Day 3 of the World Building blog hop, hosted by Sharon Bayliss.
Religion and/or Magic
Chikara was created by the elemental deities, collectively called the Drethamir. There are five Drethamir, just like there are five clans. The Drethamir embody creation, order, and meticulous design. They created the elements, the elementals, the oazmir, and many other creatures before those. Not all creations resulted as planned and the Drethamir learned the horrible lesson that immortality is not something to be gifted to lesser beings. They do not often interact with their creations, and are viewed as cold, calculating, and standoffish.
On the flip side are the Miasho deities. These are the sensory beast deities who indulge in destruction and chaos and reckless behavior. They selected humans sensitive to their power and dubbed them upholders. Other humans can petition the upholders for a blessing from their chosen deity. Like the Drethamir, there are five siblings. These five have names.
Li – Deity of Healing and Harvest, upheld by the Brands family
Ko – Deity of Pleasure and Fertility, upheld by the Kade family
De – Deity of Chaos and Battle, upheld by the Hobbs family
Na – Deity of Wisdom and Hunt, upheld by the Lander family
Tu – Deity of Prosperity and Heavens, upheld by the Simon family
The Miasho specialize in illusion. They accept sacrifices in the form of exotic foods, weapons, or anything that really suits their fancy. The more pleased the deity is, the greater the blessing. The sacrifice is accepted and in return, the upholder is given paint with which to create a weave (usually painted on cloth) that will do whatever the petitioner requested. Upholders can mark their bodies to amplify their senses, but it is forbidden to mark the body of a non-upholder, and doing so will result in the very unpleasant stripping of all senses.
The Miasho are mixed beasts. Li is part raccoon and equine, Ko is part fox and bird, De is part snake and feline, Na is part bear and armadillo, and Tu is part elephant and boar.
Here is a quick sketch of Ko, hurriedly done this morning:
The Miasho love to meddle. They also put no restraint on the humans who uphold their power. Early humans abused the Miasho blessings, molding the land for selfish purposes and wielding power against one another. Their carelessness resulted in ripping the land apart, forcing people to set sail and flee the sinking continent. That’s how the humans ended up on Chikara.
The Miasho and the Drethamir are cousin deities, though no one really knows it. The elementals only knew of the Drethamir until the humans arrived and vice versa. The deities are fine leaving it that way.
That is a gorgeous picture. I like Ko even more now. ^_^