Followers of the Predator Spirits

"The ancients lost touch... they ceased to respect the power of nature. The power and aggressiveness of nature is embodied in the wocog, and the deeffay, we must learn from them and be like them. We are not above nature, we are in the nature... as natural born predators."

"The wocog adapts and thrives everywhere, from desert to jungle. In the same way we must adapt, hunt and survive, no matter the odds."

Main Type: Animism
Sacred Themes:

• Natural Specifics: Wocog, Eagle, Pure Water

Ideal Values:

• Dynamic Value: Survival
• Warrior Values: Strength
• Dynamic Values: Teamwork
• Relationchip with Environment: Respect

Myths:

• Creation: From nothing.
• Human Creation: Evolved from animals.
• The Fall: Earth's revenge on the hubris of the Ancients.
• Sacred Valley: A wocog led the founders to the valley, the valley is sacred.

Worship:

• Sacrifice of Unfit Babies: fed to the wocogs and deeffays.
• The Pack: Packs last for life, and are considered sacred. They are formed to confront the initiation rite, they are also the basic fighting unit in the army, and theoretically, they're supposed to be your spiritual family. Packs are formed voluntarily based on affinity and traits. It is ok to wait for 1 or 2 years for younger members to join the pack. Friendship and family ties are considered, but they are not the most important factor. Hence, most packs are made up of people from different clans. The most important factor are personal traits: strength and survival skills are highly valued, but leadership, morale boosting, cunning, knowledge, and will are valued too, diversity is understood as strength. Nonethless, it is not uncommon to hear from cases in which weaker members were left astray or outright killed during this rite. And... this gives rise to underdog packs of weaker people. Most of them die during the rites, but the ones that make it usually discover unknown strengths in the process.
• Initiation Rite: All men and women between 16 to 18 y.o. are expected to make a survival trek of 2 weeks into the desert in a pack (see below), without food nor water. They need to retrieve a token left in a place, and bring it home along with a hunting trophy.
• Warrior Status Rite: Hunting a wocog and a deeffay on your own, you can only do it after inititation. It symbolizes capturing their essence and making it one with yours.
• Water sources are sacred, they cannot be polluted.
• Deeffay Rock pilgrimage: a mandatory yearly climb high up the mountain to a rock where you can see all the sacred valley, as well as the surrounding desert.
• Spiritual treks: Reaching remote locations to meditate and commune with nature, in packs.
• Survival treks: Individual travels through inhospitable areas to prove strenght and survival skills.
• Raiding: Raiding other settlements is seen as something good. Just as predators cull the weak members of the herds, you raid weaker settlements. Humans are the only predator capable of keeping human population at bay. Disrispectful settlements are also fair game (disrispect is a rather lax term). No prisoners are taken, all valuables and supplies are taken, and the settlement is torched. Resistance means death, and the ones that surrender are left to fend for themselves in the wild, healthy orphan infants below 10 y.o. can be adopted.
• Religious Wear: All adults wear Deeffay feathers somewhere. All warriors wear Deeffay claws and Wocog Fangs in a necklace.
• Alpha Duels. All organizations need an Alpha. However, Alphas grow weak, and need to be challenged to duels to keep the leadership healthy.
• Duels: Duels are an institution, but they do not always involve a fight. They are conceived as a mean to find the better leader when it comes to a specific endeavor. So, war endeavors mean fighting, usually to first blood, some people die though, but it is seen as lack of control. However, wilderness treks, leading a caravan, tinkering, healing or other pacific endeavors call for other types of challenges based on smarts, knowledge, cunning or social savvy.

Priesthood:

• Hierachy: Informal and organic organization, status and respect gained through "wisdom" and deeds, fluctuates over time.
• Genders: None.
• Restrictions: Too much accumulation of riches is seen as a sign of weakness and a broken spirit.
• Practices: Martial and survival training, ritual hunts, feasting on prey, hallucinogenic dreamquests.
• Shamans of the Deeffay: Representing pride, honor, greatness, self-reliance, and a cold mind.
• Shamans of the Wocog: Representing strength, teamwork, cunning, and survival.

Aesthetics:

• Wocog and deeffay images, feathers, claws, fangs, the shape of the valley seen from the vantage point.
• Deeffay feathers in the hair or necklace, necklaces of Wocog fangs and Deeffay feathers.

Taboos:

• Hunting is for feeding, not for pleasure. Otherwise you become like the Ancients.
• Betraying your pack.
• Water is life, death pollutes it. Pure water sources are sanctuary: you cannot hunt animals drinking, and you cannot fight inside or next to water sources (aprox 10 m). Exceptions:
  • Self-defense, in these cases bodies must be removed from the water.
  • Enemy human settlements near water sources, since that water is considered corrupted by them.
• Hunting or taming Wocogs and Deeffays: They are noble creatures, not vulgar prey. They can only be hunted ritually, as part of the warrior ritual.
• Losing your feathers, claws or fangs. This is something extemely shameful that requires severe atonement.
• Crafts, technology, agriculture, forestry, mining, hunting and industry are not seen as something necessarily evil, they are part of life, however, doing it irresponsibly towards nature is a capital crime, so it must done with minimal pollution and without depleting natural resources.
• Disrispecting your Alphas, you either challenge them, or you keep in line.
• Keeping tame animals for meat. If you want meat, you must hunt it yourself.
• Slavery is taboo, a believer cannot own humans as property, since they are meant to be free, carry their weight, and prove their worth... or die trying. Hence, owning slaves means you cannot pull your own weight, slaves owned by others are sometimes seen as dishonorable or weaklings, and an enslaved believer will wait for the right time and fight for his/her freedom or die.
• Polygamy is ok for men, but it is not common, since it means supporting a larger family, and women might kill each other or their children over jealousy or inheritance of property.
• Weakening your pack by blindly following your own personal vendettas and schemes.
• Oaths sworn next to pure water at midnight under full moon cannot be broken. Breaking them is considered a huge dishonor, loss of social status, and associated with great disgrace and bad luck. The oath takers need to wash their faces and hands with the pure water to symbolize the purity of their intent and clarity of their will. It is common for people to gather near the Main Well to see public oaths. Secret oaths are taken in more secluded places elsewhere in the valley.
  

Type

Religious, Organised Religion