yrgirlkv

"it's yr girl; you already know!"

—dj who is not yr girl and who you do not know at all

sister @cass | mom @pegasus-poetry | writer/designer @ songs for the dusk, sunblack | asexual @ large

icon by @hedgemice.


(loose worldbuilding for sunblack, a game about two alternate earths which have only known of each other's existence for about 30 years or so)

Scholari-Legionet is not, on its own, an especially strange religion. But its relationship to the Abrahamic religions of the leafside is remarkably odd, largely because Scholari is indisputably one of them.

The Scholari versions of the various Abrahamic myths bear several differences, of course—the parent and child who nearly become actor and subject of a god's dread sacrifice are called Azrahana and Isati, and notably Isati is Azrahana's daughter in the root, rather than his son. The angel which descends to stop him is also explicitly gendered: Jazril, the Scholari incarnation of Gabriel or Jibrail, is said to be a man. As for the other Archangels, Mitail (Michael) and Azarail (Azrael) are women in Scholari, though Kestharil (Raphael1) shares Jazril's masculinity.

More dramatic than the myths in particular is the difference in Scholari cosmology. Angels on the leafside are typically held to be servants of a singular god, but in Scholari there is no difference: Ilataya is the sum of its angels, and its angels are the parts of it. Even its name, "Ilataya," has a rough etymological root meaning "sacred unity," though of course most Scholari simply understand it as the name of their god.

Yet perhaps the greatest difference in practice lies not in theology but in sociology: Scholari is not congregational (in fact, congregation largely does not exist as a religious practice on the rootside Earth.) Though most Scholari adherents swear exclusive belief in Ilataya, this is affirmed among family and close friends, not in regular meetings, and the services of priests are largely reserved for the conducting of weddings, namings, and funerals. Study of Scholari religious text is similarly decentralized. Schools of scriptural interpretation have risen and fallen over the centuries, but there has never been a formal method to certify religious expertise. Priesthood in Scholari, even now, largely consists of convincing others that your knowledge of the books is sufficient for their needs.


  1. Why this name differs so dramatically from its leafside counterpart, while the others do not, remains a linguistic mystery.


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in reply to @yrgirlkv's post:

"guy who falls ass backwards into being a priest" is a classic trope in majority-scholari countries. it comes in two main flavors:

  • guy who came to a small town like "i'm gonna scam these idiots into thinking i'm a priest" but then has to study so much to maintain the ruse that he just functionally becomes a priest
  • guy who comes from a village where he thinks he considers his own religious knowledge to be pretty average but when he gets to the big city they're all like "wow you're so wise and studied, cure us of our ignorance" because the pressures of urban life have caused them to lose their way