By Her Wings' Embrace

Visitors to the city of Birbaran don't tend to pry too much into the sacred places of the Featherkin if they can help it. If anything, it all seems so oddly opaque to an outsider how the priesthood of Wiwê conduct themselves in the city that most just give up. But there is a set of rules and guidelines passed down from priest to priest over the centuries that keeps these brightly-decorated holy people from diverging too far from the Air Mother's guidance: deep within the mountain, the walls are carved with her instructions, named By Her Wings' Embrace for its opening lines.   

Stories of the Gods...

Wiwê is not the only deity on Dreandril, and the Featherkin have tried to update their stories to include some others as well. The stories go that there was an Air Mother, an Earth Mother, a Fire Father, a Water Father and, most terribly, a Dark Father. As the other Ancestrals worked to put the world together, their plans and works were constantly frustrated by the Dark Father. The deities went to war, putting the Dark Father to sleep but causing the Earth Mother to die, which explains why air, water and fire move but the earth always stands still.   The other deities worked hard, and once the world and all of its peoples were created, as well as the various minor deities that those people hold dear, they faded from the world. The Air Mother entrusted her works to Wiwê, The Winged One, and while she is still invoked, it is Wiwê who answers the Featherkin's prayers in her stead. The remainder of this section of the carvings are kept to detail the stories of prophets and heroes who have done great deeds in the Air Mother's name.  

...and Instruction Manual

The rest of the carvings detail the restrictions to and reasonings behind the behaviour and rites of the priesthood. It details why there is a physical distance of multiple feet from the priesthood, requiring roads to be cleared for their passage; why the colours blue and purple can only be worn by those who work for Wiwê; the exact wording of the prayers for the rising of the sun and the rising of the moon and why that wording is needed; as well as a multitude of other regulations that also apply to the rest of the Featherkin population of the Painted Plateau and beyond.