A BRIEF NOTE UPON THE DUALIST NATURE OF THE PERFIDIAN PANTHEON

“We should now turn our attention briefly to the Gods of the recently discovered Perfidian civilisation, even if we do not, as yet, have a full picture of this society’s belief system.

“The basic structure of the Perfidian pantheon is fairly typical of an ancient civilisation, in that there is a superior godhead figure, with an array of lesser gods beneath. This could be compared with the Graeco-Roman structure, with Zeus/Jupiter at the peak, or with the Nordic pattern with Odin/Wotan in that position.

It should be noted, however, that the Perfidian hierarchy is a very flat one - the Father of the Gods presides over an array of other deities who are all very much equal amongst themselves, and the Father/Philosopher is something of a primus inter pares figure, rather like the British Prime Minister, for example.

“The Philosopher Father is conventionally depicted (in the Perfidian, but not the Fidelian, tradition) as an older man, seated in an armchair, surrounded on one side by a large bookcase, and on the other by copious wine racks. These represent his dual attributes as the source of wisdom and knowledge, combined with an almost Dionysian level of inspiration and ability to rise above the everyday quotidian round of earthly affairs. 

He is held to have special powers of making wine and causing vines to grow. He can also transform himself into animals such as a bear. One of his special powers was the ability to drive mortals insane. Traditionally he appoints the Gorak of Perfidia.

Many of the lesser gods are arranged in opposing pairs. Thus we have the God of the Sun and the Day, opposed to the Goddess of the Moon and the Night. The God of Fine Weather and the God of Foul Weather are another such pair. The Goddess of Flowers and the Goddess of Herbs make a particularly charming pairing. Another would be the God of Vegetables (except cabbages), and the God of Cabbages and Brussels Sprouts.

It is important to realise that these gods oppose each other, but are in balance, not in conflict. There is, in the Perfidian belief system, a power called the Way that encompasses everything, and the two sides of this power should always balance over the medium term.  The dual nature of the Philosopher Father of course feeds into this concept, and the balance that he maintains within himself embodies the ideal approach to life.

The twin Gods of, respectively, Large Fish (including Whales) and Small Fish (including octopi) are an interesting case of this dual imagining. Some Perfidians would not eat large fish, on the grounds that they are predators, whilst others would not eat small fish, on the grounds that they are victims. All Perfidians, however, would eat shellfish, which appear to have been regarded as a delicacy.

At the present level of knowledge regarding the whole Perfidian culture, it remains uncertain whether people believed in the pantheon as actually existing, or merely as a symbolic representation of natural forces and urges. Perhaps it was analogous to the present-day practice of newspapers printing horoscopes, which nobody takes very seriously. There are, perhaps, parallels with other societies, such as modern Japan, where Shinto rubs shoulders with Zen. In any event, do we honestly think that an intellectual like Plato or the great Stoic Marcus Aurelius actually believed in Jupiter and the other Olympian Gods?

The dual system of belief in Gods and Goddesses alongside the philosophy of the Way probably comes from a period of differing focuses of belief between Danfelgor, the home of Kentumirto, and other areas, particularly Estasea and the Sara lands. Danfelgor probably accepted Kentumirto's teachings a long time before the other areas, which clung to the old beliefs.

The Song of Sarawaq the Magnificent barely mentions the traditional pantheon, even though, at the time it depicts, the Sara would have believed in the Gods and Goddesses . Only the Sara shaman of the Tree refers to the old religion, invoking the Storm Father, the Sara name for the God of Foul Weather. The failure of the Song to mention the old order is explained by the fact that the Song was probably written in Danfelgor for the Court of the Gorak. The shaman's invocation is retained as a nod to the historical reality, as a Sara shaman at the time depicted in the Song would hardly have had an understanding of Kentumirto's teachings. A further reference to the historical situation is Valubani's relative ignorance of the philosophy of the Way, and his desire to learn more from Mirana.

“We must now turn our attention to the River Gods of Ancient Sumer…”

Taken from “Belief Systems in the Ancient World” (“Glaubenssysteme in der Antike“) by Frau Professor Doktor Renate Schoenbein, published by the University of  Aarbergen-Panrod,