A Story; some Dzougĕdan gods

[Visions1]

To start off, a story about what medicine from a priest (to the plague god, namely) would look like:
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"Is this going to work," Mac asked, emotionlessly, tiredly. He already gave up a while ago, but it was still worth a shot.
"Can't promise 'ya," responded the Powos̖je Cuar (druid to Powos̖). "Powos̖ is a strange god. Takes who he pleases, even good people, but leaves others."
As far as a priest went, Mac noted quietly to himself, the priest sure was a rather strange one. One eye of his had ostensibly been lost, hence the eyepatch, and he looked rather scraggly and shmutzy. He certainly looked like he lived miles away from any human settlement.
But Mac didn't care about the long distance to get him, or his strange habits or his hefty prices (nothing so far at least...). Anything for Duja.
Not that he felt there was much left to be done for her anymore.
The Cuar kept examining her, looking over her closely, even bending or poking every part of her aching, illness-racked body.
"What is her birthday?"
"Fifth day, Twelfth moon."
The Powos̖je Cuar went quiet for a moment.
"Mm. That's not good."
Mac sighed. "There's nothing we can do?"
He shook his head. "It's too bad. If she'd been born in the Thirteenth moon, there would be a chance I could save her."
"I was born in the Thirteenth moon."
The Cuar looked up at him.
"Which day?" he said hastily.
"The twelfth."
The priest's face fell, and so did Mac's heart again, back to where it had been when the Cuar first entered the home.
"She probably will not recover. But we can try."
The Powos̖je Cuar started taking out all of his paraphernalia.
"So, do you have a lamb?"
And so, the time was followed by a flurry of rituals, following the swift sacrifice of Mac's goat. The priest did many things, starting with placing the blood over her forehead with his finger, then going from ritual to ritual, chanting prayers, anointing her with oil and rubbing in certain plants onto her body, giving her medicines to drink, placing a knife and effigies around the room, burning certain herbs and incense and letting the room fill with smoke, moving and massaging her body, using towels and ritual objects, and yet other rituals. Duja didn't seem to like it, but she would understand.
"Well, that's all I can do," the Cuar said to Mac as he was packing his things up. "Call to me if you see any improvement."
Mac watched with a bleary, blank stare as the Powos̖je Cuar left back onto the road for his home, carrying the cooked goat on his shoulder. Mac couldn't really care any more, and he didn't really think any of this would help, but somewhere inside, he hoped it was worth trying. In any case, Duja died in the next few days...
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Next post will be about the gods, their priests, and some folktales.

[eldin raigmore]

anointing her with oil and rubbing in certain plaints on her body, giving her medicines to drink, placing a knife and effigies

Did you maybe mean “plants” instead of “plaints”? I don’t think “plaints” is impossible; I just wouldn’t understand it!

[Visions1]

Did you maybe mean “plants” instead of “plaints”? I don’t think “plaints” is impossible; I just wouldn’t understand it!

You're right, it's plants. Sorry about that.

[Visions1]

A list of some gods (not even exhaustive of the main ones...) with some information to go with each of them:
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Rauas: War god. Believed to have conquered the Southern war god. A Northern god, worshipped by Northerners, mostly. An upstart, a young, burly warrior, with a black beard, who grows throughout the Wir to become the chieftain of the gods and men. Has a special sword (see Bizĕ). Likes sacrifices of meat, fat blood; sports; fighting; weapons; and other oafish things. Has an arch-nemesis known as "The Slayer" - god of whoever happens to be threatening the Northerners' land at the time, taken as an epithet also for those who slay the N.s and their S.s. He has a proper name, but it's generally avoided. "The Slayer"-'s constellation appears to the west of Rauas's, appearing like it's pursuing him.

* A Hymn to Rauas (not yet put into Dzougĕdan, but I hope to)
Ho, Rauas where are your words?
Why are you thirsty for fat and meat?
Why do you hunger your offerings?
Why do you heed not the prayers?
Rise up, destroy your enemies
Conquer those of evil thoughts!
Come from the North, the mounts of your home,
Shatter forth like the days of the South!
Without you, there is blood spilled,
For the Slayer rises in the east.
With your, there is light and peace,
Brought forth from your shining sword.
Rise up, o Rauas, command your men,
And send your stars to fight for you.
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Bizĕ: God of the crafts - sewing, smithery, writing, poetry, calligraphy, trade, basket-making, trap-making, and so on. Revered mostly by women and Southerners, who often must take up crafts (both of these are normal societal positions for them). Any workshop will have some Huejl in the room dedicated to him (the same way you might find a cross or idol or shrine in someone's home). Closely associated with Rauas.

* The Wir (I guess myth) of how Bizĕ became Rauas's smith

The following is a retelling of the Wir, on how Bizĕ and Rauas first came to know each other, and the relationship between them. Please ignore the truncation of the original next, which I have followed very closely for the paraphrases as as well and in which just kidding I haven't written it yet.

A young up-and-coming son of his father, the black-bearded god Rauas was busy pillaging and taking captive a city of the Southern gods, slashing down and shackling as many as he could. One of those being pursued fell, and Rauas took him by the hair hair in one hand, lifting him up until he was kneeling, with his sword drawn in his other hand.
The man - also young, with no beard - lifted up his hands and yelled, "Please, o Rauas, don't kill me! Let me live! I am Bizĕ, god of the craftsmen."
"And what do I need you for?" gloated Rauas.
"Well, look at your sword," pointed out Bizĕ. "It's old, and rusty. It's your father's. I can make you a new one, better than any sword else in the world - and will never rust, and can always shine!"
"So may it be it!" and he let go of him, causing the casting of Bizĕ down. "You will be my slave. Come now with me, and make me my sword."
And so it was. Bizĕ cast and smelted and hammered out the very best sword that there ever was (it has a special name, but no I have not named it yet), and when it was shining and finished, he let the sword out of its sheath before Rauas, who was standing behind him, very impressed. He put his hand on Bizĕ shoulder. "Aye, Bizĕ, it looks like you've earned your place here among my men."
Rauas and Bizĕ developed a close relationship, and Bizĕ would go on to become one of Rauas's closest men, one of his best allies, and someone he could always call upon to ask counsel from, to ask for help and advice from, and to prepare his weapons for him. So too are the gods, so too are the men.

There's a reason why I put so many unnecessary details in in here - I want to show you how the story looks (without investing in enough effort to make it good). The two scenes of Rauas holding Bizĕ by the hair and of Bizĕ holding the new sword, with Rauas's having his hand placed on Bizĕ's shoulder, are two very common scenes in Dz. art, often depicted together, like on opposite sides of vessels or coins.
Note the parallels between N. and S. societal positions - the strong warrior taking as slave the wily, "girl-boned" craftsman - and societal values, and the ideal relationship between them - that of a good servant and a good master, allies, and almost friends.
(Before you ask - no, they were not in love. Remember, a Northerner properly wedding - forget being intimate with - a Southerner was simply never done.)
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[Visions1]

Jarhoj (or Jarohaj): God of forests. Plays some roles in myths as a trickster or causing wild visions. Prayed to when passing through forests, and offered to as well. Any sacred grove relies on him - and so, all the Cuarĕr are dedicated to him to some degree, some more than others. (See also Osmŭd.) In charge of the forest's life - mushrooms, animals, bugs, some birds, some brooks, some rocks, moss, trees, plants.

* What the Cuar were actually like
So, the story I wrote above is actually a bit misleading. So since all Cuarĕr had close ties to Jarohaj, I'm going to explain what they were really like under this god. Like any ancient pagan religion, this was not one religion; it was many similar ones, one for each cluster of villages, that all happened to look very much alike. So be aware that a lot of things have to get that wishy-washy "these are general rules" description. Think like a dialect continuum, though, and you'll be good.

While solitude wasn't uncommon among Cuarĕr (and was at times a highly recommended or essential practise), they tended more often than not to hang together at sacred groves or at the temples found in them. It could happen that one or two would take up residence in a village (often their home one), or in the court of a higher chief.
For the most part, the Cuarĕr were men, well-dressed in simple, clean robes, the older ones wearing beards. Rarely, a robe might get embroidered. With respect to specific gods, these facts could change - a Cuar specializing in worship of Sargau (more on her later) might just be a regular, (very) old midwife - or in the case of Powos̖, look little better than a vagrant (see above and see later). Most priests were unmarried or had no children, but it wasn't a hard-and-fast rule. If they did marry, they did it late, maybe in their 40s.

The majority of the day was spent memorizing, reviewing, and studying the Wirĕr, a large body of sacred text composed of astrological knowledge, to which all other beliefs, myths, and practices were pinned. The nights were spent examining the stars for the next day's predictions. Obviously, particular rites were only done at particular times. Temples and groves could generally be visited at all times of the day - but some times were better than others, for religious or practical reasons. (You shouldn't have any trouble coming up with the first. For examples of the latter: wanna wake up 25 sleeping priests in your private conversation with Rauas? Or stumble over them just trying to get to the pyre? Visit a smoky stone building in midday? Catch a cold in a dank well in winter? Ask for help from the senior priest while he's still eating his breakfast?)
As far as sacred places went, each had its own traditions, and could be lots of things, from a wood building with an idol in it, to proper temples and groves, to sacred wells, to nice rocks on mountains, to just plain old forests that had a couple extra rules attached. The Cuar of each and every particular location world have its rules passed down teacher to student. Most places were dedicated to a particular god, but any druid worth his salt tried to know all the Wirĕr he could get his hands on.

The education of a Cuar started of the same as anyone's - all children would sit in front of the local priest to his village when he'd come around visiting (this was a normal practise among Cuar), and learn the alphabet and a few Wirĕr and hear a few good stories. But if he chose to enter this here sacral position, he would normally do so while he was a teenager. He would normally enter a temple or grove, and assume apprenticeship to an older Cuar there. As time went on, he would memorize more and more Wirĕr (that was the majority of training, alongside learning astronomy and other relevant ologies and skill), and take on more duties, and eventually a particular god.
As said above, all Cuar had ties to Jarohaj, because he gifted priests with groves and visions. However, often a particular place was dedicated to a particular god, and some priests would specialize in particular kinds of Wirĕr - and hence the particular gods associated with them. Or, the other way around - they'd fall for a particular god.

When being initiated into a new status, a Cuar would often have to go through various rites (aside from being tested on the relevant Wirĕr before, during, and after them). These could be divided into three broad categories (we're glossing a lot here): Dedications, honourings, and mortifications. Dedications were the rituals, vigils, prayers, and sacrifices carried out to affect the change. Honourings were when the new initiate would be dressed up in fine clothing and jewelry, and/or paraded around, and/or treated to a feast in his honour. Sometimes these would involve dancing.
The mortifications were perhaps the most interesting; they involved various forms of suffering or torture designed to induce initiation or visions. These could include: being left naked in the forest with nothing for days on end; being lashed or burnt or having deep cuts slashed into the body; drunkeness to the point of toxicity; acting out stories in the Wirĕr in wild or trancelike stupor; burning/sweltering; freezing; fasting; abluting; and in some cases, the amputation of body parts - eyes, fingers, toes, nails, flesh, blood, genitalia, and more.
That eye that the Powos̖je Cuar in the next story was missing probably was lost due to this.
This list is not exhaustive, but as the Wirĕr say, every initiation has some aspect of these three. A really cheap and easy one might involve, say, a night vigil with some fasting, a dunk in a freezing-cold well, the initiator dressing the initiate in fine clothing, and the sacrifice of a goat for a feast.
The higher ones generally got harder, but exception abounded.
Jarohaj was viewed as the "doorkeeper" to the other gods, since all initiates would start with him, and a good deal would just continue on in dedication to him. But it wasn't uncommon to specialize, and often, a grove to one god would have at least one to three priests dedicated to others.

There was something of a loose organizational structure to the whole of the lands, of higher and higher priests, something akin to the organization structures of Jews or some Muslims by us. Each grove or temple had its senior priest, higher priests of varying levels, and lower ones and maybe an sacolyte or two. There were higher and higher priests across the area, and while official levels had initiations, there was no end in height to depth and wisdom. The highest Cuarĕr were greatly respected all throughout and were sometimes even well-known by name - not because of their "piety" or "morality" or "holiness," but because of their initiations, dedication to their deity, knowledge of Wirĕr, and Gra (Mind; see post on general culture). No one person was officially the highest.
(A note: If someone just liked memorizing stories, but wasn't going to join a cultic centre, he could become a bard, or in some places a scribe. Obviously lay-believers, and Cuarish people like bards or expert midwives were different to some degree from all this.)
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Powos̖: God of plagues and illnesses. Dark and not very liked, but in charge of illness, and so related to a main occupation of Cuarĕr - healing. There are other gods of healing, and of plague, as well, but Powos̖ stands out.

* Story about a Powos̖je Cuar
I already wrote something. I'm not writing it again. See upstairs.

[Visions1]

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Ris̖eja: Goddess of the field. Responsible for everything from the flowers that bloom in the field (hence a favourite offering to her) to the crops grown over them. (She likes food/drink offerings too.)
Her son Durĭs is the one in particular who is involved in the fields and crops. (Being boyish, he might prank a sharecropper with copious weeds that year, so keep him happy!)
Meanwhile, her daughter Laula is in charge of the beasts of the field (the domestic animals, not the wild ones - those are Jarohaj's, and the two have no end of squabbles between them for obvious reason. In stories, Jarohaj might flirt with Laula, play tricks on her, or be angry with her like a very upset neighbour; Laula has no patience for either of the first two, and the latter feeling is mutual. Sometimes Jarohaj might kidnap her, requiring someone to go save her.
(This might be a good time to note that some animals are sacred/of high importance to certain gods. I hope to comment on this in a different post.)
An important part of Ris̖eja's worship are the various rituals in the field (and even elsewhere like when eating or milling or in the home or on festivals - but especially in the field.), and as well, many, many Wirĕr explaining when and what to do of all these things, in terms of astrology. This was one of the main things Cuarĕr were consulted about, because starvation was a real concern for pretty much everybody, but especially outside of the city.
It's easy to forget starvation urban areas, where one can think he has some semblance of control thanks to his work; in the fields, nobody has such delusions - you have no idea if that year the crops will be good or if you will starve.
So keeping Ris̖eja happy was a top priority. Otherwise, wicked spirits (or Durĭs) might lodge the grain or put weeds in the fields or something.

*Some Farming Rituals

This list is so absolutely not exhaustive, it's like explaining Hinduism with a Vedic quote and two rituals - basically disingenuous due to brevity.

- Spilling a little food or drink out before/during the meal; spilling a little bit of the uncooked food into the fire for her while preparing it.
- If the moon is within its middle two five-day cycles when the planting is supposed to be started (consult your local Cuar for that), various complicated rituals must be done, involving some singing and a bit of dancing. This is almost like a slightly odd holiday.
- If the moon is within its first two five-day cycles when the planting is supposed to be started, the ground must be swept outside to prevent snowfalls. Various other minor things might be done. This event is very simple, unlike for the middle of the month.
- If the moon is within its last two five-day cycles when the planting is supposed to be started, nothing need be done.
- Various types of "fertilizing" can be done to gain her favour as a boon to the crops, with the fertilizing substance in question needing certain rituals and actions done to it to put ability into it. It can be anything from ash to manure to woodchips to actual rocks. Ask you local Cuar for guidance.
- To protect a pen of animals, you might need a knife or four for the picket fence. Consult your local Cuar, especially over whether it's the right time in the skies for it, and if you should do it at all.
- During harvest, the first sheaf is hers; the last is her son's; the middle one is her daughter's.
- Girls traditionally make and wear wreaths of flowers for the harvest; boys are given them later out of courtship. But these are all Huejl of Ris̖eja, and are treated with due care and offered to her in the evening after the harvest is done. A girl who gives hers to Ris̖eja only is said to get a special boon from her, for finding a match or food security or healthy children or to be pretty or other things like that.
- When the harvest is over, early at dawn the next morning someone should go outside with a sheet, one hand on one corner, one hand the corner next to it, and wave the sheet up and down, it flapping on the ground and up to your head.

[Visions1]

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Sargau: Attends to those expecting and giving birth. Generally involved in children and as a house god, protecting the home. A minor deity more or less, but every house wife thinks of her. After a birth, successful or not, the placenta is offered to her, along with the umbilical cord, by some; others view it as a Hueijl; others view it as something she hates. Certain things, as midwives learn, must be done or avoided in order to gain her favour for a healthy birth - and even in situations of stillbirth.

* Memorization of Wirĕr
As mentioned prior, Wirĕr were memorized, and would collected by Cuarĕr as fast as they could hear them. How was that done?
Remember that the Wirĕr are all pinned onto the night sky. Therefore, the general information of a Wir can be memorized using astrology as a mnemonic device.
Nevertheless, all Wirĕr were composed according to rhythm, so they could be chanted and memorized. Still, this fact allowed for a remarkable amount of innovation in the Wirĕr, where if a new myth was "discovered" (by the laymen modding or making a story somehow), it could be easily added in, though it would have to be vetted to a degree.
What does this have to do with Sargau?
Remember, Sargau's Cuarĕr are all midwives. In other words, she has no official Cuarĕr, and her followers are probably the least educated of all Dzougĕdanĕr. So, because of this, the also have Wirĕr - but the style, content, and memorization are completely different.
The Wirĕr chanted by the priests are texts of various lengths, with varying lengths of verses. Sargauje Wirĕr are all short, often just one-lines strung in a couple rows. The longest texts are stanzas of rhymed songs.
Sargauje Wirĕr also tend to rhyme, in part to aid memory.
All this is because the midwives are not working with horoscopes principally, but with pregnancy and birth - they can't pin the verses to the stars - and as well because they normally don't have all day to just sit around and chant. As of such, they tend to create shorter Wirĕr and use different memory aids.
Bards also employ similar methods as midwives to remember legends, histories, and lineages - only the purpose of these texts is mostly entertainment, and the texts tend to get much, much longer.
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Osmŭd: An ancient, aged god of the night sky, who even the other gods rely upon for advice and fortune-telling. Epithets include Creator of the Constellations, Chief of Chiefs, Chief of the Gods, Sower of the Night Sky. Prominent is the Wir, but very seldom worshiped. Though, all Cuarĕr serve him, and some Jarohaje Cuarĕr will pay homage him as well.

*How to read stars
Lol I have no idea.

[Visions1]

Here's what a Dz. temple looks like (when it's not, like, a shack in the woods). (The roof was generally domed, and the temple lots of nice carvings on the walls and inside of the dome.)

The little map with the compass rose is a map of a grove.

[Visions1]

I'm now going to comment on Powos̖ a little. His sacred animal was a stink weasel (Tzĕhĕjdŭ, N. Mowaul; something like a skunk, but worse-looking and with a shorter tail). This meant that killing them or using things from them was taboo, unless done by a Powos̖je Cuar (with ritual involved) or sanctioned (in the original sense) by him.
The problem was, stink weasels tended to become pests, like real skunks - but they weren't allowed to be killed, making them worse to live with than they already were.
This ended up making a Cuar for Powos̖ also double as an exterminator. Or, any chthonic-dedicated Cuar, if you had a real problem.

[lurker]

This was one of first threads I read when I discovered this forum. All very interesting. I forgot about it until it got bumped just now.

something like a skunk, but worse-looking and with a shorter tail

I actually have a soft spot for skunks. They're like badgers with chemical weapons.