Zarathem

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History (TODO)

The history of the Zarathem is quite incomplete. The religion itself is thought to have been built out of the culmination of several religions that have been brought together and unified. In some cases through violence both from and to followers of Zarathem, as well as in many cases documents being censored, or outright destroyed. However, Zarathem as we currently see it today began with Uerties, and his efforts to try to unify the faith. He is one of the central points that can be used to coordinate the timeline of the faith.

There were many wars in pre-Kliever Dah’Rem, and during many of those wars various important artifacts, and religious texts were lost. The version of Zarathem we have now is a culmination of the most important texts we still have, and the ideas that have best survived the years since their creation.

Uertian split

Uerties is one of the most controversial figures in the faith. He was considered a prophet that worked to create the versions of the three books we see today by unifying many existing texts, and writing The Uertes. However many figures at the time saw him as a false prophet who was looking to capitalize on the position of prominence he had being a son of one of the local rulers of several cities near Av’Brak. This split eventually lead to a civil war within the many different denominations, and with other religious groups (like the Aeytr), eventually stabilizing to the 3 main denominations we see today. However, during this time there were many attacks, and retaliations from groups that would burn religious artifacts and writings. This makes the history of most of Dah’Rem particularly challenging to ascertain.

The Age of Dah’Rem

Following the Uertian split, the Av’Brak sought to control as much land as they could. Uerties had already worked out peace treaties with the Sal’em, Tyreth, and Aeytr. However any land that was not explicitly claimed by those groups was ruthlessly colonized. After Uerties death, his successor (and son) Dah’Rem became “The first Dynar”, and sought to capture as much land as possible. Modern day Dah’Rem is actually smaller than his original kingdom, and the result of various treaties, deals, and invasions done after his death. His excursion and colonization into other lands was one of the most successful expansions of territory any nation has seen. The expansion was spurred on with a mix of nationalistic, and religious zeal. Much of the propaganda used at the time for the nation was religious in nature.

Uerties (TODO)

Uerties was a blacksmith who lived with his wife (Aeimila) and son (Dahrem), primarily in and around Av’Brak in Dah’Rem. Around the age of 30 he had a near death experience where his house “was engulfed in flames”, and he walked out unscathed. Unfortunately his wife died during this fire. He claims that he took this as a sign of his sculptor heritage. His father was a ruler of many of cities near Av’Brak. With access to such a wide audience through his father Uerties began to perform “miracles”, and feats of strength cultivating the belief that passion was the key to overcoming adversity (as Yaelrion did).

Great Meditation

In order to demonstrate his belief in the strenght of passion, Uerties is said to have meditated at the spot of the Paracus monastery on top of mount Farheid (across from mount At’Rius). This meditation lasted several days to weeks (depending on who’s account you trust), and was supposedly done unaided by blankets or fire. Uerties claims that his “passion is enough to keep [him] warm”.

*An artist rendition of the Paracus monastery with mount At’Rius in the background

Flame Festival

The flame festival is an integral tradition in the Zarathem faith. In it’s original practicing the flame festival begins with “the plunge”, which is where several important figures join the current Dynar, and are lit on fire. This tradition harkens back to stories told of the Sculptors, wherein they wore brightly colored robes, and were constantly engulfed in fires they helped form into the world we see today. A more contemporary addition to this tradition is a march, or parade through the streets while wearing blue masks that are meant to symbolize the bright blue worn by the sculptors in the stories.

Following the meditation at Paracus, Uerties is supposedly the first to have done “the plunge”, which is traditionally the opening ceremony event of the Flame Festival. However it’s claimed that this was done without the traditional Karlin robes that keep the wearer from harm, and instead that he was simply standing in the flames.

Engulfing

Engulfing is a ceremony that takes place between 3-26 months for most children (though it can be done at any age), and is meant to be an induction to the faith. The participant is taken, and placed inside a Farcaid¹, essentially being swaddled in it. They are then placed into a Dradimir², the participant is left inside for up to a minute before they are removed and considered to now officially be part of the faith.

In modern iterations of engulfing the participant is given their “True Name”. For most names this is a simple apostrophizing of their existing name. This practice began when during the last engulfing ceremony Uerties participated in He briefly paused³ between the name. This lead to the name being written down as Dah’Rem instead of Dahrem as it was before. The justification for this is that a person cannot be defined as simply one thing, and the apostrophizing seeks to capture part of the complexity of the human condition.

Critiques (TODO)

Much of the historical accounting of Uerties, and his work are heavily disputed. Some main highlights are:

• The claim that he is the son of a Sculptor is heavily disputed, and some have gone so far as to argue that the lineage he claims to be from was added as he was unifying the faith to give him a more extraordinary background
• The claim that he is the first to have done “the plunge”, and that he did not wear the robes are both heavily contested. There are many artist depictions of Uerties in white robes while being on fire, and it’s thought this is likely how it actually happened.
• Much of his work is claimed to have been taken from other groups, particularly that which is in The Uertes.
  • The concept of the Flame Festival is likely adapted from an earlier group in Dah’Rem referred to in the literature as the Azure Flames
  • Various passages of The Quereth and The Rathem seem to be modified from versions that were kept in other nations, such as the sage scripts⁴
• The modern versions of Engulfing that include the apostrophised names (i.e. DahRem ⇒ Dah’Rem), are claimed to have been done intentionally, however more modern research on the bones of Uerties seems to indicate a lung infection was present that caused the differentiation

Books (TODO)

Zarathem has several cannon books that are used to describe the faith, and their beliefs. The books themselves are largely constructions from various sources, and it’s speculated are the culmination of the teachings of several older faiths combined together with original teachings. The books come from anonymous authors (and likely more than one per book), except The Uertes which comes from the prophet Uerties.

The Quereth (TODO)

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Creation Story

• creation story

  • The sculptors that helped make form from flame

• Jaerian the spider-god who tried to, and will consume all in it’s quiet gaze (nihilism)

• Held off by the passionate

• Zarath a prophet has a miserable life, he’s then given everything and is still miserable, eventually he self immolates and finds peace in the fire

  • The first of creation failed, and as the flame burned the world washed away, and all that was left was me and the remaining prophets (4 for Tyreth, 5 for Uerities)

  • They became one with the flame instead of trying to force it to do something

  • Uerities claims an ancestor was a new-sculptor, Tyreth don’t believe it

The Rathem (TODO)

• azure flames
  • The creator made the world of flames, and whatever willed itself to be from the chaos possesed the passion to exist
• flame festival, in honor of new sculptors
• The final moment of passion is Aezreth, where one ascends and becomes one with the flames again, as they were in the beginning
• There was originally a religious group called the azure flames that exclusively followed this book, and though it was written before the Quereth it was only integrated later, and became part of Zarathem

The Uertes (TODO)

• Teachings of Uerities
  • Only followed by Av’Brak and Sal’em
  • Caused the Uertian split, which was a civil war within the groups
• The book changes the afterlife beliefs laid out in The Rathem

Denominations

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Av’Brak (TODO)

• Followers of Uerities (uw-er-it-ease)
  • Believe he is the paramount prophet, who gives the correct interpretation of the Zarathem Faith
• Monasteries high in the mountains
• Most popular denomination (2/3 of followers)
• You must have enough passion to fight off the cold
• The Dynar is the leader, who is also the monarch of Dah’Rem
• Believe pain, and overcoming the cold is the way to Aezreth
• Flame festival
  • Takes place on top of a mountain, where they stand in robes which are lit on fire
• Believe in the fire of mount at’rius as the “cinders of creation”, which the world was wrapped around the flames of creation

Sal’em (TODO)

• Followers of Uerities (uw-er-it-ease)
  • Believe he was a prophet, but that he wasn’t the most important prophet
• Monasteries in the jungle (Bar’eth)
• Believe that giving oneself to the world is the path to aezreth
• They have open pyres in the trees
  • Coated in Karlin, a flame retardant that keeps fire from burning
  • When Karlin is covered in Flaryn it keeps the underlying surface from being burned, while allowing the flame to continue
• Believe the azure flame is what should be celebrated at flame festivals, believe emulating new sculptors is blasphemous

Tyreth (TODO)

• Only follow the Quereth and Rathem
• Live in underground monasteries
• “To grow the passion in your soul, you must first understand your soul. That understanding comes from being with oneself long enough to know themselves.”
• Believe seclusion is the way to fulfilling Aezreth (enlightenment)
• left before Uerities

Notable Deities (TODO)

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The Sculptors (TODO)

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• Not deities in the traditional sense, but are essentially deities

Tratheaous (TODO)

• God of information
  • Was inquisitive and interested in everything
  • Did experiments and tests all the time
  • Walked the world to gather information from everyone
  • Stole secrets from the stars
    • One day he was caught after having stolen a secret from Jaerian
    • In retaliation Jaerian stole his mouth, and though he had knowledge he could not speak any of it to anyone
    • He was brilliant, but tormented to never have anyone hear his brilliance

Jaerian (TODO)

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Yaelrion (TODO)

• God of passion and love
• Fights off Jaerian in order to keep the land safe

Uilerate (TODO)

• God of war and strength

Footnotes

1. Bright orange and red cloth ↩

2. Essentially a box with blackout paint on the inside ↩

3. Some claim instead he actually coughed ↩

4. The sage scripts were copies of The Quereth and The Rathem that were given to a king in Shekland before the unification of the texts by Uerties ↩