The Divine Kitchen

When it comes to the origins of faith in Erra itself, one finds certain roots in Oni customs, as Tainuki did not view religion in the same way as the Giants did. It is believed that Fritjof, the Oni responsible for leading other Oni out of the Giant Kingdom, prayed to Erra to help them when food was scarce on their journey, and that led to Oni first putting Erra above other Gods. This was then passed on to local Tainuki, who merged these beliefs with their faith in Izanagi.  

Teachings

Found in his holy text, The Cook's Book, are the teachings that Erra imparts upon his followers surrounding his domains and core tenets.   Among them, there is one teaching that is central to everything:

"Food is never hateful, never violent towards those who approach it with curiosity and hunger, and never rude.

Let us attempt, in our culinary journey, to be like the meals we prepare: open to anyone who may approach us, kind to each person who approaches us without ill-intent, and willing to put aside our own needs for those of people in need."

— Erra, The Cook's Book

  While the domains themselves have not changed much since the founding of the Divine Kitchen, the way they are viewed and taught were changed following reforms to the faith made by its most famous Head Priest, Ishii Daisuke.  

Famine

Erra views famine as the greatest tragedy that can afflict mortalkind. Starvation is a slow and painful death that can cause people to do things they would otherwise never imagine, and so people pray to Erra so that he may prevent or end famine when it begins rearing its head. He is not able to end it directly, but he teaches his followers to always be working to end it. If nothing else, this is what the Divine Kitchen exists for: to end world hunger and make food of all kinds accessible around the world.   Some mistakenly associate Erra himself as the bringer of famine because he is the God of Famine, but this domain is meant to be something he wards against. Still, in some cultures (particularly Orcish tradition in Eastern Udai and the Beastmen of the Key of Beasts), he is seen as an evil force that brings starvation in his wake.   Despite this, Erra stays steadfast in his mission and makes sure his priests always carry on the core practice of ending famine with outreach and, when needed, force. All followers of Erra are part of this battle, either as warriors or citizens caught in the crossfire, or as Erra himself says in his holy text:

"Everyone is part of the Divine Kitchen in one way or another when they devote their lives to Erra. The question is only: are they a dutiful chef or a hungry patron?"

— Erra, The Cook's Book

 

The Gourmet

As part of the fight against famine, Erra is the patron deity of chefs and gourmet food. Most culinary establishments have altars where they pray to Erra before a meal, and Erra is said to make food taste better. It is a tradition in many regions of the world to ask if the chef preparing your dish follows Erra, and some say it's bad luck if they say no, while others see it as a worthless superstition. There is nothing in the texts of Erra asking for sole worship or anything like that. Instead, there is a section of him praising chefs as his frontline soldiers in the war for the soul.  

"I consider those artisans of gastronomy to be of paramount importance to not just this battle against hunger, but the battle for the mortal soul. The culinary arts are not called that by coincidence; it is an art form that expresses the soul of the individual and the broader culture around them, and without it there is no other art, no identity. Chefs fuel the world."

— Erra, The Cook's Book

  The domain of the gourmet is also related to Erra's mission of spreading cultural dishes around the world so that anyone, anywhere, can have anything. While he does love seeing regional dishes, he wishes to see them changed or improved upon in other regions, and for people to have a wider palette.  

Charity

Erra is considered by some to be the "Charitable God", as he tries to relate to mortals (as difficult as that may be for a God), and always asks that people treat each other with kindness and generosity, asking little from each other and giving all that they can.   This domain often puts Erra in direct conflict with Satanael, perhaps moreso than most other Gods (aside from Chernobog, Nergal, Selene, and Izanagi, of course). While those other Gods have personal or cosmic conflicts with Satanael, it is Erra who has the direct ideological conflict with Satanael, and it is centered around their differing domains.   The selfish teachings of the Crimson Court, where the self is something to be worshiped and "the Other" is to be exploited, not only contradict Erra's charity, but necessitate it as an oppositional force that can be taken advantage of for profit and personal gain. Erra asks his followers to forego selfish desires, while Satanael begs for his followers to embrace those desires, leading to a common event between the two: Erra followers giving in and converting to Satanael worship. The inverse is not as common, though it is not right to say it has never happened.   Charity and selflessness should not be mistaken for pacifism or a refusal to push back against these opposing forces. Throughout many generations, warriors and priests of Erra have fought against forces seeking to stop his charitable endeavors, mostly Satanael, Helle, Mimir, and Selene, but also Tsukuyomi, Sia, and the trickster Janus. Despite his supposed intentions to do good for the world, he is met with constant pushback from many divine forces, leading some who do not believe to theorize that Erra is not as charitable as he lets on.   Followers in the Divine Kitchen, however, point to passages like the one below to affirm their faith:

"There is nothing owned that cannot be given to someone who needs it more. Every day, I ask you to evaluate your belongings. What is your life without that? Is it a necessity or a luxury? How many people have that luxury? If, in a pinch, someone needed it, someone who was more in need, could you find it in your heart to part with it?

You must. We must give back, create a culture of kindness so that one day we will be paid back in kind. Share the food off your plate. All the world deserves a taste, for all the world is one community."

— Erra, The Cook's Book

Before the Modern Era, when global transport started to become more common (and then in the period between the Age of Plague and Age of Justice when global travel largely ceased again), these thoughts of global community and charity were laughed at by many, as most people had never even visited another nation, let alone continent. Still, with the modernization of the faith under Ishii Daisuke, this was taken much more seriously.  

Mayhem

Erra is said to be a reasonable God in many respects when it comes to the needs of the people, but he does not respect politics and authority as much as other Gods might. His followers are told to never let any figure of authority get in the way of helping people in need, and many nations blame followers of Erra for times of political instability, saying the God incites mayhem.   Due to this, one of his domains became the very concept of mayhem itself, with Erra embracing it as a way to disrupt the unnerving order of Satanael's bureaucracy and the forces that enforce starvation in oppressed peoples around the world.   The mayhem of Erra is believed by some to be a destructive force that will one day wipe out mortalkind (or at least some humanoid species), though his target is specified to never be collective peoples, but instead organizations and individuals who cause suffering and starvation.  

"The world is not built in the shape I'd have made it. It is skewed in favor of hatred and pain... the doing of folks like Satanael, no doubt. The systems of oppression are tightly wound around us all, from Bang Kruthiwat to the edges of Heaven itself, and if we must destroy everything in order to right these wrongs, then I will be the first to light the stove so that mortalkind may cook up a better future.

Do not fight your neighbor. Remember, give unto them what is needed most, be charitable in everything you do. But there is no charity in the hearts of the oppressor. There is no kindness in the glutton who eats a feast alone while their people starve. There is no good will to be dug out of a spineless swindler's skull. If it is my mayhem they crave, bestow that mayhem on those who deserve it."

— Erra, The Cook's Book

 

Tainuki

While most believe Izanagi created the Tainuki, it is Erra who is considered their patron and protector deity. Some credit this association with the delicious Tainuki cuisine, while others say the correlation is nothing more than coincidence.   Whatever the case, it was faith in Erra and Izanagi that helped the Tainuki reach a deal with the Kamejin for living together on the Abral Islands, and Erra always does his best to help the Tainuki people when they are in trouble (as he does with everyone he can, though the Tainuki get special attention), and a majority of his followers are Tainuki.  

Joint Worship

Following many practices established by Izanagi, Erra's faith intermingles with many others around the world. Unlike Izanagi, who asks to be recognized as supreme above all Gods (even the one someone may personally follow), Erra asks only for faith in him and his mission alongside faith in the other Gods. One does not need to devote their life to Erra just to end hunger, and he hopes to make it a joint effort.   Erra's holy text even includes some other Gods whose domains mesh well with his own, including:

• Izanagi
 
• Mayowa
 
• Ishtar
 
• Papatūānuku
 
• Fortuna

Much of Erra's faith, like Izanagi's, isn't even about worship. Aside from prayers while cooking, one is meant to live life with Erra as part of it, rather than something separated from other regular actions. These Tainuki practices were brought into the faith early on, and while it's unclear if Erra embraces them as much as Izanagi does, it is the standard for many religions around the Abral Islands, and the Divine Kitchen is no different.  

Priesthood

Priests in the Divine Kitchen require only two things: culinary skills and a desire to help others. It is a selfless and demanding position to devote one's life to the pursuit of feeding the hungry and cooking anything and everything. Still, chefs trained around the world (especially at the Culinary Institute in Fukuzumi, right beside the temple) are often sought out and recruited. Some accept and fail to live up to the standards, but those who do manage to follow the teachings well have been some of the most beloved priests in history, most notably the Divine Hero Ishii Daisuke.   To become Head Priest, or Monshu as it's called in the Abrals, one must face Erra himself in a cook-off, judged by all other priests of Erra. If a priest's dish is chosen as better than Erra's by a majority of priests, they are said to hold his blessing and be worthy of representing him on the world stage.   Priests of Erra wear predominantly white outfits, always wearing the typical ceremonial hat, which has become synonymous with chefs. Though most Kamejin don't have hair, the majority of his followers are Tainuki, and this hat was meant to hold back the hair on the top of their heads, as well as protect them from the heat while they cooked. It is stylistically similar to traditional ancient Tainuki hats that have otherwise never spread outside of the Abrals.