Cult of the Sea
The Cult of the Sea is a sect of Badi, dedicated to the theological element of Salt. It holds the ocean to be the holiest entity and the greatest repository of salt in the world. While the ocean is primarily composed of water, the Cult of the Sea focuses on the considerable influence of the salt in the water (rendering the water unsuitable for drinking, irrigation, etc.) The Cult is associated mainly with three categories of people: those who live or work on the coast or islands (such as fishers, dockworkers and saltpan workers), overseas migrants (emigrants from and immigrants to Badist countries, including notably gowsas), and social outcasts. It is one of the most established sects, and can be traced back to ancient times.
History
Ancient
The Cult of the Sea is believed to originate in the pagan beliefs of ancient Dezevau, as they first formed the Badist religion in the first millennium BCE. The earliest city-states were all riverine, depending on rain and inland waterways for agriculture, domestic water, transport, defence, and so forth; the ocean, being salty, static and vast, was seen as inauspicious and dangerous. However, as maritime navigation developed, spurred on by trade, migration and navigational technology, increased contact with the sea occurred. The cultural views of saltwater did not go away, but rather found institutionalisation in the Cult of the Sea. Those who frequently plied the seas were by nature detached from landed locales, and found identity and companionship through the sect, which became widely distributed. Those who were exiled or who chose to emigrate far were often also outsiders to their societies, and so also found identification with the group.
Modern
The explosion in maritime trade and migration that accompanied Euclean colonialism and the Matambing Kingdom and Aguda Empire spurred a similar rise in the Cult of the Sea's profile, from the mid second millennium CE onwards. Often, practitioners of the Cult of the Sea found themselves mediators for technologies, ideologies, goods, species, customs and more from the East, and in many cases, they were able to take advantage of this to enrich themselves and gain prestige. The Matambing Kingdom, though limited in extent, was highly maritime, and this meant greater importance and numbers of seafarers; the Aguda Empire, comparatively, was landed, but much larger, and was able to promote trade and travel on a much larger scale, both between its own extensive territories and the emerging global economy. Its policies favoured internal peace and commerce, as well as migration and cultural exchange for the purposes of facilitating understanding and homogeneising society and governance.
Interconnection with the global economy and the advancement of colonialism also saw the phenomenon of gowsas emerge, whereby large numbers of impoverished labourers migrated around the world, primarily via oceanic voyage. Many became linked with the Cult of the Sea, as the best placed sect not only to address their concerns about the journey, but to keep in contact with them in their destinations around the world. Gowsas who returned home often retained a connection, while remittances and further interaction with the world further boosted the Cult of the Sea's importance. However, despite industrialisation across Southeast Coius, the Crisis of Faith hit the Cult of the Sea hard, as it did Badi broadly, while containerisation, mechanisation, automation and such have reduced the sect's importance further; there are fewer workers associated with the sea, who in any case find themselves in situations of less pressure because of technological advances, and working in more professional, technical ways.
Practice
Bathing in or swilling in the mouth of seawater are common rites for those who follow the Cult of the Sea. While some Badists prefer rock salt as the purest salt, Sea Cultists generally prefer sea salt. Consumption of seafood is also associated with the sect, but is not necessarily exclusive, or a primarily religious activity. Pilgrimage to the sea is common for the few adherents who do not live and work in proximity to it. As a rule, no body of water is considered holier than any other if it is part of the sea.
Badists who do not primarily follow the Cult of the Sea may come to it for religious services in regards of voyages (whether by ship or by plane overseas), drownings (or close brushes therewith) or being othered by society in whatever way (for instance, for gender identity, or physical disability).
Distribution
As would be expected, most Sea Cultists live near seacoasts, even more than population density would make likely (as most people generally live near coasts). There is a significant presence in the dispersed Badist communities, largely originating from historical trade, along the coast of Bahia, especially Rwizikuru. Small communities of Sea Cultists were known to have existed near salt lakes. In the diasporas of largely Badist countries such as Dezevau, Lavana and Terangau, there are also large numbers of Sea Cultists. Frequently, devotees of the Cult of the Sea operate small businesses, being traders or entrepreneurs. Rough estimates say that perhaps a few percentage points of all Badists or less consider them primarily devotees of the Cult of the Sea.