Back to Religions of Battal

Petramina

Introduction

The religion of the Giants, worshiping the elements of Life, Water, Air, Earth, and Fire. The head priest of the religion is called the Servant of the Elements. All other priests choose a particular element to focus on and are named after that element, for example, an acolyte of fire would be called a Fire Friar. All priests of the religion are gifted by the element they are devoted to with some level of appropriate magikal ability. The Servant of the Elements, however, is the only priest to have access to all the elemental magiks, though the level of ability is dependant on the individual.

All priests of the religion are peaceful, with the obvious exception of Brothic Gandlebar, who was one of the most violent beings ever to take breath. His Troll blood, however, limited his powers. Petramina as a religion is inextricably bound into the power structures of Giant culture. The religious leaders are also the political leaders, thus making Giant culture a theocracy.

Worship

Giant children are devoted to one of the elements at birth, and are blessed by being passed through all of them. In the primal rights of the religions founding in The Valley of the Giants in antiquity, this would involve passing the baby Giant through an actual fire, leaving them out in a storm, drowning them in water, burying them alive and then binding them in living plants. Later Servants, realizing that this may be keyed to the high infant mortality rate among the population, eased off on the rituals and replaced them with symbolic, and safe, alternatives (e.g. candles instead of bonfires, being breathed upon, a splash of water, etc.) There was a splinter cult which retained the orthodox rituals, but there are no surviving members.

Rituals of worship are simple, and much worship is carried out in the home. Giants worship all of the elements as they live, thanking Life for their food at meals, Fire for warmth in winter, Wind for a cool breeze, Water for refreshment, and Earth for shelter. They also join together at six great festivals:

• Tancylchwyl - Celebration of Fire on the first day of the year, led by the Prelate of Fire
• Dwrcylchwyl - Celebration of Water on the first day of rain, led by the Prelate of Water
• Bywydcylchwyl - Celebration of Life on the first day of summer, led by the Prelate of Life
• Awelcylchwyl - Celebration of Wind, on the longest day of the year, led by the Prelate of Wind
• Priddcylchwyl - Celebration of Earth, at the beginning of the harvest, led by the Prelate of Earth
• Egwyddor - Celebration of all the Elements, on the shortest day of the year, led by the Servant of the Elements

All the tribes host a set of competitive games on their element's feast-day, and there are massive feasts on Egwyddor.

Organization

Each of the five Giant clans is devoted to one of the elements and is led by a Prelate. The Servant was initially chosen from among the members of the Giant Council, the five Prelates, by majority vote and was a permanant clanless member of the Council with the Prelates but being considered a first among equals, who acted as a tie-breaker in decision making. Over time, the position of Servant became hereditary in the Gandlebar family, but after the disaster of the Great War of Magiks and Things, the old ways were reinstated.