Yazhur

Yazhur, the Hawk-Headed, the XXXXXXXX, is one of the Aiyuthani or "young gods," and a son of Touz. He is thus numbered among the Touzu-Vaati, the offspring of that ancient goddess. Like the cult of Touz herself, worship of Yazhur is widespread throughout many parts of both Orithea and Achuirea, but is generally not as well-organized or socially dominant as the cults of the Thaedonu-Vaati or the Rhantaseppa. It may exist in scattered pockets, or as a folk practice embraced by the common people alongside the more formally established cults, or in a marginal or secondary status relative to them. However, there are regions of both continents--most notably Enyrion and Khadoa in northwestern Orithea, the Western Isles beyond the Sea of Wyrms, and the XXXXXXX in Achuirea--where the cult of Yazhur is both popular and powerful, and holds a coequal position with Utara-Vaati or Rhantashannu.

In Yazhur, the beneficent spirit of Touz is carried on; his cult emphasizes individual acts of goodness, charity and generosity, courage in the face of iniquity, and wisdom and compassion. It teaches as well that the pleasures of life are to be enjoyed, though not to dangerous excess. Yazhurene teachings are therefore mostly in accord with the values of the Utara-Vaati cultus, and in their basic content, provide little to which the dominant priesthoods and the rulers of Vanir-Vaati lands might object. Neither do they conflict with the precepts of Rhantashannu as practiced in Achuirea.

However, Yazhur is also associated with sorcery, alchemy, revelation, arcane knowledge, and transcendence or spiritual enlightenment; his gifts are the discovery of hidden truths, insight into the obscure, the unveiling of what is unseen. For this reason he is a patron of wizards, sages, and truth-seekers, and his priests and priestesses are often believed to be powerful magicians. In some areas, the worship of Yazhur may take the form of a mystery cult organized around secretive lodges, in which devotees are initiated into esoteric rituals closed to the general public. This secrecy means that, rightly or wrongly, such Yazhurene lodges are often supposed to be dens of sorcery, and their members are rumored to be adepts of strange magic. Where relations between Yazhur's worshipers and the common people (or the priesthoods of Utara-Vaati) are unfriendly or downright hostile, suspicion towards these lodges and their activity is often the reason. In Achuirea, where the Rhantashan cultic tradition is more accepting of such practices, they are less likely to be a source of conflict.

**Symbols and Attributes**

As suggested by his popular epithet, hawk-headed Yazhur appears in the form of a man with the head of a hawk or falcon. His figure is possessed of a divine perfection of proportion, form, and symmetry; his flesh is luminous, his skin golden, his raiment shimmers like opals, his raptor's eyes flash with inhuman sagacity. His idols and cultic images sometimes also depict him with great wings like a bird of prey, although he is just as often shown wingless and seated. In the latter case he may be seated upon a winged throne, or a simple curule chair, or even just cross-legged on a low stool of the sort that a scribe might use.

His most important holy symbols are the winged Eye of Yazhur, the XXXXX [Key of Perception], and the XXXXX [egg or seed of wisdom]. These latter two are often included in depictions and cultic statues of Yazhur, one held in each hand, the XXXXX taking the form of a golden key, the XXXX an egg-shaped orb of jade or malachite. His priests and adepts often wear the symbol of the winged eye on an amulet or medallion. He is also associated, for obvious reasons, with the symbol of the hawk.

**Servants and Minions**

Unlike the gods and goddesses of Utara-Vaati, Yazhur is said to have no temmataiyu, no emissaries, no divine servants at his command. If he wishes to speak to his votaries or deliver some pronouncement to them, he will cause omens and portents to appear, or else he will reveal himself directly in a dream-vision or in the trace state that his adepts may attain via meditative rites.

However, though no temmataiyu attend to Yazhur, those who have been granted visions of the god say that his radiant figure was surrounded by the glad spirits of those mortal worshipers who attained enlightenment via his cult in life and thus now commune directly with him in paradise.

**Priests and Devotees**

There is a degree of concordance between the cult of Yazhur and those of Gyrion and Sidra; Sidra is of the Touzu-Vaati as well, and thus is the sister of Yazhur, and the cults of all three are are concerned with overlapping spheres of knowledge, wisdom, perception, prophecy, magic, and the revelation of secrets and the unseen. The mystery cults of Sidra may closely resemble those of Yazhur in certain ways. Indeed, many devotees of Yazhur also worship at the altars of Gyrion and Sidra, and the priests and priestesses of the latter are often invited as honored guests at the rites of the former. Some are even initiated into Yazhurite lodges as adepts. This means that in areas where the cults of Gyrion and/or Sidra are particularly influential, Yazhurene practice is also often commonplace and accorded considerable respect. An example would be the city of Torrune in the Helvandrian League, a major Sidrene cult center and also home to an important Yazhurene temple and several associated lodges, and where the veneration of Yazhur is comparatively common among both the poor townsfolk and the well-to-do merchant class.

**Temples**

Yazhurene temples almost always have a tall central spired structure, arranged around the innermost sacred chamber. In some cases the whole temple is one tower with the most sacred chamber located at the top; in these, votaries ascend via an outer stair spiraling around the tower’s outer wall, and descend via a separate stair running down through the 'core' of the structure. Such edifices are often called tower-temples for obvious reasons. Other temples of Yazhur are less vertical, however, and will have open colonnaded galleries around a spire-roofed central sanctum, or will be a fairly conventional domed structure whose interior features a gallery wrapping around a central sacred chamber (still usually spire-topped).

The central chamber contains a cult image or idol of Yazhur, as is typical in temples of other gods, but an altar or sacrificial dais is notably absent; the rites of Yazhur do not involve material offerings as do those of the Thaedonu-Vaati. Besides its central chamber or inner sanctum, a Yazhurene temple will typically contain a number of other areas devoted to study, meditation, teaching, and various rites that do not merit use of the most sacred chamber. In a tower-temple, these will be the rooms making up the lower levels of the tower; in other types of temple, the galleries or outer chambers around the sanctum will be used for this purpose.

Yazhurene temples are often surrounded by water; where space allows, this may be a large manmade pool with a bridge leading to the temple proper, or they may be sited on islands in natural bodies of water. In the confines of a city, it is usually a smaller moat-like feature spanned by a short footbridge, or even a sort of purely symbolic miniature moat (sometimes as small as a gutter-like groove in the flagstones holding a few inches of rainwater) that can be crossed in a single step. This is a notable commonality shared with Utara-Vaati temples in Enyrion and Khadoa, which also often stand in the middle of a square pool or sacral moat. It is quite possible that the prevalence of Yazhur's worship in those lands resulted in a sharing of architectural methods between the temples of the two cults. Whatever the case, outside of northwest Orithea, the water barriers around Yazhur's temples are a distinctive feature, but they serve essentially the same function as the more typical tessara: A symbolic (also sometimes practical) line of separation between the holy precinct of the temple and the outside world.

Yazhurene lodges (the term refers to the initiated orders of his worshipers as well as the physical sites they use as their meeting places and sanctuaries) are not temples of Yazhur per se, although in some cases they are adjoined directly to one, and at any rate they do usually contain a shrine-chamber were certain rites are performed. Otherwise they follow no particular standards of construction or appearance. They may be obvious, or concealed; they might be adorned prominently with Yazhurene imagery, or tucked away behind an unassuming storefront. Much of this depends on how the local people view Yazhur's cult and how much social acceptance it enjoys in the area. In a large town or city with a Yazhurene temple, there may be just one lodge connected to it, or located nearby, or there may be several scattered around the city (or sometimes outside it). Away from cities, a Yazhurene lodge might be hidden away in a nearly inaccessible spot like a cave complex opening onto a sheer cliff face, or simply built by the roadside like a common traveler's inn.

**Holy Days and Propitiation**

**Cult Centers**