After hoursdays of work and several revisions, I have finally finished my culture.
Mythos: In the beginning, there existed two gods and two goddesses. The greatest of them all was Zagirt, the father of all. Zagirt, as believed by the people of Vargni, had taken a large ball of clay and formed what was to be the world they lived in. The goddess Sianie, had taken that ball of clay and found it barren. Sianie then took from her hair three locks. The first lock became all that would fly in the air as the second lock became the creatures that would swim in the seas, rivers and lakes. The third lock of hair was the lock which became the creatures of the lands. Satisfied with what they had created, Sianie and Zagirt went to sleep. Sianie and Zagirt became the sun and the moon, two lovers who flew through the skies in a wild attempt to catch the other.
Yet, there still remained Vashihana and Norubia. Vashihana looked at his brother’s and sister’s world and seethed with anger. He looked about the dry parts of the world and saw potential to strike back against his siblings. Vashihana took the sands of the deserts and turned the sand into glass. He then breathed life into these glass beings and marveled at his work. These glass beings are what later would be known as humans. Norubia looked at these glass beings and saw weakness in them. Their weakness disgusted her and so she took a group of the glass beings and wrapped their bodies in clay. She heated the clay until it was hard and placed the clay beings into the world of glass beings.
The clay beings, humans as they were named, fought against the glass beings. Eventually, the clay beings were all that remained from Vashihana’s original creation. Vashihana, feeling as if he was a failure, took the humans and gave them something his sister couldn’t; he gave them the ability to breed. Norubia felt as if Vashihana was trying to prove he was the better god. Norubia took the humans and give them the capability of evil deeds. Norubia, growing tired from the overuse of her powers, went to sleep and formed the darkness in the night sky. Vashihana was growing tired of his sister’s game and saw the damage she had done to the humans. To correct the damage, Vashihana gave humanity the capability of good deeds. Vashihana’s powers had begun to fade by then so he decided to counter balance his dark sister. Vashihana became the stars in the sky, the bridge between darkness and light.
The people of Vargni worship the gods Zagirt and Sianie in four month periods. Zagirt is worshipped on the last two and first two months of the year as he is considered the beginning and the end. Sianie is worshipped on the months of March, April, May, and June. Yet, unlike their elder brother and sister, Vashihana and Norubia are only worshipped two months out of the year. Vashihana is worshipped on the months of July and August while Norubia is worshipped during the months of September and October.
Zagirt is worshipped by sacrificing the both the weakest and strongest of goats on the months of December and January. On the months of February and November, the Vargni fishermen meditate on rocks by the beach for weeks. During this time, the fishermen communicate with Zagirt and try to earn his favor so as to get a good catch when the season began. Sianie’s worshippers are a bit different from those of Zagirt. Being mostly women, they paint their skin with mud in swirling patterns as the people of Sarhagnas believe covered Sianie’s skin. The women fast during the March and May while eating only dried and salted fish on the months of April and June.
Vashihana and Norubia are considered the twin gods. Vashihana is worshipped by lighting of a torch once every week while Norubia is worshipped by putting out the lit torches once every week. During the months of worship for Norubia and Vashihana, it is considered abhorrent to shed blood or perform any sexual acts. During the first and last weeks of their worships, the Vargni priests and priestesses wear vestments that are half white and half black so as to represent the contrast between Vashihana and Norubia.
Basic History: The history of the Vargnis begins with the formation of the first four Nomad tribes. Each tribe worshipped one of the gods above the others. Zagirt was worshipped by the people of the Gizhara tribe, a war like people who killed only during the months of December and January. The tribe of Jiziara worshipped Sianie and was a tribe of healers and farmers who often traded their services for the protection of the warriors of Gizhara. Vashihana is worshipped by the tribe of Qurizah while Norubia was worshipped by Qurizah’s enemy, Taazini. Jiziara had always been a neutral party in the wars between Gizhara, Qurizah and Taazini. Often times, Jiziara had acted as the gravediggers for those who died in the wars. It wasn’t until the reign of High Priestess Tuizia Nahigana of Jiziara that the wars had started on a decline.
Less often were the wars between Gizhara, Qurizah and Taazini as the High Priestess preached the ‘new word’ of Sianie. This ‘new word’ supposedly was delivered to Sianie by her brothers and sister and then passed on to the High Priestess during her meditations. Sianie told her priestess that the only way for the tribes to survive was if they existed peacefully. The other three tribes took this as a grab for power by Jiziara. Despite all her preaching, the other tribes wouldn’t stop fighting. Out of spite, Tuizia halted all applications of medical skills by the priestesses of Jiziara. Eventually the other tribes had started to lose too many people and warnings of revolt were heard inside the tribes.
In the end, a meeting was held between the four leaders of the tribes. The leader of the meeting, which later became known as ‘The Unification of Tribes’, was led by High Priestess Tuizia. War-chief Viti of Gizhara had his warriors bring him three goats for the meeting as a peace offering. He was the easiest of the leaders to convince to join the coalition, which would later become the Vargni, due to Zagirt’s close connection to Sianie. Yet, Uithi the Inferno of Vashihana and Rahuti the Abyss of Norubia were unwilling to join with each other. Uithi and Rahuti believed that it would anger their gods to work together let alone live peacefully. It took a sign from their gods, the death of the elders of both Qurizah and Taazini after the meeting, for the two to agree to the coalition.
It was decided that all four of the gods would be worshipped equally with Vashihana and Norubia being counted one side of the same god. The city of Tuitoza was formed around the hill where the meeting was held which later became the site known as the Harmony Shrine. High Priestess Tuizia had been chosen as the leader of the coalition until she passed the torch to Figaz the Seer. Figaz had earned the position of High Priest at the age of twenty three, three years after he earned the title of Seer. Figaz received the title of Seer after having saved the lives of sixty three men and women from a flash flood which caused a landslide in the town of Poruthia. Figaz had told the townsmen that Zagirt had called to him during his fasting the people of Poruthia were in danger. It was later believed that Figaz had been granted with Zagirt’s power to see events in the future.
Despite its near destruction, Poruthia later became the second largest city in Vargni. Poruthia also became an integral part of the future of Vargni. It was the people of Poruthia who had helped the rest of the Vargnis through a three month period of drought that had left the crops dead. Poruthians had supplied everybody with salted fish while living on their own supply of fish and dried goat meat. The drought had been the first major event that officially unified the people of Vargni. In recent years, Vargni has seen few issues other than the reason debate raised by followers of Vashihana as to whether women should be allowed to hold the position of high priestess. The current ruler if the Vargnis is the High Priest Yakriti, the 50th high priest in the line.
Material Culture:The architecture in the cities of Vargni is rather varied from city to city. The cities near the sea are often made from clay and mud but they often are covered in a paint ranging from the color of light green to the light blue color. The architecture in the port city of Poruthia is often seen with small housing and warehouses near the coast and a temple in the center of town. Yet, Poruthia is one of the few port cities with a thriving upper class set of buildings. Many of the upper class buildings have multiple floors topped with a small spire at each corner of the building. Meanwhile, the most distinct city for architecture is Tuitoza. Each building of Tuitoza is painted in one of four colors, each color representing a different god. The buildings nearest to the Harmony Shrine are painted with all four of the colors and are reserved for Priests and Priestesses of the gods.
The clothing of the Vargnis is often rather bland and focuses more on simplicity than richness. Often, the citizens of Vargni wear a shirt the color of the god they worship and pants or dress of a green tint to represent Zagirt. The priests and priestesses of the gods wear a long dress of goat hair with a hood which covers every part of their bodies. The warriors of Vargnis wear a simple leather chest piece with a goat fur trimming. Their helms are often made of leather or woven goat hair.
Like their clothing, the food of thee Vargnis is bland. They tend to dry and salt most of their meats for later consumption. Yet, their bread is often eaten the same day it is made and served with goat cheese. It is considered a sign of richness to serve both cheese and fresh meat on the same day. Most priests and priestesses only eat dried fish and stale bread. Bakers and cheese makers are often paid 80 ziths to provide only to the rich.
Vargnis art is often made in the form of pottery and paintings on the sides of housing. The pottery often displays scenes of ancient battles that had been lost to time. Yet, the paintings contrast the pottery by displaying scenes of beauty such as golden wheat fields and the sea. Though the practice of art is a young one, more and more people are finding them entranced by the beauty that many artists had made in cities such as Tuitoza and Poruthia. Though it is not often seen, the rich have been known to pay for paintings of beautiful men and women or of religious scenes relating to their god of worship.
These artists, like the bakers and cheese makers, are paid with one of two currencies in Vargnis. There is the currency known as ziths, a small circle of stone with etching around it, and the yuriq which is a polished white stone used as a higher level currency than a zith. Zith are owned by everybody but few people have more than ten zith. One is considered rich when they have at least fifty ziths.
Society: The hierarchy in Vargni is rather convoluted. The High Priest/Priestess leads the entire country yet the priests and priestesses are not below that. The rank below High Priest is a group of warriors known as the Swords. The swords are composed of the three warrior group of Vargni; the Flame of Vashihana, the Shadow of Norubia, and the Will of Zagirt. Each group is warriors focus on a specific set of skills based on their god and are considered the elite of the military force of Vargni. The High Priest is often seen with a guard of fifteen Swords at one time. The Swords are followed by the Fathers/Mothers of the church in each village. The Fathers and Mothers represent each village in Vargni while in consultation with the High Priest. A Father or Mother is elected to the church of a village every ten years.
The Watch is the fourth highest ranking the social structure of the Vargnis. To be called a member of the Watch is considered an honor. The members of the Watch, who are known as the Gitiri, patrol the border of the Vargni and patrol each city. The Watch acts as the Hand of the High Priest. The Gitiris do the High Priest’s will but haven’t been used in recent years. Below the Watch are the Priests/Priestesses of the Gods. Below the Priests are a group known as Nobles. The Nobles are the richest and most influential members of Vargni. Some of them own fishing companies while others are retired Swords or Gitiri. The Nobles have little say over what happens in Vargni but there is a faction inside the Nobles who wish to have more power. The Nobles are the second lowest of the groups, only higher than the Commoners. The commoners, as their name states, are common people who do the daily work that the Nobles don’t do. Yet, they are the heart and soul of Vargni. The Commoners report any grievances to their Mother/Father and they then consult with the High Priest. It is very important that the Mother or Father of a village keeps their Commoners happy otherwise they might not have the position in the future.
Subcultures-
Geography: The towns of Vargni sit very near to the sea where much of the land is green and lush. The lands around the sea are often cliffs or rocky hills. There are only three major geographical formations in Vargni’s lands. The Qutos hill is the hill where the Harmony shrine was built. On Qutos, there sat an oasis which supplied water for anybody who was making the large passage into the Yuizzara desert. The Yuizzara desert is the largest desert in Vargni. The desert is hot during the day and cool during the night. The hottest the desert ever reaches is 112F while the coldest it gets is around 50F.
The third and final geographical formation is the Ritqah Mountain.The Ritqah Mountain sits east of Poruthia and rises to about 1,225ft. It is believed that Ritqah Mountain is the site where High Priestess Tuizia had been contacted by Sianie. Most Priests make a pilgrimage to Ritqah Mountain every three years to pay homage to Sianie and Zagirt.
Local Influences [Can be edited in regarding accepted or prospective neighbor cultures]: Vargni has little contact with any of its neighbors and considers them to be heathens because they don't worship their gods. Yet, this does not mean the Vargni is not willing to open negotiations with any of their neighbors. In fact, Vargni is willing to trade with its neighbors for anything so long as it does not allow for their citizens to be corrupted by the heathen religion.