Religion & The Ilbeshen

Irovians worship deities of nature, with each settlement tending towards one or two gods most closely relating to their location. A settlement at the base of a mountain's wooded foothills may worship a mountain and a forest deity, or even one entity that encompasses the spirit of both.

These gods are rarely truly named, though one name is often settled upon for the sake of foreign language convenience. In Irovian, the gods are referred to with titles - The Wind That Bites, The Hunter's Guide, and The Sun Eater, being some such examples.

Magic in Irov is revered. To be able to cast is viewed as a gift from the earth - and by extension, the gods thereof - that allows someone to work more closely alongside it. Those able to work magic are referred to as ilbeshen - a term of respect that turns the verb "to cast (magic)" into a title: "one who works magic."

From this, the type of casting one can perform may be further specified. Magical healers are emshen, banishers are gadnyshen, and natural casters are so named for the primary aspect of life or nature through which they cast.

Much like the gods take the shape of the region, so too does the magic. An ilbeshen who was born and raised along the Khilan River would most likely show proficiency with casting pertaining to water or plants.

Songana

Even in a place where the common good is held to high importance, some places are maligned due to superstition. Songana — the easternmost settlement that operates as Irov's solitary port — is one such town. Over the years the local worship of the sea and winter nights melded into a more general worship of the void - deep and dark places, whether celestial or marine. How closely they live alongside death has also touched their beliefs and colored outside opinion of them. There are ambiguous whispers of the land being cursed - forsaken by its gods and leaving its residents to suffer in their wake.

Despite these misgivings, the town had never had many difficulties beyond one what would expect of the region. For the most part, the residents wear such superstition like armor - keeping their community from unwanted attention and better allowing them to keep to themselves. As such ideas leached into other regions' beliefs, they further use these notions to keep their town from being overrun by commerce.

Even in the fface of this mistrust, the residents are generally friendly to all outsiders - be they Irovian or foreign - always offering shelter and necessities to any who find themselves in their town. This welcome is warm and genuine, but they are otherwise reticent about the details of their culture. They are well aware that their attitudes and beliefs are viewed as unusual and that it could be a risk to speak too freely of them. As such, the welcoming attitude is quick to shift at the first sign of hostility.

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