Sonderlunding Ancestor Worship

Although Sonderlund practices the Old Faith, its Old Faith is a different kind than that observed by the elves or the hillfolk of Vardessy, Kvesland, and Togarmah. Although there is obviously overlap between all these groups, what characterizes Sonderlunding religion is a belief in ancestral spirits as the chief forces that must be obeyed and appeased, and that allegiances are sworn to.

Many Sonderlundings can trace their lineage back to ancient times, and they maintain extensive genealogies, often recounted through a long and unbroken oral tradition. They do this to recount the heroic deeds of great ancestors, reiterating their glories and attesting to the reasons as to why they must be honored. Though Sonderlunding religion does not deny the existence of gods, demons, and other spirits, it asserts that their intentions are not as important as those of the ancestors - after all, they are distant creatures, existing on a level beyond mortal comprehension, whereas the ancestors were once men and know of earthly concerns. Surely, then, they would have the intentions of their descendants closer at hand.

Sonderlundings believe that one must respect the word of their ancestors and live by it. This reinforces the stratification of societal roles; if one had an ancestor renowned for great deeds in a particular field, it is held that their descendants must follow in their footsteps to honor their ancestor's contributions, and thus, Sonderlunding traditions tend to be a family affair - warriors beget warriors, artisans beget artisans, druids beget druids. Even more important, of course, is the ancestral oath. A Sonderlunding may make an official declaration that is to be recorded in history, and their descendants are expected to live by it and honor it throughout the generations. Much of Sonderlunding law is codified through the ancestral oaths of past thanes and kings, which are held to be permanent and binding, and a not insignificant task of the druids is to interpret these oaths, the situations in which they apply, and when, if ever, it is acceptable to act against them. To a Sonderlunding, defying the word of an ancestor is seen as the ultimate form of disrespect and dishonor, and is never taken lightly.

Sonderlunding tradition holds that the ancestors build great palaces in the Land of the Dead, and that when Death takes one's soul, they join the ranks of their forefathers, where they feast and rejoice together. However, the spirits of the ancestors may be called upon to affect some change, however limited, upon the mortal realm. Many villages in Sonderlund have a shrine devoted to a past ancestor that the people make offerings to so that their spirit is appeased and grants them guidance in their particular field, and Sonderlunding druids often invoke their ancestors to grant them power while casting spells. This means that one's ancestry is important in determining what prayers may be made - it is considered rude to call on someone else's ancestors, so ideally, ones' own lineage should have ancestors suitable for a given prayer. For instance, if one's great-great-grandmother was a forester, her spirit will be a better one to call upon for aid in tracking game than one's great-grand-uncle who was a shipwright. If all else fails, however, it is considered acceptable to make a general invocation to the ancestors for aid in a given task, if one does not know of a particular ancestor that applies.

All this carries a particular implication. Unlike in Pantheonism or Elementalism, where the most honorable cosmic forces are beyond mortals, it is possible - rather, inevitable - for mortals to become ancestors. Thus, Sonderlunding culture places a great deal of importance on achieving glory in one's field to ensure that one may become an ancestor worth praising and invoking, and to ensure one's deeds live on in history. One who dies without accomplishing anything particularly impressive is doomed to be forgotten - but a great hero is remembered. It is not uncommon for old Sonderlundings who believe they have not accomplished anything in life to go out and seek one last glorious deed to accomplish (or die trying) before their time is up, in order to ensure they may be venerated by future generations.

As a material consequence of ancestor worship, Sonderlund's landscape is dotted by graves, barrows, and runestones commemorating historic deeds. As much of the populace is illiterate, these markers serve as a means to record the stories of their ancestors, and they are deeply woven into oral tradition, to the point where directions in Sonderlund often make mention of a particular barrow or shrine as a point of reference (because of course everyone knows which barrow Colum mac Dubh the Slayer of Men is buried in).

It also means that in Sonderlunding culture, it is important to respect the dead. In most lands, necromancy is not strictly illegal in and of itself, but it does carry the unsavory connotations that go hand in hand with grave robbery and meddling with corpses. In Sonderlund, however, to defile a tomb is a grave sin, and one that will bring down the anger of the ancestors. Necromancy is almost always punished by death, though some have gotten around this by issuing an ancestral oath that their bodies may be reanimated after death if any descendants should wish to perform such experiments.

Lastly, it is a consequence of ancestor worship that progress in Sonderlund - particularly in the isolated Highlands - moves slowly. Technologies like plate armor and gunpowder, as rare and expensive as they are elsewhere, are practically unheard of in parts of Sonderlund, as people are wary of new and unfamiliar things that their ancestors did not know of. Sonderlunding culture has remained largely the same for centuries, in no small part due to the traditions of ancestor worship and ancestral oaths.