Safaism

Safaism is a dualistic religion that is the state religion of Dezabia, and has existed in its current form, evolving through its over two thousand years of existence. The first attestation of the religion occured in 1500 BS, but most historians believe the religion of Safaism has a longer lineage than that. The name of the religion comes from the two chief deities of the religion, the two sisterly female goddess Sáyit and Fáyit, the religion’s Sky and Earth Goddesses respectively.

Beliefs

The chief canon of the Safaist religion is the Wufli, a book composed between 900 - 800 BS that consists of what is considered the canon of the Safaist religion. Here are the key points of the religion.

Creation

At first the world was void. And in the middle was a great egg of the universe’s essence. The egg cracked along the middle, and into which two worlds were split. One was a world of endless floating islands, rock, thunder, wind and sky, and the other was an endless world of dry rock and desert. The spirits of the two worlds became two female forms, from whom all forms of the male will eventually descend. The sky became Sáyit and the earth became Fáyit. The two worlds were separated by many miles - maybe millions, maybe tens of million. And the two sisters called out for each other.

And so the two sisters and their realm approached each other by accident, and all the floating islands in Sáyit’s realm came crashing down onto Fáyit’s realm. The craters became the future's ocean, and the land that rose up became mountains. The valleys carved became rivers. Sáyit saw her sister hurts with by the floating islands, and so she wept and bawled, and a great torrential rain swept over Fáyit’s realm, washing down mountains, and the water who overflowed broke into another realm, creating what is known as the Arcane Seas.

Eventually, Fáyit managed to persuade her sister to stop crying, but by the time she stopped crying, the ocean filled up half of the world, and there were rivers everywhere. In Sáyit’s realm, she has cried most of the water away, and Fáyit saw the many beautiful stars behind them, and the sun was now visible. In Fáyit’s realm, the water and the sun meant Fáyit gave birth to plants, and there was greenery everywhere.

Fáyit told her sister she was lonely, and Sáyit burst into tears again, flooding Fáyit’s realm. And so with Sáyit’s tears and her own flesh Fáyit molded them into the egg of ninety nine hundred ninety nine animals, who burst forth from the earth and populated the world. Fáyit was happy.

Fáyit eventually got lonely again, and said the animals were cute and lovely, but they were not very smart to talk to. Sáyit bawled again, and this time Fáyit molded eggs that are like her, and created the first intelligent beings of the world, who had two legs and two arms, and could think and stand. From then on, Fáyit was happy and did not ask her sister for more, but it is said that Fáyit feared Sáyit’s tears, and dare not ask for even more. Wherever Sáyit cried, the sky rained and floods followed.

Origin of Dezabian

The Dezabian Origin Myth is a separate myth from the creation of the world, and explains the origins of the Dezabian culture and their present circumstances.

When the first mortals were created, they saw the jackals and the cats of the desert, and fed them, and the cats and jackals took to them, and became the first pets of the first mortals. When they died, one of the women prayed to Fáyit, and said she wanted to be with a cat forever. And so Fáyit told her that all must return to her womb for it is the cycle of life, but Fáyit can make her like a cat. And so Fáyit gave the woman the attribute of the cat. And when the woman returned to her tribe, the other tribe member were in wonder, and said she was blessed with the essence of the divine, and worshiped her as an avatar of Fáyit, and they prayed to Fáyit to be like her. And so Fáyit gave the tribe the ears of a cat, the tail of a cat, and the nimbleness of the cat, and declared this to be like her image.

And in another tribe, the same thing happened, but they prayed to Sáyit, for the land was dry and they desired Sáyit’s tears. And so a woman was given the ears, tail and the nimbleness of a jackal, and so she was worshiped as an avatar of Sáyit, and the rest of the tribe followed.

And thus the tribe of Sáyitid and Fáyitid were born. When the land went dry, their gods guided them to the source of water, and they went up into the mountains and highlands of the south, and they found two pristine sources of water. And their gods said.

“This is where my purest tears are”

“This is where my purest blood is bled”

And so they named the two rivers after their patron goddesses. And their sons and daughters moved north every generation, until the two met at the place where the two rivers merged together. And together they bickered over the proper naming of the river, to name it after the Sky or the Earth. And so they decided on a compromise, and said the river was named after that of the world’s essence, and they called that Dezab, and so they moved on to the north, until they found the boundless ocean and the great green delta of the land, which were wet and full of life. And so they offered blessing to their gods and erected a city in their honor, and then called themselves the People of the World, or Dezabian. And their country was called Dezabia, the country of the world.

Mortality & Afterlife

When the first man to be created came down with an illness, he was laid down on a bed of stone, and his family gathered around him, and he saw the vision of Sáyit and Fáyit crying, for their first companion was about to die. And so he started speaking to them, and his family thought him crazy, for he was talking to the gods and only those near death or a temple may see them. Then he asked why the gods were weeping, for surely there was more of him. And Fáyit said that if he died, his soul will be gone into the cosmos where the two sisters cannot control, and though he will return in life, Fáyit will never find him again.

And the man said,”What if I was embraced by you, surely my soul will then be cradled by you and stay with you until I am born again?” And so Fáyit made a big dome of the world, and enclosed the world within. And Fáyit said,”I’ve made a dome of the world, so that you will not flee away. But Sáyit will not recognize your soul, and I can only keep your body.” And so the man yelled at his family, and asked them for the blessed water of Sáyit, and so one of them blessed the water with the symbol of Sáyit, by dipping a jackal in it, and then put it on the man’s head. And so the man’s soul was marked. And then they dipped a cat in the water, and then put it on the man’s head, so his soul was marked for Fáyit, and he will not drift away again.

Thus the man passed away peacefully, and his descendents and family made sure to mark the dead with the water of Sáyit and Fáyit, so their souls may be found by their patron goddesses and kept in the world.

It is said those whose souls drift away drift in the void until they reincarnate, but those who are marked with the water of the goddesses are embraced by them and is given a feast with the bounty of the sky if they goes to Sáyit, which are all sorts of delicious exotic chickens and drakes, and if they goes to Fáyit, they are given a feast with the bounty of the earth - grain and fishes. And only those who are marked by the water of the goddesses may stay in the Sáyit’s Court of Heaven or the Fáyit’s Court of the Earth as guests or servants, to feast and administer her realms.

Deities and Servants

It is believed that the two sisters have created many servants from the mortals that have ascended to their realms. It is said the following were lesser deities that serve them. Some of them served Fáyit for the first six months of the year, and then they shifted into their other form, and served Sáyit for the rest of the year. Some heroes therefore have two sets of attributes, while others does not.

The known and most commonly worshiped deities are:

• Sitro-Mahu - Deity of Fire and Water. The hero serves Fáyit in the first six months of the year as Sitro, and then change his face to Mahu, to serve Sáyit. He is depicted as a man bearing a torch and a bucket, and his symbol is carved on top of a home’s hearth and on top of wells.
• Kálín - Deity of the Forge. She serves both of the goddesses equally, and is depicted as a woman with short hair hammering against an anvil.
• Bek-Yásye - Deity of the Justice and Society. It has no gender, and they are depicted as a person with two faces and three legs and five arms, three pointed to the left holding a spear parallel to the ground, a hoe diagonal to the ground, and an empty hand in the sky. Its left, Bek, serves Fáyit and ordains people into their proper position in society - to fight, to pray and to farm. The right arms are parallel, and hold a book. And it is the form of Yásye, and in the second half of the year, it renders judgement on crimes and justice.
• Yokyáb - Deity of Fate. Depicted as a woman holding a weaving wheel. She spins the fate of destiny and is the goddess to pray to for fortune and favor, and is the favored deity of gambler. She serves both goddesses and thus can be called upon anytime of the year.
• Lub’un - Deity of the Watch and the Stars. He is portrayed as a man who would wander the desert, holding a Shepard’s staff. He guides man to the correct destination and make sure they are not lost, and later incarnations of Lub’un have him hold a compass in his right hand.
• Yídgá-Kásrib - Deity of War and Peace. Unlike the other dual-god, it serves both goddesses at the same time. The side of war - Yídgá, is always drawn in a feminine form, holding in one hand a baby who holds a sword. The side of peace - Kásrib, is drawn in a masculine form, placing one hand on top of a child who holds a hoe. It represents the duality of war and peace, and is prayed for for success and low casualties in time of war, and for a swift return to peace and prosperity when war ends.

Organization

Safaism has a highly organized priesthood with grandiose temples dedicated to the cult of the two goddesses, and their lesser deities located in the capital, with donations and offerings made quite often.

Those temples are also centers of learning and knowledge preservation and libraries, and the temples of Bek-Yásye also serve as a court. In most smaller towns and cities, a small temple of Bek-Yásye is often built as a hybrid building that serves the purpose of both prayer and as a courtroom to solve legal disputes. A figure of the god always looms over the courtroom.

Other Beliefs

• Birth: Birth is seen as an occasion for celebration, but the religion does not proscribe special birth ritual
• Death: The recent dead are anointed with holy water as soon as possible - and if possible and predictable, they are anointed with holy water of the two goddesses on their deathbed, so they may pass over to the afterlife.
• Burial Practice: Safaism does not prefer a specific type of burial practice, as the two primary types - cremation and inhumation are both seen as returning the both to one of the two sisters. Safaist tends to prefer inhumation.
• Gendered Priesthood: As both Sáyit and Fáyit are female, the priesthood of the two chief deities are universally female, while the priesthood of the lesser deities depends on their portrayed gender, with the priesthood’s gender matching that of their deity. In case of deity with none, priesthoods are composed of both genders.
• The Holiest Races: While anyone can be a believer in Safaism, Safaist refuse to let any non-jackal kemonos participate in the priesthood of Sáyit, and non-feline kemonos participate in the priesthood of Fáyit. However, temples of lesser stature and further away from the capital allow Felinid and Jackal-like Canifor to participate in the priesthood - though they are rare and few in number, and Hombaxian practitioners of the religion see no issue with Felinid offering worship to both goddesses.
• Marriage, Polygamy and Polyandry: It is accepted that rich and powerful aristocratic men and women may take multiple spouses, but those spouse in turn may not take multiple spouse, for it is a source of confusion. Safaist does not accept concubinage and only accepts nominal equality between multiple spouses. Marriage is seen as something not to be broken or taken lightly, but where well justified, can be broken and the two are free to remarry as they wish afterward.
• Premarital and Extramarital Intimacy: Premarital intimacy is allowed within Safaism but extramarital intimacy - even those that are consensual, are frowned upon.
• Timing: For deities with dual aspect, it is generally seen as more appropriate and timely to do affairs related to them in the part of the year they are active. When homes are moved and hearthfire moved - It is preferred to be done in the first half of the year. When a well is made, it is preferred to be done in the second half of the year. And executions are always done in the second half of the year, and cases of treason are done in the second half of the year. Great inheritance and formal coronation are always done in the first half of the year.

Branches

There are no significant branches of Safaism that are worthy of mention, with the exception of Kozartism, which depending on perspective is a branch or a related religion - And in this document is treated as a related religion.