Lizardfolk Paganism

**Lizardfolk Paganism** (also known as **Lacertian Paganism**) is a polytheistic ethnic faith practiced mostly by the Lizardfolk.

### The Nine Gods

#### They of the World

They of the World are the three gods, traditionally genderless, which embody aspects of the world. Unlike the other six gods, they are never personified as sentient creatures, and are regarded as omnipresent within their domain.

##### Uuav, They of the Sky

Uuav is the god of fate, the afterlife, and souls taken to the heavens. Also associated with storms and winds. To have the wind at one’s back is a good omen; against one’s front is a bad omen. Sacrifices are left on high positions to be consumed by birds, the sacred animals of the Sky. God of no particular patronage, but sometimes considered the king of the gods, ‘with the crown of mortal and immortal skies’, referring to both the ageless sky, and the souls supposedly contained within. Typically depicted as a monk vulture.

##### Gurbanalik, They of the Stream

Gurbanalik is the god of water and time. Propitiation is important to prevent flooding in the swamps. As the Lizardfolk regard the oceans as simply a great stream, They are also the god of seafaring. Sacrifices are of tools and weapons tossed to the bogs or the ocean (but not to mountain lakes). Patron god of fishers and sailors. Typically depicted as a massive alligator.

##### Turranial, They of the Soil

Turranial is the god of growth and decay. An important agricultural god, but also a god important to cleanliness and rebirth of exhausted lands. Sacrifices are buried and left to rot naturally. Patron god of farmers, weavers, herders, woodworkers, and gatherers. Typically depicted as a mouse with reptilian eyes and a lizard's tail.

#### They of Heat

They of Heat are the three gods, traditionally female, which embody warmth and action.

##### Erianighe, She of Sun

Erianighe is the goddess of the sun. Associated with energy and natural processes, such as reflexes, blood circulation, the circle of life, etc. Sacrifices are traditionally left under open spaces like sunning rocks, for animals to consume and the sun to wither. An important god of hunters, and patron goddess of hunters, leatherworkers, and child-rearers. She is typically portrayed as a gesturing lizardwoman with a shawl over her head and a halo of light behind her, heavy with eggs as just before laying a clutch.

##### Kurianik, She of Fire

Kurianik is the goddess of fire. Associated with emotion and impetus, but also of natural/logical consequences of actions. One of the most important gods of war. Camp fires are considered sacred to Her, and it is considered a poor practice to put out campfires intentionally. To put out a camp fire without permission of the tribal elders is considered akin to poisoning a well, and sacrilege besides. Sacrifices are burned, naturally, and buried afterwards. Patron goddess of warriors and blacksmiths. Due to her association with both war and femininity, she is commonly portrayed as an outsider, a fire-wreathed human female girded in armor and weaponry.

##### Nihriana, She of Soul

Nihriana is the goddess of the mind, thought, and the abstract. Most popular with lizardfolk with significant exposure to the outside world, where they credit Her with the domain of ideas, faiths, ideologies, organisation, etc. Sacrifices take the form of personally made gifts to both relations and outsiders. She is the goddess most associated with loyalty and curiosity, and patron goddess of tribal elders, priests, and champions. She is typically portrayed as a lizardfolk priestess in a billowing white robe.

#### They of Cold

They of Cold are the three gods, traditionally male, which embody cold and inaction.

##### Attahirax, He of Peace

Attahirax is the god of harmony and natural inaction, including sleep. While it is not always easy for lizardmen to articulate to outsiders, they regard He of Peace as embodying a kind of wu-wei of active inaction. Attahirax traditionally receives only votive offerings, such as carved idols, left in His sacred places. Patron god of families, physicians, and Scaledogs. He is typically portrayed as an elder lizardman with a walking stick and medicine pouch, and sometimes Scaledog companions.

##### Khehf, He of Stillness

Khehf is the god of silence and death. The god of death is a position distinct from the god of the dead. Khehf holds domain over death in the mortal realm; where the dead go and who owns their souls after belongs to They of the Sky. The only offerings Khehf accepts are the corpses of the deceased; it is ill luck to mention His name unless invoking him for some reason. Patron god of miners, builders, and buildings, especially stone buildings. He is typically portrayed as an animate skeleton, and depictions of Him are often carved into structures, and then hidden by furnishing or decoration.

##### **Eheranax, He of Moon**

Eheranax is the god of constants, reliability, and learning. Such things are considered immovable and unmoving in lizard cosmology. Despite They of the Stream being associated with time, He of Moon is associated by lizardmen in the outside world with clocks, due to their mechanical precision and the learning involved in making them. All forms of art are considered devotions to Eheranax, implicitly. Patron god of wise men, artists, and the night watch. He is typically portrayed as a lizardman warrior in the prime of his life, perfect in every way, but unarmed and wielding artisan's tools instead of weaponry.

### Beliefs

As an ethnic faith, Lacertian Paganism does not seek converts, though it also does not refuse them. Followers of the faith believe that the gods are self-evident and unconcerned with mortal affairs unless beseeched or offended.

### Rituals and Practices

#### Plurisignation

*"Praise to Nihriana, to bind me to dying cause. Praise to Nihriana, to bring me suffering in times of joy, and give the taste of ash upon my tongue. Praise to Nihriana, to evoke in me such hate for Her in Heaven."*

*"Praise to Nihriana! She who has gifted me 50 years of child and mate! Praise to Nihriana, who gives us the attachment which binds us to the living, and to the dead alike! Praise to Nihriana, who has given me a heart with which to feel, and beloved to bestow my love upon!"* - Two similar-but-contrasting Plurisons towards Nihriana, She of Soul, typical in structure and topic.

Amongst the Lizardfolk, there is a concept known as 'Plurisignation', a poetic device that has become common in worship of the gods in stressful situations. First mentioned in 1104 MA, it has become an essential part of the Lizardfolk faith, even of Inlander tribes. A Plurison is an orison, a prayer or communing with the divine, which carries with it multiple and explicitly contradictory meanings. Such Plurisons may simply be short phrases, or longer poetic forms with considerable syntactic or sarcastic ambiguity. Bitterness, irony, and paradox are freely used in such Plurisons, which have a strong component of mysticism.

On the surface, a plurison can be bitter, sarcastic, and seemingly even blasphemous, whilst simultaneously giving praise to the essential nature of the god and the god's blessing which make such feelings possible. Conversely, a plurison can be joyous and even adulating in tone, yet also hold a meaning of deep condemnation and resentment.

In part because of this, there is not a strong sense of what 'blasphemy' could be, and this is often interpreted both by Driudics and Deodatics to mean that Lizardfolk do not 'truly' believe in their gods, and are in fact ready and willing converts to a 'true' faith. This is not true. The exhortations of even what might be regarded as blasphemous sentiment amongst Lacertian pagans is considered cleansing and even expiatory, as the expression of such sentiments is also an expulsion of them. It is a way of releasing pressure and negative feeling without the need to mollify or modify the emotions felt for the comfort of other believers. A sense of spiritual desolation or even misotheism is considered a normal and natural progression in life, and it is that they are regarded as natural and neither shameful nor in need of 'fixing' which maintains the connection of the spiritually desolate to the community of the faithful, and allows them to often return to and rejuvenate their faith with time.