Ynn River Worship is the cultural religion for the Ynnic Ruinborn peoples that reside along the Ynn river.
History[]
Early Period[]
Origins[]
Worship of the Ynn River originated independently in many places across the river valley, such as Vareynn in the north and Adbrabohvi in the south.
During this time the religion co-existed or competed with other faiths, such as the Drevkenuco forest worshipers or the cultists of Malenvijer.
Original Tenets[]
The core tenets of Ynn River worship are dated back to the ancient kings of Vareynn from the third century after ash. King Munaqir the Pious banned the worship of Antler Horses and the cult of ancestors (still practiced among ancient Ynnic Ruinborn) and stated that the Ynn River is the one true deity while all creatures are merely the spawn of it.
His successor King Komerjon claimed before a battle that the Ynn River would carry only the brave to the afterlife. Despite this, Dolindhans at the time didn't practice water burial, but rather mound-burial. It would only be in later times that water burial is introduced in Dolindha from Sarda.
Rise of the River-Priests[]
With the disbanding of Vareynn's Rider Assembly in the seventh century, a power vacuum was left among the Ynnic Empire's social classes. Ynnic river-priests stepped up to fill said vacuum, helping administer the realm and legitimize its rulers.
Religion would play an important role in Ynnic society for the centuries to come, by helping keep the Ynnic Empire together as one cohesive unit, and on a more local level as all settlements and villages across the Ynn received the guidance and overseeing of local river-priests.
Middle Period[]
Council of Velikvab[]
In 643 Emperor Gamelirn the Pious of the Ynnic Empire called forth the Council of Velikvab, where clergy from all over the Ynn was invited. The council heralded the standardization and centralization of religious practices across the Ynn.
Velikvab united the Sarda tradition of building barges to send deceased nobility down the river and their myth of the End Flood together with the Dolindhan belief that they are the chosen people spared by a cataclysm for their virtue.
The council marks the beginning of the middle period of Ynn River Worship.
Councils and Heresies[]
Ynn River Worship became further standardized during the times of the Ynnic Empire thanks to an ease of travel and connections. Periodic councils would be held where the community of faithful tried to reach agreements over common matters: a large majority was needed to pass a resolution and, once passed, those who continued to go against said resolution would be branded as heretics.
Heretical sects and secret cults such as the Mun Pienik would develop to contest the doctrine espoused by mainstream Ynnic religion, playing a part in the Ynnic Empire's collapse. The most successful of these was a dragon cult which would go on to become the Drozma Tur religion, taking over the Rzenta lands where the river clergy was forced to either convert or flee.
After the Empire[]
The tradition of holding councils and the religion itself would survive the collapse of the Ynnic Empire. Nonetheless, the decentralized nature of Ynnic feudal realms made it harder to enforce a council's resolution: Ynnic vassals could seldom ignore or contradict them without being branded as heretics.
River-priests could use their influence to support the rule of their local lords, sometimes bending the doctrine in the process: for example, in Malacnar river-priests encouraged warriors to be the bravest they could be and assured them that, for each day spent fighting, the greater their prize in the afterlife would be.
There did not exist a formal head of church, however Adbrabohvi and Bosancovac, as theocracies ruled by high priests, could tip the scales when intervening in councils and theological discussions abroad.
Cannorians and Conversion[]
Many settlers and adventurers who came from Cannor to the Ynn were driven by a proselytizing mission: the Istralorian Crusaders and the Shining Circle's River's Hands are the most well-known examples.
Ynn River Worship religion was organized and well-rooted enough to resist most of these missionaries. However, it was likewise unable to gain many converts among Cannorian settlers, who had a hard time taking seriously what they saw as a Ruinborn faith. Ynn River Worship's lack of centralization and the contradictory beliefs held by individual Ynnic temples did not help matters.
During the Age of Unraveling and the Age of Witch Kings, the vast majority of "Krarhnorian" converts consisted of people who "went native", joining Ynnic societies and becoming immersed in their civilization.
Late Period[]
[Needs to be written...]
Practices and Beliefs[]
Tenets[]
- The Ynn River is the one true deity while all creatures are merely the spawn of it.
- The Ynn River carries to the afterlife.
Burial Rites[]
True to the second tenet, believers of Ynn River Worship practice burial at sea, sending the dead in coffins down the river. The dead eventually make their way to the dam-settlement of Adbrabohvi (Sarda for Divine Gate), where priests of the Chrempredpadh temple give them their final sendoffs before they continue on to the waterfall of Venaan's Tears, known to Ynnics as Padhbohvi and traditionally considered the end of their world and the beginning of Posveagal, the Nether World.
The wealthy also spend a considerable amount of their resources to construct elegant, durable barges to carry these coffins - because it is believed that by travelling on the same level as the commoners, rulers' souls might be tainted by those of dead villains and criminals who are floating beside them.
Ynnic Creation Myth[]
The faith believes that the old world ended due to the Ending Flood, in which the Ynn River expanded and drowned the whole world in a bid to cleanse it of its sinners.
They also believe that a small handful of peoples around were spared by the Ynn and protected from the flooding, and were released only after the world was truly cleansed. However, there is disagreement among the faithful on whether Ynnic Ruinborn Elves are the only descendants of the chosen few who were spared from the flood because of their virtue.
There also isn't agreement on what specific sins caused the Ending Flood, with opinions and interpretations differing from settlement to settlement.
Ynnic Zodiac[]
The Ynn River is the source of all life and so its rhythms dictate the flow of life. Every four years the river completes a cycle of swelling and contracting, known as a Stuir Balia. This has been invaluable to agriculture along its banks and for monitoring the maintenance of the Great Ynnic Dams. Due to this religious and cultural importance, the Ynnic Zodiac calendar was formalized across the Ynnic Empire from 640AA to 649AA along with standardizing the practices of Ynn River Worship. There are 16 zodiac animals, each assigned to a Stuir Balia and one great cycle of these 16 is one Kyuvir.
Truth in the Mythology[]
Many modern scholars refute the creation myth and general practices of the faith. The coffins of the dead simply fell down from the Venaan's Tears waterfall to the lands of the Inek, who in turn saw this as gifts from the heavens.
The Great Flood is said to have some truth, as there was indeed a large river dominating the continent (though the flow has certainly changed since The Ruin), and flooding could have been a part of the Ruin of Aelantir for this part of the world, but that river was partly artificial and served as irrigation to the vast desert that once dominated the modern-day Sea of Ruin.
Most scholars agree that the main cause of devastation in the region was the shockwave from the Ruin, as unlike the lands of Taychend or Eordand, the Ynn region had no mountains to protect it. This is largely why there is very little intact evidence of the precursors in the region.