Vaishnavist Zandarism

Vaishnavist Zandarism originated in the Vedas, a collection of scripts and texts written in near-prehistoric times by Indigan sages. The religion evolved over millennia as it was studied and analyzed by countless philosophers and priests, who endeavored to form a coherent from the original mystical texts while also accounting for the myraid mythologies of the wide and scattered Indigan people. The result is a large, complex, polytheist religion that long enjoyed a popular following across the vastness of the continent and beyond.

Today, the religion has diminished somewhat in the face of the state religion of the Empire, but it retains a loyal following in the southern provinces, as well as the Dragon Isles.

In the beginning, the goddess Aio created everything. She gave birth to the heavens, the aether, and the mortal realm, as well as the first gods.

Zanish, her eldest son, was a maker. He created things: thoughts, dreams, concepts, and even other gods. His creative urge was tempered by his wife, Dalai, in whose wisdom her son Grafika confided when he destroyed those creations that were not meant to be.

In time, Zanish created all things, and his son removed all things which should not be, resulting in the universe in perfect order. However, to preserve the perfect order, realized Dalai, Zanish must now, too, be destroyed. She bade her son to destroy him, and, loyally, he did.

Angered by this betrayal, Zandar, the son of Zanish by another wife, Jassi, slew his half-brother Grafika, as well as the traitorous Dalai. He arrayed the remaining children of Aio, and bade them to be forever loyal to him and to one another, to prevent the crimes of the two traitorous gods ever from recurring.

This new house of gods were the Zanishnaya, who went to dwell in heaven, to avoid interfering with the perfect creation.

Grafika and Dalai found themselves in the Nether, the world consisting of all that had been destroyed, all that was never meant to be. They became masters of that world, and vowed terrible vengeance against the Zanishnaya.

Dalai bore by her son Grafika a daughter, which she named Akasha. She sent her daughter into the world in the form of a human girl named Manna. There, she was meant to seduce the greatest of Zanish's creations: man. She would offer herself to him, and he would be tainted by the darkness within her. He would become the agent of Dalai, and a tool against the Zanishnaya.

However, Manna fell in love with the king of all men, Indig, whose love for her transformed her into a creature of light and goodness. In mastering her, he gained her power, but it was the power to create wonders, as the gods do. However, deep in Manna's soul was the taint of Dalai; in the will to destroy that which one believes should not be, man now possessed the ability to become as the Nether goddess, a destroyer, an evil creature.

When men gained the power of Akasha, they began to reshape their world. This created change, and change meant life and death, and mortality. The aether swirled, and came to life, bringing joy and passion to the hearts of men, at the cost of knowing pain and despair as well. In the twisting aether were born the faen, the spirits of change and chaos, of fortune and fate.

From the ranks of the faen, Zandar elevated four, who would be the masters of the aether. They separated it into the four primal elements: fire, earth, water, and air, bringing order to what was once twisted together. These new gods were the devas: Atar, Yama, Varuna, and Mitra.

With her death, the spirit of Manna was reborn as Akasha, and she became the goddess of all aether, superior to the devas. Due to her rebirth, she became also the goddess of life, healing, and preservation.

Enlightened by his contact with the gods, Indig taught his children, who wrote the Vedas, which were to be learned by all Indigans forevermore.