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Religious Holidays - Malevolent Faiths
Relevant Knowledges: Religion
The following religious holidays are little-known outside their respective faiths. Observance is either private or conducted far from prying eyes, in secret locations underground or in forests where few passers-by are likely to stumble upon their rites.
Springmarch
Baoz
((March 10 - 20))
With the first signs of snowmelt and the return of the campaigning season comes Springmarch, the chief holiday of the Baozite religious year. The holiday begins and ends with a Bacchanal. The first Bacchanal is used to bless selected celebrants. These are then sent out on a raid or minor campaign, to return with spoils of victory that can be consumed in a second, larger Bacchanal that draws in all the worshipers in that area. The better the prizes from the first spring's raid, the better the season will be for war; thus it is a great honor, and a great responsibility, for a warrior to be included in the early group.
The onset of Springmarch is a grim time for Ang'arta's neighbors. Its occasional overlap with the Phaeran holiday of Greenseed has led to tragedy in the past, as the purification fires of Greenseed signal an easy target for raiding Baozites, who seldom resist the invitation to attack a village in the midst of its own celebration.
Almares
Kliasta
((December 1-3))
Almares, also known as the Day of Seven Scars, is celebrated in winter, when the sacred texts claim that Kliasta anointed seven champions in her icy palace on the Infernal Plane and sent them out into Bierilon to spread her gifts of pain, thereby founding the religion. The holiday is spread across three days so that individual worshipers can better disguise their observances by scattering them across the span of Almares.
At least one of the days is to be spent in quiet reflection and meditation on the transcendence of pain. Worshipers are instructed to inflict seven wounds upon themselves, although it is also acceptable to carve these wounds upon loved ones and receive them in turn, and this is often done as a perverse exchange of devotions on this day. The seven scars are symbolic of the worshiper's oaths to the faith; each year they fade before Almares and must be cut in again. This holiday is also popular for induction ceremonies formally initiating newcomers into the faith; they usually receive their seven scars at the hands of the priest conducting the ceremony.
Sorrevash
Kliasta
((Summer Solstice))
Celebrated simultaneously with Midsummer's Night, the Kliastan gloss on the night's revelry is known as Sorrevash. It is a night of reversal, when submissives take a dominant role and vice versa, so that all parties might experience both sides of the Lady's gift. Celebration of Sorrevash is usually disguised as a large private party or outdoors gathering on Midsummer's Night, and swiftly devolves into an orgy of pleasure and pain, although some worshipers prefer to conduct their observances separately.
Morduk-Hrain
Maol
((Variable))
The dark days of Morduk-Hrain are a time of fear and fury among Maol's faithful. Exactly when this "holiday" falls varies every year; it comes when the local high priest receives divinely-granted nightmares indicating that Morduk-Hrain is nigh, and there is no rhyme or reason to the time. Different sects may celebrate at different times of year. Word of Morduk-Hrain's coming spreads quickly among the faithful, for once it arrives, there is little time to waste.
Observance of Morduk-Hrain is simple and terrible. Within a week of the high priest's announcement, each of Maol's faithful must commit a ritual murder using the ush-hrain, a thin scarf of rust-red cloth with a tiny onyx or obsidian fist sewn at one end to lend it weight. This scarf is tossed around the victim's neck and pulled taut to strangle him, and must be left knotted around the corpse to mark the Maolite sacrifice. In general the condition of the sacrifice does not matter, so most of the victims are weak, friendless, and unlikely to be missed: street children and beggars often turn up dead once Morduk-Hrain has been announced.
Maolites believe that each sacrifice on Morduk-Hrain placates their mad god, so that he will not visit his rage upon them for one year per death in his honor. Those who fail to make their sacrifices by week's end are torn apart by their brethren, and their deaths are far more terrible than the simple strangulation of their victims.
Siamardhe
Zhardis
((November 3))
The night of Siamardhe is said to be a time when the veil between the worlds of the living and the dead is thinnest. On this night, the shades of the departed wander Bierilon until dawn, and are easily drawn back to those they loved or loathed in life. Followers of Zhardis, acutely sensitive to such phenomena, regard Siamardhe with mingled anticipation and terror. It is a night when necromantic rituals are more powerful than at any other time, but also more prone to flaring beyond the caster's control. The dead walk freely on Siamardhe, and sometimes seek vengeance against those who have called them callously in the past. Many worshipers of Zhardis, fearful of retribution, simply barricade themselves behind guards and wards until dawn; others willingly seek out the company of the dead on this night.
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