The Origins of Morivian Religion
All very interesting but this scholarship aids us not a bit when it comes to keeping a good relationship with your household's god. A godsman should focus on these practicalities rather than trying to invent forgotten history.
It is well recorded that the collapse of the Marivan Empire which was the trigger for the emigration of the people who became the Morivians was accompanied by the collapse of the official religion of the empire, a cult largely based on the imperial family, though supplemented by gods associated with specific localities. It would be easy to assume that the religious observances we see today were what emerged to fill that vacuum, perhaps through a re-emergence of the locality based gods. This superficial view unfortunately fails to explain why the 3 waves of migration from Marivar to Tarusia, from three different parts of the empire should have so much detail in common - not just the very specific (household or similar) focus of each god but many of the rituals, extending even to the types of detail.
Recent studies among the Taru of the northern wastes and the barrier mountains (and even the Monkin ) have indicated similarities between Morivian and Taru observances which point to the first two theories as being more profitable starting points for further study.
Three explanations have been put forward over the years in an effort to explain this and whilst all have their proponents none provide a full explanation.
This is Tarusia
The differences between the continents in terms of flora, fauna, geology and so on point to each being a distinct environment operating to its own rules. the "This is Tarusia" school of students of religious practice holds that the commonality of religious practice across the different ethnic and even special groups of Tarusia reflects the underlying nature of the continent and the entities that are its gods. The only religion that works here will be the ones that align with the gods here and so after a few centuries or millenia we should expect the religious views and practices to have many similarities.
Pro: Extends beyond the human to the believed original indigenous sapient species of Tarusia.
Con: Fails to explain the more "integrated" religion of the Sutrans .
Common Origin
The study of the wider human populations of Challaria points to them all originating from Marivar, with three waves of migration. The most recent is that which brought the Morivians to Tarusia; the second bringing the Taru and the first bringing the Sutrans (though they remained on Uq until after the Morivian expansion was well underway). The household gods of the Morivians and the locality gods of the Taru are, in this explanation, evolutions of the general religious practices of Marivar prior to the cataclysm that overwhelmed the southern civilisation linked to Pshoo.
Pro: Is consistent with some of the tribal groups still resident in the southern parts of Marivar.
Con: Doesn't account for the similarities with Monkin observances.
Filling the Void
Though the destruction of the Marivan Empire removed the underpinnings of their religion the culture of the empire was fairly homogenous - regional differences yes, but recognisably a single culture. This view sees the common cultural background as the reason why even as they dispersed to Tarusia their common cultural inheritance meant that the psychological gap left by the collapse of the empire and its religious practices meant that they responded similarly and thus whether Mor, Torren Tamb or Murgh the practices that emerged were recognisably similar.
Pro: None now acknowledged by scholar of these matters.
Con: Doesn't account for the similarities with the Taru (or Monkin) or the nomads of southern Marivar who were never fully integrated into the empire admninistratively or culturally.
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