Bosothy

Bosothy is an ancient monotheistic religion based around the preparation for the return of its sole deity, the King-Within-Ice. The religion sees very little practice outside of its home region of the northern Winterlands.

Central to Bosothic belief is the King-Within-Ice, popularly referenced as the Frost King. The main corpus of Bosothic lore and ritual is focused around him and related to his departure and his arrival, as well as his actions prior to the formation of the modern Winterlands. Thus, Bosothy concerns itself heavily with fate and destiny, as well as preparation since these ideas are necessarily connected to the King-Within-Ice. The White Reach, the mountain and the community that surrounds it, are also of particular significance to Bosothy.

Bosothy’s age makes it an ancestral religion, passed from father to son, mother to daughter. However, this oral tradition is also supplemented by a rich literary tradition originating from the White Reach’s periphery. As a result, Bosothy demands literacy from its adherents, and parents often take it upon themselves to teach their children the basics of Northern Yaw. Furthermore, the centrality of the White Reach to Bosothic beliefs makes it a pilgrimage destination, making it a rare commonality held between the Winterlander princedoms. On the other hand, Bosothists must contend with a menagerie of local superstitions and beliefs that to non-believers, appear strange or even bizarre. For this reason, Bosothy is not regarded with much respect outside of the Winterlands, much less the Hales.

## The Hallowed Vows

It is dictated by the most wizened men of White Reach that all those who await the King-Within-Ice take vows on their 5th pilgrimage to White Reach. The vows are as follows:

* When I shall die, I shall be buried in the realm of the King, and at its coldest depths. Shall I not, I am damned to weather his holy frosts for eternity.
* I affirm my belief, that The Winterlands shall see the Bloom, the promised greening of the land that will turn icy tundra to rolling verdancy. Shall I not, may I be trodden upon and may the first harvest spring from my bones.
* I shall recognize no other, except the King-Within-Ice, as my ultimate ruler and god. Shall I not, I am damned to be skewered upon the peaks of the King’s wintry crown.

These vows are the most essential to Bosothy, but even then, believers may not necessarily be inclined to hold themselves to them. There are other, more obscure vows, relegated to the local permutations of Bosothic lore.

## The King-Within-Ice

The King-Within-Ice is the sole deity of Bosothy. Even the most distant branches of Bosothy recognize only the King-Within-Ice, and there is no such thing as a mythical creature or the enlightened person of a prophet to a Bosothist. Many powers are ascribed to him-- immense power over the cold, frost, and snow, as well as immense healing powers. It is said that peculiar instances of animal behavior are because the King is ‘checking up’ on his realm, through the deer, the bear, and the boar.

## Influence

A conflict exists in Bosothic literature about the circumstances of the Winterlander island’s creation. Some standing stones testify that the King-Within-Ice made the island, before the exhaustion of creation caused him to create a stool for him to sit on, atop the White Reach, giving the mountain its signature summit. Others say he merely found it and publicized its existence to the “boreal ones.”

Much of The Winterlands’ geography and climate is attributed to the King. For instance, the cold climate is caused by the King having ceased breathing-- for without it, the land is no longer warmed by his breath. This is all the more supplemented by legends and writings that stipulate the location of the King at the summit of the White Reach.

## Relation to the Aurorans

The original denizens of the isle were the Aurorans. The Aurorans were a proud race of short, pale humanoids who proudly brandished long, black hair. However, when the King-Within-Ice arrived at the isle, it is said the  Aurorans waged a thousand-generation long war against him, but ultimately lost. As a sign of their submission, they allowed themselves to be remade in the image of the King: white hair, pitch-black eyes, and with icy protrusions, like horns instead of crowns. He then took them under his wing and made them his chosen. But in their hubris, they rebelled against the King again, who in a final act of anger and disappointment turned their mound-like cities into the mountains of the Winterlands.

## Sequestration and return of the King-Within-Ice

The war with Aurorans was a further drain on the energy of the King. Accounts differ here: some state that the King was exhausted from creating the island, while others say that the Aurorans used powerful magic to make their cities hard to destroy completely (both are substantiated by evidence). However, it is clear that the King took refuge at the White Reach, and shrouded it in haze, mist, and cloud, and a thunderous shock over the land meant to many that he sat down, at last. Bosothists believe it to be an eventual event that the King will rise again, and that the shock it will create from his first steps may shake the world apart, to reveal a new skin, a new world, beneath.

Bosothy is only present in the Winterlands.