WORLD BOOK WORLD BOOK WORLD BOOK 0024 0024
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Shadazim Customs
Shadazim have a variety of strange customs, each faith
as individual as its senior Cheldar. Each Cheldar likewise
has his own teachings, generally from newly made texts
about the ancient gods, since there are none known that
survive from ancient times. The few legible carvings
on ancient temples are in tongues lost long before the
Dragon Kings’ rise (though some claim otherwise). Despite the wide variety of gods and priests, certain commonalities exist among the Shadazim:
• Tithes: Many often require tithes and donations
of coins, goods, or food to the priest or priests from
their followers.
• Exclusivity: Most, too, urge their faithful to follow
no other gods, lest their true god take offense and
fail to protect them all due to a follower’s doubts.
• Black Sash: All Shadazim wear at least one specific
item of clothing to mark his status as a god’s priest;
most Shadazim across Khitus have adopted a black
sash crossing from the left shoulder and attached to
the right hip, though some wear the sash with one
or more colors favored by the god.
• Unique Interment: Shadazim insist their fallen
bodies, regardless of the method of death, be preserved for pending reanimation by their chosen
god. Most gain a sewn shroud packed in salt, though
some also insist on more permanent protections
like stone tombs or sarcophagi.
• Amorous Access: Many Shadazim insist on undisputed sexual access to their followers, though
many faiths insist its priests must never procreate
naturally. The rationale is that Shadazim and any of
their blood become their god’s vessels upon Khitus,
and to have too many embodiments would stretch
a god’s vitality too thin, weakening its powers. Any
woman impregnated by a Shadazim must flee that
faith and its region before a Deshadiz severely punishes her transgression.
Rumors & Whispers
It is rumored that many of the Cheldar Shadazim are in
fact Dragon Kings in human form reestablishing power
on Khitus. These rumors range far and wide enough
that not all could possibly have been generated by the
faiths themselves and have some unconnected progenitors whispering such to the winds. Other more particular rumors link directly to a faith or to a Shadazim:
• Nathan Gnok: This Shadazim of Arvaritos the Spider, supposedly provides sacrifices to his voracious
god by purchasing the old and sick from the marauder caravans around Patnu.
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• Armail Saruath: This Cheldar inspires fearful loyalty among his acolytes, who call him Saruath the
Blue behind his back for his habit of consuming
the creatures called azurats. He inflicts these blue
watchers on his enemies and later consumes the
creatures to gain any leverage he can to raise the
power and prominence for his faith, his seven fellow
Shadazim, and his god, Zarut the All-Seeing.
• Arkala Tarmlad: One of few female Cheldar in existence, Arkala Tarmlad leads a physically amorous
faith, allowing those she deems of proper piety to
“share her blessings” and create more followers of
her blood. She appears no older than a woman of 30
summers, but none know her true age (which is far
older than even her eldest child suspects). Her Deshadiz number four—three sons and one daughter
between 16 and 28 summers in age—and this family controls the small but fervent worship of Kadlath
the Great Bear in the matriarchal tribe of northern
hunters that shares its name.
Trakeen (The Faithful)
The Dragon Kings derived their strength from enormous magical powers and unrivaled wisdom. In their
days on Khitus, they walked among the people, held
court with rulers and ambassadors, and took an active
role at most levels of the world. In their absence, Daragkarian exploits have become legend, facts now seen
as myths and truths more akin to faith. The Trakeen are
modern Khitans who have deified the various Dragon
Kings and so worship them today as gods.
The allure of the Trakeen message has more appeal
than that of the Shadazim due to the existing record
of the Dragon Kings’ existence. They are—or at least
were—undeniably real, while few could ever claim direct contact with an ancient god. Most legends of the
Daragkarik claim that each of them has ascended to
some extra-planar heaven where they will one day welcome the faithful to live with them in everlasting life.
Alternately, prophecy declares the Dragon Kings will
return to Khitus one day, all of them filled with either
wrath or peace, to judge the world before a cataclysmic
end. Either way, only the faithful will survive.
In the case of almost every Dragon King from history,
there is at least one cleric or group (or multiple religious
groups vying for dominance over their Daragkarian faith)
that points to recent writings as the basis of their newfound faith. The Faithful, as they are sometimes called,
are met with some skepticism by most, but in these evertroubled times, their message is taking root among the
most disenfranchised, the most desperate. The time of
