Arahetian Legends : Pt 2
The warnings of Dehovus, the Arahetian exodus, Treatises and Visions, and the Cantankerous One.
You can learn much about a people by understanding their legends, their gods, and their faith in practice. This is the third of several entries exploring the religions of the world of Ash and Ruin and the people who adhere to them.
The Flight of Dehovus
Many years after the death of Arahet, a second holy figure emerged. In this age, the old feuds had reignited as lords within the new empire splintered their lands once again. The elderly Dehovus saw this as the ill gains of worldly pursuits by those who had all but neglected the lessons of Arahet. Dehovus was himself a prominent lord and great grandchild to Heftos. Yet, he abandoned his family, title, and wealth to relive the trials of Arahet.
Dehovus returned from his own path of atonement, not with the wisdom and calm of Arahet, but instead with a dire message and charge. He warned that superficiality and obsession with wealth had damned their lands and all would soon be cleansed in flame. He demanded that lords surrender their ships, removing all implementations of trade and war, to ready for a great migration. This would be the only possible salvation for their people. He wrote a treatise to each great house with this plea. Called The Treatises of Dehovus, the writings detailed each effort taken to convince the great lords of the coming doom.
Alas, most did not heed his warning.
The doom of which Dehovus spoke soon came to fruition. A chain of quakes and volcanic eruptions left the archipelago in ruin. Those who remained were indeed cleansed by flame. Those that escaped the destruction settled on the largest island within the Cradle, nestled in a western gulf of the Protected Lands, by following the migration of the sacred crane. Dehovus claimed this to be the final wish and gesture of Arahet. Those who joined his exodus were made certain of the claim.
By the time of Dehovus’ peaceful death, the Arahetians held dominion over the Cradle and much of its mainland shores. It was not through conquest that this came to be, but instead through trading, innovation, and faith. The techniques and tools they had introduced to the local communities saved them from an ongoing famine - just as the religion inspired the small folk who had little hope. Arahetian dominion began to spread over the whole of the Protected Lands in due course, bringing hope and purpose for their age of suffering. Within two centuries, the Arahetian Empire stretched from sea to sea, with little resistance to its sovereignty.
Treatises and Visions
There are two foundational documents to the Arahetian faith: the Treatises and Visions. The collection of work called the Visions were bore from Arahet’s isolation, deprivation, and anguish of mind. While imprisoned by Heftos, Arahet was able to shed from his eyes the veil of hubris and the natural world to see clearly the divine. The visions that cursed him he would transcribe in his chambers. While many were lost, those that remained would form the first tenets of the Arahetian faith. After Arahet’s death, his final words were transcribed and added to the Visions. They were supplemented later by the Treatise of Dehovus that made explicit the methods, organizations, and practices that structured the coming Arahetian Empire.
According to the Visions of Arahet, the world has always been. And it had a singular God. Then, a nameless dark force collided with this God. From this collision, the aspects of the darkness and light littered the world. God then formed mankind from himself as a tool to purify his worldly domain, each gift he gave came with its own strengths and natures. So, it is believed, man is the part of God that must accept the lesser tomb of human form - for a time - adopting the nature of its surroundings. Piece by piece, God would be restored and the world is cleansed of darkness. To Arahetians, life is a process of purification. Each generation can face a more godly world should their forefathers go about their sacred task dutifully.
The Visions speak of the afterlife. According to the texts, once the essence of the world that forms a person expires, all that remains is the soul, which must be purged to returned to the aspect of God. Arahet insisted that the dark aspect within the soul might still need to be purified before the soul can rejoin God. Thus, a purging process must ensue after death. This process is painful - even tormenting. Thus, it is wise to be rid of as much of the darkness as possible before death. Arahet did warn - some souls are so tainted that they may simply be rejected, the divine having been snuffed and smothered from existence.
Dehovus spoke much on the structures of man in his Treatises. He reasoned that the absence of God is the cradle of suffering - yes. But, this absence has no special care for who deserves the suffering. Fortunately, as the hum of a string rings, its vibrations can be predictable. If a fisherman sins, the bounty may suffer. If the magistrate sins, the city may be beset by crime.
Dehovus also speaks of the lives of common men. According to Dehovus, a life of good works, devotion, and family is the plotted path to purity. It is the duty of the ruling class to provide for the common man and protect them so that they can perform their duties. He then details the structures of rulership that are most conducive to this end.
Nature is more deeply explored by Dehovus as well. He describes nature as a feminine force of balance. She is in a constant struggle toward purity, free of god and the unnamed essence alike. Yet, she tolerates and provides for both in small sums so that they do not practice in the forceful taking of her essence. When she is too pure, she makes the feral and wild beasts of the earth to drive man to feel fear - knowing fear being is surest route from the purity of God. Nature has her own perverse and violent cleansing tools as well: the wave, the storm, the famine, and the flame.
The Cantankerous One
Of all the trials of Arahet, the most iconic is his year long debate with a goatlike creature familiar to the people of Ylefode; a spawn of nature blessed with a taste of God’s purity. While he is given no name is the Visions or Treatises, folklore has branded him with many aliases. He is called the Cantankerous One, the Stray Goat, Lord of the Hills, and the Bastard. He is the constant critic of God’s creation, yet behaves at odds with nature and darkness as well. His actions, as his essence, are a contradiction. Arahet argued that his function is to aid God’s purpose as a striking hammer strengthens a blade.
Throughout Arahetian history, and long before Arahet, tales of the Cantankerous one littered the archipelago, appearing always in the hills and mountains. In these tales, he has been challenged, worshiped, and even hunted (but never caught). The cause of many societal ills are placed at his feet. So too are the solutions to its bloat. Some theologians offer the following insight: ‘when considered by the individual or challenged in debate, the conflict with the Cantankerous One may impart needed wisdom to the wise. When worshiped or followed by groups, or faced by the young and pure, only corruption is wrought. Such is the way of the Stray Goat.’
Since the death of Arahet, the Bastard’s description has changed. From that day, he’s been depicted with a shining wound next to his left eye. Most attribute this to Arahet’s final thrust. As he stabbed his heart, the Cantankerous One took a near fatal blow. How he was so connected to Aharat is a mystery - one likely debated for decades and centuries to come.
