Yasin, The Lord of Hunts, The Elder God of Swamps, Hunters, Fall, Freedom, and Vengeance.
Yasin’s worship is mostly found in the region of Richtcrag known as Marais-Enceinte, the vast swamp region. Yasin answered the prayers of those in this harsh land by helping them find game and food to survive in this harsh environment. Eventually their portfolio began to cover freedom, as those who settled there wished to not be under a feudal rule.
However, their powers grew once more upon the death of their youngest brother, Grollen, the young god of the forest. Thus, Yasin took a vow to continuously hunt down Vardel until the trickster god is dead and his head upon a spike. (Story below, under Grollen.)
Yasin’s worshipers are primarily farmers, fishermen, and hunters who are only seeking food to survive or for a worthy quarry to hunt. However, they also receive prayers of those seeking vengeance against those who have wronged them. Due to this, they are often a deity turned to by those who wish justice served to those beyond their grasp.
Yasin is an active deity when it comes to their followers, helping guide their arrows true and guiding them towards fertile lands, rich fishing holes, and food in the wilds. However, when it comes to vengeance, Yasin’s influence is often seen in some form of unfortunate accident, a reversal of fortunes, or some other act that will bring down the target of prayers that reach him.
The Lord of Hunts is usually depicted as a middle-aged human with long brown hair escaping from a dark green hood and black scarf, leaving only bright gray eyes to be seen. They wear a green tunic, black trousers, and leather boots, and are covered in small trophies of hunts, knives, and runes. In one hand they carry a large oaken bow and in the other, a long slender arrow with three feather fletchings of different colors: brown, black, and red. Always next to them is a green heron, and herons are said to be their heralds of areas of abundant fish and game.
Yasin is usually worshiped at shrines found along roadsides or in homes at private altars.
Worship of Yasin
Yasin’s worshipers traditionally pray at dawn, praying for sustenance and luck on the hunts they will take on that day. The prayers of vengeance are often accompanied by a sacrifice of some sort — usually of the feathers of a predatory bird.
For meditation, a person only needs to meditate for thirty minutes with their tool of hunting or a trophy from a past hunt in order to have a proper connection with Yasin.
Rituals of Yasin
•Grand Hunt: Once a year, a worshiper of Yasin must partake in one ritualistic hunt. To perform this hunt, the worshiper must fast for two whole days, drinking only water or wine. After this period, the hunter is to eat a stew made from specific moss, mushrooms, fish, and edible root tubers.
Once they have eaten, the hunt begins, and the hunter must now go forth into the wild with whatever gear they have and hunt whatever prey Yasin leads them towards. They are to use any means necessary to slay their quarry, and once slain, the hunter is to eat the heart to gain its strength. They are then to pray one last time to Yasin, and the ritual is finished.
• Rite of Vengeance: This is one of the darkest rituals known within Richtcrag and isn’t invoked lightly. This ritual normally only takes place when an extremely dire wrong has been done to oneself, family, or community. The worshiper makes a large fire, making sure it is twice their own height.
Once the fire is the proper height, they are to roast a green heron with specific herbs and spices. During the cooking, the worshiper is to take the entrails and viscera of the heron and grind it into a paste. They then paint ancient runes upon themselves in this paste. Upon doing this they are to ingest a very specific wine spiced with a powerful reagent, and then the eat the heron.
By doing this, the worshiper engages in an act of blasphemy that can only be redeemed by slaying the one or group that they have vowed to kill. They are then spiritually and culturally bound to this oath and must complete it before being able to move on with their life. Some of these oaths last years, while some only last a few months as the hunter tracks the person or group that has wronged them.
Any clerics who perform this ritual have their divine gifts stripped from them until they have killed those they have sworn to kill.