Editing Spolitism for Bogmoth (section)

==Religion==
Spolitism is an animist and theist religion found in that focuses on the underworld and the propitiation of often hostile spirits.  While Spolitism has some similarities to the Jernotian Way, there is a greater role for shamanic practices, as well as the cults of Vogestes the Spearman, Derdromus the Hungry One, Natha the Balancer, and Gerra the Moon of Sorrow.  Spolitism also speaks less of a unified group of “High Gods” who rule from the mountain top.

Human sacrifice has a constantly changing role in Pelanda before The Dawn.  It was promoted by YarGan, banned by Gartimirus and Idomon, defended by Natha, and relied upon during the Bleak Times (Greater Darkness).  Lenshi then banned it again in the Gray Age just before the Dawn.  One of the core beliefs of Spolitism is that the Old Gods do, in fact, demand human blood, and it therefore supports Natha and rejects Idomon, Jernotia, and Gartemirus on a key issue of workship.  

The Spolites deny the the Bleak Times every truly ended.  We still live in a world defined by death and suffering and confusion, even if it now happens under the sun half the time.  The Spolites learned to negotiate and appease dark powers and forces other people attacked or escaped.  As a result, their crops grew, they remembered oral histories that differed from those found in the great cities of the Upper Oronin, and they were able to remain in their homeland.

Spolitism is based on a reading of the Velortinian Principles where if a people accepts that a god helps the people, then the people must accept the god’s price for help.  If gods require human blood – and the Spolites believe many of them do – then one must give them blood as long as the Gods maintain the covenant.  For the Spolite, true mystical union will involve an integration of the living world and the underworld.  This eschatological moment is called DerMaElsor, or “The Return to the Mother Greater than Self.”  Everyone and everything dies, including the world, which is the fullest moment of this return.  Separation before union (life before death), however, has become useful and important as it creates an opportunity to reflect and understand that is not possible if everything merely stayed unified.

Additionally, many (but not all) of the sacrificial acts involve willing participants.  Indeed, the magic is infinitely more powerful this way, and Spolites are quick to point out that murder was only created because the Old Gods were denied their blood.  Spolite myths of the Red King and Gerra’s dismemberment highlight the importance of the holy victim choosing what occurs.