry clay.” — Improve a situation, especially in sacrifice / Create beauty from the base. | |||
“Worry Her not.” — A request to not act intemperently. | |||
“Time and water.” — Prevail through patience over especially dense obstacles.</blockquote> | |||
<br> | |||
==The Warrior, Agaslakku== | ==The Warrior, Agaslakku== | ||