Bekiskan Polytheism

Bekiskan Polytheism is an umbrella term for a collection of beliefs, rituals, and mythology associated with the ancient Bekiskapan. Though none live today who believe in the Bekiskan pantheon, elements of their faith continue to inform modern Edenian culture.

These practices were heavily influenced by the magical reappearance of seven species of extinct reptiles during the Earth-665 iteration of reality. Ask yourself this: if you, as an early modern human suddenly saw a triceratops emerge from a portal of bright, deeply saturated orange light, you’d probably worship her too, right?

The Pantheon

Each of the seven species the Bekiskapan interacted with was viewed as the god of one or more domains. These were as follows:

• Triceratops, goddess of guiding signs, safe returns, and the pull of home. Bekiskas believed it was a Triceratops which guided them to the river that would be their salvation—the river where they would learn how to make stone skin.
• Alamosaurus, god of the storm and of agriculture. This sauropod was the largest of the species the Bekiskas knew, and with its long neck it appeared to touch the sky. A common myth explained that the sound of thunder was the sound of an Alamosaurus which had gotten itself lost in the clouds.
• Dakotaraptor, god of war. The famous Bekiskan Triad military formation was based on observations of Dakotaraptor hunting behaviors.
• Ankylosaurus, god of the forge, craftsmanship, and invention. Its clubbed tail, the storytellers said, was the inspiration for the first hammer.
• Spinosaurus, god of the seas. Though the Bekiskapan only ever observed the species in lakes and ponds, they presumed the oceans were positively lousy with the things.
• Pteranodon, goddess of the skies and the hunt. Feared more than any of the other gods, it was the deity to whom the most sacrifices were made. If a priest did not appease the Pteranodon, it was likely the god would help itself to the people of said priest’s village.
• Tyrannosaurus, god of death. If you saw a T. rex and lived to tell of it, you were considered lucky. If a T. rex saw you and you lived to tell of it, you were considered something of a god yourself.

Evolution and Disappearance

These six dinosaurs and one pterosaur were fixtures in the lives of the Bekiskapan from pre-history until the end of their universe in 455 CE. And yet, as the Bekiskan empire of Meskera spread across the Afro-Eurasian landmass, the popularity of Bekiskan Polytheism waned. The Bekiskapan believed that a conquering nation had a sacred responsibility to adapt their own culture in order to assimilate and preserve the identities of the peoples they absorbed, and the absorption of the city states of the Balkan peninsula proved to be the death knell for the old faith.

The pantheon and mythology of the Greeks proved too popular amongst the peoples of Meskera to ignore. And so, eventually, the Bekiskapan syncretized their old gods with the gods of the Greeks. In the end, the only part of the old faith to survive was the ritual of cremation which had been inspired by one of the earliest Bekiskan myths.

Type

Religious, Pantheon

Divines

• Thida

Related Myths

• The One About the Dinosaurs’ Greatest Fear