>This tells me a lot about foreign agents in Teshnos. But what about
>the locals? 'The Middle Sea Empire' doesn't say much about them.
>According to 'Genertela Crucible of the Hero Wars', they seem to
>worship Solar deities.
The basis of Teshnan philosophy is the life-flame. This resides in every person and is analogous to a soul or spirit. However when a Teshnan dies, his life-flame is taken from the corpse and emplaced in the body of a child. Hence the Teshnans _practice_ reincarnation (or technically transmigration) as opposed to merely saying that it happens.
Teshnan society is supposedly a hierarchy of wealth with the nobles on top and the peasants at the bottom. What it actually is is a hierarchy of age with those with the oldest life flames ruling everybody else.
The Teshnans improve their life-flames according to the Teachings of Chal, which has three lessons. Although these lessons are simple, they take many lifetimes to perfect and your position in Teshnan society is based on how well you have absorbed the life-flame. The ultimate aim of these lessons is to unify the life-flame with the eternal flame and which point the need for reincarnation disappears.
Thus far the basis of Teshnans. I've toyed around with variations, such as the Melib having a similar philosophy based on water and the Trowjangi based on blood. As for the basic five gods, the outlying areas practice heterodox interpretations, such as some Hsunchen worshipping the Wildfire instead of Calyz or the Destroying Fire being interpreted in various places as Tolat, Atyar or Sekever.
--Peter Metcalfe
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