There are many benefits, to being a Marine Biologist

[Observing Future]

Year: 20**

Author: Al*** Mr***
Log: 01

I've been studying an elusive sect of Yama worship among some of the nomadic tribes of Eternia, and for just as long I hadn't made any breakthroughs beyond the ushered utterances of 'The Great Reef'. It wasn't until one of the young daughters of a Matriarch to a nomadic clan of massive Shark-Attuned Sirenians approached me that I was finally able to learn, and even then it came with grave costs. She cared little for coins or trinkets, and requested from me something precious to give to the sea, to prove that I was not a man of the land that was driven by avarice and greed. I gave to her my most cherished namesake, a family heirloom passed down from generation to generation, and dove to the deeps.

I feared at first that I had been deceived, as she did not return for several days. But as I was preparing to pull anchor she returned. This mere child told me that Yama was satisfied with the offering, and in return the Matriarch would allow me to follow their Shiver, that she would be the one to teach me their ways, and that should I, after a few years, be found wanting, that I "Would be returned to the sea, like all things should be."

This journal will log the information I've gathered about religious sect of Yamaism known as the 'Great Reef', to begin I'll go through the basics that the child gave to me.

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The beliefs of The Great Reef

Inki & Yama

In most Sirenian folklore, nomadic or otherwise, Inki is portrayed as a Great Whale, whereas Yama is portrayed as a shapeshifting serpent. However there is a startling contrast to the beliefs of the Great Reef and normal Yamaism, and it starts with the mythos of creationism. I'll recite what the child spoke to me as best as I can. Her dialect and accent was thick, and deciphering her words was more challenging than I'd like to admit. Hopefully I'll be able to convey it properly through words.

In the beginning there was only Inki and Yama. Yama was a Primordial of strength and prowess, a beautiful and perfect Shark with teeth sharp enough to bite through the core of Eternia, and shape the land into the perfect world it was meant to be. Inki however was a many-tendrils behemoth, strung together in a caricature of his Elder sibling, a mass of writhing undulating envy. Passionless and empty.

Yama intended to create the perfect world, one submerged in his very own lifeblood. His essence. From his chest he carved out one of his hearts, and implanted it within the center of the empty nothingness. His blood would flow from his heart, and the world itself would be formed as a mass of water. The Great Reef proclaims that Eternia did not begin of rock and stone, it began of water and blood. To protect his heart and keep his essence flowing, Yama would slice through his scales and form solid rock and soil from it. Yet only just enough to keep his heart sealed and safe within the center of Eternia.

Inki however, grew bitter and envious with each beautiful creation that his sibling formed. From mountains of coral to forests of kelp, every ounce of passion was put into Yama's work. Whenever Inki tried to create such lavished beauty, he would only build caricatures of his brother's art, as Inki held no passion for the world nor the life that Yama filled it with. When the first fish and sharks were born of Yama's flesh, Inki could only create caricatures of his brothers work, all of which would drown within the sea. Upon realizing that he could not create more dazzling sights than his brother, Inki grew volatile and outraged.

Instead of speaking, instead of learning, he threw a tantrum which rattled the shell of scales that protected Yama's beating heart. In his wild thrashing he pushed and parted the waters, sent sludge of earth far up- creating mountainous paths and flat prairies which flowed above the sea. He tainted the water that splashed upon this thrashed land to hold no saltedness so that none of the sea-faring creatures could survive, and in his envy captured and twisted the sea-life so that it too would be as corrupted and gnarled as him. Becoming hollow beasts that wandered the land.

Yama however would not be enraged at his younger sibling nor his actions. Although disappointed in the behavior of one of his Flesh and Blood, Yama would seek to remedy his brother's envy. To try and tutor him in the ways of his art...

This was as far as the child got in her story before the Shiver begun its departure for deeper waters. I was allowed to follow at a distance, and she would approach me to finish the story ate a later date. The youth informed me that her 'landwalker' name was Coralie, and that I best remember it.

In truth, a part of me is frightened on where this story ends. Yama's portrayal as a benevolent being that can do no wrong has caught me off guard, as nearly all of the variations of Yamaism that I have been able to study have portrayed his cruelty towards Inki, as well as Inki's capability of creating wonders of his own.