Sharudi Faith

Description:
The Faith of The Holy Golden Seabird is the traditional and original faith of Yimmu-Audal. It was the official faith before the Empire turned secular as measure to guarantee its expansion in Jagdas and then in Rathnir.

In its origins, the religion was monocratic: acknowledging the existence of other gods but worshiping one: the Patron god of Shyr-Arrak, the Holy Golden Seabird, or "Hukar Dezum Autai Dar Shur" which is attributed to have granted the Empire of Yimmu-Audal its essentially exponential rise to become the Jagdasian superpower that it was.

Please see: Evolution of Yimmu-Audal Borders

Today in Rathnir however, Hukar Dezum Autai Dar Shur is commonly interpreted as the Patron-Angel Garath, and is considered to be the messenger of of Theios within Theiosism, the official faith of Yimmu-Audal's successor state Theios-Essukdal. Theiosism itself is a branch of Sakrelism, making the Holy Golden Seabird a part of the extended Sakrelist belief system.

Origins:
The origins of the faith lead even prior to the island and Jagdasian capital of Yimmu-Audal, Shyr-Arrak, when the island's first inhabitant and future Emperor of Yimmu-Audal, StoryStudio discovered the words "Ihn Ori'al El Aradusu Aderrid." on a birch tree on the island. It is thought that these words are of the peoples who inhabited Jagdas prior its sudden wave of colonization after the appearance of The Great Spawn.

The words carry a hidden message which was decrypted by StoryStudio but which was not revealed to anyone else. From these words, StoryStudio was able to reconstruct the lost language, making it the official language of Yimmu-Audal often used in naming colonies.

Once the message and its language were dycrypted, StoryStudio was visited by Hukar Dezum Autai Dar Shur in a vision, telling him to create an Island Empire. StoryStudio promptly did so by inviting player UltraBrot69, then apart of the Oceki Empire, by saying, "join me and we shall create an Island Empire together", and established first the settlement of Shyr-Arrak (named in the God's language) and then the nation of Yimmu Audal in Jagdas where he became the first Lugal and then Emperor.

Hukar Dezum Autai Dar Shur:
Only two depictions of the Holy Golden Seabird or Hukar Dezum Autai Dar Shur have ever existed. First, on the bottom of the flag of Shyr-Arrak which was later adopted to become the official flag of the Rathnirian Yimmu-Audal, and second, on an ancient magical totem-like artifact called Abaevver Hukar discovered by Brobren which is said to have been found, "in the Ruins of Imoldien", suggesting that the people there had once too worshiped the Holy Golden Seabird, although nothing besides this is known about Imoldien.

Sacred Locations:
The sacred locations for the faith of the Holy Golden Seabird include:

The Ziggurat of Hukar Dezum Autai Dar Shur at Shyr-Arrak, which was destroyed in the the Jagdasian Collapse on September 13th, 2020, and which featured in its top story, the sacred totem Abaevver Hukar retrieved from the ruins of Imoldien.

The Sacred Underground Pool which was an underground pond located beneath the Ziggurat of Hukar Dezum Autai Dar Shur in which tropical fish swam among a place to sacrifice items to The Holy Golden Seabird.

The Second Sacred Pool is a location at Urnu-Arrak which is an above ground waterfall in which items can be sacrificed to the Holy Golden Seabird. The head of the diety Enfys and 1 diamond were sacrificed during Halloween 2020, after which villagers appears in Urnu-Arrak, and this development was seen as a thanking from The Holy Golden Seabird.

Followers and Demographics:
Beyond the original "Priest of the Holy Golden Seabird" as the diety Stoney referred to StoryStudio when he visited the Ziggurat of Hukar Dezum Autai Dar Shur to see Abaevver Hukar behind glass, few players have ever been followers of the religion, and the knowledge regarding its details and existence remained esoteric within Yimmu-Audal itself, even during the Jagdasian era and even more so today.

The complete list of followers is not known, however:

The first Chief Diplomat of Yimmu-Audal, CRAZYCHAOSCALEB is believed to have been a follower.

Same goes for the player CosmicOrrery who was instrumental in constructing much of Shyr-Arrak.

Following the Kelpism religion by creativenamehere and Brobren, which overtook the Faith of the Holy Golden Seabird in popularity, StoryStudio chose to syncretize the faith with Kelpism. However, Brobren too syncretized Kelpism with the faith after Abaevver Hukar was discovered.

The player Vulaarzein, who was awarded the Imperial Fishmaster Medal of Yimmu-Audal during StoryStudio's corronation had made sacrifices in the Sacred Underground Pool to increase their fishing rates, and in this way could be interpreted as a follower as well.