Pratasam

Pratasam is one of the oldest faiths in the world, dating back to Lily of Red's ascension in the early days of the Divine Era. It is the religion of druids, of sacred oaths, of determined missionaries and sacred war. It reveres Halcyon as the supreme deity, but envisions a world abundant with spirits and lesser gods ultimately inferior to Halcyon but worthy of mortal supplication.
Pratasam's ancient lineage grants it a uniquely rich and well-documented series of traditions and rituals. It has categorized thousands of lesser gods and includes great tomes of ancient ritual. The calendar is overflowing with holidays (though regions vary on which are actually given importance) and the language of the priesthood is completely detached from that of everyday speech (both in terms of traditional language and theological lingo). It revels in its age, claiming to be the first (and therefore most valid) religion in the world. And while the list of Pratasam's gods happily expand to include those of other traditions, the faith demands absolute philosophical (and political) obedience- for rituals, worship, and cosmologically not explicitly ordained by the Archdruids are direct paths to eternal torment. Only the blazing fires of conquest can liberate foreigners from their destinies in hell.
Pratasam is also a very fractious religion, with a long history of schism and division. It is the faith from with Halikvar and Areto emerged, and has notable influence over Sumoxa and Rueka. Even in its much-divided state, it is divided into factions.

Structure

The Eteza faction puts more legitimacy in the circle of Archdruids, while the Prikia faction envisions it as more of 

Title	Role	Selected By
Archdruid	Form a supreme council of ten that direct the faith	The archdruids select their replacements
Sualkoa or Elder	Regional leadership; most of the actual policy power	Nominated by Elders, confirmed by Archdruids
Master Alkoa	Leadership of local temple clusters; managing large urban centers	Chosen by Elders, but follows a seniority protocol
Alkoa	Manage temples, basic unit of sacredness	All Initiates who master druidism and obey the archdruids are alkoa
Common Priest	Paid help and lay scholars who do most of the actual work	Alkoa

Culture

Pratasa Fashion and Faith

Self identification and signaling is important among the Pratasa. While correct belief is the most important theological tenant in Pratasa, that belief must be proudly proclaimed in dress and custom to be valid. It is only by living that belief that you can prove your devotion and triumph over doubt. The standard way of demonstrating your commitment to Pratasa doctrine is through the Suhafa Bow: a knot of two differently colored scarves, ropes, or ribbons that represents one's covenant with the Gods. Worshipers typically have a number of Suhafa that they wear on different occasions, ranging from common cloth or rope bracelets or bandannas to ornate silk ribbons.
Suhafa aren't the only forms of religious self-identification employed by Pratasa communities. Less common forms of public devotion include wearing laurels or animal-bone brooches bearing religious symbology, and even the tattooing of verses or ritual symbols.
Complicating all this are Pratasa status restrictions: it is important to show that you are Pratasa instead of foreign, but you also need to declare if you are a holy leader or an obedient follower- which can be an important legal distinctions. Followers are expected to wear pants at all times rather than robes or dresses, which are reserved for priests and aristocrats. Pants represent mobility, shepherding, and agricultural labor; robes and dresses represent study, meditation, and discussion. These garments have taken on much more of class divisions than gender divisions as a result.

Species Preference: Dryads First, But Shared with Humans

Pratasam has put a great deal of effort into creating a balance society that values both human and dryad food and resource use. Pratasa cuisine and rituals are based around what food humans and dryads can share, and human and dryad villages are encouraged to intermingle and share each other's land (with humans allowing limited dryad use of fields while fallow, and dryads raising crops that have edible byproducts for human use). Dryads are generally seen as closer to Halcyon, but humans that have converted to Pratasam are seen as having been inherently forgiven and purified of their natural sin (which would otherwise condemn them to Hell). Treatment of heathen humans is worse than heathen dryads for this reason, but generally any human that accepts the Covenant of Heaven is acceptable in society as a full person.
Prisms, meanwhile, are naturally creatures of Earth and are seen as spiritually drawn towards Akada. Prisms in Pratasa communities are seen as inherently suspicious unless they are well-embedded into the social hierarchy.
Cats are seen as sentient but "beastlike" and therefore without an individual soul (as they belong to nature's collective soul). To accept a cat as a person is to violate their true nature and is therefore socially unacceptable. Pearl Pangolins were seen the same way until relatively recently. Kobolds are often shunned in Pratasa lands as dangerous and inherently cruel, but there are exceptional Kobolds who have successfully integrated into Pratasa communities.

History

The history of Pratasam is incredibly long and deeply intertwined with local politics. Please see the timeline for a more in-depth historical listing.

The Blessed Covenant and the First Schisms

In 1300s DE (in the earliest days of the Architects), the rich and abundant riverlands of Samvara were fiercely contested. Native semi-nomadic human groups heavily intermingled with migrating mixed human-dryad nomads as tribes and peoples of all sorts sought a home on the riverbanks and in the oases. But many critical river junctions were held by the Prism-dominated semi-subterranean cities of early Akada, who lived sedentary and highly-ordered lives. These cities sought to prevent migration and often subjugated trespassing peoples into forced labor. Desperate nomads hoped to unite against them, but the diverse and distant tribes struggled to find common ground. From their ranks rose a false prophet named Lily of Red, whose growing success attracted the attention of Halcyon. Halcyon stepped in and offered her powers of Druidism if she served the Architects, and she used these powers to unite the river peoples and forge a united identity. The cave cities agreed to keep to themselves and the world was split in two between the surface peoples and those below. The religion of Lily became Suweskivar, the people of the Blessed Covenant. Suweskivar spread across the surface of the continent, but quickly faced internal divisions over who was to follow what religious laws. Halcyon had placed magical restrictions on Alkoa/druids to limit the destruction they could cause with their powers- but should these model the laws of everyday people? Those of Lily's tribe, the Dawara -known now as the Halikvar- believed so. The other tribes felt that the Halikvar were too extreme and worked to isolate them from the greater whole. The vulnerable Halikvar were attacked by Suewskivari and Akadan invaders alike, and fled Eastward. Those who remained Westward became the Pratasa.
Following the departure of the Halikvari, the Pratasa sought to create a structure for mediating disputes more constructively. They created an annual meeting of the greatest druids, known as the Circle of Archdruids, intended to moderate and mediate the religion. But the Circle focused its attention almost solely on the Southwestern riverlands. As the religion expanded across the continent, many offshoots were neglected by the circle. Infighting began again over what Pratasam truly was and who qualified as a true believer. The greatest divergence were those of the Northeast, who belonged to a totally different religious tradition. They had converted, but kept many of their gods and practices- and their distance from the riverlands had left them largely neglected. For centuries they were ignored but when the Empire of Shenerem emerged and gathered its own Circle of Northern Archdruids in the 32 ME the riverlands entered a rage. In 50 ME, the Circle of Archdruids of Pratasam officially exiled the souls of the Shenerem Archdruids to Hell, and crafted a careful definition of what Pratasam was. Interestingly, it was largely based on belief rather than ritual- though they belief had to be backed up by devotion and identity. The Northeastern Archdruids remained their own separate offshoot for centuries, and despite brief a communion in 302 ME and a "pact of peaceful coexistence and reintegration" made in 736 ME, the Eastern temple only drifted further and further. In 1105, the Eastern temple officially declared itself entirely independent of either Halikvar or Pratasam, and embraced its identity as its own religion. It is now known as Areto.

The Lunar Crisis

While Lily of Red holds a position of immense honor in Pratasam, she was proven fallible and limited by the failures of her descendants- her age is over. This didn't stop her from trying to seize control of the Pratasa religion in the 400s, 500s, 600s, and 700s ME. It began with a pact made in 410 ME with the prodigy druid Bashaba, who swore they would serve Lily for life in exchange for knowledge and power. Bashaba a powerful and influential Elder Druid as they rose in the ranks, and through them Lily was able to secure power over the ruling and priestly classes of the powerful riverlands kingdom of Swemet. Lily aggressively backed Swemet, which rose as an empire and asserted her will on the council of Archdruids. But as Lily's influence rose, her opposition grew. Other Lunar gods began intervening with other Elder Druids, and coalitions against Swemet took on a religious aspect as well as a political one. War swept across Pratasam as the Gods fought for control. Even worse, the Gods seemed to appeal to and trust their species over others- and fear began to spread that the Lunar Gods would destroy the fragile species-equality that Pratasam kept. Excessive loyalty to only one faction of Lunar Gods became taboo among many sects, and the other Lunar Gods united to back this movement - to both undo the damage they had done and to deny Lily her empire.
Ultimately, Lily struggled to keep permanent control of any region or faction other than Swemet- and empires cannot last forever. As the empire declined in infighting and corruption, Lily seized direct control of Swemet in 698 ME. The isolated empire lashed out in a series of terrible wars against other Elder Druids and against the Akada empires that supported them. In 726, a failed campaign against the under-empires led to Swemet losing its army. In 730, it had completely fallen, and Lily's dream was crushed.
The Lunar Crisis represented both the start of anti-Lunar-Cult attitudes in Pratasam and the end of any hope of reuniting with Halikvar (and to a lesser extent, Areto). While Lily's primary goal was power, her grand vision was the reuniting of the three temples into one religion with a clear doctrine and authority.

The War of Three Circles

After the Circle of Archdruids rejected the guidance of the Lunar Pantheon in shaping their doctrine and authority, they were left to try and create a permanent system themselves. Unsurprisingly, no one could agree on the best system- but two priestly factions emerged. These factions remain the primary divide in Pratasam today, as they have taken many forms and many names. Here, their many manifestations will be referred to under the umbrella terms of Prikia and Eteza. Prikia is the faction of tradition and decentralization. They see ritual and tradition as the ultimate manifestation of enlightenment, with belief and technical definitions of truth being less important. Prikia priests see the meetings of elder priests as the ultimate form of discussion between equals and the only form of true authority. Eteza disagrees. The Eteza faction is the faction of order and truth. They see ritual as a way to reinforce belief, but not important in itself. Etezan priests typically support a constant Circle of Archdruids ruling over the faithful to police dogma and guide the faithful as a whole.
While the early Etezans were better organized and more powerful within the religion, they suffered from constant infighting. Where would this permanent ruling Circle be located, how would it be organized, who would it represent and who would it leave out? These questions dominated most discussions, leaving the Etezans virtually motionless for centuries. But while the priests were stuck in eternal debate, the monarchs acted. While the fall of Swemet had left the riverlands region (that of Empria) divided, it had sown the seeds for several significant successors. From 800 to 920, one kingdom seemed destined to unite the riverlands entirely: the Kingdom of Emiet, which crowned itself the Empire of Empria in 905. The Kingdom of Emiet supported the Etezans and envisioned itself as the leader of Pratasam: and its rise to power deeply worried many of the other Pratasa kingdoms. After Emiet lost its war against the rising Selkie Empire, the surrounding lands piled on to dismantle it. But while they managed to butcher the imperial family of Emiet in 910 ME, their efforts to destroy the kingdom were cut short by selkie intervention. It seemed certain that Empria would collapse back into feuding minor kingdoms- but the Etezan druids felt otherwise. The most powerful of them, Elder Druid Kanita, seized direct control. Offering to supply the Selkie empire with troops, they were able to court selkie support and establish absolute control over all of Empria. Kanita tried several times to find a good royal family to take over the actual administration, but ultimately crowned herself empress in 920 ME. Her royal line quickly died out, but the Etezan faction was greatly emboldened and they seized direct control of the government in 980 ME. They formed their own permanent Circle of Archdruids and demanded all Elder Druids of Pratasam bow to the rightful rulers of the True Faith.
The Declaration of Supremacy of 980 threw Pratasam back into civil religious war. Empria was again invaded from its surrounding kingdoms, but everywhere factions of Etezans and Prikia fought one another for dominance. In 982, a faction of mostly-Prikia druid-priests that had organized to end a brutal civil war in the Kingdom of Maruva (known originally as the White Dove Movement) used their organization to turn against the Declaration of Supremacy and make their own Circle of Archdruids that issued its own Declaration of Supremacy. In 984, a separate group of Etezans that agreed with the idea of a permanent Circle but felt that the Emprians were unfairly excluding non-riverlands priests formed their own Circle of Archdruids in the Northwest with its own Declaration of Supremacy. The three circles battled for dominance in a three-way religious war from 980 ME to 1040 ME. The wars began to wind down after the Etezans factions agreed on a compromise in 1032 and united against the Prikians- invading Maruva and destroying the White Dove Circle in 1040. But even after the wars wound down, Prikian and Etezan clerics and nobles fought each other on-and-off for decades. Prikian priests finally accepted the Circle's authority and joined the greater druidic assembly in 1150, with some stragglers fighting on until 1200.

The Druidic Revolution

While the Circle's authority was unanimously recognized in 1200, the infighting never truly stopped. The questions of who would be represented and who was truly Pratasa remained only partially answered. The Prikian compromise allowed for Elder Druids to largely manage their own affairs, and the Etezan compromise placed the Circle in an island that was de-facto Selkie territory. Many felt that the Circle needed to be doing more: everywhere, the enemies of the faithful grew in power and numbers.
In 1300, that discontent boiled over in what is now known as the Druidic Revolution. It began as a political movement in Empria to overthrow the monarchy and to give power to a group of young druids and scholars. But its success in Empria turned into a challenge against the Circle, demanding action and representation. The small, cautious, and conservative clique of ruling druids was seen as out of touch, illegitimate, corrupt, and unfair. In 1302, the Revolution spread out of Empria and seized control of the Circle Headquarters. Several archdruids even joined the revolutionaries, seizing unilateral control of the circle.
From 1302 to 1320, the revolutionary factions fought for control before the old imperial family returned to retake their throne. The divided and weakened revolutionaries lost control over Empria and by 1400 most theocratic revolutionary movements had faded in enthusiasm. The revolution may have been a failure in creating Utopian governments, but it did radicalize the Circle, increase its powers, and introduce the representation of lower priests. From 1310 onwards, Pratasam became more aggressive and evangelical. Efforts to invade lands devoted to Ayshanism and the foreign lands of Garadel increased dramatically. Policing of Pratasam cultural norms and dogma also increased dramatically. All of this expansion and aggression came at a cost- notably, the loss of the Rueka faith, which formally splintered from the radical revolutionary definitions of Pratasam in 1302 and never returned to the fold.

Mythology & Lore

The Creation of the Universe

In the beginning there was only the Goddess Halcyon, who walked among the endless possible worlds outside of time. She meditated and performed three sacred rituals: one of humility creating The Hidden One, one of cleansing creating The Masked One, and one of strength creating The Chimera. These companions bowed before her and with their excitement begged Halcyon to create the world- and so she did, with them by her side.

The First World

Before this world and its great civilizations, there were many ancient peoples that populated the magical and heroic first world. The people were stronger, lived for many centuries, and had access to great magical arts and technological wonders now lost to us. They spoke one language given directly to them by Halcyon, and the Gods often intervened to commune directly with them. There were countless races and species intended to intermingle and mix- but over time they withdrew from one another and fought for dominance. Their magical arts were turned to evil, and they attempted to storm heaven itself to seize power from Halcyon. The monarchs who sought to do this had their great island cities sunk into the sea, and their terrible depredations were enough to convince the lesser Gods that something needed to be done. The more the Gods looked upon the evil acts of the world the more horrified they became- and so they agreed to wipe the world clean and start anew.
One of the wisest and most powerful of the Gods, Sanadi the River Goddess, felt pity for mortalkind. She concocted a plan to save the most pious and innocent creatures of the first world: she would send a great flood to wipe the world clean, but she would have the three most pious mortals built great boats to survive on: Dalima the Kind, a dryad from the kingdom of Etenisa (Kingdom of Trees Ebenbu the Strong, a Prism of Sibar (the Underlands and Efna the Wise, a Solar from Shaynessa (the Land of Sun). They would gather the animals, plants, and spirits that were humble enough to submit themselves to the Gods so that they would be saved. Most lands, when offered a place on these arcs if they submitted to the Gods, laughed off the idea. Only one other people took it seriously: the Human kingdom of Ememu, which was ruled by three brothers. The three brothers were all powerful heroes, but they were shrewd and clever. Aiter, the oldest and most powerful, decided to use this foreknowledge to swim to the bottom of the sea and steal the pelt of an otter spirit to become the first selkie; Manibu, the youngest and strangest, decided to abandon human form altogether and led his people into the sea to become octopeople. Only the middle child, Desmater, submitted to the Gods and boarded the arc of Dalima.
As the floodrains poured, the three arcs were told to sacrifice their greatest treasures when they walked back onto land. All creatures aboard agreed. But when the waters receded, Desmater rescinded his word. Scripture has competing stories as to why: some say his spouse gave birth to a child on the arc and as it was his greatest treasure he could not bear to sacrifice it. Others say that he promised to sacrifice a silver bull but at the sacrifice, the bull whispered to him that it knew the secrets of Druidism without the cost- and so he hid the bull and tried to sacrifice a false bull covered in silver paint (and that the actual bull was stolen by Aida, which is why selkies can kill as druids without limitation). Either way, Desmater's failure is why humans go to Purgatory by default, but the other races go to Paradise.

The Covenants and Redemption of the World

The three arcs settled into three lands: the paradise glades of Enivara for the dryads, the mountain paradise of Samvara for the Prisms, and the glass deserts of Tejoro for the Solars. From their, many tribes left and wandered across the world- and all was good. But over time, the three lands fell into darkness. The Solars abandoned their land entirely, failing to value its beauty and abundance. The Dryad kingdom crumbled from infighting and chaos, with tribes fighting for land and glory. The Prism kingdom fell to tyranny, as the terrible tyrant Amater Stone-Fist began practicing magical cannibalism to steal the youth and joy from those below him and ruling as an immortal tyrant-mage. Many dryads and humans who fled to Samvara were terribly enslaved. The Dawara tribe, the royal family of the fallen kingdom of Enivara, eventually decided to visit this land of Samvara and negotiated with Amater.
They found a Samvara that was much reduced to desert and flame. Amater's forge was like a volcano, his palace larger than mountains, his armies shackled in brass engraved with his name. Only the riverlands were safe, but barely so. The riverlands, abundant and holy as they were, were under attack by Amater's cruel forces. The many peaceful tribes, that had congregated in the thousands (even millions) were slaughtered for sport and cruelly enslaved to work in the deep mines below Amater's volcanic forge. Lily of Red, the Dawara princess, was the first to combine Halcyon's bravery, wisdom, and cunning- and she used miracles and tricks alike to keep her people and the riverlands safe. As she waged her impossible war, she was visited by Halcyon herself in the form of a massive spectral dryad.
The goddess bestowed upon Lily druidic powers and great wisdom, saying "I do not act in this world, but I understand; I have seen the blessed point of your original heritage, where you come from now. This power I grant is not to fight in lesser skirmishes, but to defend goodness and win. Cease your lesser battles." When Lily asked if peace was what Halcyon desired, the goddess chided her "A desert is peaceful. Peace will make this a desert. No peace is simple, and this peace would be violent. No, your holy violence is peace instead. Now finish the war and bring order to the land; take in all who come to you; understand and live in harmony with the world, give and take. Build your harmonious land, but the disharmony of the world cannot be rectified by you alone." And so Lily built an army of every race, marching in harmony upon Amater's fortress. With her glorious magic she tore down his mountain-palace and forge, leaving pits where mountains stood. Nature returned where she walked, and the children of Amater knelt in deference to Halcyon. Halcyon descended once more to make with Lily the Covenants- the arrangements for each group to live in harmony. The underground monarchs could continue as long as they remained underground; the creatures of the sea would remain there and live in competition; all others would go to Lily's holy society. Those who failed to fit into those three Covenants would not see the fruits of paradise after death, as they would fall away from the divine spiritually.
For decades, Lily ruled the surface of Samvara. After her death, the Dawara returned to civil war, just as they had in ancient Enivara. Their wars wracked Samvara, and in their pride they sought to crown themselves Gods. Rather than allow them to pervert Halcyon's teachings and destroy yet another land, the holy disciples of Lily gathered together to drive them out. They fled to the East, where they now reigns as the Halikvar - worshiping their queens as living Goddesses and living in decadent heresy.

Cosmological Views

The Tiered World

There is more to the world than Paradise and there is worse in this world than Purgatory. The world has five tiers of existence: True Heaven, the residence of Halcyon and the final destination of the truly good; Paradise, the waiting area for the souls of the good; the Mundane World of the living; Purgatory, the waiting area for the souls of the unjudged or unworthy; and True Damnation, the final destination of the truly unworthy. All souls eventually make their way to one of the two ends of this spectrum- bliss or damnation. Some say that souls in stasis in Paradise are the shells left behind by those who have been successfully taken to either bliss or damnation; others say that they will only ascend or descend when Halcyon opens the Gates to the final destinations.

Demons and Witchcraft

While there are no evil gods, there are punitive gods and destructive spirits. Purgatory is full of demons that exist to torment mortals and will continue to do so creatively if summoned into this world. This does not make them morally evil- they are performing their purpose, just in the incorrect area. That said, they will bribe mortals with offers of power if the mortal will serve as an anchor for them to slip into the material world. There are limited mortals in Purgatory and unlimited demons there, after all- many demons are never able to perform their purpose in purgatory and therefore seek to torment here instead.
Mortals who accept these pacts are known as witches or warlocks. The demons they summon range from monsters to Leviathans to plague spirits to minor spirits of misfortune. Heretics and heathens will also summon demons as a way to immorally seize power. For these reasons, magic must be carefully kept within the ruling classes- hedge magic is a potential path to demon summoning (and may even be demonic itself). Similarly, warlocks are entirely demonic and are a blight upon the world that must be exterminated. Untrained users of The Divine Contact can also get demons masquerading as Lunar Gods instead of the actual thing- the accuracy of the Divine Contact is entirely dependent on purity of ritual and belief of the caster.

The Pantheon

While Halcyon is the Supreme Being, there are many lesser gods that are flawed but worth praying to:

• Sanadi, Goddess of Rivers, healing, fertility, renewal, and forgiveness
• Shepara, Goddess of the Sun, inspiration, magical power, knowledge, secrets, and truth
• Azerata, the Goddess of Storms, War, Valor, and the Hunt
• Zurama and Yarzata, the twin Goddesses of the Moons, dance, movement, change, beauty, prophecy, and wealth
• Gratik, the Serpent-God of Punishment, Disease, Destruction, Justice, and Oaths
• The Triad, Goddesses of Ghosts, death, creation, fate, and rulership

Tenets of Faith

• Know Your Place: Those who are willing to take the moral responsibility to decipher good and evil must bear the consequences of their actions and beliefs and exist as moral paragons. Everyone else must only obey them, but must obey them absolutely
• Your Word is Your Soul: The Covenant is a pact with heaven. If you make any similar pacts and break them in day-to-day life, you are demonstrating how little you care about agreements. Since it is on your word alone that you will do good, you must keep your word whenever you make an oath or pact
• No Violence Against Fellow Faithful: To spill the blood of a fellow true believer is a terrible sin. Even those who do it righteously must ask for purification and forgiveness
• Protect Nature: The sacred spaces of nature must be preserved. While much of the world can be used for industry, set aside sacred spaces with every community
• Honor the Divine Nature of All Things: Killing is bad, torture is bad, prejudice on species lines is bad
• Tolerate No False Religions: Heresy and Heathenry are paths to eternal damnation and demonic witchcraft. Priests who do not accept the true faith are vessels of damnation and have given up their humanity. Destroy them, and take their followers as captives to work in penance

Ethics

Elite Salvation

Pratasam is unique from other Suheskivari faiths (ie Halikvar and Areto ) in its principle of Elite Salvation. Elite Salvation is the idea that you don't need to necessarily uphold a certain level of goodness or correct belief as long as you act in absolute obedience to someone who does. After all, good behavior stems from good belief and knowledge, but not everyone can achieve good knowledge. So if you don't have proper education or knowledge and you have the humility to accept that, you can accept the guidance of someone who does have proper knowledge and derive your goodness from them.
Spiritually, this makes two categories of believers: leaders and followers. Leaders must obey druidic law: they must avoid touching blood, they must avoid eating the meat of mammals, they must devote a certain part of their time to study. Leaders must seek penance through public displays of self-punishment if they fail or lapse in their goodness. Those who lack the humility to seek such forgiveness must face terrible punishment, which is often public. Monarchs, priests, magicians, and aristocrats are all examples of leaders in Pratasam.
Followers, meanwhile, must openly show their lower status as a constant sign of humility. They must not accept positions of power reserved for leaders, and they must obey when their leaders make demands. Evil that is ordered by a corrupt leader to a follower is not morally culpable for that follower.
As followers are spiritually bound to their leaders, it is the moral duty of good leaders to defeat heretical or heathen leaders and seize their followers for their own.
If a realm is in disarray, Pratasam legalism looks at one of several sources: Failures of Leadership, Failures of Obedience, or Enemy Action. If failures of obedience cannot be proven, a leader can be condemned by other leaders (such as priests) to be either a failure of leadership or enemy action. This is a dangerous place for a leader to be, as even the possibility of a failure in leadership opens a prince or priest to either conquest by other Pratasa leaders or righteous uprisings by their followers.

Worship

While individual prayer and ritual is worthy and pious, true connection to the divine requires a priest. Specially designated non-magical laypriests can also fulfill this role as long as they are ritually blessed and deputized. In order to provide consistent access to the divine, communities meet with priests or priest deputies every week. There is no specific day of the week this is done, and communities often negotiate their own arrangements with specific priests and temples.
Priests and leaders have specific daily prayer and study requirements that are typically performed at dusk and dawn.

Priesthood

Alkoa Priests are notable for their green-and-red robes, and sometimes red-brown body paint. Alkoas train under a master Alkoa in classes of 3 to 9 at a time as initiates. Alkoan initiates wear brown-red plain robes. Alkoa priests take vows to only hold land jointly through the temple. They are free to have children, but they will not inherit unless they become spellcasting alkoa as well. Master Alkoa wear red robes trimmed with yellow and green and have the same vows. Elders and Archdruids wear purple trim.
Alkoa priests can only marry with the explicit permission of their superiors. Their superiors also have power over inheritance. Archdruids alone have full freedom over their own affairs.

Sects

In terms of political factions, there are three primary priestly factions with their own traditions and schools of thought: 

• Eteza Pratasam, or All-Promise Pratasam, which focuses on discerning the objective truth of the universe, enforcing true belief, educating as many people as possible in the true belief, and placing all power into a top-down hierarchy and bureaucracy
• Prikia Pratasam, or First Way Pratasam, which focuses on upholding tradition, keeping alive old cultural practices, honoring the past, allowing for regional flexibility, and taking power away from the top-down hierarchy
• Zavanra Pratasam, or Golden Road Pratasam, which is mostly found in Garadel. Zavanra follows Garadek religious traditions of using priests as merchant and trade coordinators. Zavanra Pratasam seeks stronger regional hierarchies (less power to communities but not all power to central command), values power and belief, and seeks pragmatic approaches. 

There are also orders and groups within Pratasam.

• The Order of Suhistika is a monastic order of all-dryad healers that values lives saved over magical power. They are popular in urban centers as health coordinators and act as missionaries abroad. They are known for their famous red veils and gloves. 
• The Keepers of The Twice Bound Covenant are an order of selkie priests and missionaries of high esteem. 

Founding Date

-1050 DE

Type

Religious, Organised Religion

Demonym

Pratasa

Permeated Organizations

• Kingdom of Empria
• Kingdom of Marsham

Deities

• Halcyon
• Lily of Red

Location

Samvara

Official Languages

• Emprisaran Language

Related Ranks & Titles

• Hierophant
• Alkoa

Related Plots

• Last Stop