Religions of the World (Classroom 44)

"Anyway lets start with the earth worshipers, this is a very large blanket term that covers any number of tribes or cults that worshiped the formations of the land, the most prominent was the worship of the Dragon's Spine mountains themselves. It was said that they were the dwelling place of a great primordial spirit of earth fire and air, and one day it would awaken again, and scorch the earth if the offerings were not made every year. In return for their sacrifices the people believed the mountain gave them metals, and coal and guilimite crystals, though they did not understand what guilimite actually was as of yet, they merely considered it a sacred material and used the glowing crystals for a light source. This is very similar to what current Ohgdenism belives though they believe their god to be more benevolent than the mountain was belived to be in those days, and such they do not offer the sacrifices anymore. There were other small groups worshiping forrests, lakes, and sometimes even caves as the dwelling places of great primordial spirits, but as this is an intro class we won't go too heavily into the details on those just yet, though if you are ready and willing to find one I have not heard of yet and deliver me a one page report on it by monday I will give you some extra credit." She eyes Lan for a moment before continuing, "Anyways the other groups were a little more sparse, as worshiping otherworldly spirits doesn't really have as much appeal, and really didn't catch on until Cashemar came around. The most prominent group was a tribe at the northern most regions of the continent dwelling on a large frozen lake. From what we've been able to dig up the high priests eventually became the Asteir family. They believed that they could talk to the dead, and that the souls of the dead drifted to a realm beyond this world where they condensed into a single entity, that entity is what they worshiped as god. They supposedly could petition this god to send souls back through if they made a proper sacrifice. According to the Cashemaran missonaries and Drakarian scouts though these people never came back quite right. They were tainted by something dark. We believe they just did some basic necromancy on the corpses and let them rise telling their family memebers that they could bring their loved ones back and all. But either way once the Holy Knights came over that was quickly put an end to. They killed all who insisted on practicing it. Though it was found out several years ago that the Astier family had been practicing it in secret anyway, and then they were disposed of. I believe one of the last sons is in the school now in fact. Perhaps you could interview him for some extra credit? Now don't bug him if he does't want to talk though. If I hear you guys have been doing that I will dock points from you." She scribbles more on the board. "So do you guys have any questions? What do you think of these religions?" She sits down with a smile on her face.