Aetheris Pyrism/Practices

Customs and Traditions

Honor the "Elders"

Whenever a man has to dwell in the underground, usually miners, he never mentions the name of a Holy One after having entered cave, mine or other underground building. As he is entering a territory controlled by the Unholy Ones, the custom is to make an offering to try to appease them, chanting some prepared ritualistic invocation and addressing them as the "Elders", never by their names or epithets. The offerings are usually composed of sinful objects, like alcohol, dirty money, stolen goods, blood and such. This custom, though tolerated in the underground, is met with swift repression when seen on the daylight, as has been reported by authorities on small groups of brigands and other kinds of criminal organizations. For these death by torture is the sentence.

Honorable Professions

Among the commoner followers of Aetheris Pyrism, professions related to fire are better seen than other ordinary ones. That way, it is not uncommon to see Smiths or even Bakers with the dignity of spokesperson of small communities, when the local Lords demand representation of the common problems.

Popular Rites

Death Communion

When for any reason a man is in the desperate position in which he decides to risk his soul in exchange of favors from the Undead Lord, possibly to try to cast away the mortal sickness of a familiar, or the plague of a region, he can turn to the Death Communion. This is a very unusual ceremony in where the requester goes out to a deserted region in the middle of a starless night, usually (but not always) with an spiritual guide, and makes an offer to the Lord of the Undead after some rituals, sacrificing (or promising to sacrifice) something very valuable to him, in order to get his favors.

Lover's Rite

The Lover's Rite is, as the name implies, a celebration of the reciprocal love between two individuals. It is an originally secular custom that gained its way into the religious traditions. It is usually performed by a Priest, who is not unusually accompanied or even replaced by an elder of the family, and it represents the publicity of the affair, and approval of the family, church and community. Normally performed in a celebration of the same occasion, it consists roughly of the receiving of the individual blesses from those close and above the lovers. Familiars take the chance to congratulate and approve them, vassals to pay tribute and renew their oaths, and priests, elders and suzerains to bless them.

While the ceremony of a powerful Lord is more of a display of his power, and a procession of tribute and oath offerings, a ceremony of a relatively-powerful commoner or low noble might look more like a family celebration, with the blessing of the lovers given by the suzerain Lord, who will be heavily praised and celebrated in the ceremony, often to the point of eclipsing the lovers and becoming the center of the attentions.

Temple Rites

Purification Rite

When one has committed a very serious sin, or some kind of very condemnable act, he can participate in a ceremony for the purification of his soul and forgiving in the eyes of the Gods. In it he is forced to wear only a white sheet covering his naked body, proceed to soil all his body with dirt (paying special attention to the hair), then taking out and burn the sheet. If the crime is specially serious, cutting or even shaving the head is required. The final step is taking a bath in the pools of the temple and, once clean, placing a monetary value in an altar. Such value is considered an offering to the Gods, and is calculated to be equal or similar to the amount required to compensate the offended. After the ceremony is complete and the offended has received the judged compensation, the penitent subject is considered to be free of sin, with his soul clean.

Even by not having explicitly sinned, it is advised that everyone participates in a yearly Purification Ceremony. These much softer ceremonies usually consist of only dirtying a bit a sheet worn over the clothes, burning it and lightly wetting the head, before placing an offering in the temple.

In large enough temples, nobles have access to artificially heated baths, and private quarters to perform the ceremonies only accompanied by the priests and those they want to be with. Commoners tend to perform them on summer, collectively, on large groups in the open fields, near water sources, usually with a few or a single priest supervising them.

Wedding Rite

In Aetheris Pyrism a wedding is considered the holiest ceremony of fertility possibly made, a contract that cannot be broken without very serious consequences. Nobody is forced to wed, but doing so greatly testifies for one's respect for the divine, and is a major honor source.

The wedding ceremony is divided in three steps: The contract phase involves the elaboration and temple approval of each party's promises. Those can range from eternal or temporal union, one or as many children as possible, or other more refined dealings. Peasants are usually only allowed to sign a standard contract of union until death or infertility, and envisioning as many offspring as possible. The celebration phase is an event for the publicity of the union (and often a display of power), with public banquets by wealthy nobles, larger-than-usual family reunions by commoners, festivals for important Lords, or simply a private gathering with friends by co-conspirators. The last phase is the consumption of the love. After a short ceremony performed by a priest, the lovers are left alone to consume the act in a pool, symbol of purification. Wealthy nobles can enjoy artificially heated indoor pools in large enough temples, or an improvised and consecrated ambient for the same purposes in the lack of it. Peasants on the other hand are left to less dignified ceremonial places, like a local river, spring or generic water-source, and in the lack of it a simple home-bath or even just a short water-spraying symbolic ritual.

The Wedding Rite should not be confused with the Lover's Rite. Its objective must always be that one of procreation and child-bearing. It is not as much a contract of love, as it is a contract of fertility and lineage preservation. The weds should not necessarily be in love, or be exclusive lovers, as long as they do perform their reproductive and child-support obligations.

Temple Structures

Holy Flames

Temples may have several different altars, constituted by different fire settings defined by their intents.

Bustum is a ceremonial furnace in where the deceased are sent back to the gods and cremated. When the local temple has such an altar, they offer the community the crematory service, along with the funeral rites. The furnace tends to be located in a room to accommodate the mourning family, allowing them to make their final sacrifices to the altar. When Busta are unavailable, funeral pyres replace the furnace.

Coctum is an oven for ceremonial preparations of food.

Igneum is a lamp or a candle used in ceremonies in the dark to provide light.

Turibulum is censer in which small offerings are made, usually consisting of small flammable substances, like a piece of cloth or a small wooden figure, though, unsurprisingly, incense is a popular choice. Such altars are usually simply made of a recipient with live coal in it, though more refined versions of them exist. They can be found in almost every temple and even in personal shrines.

Cursed Grounds

In temples large enough to have it there is an underground chamber called the "cursed grounds". It is considered an unholy place in where one risks being cursed or possessed by merely being there, where the Gods are not observing and the law of the Unholy ones applies. In such place one can murder or commit what would be a crime anywhere else, and not be judged by the gods, if one doesn't mind risking losing their own soul. Such place is naturally always heavily locked and guarded, and rarely used. When that happens it's either for the teaching of Demonology or for applying the hardest possible punishment to condemned ones, usually in secrecy.