Kozam
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Kozam is a polytheistic religion which originated in ancient Kormistazm and has a present-day following primarily in modern Axdel. It is regarded by practitioners as the indigenous religion of Axdel and a nature religion.
| Kozam | |
|---|---|
 The Symbol of Kozam | |
| Belief | polytheism |
| Deities | Sek and Olna |
| Region(s) | Axdel |
| Founder | The Four Oracles |
| Founded | 6th century BCE |
| Origin | Axdelian Peninsula |
| Denominations | n/a |
| Kozite, Kozami | |
Kozam worship is associated with a focus on mindfulness, respect of an individuals natural environment, the importance of health and wellbeing, and respect of others. There are several orders of divinity within kozam and numerous Gods, however the main two that are followed by worships are Sek and Olna, two powerful spirits that created much of the world. Additionally there are many minor spirits that embody certain aspects of the natural world who are considered during daily life. The dead are often buried with shrubs, trees, or other plants planted on top of their bodies that are considered a shrine. Battles and wars often have entire memorial forests dedicated to the dead rather than planting new trees, which are relatively common across South west Aurora and South Arcturia.
History
Beliefs
Creation
(OOC: My ideas for kozam's creation story change faster than I can be motivated to write and its far from the most important part of the religion anyway, just the most interesting thing to worldbuild, so have some tldrs:)
Auan (Heaven)
(There are a number of immortal primordial dieties known as Kaeva who live in Auan (kevatuul is one of them). At some point they decide to make a world using a base creation/life essence)
First world and Kevatuul
(ooc: the first world made by the kaeva is an idyllic land with an unchanging blue sky, sourceless light and constant summer etc etc. Mortal people pretty much come out of the woodwork as essences of the Kaeva's creativity. Things happen.)
(at some point Kevatuul descends to the world from Auan and subsumes the creative essence there, as they have ambitions of their own. Immediately they take the physical form of a birds head surrounded by uncountable numbers of wings the size of the universe.)
(The rest of the Kaeva ally with the people of the first world to destroy Kevatuul, which is successful as an arrow fired by a mortal pierces their body and shatters the essence they absorbed. The essense is scattered across the sky, becoming the stars, however his formerly white feathers become black and create night. Also this did not kill them, they cannot be killed (This becomes important later))
Second World to Urth
(With the second world thoroughly ravaged by the war against Kevatuul, the people of the first world had nowhere to live and could not go to Auan with the Kaeva, so the Kaeva plucked three stars from the sky and created the sun, moon and a new unchanging world, alongside setting the planet in motion etc. The sun revealed the blue sky of the first world for half a day, whilst the moon allowed the people to keep track of time/other reason.)
(People usually live in peaceful kingdoms across the second world. Eventually a Cava king without an heir is tricked into forming a covenant with a shard of Kevatuul and the godlike twins Sek and Olna hatch (they bear creative essence through kevatuul's meddling). After being exiled they are raised by wildlife and decide to make the world more interesting by building seas, mountain ranges, making more life, forging rivers and glaciers, etc. This creates Urth as we know it, and their efforts imbue the world with innumerable minor spirits that embody certain aspects of the world.
(Many of the kingdoms of this time collapse (ooc: this theme is likely due to the collapse of Lapytia which was in the popular legend of the Axdelian Peninsula at the time). It is then said that there are many wise men who learned about the world by being mindful and listening to the words of the gods and spirits, leading up to but not ending with the four Oracles who travelled across the Axdelian peninsula spreading their teachings, formally creating Kozam)