Dailism
Divine Origins
Dailism began with the year-long path of the Holy Prophetess Sabenn Ekhleed. Sabenn was an acolyte of the ancient naturalistic religion of the Belsumese in Tova, now the capital of their empire. At the time, Belsum was a land of scattered people, living in semi-nomadic city-states ruled by Dargas (chiefs).
On a pilgrimage to the Daili River watershed at the beginning of the summer of 712 T.E., Sabenn stumbled upon a series of texts carved into a set of five flat stones in the river. They told of a One True God, Eledhor, who created all things and has a plan for the impoverished people of Belsum. She demands a complete religious and racial domination of the world, and the subjugation of both nature and people under the Belsumese. In return, the Stones promised eternal life with Eledhor, and great power proportional to one's faith in her. This was her Divine Mandate.
Sabenn took these Daili Stones back to Tova that summer. Along the way, she shared Eledhor's Divine Mandate in the villages she passed. It rang true with many, and she developed a small but devoted following, notably starting with her first disciple Getelkegh Daikhin.
When the small cult had reached Tova by the end of the summer, Sabenn became galvanized with zeal. She led a raid on the temple to the old naturalistic spirits in Tova with her followers, desecrating it and nearly razing it completely. This was done as a symbolic gesture of subjugation of both the material natural plane and the spiritual planes beyond. However, when the Darga of Tova's forces arrived to quell the uprising, most of the early Dailists fled, including Getelkegh. Sabenn and 16 of her most devout, called the Sixteen Faithful or the Sixteen Saints, were arrested and sentenced to death, their executions scheduled for the following summer.
Her remaining followers had not given up the faith, despite their cowardice. In the dark and quiet of the long arctic winter, the early Dailists, led by Getelkegh Daikhin, brought awareness of the Divine Mandate to Tova. Some even travelled beyond to nearby towns and villages to gain a stronger following. At the end of winter, just as the sun returned to the sky, the Getelkegh led a now sizable force of Dailists against the Darga of Tova, breaking Sabenn and the Sixteen Faithful from prison, and securing control of the city. The Darga, refusing to accept Eledhor's word, was executed.
Thereafter, Getelkegh Daikhin was granted the title of Royal Grandfather, the first King of Belsum, while Sabenn adopted the title of first Holy Grandmother, Most High Prophetess. Together they led a campaign across Belsum, uniting it under one law and religion, and executing those who opposed.
Cosmological Views
According to the Daili Stones, Eledhor created all things at once in an act of self-discipline. Before there was time, there was only Eledhor sitting naked in an eternal field of snow. At an instant, she felt the sting of cold and fashioned from the snow a great blanket under which she became warm. It was at this moment that Time began.
It was also at this moment that Eledhor brought into existence her first child, Buutil: Creation. Eledhor looked at her son and commanded him, "Do as I have done." Buutil leapt into the snow covering of his mother and began to create. From the snowy ground upon which Eledhor lay he fashioned Sulghaz, the world, and of the snow blanket he fashioned Potez, the Sky. Buutil then grabbed Eledhor's warm breath and melted the snow, revealing the hard ground beneath. The snow-melt fell from the ground and pooled around it, forming the Daal, the Sea.
When Eledhor had seen this, she danced and wept with joy. Her tears fell to Sulghaz and from them sprung her second child Amidhor: Life. Turning to Amidhor, Eledhor said "Do as I have done." Upon hearing this, Amidhor at once tore the hair from her head and cast it down. And shortly thereafter, each hair from Amidhor's head became alive; those that fell upon the rocks grew legs and walked about; those that fell upon soil sprouted roots deep and grew tall; those that fell into the sea writhed and swam; and those that fell but were taken up by the wind grew wings and flew.
Eledhor was greatly pleased at all that had been done by her command, so that she reached down into the world and sat there in it in contentedness. But all that Buutil and Amidhor had made soon began to pass away, for when Time had entered the world, so too did Death. This inspired a deep pain within Eledhor.
Trying to please their mother, Buutil and Amidhor came together and made children of themselves, full of both Life and of Creation. Within these children burned the eternal flame of life, and without flew the awesome power of creation. They were the first people. When they had reached an age of maturity, they were presented to Eledhor by their mother and father, and Eledhor was greatly pleased. She said unto them, "Do as I have done."
But the first people were distrustful of Eledhor, and turned their backs on her: the Khurgat (rebellion) of Man. At this, Eledhor became deeply furious at them and split them in two, in the likeness of their parents, so that half of the people were as their father, gifted with creation but not with life; and so that the other half of the people were as their mother, gifted with life but not creation.
Buutil and Amidhor, outraged at the atrocity committed against their children, took their Mother by the arms and pulled her into the Sky and beyond, banishing her from Sulghaz: the Khurgat of the Gods. However, when they turned back, they found they could not return for the Sky had closed behind them.
Even now, Buutil and Amidhor and all the other Gods which they birthed try to return to the world and be reunited with their dissenting children. And even now, the first people, who have become as numerous as the flakes of snow on the mountains, hope to be returned to their disorderly parents.
Tenets of Faith
Dailists follow the Divine Mandate of Eledhor as described in the Daili Stones, which demands the subjugation and control of all things under Eledhor through the Belsumese people. This subjugation takes numerous forms, but always meets the same following standards:
- The Bul (person/thing that is subjugated) must be brought under the complete control of a Belsumese person or institution by any means or media;
- The Belsumese person or institution must use the Bul for the glorification of Eledhor and the further expansion of Her Dominion, and for no other purpose must a Bul be used;
- Disobedient or unruly Bul must be purified to create a holy realm for Eledhor's Dominion.
Dailists live these tenets out extrinsically and intrinsically. That is to say, the Bul is both that which the Dailist subjugates, and the Dailist themselves. The peoples, things, and lands a Dailist conquors, whether as grand as a whole territory or as minute as one's own property, must be cleansed, purified, and made stronger to glorify Eledhor. Simultaneously, the Dailist considers themselves to be Bul. Physical, mental, and spiritual fitness are of utmost importance in this regard, and the good Dailist will not consider their own needs, rather how they cna fulfill the needs of their god.
Given the relative vagueness of these commands, there is some division around their interpretation, especially as the Belsumese language has shifted over time. These various interpretations and their subsequent sects are discussed below. Nevertheless, these tenets hold fast in the hearts of all Belsumese people, and they guard them fiercely.
Worship
Regular adherents participate in annual holidays and seasons that mark the journey taken by Sabenn, which consists of an ordinary period in the Summer for hunting and gathering, an evangelistic revival period in the Fall, a period of introspection and austerity in the Winter, and a celebratory period of social gathering in the Spring (in their Arctic home, these four seasons are moreso understood as the passage of the sun rather than the natural signs of changing seasons, such as growing crops and wilting leaves, as it would be in other regions of Nedia).
Every Dailist must partake in the Daili pilgrimage once in their lives. This pilgrimage follows the path of Sabenn during her founding of the religion: commencing in Tova, thence up the Daili river to the Temple of the Stones, thereafter down again, terminating in Tova once more.
On a day-to-day basis however, Dailists are expected to perform small worship services in their homes with their families. These are all personal acts of adherence to the Divine Mandate, such as daily morning prayer and cleansing with the ever-clear Daili Water, intense daily fitness rituals (especially for those Dailists who do not work a labourious trade) usually performed in the morning alongside prayer, and cleaning of the home and workplace every week (mirroring the cleaning and ordering of the world in preparation for Eledhor's Dominion).
Priesthood
Political Influence & Intrigue
Sects
Although there are allegedly numerous sects of Dailism, they are seldom spoken of, for they are deemed blasphemous by Dailist authorities who claim complete ownership of any truth-claims made about the Daili Stones. What little has been gleaned is a general shift from literal to symbolic understandings of the Divine Mandate. Some heretics might claim that the subjugation is meant to be purely an internal affair, and Eledhor's Dominion is only hindered by those Dailists who have not fully subjugated themselves, body and mind. Other heretics would venture to profess that the very Arriving itself is a metaphor for the spiritual bliss that comes when one has taken full and complete control of the self, and Her Dominion to come is no more than the heart of one who achieves this. Little more can be known of these apostates, as the Belsumese authorities maintain tight control of the propagation of their texts, and often execute known misbelievers
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