Jalal Al-e-Ahmad wrote:This seems like the most appropriate place to ramble about my plans for Beiteynu, the religion of Yuedism, and all that jazz. It'll help organize and redirect my frequently flaky mind and thoughts and allow other players to pull from, add to, or totally disagree with whatever ideas I should hammer into the culture of the country and religion.
First, let me say as an old(ish) player returning, the Wiki is pretty solid. The entry for Beiteynu and Yeudism is well written and fluid and just all together good stuff. Beiteynu is an impoverished Israel analog. Yeudism is Judaism. Culture and language and such all seem to follow similar parallels, which is good. But I want to write the details, the common Yeudi passages and sayings and cultural mores and yadda yadda yadda. Whatsmore, Beiteynu should be a little more in shambles than the Israel it's based off - I can't find any Beiteynu history where it was a glorified aircraft carrier for wealthy Squibbelian countries, or a dominated treasure of a huge Majatran Empire. Also, are we to assume, like Israel, Beiteynu is the host of the three most Holy sites in Hosianism, Ahmadism (love that name, btw), and Yeudism? Cause that'd make for some RP things that would be sure fun.
And so, yeah, I'm gonna be getting into that. Also bringing back the Felinists, who disappeared in my absence but are too damn weird and seemingly unnecessary and therefore must exist. The Felinist Pharaoh will play a big part in early Yeudi folklore and myth. And I'd like to reintroduce the Manoush, those turnip gypsies that were in Dolgava last I heard.
So, for now I'm going to be playing around with Labor-Zionism and Yeudi history and culture. Also, this big world war thing Polites and Kubrick are planning with others (?), I plan to drag the newly Yeudi-dominated sand wasteland into that whole mess as well. Cause religion.
Sounds awesome, and I am more than willing to help. Looking at the wiki, I agree that Beiteynu's history is relatively well written; in order to place it in context, I suggest you also check this page (been meaning to update those missing two centuries, will do so at some point). Beiteynu does seem to have been a glorified aircraft carrier and treasure for the Luthori Empire, which ruled Beiteynu, wholly or in part, between c. 2693 and around 3000, and before that Beiteynu was divided between Barmenia, Darnussia, and Pontesi, and before it was for another few centuries ruled by Pontesi.
As for an equivalent of the Biblical Pharaoh, I think the best option is some Cildanian king; Yeudism was born in Cildania in c. 500 BCE and moved to Beiteynu in an Exodus. Felinism hasn't disappeared btw, it was transplanted to Selucia (see here), and now I think there are even more Felinists than there were before the Crisis, considering all Selucian Pagans now worship cats, in addition to Felinists proper.
In what concerns holy places, we were thinking of establishing the Church of the Occultation (the PT equivalent of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre) as having been built on the same spot as the old Yeudish Temple, causing the same tensions and apocalypticness as the current location of the Dome of the Rock. The holies place in Ahmadism on the other hand (which actually uses the Dome of the Rock as its image) is in Kafuristan.