Edervermt

Often called "Ederstone cultism", "Stildanian paganism", "Chaos Cultism", or "wasteland paganism".    No one identifies as belonging to the religion of Edervermt. The word is a shortening of the Stildanian compound-word for "Ederstone worship" ('Ederstahsvermet') originating in the ancient Kingdom of Hain and early Uvaran texts as a pejorative. When these ancients branded a community as engaging in Edervermt, they were saying that the community's practices were spiritually unclean and dangerous and therefore fell outside of the acceptable range of religious belief.    The religions of Uvara and Kivishta are the dominant organized religions in Stildane. Both groups are relatively flexibile in their theologies. Uvara in particular is very accepting of local gods and spirits, including those that venerate local Irradiated creatures. Edervermt is a way to lump together the many local religious traditions that fall outside of what is considered acceptable in Uvaran or Kivish religions.   The prototypical Edervermt cult are local traditions that venerate Ederstone deposits as "Godseeds": the eggs of fetal gods to be given worship and sacrifice in anticipation for their eventual hatching. This is a common trope in the chaos wastes, appearing in many deep-wasteland communities. The common language of the 'Godseeds' and the common symbols passed from community to community often create an artificial sense of organization and unity between local religious traditions. In reality, not every community that venerates the Godseeds do so in the same way or have the same relationship with the idea. Some are just trying to appease the cruel divine forces that rule their lives. Some believe that everything given to the wastes in sacrifice will be returned as a gift to the community. Some try to interpret the mutations and magic as the words of a ruling deity. Some encourage their members to embrace the call of the Ederstone to spend time enthralled to its magic, while others have traditions entirely structured around trying to stop that kind of enthrallment.    Actual lived Edervermt is local, variable, and often practical. Even within villages, different people or different families might have different practices or opinions. If a charismatic warrior wants to lead a village on a vengeance raid against another village or against trespassers, the local tradition might take on more violent symbols and practices - if they scare outsiders, all the better. One generation might seek to avoid enthrallment, another generation might seek to strategically embrace it. It is also worth understanding that these communities do not consider Chaos Enthrallment to be either inherently evil or a death sentence like outsiders do: these communities often teach people the skills needed to both resist long-term enthrallment and make their way back home afterwards.    Edervermt or "Ederstone cult" is often by organized religions used to designate dangerous heathens, while "pagan" is usually used to designate heathens who are simply ignorant rather than dangerous.