Rathparuut

From Carpe Chaos

The gods on the Turikasuul's home planet Suulmalla are known as the Suul. The word Turikasuul translates to "Messengers of the Gods" in their language. The religion is known as Rathparuut; the term rath means worship in their language.

History

Origins

The Turikasuul believe that at the beginning of time Suulmalla was a lush and fertile paradise; it was an extension of heaven. All of the living matter on the planet was "life-flesh". Their gods, the Suul, violently cleansed the planet in order to start life anew. They descended upon the planet in a great flash of lightning and tore apart all the life-flesh. This life-flesh, the blood and gore of all life's destruction, became Suulmalla's eternal rain. The gods then began to create life themselves, finishing with the Turikasuul race. When the Suul created the Turikasuul, the Turikasuul did nothing but drink the blood of the life-flesh, the rain. They did not return anything to Suulmalla; their hard, reticent carapace greedily kept the blood of the life-flesh. This greed angered the Suul, and they violently attacked the Turikasuul, nearly destroying them all. From their wounds the Turikasuul bled, and as they bled they returned the blood of their own life-flesh to the world (see the creation myth below).

According to the myth, the Turikasuul became a scarred and tortured race, needing to constantly hunt and move to stay alive. The rain alone no longer sustained them. The Suul (who are personified as great spikes of lightning), after forcing the blood from the Turikasuul, ascended to heaven once again. Spooked even at the idea of another such massacre (since referred to as "The Slaying"), the Turikasuul began to offer flesh back to the Suul by shedding their carapace in small pieces.

Early Worship

One of the earliest Turikasuul practices is the act of sacrificing other Turikasuul to the gods. To honor the great spike of lightning, as well as to appease the Suul at large, the Turikasuul offer sacrifices to the Suul in the following manner: they impale or otherwise tie up sacrifices on tall poles (usually made from bone) to be struck by lightning. The sacrifices are then struck by lightning (without fail, like a lightning rod) and the surrounding Turikasuul are not, so they believe it is a sign that the Suul accept their sacrifice. They are always looking for other Turikasuul to sacrifice, and they would rather sacrifice unfamiliar Turikasuul than their family and clan. This is partly why they have divided into warring clans that seek to capture enemies alive to enslave and eventually sacrifice. Other early, less violent forms of Rathparuut - and other religions altogether - were largely destroyed or incorporated into Rathparuut in these early times.

A Turikasuul shaman

Turikasuul prehistory persisted for as long as clans were divided, and all religious knowledge was passed down orally from elders and shaman. Their religious knowledge and practices varied from clan to clan and generation to generation, as different shaman made different observations (and decisions) about what worked and what didn't, what was holy and what wasn't, what was truth and what was falsehood, and so on. A lot of ancient religious practices were discarded when clans grew and evolved, or encountered other clans with better or simply more attractive ideas. Sacrificing was common to every Turikasuul clan because it was so irrefutably effective in protecting the rest of the clan from lightning strikes.

Another practice common to many clans was the act of making offerings to the Suul, usually food, animals, or crafted items, for specific wishes or thanks (essentially non-Turikasuul sacrifices). The shaman would sometimes "bless" the offerings, but any Turikasuul was capable of making an offering on his or her own. These were generally either burned or cast off into water. Many Turikasuul believed that the unnamed Suul had different elemental or abstract affinities, and made their offerings to a specific Suul or group of Suul more responsible for a given concept like procreation, rain, or war.

Growth and Consolidation with Increasing Population

As the total population increased, and Turikasuul civilization changed from a largely divided and isolated clan-based society to a more integrated and assembled city-state-based society, Rathparuut changed with it. As the society moved toward organized trade and, eventually, larger cities composed of Turikasuul from multiple clans, religious ideas began to spread more quickly and some of the core ideas and beliefs became standard (though there was never any central authority). A few of these included rankings and methods of sacrifice, the idea that different Suul are responsible for different concepts, the act of making offerings, and different medicinal techniques.

The shaman were still among the leaders of the Turikasuul, and when not at war they conferred with shaman of other clans and cities as mutually respected leaders. The larger cities had entire councils of shaman, each of whom held the same power as any other. It was a high honor to become shaman, but one striving for that honor had little power until recognized as such by their peers.

This period also marked the beginning of written history for the Turikasuul. The Turikasuul have no holy writings or scripture, but when they began to write they recorded their stories, practices, and beliefs. This helped to unify their accounts of ancient myths, their acts of religious faith, and their spiritual philosophies; the writings ultimately served to unify Rathparuut more than an oral history ever could.

Xotron Arrival and Occupation

When the Xotron first appeared to the Turikasuul, they were immediately mistaken for the Suul. The Xotron had planned for this and capitalized on it, acting as gods and accepting worship. xxx xxxxxx xxxx xxxxxxx xx xxxxx xxx xxxxx xxxxxxxx xxxxxx xx xxxxx xxx xxxxxx xxxx xxxxxxxxxx xxxx xxx xxxxxxxxxx xxx xxxxxxxxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxxxxx xxxxxxxx They also demonstrated their abilities xxxxx xxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxx xxxxx to awe the Turikasuul. Their mastery over lightning, large numbers, xxxx xx xxxxxxxx xxxxxx, and other traits roughly fit the Turikasuul's concepts of the Suul; only their presence in the physical realm conflicted with the Turikasuul's preconceived notions of the Suul.

The Xotron did not achieve universal acceptance as gods, however. To counter this, the Xotron honored the shaman most accepting of their presence and ignored those shaman less convinced, in a way incentivizing their worship and subservience. They would give the more loyal shaman messages, appear when they were praying, and do other subtle things to give the chosen shaman prominence among their followers. This meant that, by comparison, shaman who did not accept the Xotron as their gods lost some of their popularity, influence, and power. It was a harsh religious political environment for any shaman brave enough to oppose the Xotron's leadership.

The Xotron did not care for Turikasuul decentralization and so began to organize and institutionalize Rathparuut. As the religion began to formally consolidate, the Xotron had an increasingly easier time manipulating the Turikasuul. They selected from the Shaman around 30 Shaman Praetors, representatives of 30 regions on Suulmalla. The Shaman Praetors acted as ambassadors to the Xotron, and spent the majority of their time in orbit with the Xotron. As these praetors aged and retired or died, the Xotron selected successors and maintained a more or less constant number of praetors in their service. Beyond these 30 or so highest-ranking shaman, the Xotron used about 40,000 more shaman as Heavenly Shaman that occasionally visited the Xotron in space. Each Heavenly Shaman represented a city or collection of villages, or, occasionally, a large rural area (see Turikasuul History).

Near the end of their occupation, they went so far as to actively discredit shaman who refused to streamline their beliefs, whether or not they credited the Xotron as gods. This left some clans without shaman, and created a clear path for younger Turikasuul seeking power—they needed only to follow the Xotron's direction to be endorsed as shaman. While the defrocked shaman were shunned by the Xotron and popular Turikasuul society, their removal did much to strengthen a dissenting movement of Turikasuul that rejected the notion of the Xotron as the Suul and were opposed to Xotron leadership.

Rebellion & Atonement

Some Turikasuul never believed the Xotron were the Suul, and others just didn't like them (according to legend, the Suul were brutal toward the Turikasuul); the Xotron didn't treat the Turikasuul all that well either. The decommissioning of shaman, among other reasons, only added to the burgeoning hatred some Turikasuul felt toward the Xotron. These feelings of contempt came to a head when x xxxxxx xxx xxxxxx xx xxxxxxxxx xxx xxxxxxxxxx xxxxxx xxxxx x xxxxx xx xxxxxxxxxx xxxx xxxxxxxx

xxxxxx xxx xxxxxxxxx xxxxxx x xxxxxxx about half of the Turikasuul population were unsure whether the Xotron were the Suul (as they claimed to be), and about 5% supported an open rebellion. xx xxxx xx xxxx xx xxx xxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxx xxxxxxx xxxx xxxx xxx xxxxxx xx xxx xxxxxxxxxx xxxx xxxxx xx xxx xxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxx xxxxx x xxxxx xxxxxxxxx xx xxxxxxxxxxxx xxxx xxx xxxx xxxxxxx xxx xxx xxxx xxxxx xxx xx xxxxxxxxx xxx xxxxxx xxxx xxxxxxxxx xxxx x xxxx xxxxxxxx xxxxxxx xx xxx xxxx xxx xxxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxx xx xxx xxx xxxxxxxxxx xxx xxx xxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxx xxxxx xxx xxx xx xxxxx xxxxxx xxxxxxxxx xxxx xxx xxxx xxxxxxxxxx xxxxxx xxxxxxx xxx xxxxxxx When the war ended, very few Turikasuul remained loyal to the Xotron; when they finally retreated, some loyal Turikasuul left Suulmalla with the Xotron. Those that left formed the splinter sect Saithrath, translating to "high worship" in the Turikasuul language. Those that stayed behind hid their true beliefs because on Suulmalla, loyalty to the Xotron meant death by sacrifice to the "true" Suul.

After the war, the religion was as divided as it had ever been. The previously discredited and de-authorized shaman held all the power and clout their counterparts had before the war, and they used this power to lead a movement to restore Rathparuut. This movement was something of a spiritual revival, and was based on atoning for all the mistakes the Turikasuul had made during the Xotron occupation. This "atonement period" lasted for almost forty years, and was marked by a desperately humble and god-fearing Turikasuul society. The Turikasuul engaged in acts of self-mutilation and self sacrifice to appease the angry Suul. They stabbed themselves, broke off their bone spikes, tattooed themselves from head to toe—all to repent for worshiping false gods. Some even offered themselves up in sacrifice to appease the Suul, lest they return to Suulmalla and destroy the Turikasuul a second time.

Once most of the Turikasuul old enough to remember the Xotron occupation had died, their society recovered and Rathparuut reverted (mostly) to what it had been before the Xotron intrusion, making allowances for the discovery of intelligent beings beyond the Turikasuul, and planets beyond Suulmalla.

Beliefs in Modern Times

Beginning with their contact with the Xotron, the Turikasuul have encountered many different races of creature, they have colonized countless other planets, and they've developed their technology beyond what the Xotron gave them. They manufacture their own goods and trade with other species of alien. This more cosmopolitan perspective has acutely influenced their religion, mostly by expanding on existing beliefs. For example, when previously they had credited the Suul with controlling everything on Suulmalla, they now believe the gods are everywhere, on every planet.

To start, the Turikasuul believe the Suul control everything, from weather to crop yields to luck to meteor showers to general health. They ask favors of the gods and make offerings in feeble attempts to influence the world around them, but they recognize they have little influence over the Suul's decisions. They do not believe the gods have any direct control over the decisions they or any other intelligent creature makes, which is partly why they take it upon themselves to spread the fear of the Suul to nonbelievers, both Turikasuul and other races.

Fear plays a major role in Rathparuut, and in turn, in everyday life. A Turikasuul will go to great lengths to apologize to the Suul for any supposed mistake he or she may have made, and decisions are almost always made with spiritual ramifications in mind. In a society where little is respected and honor is scarce, the Turikasuul can count on one another to do right by the gods (what this means is, of course, subjective). The Suul do not oppose killing, torture, betrayal, or really anything, with a few specific exceptions (no warring on holidays, no killing shaman while they pray upside-down, etc.), and these few exceptions, if acknowledged by both sides of a conflict, will be respected regardless of how serious the conflict itself may be. The Turikasuul see the alternative as angering the gods, which nearly guarantees retribution from above, and if that retribution is not swift, the Turikasuul usually punish those that have disrespected the gods themselves. The shaman decide what acts constitute "sins against the Suul", as well as the punishments for these sins.

Rathparuut makes no promise of eternal life. Rathparuut offers the greatest heroes, or those who win the favor of the Suul, a moment of ecstasy as they die. Those that displease the Suul are dealt a moment of horror instead; both the ecstasy and the horror are so intense as to go beyond any living comprehension (though the horror is understood to be much more intense). Those that earn the Suul's wrath experience all the pain of their life and all the rage of the Suul in their final moments, while those blessed with pleasure experience contentment, satisfaction, and peace. Shaman tell myths of Turikasuul being taken, after death, to be with the Suul, but these instances are rare, arbitrary, and not always positive; one myth in particular speaks of torture for some number of years. While the duration of a Turikasuul's stay with the Suul is understood to be longer than the Turikasuul lifespan of 50 years, Rathparuut makes no promise of immortality, favorable afterlife or no.

Rathparuut can be summed up with these 4 key tenets:

Loyalty

Turikasuul are fiercely loyal to their family and their clan. As their population grew to what it is in modern times, though many clans dissipated and mixed with others in major cities and on other planets, some stayed tightly knit and remain incredibly loyal to one another. While most Turikasuul demonstrate at least some degree of ethnocentrism, in situations where clans no longer really exist Turikasuul act in groups in other ways, like gangs and military combat units. Turikasuul also generally live in large communal family groups.

While family loyalty is iron-clad, and clan loyalty nearly so, the other groups are more easily betrayed in times of hardship. Betrayal is not common (most all Turikasuul prefer teamwork), but when it occurs it is often in the form of group rebellion, as in a mutiny or hostile takeover. Turikasuul will desert their groups for personal gain, but rarely act alone to harm their groups, regardless of motivation.

Fear

The Turikasuul are vastly afraid of the Suul, and it influences their everyday lives. They respect any notion of the gods related to them by their shaman, their friends, or even strangers on the street. The decentralized, deregulated, and evolving nature of Rathparuut leaves Turikasuul susceptible to suggestion and ready to listen to other Turikasuul's concepts of how and where the Suul direct their rage. They routinely go far out of their way to avoid doing things that might anger the Suul, or to do things that might please them. It is beyond superstition; any Turikasuul that follow Rathparuut constantly live in a paranoid, phobic, and terrified state. They hide it, and compensate with equally extreme bravado. They rarely admit to anything more than deep respect for the Suul, and only in dire circumstance (and only when absolutely necessary) do they even hint at their largely self-imposed insecurities.

Devout Turikasuul (which compose the vast majority) believe they are privileged and that they have a sacred duty to impose their fear of the Suul on those who do not accept the Suul as their gods. They often hunt and kill atheists and other "blasphemous" Turikasuul among them. Upon the discovery of other intelligent creatures, this duty expanded to every new race they met: everyone that wasn't already deeply afraid of the Suul. This philosophy continues up to and beyond present day.

From as far back as Turikasuul historians recall, Turikasuul have always been known as Turikasuul. This name translates to "Messengers of the Gods" in their language, and helps motivate their violent expansion and intolerance toward rival clans that hold disagreement or work toward conflicting goals (further supporting their already aggressive disposition). To intensify their intolerance, they (sometimes privately) view all other races as lesser beings. They believe they act on behalf of the Suul and think they need to inspire fear of the Suul in other races, because forcing other species to convert to Rathparuut outright is not realistic. They understand that all intelligent beings (including themselves) exercise free will, and they consider their intimidation and horror-provoking acts a necessary coercion for all those that dare to resist.

Pain

The Turikasuul are a tortured race—they experience spirituality through pain. The Suul cause them pain, and so pain is the emotion or feeling which they associate most closely with the Suul. They sacrifice one another, they tattoo and carve religious symbols onto their bodies, they fight for the Suul, and so on; their life is wrought with physical pain. They associate emotional pain with the gods as well, be it intense fear or some unrelated hardship.

The atonement period is a great example of how the Turikasuul use self-inflicted pain to make amends with the gods. Beyond apologizing and making amends, they were recovering their spirituality by experiencing real pain. Those in the most agony were closest with the Suul (for as long as the pain lasted). In a masochistic sense, they revel in their own pain.

Tribute

This was barely an issue before interplanetary travel. The Turikasuul believe that when they are injured or die, they return their flesh and blood to Suulmalla to appease the Suul's anger at what they take from the planet (including their very bodies; this divine fury dates back to the beginning of time). Occasionally, in prehistorical times, those Turikasuul that did not feel as though the act would antagonize the Suul would destroy the corpses of their slain enemies (already too mutilated for sacrifice) in a final act of abasement or degradation (to prevent their remains from returning to Suulmalla as those slain would have preferred). This would deny the dead the honor of repaying their life-flesh debt to the Suul. Most Turikasuul, however, believed that such an act would direct the Suul's anger at those abasing and degrading, and the practice died out as Turikasuul civilization condensed.

Upon the introduction of space travel, a Turikasuul's remains became a major point of concern. Many shaman believe it's at least a good idea to return a Turikasuul's remains to Suulmalla after injury or death (assuming that Turikasuul's body had not been used for sacrifice). Given the nature of space travel and conflict it's often not possible to return every lost limb and dead Turikasuul to Suulmalla, so the Turikasuul make every effort to bring back the 'equivalent' of their lost body mass. The Turikasuul will substitute the limbs or entire corpses of other intelligent beings, animals, or anything else that would qualify as life-flesh (even dirt when times are dire) and either ship or personally escort those materials back to Suulmalla to be buried or dumped in the ocean. It's the spiritual price of space travel for the Turikasuul.

Organization

There is no standard structure by which Rathparuut is organized. The Xotron attempted to create a sort of uniform hierarchy throughout the Turikasuul civilization, but that sort of widespread synergy is contrary to the very nature of the Turikasuul. The religion, like Turikasuul government and military, has always been organized by clan and city, and clan and city structure has always varied. While this decentralization may seem disorganized, it gives the Turikasuul civilization at large a resilience and staying power that is very central to Turikasuul nature.

Smaller groups may have as few as one shaman, while larger cities are typically controlled by large councils of shaman. Some groups elect their shaman, some allow existing shaman to appoint other shaman to fulfill duties as they arise or other shaman die, some simply recognize leadership once a shaman has risen through the ranks, and some even allow succession by murder. Shaman never retire and usually remain powerful until they die.

It is important to note that the shaman influence all aspects of Turikasuul life, from religion to government to military. There is no legal separation of religion and state; truly, there is no difference between religion and state.

Practices

Fear-Motivated Behavior

See the tenet Fear above.

Sacrificing

A particularly painful instance of a Turikasuul sacrifice

According to myth, after The Slaying, the thundering spike ascended again to heaven; never wanting to feel the pain of The Slaying again, the Turikasuul began offering flesh back to the Suul by returning it to the world. In reminiscence of the thundering spike, the Turikasuul impale their sacrifices on long spikes and lift them up above their heads. While sacrifices with skin please the Suul, they are not sufficient on their own. The most choice sacrifices are those with the hard exoskeletons of the Turikasuul, because these sacrifices have not yet returned anything to the world (whereas soft beings with softer skin have). When a creature on a tall pole is struck by lightning, it is seen as being accepted by the Suul and replaced as soon as possible after it falls to the ground. The poles serve as lightning rods when occupied by a sacrifice, protecting the surrounding Turikasuul from the risk of being struck down by the lightning that is ever-present on stormy and volatile Suulmalla.

Turikasuul must be sacrificed to appease the Suul. Since the end of The Slaying, the Turikasuul have suffered as they carried out the task of sacrificing their own kind. Sacrificing relatives and friends is far worse than sacrificing strangers and enemies so, historically, Turikasuul clans have remained separate from one another to protect themselves and their clan from the threat of sacrifice by rival clans, as well as to more easily sacrifice strangers and members of other, enemy clans. This drove clans apart from one another, fueling hatred and violence as clans acted to abduct clan members from one another.

A small number of sacrifice poles was usually enough for a village, but cities require a significant number (determining the required density is easy—Turikasuul simply erect a minimal number, observe which areas are still struck by lightning during the next storm, and add however many more are necessary in the affected areas). Since the beginning of the ritual shamans have overseen the responsibility of maintaining the sacrifice poles throughout their territory, removing charred remains, and offering new sacrifices. However, capturing the sacrifices is the responsibility of the entire clan. In times of need, the clan (sometimes represented by government agencies) employs any of a number of methods of "finding" new sacrifices.

When Turikasuul are selected for sacrifice by a recognized authority (his or her shaman, family, or official government agency), they generally do not protest. Most realize that their being chosen means their clan or government was not able to secure a more foreign Turikasuul for sacrifice, and accept the honor of giving their lives to protect their community. When a Turikasuul resists, that Turikasuul is immediately dishonored and forcibly detained, because refusing to offer oneself to the Suul (when prompted) is a highly sacrilegious act. Those few that resist are viewed as either traitors or nonbelievers (atheists are the most despicable sort of Turikasuul to those that follow any version of Rathparuut). When any Turikasuul is accused of committing "sins against the Suul" (a collection of religious offenses whose particulars are often amended by shaman and only questionable by other shaman), they are usually the first selected for sacrifice.

Technically speaking, they create a sacrifice by jamming a pole through the chosen Turikasuul—sacrifices are not normally left alive. The poles (traditionally made from bone or, less commonly, wood, but the material of the poles themselves is unimportant) are positioned as lightning rods. They are put up near the center of smaller encampments, and in larger population centers they are erected on the tops of buildings and in the middle of open spaces (parks, town squares, etc.). On planets with no lightning, they leave the sacrifices up until they fall off (usually by rotting) and then replace them as soon as they notice the bare pole. Sacrificed Turikasuul typically last between six and eight months before falling down from a sacrifice pole, usually from rot, animal scavenging, and repeated lightning strikes; that they last as long as they do is a testament to the sturdy exoskeleton each Turikasuul possesses.

Sacrifices must be intelligent beings or particularly large animals to be considered acceptable to the Suul. Different creatures are ranked according to sacrifice desirability along the following scale:

• Orders of sacrifice to the Suul:
  • First Order:
    • Races which speak, build, leap, worship, are of a decent size, possess an exoskeleton, and live above water. Who they worship does not matter. These include Turikasuul and Kaeans.
  • Second Order (listed in descending order):
    • Races which speak, leap, are of a decent size, possess an exoskeleton, and live above water.
    • Any other races with a full shell or exoskeleton that live above water. xxxxxxx xxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxx xxxxxx x xxxxxxxxxxx xxx xxxxxxxx xxxxxx x xxxxxxxx xxxx xxxx xxx xxx xxxxxxxxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxx
    • Any other races with at least some exoskeleton, carapace, or shell that live above water. These include the Dreyzonaks.
  • Third Order (listed in descending order):
    • Races which speak, build, leap, worship and have bones. These include Breydolans.
    • Any other races with bones that live above water.
    • Sea creatures with full exoskeletons.
  • Unacceptable sacrifices:
    • Races without bones that live on land.
    • Sea creatures without full exoskeletons. These include Porgs.

Second and Third order sacrifices are used in times of necessity or, occasionally, out of spite. It is not uncommon for several second or third order sacrifices to accompany a first order sacrifice in the same location or ritual.

Turikasuul that die before being used as sacrifices are usually used as sacrifices after death. If their bodies are rotten or in too many pieces to mount atop a sacrifice pole, their remains are generally placed in a pile around the base of a sacrifice pole. Whether killed for sacrifice or used as sacrifice after an unrelated death, a Turikasuul's remains are left to decay naturally and are often ravaged by scavengers.

Offerings

The Turikasuul make offerings to the Suul in hopes of influencing future events. These offerings may include any sort of food, plant, or dead animal. The more valuable the offering, the more likely the Suul are to accept it and act in favor of that or those Turikasuul. Offerings are generally burned or cast off to sea, though they can be buried or destroyed in other ways (though these ways are considered less effective^[2]). Turikasuul often pray for things like weather, virility, safety, skill in battle, and luck in just about everything. They address their offerings to those Suul that would make it so; there are no individuated Suul in Rathparuut, but one or more nameless Suul are ascribed to different aspects of life (the lightning Suul, the tide Suul, the Suul of battle, and so on).

Tribute

See the tenet Tribute above.

Medical Treatment

Before the introduction and discovery of modern, scientific medicine, the Turikasuul looked exclusively to their shaman for medical treatment. Turikasuul physiology is especially resilient, but certain sickness and mortal injury warrants medical help. The shaman's remedies were and are traditional, using herbs and ancient techniques based more in faith than science.

New technology has proven much more effective, especially for those Turikasuul missing large portions of themselves. Science can help Turikasuul regrow a great portion of their body in situations where they would have otherwise died from loss of blood, organs, neural matter, and raw body mass. Rather than oppose these new methods the shaman have largely embraced them, adding a spiritual dimension to the otherwise mechanical and impersonal procedures. Not all doctors and medical technicians are shaman, and while not all shaman are trained in advanced medicine, most shaman have learned the ways of old and do what they can to incorporate them into the new ways of healing. Any shaman worth his or her status can perform any of a number of healing rituals without the aid of futuristic healing technology if it is requested of them.

Praying

Casual praying is rare among Turikasuul. The general population only expects the attention of the Suul when making an offering, and even then only some of the time.

Only shaman formally pray to the Suul, and when they do so, it is closer to meditation than a mental conversation. While not necessary, many shaman feel that hanging upside-down (known as "entreating") intensifies their experience; to them, this manner of prayer symbolizes the Suul's decent upon Suulmalla at the beginning of time and allows them to commune with (and even channel) the Suul directly. When a Turikasuul prays upside-down, that Turikasuul is not to be disturbed; the prayer-meditation is considered to be a sacred practice.

Older Turikasuul with ambitions to become a shaman or any other established leader begin to pray on their own. It is initially unpleasant (stasis is against the nature of a Turikasuul), but those that show the ability to sit immobile and concentrate for hours at a time demonstrate their cognitive facility, force of will, and dedication—and thus inspire respect with those the Turikasuul would lead. The most involved form of praying, entreating, is exclusively practiced by established shaman.

When praying upside-down, a Turikasuul hangs from its feet with its legs compacted/retracted and its spikes folded inward in a non-aggressive manner. Overall, the stance is not unlike that of a sleeping bat.

Tattoos & Bone Carvings

Nine Turikasuul tattoo patterns

Tattoos

There are two basic types of Turikasuul tattoos—those motivated by religion or superstition, and those inked for art, expression, and aesthetics. They look mostly indistinguishable, but the religious zealots usually cover a lot more of their body with these tattoos. General consensus among all religious Turikasuul is that writing these symbols pleases the Suul, and writing them on flesh pleases them more. They are almost always religious symbols, and the symbols' style is swirly and wispy (see samples to the right). Regardless of motivation, they are considered good luck, and supposedly at least partially protect against lightning strikes.

Tattoos are not permanent. The Turikasuul use thick, painful needles to inject ink deep under their carapace, and as they shed their carapace, the Tattoos will migrate closer to the surface; eventually the tattoos chip off with the carapace. Maintaining these tattoos is a painful task, and is usually performed annually in a painfully spiritual manner. This is appropriate because the tattoos are usually gone after a year and a season.

The Turikasuul tattoos have changed with newer technology. The old style of tattoo uses metallic ink, and in terms of Turikasuul vision, they dampen parts of the Turikasuul's electromagnetic field (analogous to sunspots on the sun). The newer tattoos are almost universally used in present day, and they have the opposite effect—they are much brighter and easier to see (see Turikasuul Technology). When these tattoos are closest to the surface of the Turikasuul's skin, they even glow faintly in the dark (but the Turikasuul cannot sense this).

Living-Bone Carvings

Turikasuul also carve religious symbols into their exposed bone spikes in designs similar to their tattoos. These are done for similar reasons and are not periodic—bone spikes only regenerate when part of their core is lost, which is to say when part of one breaks off (the carving is also very painful). Generally, these carvings are confined to the arm bone spikes, mostly because the other bone spikes are thinner, harder to carve, and less visible to other Turikasuul.

Other Self-Mutilation

See the tenet Pain above.

Oral History & Storytelling

The Turikasuul value the art of storytelling and have maintained an intricate oral history even after writing and more advanced methods of recording became available. The physical records of Rathparuut are always treated as secondary to the words of sages and shaman; written myths and other records are treated as "backups" of the real thing.

Other Practices

Any Turikasuul can accuse someone of committing one or more sins against the Suul, and it is up to the shaman, the sole religious authorities, to determine whether there is any merit to the claim. The shaman are surprisingly just (most of the time), and accordingly, frivolous accusations are rare^[3]; shaman often impose penalties for those that raise frivolous issues. Still, threats and even hints toward accusing someone of committing a serious religious offense in this way carry significant weight.

Sub-Denominations / Sects

Orthodox Rathparuut

The majority of Turikasuul believe in the Suul, differentiate between Suul and Xotron, and follow all of the practices listed above. Mainstream Rathparuut generally views atheists and Saithrath as blasphemers, Bishrul as a dangerous sect, and Dulmuurth and Pierthsuun merely as lesser sinners.

Dulmuurth

Some Turikasuul follow Rathparuut with (comparatively) less zeal, and are branded as Dulmuurth by the more devoted followers of Rathparuut. This group includes Turikasuul that worship less often, act less concerned with the divine ramifications of their actions, and most especially do not sacrifice other Turikasuul for safety and appeasement. Some will exclusively sacrifice lower order sacrifices and animals, while others will go so far as to use poles as lightning rods without any living thing impaled atop them. They live in fear of persecution for their more lax practices and are often targeted by other groups when Turikasuul sacrifices are in short supply.

Saithrath

Some Turikasuul still worship the Xotron. They believe the Xotron are the Suul incarnate, follow their orders, act subservient to their Xotron masters, and comprise a sizable labor force and disciplined, organized military force. The official Saithrath shaman, given credibility by Xotron endorsement, run the religion at a local level and act as little more than obedient middle management for the Xotron. Many generations after the rebellion, most of the shaman sincerely believe that the Xotron are the Suul, but the very meaning of Suul has evolved over time to mean something different from the unnamed, unseen, omnipotent gods of legend.

Saithrath means "high worship" to the Turikasuul, and while they believe themselves higher and more civilized than the "heathens" that still follow the "old ways" of Rathparuut, those that remain faithful to the "true Suul" of Rathparuut refer to Saithrath as a misled, blasphemous abomination of a religion. Those on Suulmalla with Saithrath sympathies are actively hunted and sacrificed, and the ranks of Saithrath Turikasuul are similarly maintained. Any Turikasuul born into Xotron control that disagrees with Saithrath must escape to be free, and any Turikasuul born free that believes the Xotron to be the Suul must hide that part of themselves in order to survive in mainstream Turikasuul society. xxx xxxxxx xxx xxxxx xx xxxxxx xxxx xxxxxxxxxx xxx xxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxx xxxxx xxxxxxxxxx xxxx xxxx xxxxxxx xxxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xx xxxxxxxx xxxxxxx are regarded as possible spies by other Turikasuul and often sacrificed "just to be safe" if their origins are discovered. Turikasuul of this sect categorically oppose all other sects of Turikasuul (and all other) religion.

Pierthsuun

At the end of the Xotron occupation of Suulmalla, xxx xxxxxx xxxx xxxxxxxx xx xx xxxxxxxx xxxx xxx xxx xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx x xxxxxxxx xxxxxx xx xxxxxxxxxxxx A number of Turikasuul, while believing the Xotron to be the Suul of legend, decided to rebel against the idea of the Suul, deciding that the xxxxxx xxxx xxxxxxxxx Xotron-Suul were not worthy of their worship or sacrifice. These Turikasuul are more aggressive toward Xotron (and Saithrath Turikasuul) than any other group, and generally view other forms of Rathparuut with disdain and hubris.

Pierthsuun derives from "those whose blood never cools" because for the Pierthsuun, the rebellion never truly ended. Pierth translates directly to blood.

Bishrul's Followers

Upon the discovery of other planets and habitable environments, a brave Turikasuul named Bishrul claimed that the Suul only existed on Suulmalla. He led a group of god-fearing Turikasuul to colonize a nearby planet and live free from the oppressive control of the vindictive Suul. His settlement was frequently raided and eventually destroyed, but survivors and other like-minded Turikasuul set up camps much further away from the Turikasuul's home system and live less fearful and stressful lives by believing they had found a way to escape the control and torture of "the harsh Suul of Suulmalla". Considered by most to be a step below Dulmuurth, these Turikasuul are even more blasphemous because they question the Suul's complete power over the universe.

Atheists

Not really a sect of Rathparuut, some Turikasuul on other planets reject the religion completely. They largely live outside of mainstream Turikasuul culture (for reasons of intolerance and personal safety) and are considered by other races to be the least dangerous and least complicated Turikasuul to deal with.

Myths and Scripture

Rathparuut has no written scripture; the religious writings are more literature than scripture and are based on myths and fables rather than commandments and explicit direction. The writings are, at best, used to supplement or "back up" the oral histories of Rathparuut.

References

1. ↑ Example Citation: Carpe Chaos Wiki contributors, "Citation:Rathparuut," Carpe Chaos Wiki, http://carpechaos.com/wiki/index.php/Citation:Rathparuut#Early_Worship (accessed May 1, 2011).
2. ↑ Example Citation: Carpe Chaos Wiki contributors, "Citation:Rathparuut," Carpe Chaos Wiki, http://carpechaos.com/wiki/index.php/Citation:Rathparuut#Offerings (accessed May 1, 2011).
3. ↑ Example Citation: Carpe Chaos Wiki contributors, "Citation:Rathparuut," Carpe Chaos Wiki, http://carpechaos.com/wiki/index.php/Citation:Rathparuut#Other_Practices (accessed May 1, 2011).