Ualdir's Worship

Of all the gods, Ualdir is the most fierce in demeanour and battle prowess, strongly loyal to Enarr and has personally lead the Legions of Vanaheim to victory many a time.

"A torrent of unstoppable fire made with no purpose but to simply achieve."

The act of overcoming the mortal condition remains the single greatest act of independence man can strive for. To leave a mark on history or to drag another to demise with you. The subversion of expectation and the creation of mythical presence, greatness is truly undefinable aside from the sheer aura of it. Conceptually this is the core of Ualdir’s domain. Independence, greatness, achievement, battle, and fire. Digging at the confines of your predetermined value, scratching out of the cage mortality places on you to reach beyond. Power comes to great respect within such faith, the very act of individualist-tyranny considered a channeling of his great divinity. To lead in Ualdir’s faithful communities is to reign first and have others trail after, the unabashed and gaudy confidence in power an individual value more than a societal one.

Dating back through history this arrogant and arguably hedonist outlook on bloodshed centers itself upon Ualdir’s virtue. Even among the ancient conflicts of the past, tales vary on whether Ualdir’s participation in the Divine War was an effort for greater cosmic order or simply a challenge he deemed worthy of overcoming. Regardless, to this day his followers adamantly hunt undead, finding them bastardizations of the mortal potential for achievement and prey to serve as trials for warriors. All funerals within Ualdir’s faith involve burning the corpse of the devout, likely as a result of their rivalry to necromancy. In the event of capturing a necromancer, there is a special ritual of rites performed which includes a slow burning pyre which effectively boils the caster alive within their skin. To the faithful of the great-lord this is the only demise such heretics are worthy of.

Worshippers of Ualdir vary, but some prominent examples include mercenaries, independent wanderers, tribesmen, martial artists, or craftsmen. Great pieces of artificing work are considered a faithful endeavor by many under the great-lord’s passion. The most significant group of worshippers in this unlikely-to-group individualist faith remain rather isolated within the Silent Expanse, a collection of inter-conflicting warbands referred to as Altan’s Few. Even this sea of tribalist warriors fails to maintain any semblance of altruism, order, or significant law, the prevailing nature of Ualdir’s virtue of independence making it near impossible among its masses. Even still the allure of the flame god’s other virtue, greatness, brings the most vain skirmishers towards a grander scale, purposeless, yet the achievements grand enough to demand success.

Notable Sects

Altan's Few

A collection of wandering warlords at constant war with one another, Altan's Few maintains the largest semi-organized following of Ualdir in the world. Founded by Ualdir's descendant, Altan, the various leaders of these tribes bear his name as sur-name to mark of their divine rite of tyranny. Known to be hyper isolationist within the Silent Expanse, these tribes-folk spend most of their natural lives nomadically travelling the dunes and spilling blood of their fellow kin in unending battle towards the grace of the war god.

Racial Influences

Tilki

Descended from the Kitsune of Sheng and Gehenna, these foxes have long abandoned their faith to the illuminated. Now serving as icons of Ualdir’s virtue of independence, the fennec-like people have attunement to fire on par with their distant sister-species. They are known for being brash, confident, and arrogant often to their own determent. Most commonly they are found residing within the Silent Expanse. Rune-painting and cave murals are signatures to Tilki culture. It is traditional for Tilki fire magi to pursue rune-casting through body paint or tattoos, though rune-casting in general has a long history amongst the foxes.

Traditions

Marriages

Weddings in the religion of Ualdir centers themselves on pacts of protection and blood. To swear an oath of marriage to another is to swear your life upon their own. In the event they are to be killed you are to save them and treat them as your own life, yet upon event they sway from favorability, it is your duty to spare the tribe or perhaps the world of their unfavorable acts. Among the faith it is normal for couples to be hyper-possessive and invested in one another to the point of constant engagement. This is largely due to seeing the expense of liberty as a tribute to a grand achievement, thus seeking to make greatness from their investment of departing with complete individualism. There is a lot of trust involved in this tying of fates, adultery being a severe act of dishonor for all involved.

Some of another outlook on Ualdir’s romance practice polygamy as a form of expressing independence, innocent enough among wandering craftsmen. Specifically with certain warlords in the Silent Expanse it is significantly unfair, immoral, and self-serving in the way it is practiced. Arranged marriages and other diplomatic gestures are increasingly common as mediums to alliances in the warring dunes, though none seem to last long enough to see the next generation. Individuals who marry into warbands which grow to oppose their origin tribe traditionally join the family of their partner in battle, it is seen as a dishonor even by former allies to refuse battle of previous family or friends on the path of war.

During rituals of bonding it is traditional to draw your own blood upon the weapon of your partner, then for them to do the same for your own. Then exchanging weapons back and sheathing them, an oath of personal creation is spoken, usually speaking to the greater qualities of the other person in praise. After both parties have said their vows they continue with making mutual aspirations towards their goals. It is perfectly acceptable for couples to exaggerate or be hyperbolic during these declarations, their confidence a sign of unabashed love.

Funerals

When a member of Ualdir’s faith dies, it is traditional to dispose of them by fire. The method varies by location, some opting to do pyres and others boat pyres, but in the desert most often they are simply burnt to ash among sand. In the process of the burning it is considered respect towards the parting to declare a great achievement you witnessed them partake in. To speak during this ceremony is a sacred affair and to speak on minor achievements during, intentional or not, is a great wrong upon the passing.

It is common for the children of the deceased to be challenged by their parents' peers on the day of their guardian’s passing, as a trial and test of their ability for independence. The younger the child is the less likely they are to be challenged, but to lose such a challenge when you are an adult is considered a great shame. This often spurs self-exilement, creation of new warbands in trials, and other acts of spurring liberty within the culture, else risk being left behind or cut from rations. Traditional norms like this contribute to the high rates of death among the wandering tribes of the Expanse.

Code of Valor

Spirit thou greatest weapon. Followed by body and mind. To amend spirit weakens thou fire. So only sway upon grand gusts. Seated seedling to greater flame. Thou passion thus due provides.