Tarwataf

NOTE, this page is directly copied from the KQ and is far out of date. Religions of Teppala is newer but still somewhat out of date.

Disclaimer: Although this page incorporates some of my personal beliefs, I don't follow the morals and wouldn't be able to live up to them. The Tarwataf religion is a mixture of things I believe, things I used to believe, and things I've never believed but sound like things I might believe if I lived in a medieval setting like this conworld. By comparison to Earth, Tarwataf seems extremely pessimistic, though many of its followers maintain a hope in salvation by actually not believing in their own religion, and saying that the beliefs handed down to them have been corrupted over time, and that salvation is not as impossible as it seems.

Blasphemy and the Poswob religion

Most Poswobs belong to a religion known as Tarwataf, which means "(they who) push away Hell" (similar to the Poswob word baesataf "optimistic; one who pushes away the clouds"). Tarwataf is a religion full of traps and forbiddings, however. It speaks of several different types of blasphemy:

• Implying that gods can be harmed by evil forces
• Implying that the souls of deceased saints (which sometimes overlap with gods) are in Hell (tarpa)
• Implying that demons have power in the present world and can be conjured up by the blasphemer
• Implying that people suffering illnesses are cursed by demons and thus cannot enter Heaven (batšop)

A common belief in Poswob society is that painful but non-fatal afflictions such as sunburn, excessive menstrual bleeding, and insect bites can only affect the unfaithful; so a person who wanders in the woods and remains free of blood-sucking insects such as ticks as well as being ignored by flies and mosquitoes is considered to be blessed by a holy spirit (šafi), whereas a person who is attractive to flying insects and/or ticks and lice is considered to be under the curse of Lune, an evil god in human female form, who punishes only sinners (as opposed to Pibos, a bird who punishes the faithful). A commonality of these afflictions is that they are things that affect only humans, or affect humans in a different way than all other animals.

God vs gods

Poswobs speak often of a single God, and often of multiple gods. They believe in gods that in many ways are like the angels of Abrahamic religions in that they have free will (thus, if they are evil, they will always do evil; if good, they always do good) but have limited powers (they are not omnipotent). However, they are called gods rather than angels because they are meant to be worshipped. Tarwataf also believes in a single omnipotent God, specifically said to have magical powers, including the power to defy logic ("How could the universe be created without violating logic?" they say). This entity is the one which is truly in control of all of the world including the gods, but Tarwataf believes that God does not communicate directly to humans and therefore they worship the limited-power gods as intermediaries Likewise Tarwatobs also believe in angels (taba) which have supernatural powers and in many ways resemble the gods but specifically are not meant to be worshipped. There are also far, far more angels than there are gods.

Rapture and judgment

Poswobs believe in kipsa, a concept similar to the Christian rapture, in which those who are faithful to God will escape the world and those who are unfaithful will be left behind to continue life in an ever-decaying material world, which will eventually become Hell. Thus there is no Judgment Day; those destined for Hell simply stay where they are and miss out on the eternal happiness of Heaven. Poswobs believe in infinite reincarnation for those in Hell, similar perhaps to the Hinduistic concept of karma^{(I think)}. Because there is no judgment by God, some Poswobs believe (though it is not written in their scripture) that humans on Earth can in fact perform the judgment that will determine whether another human is destined for Heaven or Hell, though only certain respected people known as nurata ("pointers", as in to point out sinners with the hands) have this privilege. But to imply that someone is nurata buvum, "cursed by (a) nurata", is a common tactic used by laypeople to deliver an unbeatable insult against someone who has irritated them in daily life, and is comparable to the English "god-damned". It also has a shortened form, nubvum, which is a regular contraction and not an abbreviation. A less common form of blasphemy is for one to imply that they are a nurata themselves and simply say some form of "I will damn you (to Hell)" such as Buvibub (-ub is historically the 1st person imperative, but does service for the generic future tense as well due to the redundancy of one commanding oneself to do something). These insults are especially cutting when addressed at those already suffering illness or misfortune in the present day, as it is believed that the curses of Lune are already at work in the material world, and that sinners are punished immediately rather than being punished only after the Rapture.

Demons

Poswobs believe in three classes of demons: sapys, ripi, and mansa, in declining order of power. All of these are entirely under the command of Lune, who as above is a goddess who punishes only sinners. Some Poswobs believe that humans can conjure up (nomba) these demons, and cause them to create misfortune or chaos (buvbim) upon command. Humans must be given this ability by Lune. However, the mainstream Tarwataf believers (called Tarwatobs) do not believe that Lune would grant these powers to any human, whether for good or for evil, because to do so would mean that that person had become Lune. There are some Tarwatobs who don't believe in these demons at all, seeing them as having been imported from the Avba religion which forced believers to be constantly casting memorized prayers called fapos in order to relieve themselves of the curses which would otherwise befall them, as though their gods were helpless without first being invoked by these spells. And there are some who occupy a middle ground, believing that demons do exist but that only Lune can control them. Again these demons can affect only sinners, by causing them to bleed excessively, or to be bitten by insects, or to be sunburned (most Poswobs have very pale skin; those with darker skin generally deny that sunburn is a curse of Lune rather than that they are immune). Demons of all three types are believed to be invisible but can sometimes be "felt"; a few Poswobs, however, believe that demons can take the form of humans, and that what mainstream Tarwatobs would describe as "a demonized person" is actually the demon itself. Those who believe that demons can take human form generally find these demons to be less impressive than those who do not; after all, humans are not very powerful standing by themselves.

It should be noted that the Tarwataf concept of demon is significantly different than (most) Christians' beliefs. Tarwataf demons can only affect sinners, so the very fact that someone is suffering is proof that they are guilty of very serious sins. Rather than trying to defeat the demon, the Tarwatob exorcists will try to negotiate with the demon to give the person another chance, and whether the demon switches to someone else or not is not a matter for the exorcist's concern because again, they're not trying to defeat the demons, which after all, are sent by one of the gods.

At least one of these is believed to be a worm that can in some cases change into other small beings (Poswobs know about microorganisms, because of very small animals such as lice which they know come from invisibly small eggs).

Below is a list of the classes of demons with the Poswa names in bold and the Sak names in parentheses (these ideas were largely borrowed from Andanese and Sak religions):

Sapys (šatyt) The shape shifter demon: can change form and turn invisible; can affect humans and other animals invisibly although there is a sensation when contact is made. The victim will begin to act frustrated over nothing and have accidents and injuries, but will not become physically ill because this is not a disease-causing demon. Minor wounds become major ones with excessive bleeding and such. This demon can spread to other people, replicating endlessly much as it if were a disease, but can be killed with the help of another believer and a prayer. These demons are associated with the god Lune (Yuni) and like her can take the form of a human while still retaining their physical powers. Their "default" form, however, is a gigantic lizard with squarish scales all over its body. Because they remove a person's ability to pray, a person affected by a sapys demon cannot ever be freed without others' help and will automatically lose salvation.

Ripi (lifi) A demon that lives indoors and causes seemingly idiopathic pain and senseless aggressive behavior, but not as harmful over all as the sapys. Cannot replicate within a human or spread to others; it just travels from one person to another. However they can reproduce naturally just as if they were animals even though they are asexual. Person "feels unclean", is not in full control of their body, and cannot get rid of the demon without others' help because the demon removes the person's ability to pray. The ripi demons are further divided into classes corresponding to magic spells.

Mansa Very tiny demons that can cause small pains to humans and influence their thoughts, but cannot actually force anyone to do anything. They can never turn visible. Some Tarwatobs believe that, in large numbers, they can also control the weather, with one demon for each raindrop.

Other:

Lafre (mana) These are the carriers of magic spells, with a different type of lafre for every spell. "Good" spells do have lafre as well, but since most spells are evil, they are sometimes thought of as demons.

Vombo (gut) Hides in food and infects people, but can be killed with a prayer before eating. Cannot change form or go invisible. It is not usually considered a demon becasuse it can affect everyone, not just sinners. It is instead considered an evil spirit of its own type. It is not believed to be connected with Lune or any other deity.

Those who believe in demons generally also believe that humans can be released from the demons' control by calling upon a god with a pre-recorded prayer called a fapos; others believe that since demons can only affect sinners, once affected, there is no relief, but only a gradual descent into illness and misfortune until the Rapture leaves them behind in Hell. This belief is considered one of most dangerous heresies by mainstream Tarwatobs because it causes people to embrace sin in the belief that they are damned even if they try their hardest to repent.

Prayers

There are several types of prayers in Tarwataf: plommip, bwamby, šabam, žessa, and žaptaž, each of which has a different purpose, and none of which is "memorized" in the way that fapos is. Many Tarwatobs believe that fapos prayers cannot cure demonic afflictions because since they are memorized, they do not allow the person to understand the circumstances that brought them to be afflicted in the first place, and thus there is no repentance. But this belief causes much distress, because "failed" prayers indicate to the believer that their faith is infirm, and thus the belief in non-fapos prayers to cure illness is unpopular.

Sometimes prayers must be accompanied by a physical action such as clapping the hands or touching the ceiling in order to show that the person is really purposeful.

• Fapos A memorized prayer often spoken by many people at once, this represents the will of the people as a whole, even if it may be different from what is in people's minds at the time. The things asked for are usually very general, and meant to be all-encompassing. An example fapos prayer is below:
  

(Poswa) Pwawam babop byliab fub pulpob bomby pevypel lobwel, refu bombom porpies, pappies, pelpies.
(Pabappa) Puisua pompapap pammom sur maptur pompap pirimis ni lornus, pudi pompapom porpoppes, pappes, pelpeppes.
Please protect us all from all evil spiritual and natural, at all times in the past, present, and future.

• Bwamby A short prayer said while holding onto the ceiling or some object such as a pillar which is directly connected to the ceiling. It is considered blasphemous to not do this. Bwamby can also refer to the "amen" type of closing on other prayers if it is said while touching the ceiling.

• Šabam To pray out loud, but without thinking of the words ahead of time; usually done alone in a situation of desperate need, but not always. This is the type of prayer used to heal someone from an affliction when they are physically present. This may require touching them with the hands, usually on their shoulders, so that the spirit of healing can travel from one person to the other.

• Žessa A silent, solitary prayer of unlimited duration, usually lying down (either face up or down), with no body parts touching any other body part.

• Žaptaž A prayer led by one person, but with others taking their turns if they want to pray publicly. In other words, like šabam but with more than one person.

• Plommip A request made for permission to do something that would normally be seen as sinful, but which the prayer believes is acceptable given present circumstances. It may also refer to a wish for something believed to be impossible. Often, someone will say the same prayer every day, believing that even though it might not happen today it will someday if they keep praying.

In general, prayers should be said while in isolation so that one's mind can focus on the prayer. One should not pray while eating, or doing any other activity that requires mental energy. No other human or sapient animal should be in the vicinity unless they are participating in the prayer.

Worship

Poswobs prefer to build temples on hills on islands in lakes or rivers; this is to maximize the presence of winds, which they believe are the actions of the spirit of God. But as this is not a common geographical phenomenon, most temples are simply located on hills. There are a few different types of temples:

Bivar

The worshippers are placed in a circle or semicircle around the god being worshipped. This is called pupataere ("worshippers' arc") and applies only to those temples in which the god being worshipped is physically present in the temple, at least during times of worship. Such temples are called bivar. Genereally the standing ground (taeretembam) is a semicircle because a circle would mean that half or more of the worshippers would only be able to see the animal's tail or body, which is considered inferior; and the standing ground is elevated so that the worshippers will be able to look head-on instead of just being faced with the animal's feet. (This applies only to those temples in which large animals such as firebirds are worshipped, or ones with gigantic human statues.)

Bala

This is a "monument" type of temple, and the god being worshipped is rarely if ever present physically, although the worshippers believe that the gods may be present in spirit. Since some gods are invisible (such as Ky) and/or previously visible but now physically dead (such as Mappamensam), this is the only type of temple that can be constructed for their worship. In the case of Ky, the creator god, who is generally considered to supersede all others, there was never any vision, so worshippers have to debate what this god may look like. For Mappamensam, there have been different incarnations of her, all of whom had different appearances, so the Tarwatafs generally use descriptions they have heard of her and build gigantic statues sunken into the ground so that the worshippers surround her face, seeming as small as flies by comparison. She is often depicted sleeping on a bed ("Saaha lay upon her bed, a revered saint long since dead.") There is a special word for a temple built to worship Ky: sana; while this is not a loanword, its presence in the Poswob language was influenced by the presence of such a word in the language in the monotheistic Crystal languages such as Kuroras. Likewise an alternate name for the god Ky is Sara, a parallel of Kuroras Ala.

Practices during worship include bwamby (touching the ceiling to "reach up" to God), clapping the hands at the end of a prayer (to indicate that one is sure about it and not just repeating words mindlessly), holding hands with other worshippers, and voluntary shivering (it is believed by some that the spirit of God can feel "cold", and that there is another false spirit that also feels cold but in a way that makes one uncomfortable.)

Example fapos prayer:
(Poswa) Pwawam babop byliab fub pulpob bomby pevypel lobwel, refu bombom porpies, pappies, pelpies.
(Pabappa) Puisua pompapap pammom sur maptur pompap pirimis ni lornus, pudi pompapom porpoppes, pappes, pelpeppes.
Please protect us all from all evil spiritual and natural, at all times in the past, present, and future.

Sacrifice

Sacrifice in the sense understood in many Earthan religions is not practiced in Tarwataf, but bumpfop, a voluntary abstinence from various pleasures such as food in order to show that "living a holy life is better than food", etc., is a common ritual and in many ways resembles prescribed fasts in Islam and Christianity.

Death

After death people will appear in a hallway with all of the people they've wronged during their lives and have to explain why they did so. This is called Siswabaemo, "tunnel of embarrassment".

Heaven

Tarwataf defines Heaven as a state of freedom from time and conflict, and therefore freedom from the confines of the material world. Tarwataf is practiced on a planet in which there are literally dozens of other intelligent creatures competing with humans for living space, of which the vats majority are physically stronger than humans because they evolved on the continent whereas humans immigrated from an island chain with few natural dangers. Thus humans are constantly reminded of their frailty and the need to protect themselves from nature, whereas none of the other animal species are. In the Tarwataf religion, this delicateness is treated as proof that humans are in need of salvation from the gods, even if they are free from sin. Although Tarwataf believes in sins, it also believes that it is necessary for a human to be literally invincible in order to be happy, because otherwise they will eventually die and lose all of the happiness they have accumulated during their life as a human. Then they will be reborn in Hell. Invincibility can be gained in various ways, detailed below in the section "Multiple Paths to Heaven".

Hell

Hell is seen as simply a continuation of the current state of the material world, after all the believers who have achieved salvation are "raptured" away. Thus the Tarwatobs believe that they are all already in Hell, but that they still have a chance of escaping before things get even worse. They believe that although some humans are able to achieve happiness in the material world, they will continue to be reborn forever, and that their happiness will never carry over into their next life. Furthermore, there exists a curse that applies especially to humans: because humans evolved on an island chain called Laba, they were never exposed to the dangers of the wildernesses of the continent of Plorwa and therefore are much weaker, physically, than the other intelligent creatures that live there. For example, even rabbits, who are weak enough to be preyed on by many other creatures, are still strong enough to kill humans with ease, and humans survive only because they have won over the admiration of some gods who protect them. But without the protection of the gods, humans would quickly become little more than livestock for various other animals, particularly the firebirds who control all of the major cities humans live in already.

Tarwataf believes in true free will, and therefore blames humans for their own disgrace (mimap or kuma), saying that they deserve to be abused forever by animals simply because they chose to be born as a human, and that the only way they can escape this fate is to defy the laws of nature by becoming immortal. However, unlike religions such as Ham from which it is descended, tarwataf also believes that the animals who will prey upon humans in Hell will be no better off than the humans themselves, because happiness does not come from being in a firmer position in nature, but rather from escaping nature altogether and living forever in Heaven.

Some legends talk about sinful humans being turned into trees (manwampa), while the other humans are left unharmed an enter Heaven simply by opening a door.

Predictions

The Tarwatobs have various tests to see if people are going to Heaven or Hell, though most believers don't place firm faith in them.

The oldest and most traditional is the "Lake of Fire" (Bamblambofta), wherein a lake or deep depression is drained and set entirely on fire. The believers are made to stand around the edges of the lake at a distance and walk slowly along a spiral path leading into the fire, usually with the total distance walked being about a mile. When they reach the end of the path, they walk directly into the fire. If they are a true believer, their sweat will overpower the flames and they will be able to walk safely into the middle. If not, they will be injured or die, and go to Hell.

Pantheon

The Tarwatobs believe in about a dozen different gods, which are taken from various religions and in many ways do not seem like a pantheon since they are all unlike each other. It is as if someone familiar with Christianity declared that God, Satan, a few angels, some especially admirable humans, and a fire breathing dragon were all "gods" of equal status and that God was not above those others. Moreover, in Tarwataf, some of these gods are visible and some are invisible. The reason for this patchwork type of pantheon is that most of the gods were physically visible to all humans at some point in time, and thus were nearly impossible to deny. Moreover, although the Tarwatobs do accept the existence of gods they cannot see, they have had a historical tendency to minimize their importance, even if they believe that they are the most powerful of all. A one by one description of the gods is below.

Most of the gods in the pantheon are shared by other religions, even religions that are very different from Tarwataf, because as before, their existence is obvious and the religion's only choice is whether to consider them gods or not.

Yuya

Yuya, also known as Lula (due to a sound change), was the primary deity of the proto-Tarwataf religion during the period between 3000 and 4000 AD. She was one of the visible ones, and thus there were essentially no people who "didnt believe" in the existence of Yuya; however there were some who didnt believe she was worthy of being worshipped, particularly since in the early days of the religion she had not claimed to be a god.

Yuya was actually an incarnation of several different beings, each descended from the last through matrilineal descent, and all of them in the body of a gigantic lizard like creature known as a satys. She won over her worshippers by pure physical power and her ability to organize armies to save humans from the ravaging animals of the tropical wilderness. In return, Yuya demanded strict obedience from her human worshippers to all of her ever-changing commands, and punished the disobedient with death and the belief that they would be "reincarnated" in Hell to be tormented for all of eternity.

Anti-Yuya humans survived only by staying outside the city of Pabap in which Yuya resided; they were believed by the mainstream to be damning themselves to Hell and therefore Yuya did not ask that they be captured and brought to justice.

Yuya forms part of the "Unholy Trinity" (a name which would likely not exist in a world such as Teppala where Christianity also didn't exist, but which I use nonetheless.)

Note: The name Yuya was used in the ~4000 AD area, but was later changed to Baeno in Poswob.

The Crystals believed Yuya (whom they called Yoya) was an incarnation of their creator God, called Ku or Ala, because she said so and had helped them in the past as they were being attacked by various enemies. Actually, what Yoya claimed was that she was becoming God, by growing and purifying herself of all sin and evil ... sort of like a singularity of sinlessness. And most of the Crystals believed her even as she placed impossible demands on the Crystals, and stated that any who refused to obey would be consigning themselves to eternal Hell, and cast out the prophet Kuvdamos. It was the Pabaps, the ancestors of the Poswobs, who saw through the disguise and fired up the Crystals to fight back (they being stronger, both physically and materially, than the Pabaps).

Lune and Pinūs

The rest of the Unholy Trinity consists of two evil "gods": Yuni (later called Lune) and Pinūs (later Pibos). They believe in two gods because "Evil is perverted against itself, and will destroy itself" (a belief that seems to contradict a claim made by Jesus in the Bible). These two gods are believed to be submissive to the power of Yuya, since Yuya's power is absolute. However, they work in very different ways. Physically, they are nothing alike: Pinūs is a large fire-breathing three-ton phoenix-like bird who, like Yuya, is actually many different beings each descended from the last, and therefore immortal so long as he keeps on having children. Yuni, on the other hand, is a human woman, who has special mind powers that make her far more powerful than any other human who has ever lived. Furthermore, unlike the others, she is believed to be literally immortal and not simply a reincarnation of a soul in many different bodies. Yuni has immunity to the effects of aging because of the way she has conquered the limitations of her mortal body, and thus is sometimes depicted as a child. It is also believed that she could transform herself into a physically powerful and impressive creature even greater than Yuya and Pinūs but does not because it is unnecessary for her powers that she seem physically impressive.

The difference between the two evil gods is that Yuni punishes sinners and Pinūs punishes the righteous. Tarwataf believes that the two gods are presently in alliance with each other, which is why evil exists in this world, but that they will eventually come to battle, and Yuni will win. Then Yuni will continue on punishing the world's sinners in Hell, and Pinūs will repent, but it will be too late for him: he is left behind in Hell to be punished by Yuni. Tarwataf believes that gods cannot repent because they have free will, unbound by the limitations of the mind, and therefore are responsible for everything they have done throughout time, unlike humans who can be influenced by temptation and bodily and mental limits, and upon repentance are cleansed (pwuplub) in an instant. A related belief encourages Tarwatobs to forgive those who sin against them "because they're human", but not to forgive certain spirits and god-like creatures such as Pinūs that are believed to have true free will.

Temptation of Pinūs

Pinūs, despite being a large fire-breathing roc-like creature, was sexually attracted to human women. This is because in a previous life, he actually was a human, but was granted the ability to be reborn as a firebird after living a particularly heroic life on Earth. When the humans who lived in Pabap realized this, and realized that Pinūs was evil, they made several attempts to send human women to tempt Pinūs into agreeing to die and be reborn as a human again so that he could have sex with these women. This, they believed, would deprive him of all of his evil powers and make all the other humans much safer. But all of these attempts were unsuccessful, and in some cases led to the death of the various women who attempted to seduce him (though not always directly; Pinūs actually wanted them to live, and some of them were killed by other creatures who were also anti-Pinūs but believed that to have sex with him would turn a human evil).

Mappamensam

Mappamensam is a god worshipped^? by the Palli people who live in the southeastern portion of the continent of Plorwa. She seems out of place in the Tarwataf religion, because she is a human and has only invisible powers, mostly related to pregnancy and childbirth. (The Mappa part of her name means "womb".) As she worshipped a god of her own during her life, her role is more similar to that of a saint in Catholicism than to a god; but Tarwataf considers her to be a god and to have gained access to various powers only after her physical death on Earth, which was assassination by an army of humans, and which actually occurred after the attacks on the other gods by humans in the Battle of TTT.

Mappamensam was one of several human women who attempted to subdue the evil and abusive god Pinūs, but only by sending out other women to tempt him. She refused to risk her own life for the good of others, saying that there were many other women who were willing to do so. Non-pacifist Tarwatobs often use this story as a reason for why they should not have to fight in a war even if they support the war.

Nevertheless she is thought of as a good example of feminine power, which in Tarwataf is considered to include all of the things that determine in what state a baby will be born. All pregnant women pray to Mappamensam for the health of their baby, and cast magical spells on themselves for the same purpose. This is called womb magic and it is the full extent of Mappamensam's powers. This makes Mappamensam far weaker than all of the other deities in the religion, at least in terms of physically impressive miracles.

However, the Poswobs, not being easily impressed, added more powers to Mappamensam's abilities throughout time, including even the power to deprive a person of salvation for any reason whatsoever, even if they were free from sin, by casting a spell named bae followed by a spell named šapta. These people are considered to have been killed and resurrected in an evil, tormented form that is considered acceptable to enslave. Then they mark the body with wounds so that everyone will know what had happened even if the slave escapes. This condition can only be relieved with more prayers to Mappamensam, and only if someone other than the one who is cursed is willing to do so. Thus, if granted the powers of Mappamensam, it is possible for a human to damn another human to Hell. This power is only available to women. This makes women very powerful in Tarwataf/Poswob society. However, many Tarwatobs do not actually believe that Mappamensam has these powers.

The state of Mappamensam, part of the Poswob empire, was named after her, though Poswobs live only along the northern coast. The deep inland areas are mostly settled by Saks (close relatives of the Palli speakers).

The Sak conception of Mappamensam is somewhat different than the Tarwataf ideal; they see her as just one of many incarnations of a spirit who had previously been incarnated in other female emperors, such as Saaha and (maybe) Kolafis. These had ruled the Sak nation in the past. Some Tarwatafs have learned of this and added these incarnations to their religion as well, and worship them even though the Saks never did. The Tarwatobs do not worship the other Sak emperors (who are mostly male), because none of them had any special connection to the Poswob nation at any point in time.

Because Tarwatobs are pacifists, males are not seen as having any particular role related to protection of the family or hunting or fighting wars, and are seen as primarily sexual. Therefore the Poswobs are a very feministic society, with women in control of most affairs. For this reason, as well as those mentioned above, they have taken a particular interest in Mappamensam, while ignoring the male emperors and in some cases even being ignorant of their existence. It is not unusual for Saks to move deep into Poswob territory, and exploit Tarwatafs by saying that they have come in the name of Mappamensam and have the power to damn anyone to Hell. For this reason the Poswobs are suspicious of the Palli speakers. Nevertheless, Poswobs (both men and women) often move to Saklo in order to join schools organized around Mappamensam's philosophy, Qehew, which although foreign to Tarwatobs is seen as acceptable because it is from Mappamensam. They often move there with high expectations, thinking the Qehewists are all able to use magical powers and that their society is "perfect" because of Mappamensam's blessings, but they are always disappointed.

Waptena

Waptena is another goddess who in many ways is the antithesis of Mappamensam. While Mappamensam delivers babies out of the womb in a healthy state, Waptena causes abortions and deformities. Waptena can also cause a young child to die suddenly of an incurable disease, using her Womb Magic powers. Humans do sometimes pray to Waptena and cast her magics on themselves in order to kill their babies, since the only medical technology they have that causes abortions is also very dangerous to the unwilling mothers. Abortion was legal in the early days of Pabap, but became illegal when land became more plentiful, even for severely distressful pregnancies. Waptena is thus seen as the goddess of death, whereas Mappamensam is the goddess of life. However, Mappamensam's many followers (including those of the Palli people) claim that Mappamensam is so powerful that she is even better than Waptena at Waptena's own skills, and that Waptena's threats of death can be safely ignored even by the weakest and most diseased of children if they pray to Mappamensam to protect them.

Other Womb Magic gods

Mappamensam and Waptena are just two of the 22 Womb Magic gods, one for each month of the year. The others, however, are of fairly minor importance outside their months. Most of these are depicted as human women, but because the spirit can be reincarnated many times, they appear as men as well. The names below refer to the "soul" rather than the person.

Full list

1. Waptena
2. Baeno
3. Afa-Lune
4. Šurnu
5. Wannyf
6. Mappamensam (a loan; if this were a native name, it would be Maptavempam)
7. Afa-Šapsa (can't use the name Šapsa because it is an alt of Mappa)
8. Bombžaemba
9. (unknown)
10. Tarwatap (guardian of Hell; also known as Tarwob (tarwob + aby > tarwob again), Taria, or Tarespitšae)
11. Sanaežama
12. Mumpsa
13. Laspatena ("nurse"; cognate to Waptena)
14. Wabaežba
15. Bleb
16. Susum
17. Plama
18. Satsa
19. Patynumba
20. Nobbomba
21. Tympfos
22. Purbwa (technically an alt name of Lune)

Blasphemy

Because there are 22 gods (one for each month in the year), they are mostly women, and they are tied to "Womb" magic, the Crystals connect worship of the gods with menstruation and see worship of these gods as immoral and point to it as proof of the sexual weaknesses of the Tarwatob men, who they claim are worshipping these gods only because it gives them an excuse for adultery. (Married men are sequestered to some extent during the gods' "menstruation", and are allowed to have sex with other women; however, the Poswobs are so lax that this is not a crime or even a sin during the rest of the year anyway.) The Tarwatobs (both male and female) consider this blasphemy, and state that although the gods are connected with menstruation, the worshippers of the gods are genuine and are not simply seeking an excuse for adultery. Even the Crystals admit that the Womb magic gods are real and that they can give power to women to do things that would be otherwise impossible.

Rituals

Each Tarwatob is born under a "moon" that belongs to a particular Womb Magic god, and must obey special rules during that god's own month (which is by definition also their birth month). This applies to both males and females, but the rules are different for males and females. For example, suppose a woman born under the sign of Laspatena marries a man born under the sign of Tarwatap. During Laspatena's month, the wife will spend much of the time in a temple, getting closer to her god and gaining more Womb powers, whereas the husband is expected to spend the month apart from his wife and must avoid certain taboos that would cut him off from the power of Laspatena. During the month of Tarwatap, the woman does nothing because she is not connected to Tarwatap. The husband stops working and goes to a Tarwatap temple where he will meet women who are also born under Tarwatap, and they will teach him new rules that are intended to last for the full year. These women are allowed to order the men to do anything, and they must obey, or else it will be a grave sin requiring him to be punished in various ways including exile (but not death). This is because Tarwatobs believe that men are unable to communicate with the Womb Magic gods directly and need a female interpreter. To prevent abuse (such as women ordering men to be slaves for the entire year, and then issuing the same command each year), various judges (nulsa or bafamnulsa) are present to make sure that the commandments of the female interpreters are in line with the true wishes of the gods. Men experiencing "their month" will also be avoiding various taboos such as not being able to say words that are forbidden by Tarwatap.

The above describes the rituals for married men and women. Unmarried women, unmarried men (including homosexuals, who are routinely commanded to change), boys, and girls each have their own sections in these Womb temples in which they do different things, but all in all the main division is gender, not age. In rural areas, there will be only one temple for all 22 gods, which simply switches each month between the followers of each god. In cities, each god has their own temple, with the temples being used for other purposes during the other 21 months, usually schools for children.

If a man is married, his wife can take back control from a bafam who she feels is giving him unfair commands. If not, there is no recourse ... the government thinks this is OK because married men are otherwise at a big disadvantage in Tarwataf society.

The bafams can give commands that seem blatantly unfair, but they will say that because people are different, some things are sinful for one person but not another. They also say that because salvation is infinitely great, all sacrifices (varwolsa) are worth it in order to gain salvation, even lifelong slavery (which is what they often send people into).

The Crystals see these sequestration rituals as biased in favor of women, and even though the Crystals themselves started out as advocates for women in their religion (which at the time was essentially 100% male-dominated), they feel the tarwatobs have gone much too far and that they are abusing their own belief system to keep men (who tend to be more rebellious and thus liable to favor revolutions) locked out of power.

Mororaka

A minor god who immigrated from Safiz during the Battle of Ta Tuipita Tamna in order to help the Poswob humans kill the gods of the Unholy Trinity. However, despite sincere attempts, he did not actually help out very much, and some of the Poswobs decided that they would rather be abused by evil deities than worship a weak and fragile good deity. This act of submitting to an evil power simply because it is more powerful is a type of sin that is considered to be among the worst and most indelible of all, because it can only be committed by people who have previously been righteous, and it because it binds the person to the laws of nature. The pro-Mororaka soldiers in the Battle of TTT realized that they must fight for the force of good even when it is sure to lose the battle. (But in this case, they won the battle; they just happened to lose a lot of soldiers in the process.)

Yuyabhoybakopa

Also known as Hamabib, Yuyabhoybakopa is a hedgehog god who wishes to destroy all humans and periodically raises up armies consisting of various animals to come in and attack human settlements which are particularly vulnerable. He refuses to make any alliances with any gods other than those of the old, pre-Tarwataf pantheon, the ones who ruled over humans when they were confined to the islands of Laba. Hamabib reminds believers of the fact that humans are the most delicate creature on the continent and thus of the necessity for humans to acheive salvation in order to escape the coming age of torment, in which all humans will be preyed upon by various animals and supernatural creatures. However, unlike earlier religions, Tarwataf believes that the other animals must also achieve salvation or else they too will be reduced along with humans to a state of helplessness at the end of the world. (Even though they believe predatory animals such as wolves and cougars will prey on humans in Hell, and humans will not be able to fight back, Tarwataf also believes that the predators will not actually be any happier than the humans they prey upon, because happiness cannot come from mere physical superiority.)

Note: both of these names are in the Dabondi language, which is only distantly related to Poswob. Yuyabhoybakopa means "one who deposes human (yabhoy) kings". Thus, it is not related to the name Yuya. Hedgehogs are the dominant species in much of the nation of Sàfiz, but nowhere else. Yuyabhoybakopa focuses his anger on humans because they are the most obvious target in his part of the continent, but in reality he would have to go against all of the species of the world in order to accomplish what he wants.

Ky

This is the name of the god that Yuya claimed to be, and when she was forced, Yuya admitted she still worshipped Ky. The name is etymologically "that which uses ki", where ki is a type of magic that can defy logic, and thus rise above all other magics. Ky used a ki spell to create the world, although there are "atheists" who believe that because ki magic can defy logic, it could be possible for creatures other than Ky to use it, and to create the world from within the world. Those who believe in Ky state that even though it would be possible to create the world without having a creator God, that doesn't mean that that's how it happened.

Multiple paths to Heaven

Tarwatobs believe that they live in Hell and have a finite time in which to escape. There is more than one way to reach Heaven, but that not all paths are open to all believers. A list of the paths to Heaven is below:

1. Džamnamafas Vambel Some creatures are considered graceful by definition, and thus automatically saved. This is because they are believed to have been around before the world began.
2. Šamabibi Piseras Vumbum Tarwataf and other religions believe in a treasure called šamabibi, the "Four Crystals". According to some cults, the possessor of the Four Crystals and anyone who is loyal to him will be able to enter Heaven. Tarwataf accepts this, but believes that there are other paths to Heaven, and that the current possessor of the Crystals, a god named Pibos, will lose them when he dies.^{?? contradicts next sentence} Note that the Crystals were stolen from Bābākiam by Vulpumbwafwa worms 3700 years ago, are widely believed to have been destroyed, and that the Pabaps (the present-day inhabitants of Bābākiam) who are trying to get them back are in rebellion against the Poswobs anyway. The Pabaps are trying to get the Crystals back because they, too, believe that the possessors of the Crystals are entitled to eternal salvation even if they are infinitely sinful, and that the salvation will be retroactive, meaning that even the Pabaps who died trying to recover the Crystals but did not succeed would become saved when they were actually regained.

   The Four Crystals are named Bremae, Laplup, Pupampfu, and Bliwam.

3. Šinsasa Vumbum The most widely chosen path, the one that the religion of Tarwatob is "about". Essentially, it means to do good deeds despite the lack of immediate rewards. All that are able to choose this path (e.g. anyone who isn't physically weak or disabled) are expected to do so. This path leads to salvation because it causes the believer to gain joy from things that defy the laws of nature, and therefore, after death, they will not be bound by the laws of nature and will be able to choose freely whether to go to Heaven or to stay in Hell and suffer some more. Even if they do choose to remain in Hell, they have gained immunity to the curses that kept them bound in their previous life, and therefore they come down to Hell only to do good deeds and try to help others escape.
4. Pampora Vumbum Soldiers are exempted from the duties of šinsasa, even assuming that fighting a war is itself a good deed, and thus are considered saved just so long as they remain loyal to the army, even if they are in other respects extremely sinful. Note that this was long known as bupta vumbum, but was renamed in order to avoid the treasonous connotations of being a bupta. The difference between the two is that pampora is a specific war directed by the state and its religious leaders (though not necessarily a "holy war"), whereas bupta is a term for a warrior who has no allegiance other than to other buptas.
5. Laekes Vambel Those unable to follow any of the other paths to salvation, generally because they are disabled, or because they were imprisoned for a crime and have now repented but cannot be set free, can still reach Heaven by submitting to the will of others, and trying their best to do no harm to anyone. The name of this path means "wisher's salvation" because they are those who wish they could follow one of the other paths (typically šinsasa or pampora). Those on this path (called laekel) are also required to perform various ascetic rituals to show their faith, and cleanse themselves with various blessed objects, whereas those on other paths are not. This is because there are spirits (not the same as demons) who can affect only sinners, and steal their salvation, unless the sinners are constantly undoing these curses with magic given to them by the gods. Essentially they replace a faith that causes them to do good deeds for no rewards with a faith that keeps them doing various rituals that otherwise do nothing. This is in some ways similar to the Crystal belief that salvation can be gained by touching holy objects, even for a person who is full of sin, because salvation is more powerful than sin.

Tarwatobs believe that all unrepentant sinners will be drawn into Hell by a series of natural events, ultimately destroying the "lifeline" (burwa) that would otherwise be their path to Heaven. But even unrepentant sinners can be saved if they are constantly casting magical spells that do the same things that good deeds otherwise would. Because Tarwataf believes that the only true repentance is the kind that actually undoes the original sin, and there are some sins, such as murder, which cannot be undone, it is impossible for a sinner of this type to ever repent, no matter how much sorrow he feels, and thus this fifth path is his only chance of redemption.

Magic

Tom is the Poswob word for magic. The belief in magic is not tied to the Tarwataf religion, but rather inherited from cultural beliefs that pre-date it, and which are in fact most prominent in the non-Poswob cultures that surround it. There are several different types of magic, which are described below.

Womb magic

Rombasto is a Poswob word meaning "magic of the womb", or Womb Magic. It comes in two different types, which are generally seen as "good" and "bad", though it is very easy to find evil in both of them. Both types of womb magic can only be used by women, and are seen as deriving their power from a particular goddess. Properly speaking, womb magic consists only of a few spells that pregnant women cast on themselves: one set to ensure that their baby will survive the pregnancy and be born healthy, and the other to cause an abortion ... the abortion spells are illegal in Wababa, just as abortion is illegal; but are widely practiced anyway. Furthermore, many people believe that the womb is active even when not in pregnancy, and is very powerful, with magical abilities extending far beyond just itself. Thus womb magic spells for a variety of purposes exist, and could be seen as replacing prayers.

1. Mappa, deriving from the goddess Mappamaempsam. This is where the spells to ensure a healthy pregnancy are found; however, as stated above, many worshippers call on Mappa to do evil as well. For example, there is a spell named lapsum that can block out a person's ability to enjoy holy things, and thus cause them to sin more. It can be relieved with prayer to the goddess Mappamaempsam, but only if a second person holds the person during the prayer, because a person affected by lapsum cannot experience holy things and thus cannot pray. Another womb spell, falaby, is similar in that it cuts the target's soul off from receiving the power of God, and can only be cured in the same way. Not all of these "extra" womb magic spells are bad, but the good spells can only cancel the bad ones; there is no womb magic spell to give someone salvation, for example, only to restore it to someone who has had it taken away.
2. Waba, an "evil" magic used by a goddess named Waptena. It is sometimes considered as a variant of womb magic because it can cause women to have abortions and thus is blamed when a pregnant woman cast the proper womb spells and then miscarried the baby even so. Poswob has a specific word for this type of miscarriage: warma (as compared to papsa for a woman who didn't cast the womb spells to begin with).

Other magics

1. Laly, referring to the practice of communicating with an animal or even an inanimate object simply by touching it; a type of telepathy.
2. Posto, the art of casting curses on someone (such as to make them ill). This is not the same as the word buvi which also means curse but refers to eternal punishment rather than misfortune in the immediate world. All invisible illnesses are believed to either come from Lune's demons or the posto spells; there is no knowledge of medicine and microorganisms ... although they do know that microorganisms exist, they don't realize that they cause illness.
3. Rapšom A type of magic that makes machines work; without it they will all fail.
4. Wampwab ???
5. Lafresto A type of magic involving creating hallucinations and thus misleading people.

So magic is a very large part of Poswobs' lives, even though not everyone believes in all types of magics. The word tota indicates a person whose job in life is to cast magic spells on others (to is a verb); however, Tarwataf believes that humans' magic power is limited and that even the totas can only cast a few spells per day. This eliminates the possibility of casting "magic magic" that rises above the limitations of the regular magics, and which, if it existed, could be used to do things such as destroying the entire world in a single spell, or casting a magic that cancels out all other magic spells cast in the past, present, and future.

However, there is a belief in a type of magic called ki, a word which is very short because it is very old. This is a type of magic that can defy logic, and which Tarwatobs believe was necessary to create the world. Since it defies logic, ki can sometimes be used by humans, even though logic would indicate a strong magic could only be used by a strong creature such as a god. This is the explanation used for miracles. It is also believed by many that ki is the type of magic that is responsible for humans being able to gain salvation. Some Tarwatobs believe that a ki spell will be cast at the end of the world that destroys the world, just as one was cast that created it, and some particularly optimistic believers hold that ki will also grant universal salvation even to those who are in Hell at the time. Note that the Poswob word for "God", ky, is etymologically "that which uses ki".

Tarwataf prayers often contain a plea for ailments to be cured "at all times in the past, present, and future" (refu bombom porpies, pappies, pelpies) in the belief that gods, through the power of ki, can change even the past.

As stated before, the boundary between magic and prayer is difficult to discern; hunters in the northern states often say a prayer before killing or eating an animal; that prayer consists of just one word, buppieta, which means "not bup," where bup is a kind of sin involving killing an animal unnecessarily.

History

Tarwataf is over 7000 years old. The "present" stage, in which Poswob is spoken, is around 8200 AD although the Poswob Empire lasted for 1200 years. Whereas in the year 4200, there was no Poswob and no Pabappa ... the primary languages were Bābākiam (the ancestor of Poswob and Pabappa), Thaoa (the ancestor of Palli), "camian:, and early Moonsghine. and Here are some of the important points in its history:

The Battle of Ta Tuipita Tamna

Note that in the Andanese/Poswob religions, most of the gods are actually visible creatures with large bodies and generally very powerful abilities. For example, Pibos is a bird who weighs about 4800 pounds and has a 110-foot wingspan. His size is not unusual, but his powers are. (Telepathy etc). Lula is a lizard who is even heavier. More to follow when the pantheon is written.

In the year 4202, the ancestors of the Poswobs rebelled against their primary god, Lula, in the belief that she was actually cooperating with Pibos in torturing the believers. Yuya would make impossible demands of her worshippers, killing those who could not comply, while Pibos/Rinos would attack those who didn't try. Thus, most worshippers ended up being tortured by either Rinos or his "enemy" Yuya, and sometimes by both.

They also believed that Lula was having sex with Pibos, which was a very scandalous belief, not only because one was supposedly good and the other evil, but because it was believed that these gods did not need to have sex at all since they were perfect. They also claimed that Yuya and Pinūs worshipped gods of their own, and that they thus were not the "true" gods. The Poswobs were thus cast out of the community and considered by many to be ikū, a Bābākiam word for those who could never achieve salvation even if they repented.

Pibos saw the Poswob slaves escape into the wilderness and declared that he believed that they were hiding in Heaven. He realized that that must mean that the place he and Lula were in (called Sasisa) was Hell, or at least that it was becoming Hell. Thus when the Poswobs came back with an army to help them fight the false gods, which even the gods themselves admitted they were, Pibos believed that the true God was with them, but he would not worship that God. Instead he turned to Lune, the god of the capital city of Yuni-Yubaya, and worshipped her because unlike the Poswobs' god she did not demand that he change his behavior.

A god named Mororaka (or Balambam), not native to the area, had come in to challenge Lula and Pibos, but he was unable to achieve victory. The Poswobs appreciated Mororaka's help but believed that he was not helping them very much. There was also Twatympia, a former ally of Pibos who had turned against him.

The Battle of Ta Tuipita Tamna (which means "humans killing gods" in the language that gave rise to Poswob) lasted three years, and ended with Pibos and Lula defeated but not killed. Instead they retreated to a neighboring nation and promised eternal war. Some Poswobs, frustrated at the outcome and their own God's inability to lead them to victory, switched back over to the Lula-Pibos side (called Rapala). At first, Pibos laughed at the idea of Poswobs trying to hurt people, saying "Poswobs can't fight battles; they can only write stories in which they imagine they're fighting!", but then realized they had been causing harm for many years to the worshippers of Pibos. He also believed that whereas ungodly people could only commit blind evil, it took a true believer to commit the kind of indelible, eternal evil that Pibos' new supporters were dreaming of, and that they were thus more capable of evil than "Satan" himself. (Lanen tšâs in Kuroras)

After the Battle of TTT, the gods broke up into a war with each other, which lasted about fifteen more years. They weakened each other in war to the point where an army of Andanese humans and monkeys called Asala was able to take over all of the land they ruled on and claim it for themselves. Thus for this period of time, none of the gods of the old Poswob religion were being worshipped at all. This includes even the supposedly "good" ones who had helped the proto-Poswobs escape; they were drawn into the war along with the others and the army of Asala spared none of them. They also killed all of the sentient non-primate animals living in the area (birds, dinosaurs, etc). However, it is noteworthy that Lune was treated differently than the others, because she was a human, and according to the Poswobs, later returned to power and began tormenting sinners once again. (But still, they did not worship her.)

Morality

See Ižda Mir. There are no permanent "sins"; the rulers of the cities make the laws, and the laws are what defines what is a sin. So something that is a sin in one time and place may not be in another. However, Tarwataf does recognize the existence of sinful behavior that is not always illegal, for example "nipwapa" which means the pursuit of pleasure that helps only oneself and not other people. Surprisingly, this includes things such as reading books and excessive exercising to keep in shape, since these are things that do not help other people. And the laws of many cities such as Wababa are so strict that even behaviors like these are illegal and pnuishable by taking away one's possessions or by exile. This is seen mostly in urban areas where law enforcement is strong; the rural "šummis" people are thus stereotyped as lazy "duck-like" people (ducks being seen as a good example of an animal that wanders around a lot but does not have to do any "work" to survive, by contrast to many other animals which are constantly gathering food, etc.)