The Hunt

The common symbol of The Hunt

The Hunt is the name for the traditional religious beliefs of Harpies, originating in Bulwar but spreading across societies in Aelantir, Haless, and Sarhal. It is an animistic faith with elements of ancestor worship, with teachings being passed down generations via songs, whose themes traditionally include the histories of ancient matriarchs and the actions or characteristics of certain birds, among other subjects. The songs work in a similar fashion to fables, since their function is to lead to a particular moral or practical lesson about how to be a hunter, an ideal shared by most harpy societies. Harpies see the act of hunting as the pursuit of one's objective, which could be something physical like mates or riches, or more philosophical, like knowledge.

The Hunt is typically heavily syncretic in nature, with other local religions often being incorporated within a harpy society. Examples include:

• The Jarnklo Harpies of Vængheim syncretize The Hunt with the Skaldhyrric Faith.
• The Feng Harpies of P'ezarang syncretize The Hunt with the Righteous Path.
• The Naléni Harpies of Naléni syncretize The Hunt with the Sky Domain faith.
• The Kiohan Harpies of Kiohalen syncretize The Hunt with the Tswohvwoh'íi faith.

While the Hunt doesn’t have any form of clergy, each flock has a Songster, whose duty is to remember the songs, sing in festivities and pass down their knowledge to the next generation. It's very common for a song to vary from one flock to another. Alongside oral tradition, beginning around the 1400s many harpy societies around the world began to adopt various writing systems. Most prominently, Firanyan and Siadunan Harpies would adopt the Bulwari writing script.

The Hunt's teachings largely do not include any emphasis or importance on religious conversion of non-harpies, however two schools of religious doctrine have emerged among harpy societies, these being the Doctrine of the Falcon and the Doctrine of the Myna:

• The Doctrine of the Falcon emphasizes the guiding example of the Falcon, seen by harpies as keen-eyed, searching both the sky and the land upon which it hunts. This doctrine emphasizes the importance of spreading the culture and philosophy of the Hunt to non-harpies, although the latter are allowed to keep worshipping their own gods. Historically it has been likened to the teachings of the Hobgoblins, however this is widely seen as an oversimplification, as the two differ on their views on the divine, culture, and teachings.
• The Doctrine of the Myna emphasizes the guiding example of the Myna, common throughout Bulwar and Rahen, who nest communally and form flocks with aa variety of other birds. This doctrine emphasizes the importance of maintaining and upkeeping the traditional status of the Hunt as the belief system of Harpykind, as opposed to a belief system to be spread and imposed onto others. This doctrine completely separates The Hunt from other religions, viewing it as solely for Harpies, although converts of other races are not persecuted.

Several contemporary chroniclers have argued that classifying "The Hunt" as a religion is incorrect, as it does not include many aspects commonly associated with standard religions, with examples being the lack of in organizational structure and unified doctrine, however most governments and the Order of Chroniclers officially classify "The Hunt" as a religion.