Tig-Ra-Lan, The Sleep-Keeper

Followers and Priesthood

Though the continent of Ruatiwanga and its people are a polytheistic culture who venerates each of the Six Sky Gods of Haako-san-tara as a collective pantheon, it is not uncommon for the particularly devout to dedicate themselves to one such deity within the pantheon - and for The Sleep Keeper, Fourth of the Sky Gods of Haako-san-tara and Husband to Raj-Āng-Māt(Grandmother Sun, Goddess of Sun, Wind, and Death), this typically entails those who find themselves especially fervent in their belief of very specific Ruatiwangan Customs, often specifically in matters relating to the Spoken and Written Word and in matters of abiding the Sky Gods themselves to ensure they are not disrespected or ignored. While the reasons such creatures may dedicate themselves to Tig-Ra-Lan may vary wildly, common threads often include events such as Tragedies experienced on Holidays or Days of Rest, the witnessing of especially heinous actions that fly in the face of the gods' teachings or the domains they hold sway over, or even simply possessing a strong desire to be remembered or remember others or events that would otherwise be forgotten; all these things and more often spark an intense desire in others to dedicate themselves to Tig-Ra-Lan.   Despite Ruatiwanga's intensely tribal and divided nature, Tig-Ra-Lan's followers(Much like most all the Sky Gods of Haako-san-tara) can come from virtually any walks of life - young or old, man or woman, king or pauper; all who come face to face with the glory of the Gods or who witness the desecration of that glory often find themselves spiritually drifting closer to the faith of the Sleep-Keeper, though not all stay within his dedicated faithful forever. Often decorating themselves in blue or silver motifs, the faithful of Tig-Ra-Lan often prefer to decorate their bodies rather than their clothes with his holy colors and divine symbology - most often around their mouths, ears, necks, and throats, where most all truly faithful of Tig-Ra-Lan receive ceremonial tattoos designed to channel his holy power to help bless their words or help them to better hear the words of God. Piercings are also common amongst the faithful as well, and are the preferred means by which they adorn themselves with his holy symbology - preferring more permanent fixtures on themselves that may better weather the passage of time compared to a simple necklace or ring. In many ways, permanency is an important thing to followers of Tig-Ra-Lan - as those who always have at least one eye trained on the future, they often eschew simple or "fleeting" forms of dress or adornment in favor of permanent alterations to their body such as Tattoos, Piercings, and so on. Even their clothing is often made of the most resilient and thick materials best suited to endure the passage of time(Sometimes aided with magic, for the especially devout)- not only for practical reasons, but for religious ones.   In reflection of Tig-Ra-Lan's status as one of the two eldest Deities in the Ruatiwangan pantheon(Who, alongside his wife Raj-Āng-Māt, are believed to have created the cosmos during their union at the dawn of reality), his followers are often sages or mentors to those around them - as they often take it upon themselves to not only collect knowledge, but to ensure it is properly utilized and dispersed to the faithful and those most in need of it. As a result, they can be found in virtually any population center across Ruatiwanga, and sometimes even in churches or holy areas dedicated to other Sky Gods - where they act as sages and living repositories of knowledge who aid others in better living their lives by the edicts of the Sky Gods. However, they can also be found in equal measure as zealous crusaders across Ruatiwanga - who are often the first to leap into righteous holy wars if it means ensuring the Sancity of the Gods is protected.  

Ethics

Even amongst an already highly pious and devout culture, followers of Tig-Ra-Lan stand out amongst their peers as those who live with one eye trained on the far-flung future and the Gods that watch over it - to followers of Tig-Ra-Lan, the blessings, gifts, and teachings of the Gods stand highest above all else and it is their duty and their duty alone to ensure they are properly catalogued, preserved, protected, and enforced if necessary. It is ultimately quite difficult to truly understate how pious and devout followers of Tig-Ra-Lan tend to be - they are in many ways the true keepers of Ruatiwangan History, Culture, and Tradition and take their duty as serious as Warriors do their Final Battlefield; To them, it is not enough that the Gods be given prayer and worship and offerings and respect, but that their mortal followers never lose sight of or bring dishonor upon those very gods with selfishness or ego. At their core, this is the nexus of the the Ralanaan belief - to never place one's self before the Divine, even in the most extreme of ways or circumstances.   For example - where many Ruatiwanga hold a simple cultural belief of peace and nonviolence upon Days of Rest, Holy Days, Holidays, and the like yet do not hold such things as a rule moreso than a cultural norm, followers of Tig-Ra-Lan hold the abstinence of violence on such days to be a central tenet of their faith. To them, to defile such a sacred day is nothing to take lightly - in doing so, one places themselves before the gods; Places their own desire for blood and death above the gods they worship and thus sins in the eyes of the Gods themselves. Perhaps most famously, followers of the Ralanaan faith hold their strongest and most divisive beliefs on the subject of the written word - for in the teachings of Tig-Ra-Lan, it is treated as a sin to transcribe the "Word of God" onto a medium deemed "unworthy" or "incapable" of holding it in a suitably glorious or durable manner. Yet, outsiders should not be mistaken - to those of the Ralanaan faith, the "Word of God" is not mere holy words or hymnals, but all written words; for just as all languages descend from the original tongue gifted unto mortals by the gods, so are all words spoken or written "The Word of God". To this end, followers of the Ralanaan faith believe that while to speak the Word of God is a holy act(And thus often hold speaking many languages or speaking in a more sophisticated manner to be more holy), even holier of an act is the act of transcribing that word to a physical medium - one that must be carefully guarded. For, to them, their beliefs hold that to transcribe the word of god onto a medium without the size to fully allow readers to appreciate their glory or the longevity to endure far into the future after the writer is gone and after exposure to wind and rain, is to place the self before the Divine - to place information itself as sacred above the Gods, and thus Blaspheme in the eyes of the Ralanaans. To this end, they often believe that only mediums such as stone, marble or occasionally hardened clay tablets are truly worthy of recording language - often holding parchment or paper as inferior mediums undeserving of use to record text. Yet, while they often go to extreme lengths to destroy such mediums when they are found to contain text, they do not do so without first recording the information upon them - for while their beliefs hold that to record text onto an unworthy medium is to blaspheme against the Gods, it is an equal Blasphemy to allow knowledge or information to be lost or forgotten.   In this way, Ralanaans are natural historians - believing that to truly honor the beautiful world of the Gods and the glory of their creations, they cannot let what has happened be forgotten so as to better exalt the Gods who made it all possible. Their faith and beliefs hold them to strict codes of neutrality and lack of bias when it comes to recording information, and they take this duty seriously - to collect and protect the knowledge of what has been and what is happening is a sacred duty, akin to transcribing the very words of the Gods themselves. This, combined with their beliefs that teach of a responsibility for each living creature that dwells in the land of God to not shy their eyes away from their own eventual demise and to best prepare for it so that their knowledge and belongings may not be lost or forgotten(and to ease the suffering of those they would leave behind), and those of the Ralanaan faith are often first to help others pass down their knowledge - preferably via Oral Traditions - or prepare for their deaths in whatever ways best fit the local area and customs...ironically making some faithful who live in more civilized areas natural officiators of last wills and testaments, or otherwise "Legal Officers" who run businesses helping locals prepare for their own deaths in a responsible and reasonable way.   Ultimately, however, no belief is as central to the Ralanaan faith than upholding the Sanctity of the Gods - to them, it is every living being's duty as a creation of god who dwells in the world of the Gods to uphold their sanctity wherever they can; which the Ralanaans largely define as ensuring all living creatures dare not "defile the domains of the gods" or "tread unwanted in their realms". The exact meaning and interpretations of these lines vary wildly from denomination to denomination and even from individual faithful to faithful - but can mean anything from the protection of the sanctity of death and the hunting of the Undead who defile the divine domain of death, the hunting of any who seek or claim immortality, or even just to the simple punishment of any who defile churches or holy sites or who dare to attempt to use magic to reach the planes of the Gods themselves.