Shamanism
Entries
Question: So. I was wondering if in any shaman traditions if they would have something similar to a dreamcatcher.
Answer: Sure, that's fine. The general rule is for anything specifically cultural and identifiable by name, you can have it, just not the name. A kusarigama could exist, but it's a chain and sickle, and referred to as a chain and a sickle. A dreamcatcher has another name. That's fine, it fits the Northlands.
Answer: Shamans are the spiritual leaders of the old traditions of the North, the stewards of culture that existed long before the Compact. While any can follow the calling and become a shaman, most believe they have a native affinity with the spirits of the old deep places, and are born with an innate talent that makes a shaman and some speak of a 'Second Sight' that is dismissed by the rest of the Compact as nonsense. Among most of the Northlands however, shamanism is a calling, something inherent in their being that awakens. The basis of this lies in the old superstition that Shamans distinguish two selves within themselves; there is a "spiritual, free soul" and then there is the "mundane soul'. The latter is unable to breach the divide that separates the spiritual from the corporeal, leaving the "free soul" the ruling mind when rituals and acts as Shaman are conducted. While these old beliefs are dismissed by the southern great houses, more than one mirrormask or member of the Faith has remarked upon the similarities in the duality that shamanism espouses compared to the beliefs about the Dark Reflection, and that the spirit realm is similar in theology to the Faith of the Pantheon's 'Shining Lands'.
Shamanism as a religion does not acknowledge any named deities or figures. Their world is one filled with spirits and not always ones that are anthropomorphized, they can be either being or place. Any place, whether it be a long forgotten vale or a small grove, can potentially have its own memory and spirit in Shamanism's eyes.
In short, Shamans act as the mediators between the spirit world and this one. For each favor or boon asked, it is approached as a transaction where a sacrifice must be made. Sacrifice can be a multitude of things, dependent upon the wisdom and gravity of guidance that is being asked of the spirits.
Their worship is one of much mysticism and ritual, meditation and trance. Some believe it predates the Faith, others that it arose only after the Reckoning. It is an old religion of men that stretches back far into the dim mists of history, long before the great houses came to be, and while its number has grown smaller with the Compact and the embrace of the Faith of the Pantheon by the combined peoples of the Compact, it hasn't and never will be fully surrendered in the North.
Question: Q: So do I need to publicly renounce shamanism to be good with the Faith?
A: The short answer? No. The only thing the Faith cares about right now is whether someone very publicly worships them and continues to do so, while acting as a representative of the Faith. The 'religion' field on someone's sheet is just a representation of how they public present themself with common worship practices, it is NOT a representative of their inner most beliefs. In other words, the vast majority of atheists are listed as 'Pantheon', because they still go to worship services for appearances. Someone is only listed as an atheist if they public pick fights about this and argue with people that the gods aren't real. Similarly, someone could have the most fervent beliefs in shamanism and spirits, but if they just worship the pantheon for appearances, their sheet just says 'Pantheon', and that's all most of the Faith cares about.
Answer: From 'On Shamanism, the Origins and Structure of the faith of the Northlands' by Scholar Tobias the Dubious.
To understand the organization of shamanism, or more precisely the lack thereof, one needs to understand that the term is something of a misnomer. In truth when says 'shamanism', they are describing a great number of different religions that have been worshipped in the Northlands since well before the Age of Songs and into the Age of Dreams. Before the Reckoning, the Northlands was not organized into houses and a unified kingdom as the other four kingdoms were, and were more what most of the Compact would now consider among the most barbarous of shavs before the forced unification by Queen Valeria. During that ancient time period, literacy was largely unknown in the North and many of those tribes were nomadic, depending entirely upon oral traditions of story and song for their history, and shamans were as much men and women of faith as historians for their tribes.
Shamans, thus, were also closely tied by blood to their clan or tribe, and tended to always be from the ruling caste for whatever religion they followed. In many cases, a position as high shaman would be effectively hereditary (which is argued why the Faith of the Pantheon insists upon the Godsworn swearing off progeny), and among some houses to this day it still often is, however unofficial or informal the title might be. Once Valeria united the North under House Redrain, however, many of the starkest differences between the great many faiths of the Northlands were smoothed out, and some small degree of shared beliefs began to develop as House Redrain established primacy over the North and it became natural for vassals to defer to the house paramount and incorporate aspects of Redrain's shamanism into their own. But in a very real sense, there are as many forms of shamanism and different religions as there are northern houses, clans of prodigals, or Abandoned tribes in the Northlands. Unlike the Faith of the Pantheon, which has developed into an entirely separate institution as part of the Compact and distinct from the great houses, each northern house in many ways controls its own faith and the head of household has sway over who might appropriately speak on behalf of shamans.
As for the individual traditions, House Redrain's brand of Shamanism has been most dominant, with many of their vassals also following much the same strand with little variation. This is known as the Path of the Elders. (see 'help shamanism') The Path of the Elders is perhaps the most compatible with the Faith of the Pantheon, and most northerns that adopt shamanistic beliefs and still worship the Faith of the Pantheon as well follow this path, as very little is contradictory. The Path of the Elders can even be said to be more of a philosophy than a religion at all, with many adherents never truly praying to the spirits of the deep places or ancestors to ask for boons or guidance, but instead seeing the ancient rites of nature worship as a way of being at peace with the Pure Soul, or part of the soul in tune with the other realm and nature around it. Traditionally, most of the shamans of the Path of the Elders defer to the high shaman of House Redrain, in a clear acknowledgement of how closely tied shamanism is to the noble houses.
While the Path of the Elders is far and away the most common, many of the less compatible shamanistic traditions stubbornly cling on, however uncomfortable it might make the southern houses. The Path of the Hunt often draws unfavorable comparisons to some of the darker religions practiced by Abandoned tribes, and almost certainly comes from the same source, as it strongly believes in the power of the blood. Practicing augury through rites performed on the bodies of animals slain in hunts (and not explicitly done sacrifices, to avoid comparisons to shav blood sacrifices), shamans of the Path of the Hunt believe they can see the answers reflected in the blood, and often hear the spirits speak to them. Unlike the Path of the Elders, many of the Huntsmen effectively deify totemic spirits of the deep places, though individual worship is rare, and it is more akin to respect and reverence than asking for boons or guidance from those same spirits, instead seeing the messages from the Hunt as being the whispers of lesser spirits after the moment of their passing. While most of the Compact is relatively understanding of the augury practices, chalking them up to Northern foibles, some of the most fervent of the Faith of the Pantheon point to the Path of the Hunt as a step closer to the blood sacrifices of shavs and should be banned outright. It remains tolerated in Arx, even if any auguries or blood rites are nearly universally performed in private to avoid offending southern sensibilities.
Many rarer shamanic Paths exist, though few have adherents outside of the small noble house or clan that spawned the traditions. One notable one called the Path of Storms existed from the Age of Songs till the start of the Elven War, with the last druids praying to what most of the Faith of the Pantheon describe as bastardizations of Mangata and Petrichor, the great spirits of the air and the wilds, some called the Thunderborn. That Path supposedly died with Pena, the last Hierophant, but many wild Paths still show themselves from time to time among prodigal clans bending the knee in the Northlands and rejoining the Compact. Once every great while, a Path will veer too closely to the blood rites of the Abandoned and be roundly renounced, with the worship turning into a cult and needing to be ended with force of arms. In those occasions, another house with fringe shamanic beliefs will be forced to set it aside and follow he Path of the Elders, or renounce it entirely for the Faith of the Pantheon.
Question: Q: Most of the Northern houses seem to be Pantheon/Shamanism, which iirc is based on treaties and agreements they've made with the Faith and the rest of the Compact, but what does that mean in practice for the average Northern noble? Do you get situations where Northern nobility has NO exposure to the Pantheon at all, or is it a standard part of education for the upperclass? Does what's preached there more-or-less resemble Arvani Traditional as described in 'news theology 1' (idk if there's a version of this description everyone without the skill can view), or is it another variant that focuses even more on blending? I assume practices differ from person-to-person (like, you have atheists and fundies everywhere), but I'm curious what the standard is socially and what'd be expected.
A: The worship of the Pantheon is widespread in the North, and there's no houses where there's a complete absence of the Faith of the Pantheon, even in immediately sworn new prodigal houses. As part of a house bending the knee, a seraph is appointed to the domain of the new noble house, and for houses that are pure shamanism, missionary work would start and they have to take their vows of fealty on Limerance. So while a handful of freshly sworn prodigal houses might have extremely limited exposure to the traditionally taught Faith of the Pantheon, that's really the only case, and otherwise standard instruction in the Faith is expected in every domain of the Compact, even if attendence in faith services and common worship is not mandatory and can be more sparsely attended in the Northlands. In terms of teaching, the Faith is VERY VERY concerned about heretical offshoots of the Faith. Most of the Seraphs are acutely aware that the Oathlands Orthodox is watching over their shoulder to see if anyone in the Northlands is trying to blend shamanism and the Faith into a new religious hybrid, and very carefully avoid discussing the two together. Seraphs who attempt to do so are usually recalled, and there's been a few execommunications for ones that have ignored this... including at least a couple houses that have gone Abandoned after a religious schism. This is partly why the response is so hardline. Societally, most that practice shamanistic daily devotions don't mix them with the Pantheon. They might open their day with a prayer to lagoma, thanking them for a new day, and then turn around and do some prayers to the Spirit of Good Earth and ask that they keep those damned rabbits from eating their cabbages today. They would see them as distinct and separate, and the local seraph would frown but likely say nothing.
Q: Sort of related to the above but sort of not. How widely is shamanism practiced in Abandoned tribes outside the North? There are a lot of prodigal PCs from other regions tied to shamanism, but I've gotten the impression that weirdo variants of Pantheon worship/cults were just as if not more common. So figured I should ask.
A: Pure shamanism paths that are practiced in the Northlands are very rare among Abandoned outside of it. In the Northlands, Abandoned might be say, 20 percent pure pantheon, 30 percent heretical offshoots, and 50 percent 'other' which includes shamanism, demon worship, etc. Outside the Northlands, Abandoned tribes would be about 50 percent pantheon worship either in an identical form or very close one, 45 percent some sort of heretical offshoot (ie, 'Mangata is the one true god, all blood is hers'), and 5% shamanism or other unrelated to the pantheon. Virtually all the Abandoned in Arvum outside the Northlands were originally from noble houses that practiced the Faith of the Pantheon.
: Hi! There seems to be some confusion floating around about this. It's my understanding that only the Faith can legitimize a marriage, and that would be the case even for a heavily shamanistic territory. Is that right?
A: For nobles. Any noble marriage to another noble is required to be recognized by the Faith to be seen as legitimate in the eyes of the peerage and Compact as a whole. For commoners, usually there is a polite notice to the local seraph, but sometimes not even that, and if commoners had a shamanisitic marriage without informing the seraph, it wouldn't really attract notice if they introduced themselves as married.
Question: Q: Northland born commoners believe in the spirits and turn to them for protection (in addition to the church)?
A: Generally yes, but these daily devotions are usually more traditions, rather than someone sincerely believing that a spirit is going to come and save their chickens or stop rabbits from eating their cabbages. Many northlanders might have sayings that are analogues to things like 'knock on wood', but much like the modern superstitious colloquialism, anyone that panics that someone did not, in fact, knock on wood would be seen as a weirdo. People claiming to actually talk to spirits are usually treated with polite deference, since open skepticism is rude.
Q: Do Northland commoners view their Noble Houses suspiciously or questionably for still being predominantly shaman oriented with some Faith elements?
A: Most would not really see what the big deal is. If someone wants to pray to a spirit, throw salt over their shoulder to ward off evil spirits, knock on wood, or talk to the earth in the morning, they don't see the harm. On the other hand, nobles are generally expected to go along to get along, while commoners are more free, so the commoners would likely be pretty annoyed if someone is quarreling with the Faith in a way that could get templars called upon their heads.
Q: Base on NPC population did the decree by the Dominus cause any significant portion of Knights of Solace, Scholars of Vellichor, The Mercies, or other church services to be ousted due to also believing in the spirits? Like 5% 10% 20% what are we talking?
A: Now here's a reminder, the 'religion' field on someone's sheet is what someone openly practices and avows in thier day to day life. Having 'shamanism' there means that they practice at least some form of daily devotions or spirit worship of some kind that is related to that. Most of the prominent original northern PCs were CG'd to say 'Pantheon' only, not shamanism, beause those characters realized it is impolitic to practice spirit worship -whether they believe in them or not-. Similarly, the Faith for the most part absolutely does not care if disciples believe in spirits... as long as they don't openly worship them while acting as a disciple. Because of that, only maybe 2 percent of NPCs were forced out, compared to a number of PCs, because NPCs, even if they do sincerely believe in spirits, absolutely are not worshipping them publicly and openly while serving as a disciple. The peer pressure alone makes that unlikely. A templar isn't going to try to sell his buddy in arms that's a fanatical member of the Oathlands Orthodox on how he should maybe pray to the spirit of Rust in the morning to ward off decay on his arms and armor. It would just be a bad idea. They keep that to themselves.
Q: Given the spirits are factually real and have actually assisted the Compact on several occassions is it really akin to demon worship amongst Northern commoners?
A: The PCs know that. The NPCs by and large react to that with the very polite tolerance of skeptics that have a very religious stranger on a bus ride trying to talk to them about the angel that just visited them. They aren't going to argue but probably think you are crazy, even if they are following a belief system that technically says, yes, those do exist.
Question: Q: I am likewise confused on how people are viewing Shamanism. To me, it feels like NPCs are looking down on people who believe in The Spirits. Can you go into more detail and tell us how NPCs and The Peerage are viewing Shamanism? Like are they just supposed to be leery or is it that they feel greatly disturbed, are they social pariahs, or are they just looked at like they are utterly insane? Can you give us some guidance on this please and thank you!
A: It's not really the beliefs themselves so much as their association with the worst stereotypes of Abandoned being cannablistic demon worshipers (even if only a very small of Abandon really fall into that shav picture of The Enemy). In some ways, this has very mixed feelings among the north, since some of the very worst fighting against Abandoned is in the Northlands, and the Northern houses suffer under the most vicious shavs significantly more than some other great houses, which can in turn lead to some very virulent northerns trying to distance themselves from beliefs like that, or more nuanced beliefs in having burning hatred for specific Abandoned tribes rather than seeing them as a misleading and inaccurate aggregate. For most of the Compact, they vary between seeing as quaint superstitious and uncivilized folk traditions, that make the North seem shav-like, or local traditions that can be largely ignored- keep in mind, almost every house had some kind of offputting social traditions in the eyes of the rest of the Compact. For the Oathlands, it's religious intolerance, fanaticism, rigidity. For the Lyceum, it's perceived dishonesty, unreliability, Tehom worship. For the Mourning Isles, it's thralldom and ruthlessness. For Grayson, it's arrogance and the resentment coming from the expectation of rule. The Northland having shav-like traditions is just their thing. Most don't care for it, and would rather it be quietly downplayed, but it's probably not leaving them anytime soon however much friction it might cause. But speaking as a GM, when called upon their one thing that can be hard to be defensible, I think doubling down and adopting 'come at me bro' usually isn't productive, for any of the regions.
Q: I thought the original post by the Dom said no believer of Shamanism in general could be in those positions. Is that not the case? Is it only Shamans? I think my confusion, and perhaps others confusion, is that the Dom said people who believed in Shamanism couldn?t be a part of any Faith org. It didn?t sound like he was just saying Shamans with a capital S couldn?t hold ministry positions within the Faith. I am inclined to agree with it not making sense to let a Shaman be a religious leader. But I think what has had people in knots is that even non-Shamans were kicked out of orgs for not being purely Pantheon oriented. At this point, I am confused on if it is just Shamans or all who believe in Shamanism and if it is just ministry positions or all Faith oriented orgs. Does that make sense? I?m not trying to be difficult. Just hoping for clarification.
A: The Dominus just doesn't want teachers and representatives of the Faith, which disciples of the Faith are, to represent other faiths or belief systems. In other words, he would not care if someone quietly believes in shamanism provided while they act as a representative of the faith they abstain from practicing shamanism or teaching about shamanism. The same would come from someone that followed any other belief system like Eurusi Reflection, for example. So even if someone believes in their heart of hearts that the spirits are real and talk to them on the daily, if their sheet says 'Pantheon' meaning that they don't just publicly worship spirits in their day to day life, they are aokay.