Jarıq

Jarıq is a very small religion that has been a traditional religion of a long lineage of lighthouse keepers in Ravenguard. It has long been forgotten by everyone else and to this day has only one follower. The maximum amount of followers it had in the past 1000 years is three, and all of them were the keepers of the lighthouse that stands tall on the coast of Seavale. The followers of this faith are very traditionalist. The religion worships many deities, the main ones being Alau and Ai.

## Religion

There are several major and minor gods and deities mentioned in the book of Conception, or the creation myth of the religion.

### Gods

#### Alau

Alau is the god of the sacred, or Lumic, blue flame. It is the main god that is worshipped at the lighthouse of Seavale, also known as The Pharos. It is believed that Alau carved out the world out of the endless toxic caves of a dimension known as Tereñ. The followers believe that humans were created flawed and the only way to salvation is to serve to the flame and keep the lighthouse running. The gender of the deity is unknown, as the books refer to it with different pronouns each time it is mentioned. It is said that Alau has gone into a slumber after it created the world, leaving Ai in its place.

#### Ai

The moon in this faith is believed to be a part of Alau, the whitest part of the flame that was separated from it and is now the guardian of all that is living and all that is not. It has several myths associated with it, such as the myths of creation, stars and the brothers Tau and Däw.

#### Ört

Ört, the god of fire, passion and anger, is said to come out during the day and go away during the night because of Ai. It is briefly mentioned in several instances, such as when Alau asks Ai to protect the animals from the burning heat of Ört, or when Ört and Däw conspire to overthrow Ai. It is generally not respected in the religion, as it causes all the war and conflict, hiding away the truth of The Pharos with its blinding light, but the followers know that it is essential for life.

#### Tau and Däw

Tau and Däw are said to be brothers and while Tau is most obviously the mountains as the book says that Ai will vanish behind the mountains of Tau, but the domain that Däw rules is never mentioned, and Däw is said to be the thing that changes the phases of the moon, its giant shadow dimming the light of the moon when it wins.

### Dimensions

There are four domains, or dimensions, in this religion, and no one really knows if they are supposed to be gods or not. The one that was already mentioned, the Tereñ, is a primordial shape of the world that can still be found underground and is the caves. Above it lies the sea, or Teñiz. It is said to "birth" Alau, but since it takes no other actions in any of the books, it is not clear whether it is a god or a dimension. The same situation is with the sky, as once it is mentioned that it creates lightning by striking the land, or Jer, because it is trying to reach out to Alau, but it is also said that all the noble heroes and saints, or Juldızdar, are rewarded by being eternally engraved in the night sky as stars. The fourth dimension, Jer, seems to actually be a dimension, as it is the physical world we inhabit.

## Architecture

The architecture of the ancient Pharosians has been mostly wiped off the face of Earth, with their largest known city, mentioned below, seemingly disappearing in a brief moment, with all remaining sources from that time suggesting that it was "swallowed by Jer and Tau", Jer and Tau being the Earth and the mountains seen off the shore of current day Seavale and Celestria, Ravenguard. The only examples, including ruins and restorations, which may not portray them accurately, are the downtown Seavale subway station, which is theorised to be an ancient mine entrance, although it seems unlikely especially because of the Üñgir, which was a major city that was located deep underground. It, or the place it was once occupied, still houses some relics of the past, like the Great Varangian Archives, which is one of the small amount of Üñgir ruins remaining mostly intact, and still in use today, like The Pharos, the last religious hub right above it, with the only thing off being its structural integrity, a-la the Tower of Pisa in the real world. Despite that, their style can be seen throughout all of these, all remaining buildings being made of deepslate, and containing a lot of pillars, which probably helped suspend and hold all the rock above the city. They also used a lot of long-lasting spruce wood, which probably adapted to harsh cold desert/tundra environments in the forest behind the Tau mountain range.

### Üñgir, the Buried City

The ancient texts found in the great library of The Pharos, specifically in the section called Ancient Archives, deep underground, seem to refer to a strange underground city, Üñgir. It seems to have ended in a disaster, with only the Archives remaining intact. It seems to be Lumic, as there were born several of the Juldızdar. Unfortunately, the section detailing the city and its collapse has been destroyed during an earthquake. The only two books recording this disaster that have survived in some capacity are Knowledge and Collapse, although Luminescence mentions it briefly. It seems that this earthquake has also tilted The Pharos and it had stayed this way since.

### The Pharos

The Pharos is the only remaining major religious and cultural centre of **Jarıq**, being located just off the coast of Seavale, Ravenguard. Its upper floors are mostly for religious purposes, with its holy books located there, while the basement has a broken elevator shaft leading to the Great Varangian Archives, the main library of Varangia, Ravenguard. It also serves as the lighthouse of Seavale, guiding ships, traders, travelers and pilgrims to the town. Its blue flame, deemed holy by Pharosians, lights the way on the top, and is powered by a giant furnace in The Hideaway, a place where the Lightkeepers hold all the fuel and keep it running.

## Culture and Tradition

### The Five Books of Jarıq

The Five Books of Jarıq are the five main Lumic texts that all Pharosians must read and strongly believe. These five books are Conception, Salvation, Luminescence, Knowledge and Collapse. Conception says how the world as we know it was created, Salvation - how to live nobly and become a Juldız, Luminescence, unlike the previous ones, is made by the Stargazer, a Juldız who recorded all who were there before him, Knowledge gives information about some of the history, although it is worth to mention that most pages were lost, and Collapse is a prophesy about the end of the world, including some notes of a saint called the Librarian, who supposedly lived during and even after the loss of Üñgir.

### Lumic or Pharosian?

You may have seen some new words in here, such as Lumic and Pharosian. The difference between them is that Pharosian refers to something connected to the religion or the race, e.g. "The Pharosian culture of Üñgir", "I like these ancient Pharosian statues", "I am of Pharosian descent", while Lumic refers to something holy, such as "The blue flame of The Pharos is Lumic for Pharosians". Pharosian can also refer to a person following the faith or the Pharosian race, like "We are Pharosians". The only known exception to that rule is the Pharosian Contract, because, even though it is holy, and breaking it would be blasphemous, it is still referred to as Pharosian instead of Lumic.