The Faith of Stone
The Faith of Stone is a relatively new religion in Vitallia, first emerging among the Sartians. Its exact origins remain shrouded in mystery, though many scholars believe it is tied to the Medai people of Sarta and the wandering Medai caravans that travel across the realm. These nomadic clans trace their beliefs back to ancient traditions—gods they worshipped long before entering Vitallia.
The Medai worship two Gorgonid gods that survived the war against the Polydek. They are secretive about their gods and their relationship to them and they never allow members of other races to witness rituals and prayers. Certain Medai elders perform large gatherings of their people in secluded locations where they perform sacrifices to the Gorgonids and entice them to relocate to Vitallia as their mortal worshipers have done. It’s unknown whether the Gorgonids hear such prayers and entreaties and whether they consider making their abode in Vitallia or not but it is a distinct possibility. The Medai would rather keep this possibility a secret to avoid making enemies of religious vitallians and avoid angering the established gods who could take exception to what the Medai are doing.
Divine Origins
The survival of one of the Polydek deities is a secret kept within a secret. It’s known to a very few Medai and discussed openly by none of them. The reason is that a very few Medai make the mistake of worshiping this Polydek deity, even today. Such a fact could spark a witch hunt in the Medai Nation with catastrophic consequences and it could push even more vulnerable Medai over the edge and into blasphemy. The curse that Medai bear is not just a physical thing that ends at what the eye sees. The Gorgonids and the Progenitors nullified the curse to a large degree but did not eliminate it. The Polydek curse remains an insidious thing, buried deep in the psyche of all Medai. Those that are weak of character and those who become particularly embittered and given to anger, may be led astray by the whispers of the Voice-In-The-Dark. Medai that reach such depths of bitterness, anger or despair that are able to hear the whispers of this malicious deity, experience the first symptom of their blasphemy which is insomnia. If this goes on and the unfortunate Medai gets no help and proves too weak to resist, then madness is often the result. The Medai becomes erratic and violent, his snakes inflict self-injuries and this behavior escalates. Some few Medai avoid this fate and accept the Voice-In-The-Dark into their hearts and so become enemies of their own kind.
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