The Cerulean Spira

Intro

The blue skies and blue rivers hold sacred meaning for the people of Yeno. The deep shades of cerulean remind them of their hopes and dreams. Even the spirit is believed to be a shade of blue.
They make great symbols of their devotion, shrines to the holy sky, and places for people to drink the sacred fluids that flow down the mountainside.
This is the faith of Yeno. It originated in the mountains to the west and spread across the desert to the rest of the Yenoan cities, even before they unified.

Deities

The Followers of the cerulean spira don't believe in gods, they believe the sky is one large divine entity that either blesses or curses its subjects based on their virtue or the lack thereof.
Water originates from the sky, and is therefore considered to be divine, a gift from the heavens, for mortals to treasure and use with care and respect.
The sky is less of an aware god, and more of a powerfull overseer, and changes are reflections of what it sees happening in the world.

The Spira

To express their devotion, followers of this faith built tall obelisks called spira. These spira are made of rock and point towards the sky. They are often painted blue, and the more luxurious ones might have a tip made of lapis lazuli. The most extravagant spira might even be inlaid with sapphires. All cities in Yeno have a great spira located in the town square, usually with a fountain at its base. Spira come in all sizes, from small, to immensely large. Smaller ones are often used for personal veneration, and medium-sized ones are often found at the entrance of bathhouses and placed near wells to bless the places where water flows. However, the Spira are not worshipped. They are simply shrines to the sky, a place where the holy is celebrated.
The greatest of spira were often created by wealthy nobles or royalty, who wished to show their greatness to the world.

The Holy Liquid

Water is considered a sacred liquid, for it is life itself. To drink it is an act of worship, and wasting water is a great crime and an act of Blasphemy. It is considered a disrespect to the heavens that provide it. Those who bathe in water are believed to touch the divine and should not do so carelessly or arrogantly. Water is a gift from the heavens. Mountains that provide water are considered sacred, and pilgrimages may be organized to these sources, often located far up the mountainside.

Beliefs

For the regular people and their daily life, this faith teaches care, self-reflection, and humility. They are also taught to respect water and not to consume or use it lightly.
In Yenoan culture, it is not customary for any individual to waste water by bathing on their own, in their own house. Instead, all people will visit their nearest bathhouse at least once a week, both for veneration as well as for cleanliness.

They do everything under the open sky, where they can be seen, and houses, while they have roofed parts, are generally not completely covered. Houses that have their own spira, will do so in a part where there is no roof, which is usually the living room.

They will sleep in enclosed chambers, but this is more to avoid getting bitten by bats than for any other reason.

Signs from the Heavens

The sky sends us signs, not instructions as much as responses, or warnings, and one would be most unwise to ignore them.

Falling stars are said to be heralds of darkness,.They predict misfortune either for a town, or a specific person or family, and not necessarily the one who sees it.
When many stars fall simultaneously, it is seen as a much more amplified version of this, perhaps affecting cities or nations.

Comets, on the other hand, are signs of power. They predict success and strength. The more of it, the bigger and brighter the comet will be.

Eclipse is a powerful omen, a warning from the sky. People will respond to this by making offerings and praying at Spira.

Weather

The weather is said to be a reflection of the land. In Yeno, it is mostly sunny with relatively little wind. When the wind picks up, it means the sky is watching closely.

Rain is a sign of righteousness. The holy liquid being poured down from the sky is a great blessing and a sign that the people are on the right track.

Storm, however, even if accompanied by water, is a sign that the sky has grown angry. This is accompanied by thunder and lightning, and is not a common sight in the lowlands of Yeno. It is much more common in the highlands, but it is believed that those are meant more for the Orcs than the good people of Yeno.

Eagles

Eagles and other large predatory birds, which are a common sight in the mountains and highlands, are seen as holy creatures, born of the sky, and always close to the heavens.
This is why seeing an eagle is a good omen, especially when further from the mountains.

Mandate From Heaven

The elite of the world, particularly higher nobility and the imperial family, claim their right to leadership based on divine favor. They will bathe in holy waters almost daily.
This is generally effective at keeping the masses under control, unless something cataclysmic is to happen. Storms, natural disasters, but especially destructive conflicts, if any of these go wrong, the imperial government is the first to be blamed, which often ends with a change in dynasty.

The Monks

Those who dedicate themselves to this faith are bound to a life of learning, peace, and drinking only the purest of waters. Monasteries can be found in the mountains or even at oases in the desert, anywhere where there is a special connection between the sky and a source of water. These monasteries are built on natural springs or places where water seeps from glaciers. The monks who live there have sworn off earthly desires and pleasures and focus on the act of living, learning, and being. To truly be at peace with the world, one must first be at peace with oneself, and this requires extensive meditation and spiritual training.

Practice

Besides bathing in water and praying at Spira, followers of the Cerulean also make offerings. They do this anywhere under the sky, and offerings are always burned, accompanied by prayer and traditional offering songs. There are many different of these songs, and each is meant to invoke a certain response. There are songs for rain, songs for peace, songs for justice, and many more.

The things that are offered are often either things of great value or things that took great effort to make. Animals may be offered, or crafts, sculptures, or anything else.

The offering flames or is often surrounded by one or more blue stones, lapis lazuli if the offerers can afford it. These stones will be engraved with short prayers, and the name of the individual who is making the offer, and are called offering stones.

Weekly Offerings

When people make offerings in the form of donations to monasteries, these will all be burned during the weekly offering. These offerings at monasteries happen during the weekend, and often attract a great many believers, who make the trek up the mountain to be present for this event. Most people don't go every week, and during times of trouble, or during religious festivals, the monasteries often grow very crowded.

All present may place a personalized offering stone by the fire.

Marriage

Marriages are always performed under the sky, the ceremony itself has to be performed by a monk, at the monastery, next to the Spira. The ceremony involves the young couple drinking the monastery's water from the same bowl.
After the ceremony, there is always a party, often at the couple's family's house. The exact details and level of extravagance depend on the couple's family's level of wealth, and can range from a simple thing with food and drinks, music, and dancing around a fire, to a great feast with bands, and a ball, lasting several days.

Funeral

If birth is the beginning, and marriage is the middle, then death is the end. Yenoans don't burn or bury their dead, but instead offer them to the sky. They take their deceased into the mountains, except if they live further into the desert, and place them on tall wooden structures, with platforms on top.
They lay them to rest, bare and naked, for the sky to see, along with their most treasured belongings.
This is called a sky burial. Often, the corpses are eaten by eagles, which is considered a vital part of moving on.
In the desert, the bodies simply dry out and are preserved by the sun, their skin and bones bleached white.

Judgement

All hearings, political debates, sentencing hearings, and executions have to be held under the open sky, this is so the heavens can see clearly what is going on, and it may object, or show approval in a visual manner right then and there.

Blessing of the Rainbow

During festivals and national celebrations, the elite will spray water into the air, creating vapor, and in turn, a rainbow. They don't have the water to do this for more than a few minutes, but it is often the highlight of the celebration, and it is seen as a blessing from the divine. The government uses this the enforce their claim to a divine mandate.

The Rule of Water

Those who have the ability to control water are revered and respected among the followers of this faith. Since water is sacred, the control of water makes one akin to the divine, and these mages are considered equal to even the greater noble families. Water mages will often join a monastery or become members of the royal imperial water mage community, which holds special regard and influence in the nation of Yeno.

The act of sailing of across the seas is still a strange thing to Yenoans. Traversing across pure water is considered a disrespect, but seawater is far from pure, and therefore it is allowed. The ones who have the most flexible relationship with this are the islanders, specifically the people from Onyef.

Superstitions

There are many secondary beliefs that are seen as superstitions by the more mainstream branches of faith. These are mostly allowed, some of them quite normalized, others frowned upon or even ridiculed.

Water Offerings

When taking a drink, from water, but especially from alcoholic drinks, it is customary in many parts of the nation, especially in the countryside and poorer regions of the cities, to put a few drops on the ground, as an offering. This is supposed to ward off bad luck.

Womb Water

Children are grown and birthed from water, and when the child is born, that water spills. Some people believe that this womb water has special powers, and they collect and drink it, especially the mother herself. This is meant to let her regain strength, and it is supposed to lessen any potentially negative side effects from giving birth and shorten the recovery period.
This is only practiced by small desert villages and nomadic trade caravans, who spend their whole lives among the sands.
In cities, this is seen as a barbaric and outdated custom.

Aquatic Truth

Because water is holy, by many people, especially society's higher-ups, it is seen as a bad omen to lie while submerged in water. This makes the noble bathhouses places of truth and transparency, where much of the nation's politics happen.
This is also why the emperor, or empress, will always invite guests, envoys, and their nobility to the royal bathhouses, making sure they are speaking the truth.
In the lower circles of society, this is not nearly as relevant, and thus, people don't actively believe in this.

Black Red Superstition

In certain parts of society, especially the wealthier parts, menstruating women are often afraid to enter bathhouses. This is because it greatly unsettles people to see the water around a person's nether region turn black or red. Many women, because of this, use certain types of dense cloth in order to prevent this from happening. In some regions, this may even go to the extreme of banning women on their period from entering at all.
This superstition is especially common among the lower nobility and merchant classes, while the higher nobility think they are too good to be bothered by this, and the peasant classes have more pressing matters to worry about.

Reflection of Truth

Some believe that the only way to see someone's true self is by seeing them reflected in still water. This has led some branches of faith to introduce water readings, where monks look into the water to see people's true selves.
This is generally considered nonsense by those who do not practice this.