Jantu

> *"The world is split into two things. Good and Evil. Let the guidance of Sarik, goddess of light and the Mistress of Heaven, guide you to great wisdom and away from the clawing vices of her wicked brother, Normeor, the Cursed Master of the Grey Fields."*
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Jantu is a major religion in southern Testupol, originating in Oltar in ancient times. It has been largely adopted throughout the Empire of Valdon as a de-facto state religion, although the authority of its priests varies between provinces.

## The Tale of Sarik and Normeor

The faith of Jantu believes that all things are separated into good and evil, or a mixture therebetween. The good in the world is overseen by Sarik, a goddess of perfection and beauty who sits in heaven over the world and orchestrates goodness within them. The evil is overseen by her twin brother, Normeor, who betrayed his sister's vision of perfection and tricked her into allowing him to add evil to the world.

It is written in the texts of the Jantu archives that he achieved this by tricking her into looking at the stars one nights, away from the world that she was supposed to watch over, allowing him to sow a single seed of evil in a field. Because the seeds were in a world that was made perfect for things to grow, the evil planted in the field spread rapidly.

When Sarik returned her gaze to the world she saw that it had been irrevocably corrupted by the seeds. She wept for two days and two nights, unable to turn her eyes from the world again for fear that her brother would poison it further. She finally hatched a plan on the third day, and laughed while looking at the world. Distracted by this sudden laughter amid her tears, Normeor followed her gaze to see what had amused her. With his back to her, Sarik was able to watch both him and the world, and pushed her brother out of heaven. He fell into the evil, corrupted fields that he had sown, breaking his legs with the impact of landing and preventing him from returning.

Normeor knew that his sister's tears could restore the fields to a lush green and cried out to her in anguish. Despite his cries, Sarik had no tears for him. He had brought this desolate world upon himself and she refused to cry despite his evident pain. She summoned an earthquake to swallow up his grey, ashen field with him still broken atop it, which took him into the underworld.

With both of the deities outside of the world, but the evil seeds too widely spread for Sarik to eliminate them, she created humans to restore the balance. Unknown to her, Normeor had also created humans to restore the balance in the favour of evil. These humans warred for centuries until, after the devastation had engulfed almost all the world, their leaders demanded the gods allow a truce. The deities agreed that they could live in peace if they built a shrine to each god. The humans from each god built their shrines, but Normeor asked his followers to dig a tunnel under the shrine to Sarik to tear it down from underneath. At the same time, Sarik asked her followers to build a bridge across to the shrine to Normeor and take it down from the top, brick by brick. Each set of followers arrived at the others' temple and dismantled them, only to return to find their own temple missing and a newly built path back to the other site. As a result, both sets of followers, realising that the gods were to blame for this, built a single temple to both that encompassed both the bridge and the tunnel.

This original temple to Jantu (a word for the balance of good and evil) is believed to be in ruins underneath the current Temple of Jantu in Oltar's capital city, Stormthrone.

## Champions of Jantu

Priests in the temples of Jantu traditionally ally their cause to one of the gods, with the exception of the principle temple in Stormthrone. This creates centres where the followers of one god come into conflict with the other, fulfilling their duties to the endless war between the gods. As an exemplar of their deity emerges, politically or militarily, the priests will gather and discuss whether or not to bestow divine favour to their champion.

They also believe that to bestow the favour of one god is to awaken a champion of the other, perpetuating the struggle and keeping the balance of Jantu. At some point, one of these champions is a victor over the other, creating an imbalance that begets another champion. This struggle, according to the Jantu priests, will go on forever.

## Relations with Monovolarians

Jantu scholars have almost no time for Monavolarians. They consider them to be too contemplative in the face of a perpetual war between good and evil. Jantu scripture also suggests that their god was perhaps an avatar or herald of Sarik that saved humanity from a storm, although interpretations of these ancient texts is difficult . The idea that whales are somehow inherently sacred is not one that they share. Despite this, most Jantu priests are unwilling to decry Monavolar as less than divine. If the Great Whale is indeed an aspect or messenger from Sarik, it is unwise to irk it and risk the retributions associated with her.