Satariai

Satariai is believed to have started as an offshoot of the Old Yenai Faith, which held there were multiple divine Mothers guiding humanity, Satar being their chief.   Sometime in the mid- to late- Imperial Age, cults dedicated to Satar began to spring up in southern Zalja (what is now central Khabar). Though these cults were as diverse as their locations, they all held that Satar had visited the earth several times in the past, and that she had come one last time to take her people across the Sea to her Eternal Empire. Some interpret this as a rejection of the Zaljan Empire, which had been founded around two centuries prior. Others make note of the Orckid Empire to the far north, often called the Deathless Empire, and wonder if there is some connection between these two beliefs.   Regardless, these cults persisted, harassing their fellow citizens and developing a bizarre hatred of the Ironhides, a tribal people who lived down in the Cickatrice Peninsula; a few had immigrated into southern Zalja, but not enough for anyone to have noticed before. Emperor Alwed supposedly had the cultists watched by trusted followers, but nothing else is known to have happened.   This all changed when the cults suddenly began to insist that Satar's mortal form had been murdered by the Ironhides. The cults spread farther, insisting the world was doomed and begging (or demanding) that everyone repent. Trade is damaged, and even members of the nobility stared to convert, often using the Ironhides as scapegoats for local problems.   This came to a head when Emperor Alwed's own sister, Irsad, converted to Satariai. She gathered the most powerful believers and their forces and marched on Batsayanjar (then the capitol) and demanded Alwed convert and make Satariai the Imperial religion.   The cult was causing so much strife in the southern regions, which were not of great economic value anyway, and the Emperor and his counselors feared rebellion. As a compromise, the Emperor granted the southern lands to his sister. She assembled a conclave of priests to run it, and the Nation of Irsad was born.   Not long afterward, the Irsadi people rose up and declared a Crusade against the Ironhides, pouring into the Cickatrice Tail Peninsula and wiping them from the earth. This, they said, would prevent Satar from destroying the earth in vengeance for her murder.   Despite this seeming finality, Satariai believers continued to proselytize quite vigorously. In the early 18th Century IA, Empress Ranel II of Zalja famously converted to Satariai, making it the official state religion. Legend says she fell from her horse while crossing the Questing River and experienced a vision. Other suggest her "conversion" was motivated by Satari counselors and fear of the growing influence of Khabar and its religion. It should also be noted that this conversion made Empress Ranel II the religious leader of her nation, in addition to the state leader.   This of course continued to have far-reaching effects. The Yenai War of Independence is often said to have been a reaction against the state religion, and it would not belong before the New Faith made its way to the New World, most prominently in New Yena and Teqsayet.   The First Abhin, Heron Ri Nubul, was invested in the late 19th Century IA, shortly after the end of the Ran Dynasty. The Abdhin was deemed the supreme leader of the Satari Faith, and steadily grew so powerful as to overtop the Empire and recreate Zalja as an Abhinate: this would herald the transition from the Imperial Age to what is now called the Royal Age.   It further precipitated the investment of the Khabarese Abhins. Unlike the Zaljans, the Khabarese Abhins renamed themselves after desirable traits: the first Khabarese Abhin was named Honesty.   Around 330 RA, an enormously popular Khabarese Abhin named Humility managed to combine these two disparate entities after the death of Herodomus Ben Aza, the Last Zaljan Abhin. Since that time, all Satari take their moral and religious instruction from the Abhin in the Holy Solulan, a sacred city in far western Khabar, near to Zalja (and not all that far from Yena, it must be said).   Since this time, the Faith has existed in largely the same form. A discussion of its history would be incomplete, however, without at least mentioning the Crusades. Khabar would occupy part of the Milosian Peninsula for two-hundred years in an attempt to convert them to Satariai. Zalja, meanwhile, staged five separate Crusades over the course of two centuries, at almost exactly the same time. Twice they attacked the backwater nation of Yena and were inexplicably repelled. Twice they attacked Monos to the east in an attempt reclaim some cities that were taken centuries ago; this two ended in failure. The Fifth Zaljan Crusade into Yaalk had some success, occupying most of the nation for several decades before an anticlimactic retreat that has never been adequately explained.   Modern conversion is much slower, but still fervent and sincere. Drifters still roam the Milosian Peninsula, and some have sailed all the way around it to make headway in Vaina. Most zealots look to the west, however, hoping to convert the rest of the far lands to their beliefs. Time will tell if Satar's Star continues to rise.