Zesheko

Along the Western coast of Samvara and throughout Garadel it is not uncommon to see them: hooded travelers wearing strange porcelain or wooden masks, their faces covered. Beneath these masks are weaves of cloth and some masks even have glass lenses for the eyes. Some masks are plain, with light robes or a tunic; others are engraved marvelously and paired with a large cloak. Their ships are often painted black, white and red and sail second only to The Khilaia. Their temples are gated and guarded, and often deny outsiders any view inside. Selkies are taught to fear and hate them- these are the pelt thieves, the skin takers, the hunters in the dark who take those who wander too far from their crew.
Beneath all the fearful tales outsiders tell of them, the Zesheko are a people who simply seek peace. Their Holy Hunters of Norinar do hunt rogue selkies and take their pelts, this is true, but they do so only when those selkies cause damage to local groups. And while their temples and cities are closed to outsiders at first, guests who are willing to follow their rules are allowed inside. And their suspicions towards outsiders comes from a long history of resisting invasion and exploitation.
The core concept of Zesheko is simple: the world is corrupt and dangerous and communities must come together to create safe havens of purified space to live in safely. To travel behind these safe havens is to risk disease or spiritual corruption, so true believers must cover their faces, hide their true names, and practice careful sanitation rituals when abroad. When at home, careful ritual is used to prepare their living bodies for safe journies into the afterlife, where they will walk together and protect one another until they reach paradise.
Selkies fleets, as relentless and militaristic as they are, are particular dangers not only to Zesheko communities but other peaceful lands. The Zesheko having the most experience with them creates an obligation for mutual aid with other groups that find themselves raided or oppressed by Selkie military might.
In terms of worship the Zesheko view the world as ruled by associated elemental spirits of good and ill, but above all the rest is Death. Death and endings come to all things, even the land itself. The path to the underworld lies in the ocean, which is eternally dying and reborn- the sea is both Death's domain and the first great obstacle for any spirit. As a God of Ghosts and Oceans, The Masked One is worshiped as the God of Gods known as Alima (who splits into Ozima the Laughing, Ozara the Crying, and Ozualo the Furious). It would be a mistake to call the religion "monotheistic" as many gods are revered or acknowledged, but the Zesheko see Alima is something of a patron deity
In terms of ways of living, Zesheko communities tend to have a default that assumes close human-Dryad intermingling and cooperation, leading to a growing population of Half-Dryads. Prisms are not unwelcome, but are usually kept to their own insular communities with their own separate church structure.

Structure

The Supreme leaders of Zesheko are the Prophet-Empress of Zeshema (for stately matters) and the Triumvirate (for ritual and bureaucratic matters). The Triumvirate are the three highest priests of Zesheko, with the replacement chosen by the prior holder. Each represents one of Alima's three aspects (and has the unique privilege to dress in those outfits, typically for ceremonial re-enactments of holy stories). The Triumvirate are considered ritually possessed by Alima, and divinely inspired.
Reporting directly to the Triumvirate are the Vicars and the Speakers. Vicars manage Zesheko communities outside of Zesheko dominated states, with Harbingers acting as priests directly underneath them to manage local communities in migration or flux. The Speakers act as religious advisors and managers for Zesheko-majority countries that are not Zeshema, and beneath them the Anointed manage districts or major cities in Zesheko-dominated states.
Beneath all of this structure are the priests, which are selected by the Anointed or Harbinger/Vicar, but must be confirmed by the community to be considered valid.

History

In the early days of history, there was no unified Zeshem people, religion, or even large cities in the region now known as Zeshema. Settled villages around the seven major rivers of West Larazel traded with the patchwork of semi-nomadic migratory peoples as part of a large cultural-trade group. Magical items from Garadel would travel through these lands slowly to Samvara, making the area reasonably wealthy in trade but still largely isolated. This changed with the arrival of Selkie traders from the North in 606 ME.

The Plundering of Zeshema

In 606 selkie traders first arrived in the modern day holy lands of Zesheko, following the Southern star of Daykai- an omen promising great riches Southward. For eighty years, contact with the selkie fleets was minimal and contained. But the selkie trade zone was growing and building outposts all through that time and in 690 ME, a great fleet arrived. It was headed by the infamous admiral Nualoa, a woman of immense greed and ambition who viewed the coastal populations as divided, militarily weak, and occupying prime real estate at the gateway to Garadel. While Khilaian policy for the last 500 years had been to befriend and then assimilate with coastal non-urban groups (who were too mobile to effectively fight but useful to befriend), the equatorial tropics to the North acted as a wall that made the Khilaia distant. Far from their policies and treaties, Nualoa envisioned herself the queen of a new Selkie march taken by force. Immense labor would be necessary for this venture, to build the launching pad for a grand invasion of Garadel. And for that labor, she turned to the local communities and villages, offering vague "contracts" for labor and lumber. She used these contracts to put her foot in the door and effectively began a campaign of mass enslavement under the guise of "contractual" work renegotiated at swordpoint rather than chattel slavery. But while the local communities got to stay together and manage their internal affairs, their intense demands for work and threat of violence made it largely indistinguishable from slavery. As Nualoa began importing selkie and Arashokan colonists for construction, conditions worsened as plague and invasive species exploded across the region. Communities began to fight back in isolated pockets and many retreated inland, but selkie mercenaries pursued them. The ensuing war was messy and destructive, turning family against family as the selkie sought to divide and exploit the sedentary coastal groups.
In 717, the dryad priest and community leader Norinar Ostrozek began rallying religious leaders in opposition to selkie aggression. As he convinced more and more groups to band together, including selkie-armed groups that had acted as mercenaries, he became a serious threat to Nualoa's regime. He was identified as a threat to the Khilaia and hunted down in 720. Some say his location was given by traitors, others say he was easily found due to his own fatalistic disregard for his own life. Cornered and desperate, he launched an attack on the selkie druids besieging his home. While his actions forced the selkies to withdraw their attack to their ships, he was mortally injured. On the brink of death, it is said that the spectre of the Masked One in tragic garb appeared over him- and as he made his Tragic Wish to wipe the selkie fleet away. It is unknown how, but it said that he washed up on the shore alive several days later- slightly different, but more confident. He claimed that the Masked One had offered him a second chance at life and revealed the secrets of the universe to him. His revelations are the backbone of Zesheko, and he is seen as a holy prophet of the religion. He died in 745 and while his body was preserved by his disciples, it was desecrated by later selkie fleets (and supposedly pieces of his corpse sit in hidden vaults in the Khilaian Isles). But even after he died, his coalition continued its fierce resistance against the selkie colony. And while the selkies continued their attempts to build a march-state even after Nualoa's death, morale was beginning to dwindle.
Further to the South, in the great plains of Larazel, the influx in trade money had disrupted the status quo. The delicate arrangements and peace between the nomadic peoples there had been shattered, and in 790 a Human nomad named Nilon was able to seize control of the dominant military group of the Dotinek people. Nilon was a mysterious charismatic warrior, who claimed to have been born from the Lunar Pantheon itself (and he did have a fairly good relationship with several Lunar Gods). After a decade of gathering power, he launched an invasion Northward in 803 to seize the selkie march colony for himself- just as a massive wave of selkie reinforcements descended from Samvara. The ensuing three-way war between the Dotinek, the selkies, and the Zeshem was disastrous for all involved. In 810 Nilon was terribly wounded in battle and sought refuge with the Zeshem- bringing Nilon's followers into the fold and beatifying him as a messenger of Alima. His knowledge of The Divine Contact and hoarded incense also gave the Zeshem a new tactical resource, particularly in Theia the Liberator. The combined Dotinek and Zeshem forces burnt the selkie march-colony to the ground, but the war dragged on.
In 900 ME, the selkies lost the battle of Avilia - one of the few naval battles lost to non-Selkies in Khilaian history. The stunning defeat and what had become centuries of wasted investment ultimately forced the selkies to totally withdraw from Zeshem- and from the Garadek magical item trade- for a time. Minor expeditions of selkie rogue fleets continued trying to sail through Zeshem waters until the mass pelt-seizure and execution of selkie merchants in 950 sent a firm message to would-be entrepreneurs.
With the selkies fully gone, the coalition of Zeshem tribes disintegrated into a network of friendly co-religious tribal kingdoms until 1080. The joint naval efforts fell to the wayside and in 1010, selkie traders began to once again skirt through the forbidden Zeshem waters.

The Holy Empire

In 1055, a selkie by the name of Samaeli organized an expedition to build a trade outpost in Zeshem lands- not necessarily violently, but protected by armed forces. This set off panic and infighting, as groups were divided as to what the appropriate response should be- and that infighting led to even greater fears. The relative success of the outpost attracted more Samvarans and this time more Garadek mercenaries as well. In 1080 Zorala the Blessed, a human warrior of the Urzava tribe (who claimed descent from Nilon), emerged as the primary power among the Zeshem tribes and one of the more anti-foreign powers. Zorala systematically vassalized or subjugated the other groups, this time as an empire rather than a coalition. She installed 3 heirs to Norinar as the first triumvirate, a body of the holiest priests to legitimize and advise her. By 1090, unity was complete. By 1103, the selkies were in full retreat from the renewed and united Zeshem navy. In 1105, Zorala performed an unprecedented move: she sent a Zeshem envoy to the Khilaia to negotiate a sustainable peace plan. Limited trade in Northern Zeshema was established, with the empire playing middle man to selkie trade rather than disrupting it, and a large selkie outpost to the North was established to receive this trade. Zorala then pivoted South to fight off the 1105-1108 nomad invasion of the nomadic Anavako tribes. This was repulsed and bargained with, and a victorious fervor swept the empire. In, the triumvirate created a united doctrine and the 1109 holy laws to guide imperial living. A unified hierarchical priesthood developed, and the community drew close.
From 1210-1300 it was nomad wars and pacification, causing zesheko to spread Southward across the plains. In 1305 another selkie fleet attempted to invade, leading to the compromise of 1310 which established closed trading ports within the empire that selkies could trade in. Foreigners were given limited access to select cities in an effort to create peace. This worked fairly well for a time and the empire expanded aggressively during the economic boom of 1450. The "open period" of 1310 to 1600 is known for its wealth as well as its conflict. Foreign communities of Zeshem who were taken hostage or otherwise displaced during the early wars were recognized and brought into the religious fold abroad, and diplomats were accepted in Garadek and Samvaran courts alike. But the conflict grew ever decade, especially as Pratasam missionaries pushed further and further to establish their own religious communities in Zeshem trading cities. As the administration grew corrupt, religious communities battled in city streets, and foreign merchants took over more and more of Zeshem trade, the "open" faction declined in popularity. In 1600, the triumvirate received a priestly petition to close the country and accepted its demands without approval of the "open" policy emperor. The triumvirate was arrested and civil war began.
From 1600-1620 the war raged on and was joined by foreign intervention and ensuing foreign-brought plague. In 1620, at last a new dynasty emerged. This new order, dominated by its non-hereditary triumvirate (with the line of Norinar having been decimated) was decidedly anti-foreign. Foreigners and foreign religions were purged, and the Law of Masks was created and brutally enforced. Mask-wearing had been common but not mandatory in foreign lands before, and had a long tradition dating back to the original rebellion (as a way to make everyone possibly Norinar and in veneration of Alima). But the new ritual order of masks and sanitation was far more intense than the first empire. Selkie adventurers desecrating of the body of Norinar during the civil war had re-ignited harsh anti-selkie attitudes, not helped by continual expeditions to try and raid the "Vault of Pelts". The Vault of Pelts was a secret of the first empire, a museum of seized selkie holy pelts dating back to the 700s. These pelts had been smuggled away to a secret location during the civil war, but now returned proudly and openly in the capital. This direct insult to the Khilaia led to a cycle of revenge and conflict, always small-scale but very intense. Other Zeshem communities were brought into the new order and the Zeshem emperors even reached out to evangelize in other selkie-abused regions of Larazel. This period of closed ports, conflict, and threats from 1620 to 1810 is known as the closed period.
In 1810, a brief civil war led to the rise of a new dynasty and policy. The new policy sought a middle road between the open and closed periods. The law of masks continued, but a new visitor's policy allowed regulated trade and visitors (as long as they wore masks and followed a specific code while in Zeshem lands). The Khilaia dropped its low-level war and even begrudgingly allowed the Zeshem to hunt rogue selkies who acted against official assimilationist policy. This is the Zesheko of today: pious, isolationist, but engaged with the outside world and realistic in its goals.

Mythology & Lore

The Creation of the World

The world began with light and dark in an eternal dance. One day the dark skipped a step and fell into the future and the past, where it became death; the light was left in the present and became life. From their sudden division sprung water, fire, earth, and air. Water and earth mixed and became mud; humans and land were formed. Where air and fire met, the sun formed and bloomed and the pollen became the stars. A seed fell from the sun to the earth and it became fire and vegetation. Dryads formed from this as well. As time began to pass, things fell from the present into the future and into the past and entered the world of death. Where life and death mixed, Alima formed. They settled to live upon the sea, but splintered when they saw the other elements. Fire became rage, earth became laughter (hence echoes), and air become tears (hence rain). From this early world sprung life abundant.

The Beginning of the Corruption

But life was too abundant and in its hunger to grow, one spirit grew too hungry. This spirit of life decided that its creations were above all the rest, and it cannibalized its siblings to grow ever larger. It became a massive twisted Chimera known as Voster, ever hungry and ever taking. It tore into the space between things, unleashing a hole between death and life. The fundamental disorder unleashed massive Leviathans (some say as emanations of evil, others say as attempts by death to protect itself) and great plagues of suffering. The world, always a little imperfect, became truly corrupt. Alima took over the seas as their domain to protect the place between death and life.
Voster remains at large, a force of constant corruption and perversion. But Voster preys on hunger and inclination and is unused to resistance. Wherever Alima or any force sustains resistance, the lazy and corpulent Voster will flee to easier feeding grounds. Voster's quest to consume all is pointless, of course. Life and death will both expand faster than Voster can consume. And Voster cannot consume true life or true death- creation or oblivion.
Voster and the forces of corruption are chaotic and often self-defeating; they battle and devour one another. The selkies are their greatest vehicle of destruction but are not inherently individually bad- just communally so. There is no need to try and conquer the corruption, as it is both intangible and self-defeating.

The Zeshem Purelands and the Message of Alima

The Zeshem tribes were born each from one of the seven mother rivers. The seven mothers taught them well the ways of goodness, the ways of medicine and good custom. Such was the love of the Zeshem tribes that no disease could walk there, for the rivers washed all evil away. This stirred the hunger of Voster, who leapt upon them and devoured two, but the five strongest mothers chained it in kelp and called together the greatest spirits of the land to whip and drive it away. They mocked and cursed Voster, who sulked in the far North. In mourning the two river mothers who had been so terribly corrupted, the five remaining rivers called together a permanent war council:

• The Five Mothers Vikaja, Hamaja, Tivija, Sumija, and Sisilja
• The Podkover, the mountain clans
• Ledovar the forest father and first dryad to be born
• Lonozi the wind rider, master of the plains and the parent of the South and North winds
• Sevizu, Alima's guard dog and protector of the sea
• Zivora, keeper of islands, patron of exiles, and fire of the hearth

Together, they waged sacred war on Voster. But they did not notice the petty mortals that had been corrupted with hatred and greed that sailed so quietly by: the selkies, led by Naraltrok the wicked. The terrible empress of storms was half born by an evil sea serpent and her breath was disease itself. She came with poisoned blades and terrible wickedness to trick and enslave the peoples descended from the war council. But one among the Zeshem clans was not afraid of their evil: Norinar, holiest child of Ledovar.
Norinar had been adventures and grew very wise in his sacred war to defeat Naraltrock. Each time he performed a great deed of wisdom or faced a great trial, Alima would appear ever so briefly (sometimes as a disguised wandered and sometimes as a ghost) to give some clue towards the cosmic truth. In one instance, Norinar had to save his child from the terrible sea serpent parent of Naraltrock and upon slaying it, the voice of Alima boomed as it always does upon such a slaying: "Only the Strong Survive". Norinar was forced to consider this strange sentence. Did it mean that the strong deserve to dominate the weak? Impossible, for such is selkie profanity and Alima is no friend of theirs. After carefully cutting and preparing the meat of the serpent for feasting, Norinar realized: it was a warning, not a promise of a proclamation of goodness. Unhindered the strong will seek to not only enslave but eventually devour the weak; the world was not safe for kindness or trust. The selkies reveled in this terrible truth, but Norinar knew it was the essence of Alima to weep for such things. But the weeping is joined by laughing, for one must laugh in the face of evil and be joyful to good. Even if that laughter is but a mask to hide fear or sorrow.
Most important is the rebirth of Norinar, the pivotal moment of ascension. Naraltrock tracked Norinar to his home and menaced his family, lighting the land aflame and slaughtered thousands of innocents each night. Norinar could not hide or run from such evil, though he knew that to face it would be certain death. Terrified, he put on a mask of rage and so did his closest followers and together they rowed out in the dead of night to die heroes. Their bravery and wit allowed them to sneak onto the main ship, where they slew Naraltrock's lieutenants and destroyed her dark weapons of foul magic. She shot an arrow of poison into Norinar and slew his companions, but as he lay dying he invoked goodness to wipe Naraltrock's evil away. Alima sent down a terrible storm and used the sea as her thousand arms to choke and rip apart every selkie there. Norinar fell to the bottom of the sea and fell to rest at the gateway of death. There Alima spoke to him and offered him a personal invitation to paradise for his bravery, but he could not accept while others suffered for him. So Alima let him live, to lead others to paradise and protect them from the evils of corrupted purgatory. They told him of the cosmos, of the terrible impurities visited upon the world. They made Norinar half-ghost half-living, unkillable by mortal weapons and imbued with holy power.
It is from Alima's instructions to Norinar that we know the sacred rituals of purification and of how to form great fortresses in the land of the dead to protect our people in life and death. Norinar went on to slay every evil selkie and walk with his disciples into paradise. Along the way, the Lunar Pantheon paraded after him and from their revelry birthed a child named Nilon whose destiny would be to defeat the foul daughter of Naraltrock as Norinar had the mother.

Cosmological Views

World of Impurity

Impurity is everywhere. It takes the form of disease, danger, misfortune, evil spells, and bloodthirsty governments. Impurity is not evil, though it begets evil. There is some impurity in everyone, for it infuses the very world we live in and the suffering we are forced to feel. No truly pure individual exists, as you are born into impurity and death is no release. You can ritually cleanse yourself, but a base level of imperfection allows you to be sullied once more. Only through sustained community effort can you seek to be clean enough to be safe in this world or the next. Morality itself is not truly personal, as the individual draws on the strength of the community. A starving person let down by their community will steal to live, and their theft is a reflection of the community's weakness and flaws. In this way, morality and "goodness" lives simultaneously as an internal personal decision we make and shared community policy.

Death is Not Peace

Of Alima's revelations were that the road to the afterlife was not only dangerous but could lead to corrupted kingdoms of the dead- Purgatories run by Dark Powers where the souls of the innocent are tormented with their worst mistakes. Individuals have no hope against these darkened lands, but Zesheko communities seek to form outposts there to protect them until they can be safely relocated to pure outposts of paradise. Even in paradise, the fallibility of the Lunar Pantheon and the potential for corruption means that communities must remain on guard there. Some communities believe that Alima will one day purify the afterlife, but there is no official doctrine on the matter.

Tenets of Faith

• Keep your body and mind pure: It is important for yourself and those around you to avoid unholy things, such as corpses, rotting meat, enemies of the faith, and evil books or items. Those who touch those things should be ritually purified via community ritual to keep them and those around them safe
• Do not allow outsiders to know you: Your true name (given by your parents but can be altered via ceremony) gives others powers over you- often via dark ritual or Curse Magic. Share as little of your image, name, or personal details with nonbelievers as possible
• Never serve an outsider: To sign a contract placing you beneath an outsider is to make yourself magically vulnerable to their influence. It also invites invasion by reducing the appearance of community strength. Invite no evil, sign no contract.
• The community is everything: The community will protect you in this world and the afterlife. Any failures of your own purification can be redeemed by a thriving community- it is the most important thing
• Lend aid to those who need it: The clean the world beyond in some small way is to reduce and distract evil. Where you can aid others without imperiling your community, do.
• Be prepared to defend your community: The world is dangerous and cruel. Behind every peace is a lurking war. Trust sparingly and always keep your blade close.

Sects

There are no major Zesheko subsects, as the community's hostile surroundings form a strong unifying element. There are differences of theology and ritual between zesheko states or communities, but the differences have so far not been enough to create major schisms. The relative strength of the imperial states and triumvirate as well as the somewhat hands-off approach has kept the communities together.
A number of Holy Orders are particularly prominent within the Zesheko hierarchy and have their own distinct rituals and theology:

• The Holy Hunters of Norinar are holy warriors who specialize in slaying selkies. To practice, they venture abroad in small groups to hunt down selkies who engage in abuse of local power
• The Purifiers of the Sisterhood of the Five Mothers are the most academic of orders. A mystical semi-mystery-cult, they collection information about disease, disease prevention, and medicine. They have been known to venture abroad seeking cures, medical texts, and documenting foreign diseases.
• The Sanctifiers of Sevizu are the auditors of the empire. They are a combination of judges, secret police, financial auditors, and imperial foreign agents. They work to review internal matters as well as maintaining proper ritual in communities outside the empire proper.

"Walk Safe Through the Gates of Death"

Founding Date

720 ME

Type

Religious, Organised Religion

Demonym

Zeshek or Zeshem (Zeshem is more regional/cultural)

Subsidiary Organizations

• Hunters of Norinar

Permeated Organizations

• Federation of Zarazuko
• Holy Zeshema

Deities

• The Masked One

Related Plots

• Birds Versus Evil
• Owls Not Well
• The Dawn of the Hunt
• Waters Foul