Chapter VIII: Religion & Belief
Symbol The symbol for Taal and Rhya together is the Coil of Life, a spiral representing nature’s annual turn from birth to maturity to death to rebirth. This symbol is also used by Jade Wizards. By himself, Taal is symbolized by stag antlers or a stone axe, with which he is said to cause thunder, lightning, and avalanches by striking mountaintops. Rhya is symbolized by a sheaf of grain or a bow and arrow, representing her hunter aspect and the dart of love. The Gods’ Priests generally wear simple robes of grey, brown, or green, which they adorn with leaves Wherever people are concerned about the weather, the harvest, the wilderness, or love, Taal and Rhya are worshipped. Taal is especially venerated in the north and east of the Old World, among the great forests and mountains of the Empire. Most of his followers are rangers, woodsmen, and Amber Wizards. Rhya’s most devoted followers are farmers and hunters. Many Jade Wizards are devoted to the Gods as Ishernos. While Taal is not usually revered in cities, in Talabheim, which was founded on river trade, he is called the Father of Rivers and is the city’s chief God. Temperament Taal is viewed as an indifferent God. Like a mountain or storm, he is unmoved by mortal concerns. Rhya, in contrast, gracefully nurtures the world by providing sustenance and natural beauty. Strictures Priests of Taal and Rhya must abide by the following strictures: • Taal’s children gladly give themselves for food and sacrifice. Respect and honour this gift to you. • A sacrifice, of an animal or grain, must be made to Taal and Rhya once per month, at the dark of the moon. • Each year, all Priests must spend seven solitary days and nights away from civilization, communing with nature and living on what they catch. The time for each Priest’s retreat is determined by the hierarchs in the region. Do not clad yourself in metal, rather wear the hides of your animal kin. Take pride in your strength and natural skill. Avoid firearms and other works of science. • • and flowers for festivals. Area of Worship
There is hardly a village that does not have a temple or shrine dedicated to him. Crowds of not only devout Sigmarites but also common folk flood the streets in every corner of the Empire on his holy days. Even in the basest, most common tavern, a toast “To Sigmar!” is raised near hourly. From the commonest peasant to the mightiest Elector Count, the people of the Empire revere Sigmar and hold his name holy. Outside the Empire, however, worship is limited to a handful of exiles and immigrants. Temperament Sigmar is a vengeful God. He lights fires in the hearts of his followers and, like in the Dwarfen smithies of old where his hammer was formed, forges them into weapons against the machinations of Chaos. Strictures Devout worshippers of Sigmar must abide by the following Strictures. To violate one of these strictures is to flout his will and, in same cases, may bring terrible and swift retribution: • Obey your orders. • Aid Dwarf-folk. • Work to promote the unity of the Empire, even at the cost of individual liberty. • Bear true allegiance to His Imperial Majesty the Emperor. • Root out and destroy Goblinoids, the servants of Chaos, and those who use corrupt magic, wherever they may hide. T aal and r hya Lord of Nature, Mother of the Earth worshipped as a single God, Ishernos, who had a feminine face in Spring and Autumn and a masculine face in Summer and Winter. Over time, Winter became the domain of Ulric and the two faces of Ishernos became two Gods in worshippers’ imaginations, yet the cult has remained one. Some theologians speculate that Ulric was once a part of Ishernos as well, forming a triad, which would explain the triskeles etched into the megaliths in Taal and Rhya’s oldest stone circles. Taal is the power behind gales and downpours, waterfalls and rapids, avalanches and landslides. He is the lord of beasts, forests, and mountains. The wild areas of the Old World are his domains. Rhya is the power behind zephyrs and gentle rains. She is the midwife when animals are born and plants sprout, and she is the huntress who provides for her kin. Cultivated lands are her domains, as are love and procreation. When farmers pray to her for springtime rains, lads and lasses entreat her to turn the hearts of their beloved ones toward them. In art and story, Taal is normally a powerfully built man with long, wild hair crowned with the skull of a great stag. He wears animal skins, and golden leaves flutter from his beard. In some tales, he manifests as one of his totems: a stag or bear. Rhya is usually depicted as a lovely, motherly woman, her hair a tangle of flowers and branches and her gown a weave of evergreen leaves and fragrant herbs, or she appears as a doe, her primary totem. When mortals first turned to the Gods and prayed to be spared the worst storms, to have bountiful hunts and harvests, and to understand the cycles of the natural world, they formed the cult of Taal and Rhya, king and queen of nature. In the beginning, the two were
u lrIC God of Wolves, Battle, and Winter Tall men, and fierce, the worshippers of Ulric preserve the spirit and
traditions of their ancestors who founded the Empire. The cult of Ulric as it is currently constituted dates back over three thousand years, with its leader able to trace his succession across millennia. When the forefathers of the Teutogen tribe crossed the frozen and terrible mountains of the Old World to come to the land that is now the Empire, it was Ulric who guided them, sending wolves to protect them on the way. These men erected no monuments and forged no steel. They were wild men. The cult of Ulric maintains that primal spirit from which the Empire arose, even in this later age of black powder and other wonders.
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