Thoughts on Charalin shamanism
Posted: Fri Jan 11, 2013 4:42 pm
Back in September of 2011 when I was running Antione Yagmur, I wrote a posting in New Player Hints that functioned as a repository for everything that I had established in play or wished to establish as a resource for other players that operated Charalin characters.
This document serves to correct and expand upon some of the assumptions I made in the description of Charalin faith, primarily the belief that the Spirits of the Light / Druid religion was the foundation for the plainsfolk. It is not my intent to unleash untempered Charalin faith upon the grid, but rather give a background for where characters might be coming from. The ideas I present will be best case scenario, meaning that they were last fully practiced prior to the 30 Days of Fire / 30 Days War.
The Spirits of the Light, I have concluded, is a re-emergence of Charalin values that originates from the oppressive atmosphere of the Lithmorran kingdom. It is an attempt at Old World religion, potentially by farmers, hunters or herbalists living under the Davite regime. My evidence for this is that it is strongly monotheistic because of the reference to a single God and the statement that its followers are doomed by other religions to spend eternity in the abyss for their beliefs. The abyss, at least to me, is a Davite construction.
With it established that the Spirits faith as we know it is a modern interpretation of ideal Charalin beliefs, we are free to define elements of what these ideal beliefs could be. To reiterate what I have stated before, the Charali are matriarchal nomads. Prior to the genocidal 30 Days of Fire, their religious practices would have been relatively unaltered due to their isolation and nomadic natures. It has always been my opinion that the Charali possess a religion that is almost completely alien from the Lithmorran / Farin monotheism.
In April of 2011 I finally sat down and completed a work that summarized what I felt a Charalin cosmology might be. The Song of Motion, as it stands, is the fragmented travelogue of an early Inquisitor around 114SC that was sent into the Plains to gain understanding of the population and establish proof of heresy if necessary. His travels predate St. Jaridan by a decade. One of the principal characters introduced was Cheradi, a shaman captured by the Inquisitor. It is from his interactions that the majority
While I never directly addressed a ‘pantheon’ or shamanistic practices in play (at least that I can remember), I believe that the spiritual realm extends past the Goddess and the five elemental siblings that she gave birth to. The complex spiritual web that the Charali navigate on a day to day basis in the ideal world is potentially as complex as their physical existence as a member of the food chain. There could very well be spirits of everything – moving water like the Spring, companion animals, prey, personifications of the Hunt, of Death, of blind Revenge, journeys and of endings.
Shamans and Horse the First Man
One of the primary entities that defines the Charalin approach to spiritualism is Horse the First Man. From an OOC perspective, Horse developed from the link in the language code between the name of the Charalin ethnicity and how the word ‘horse’ appears to those that do not speak it: cheradi. This seemingly deliberate similarity gave me everything I needed to start crafting their mythology. Horse, as his name implies, was an animal created by the Siblings and given life by the Goddess in the golden time of creation. After becoming lost while playing with the Wind, the starving, fearful animal accidentally consumed a portion of the sibling Fire. Much like Prometheus and Pandora or Adam and Eve, Horse eats from the “forbidden fruit” and gains a creative ability and mastery over nature similar to the gods. This new power changes him, removing his hairy exterior and making him smaller and weaker than all the other animals.
Horse is the foundation for the Charalin shaman in my eyes. While the clan mothers handle the normal aspects of the clan life, it is the shamans that handle taboo. In the words of Cheradi, “I am the one chosen to carry the taint for my people; in exchange, I am without name, without family, so I may fight.” While a shaman is indeed a powerful position, they deal with things that nobody could otherwise understand or perceive. Just as the Ladies of Suffering take on mantle of Shari in the Path of Fire, the medicine men of the Charali likewise adopt the mantle of this first being to move between the spiritual and physical worlds. Cheradi, the shaman capture in the Song of Motion, preserves the rites and the stories of his people which is why he serves as the logical conduit for that story to transmit tales otherwise unknown to the Davite world.
The shamans are spoken of as the Dark Horse; a reference to the burning hair of Horse the First Man when he was transformed by the fire. In the Song of Motion, Cheradi is found away from the main camp. Due to their interaction with taboo, the shamans are isolated figures. They will never be counted among the warriors and are held as separate from most of the clan. They are usually given food or supplies as payment for treating illnesses, conversing with spirits or providing guidance to other clan members. It is likely that the majority of shamans are mages.
Totems and animals
It seems to me that there is a strongly totemic aspect of the Charalin belief stystem. One of the first plainsfolk characters I ever met on TI wore a totem of a lioness. Most of the characters I have seen in-game often have an animal affinity. Wolves are fairly popular from what I have seen. While horse totems might be exclusive to shaman like Cheradi (who was wearing a horse head when he was found), there are plenty of other animals on the Plains that could serve as mediating spirits between the Charali and their ancestors.
One of the things that has not been defined overmuch is what sort of animals live on the plains which a Charalin may adopt as their totem animal. We know for certain that there are horses. It has been alluded that there are wolves and hawks as well. I would propose a unique combination of North American Great Plains wildlife, African savannah and maybe some steppe animals from Asia. The Charali herd horses, yes, but they do not eat them. I would suggest that their primary prey animal is similar to a bison, possibly referred to in-game by the European bison’s common name: wisent.
Wild horses would also exist upon the grasslands, existing alongside the wisent as zebra and wildebeest do in high predation open savannah. It could be a very common sight to see these horses grouped together with the wisent and even leading their massive herds across the Plains. I would imagine a Charali would find this leadership behavior fascinating as I do.
Large predators are important to the maintenance of a robust herbivore population. I would imagine that in the northern portions of the plains where it is colder, that this role could be fulfilled by a large social canid like the grey wolf. In the southern portions, it would be interesting to see a unique breed of lion. Filling in the holes, there is plenty of room for ancillary prey species such as large flightless birds (ostrich or rhea). Other birds could include red hawks, cranes and smaller ground birds like quail. Scavenging species may be among this to take care of carrion, such as hyenas or vultures.
Acquiring a totem animal is, to me, a part of the coming of age trials that all Charalin undergo. The coup name gained from these trials usually incorporates some aspect of this bonding with a particular spirit. The stress of surviving for so long in isolation is thought to open the mind and spirit to influences from the world beyond. In many ways, the animal spirits are the ancestors of the Charali that they wish to commune with.
The spiritual animal reflects the desire for balanced, harmonious existence as mentioned in the post Thoughts on the Charali from September 2011. This desire extends from ecology that the Charali are a part of. It is also tempered by a survival instinct cultivated by Dav’s genocidal attacks. After coming into contact with this spiritual animal, it is possible that its traits would embody a necessary part of the Charali that is under expressed or unknown. A war-like person could discover a spiritual understanding of the world. A spiritual person may discover unknown courage. Someone may be inspired to leave their tribes and journey into the West to learn more about other cultures. This totem animal could also represent a particular aspect of the Charalin culture that the individual represents. A wolf or lion, for example, are very war-like as well as very social creatures. They could be the totems of the warrior elite.
Totemic communion & transformation
Why would it be necessary for a Charali to have this spiritual, perhaps non-existent animal at their side through their lives? Communion with the ancestors is probably the key point. A spirit guide allows for mediation between this world and the next. A Charali on the plains would not always have access to their elders, nor would one that is on the caravan trails or situated in one of the many cities. Many Charali wear animal hides as that is what they were raised with. Beyond that, animal totems would act as a constant reminder of their origins, their purpose and their alien existence in the mind of the Western kingdoms.
One of the things I established through play (though only once if remember) was a totemic ritual called the Ash Dance. In commemoration of the 30 Days of Fire, some Charali would strip down and coat themselves in a paste made from water and ash in order to perform a dance that reenacted the events. This transformative process would place the Charali in the minds of witnesses to the events, such as Horse, Wolf, Hawk and the spirits of those killed during the invasion.
A broader pantheon
One of the things I always toyed with in my Charalin characters was their pantheon after Davism. While the Goddess, the Five Siblings and the kindred animals already filled it out, there was room for a few more entities that could find their way into religious practices. One of these was Dav himself, the Iron Horse (Irael Cheradi), that some Charali believe arrived in their lands to act as a holy harbinger of retribution against past sins. Another, as I believe the help file mentions now, is St. Jaridan Peacemaker that started his trip into the plains sometime around 123. I imagine that in a post-Dav world, the Charali would invoke his name when it came to trade deals or territory disputes.
One of the other aspects that cropped up in my writing was a spirit of vengeance that is somewhat uncharacteristic to the Charali. Often, grudges are settled on the spot with the spilling of blood. Festering vengeance is a rare thing, though it is possible that this deity arose from the 30 Days of Fire. He is written about in the Inquisitor’s journal in the Song of Motion, cited as a naked gender neutral human with red hair down to its feet and a featureless face. Its right hand is made of a rotting horse’s head that is blue with age. Reminiscent of Horse the First Man’s consumption of Fire in desperation, this creation is an isolation of that unquenchable hunger. It seems ideal for invocation prior to the settling of a blood feud.
Conclusion
This is really just a collection of further thoughts about Charalin religious practices. What I have presented here is not a system of beliefs, but ideas pursuant to one. Any and all comments are welcome! I am sure that the Charali possess a dozen more dances in their repertoire and a dozen named deities besides.
This document serves to correct and expand upon some of the assumptions I made in the description of Charalin faith, primarily the belief that the Spirits of the Light / Druid religion was the foundation for the plainsfolk. It is not my intent to unleash untempered Charalin faith upon the grid, but rather give a background for where characters might be coming from. The ideas I present will be best case scenario, meaning that they were last fully practiced prior to the 30 Days of Fire / 30 Days War.
The Spirits of the Light, I have concluded, is a re-emergence of Charalin values that originates from the oppressive atmosphere of the Lithmorran kingdom. It is an attempt at Old World religion, potentially by farmers, hunters or herbalists living under the Davite regime. My evidence for this is that it is strongly monotheistic because of the reference to a single God and the statement that its followers are doomed by other religions to spend eternity in the abyss for their beliefs. The abyss, at least to me, is a Davite construction.
With it established that the Spirits faith as we know it is a modern interpretation of ideal Charalin beliefs, we are free to define elements of what these ideal beliefs could be. To reiterate what I have stated before, the Charali are matriarchal nomads. Prior to the genocidal 30 Days of Fire, their religious practices would have been relatively unaltered due to their isolation and nomadic natures. It has always been my opinion that the Charali possess a religion that is almost completely alien from the Lithmorran / Farin monotheism.
In April of 2011 I finally sat down and completed a work that summarized what I felt a Charalin cosmology might be. The Song of Motion, as it stands, is the fragmented travelogue of an early Inquisitor around 114SC that was sent into the Plains to gain understanding of the population and establish proof of heresy if necessary. His travels predate St. Jaridan by a decade. One of the principal characters introduced was Cheradi, a shaman captured by the Inquisitor. It is from his interactions that the majority
While I never directly addressed a ‘pantheon’ or shamanistic practices in play (at least that I can remember), I believe that the spiritual realm extends past the Goddess and the five elemental siblings that she gave birth to. The complex spiritual web that the Charali navigate on a day to day basis in the ideal world is potentially as complex as their physical existence as a member of the food chain. There could very well be spirits of everything – moving water like the Spring, companion animals, prey, personifications of the Hunt, of Death, of blind Revenge, journeys and of endings.
Shamans and Horse the First Man
One of the primary entities that defines the Charalin approach to spiritualism is Horse the First Man. From an OOC perspective, Horse developed from the link in the language code between the name of the Charalin ethnicity and how the word ‘horse’ appears to those that do not speak it: cheradi. This seemingly deliberate similarity gave me everything I needed to start crafting their mythology. Horse, as his name implies, was an animal created by the Siblings and given life by the Goddess in the golden time of creation. After becoming lost while playing with the Wind, the starving, fearful animal accidentally consumed a portion of the sibling Fire. Much like Prometheus and Pandora or Adam and Eve, Horse eats from the “forbidden fruit” and gains a creative ability and mastery over nature similar to the gods. This new power changes him, removing his hairy exterior and making him smaller and weaker than all the other animals.
Horse is the foundation for the Charalin shaman in my eyes. While the clan mothers handle the normal aspects of the clan life, it is the shamans that handle taboo. In the words of Cheradi, “I am the one chosen to carry the taint for my people; in exchange, I am without name, without family, so I may fight.” While a shaman is indeed a powerful position, they deal with things that nobody could otherwise understand or perceive. Just as the Ladies of Suffering take on mantle of Shari in the Path of Fire, the medicine men of the Charali likewise adopt the mantle of this first being to move between the spiritual and physical worlds. Cheradi, the shaman capture in the Song of Motion, preserves the rites and the stories of his people which is why he serves as the logical conduit for that story to transmit tales otherwise unknown to the Davite world.
The shamans are spoken of as the Dark Horse; a reference to the burning hair of Horse the First Man when he was transformed by the fire. In the Song of Motion, Cheradi is found away from the main camp. Due to their interaction with taboo, the shamans are isolated figures. They will never be counted among the warriors and are held as separate from most of the clan. They are usually given food or supplies as payment for treating illnesses, conversing with spirits or providing guidance to other clan members. It is likely that the majority of shamans are mages.
Totems and animals
It seems to me that there is a strongly totemic aspect of the Charalin belief stystem. One of the first plainsfolk characters I ever met on TI wore a totem of a lioness. Most of the characters I have seen in-game often have an animal affinity. Wolves are fairly popular from what I have seen. While horse totems might be exclusive to shaman like Cheradi (who was wearing a horse head when he was found), there are plenty of other animals on the Plains that could serve as mediating spirits between the Charali and their ancestors.
One of the things that has not been defined overmuch is what sort of animals live on the plains which a Charalin may adopt as their totem animal. We know for certain that there are horses. It has been alluded that there are wolves and hawks as well. I would propose a unique combination of North American Great Plains wildlife, African savannah and maybe some steppe animals from Asia. The Charali herd horses, yes, but they do not eat them. I would suggest that their primary prey animal is similar to a bison, possibly referred to in-game by the European bison’s common name: wisent.
Wild horses would also exist upon the grasslands, existing alongside the wisent as zebra and wildebeest do in high predation open savannah. It could be a very common sight to see these horses grouped together with the wisent and even leading their massive herds across the Plains. I would imagine a Charali would find this leadership behavior fascinating as I do.
Large predators are important to the maintenance of a robust herbivore population. I would imagine that in the northern portions of the plains where it is colder, that this role could be fulfilled by a large social canid like the grey wolf. In the southern portions, it would be interesting to see a unique breed of lion. Filling in the holes, there is plenty of room for ancillary prey species such as large flightless birds (ostrich or rhea). Other birds could include red hawks, cranes and smaller ground birds like quail. Scavenging species may be among this to take care of carrion, such as hyenas or vultures.
Acquiring a totem animal is, to me, a part of the coming of age trials that all Charalin undergo. The coup name gained from these trials usually incorporates some aspect of this bonding with a particular spirit. The stress of surviving for so long in isolation is thought to open the mind and spirit to influences from the world beyond. In many ways, the animal spirits are the ancestors of the Charali that they wish to commune with.
The spiritual animal reflects the desire for balanced, harmonious existence as mentioned in the post Thoughts on the Charali from September 2011. This desire extends from ecology that the Charali are a part of. It is also tempered by a survival instinct cultivated by Dav’s genocidal attacks. After coming into contact with this spiritual animal, it is possible that its traits would embody a necessary part of the Charali that is under expressed or unknown. A war-like person could discover a spiritual understanding of the world. A spiritual person may discover unknown courage. Someone may be inspired to leave their tribes and journey into the West to learn more about other cultures. This totem animal could also represent a particular aspect of the Charalin culture that the individual represents. A wolf or lion, for example, are very war-like as well as very social creatures. They could be the totems of the warrior elite.
Totemic communion & transformation
Why would it be necessary for a Charali to have this spiritual, perhaps non-existent animal at their side through their lives? Communion with the ancestors is probably the key point. A spirit guide allows for mediation between this world and the next. A Charali on the plains would not always have access to their elders, nor would one that is on the caravan trails or situated in one of the many cities. Many Charali wear animal hides as that is what they were raised with. Beyond that, animal totems would act as a constant reminder of their origins, their purpose and their alien existence in the mind of the Western kingdoms.
One of the things I established through play (though only once if remember) was a totemic ritual called the Ash Dance. In commemoration of the 30 Days of Fire, some Charali would strip down and coat themselves in a paste made from water and ash in order to perform a dance that reenacted the events. This transformative process would place the Charali in the minds of witnesses to the events, such as Horse, Wolf, Hawk and the spirits of those killed during the invasion.
A broader pantheon
One of the things I always toyed with in my Charalin characters was their pantheon after Davism. While the Goddess, the Five Siblings and the kindred animals already filled it out, there was room for a few more entities that could find their way into religious practices. One of these was Dav himself, the Iron Horse (Irael Cheradi), that some Charali believe arrived in their lands to act as a holy harbinger of retribution against past sins. Another, as I believe the help file mentions now, is St. Jaridan Peacemaker that started his trip into the plains sometime around 123. I imagine that in a post-Dav world, the Charali would invoke his name when it came to trade deals or territory disputes.
One of the other aspects that cropped up in my writing was a spirit of vengeance that is somewhat uncharacteristic to the Charali. Often, grudges are settled on the spot with the spilling of blood. Festering vengeance is a rare thing, though it is possible that this deity arose from the 30 Days of Fire. He is written about in the Inquisitor’s journal in the Song of Motion, cited as a naked gender neutral human with red hair down to its feet and a featureless face. Its right hand is made of a rotting horse’s head that is blue with age. Reminiscent of Horse the First Man’s consumption of Fire in desperation, this creation is an isolation of that unquenchable hunger. It seems ideal for invocation prior to the settling of a blood feud.
Conclusion
This is really just a collection of further thoughts about Charalin religious practices. What I have presented here is not a system of beliefs, but ideas pursuant to one. Any and all comments are welcome! I am sure that the Charali possess a dozen more dances in their repertoire and a dozen named deities besides.