Washnikism

## Description

Washnikism is the religion followed by the Vardenlanians and Rombehonians. Washnikism is a polytheistic religion which has Washniw as it's primary god, Washniw is the lord of the sky and shepard of horses. Washniw's wife is Kjawa: the mistress of the endless sea, who bore him three sons and two daughters: Kawrir the king of the afterlife and the wastes their people live in. Slawimir: he who rules the rivers and fertility, Trawyir: the master of birds and patron of war, Pskowa: she who reigns over rain and life, Rewra: the lady of draught and she who guides the dead to the afterlife.

## Creation story

At first there was naught in existence, but the sea and sky.... Often the most unreachable things are the most desired, as such they fell in love, they couldn't reach each other however, as the sky was too far and not even the oceans currents could reach it. In due time the sky and ocean created vessels for themselves so they could finally reach one another, the vessel of the sky was named Washniw and the oceans vessel was called Kjawa. due to their unending love Kjawa bore Washniw a son: Kawrir, the land the people now live on; Kawrir was a handsome young boy with one exception, he had a large birthmark across his face. (this birthmark is represented in the land of what is now known as Vardenlan) Kawrir was kind and humble and loved dearly by his parents, after some time Kawrir began to feel lonely and he explained this to his parents. Kjawa came up with the idea to try to get more children so their son would no longer feel alone, this time Kjawa bore Washniw twins, two beautiful girls: Pskowa and Rewra. The sisters loved each other dearly even though their personalities were different in almost every way. The first of the sisters Pskowa was very excitable and lively, she breathed life into the world, filling it with trees and fertile plains and with her parents help: she allowed rain to nourish her creation. No matter how hard she tried she could not manage to get anything to grow on Kawrirs birthmark: the grass she sowed lived, but barely and any trees she planted would wither before they achieved adulthood. Rewra, a very quiet yet kind girl always loved to watch as her sister created life, came up with an idea to remove the birthmark from their brother Kawrir:

by drying up the land as to kill anything that could be stopping the land from flourishing, after which her sister would make it rain and fill the land with life. The plan did not work but did not fail either, it did not fully remove the taint but it did kill off enough of it to allow some small things to grow.
After seeing the love their children possessed for each other, Wasniw and Kjawa decided to get more children. First came Slawimir, Slawimir was a very soft child and used to cry very often; these tears created what we refer to as rivers. Some time after Slawimir was born came Trawyir; Trawyir was a fierce child and always wanted to test his strength against his brothers, even though he had a short fuse and was impatient, he was loved dearly by his family. After some time though the world their parents had shaped started to feel empty to the children, Pskowa came up with the idea to create living thinking creatures such in their image. Pskowa's brothers and sister were delighted with the idea but Washniw felt it was too risky as there was no way of ensuring that their creations wouldn't rise up against them, as of such he stayed out of the process of creating life.

First came the birds of the air, the children made these to honor their father, Trawyir was astonished by their beauty and became the protector of these birds. Second came the marine animals that swim in the sea, these were made to honor their mother. Third came the animals that roam the land, they spread these all across Kawrir. To give the empty vessels they had created life, they shed some of their blood; with this new life their new creations spread around the world at an astonishing rate , alas they weren't omnipresent and couldn't watch their creations thrive.

As thus they came together once more and started the creation once more, these creatures where made in their own shape and were to be the guardians and shepards of their other creations. These shepards where split into groups, the Humans, the Elves and the Scaled ones, and some smaller groups. Once these shepards started to move around they changed with the areas they lived in.

## Traditions

Washnikism is a warriors religion, they shed their own blood and that of their fellow beings. Washnikism doesn't have any priests or holy men but instead relies on families to teach their own children about their beliefs. At the birth of a child they sacrifice the youngest of their animals to the gods as to represent the gods giving their blood to give them life and at death they offer up the oldest of their herd to the gods. When they go to war they release birds as to honor Trawyir, the god of war.