Jamashriyyah

**Jamashriyyah**, also known as **Mashra** or **Mashrana**, is the traditional ethnic religion of the Miaran. The workings of the religion are only known to anthropologists in broad strokes and vague terms, since Miaran are notoriously secretive about their beliefs and culture and are generally very unwilling to give any information to outsiders, especially if they are *jayyatan* - that is, Humans or Sand Elves. Detailed, accurate information about Jamashriyyah is extremely scarce, and the sometimes contradictory nature of this information causes constant debate amongst anthropologists.

Jamashriyyah is known to have heavily influenced Haidarism, and was likely influenced by it in turn. The traditionally held theory that the Haidaris took their religion from the Miaran wholesale is now rejected by anthropologists, and the accepted theory is instead that the two religions arose independently but, because of their geographic - and later, political - closeness, they mutually syncretised and adopted some of each other's traditions. It is also possible that Jamashriyyah was influenced by the religion of the Urtalim, but given that almost nothing at all about the Urtal religion is known, this is largely pure conjecture.

Jamashriyyah is polytheistic, and the names of many major gods are known, but it remains unclear how many major gods there are and whether or not the Miaris worship gods besides these. Evidence about the attributes and associations of the gods is also limited and sometimes conflicting, and only a few have known consistent depictions. What limited information is available suggests that the Miaran believe in the typical three-tiered cosmology of Heaven-Universe-Underworld common to most Inecurian religions, but some anthropologists argue that there is negligible evidence for belief in a heavenly realm.

## Etymology

Jamashriyyah is a compound of *jama*, *ashri* and the *-yyah* suffix. *Jama* translates as "mighty" or "powerful", and *ashri* translates as god, deity or divine being; put together, *jamashri* simply means "mighty god", but some anthropologists believe that *jamashri* refers to a specific higher class or type of deity rather than simply describing a god as mighty. Alternatively, *jamashri* might refer to a god that is "real" as opposed to the fake or false gods of other religions. The -*yyah* suffix is somewhat versatile within the Miari language, and may connotate a religion, belief, tradition, conviction, loyalty, feeling, orientation or way of life.

Jamashriyyah is most literally translated as "belief in the mighty god[s]" or "the way of the mighty gods", but it could also be more loosely translated as "the mighty religion" or "the correct religion".

Miaran have two different manners of referring to adherents of Jamashriyyah. The more grammatically correct variant simply uses the standard forms of converting the -*yyah* suffix into an adjective/demonym and plural; an adherent is Jamashriyyani, adherents are Aljamashriyyan. However, given that this word is rather long and awkward to say, shortened forms appear to have been the norm since the earliest extant records of written Miari. The forms Jamashrani and Aljamashran were historically popular, but in approximately the 6th century AD across most Miari dialects this transitioned to the even shorter Mashrani and Almashran. This is the origin of terms Mashra and Mashrana, the terms outsiders generally use to refer to the religion.

For the sake of brevity, Mashrani and Mashranis (the Anglicised plural) are the terms used to refer to the religion for the remainder of this article.

## Deities

Few gods of Mashrani tradition are known in any capacity beyond what their name is; only a small minority have known attributes and associations, and fewer still have known visual depictions.

### Miraya

The goddess Miraya is the best-known Mashrani deity, and even here the evidence is limited. She has always occupied a position of prominence amongst the Miaran, and she is likely the queen of the gods - as a result, she has by far the most evidence about her existence, attributes and appearance.

This prominence is possibly due to her being worshipped as the patron goddess of the Miaran as a race, and she is probably regarded as their creator; this has been argued based on the physical appearance of Miraya as being a Miar, whereas all other gods with known visual depictions are shown as animals and not hominids. Miraya is depicted as a warrior woman, almost always shown with weapons in hand, and she is depicted as tall, muscular, beautiful and long-haired. The colour of her hair appears to be highly variable and differs between tribes. Her eye colour also differs, but a consistent trait is that one eye is lightly coloured whilst one is darker.

Given her depiction as a warrior - likely a warrior-queen - it is near-certain that Miraya is a goddess of war, and is possibly also associated with rulership and law. Miraya is known to be a goddess of both the sun and the moon, with each one believed to be an eye of the goddess - hence why she is depicted with one light eye and one dark eye, being the sun and moon respectively.

The presence of idols and statues of her next to oases may be indicative of an association with water, fertility or perhaps life itself, but this idea is challenged by significantly reduced frequently of her idols around streams and rivers. This could instead indicate that Miraya is a goddess of oases in particular - or it may simply be coincidence.

There is little dispute amongst scholars that Miraya was a real Dread Titan whose influence in the world did not cease with the Annihilation, and subsequently the Titan believed to be her is referred to by the same name. Given that many Miaran throughout history became Witches, it is very likely that most or all of them took their power from Miraya.