Religion and Faith of the High Rock Reachmen

By Ehnafe al-Yparan, scholar of the No'Raqqi Sisterhood of Ra-Yoku'Iquizzi

The Reachmen worship many gods, and which specific gods are worshipped often varies between different Reachclans. The older Reachman clans in Skyrim often worship the so-called "Old Gods", animal-gods who are also worshiped by many Nords. But the Reachmen are well known for their worship of Daedra, specifically the more notorious Princes such as Molag Bal, Hircine and Malacath. But very little is actually known about the faith of the Reachmen. I have therefore spent months in the company of Reachmen, and spoken with them on matters of faith. I lived with the Winterborn and Dark Witness clans of northern High Rock, who I noticed do not at all worship the Old Gods, but instead have plenty of other gods who they devoutly follow. Here is a list of some of the gods which these clans considered to be worthy of worship.

HIRCINE

Both among the Winterborn and the Dark Witnesses Hircine was one of the most highly regarded dieties. Hircine is to them the Great Huntsman and the First Werebeast. After a hunt the Dark Witnesses offered one third of what they had managed to kill, and burned it before a shrine of Hircine. They shared this shrine with the Glenmoril Wyrd, which the Dark Witness shaman Othaccar explained that their clan was greatly displeased with. The Dark Witnesses seemed to consider the Wyesses to be weak and "false" followers of Hircine, having been sent by Hircine as a challenge to the Reachclans. The Winterborn also worship Hircine, and sacrifice the heart of every creature or enemy that they slay, aswell as the hearts of fallen clanmembers, to him. A Hagraven then, after a prayer, transforms these hearts into so-called "Briarhearts", which the Hagraven either uses to plant a "Briartree", or uses them in some for of necromantic ritual, which I was never allowed to witness.

MALACATH

Malacath is only seen as a god by the Winterborn, and the Dark Witnesses instead see him only as the false god of the "Pig-Children". While the Winterborn seem to have an as strong hatred towards the Orsimer, they seem to view Malacath in a similar way to how many Orcs do. The Winterborn celebrated concepts like the Grudge and Holy Vengeance as devoutly as the Orcs of Fharun Stronghold. Every Winterborn warrior made a prayer to Malacath before each time they went to battle, begging Malacath to fill them with grudgement. The Winterborn lacked a shrine to Malacath, but have apparently sworn to "reclaim" every Wrothgarian shrine to Malacath from the Orcs.

MOLAG BAL

Molag Bal is only actively worshiped by the Dark Witnesses, but the Winterborn acknowledge Molag Bal to be a god. The Dark Witnesses often rip out the eyes of opponents that they have captured, before these prisoners are sacrificed to Molag Bal. There are rumours that the Dark Witnesses cooperate with the Worm Cult in building Dolmens for Molag Bal's Dark Anchors, but shaman Othaccar denied this when I asked him. He did however say that Molag Bal had not been worshipped by his clan for very long, which I found to be intriguing.

MARA

Mara is a godess which I did not expect to find in the pantheon of the Dark Witnesses or Winterborn, but I found that she is worshipped by both these clans. She is like in many other religions considred to be the godess of love, and many of the Reachmen that I met had small shrines to Mara in their own homes. When a new child is born within one of the clans the child is painted with clan symbols during a ritual where all the clanmembers sing and dance in honour of Mara. The child is then given to a Hagraven, which blesses the child before returning it to its mother. This ritual is called "Dgurakh Maranvyachar". I was sadly never able to witness it myself, but a Winterborn woman named Utanecha told me about it. Her description of the ritual almost made me want to become a clanmember myself, but that is irrelevant.

KYNATH

Apparently the godess of fire and the skies. I never saw her actively worshiped by any of the clans, but shaman Othaccar told me that the is the dauhter of Hircine, and the one who shaped Nirn with the help of lesser sprits. Both the Winterborn and Dark Witnesses seemed to see her as a very important godess. Further research on this godess is sorely needed.

These are all the major gods worshipped by the Dark Witness and Winterborn clans of northern High Rock. These clans worshiped many lesser gods aswell, amongst them many of the Daedra (Namira being a notable example), aswell as gods which seemed quite unsimilar to gods worshipped by other Tamrielic cultures. The role of the Hagravens in Reachman society was not made as clear to me as I hoped during my time amongst the Reachmen, but from what I saw and heard they seemed to mainly be religious leaders, along with the shamans. The Hagravens seemed to be almost worshipped as demigods by the Reachmen, even by the clan chieftians. I may need to return to the clans to do further research on this matter. But right now I'm quite happy to be back in my study, away from the Wrothgarian cold.