Sub-Continent of Ertia

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World of Aserra
Ertian Sub-Continent

Post by World of Aserra » Tue Feb 03, 2009 8:25 pm

Location
Ertia is connected to the continent of Kalesten by the Kosony isthmus and isolated by the Ertian plateau and thick forests of the Ardir on the top of the plateau. Even if one were to cross the Ardir, the travel by foot into Ertia is further complicated by four thousand feet of sheer cliff-face down from the top of the plateau. Most trade and travel into Ertia is by sea.

Ertia is a sub-tropical region, mostly savanna and desert with some rain forest in the northeast, near the foot of the plateau. There are several large rivers running through the region which provide fertile farming land, but the water levels can severely fluctuate through the year, some slowing to nearly a trickle in the depths of summer, while turning into raging torrents in the rainy fall and winter and early spring when snow melts from the top of the plateau wash down.

The actual nation of Ertia is covered in savannah, which is nourished year round by moist sea air. Most of the land is arable, and there are many farms spreading out from the coast and along the river Useru, which defines the nation’s borders with the other Ertian countries. The Useru is sourced from plateau and Ardir, then flows down into Ertia where it marks the eastern border between the nation Ertia and Shyon. The river then forks in three directions; the short western fork flows out to the Gulf of Kalesten, marking the border between Ertia and Samdra; the middle fork arcs to the southwest, defining the rest of Samdra’s borders; and the eastern fork flows almost directly south into the ocean, cutting across Shyon. The port of Kelrana is situated at the mouth of eastern fork.

The second major river system is the Najoja which has many forks on the eastern side of the continent. Like the Useru, it is sourced from the top of the plateau to the far east, just south of the small eastern rain forested peninsula. It flows westward for a short distance, before cutting southward and branching outward in the heart of Shyon. The eastern branch of the Najoja arcs northward, breaks in two forks, both of which empty into the Tonult ocean on the eastern coast. The southern branch flows due south, forks into two smaller rivers, one of which travels to the west before arcing south and emptying into the ocean and the other continues due south. The cities of Enthqua, Finepa, Rayese, and Mejoba are all placed around this river where it leaves fertile land.

Environment
Ertia is mostly inhabited by humans who are characteristically dark-skinned. Western Ertians are often lighter skinned, as there is a history of interbreeding with northern travelers for the major port regions, and as you travel further east, the natives are predominantly dark skinned. They can be compared to the Arabic, Persian, and Indian peoples of our world in appearance.

Several different groups of Asath make their home in Ertia, but they keep their distance from humans. There is one distinct race living in the jungles which are marked by having a dark green tail with black diamonds down the back. Another clan lives on the grasslands in the heart of the sub-continent which most humans avoid due to the harsher habitat and fiercer animals. This Asath race is recognized by their brown tails that are marked with white and and black stripes.

There are also a few clans of Ochae’nafod who are bonded to some of the savanna and rain forest native species of the continent. They tend to live in secret, inhabiting the mostly northeastern rain forests that humans rarely venture to, and the heart of the sub-continent. The humans regard the Ochae’nafod as shape-shifters that are generally considered myths. However, many of the Ochae’nafod in this region share the dark features of the native humans, revealing that there has been a good bit of interbreeding over the course of thousands of years.

Inhabitants
Ertia is mostly inhabited by humans who are characteristically dark-skinned. Western Ertians are often lighter skinned, as there is a history of interbreeding with northern travelers for the major port regions, and as you travel further east, the natives are predominantly dark skinned. They can be compared to the Arabic, Persian, and Indian peoples of our world in appearance.

Several different groups of Asath make their home in Ertia, but they keep their distance from humans. There is one distinct race living in the jungles which are marked by having a dark green tail with black diamonds down the back. Another clan lives on the grasslands in the heart of the sub-continent which most humans avoid due to the harsher habitat and fiercer animals. This Asath race is recognized by their brown tails that are marked with white and and black stripes.

There are also a few clans of Ochae'nafod who are bonded to some of the savanna and rain forest native species of the continent. They tend to live in secret, inhabiting the mostly northeastern rain forests that humans rarely venture to, and the heart of the sub-continent. The humans regard the Ochae'nafod as shape-shifters that are generally considered myths. However, many of the Ochae'nafod in this region share the dark features of the native humans, revealing that there has been a good bit of interbreeding over the course of thousands of years.

History
Ertia has seen much political turmoil in the last two centuries. The Ertian people were once divided into several nations, which shared the same male-dominated culture, but the wrath of one woman created an empire.

The name Ertia comes from the ancient Ertian empire. This empire was thousands of years old, and the beginning of human civilization on the sub-continent, and was the oldest human civilization on all of Kalesten. However, eventually the rulers of Ertia became complacent, greedy, and useless, and the people of Ertia overthrew the government. The nation collapsed, but in time, several new nations formed. However, it was the northwestern region that retained the name “Ertia” and remained the most powerful, and most influential, as the port city of Shiz was where Ertia connected to the rest of the world.

The Ertian nations all shared the same culture, which was strongly male dominated--sometimes to extreme degrees. The severe oppression of women in the eastern country of Ghagha led to the Revolt of Enthqua.

Enthqua was born an Ertian noblewoman. The ancient capital region was less oppressive than other nations, so young Enthqua was educated. Rather a tomboy in her youth, she was far more interested in martial skills and the wars waged past and present than in the trivial knowledge most women learned to keep their future husbands entertained. Despite her education, Enthqua’s only purpose in life was to be married off to a high-class husband and bear him heirs.

At the age of fifteen, Enthqua was offered in marriage to the King of Ghagha. While most Ertians practiced monogamy (with the exception of the king and princes, who were allowed harems), polygyny was common in Ghagha, and it was expected of the king especially to have many wives. Enthqua was the third of the young king’s wives. Now, little more than a concubine, she was no longer allowed to read, or know anything of the national politics. Her only purpose now was to sit pretty, pleasure her husband, and bear his children.

At the age of sixteen, Enthqua bore a son, Tunau. The boy brought her some joy, but at the age of five, he was taken from her to begin his life as a prince and military leader. Enthqua saw him rarely, and the older he became, the less he cared for his mother as he had adopted the misogynist views of his father and Ghaghan men. Over the next few years, Enthqua bore the king two more children, both daughters; Asheque and Mejoba. Enthqua was allowed to raise her daughters, but they were not allowed the education of their brother, or the education Enthqua had received as a child in Ertia.

With Enthqua lived her fellow wives Kelrana, the first wife; Finepa, the second wife; and Rayese, the fourth wife who would also come to be known as Enthqua’s lover, as well as all their daughters. Kelrana’s eldest daughter, Samdra, was the first born of the king, and was a passionate young woman. She resented her upbringing, and had proved impossible to marry due to her temper. The privileges Enthqua had enjoyed in Ertia made Samdra yearn for the same knowledge, and so, Enthqua began to teach the wives and their daughters in secret. As they learned more, they craved more freedom, and eventually, with Enthqua’s tactical mind, all the wives and daughters staged an escape.

The women slipped out of the city and into the wilderness, where they found a place to hide. After several months of learning to live on their own with the guidance of Enthqua’s mind, the women set out into the villages and cities, recruiting women one by one. As their group grew, they became nomadic, hiding in the depths of the grassland where the men seeking their missing wives and daughters didn’t consider searching. Then, once Enthqua taught them how to fight and how to kill by hunting the native wildlife for food, they attacked. Village by village, the men were slaughtered and the women and children disappeared. Enthqua’s army grew, and in time, they overcame the male soldiers, stole their weapons and armor, and began an all out war.

Though they still stood little chance against the full armies of Ghagha, they relied on their stealth and guerrilla tactics that would eventually lead them back to the capital where Enthqua herself would lead a raid on the palace and slay her former husband. As the appointed leader of the rebellion, she was unanimously declared Queen. As she took the throne of a nation that was now predominately female, her first act was to control the men. Her now formidable army rounded up every man over the age of thirteen and took each to trial. Wives testified against their husbands and fathers, and many found themselves sympathizing to the new power enough to condemn the men in their lives to death for crimes of violence and rape, while others suffered castration for lesser crimes. Those who were accused of no crimes were allowed to live, intact, and allowed to return to their home village under the supervision of Enthqua’s new soldiers.

Ghagha fell under Enthqua’s total control, and the capital was renamed in her honor, but many friends were lost along the way. In honor of one of their comrades, one of the first women they had rescued from a bad marriage and had fallen in taking the capital, the nation was renamed Shyon.

As the new nation of Shyon solidified, major cities were renamed in honor of the leaders of the rebellion, and new laws were formed that empowered women and oppressed the remaining men. As soon as a new military was prepared, war was declared on the neighboring nations, and within ten years, all of Ertia was united again under one nation, under one queen, and under one law. Women ruled, men were reduced to slaves, bought and sold, married to women without a say in the matter, just as the women had been.

Enthqua’s rule was short lived, and twenty years after the rebellion, she fell victim to illness, contracted from suffering from an old battle wound. Her daughter, Asheque, took the throne of Shyon, thus starting a direct female line of rule. At Enthqua’s funeral, the capital of what was once Ghagha was renamed Enthqua. After her death, every major city in the land bore the name of her comrades. Kelrana, Finepa, Rayese, and Mejoba all had cities named after them as well.

However, as time went on, the vindictiveness within the law began to lose its bite and few voices spoke out against the oppression. Many mothers, who were loathe to sentence their sons to servitude objected to the laws in place. It was one governess, the matriarch who held sway over the heartland of Ertia, who proposed equal rights. Asheque would not approve it though, and the governess of Ertia threatened to secede. After much political bickering, Shyon allowed Ertia to have its independence peacefully. While Ertia instated laws allowing equal rights, while maintaining a matriarchal rule, Shyon’s male-oppressive laws relaxed.

However, Samdra, Asheque’s half-sister, was not pleased. She hated men vehemently, and believed that for all they had suffered, men would have to suffer just as long—that is, for all of recorded history. She opposed the new relaxed laws and pressed for more aggressive laws, but Asheque and her council refused. Eventually, the conflict broke into a physical fight in the council chambers, which led to Asheque taking the same route she had with Ertia. Samdra was given a small portion of the southwestern continent, just below Ertia, to call her own nation. All those who sympathized with her followed her to the new land, which was named after her.

Today, the three nations of Ertia, Shyon, and Samdra occupy the continent. Ertia’s laws allow the equal rights of males and females, though the society is equally female dominated, and seems to be more polarized toward female empowerment. However, men and women are allowed to marry as they chose. Ertia, namely its capital of Shiz, is the hub of commerce for the entire sub-continent, and as a land of equal rights, it is the best face to put forward toward visiting traders from the north. Ertia is governed by a council of matriarchs, all elder women of great influence; the decedents of ancient Ertian noble houses, warriors, and powerful merchants.

Samdra, which lays to the south of Ertia strips men of all rights, and it is wise to avoid for any male travelers. Men are forced into slavery, and often used only for reproduction. There is one major city, Jiva.

Shyon occupies most of the land, and has several major cities along the coastline. Here, men have few rights, some are castrated as teenagers while others are married off young. They are not allowed to hold jobs or positions of power, but they are allowed some education and often encouraged to pursue the arts. Shyon places heavy restrictions on traveling men, but very few men bother leaving Ertia when they visit the sub-continent.
World of Aserra

Sub-Continent of Ertia

Post by World of Aserra » Tue Feb 03, 2009 8:25 pm

Ertia
Kalesten’s sub-continent of Ertia is a land physically connected to the main continent, but it is its own continental plate on Aserra’s crust, wedged up beneath the south-eastern hook of Kalesten. Located in the tropics, Ertia has a warm climate, a vibrant culture, and trades in many exotic materials. At current, three countries make up Ertia; the nation Ertia, Shyon, and Samdra. Ertians are known to have a strongly matriarchal culture across all three nations.

Location
Ertia is connected to the continent of Kalesten by the Kosony isthmus on the south-eastern side, though it is isolated by the high and intractable Ertian plateau. This plateau was formed by the sub-continent crashing up into Kalesten’s continental plate, much in the way India did with Asia. Even if one were to attempt to traverse the mountains and sheer cliffs, they would first have to pass through the Ardir, a forest south of Kalesten that is heavily guarded by the Fayl’Idayn and Nafod races that inhabit it. For these reasons, most trade and travel to Ertia is by sea.

Climate
Ertia’s climate is sub-tropical to tropical, mostly tropical grassland/savannah and scrubland, with high desert near the heart of the sub-continent. Along the south-western and north-eastern coastlines are jungle. There are several significant rivers running through the region that provide fertile land for farming, but the water levels can fluctuate severely throughout the year; some slowing to nearly a trickle in the depths of summer, while turning into raging torrents in the rainy fall and winter, and early spring when the snow melts from the top of the plateau wash down. Ertia’s flora and fauna closely resembles some of Africa’s species.

Geography
The nation of Ertia is on the western coast of Ertia (though at one point it was an empire across the entire sub-continent), and it is the main trade-hub with Kalesten and the rest of the world. Much of the nation of Ertia is savannah and scrub forest. Most of the land is arable, and there are many farms spreading out from the coast and along the river Useru, which defines the nation’s borders with Shyon and Samdra. The Useru is sourced from the plateau and flows southerly into Ertia where it marks the eastern border of Ertia with Shyon. The river then forks into three directions; the short western fork flows out into the Gulf of Kalesten, marking the border between Ertia and Samdra; the middle fork arcs to the southwest, defining the rest of Samdra’s borders with Shyon; and the eastern fork flows almost directly south into the ocean, cutting across Shyon. The port of Kelrana (Shyon) is situated at the mouth of the eastern fork.

The second major river system is the Najoja which has many forks on the eastern side of the continent. Like the Useru it is sourced from the top of the plateau to the far east, just south of the south eastern rain forest peninsula. It flows westward for a short distance, before cutting southward and branching outward in the heart of Shyon. The eastern branch of the Najoja arcs northward, breaks in two forks, both of which empty into the Tonult Ocean on the east coast. The southern branch flows due south, forks into two smaller rivers, one of which travels to the west before arcing south and emptying into the ocean, while the other continues south. The cities of Enthqua, Finepa, Rayese, and Mejoba are laid along its banks.

Inhabitants
Ertia’s largest population is human. The Ertian people are typically brown-skinned, ranging from lighter shades on the northwestern regions to the darkest shades through to the southeast and central continent. Their appearance can be compared to Indian and Persian peoples in our world.

Other races in Ertia include a few tribes of Asath in the isolated central regions, and eastern jungles. One Zaedyn city is carved into a high cliff-side of the plateau. Mariel live off of the coast and often come ashore in the east for their twentieth year journeys. There are numerous Ochae’nafod tribes in the less populated regions, bonded to native wildlife.

Ertia Culture and History
Ertia’s oldest mythologies teach that the sub-continent was Nydoini’s personal garden and menagerie, and its people were created in her image. Reverence for the Mother-Goddess carried down through Ertian culture, even after the goddess’s death. Ertians believe that Nydoini left her essence behind in all living things that she created, and thus, her presence surrounds them.

Ertian culture is definitively matriarchal across the continent, but the role of men can vary across the different societies within the continent. While many human cultures began as matriarchies, the advent of agriculture seemed to shift many cultures to patriarchies. Ertia, however, has maintained its matriarchy since the beginning of recorded history. Communities are run by women, while men are considered too emotional and ruled by their passions to lead. The greater physical strength men possess is turned to defense and labor.

The sub-continent has been isolated throughout much of its history, until the advent of seafaring. Empires and nations have risen and fallen. It was around seven hundred years ago when the Ertian Empire rose to power, the greatest empire of the sub-continent thus far. Starting in the northwest, the empire spread across the sub-continent until all nations were united into one. They expanded further into the ocean, establishing colonies on islands in the Tonult and Gulf of Kalesten. This expansion also established trade agreements that still exist today with northern Kalesten nations.

In time, the Ertian Empire began to crumble. After two hundred years, the leadership became complacent and frivolous, as with most empires, and they could not respond to the very real needs of their peoples. Tropical storms and piracy ravaged the eastern coasts and island colonies, but a lack of response from the motherland left them to fend for themselves. They were the first to cut ties with Ertia. Then drought struck, leading to a loss of crops and food supplies for the entire nation. The Empress was more concerned with her own table than those of her people, leaving many to starve when food could have been rationed throughout the nation, and new trade agreements could have brought in more food from the north. People revolted, collapsing the empire from the east inward. Finally, a coupe dethroned the empress. She was executed, and her heirs exiled to now independent island colonies to suffer as their mother had let their people suffer. What was left of the nation of Ertia remained in the northwestern corner, and the government reformed as a parliamentarian government of democratically elected representatives.

Smaller nations rose again out of the revolution, and over the next five hundred years, the political landscape was in flux outside of the static nation of Ertia. The two nations now solidified are Samdra and Shyon, which both came to exist within the last century. Samdra was a rather loosely defined nation in the southwest corner, occupied by one large tribe. They openly traded with Cheuzan merchants from the north, who became appalled by the Samdran treatment of men. Their influence crept into the tribe from the port city of Jiv, and inspired the men of Samdra to rise up against the matriarchy. This led to a brutal war of the genders. The Samdran tribal leaders crushed the revolt violently. First, the Cheuzans who had influenced their men were executed. Their bodies were sent back to Cheuz with a message from the Chieftess of Samdra that cut all ties of trade. Meanwhile, in her nation, all men who fought back were to be killed on sight. This made the men who were dedicated to the cause only fight harder, while many others fled from Samdran lands to seek help. No other tribes or nations wanted to intervene, however. The response from the Samdran women went so far as to kill thousands of boy children. Soon after the cull, the Cheuzan Navy declared war on Samdra, which was short-lived as the furious Samdran women terrified the Cheuzans back to Kalesten. In the aftermath, Samdra had established itself as a nation. Ertia and other neighboring nations were so shocked by their brutality that they wanted the Samdrans separated from them by very real borders. Ever since, Samdra has been an excessively isolated nation that has gone so far as to enslave their men and tightly control the male population. Even other Ertian nations know little about Samdra’s policies, only that it is not a place any man, or any woman who loves men, wants to be.

Shyon is the largest, and youngest nation in Ertia. A union, rather than an empire, Shyon seeks to be what the Ertian Empire once was, through peaceful expansion. It is a monarchy, originally founded by Queen Enthqua, and has expanded purely through diplomacy. It’s expansion was only stopped by the disdain for Samdra, and Ertia continuing to decline offers for membership in the union, wanting to maintain their independence and history.

Ertian Pronunciations
Ertia - EHR-tee-AH
Shyon - SHE-yown
Samdra - sam-DRAH
Useru - OO-seh-roo
Najoja - NAH-ho-HAH
Enthqua - ENTH-kwa
Kelrana - KEL-rahn-AH
Finepa - fih-NEE-pah
Rayese - RAE-yess
Mejoba - meh-HO-bah
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Discussion for Nation of Shyon

Post by J. M. Vincent » Fri May 04, 2012 2:28 pm

Use this thread to pose any questions, or make comments and suggestions on the nation of Shyon.
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Discussion for Nation of Samdra

Post by J. M. Vincent » Fri May 04, 2012 2:29 pm

Use this thread to pose any questions, or make comments and suggestions on the nation of Samdra.
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Discussion for Nation of Ertia

Post by J. M. Vincent » Fri May 04, 2012 2:30 pm

Use this thread to pose any questions, or make comments and suggestions on the nation of Ertia.
World of Aserra

Kalesten Sub-continent Ertia - Shyon

Post by World of Aserra » Fri May 04, 2012 2:45 pm

Shyon
Pronunciation: sh’YOHN
Cities
  • Enthqua (Capital)
  • Finepa
  • Mejoba
  • Kelrona
  • Rayese
Location
The nation of Shyon occupies most of the sub-continent, extending it's borders from the plateau to the coasts. The west is bordered by the nation of Ertia to the northwest and Samdra to the southwest. The border between these two nations is marked by the Hawar river that flows from the plateau to the ocean at the southwestern tip of the sub-continent. The northern most reaches of the east coast are not under the control of Shyon, and its northeastern border ends around a hundred and fifty miles from the city of Rayese, before a narrow strip of land between the ocean and plateau that leads into the dense, intractable jungles.
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Kalesten Sub-continent Ertia - Samdra

Post by World of Aserra » Fri May 04, 2012 2:45 pm

Samdra
Pronunciation: SAM-drah
Cities
  • Jiv (Capital)
Location
Samdra is a small nation that occupies the southwestern coast of Ertia. Its borders are marked by the Hawar river. A western fork in the river borders it from Ertia, while the main part of the river, flowing southward, separates it from Shyon.
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Kalesten Sub-continent Ertia - Ertia

Post by World of Aserra » Fri May 04, 2012 2:47 pm

Ertia
Pronunciation: EIR-tee-AH
Cities
  • Shiz (Capital)
Location
The nation Ertia is on the northwestern coast of the sub-continent. It is a coastal country, and it's location on the inside of the arch of the Kalesten continent makes it a major trade point between the northern nations and the sub-continent. The northeastern border is marked by the Ertian Plateau, while the east and south by the river Hawar. In the east, the river separates Ertia from Shyon, while a fork in the south separates it from Samdra.
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Re: Kalesten Sub-continent Ertia - Shyon

Post by World of Aserra » Fri May 04, 2012 9:42 pm

Enthqua
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Re: Kalesten Sub-continent Ertia - Shyon

Post by World of Aserra » Fri May 04, 2012 9:42 pm

Finepa
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Re: Kalesten Sub-continent Ertia - Shyon

Post by World of Aserra » Fri May 04, 2012 9:42 pm

Mejoba
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Re: Kalesten Sub-continent Ertia - Shyon

Post by World of Aserra » Fri May 04, 2012 9:43 pm

Kelrona
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Re: Kalesten Sub-continent Ertia - Shyon

Post by World of Aserra » Fri May 04, 2012 9:43 pm

Rayese
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Re: Kalesten Sub-continent Ertia - Samdra

Post by World of Aserra » Fri May 04, 2012 9:45 pm

Jiva
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Re: Kalesten Sub-continent Ertia - Ertia

Post by World of Aserra » Fri May 04, 2012 9:50 pm

Shiz
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Re: Discussion for Nation of Ertia

Post by J. M. Vincent » Wed Sep 05, 2012 9:38 am

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Discussion for Sub-Continent of Ertia

Post by J. M. Vincent » Wed Apr 03, 2013 10:10 am

If you have any questions, comments, or suggestions on the Sub-Continent of Ertia, please use this thread to discuss them.

This topic is to discuss the sub-continent in general itself, including the culture as a whole, geography, etc. There are threads for individual nations here: Ertia (Nation), Samdra, Shyon.
So, Ertia needs a religion of it's own, but without creating something entirely new since the gods have pretty thoroughly asserted their presence. I figured that the should hold Nydoini, the mother of the gods, in high regard, even though she's dead. They'll have a sort of pantheistic perception of her--that she exists in everything, her essence still carries on in the life she brought to the world.

I'd like a little more input, so throw me some ideas if you got 'em!

My notes so far...
Nydoinism
Nydoinism is the worship of the Mother-Goddess Nydoini, practiced by the majority of Ertians. The worship of Nydoini is relatively new, stemming from the reconstruction of Ertia. A new mythology was created around the Mother-Goddess to motivate and empower Ertian women as they emerged from generations of oppression. While much of the story is the same, Nydoini is given far more reverence in legends, and attributed to more ancient Ertian tales. While the Ertians are aware that in the mythos of the Light Religions, Nydoini sacrificed herself to Idrael, they consider that Nydoini still exists in spirit as a more pantheistic concept rather than an individual deity now. Her essence is believed to exist in every plant, creature, and individual. Ertians believe in connecting to the essence of the goddess within themselves and live by a code of morality (which can vary from group to group) to respect Nydoini.
While Nydoini sacrificed herself to her son to give him her power, Nydoinism teaches that the Goddess’s essence still lives in the life she brought to the world. Throughout Aserran mythology, it’s believed that Nydoini brought life to the world, while other gods had later influence on her creations.
Nydoini’s interactions with male deities is often downplayed depending on the veracity of matriarchal leadership in some parts of Ertia, though not denied. The focus in Nydoinism is on the goddess’s contributions to the world. Her relationship with Orran’sulani is typically viewed as a partnership.
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