Faith of Ishiri

The faith of Ishiri is the third largest faith in the absolute royal federation after the holy chronicles and the faith of the Fierce unconquerable Sun and is a monolatristic faith where gods are accepted but generally are Ishiri seen as the most powerful one and the only one worthy of worship.

It is a rather dualistic religion where Ishiri is the god of war and of fertility and she is worshipped in two aspects. She is Ishiri the destroyer, the dark angry goddess that brings war, destruction, horror, and death. But she is also Ishiri the lifebringer that makes the crops grow, creates love between man and wife, make seed take hold in the womb, and makes the flowers bloom.

Officially are these two halves of Ishiri united in one body but are seen to have different wills that act independently of one another but in co-operation of a greater goal. This duellist world view is also present in how the faith sees the world and they similarly to the holy chronicles and the faith of the fierce unconquerable sun as divided into spirital and on spiritual worlds. Similarly do they see the world as created by evil demons, however where the holy chronicles say that all life comes from the spiritual world and spirits also lives in this world and how all earthly things are decadent and harmful for the soul as the sun worshippers say so do the worshippers of Ishiri say that our spirits can only be blessed by the goddess by extremes, both pleasures and pain.

Religious creed

The faith of Ishiri is very dedicated to worship and ceremonies where the believers do praise to their goddess through very personal experiences to get in greater contact with ones soul and the goddess. This is said to be only possible through extreme emotions, such as pleasure and pain and religious rituals often include blood letting, fornication, and ceremonial wounding of oneself to help the soul break free of ones body but also to give strength to the goddess and help her in her fight against evil. It is also common for these rituals to include drugs and alcohol to further help the soul to lose its bound to the human body.

Just as in most religions in the federation is blood rites also very important and it has been very influenced by the holy chronicles in rites, religious organisation, as well as some of the theology of the faith itself. Some scholars argue that most of the rites said to be strengthening the goddess is originally taken from the holy chronologically as well as a more dualist view on life is also taken from the holy chronologically's view that good and evil is locked in an eternal war with one another.

The goddess is however said to be mostly concerned with two aspects of the lives of her worshippers, the beginning and the ending of them. As such is it very important for worshippers to prepare the deads and burn their bodies so that Ishiri can take them to the afterlife when they die. Another thing that most likely have a chronological origin as older pre federal worship of the faith shows burial as a very common practice.

One thing that does however make the faith stand out from most of the holy rites of other federal faiths is the fertility rites and temple prostitution is a common sight in the large temples raised to Ishiri. Another thing is that young girls on their 15th birthday is supposed to be initiated into the faith by travelling to a temple and serve as temple prostitutes. This practice is however very frowned upon in the federation and it is by law something that the women cannot be forced to do but there have been several instances when this were done irregardless of the law.

In the aspect of a death bringer is Ishiri also worshipped by ritualistic sacrifice of animals but while strictly outlawed was it common to have human sacrifices in older days when slaves were sacrificed by being devoured by lions that is said to be Ishriri in the aspect of the destroyer and war bringer to keep her wrath at bay. This is carried out in the modern day by live goats and sheep being given to lions as part of the ritual instead.

The coming of the savior and the daughter of Ishiri

What is a very important aspect of the faith is the waiting for the coming daughter of Ishiri that is said to be born from Ishiri herself as she takes a king of kings to the bed. This daughter is said to be a fierce warrior and will take over the world by sword and flame and drive evil back into it's holes leaving the world to be ruled by Ishiri and her faithful.

Ishiri

The goddess Ishiri

The goddess Ishiri have two separate aspects each having a will of it's own but are united in one body and one goal, the salvation of the world. She can change between the loving caring bringer of life to the harsh but just taker of life.

This makes her a rather complicated deity but what is known is her eternal struggle against darkness and evil. Something she shares with the chronological gods and the fierce unconqurable sun, however it is not known if that is an original ideal of the faith or something that it adapted to try to win followers from either of the two previously mentioned faiths.

In statues and reliefs are she however often depicted as a large beautiful woman with wings on her back and the feet of a bird flanked by birds and lions.

Ishiri in the holy chronicles

In the holy chronicles so are Ishiri seen as the daughter of Lif, the old goddess of life and Helia the goddess of death. She was adopted by the faith in what most scholars believe to be an attempt to win over followers. She is however a rather minor god and generally said to be more kinder than she is in her own faith and is more concerned with impregnation of wives as a daughter of lif, but also is she said to help to lead the dead not fallen in battle to her mother Helia to be judged if they are to be sent to Mörkerheim or Silferheim.

Ishiri according to the faith of the fierce unconquerable sun

Ishiri is said to be an evil demon and an enemy of the fierce unconquerable Sun himself as a demon that leads people to decadence and that burdens their soul with their dedication to pleasure and their consumption of drugs. According to their faith so is Sun supposed to track Ishiri down and slay her one day.

The afterlife

The afterlife is the faith of Ishiri is said to be the release of the souls from their mortal bound and at which time Ishiri judges them. If the person is said to have done evil so is he devoured by the goddess and no more. But however if he is a good and kind man with a soul light and able to easily break free so does she let him go on to the realm of light that awaits men after death.

The church

The church of Ishiri is a rather matriarchal affair with all clerics being women and the high priestess is said to be an avatar of Ishiri herself ruling, she used to rule from the large temple in Imerbürg and was not allowed to be seen by people not of the highest levels of the church but the whereabouts of her is unknown currently since the destruction of the city.

The church is however very secretive and many rituals and so on is deliberately kept hidden from outsiders and people of lower rank of the faith which have lead to rumours of human sacrifices and dark demon summoning, and necromancy being practiced in their closed of temples. The royal inquisition have been known to investigate these claims but so far have not made too many arrest on these charges. There have however been some arrests when forced prostitution was uncovered to the outcry of the church.