The Nemadran Religion

Nemadran , The Slyth Belief System
Writer Credit: Iumi (Community Manager)

Pantheon

The Slyth religion permeated all of Slyth culture, becoming somewhat of a superstition at times, with a heavy emphasis on numerology and the predetermined impacts of numbers, later understood to be algorithms and codes.
Nemadrans recognize 45 or 46 deities arranged into a strict order-based hierarchy and organized into domain-based groupings, each corresponding to a number. (While technically there are only 45 deities, there is an additional entity that is sometimes lumped in for ease of understanding). The gods associated for the number 3 stand higher than the gods for the number 9, for example, and are considered requisitely more powerful. All but one/two of the gods are depicted as Slyth.
For each number, there are a corresponding number of deities within that domain. For example, there is only one progenitor god, there are two gods over life and death, five gods over transformation and change, nine gods over risk and chance, etc.

Number and Domains, Deity Name and Common Practices, Symbols

1: Creation, existence, beginning Solely known as The Progenitor, the creator god is the only of the Nemadran deities to take no physical form. They created the slyth people at the same time as the universe and watch events unfold from their omniscient throne in the ether. After creation, they have touched events of the universe very rarely. People pray to the Progenitor in times of desperate need, hoping to sway them into reaching out and exerting their divine will once more.
Symbols: Star, light
2: Life and death Cadeucia and Cankerous, twin gods often depicted as two faces of a coin. After an injury, battle, or sickness, people would pray to them for healing or for a merciful death. It was considered hubris to choose one over the other; that decision was the twins’ alone. It is said that when a slyth dies, they are greeted by the twins, one on each side, and personally ushered to the side of the Progenitor. Coin
3: Mind, body, and spirit Zohnas, Azeccus, and Rizash, commonly depicted as a three-headed man. They are worshiped most in everyday life, with people praying to them for fitness of all three of the gods’ domains, as these three aspects of life are seen as the foundation from which all other domains stem.
Symbol: Dumbbell
4: Logic, direction The four gods of this domain are each named with one of the slyth words for North, South, East, and West, and have begun to be referred to by their mandate common translated names in the vernacular. Called upon by spacefarers and navigators, lawyers and advocates, the Gods of Direction help worshipers make important decisions and hold fast to their course.
Symbol: Compass rose
5: Transformation, change Axa, Exe, Ixi, Oxo, and Uxu are the five gods over the domain of change and mutability. They are never referred to individually because they exist in a quantum state, constantly shifting names with one another, and as such it is impossible to know which of the five possesses which name at any given time. They are commonly depicted as trickster deities, and many schoolchildren revere them as the least boring gods to worship because of the prank-filled ceremonies involved.
Symbols: depictions of earth, air, fire, water, and ether
6: Peace, harmony The Sisters (individual names lost to time), six identical slyth beauties who move precisely in tandem and speak with one voice. They are called upon to soothe tempers and end wars, using their beauty and grace to lull combatants into less adversarial moods. Diplomats and peacemakers commonly use their symbol to indicate noncombatant status in armed conflict.
Symbol: Hand mirror
7: Rationality, inquisition, Study The Scholars (Jikix, Alshuax, Iumi, Zukosh, Xugath, Jaxxi, and Nicix) oversee research, the advancement of science, scholarly pursuits, and curiosity. It is said they are in an eternal and perpetual debate, though the topic may change, always with three arguing each side and one undecided.
Symbol: Balance scales
8: Opportunity, Possibility The Seekers are the eight deities over the domains of opportunity and possibility. They never settled on names for themselves, convinced that better ideas would come to them as time went on. For this, they are commonly and jokingly used as a curse against those judged to be indecisive. They are worshiped especially in times of change and adjustment in the hopes that they will see fit to ferry the worshiper to brighter pastures. It is commonly believed that none of the eight seekers have ever met one another because of their rejection of anything familiar or similar to themselves.
Symbols: Boats, sails
9: Risk, taking chances The Sinners (Raxu, Asmodeon, Shazuth, Negyi, Reccuas, Behemoth, Ahab, Sakriq, and Zuxagu) are nine gods, often depicted as teenaged or young adult travelers, are the least wise and most excitable of the gods. Their adventures are the source of almost all of Nemradan parables, which are recited to slyth children as cautionary tales and bedtime stories. They commonly egg one another on or are used as scapegoats for small problems, e.g. a child spilling their milk might claim that “Sakriq knocked over the glass.”
Symbol: Dice
0: Entropy, decay, nothingness Referred to as Nil, this is the concept of nothing and of ceasing to exist - not of dying, but of no longer existing in the cosmic fabric of the universe. While Nil is also used as a cautionary tale for children who are naughty, it is said that the true nature of Nil cannot be understood by anyone other than the most vile, evil beings who the gods themselves have decided to banish from the threads of time and forbid from reaching the side of the Progenitor upon death.

Worship

Gods were recognized and prayed to within dedicated temples, called Houses, with each House focused on a particular domain. Almost all cities had a House of the Nemradan, with alcoves dedicated to each particular god or set of gods. Smaller towns may have one patron number and dedicate their only House to the corresponding god(s).
Prayers would be sent via small offerings of trinkets, coins, supplies, or in the absence of anything material, a prick of one’s lifeblood. Explorers, nomads, and others who found themselves outside the confines of a city or otherwise unable to make it to a House could find respite in nature, which was said to be the domain of all the gods at once. In these circumstances, it was said that the wind would be the conduit for prayers as leaving any tributes behind in nature was considered disrespectful.

Superstition/Number-Wariness

Because of the gods’ association with numbers, superstition arose anywhere in society where numbers came into play, especially pertaining to dates and number of letters in names. Expectant mothers would hope to give birth on a date ending in 7 so that their clutch would be scholarly; passenger ships’ names were chosen to have 6 letters to ensure smooth passage. Couples with zero children were said to be a bad omen, while those with nine children were viewed with awe and pity for the chaos that surely must reside within the household.
Some extremely “fundamental” practitioners of the Nemadran faith would “eliminate” anyone or anything belonging to them that they viewed as being associated with an undesirable number, sometimes abandoning or even murdering children born on days ending in 0 before they could bring bad luck to the entire family line.

Evolution Over Time

As technology marched on and the slyth became more advanced, scholars began to understand the significance of numbers and the gods as they related specifically to algorithms and binary coding, which was the ultimate religious practice - the convergence of one and zero to create something from nothing, to create a beginning from an end.

Holy Book

The holy scripture of the Nemadran faith is called the Nemadra.