Erlik

Worshipped Where

Strongly present in Hyrkania and Turan. Present in Ghulistan and Iranistan.

Primary Beliefs (Turan)

Turanians, by and large, worship Erlik daily, though there is grim fatalism to their devotion. Theirs is a god of death and sin, disease and fear. He is soulless, and therefore has no mercy. One is judged not by the virtues of being good, or the blackness of being evil, but whether one served Turan well.

Erlik’s priests wield great influence throughout Turan, and even Turanian kings must sometimes cow to the will of the cult. Whilst the king is, by the divine right of Erlik, entitled to the Peacock Throne, the priests maintain the conditions by which a man or woman can truly call themselves a true believer.

Primary Beliefs (Hyrkania)

To be Hyrkanian is to be on a path toward death one’s entire life; they do not exist outside the dooms that shall end them. Such a mindset is difficult for many outsiders to process. While Hyrkanians rejoice in this life, it is only in preparation for the next. 

Days of Erlik come at fall, just as the leaves turn brown and the ice first creeps down from the taigas to sheath the land. For two weeks during this period, all clans feast and celebrate. The dead are remembered only during this period. It is important for an outlander to understand that Hyrkanians do not otherwise grieve or think of the dead. The dead have moved to the truer world, while those left behind must prepare their own souls for departure.