Samahhi; Sama's Word
Always wary of the minions of the Lying Ones, for they revel in aberrant actions, and seek only to undo your works and subvert your thoughts. - Excerpt from the Samahhi
Please know that this is a collection of excerpts from these particular books, and not the books in their entirety. It's one of those things I've been sitting on for a while, and it took a particular violent spurt of ADD to bring me back to it. Smiles
Book I - Book of Beginnings
See Story of Sama
Book II - Book of Life
The Six Commands of Sama
i - You shall know the sanctity I have given to my priests, and shall obey all their commands and believe all they teach.
ii - Wage war against the heretics and the heathens unceasingly, and let your blade be always turned against the impure and their aberrant brothers
iii - No man shall recoil from his enemy, for I am with him and seek only the destruction of the False Ones and their followers.
iv - Let no lie escape your lips, and no falsehood be written by you.
v - Let never your heart hate they brother, for you are both made pure by I, but if your brother forsakes me strike him down before I take vengeance upon your whole line.
vi - Steal not from your brother, nor from anyone else made pure by me, for there shall be no hatred among my chosen.
Various Other Commands
-Drink no blood of either animal or man, for these are holy to me, and whoever does so shall have his blood spilt unto the ground in one of my tents as restitution.
-If any sacrifices blood out of my tents, he is to be treated as if he had sacrificed it to one of the goat gods, and is to be mauled by a bull, and his blood is to be collected and brought to my temple as restitution.
-Let no one, either foreign slave or one of your line, consecrate any blood or beast or grain to one of the Lying Ones. If any does so he must be dragged out of the village by a goat, and then all that saw him are to testify upon his head of his transgression. And after such, all in the vicinity shall throw stones at him, first his house, than his blood's blood,* followed by any of his line, than by all others, until he is dead.
-Let no one profane my name, for it is well revered, and to do so shall bring punishment down upon the speaker and his house.
-Never let your lands be feed off of by the impure, for it isn't for the impure to take what is the pure's due. So, when you have had your pick, and given as needed to your line and blood, you shall set light to your lands, and then plow them under again.
-Do not seek revenge, nor hold a grudge, against one of the pure, for to do so shall make you impure, and fit to be cast out.
Book III - Book of Truth
"In the beginning we were all one folk, strong under His rule, but He rested and the False Ones shattered us. So we were weak, and lived as thieves, stealing fur and fangs of beasts for survival. Then came Sama, and with him the Light. Thus we grew strong, but there were still others who clung to the darkness and were weak, and so we know that to reject the Light is denounce life."
"And always you shall be vigilant and look into the shadows. For mine enemies are many and will seek only your destruction, and among your numbers remember that the sneaking grasp of sin never rests."
"If one has eyes to see what I have made, and Light to see it by, but does not, than your eyes shall be torn from their sockets and you shall be made to wander forever blind."
"You, my children shall always be hounded by the demons and the Dark, and from your enemies your only shield be blood, and in it you shall thrive. Upon the battlefields where the heathens died your children will plant fields, and their blood's blood shall grow strong."
Book IV - Book of Joy
Firstfruits
After the second week** of the first harvest the village is to come together and all are to feed each other on fine wine and good grain. There shall be much celebration, and all are to sacrifice of themselves to me.
Feast of the Moon
Upon the Day of the highest Flow+ all shall join together and drink wine and give praise to me to shake the highest reaches of heaven, and the deepest reaches of the foundation. And there shall walk among you one of my priests and he will give exoneration for the sins you've committed in the time since you last communed with one of his brothers.
Feast of Horns
Once, every sixmoon, you shall lay aside a week to only prayer and fasting, and during this time you are to treat each other as closest brothers, taking no advantage of each other in deals, and not collecting debts owed.
Day of the Stars
Once a year, on the second day of the sixth sixweek, you shall fast for a full cycle of the sun and give remembrance of all that have passed before you, and give praise for the paths my saints have set before you.
Feast of the Sun
Once, every sixth sixmoon you shall all sacrifice of yourself twice over, and then spend a week in fast. In this time no deals shall be made, and no wars started. You shall raise the sword only in defense of yourself or your line. No animals shall be butchered on these days, and no work shall be done.
Book V - Book of Enemies
"I have given to you, my chosen, the earth and all that is in it."
"And the lands of the pagans; where they shall neither yield, move, nor die; you shall burn. And when the fires of retribution die down you shall salt the land to make it uninhabitable so that none of their blood shall return to take up their parents religion and blasphemous belief in the lies of the False Ones."
"And you have been born into a rebellious world. The whole of its history is treason; your blood has been spilt before you were even born; the various creeds are but an infidelity to My Truth; and Man's laws are but treason to his maker. So you shall go out, with the torch and the sword, to bring my laws to them and the Light. There will be many that don't accept what you offer, and so they shall be given the light of your steel, and their children shall be taken as your slaves."
Book VI - Book of Ends
"When one in your household dies he is to be laid out in full light of the sun and stars for two days, and during this time the members of your household, and any that come to help pay his sins, shall stand watch over him lest any defile his body. On the second day all the men shall put a drop of blood from their thumbs under each of his eyes, or if it is a woman, the women shall, and then he is to be carried to one of my tents. My priests will then say their prayers over him and absolve him of any of his sins that are known, then they shall cut into him and drain all the blood out of him as a sacrifice to me, to wash away all of his sins. And then his body shall be laid into the ground to rest."
"Let the mourning for the dead go on for more than a week, and then move on. Remember the dead on the Day of Stars, for that is when they burn brightest, and their souls are close enough to hear your words and respond."
"Let no one among you commune with the spirits on a regular basis, like the heathen priests do, but instead commune with the living and strengthen my kingdom."
*blood's blood means children
**Samahen week is 6 days instead of the more common 7
+Flow is the high tide, which comes monthly and is a lot larger than ours. Also something like 4.4 months in a year.
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? Responses (11)
I love this format! Despite the length, it is easy to read, due to the quick-fire blurbs and passages.
I would add something at the end, maybe some additional info/wrap-up/plot-hookish type paragrpah to put all the quotes in focus. Something seems missing.
You already know I like Sama.
5/5 Very Bibilic.
I love it, absolutely.
Very strong - This breathes a life into the religion it's attached to. Thank you.
Nicely done. I think the format works for me. It is clear and gives some basic points of the religion without too much gobbley gook.
This is really cool. I like these book excerpts - they are so useful to populate libraries PC's encounter in their adventures and can give a world an amazing level of detail.
Now, who's forgotten to add this pretty piece to the Books compendium? That ought to be fixed.
This is awesome, this all a cleric type character needs. And by reading these short blurbs an image of a culture begins to form. This is great work.
Great one. Visceral!
Oh, here's one little intolerant religion of pesky zealots. Good frothing antagonists they make, yes.
