A Volume for Vakiadia, Religions: Surventelism

The Surventelist faith is a relatively small, homogeneous religion centered in the Ankyandya Bay region. Historically non-evangelist and reluctant to accepting foreign converts, Surventelism is the predominant religion of the Ya'and population of Indigenous Vakiadians, who lived in the Ankyandya Sectors for millennia as relatively undisturbed village tribes before being encountered by Vakiadian explorers in the late 1500s. When Ankyandya was settled by Vakiadian frontiersmen, the local Indigenous kept to themselves as much as possible, before being annexed under the Treaty of Esteri in 1629. Under the terms of this treaty, the Ya'and were allowed to live undisturbed provided they recognize Vakiadian suzerain over them, and agree to adopt modern, 'civilized' ways of life within their territories. While reluctant, the treaty was accepted by the Indigenous, who in primary accounts state that it was seen as a necessary cost for the survival of their heritage.

Theologically speaking, Surventelism is a deep and complex faith, much of which has only recently been the subject of study by Vakiadian scholarly interests. The Ya'and people and the teachers of their faith have been more willing to share their faith's religious texts with outsiders since Indigenous cultural protections were granted under the Imperial government in 1970, and now the basic tenets of Surventelism are accessible to all interested parties. The faith's priests have been especially keen to digitize their texts, as the advent of the Internet was met with great excitement from the Surventelist community.

Surventelism, according to its own tradition, was founded at the beginning of time, when the people of the Ya'and tribes were formed out of the earth by the god Ven. The earth, shortly before, had been created from the void by the god Sur, who then began a long period of slumber that continues to this day. Ven and their sibling Tel, children of Sur, ruled the earth and the Ya'and jointly, before Tel created all the other tribes of humanity across the world, to prove their equality to Ven. The greatest wish of the Surventelist faith is the reconciliation of the sibling gods, who took on more and more opposing elements since their falling out. Chief among these being the juxtaposition of light (Ven) and dark (Tel). It is believed that peace throughout the world will encourage the gods to embrace each other once again.

Historically speaking, the earliest evidence for Surventelism as a faith dates to around 6000 BCE. Archaeological evidence of the proto-Ya'and peoples in the Ankyandya Bay region, in the form of cave paintings and frozen remains in the mountains on the border with Southern Astreyava, has been carbon dated to approximately that timeframe. Triangular motifs with wings, appearing to represent the sacred family of Sur-Ven-Tel, appear in these paintings and on a frozen mummified body in the form of a tattoo on the torso. Based on the compelling evidence of the similarity between modern day Surventelist theological symbolism and these ancient relics, Surventelism has a strong claim to being the oldest religion in Xiliki.

Written records relating to the faith are among the oldest in Xiliki as well, with some dating to 2100 BCE. Although the Ya'and people have remained in the same general area of the Ankyandya Bay for millennia, their language has developed over time, and the text on these ancient clay tablets bear little resemblance to the tongue spoken in the modern day. Despite this, translations have come about in recent years (2004-2008) due to collaboration between Surventelist scholars and Imperial historians. Through this, it was confirmed that the tablets contain the oldest known copy of the Book of Sur, detailing their creation myth and cosmology. Thus, if not to prehistoric times, Surventelism can at least be confidently dated to the third millennium BCE.

The cosmology of Surventelism is rich, describing a cosmic war between the bickering sibling gods, neither able to defeat the other. Ven resides in the jyu-va, the Illuminated World, where they lead their Soldiers of Light, bat-jyu'na into battle against the vat-nis'na, Warriors of Darkness, which are created by Tel from the essence of the Shadowed World, or nis-va. Both of these cosmic realms are believed to exist 'above' our plane, in a form not meant to be understood spatially. Thus, the constant battles causes those 'fallen' armies to descend to our realm and be reincarnated either as Ya'and or as members of another ethnic group, depending on which of the gods they were created by and fought for. When people die, their souls arise to join the war again.

It is important to remember, and the Surventelist faithful themselves remind any interested party who inquires on the subject, that Tel is not an evil god. Although they embody things seen as negative in other religions, like darkness, chaos, and deceit, these elements are understood to be necessary to the world, in moderation. Ven, on the other hand, embodies light, order, and truth, and while other faiths would worship Ven alone and consign Tel to the role of devil-figure, Surventelism worships both equally, along with their parent Sur, who is believed to be sleeping 'beneath' the metaphysical realms mentioned above, oblivious to their children's fighting.

Additionally, all of the gods are genderless, and traditional masculinity and femininity are ascribed to both Ven and Tel. The gods are believed to be cosmically beyond human conceptions of gender and sex, and these aforementioned ascriptions are only meant to make the gods more relatable to Ya'and children discovering their own gender identities. It is believed the gods care about their creations and that human souls are treated well by them while fighting their war in the heavenly realms, which is why the religion puts focus on returning this love from an early age.

Rank	Sector	Adherents	Percentage of Total Surventelist Population
1	East Ankyandya	3,671,705	46.37%
2	West Ankyandya	2,781,621	35.13%
3	Southern Astreyava	638,985	8.07%
4	Adiakav	512,270	6.47%
5	Illani	204,886	2.59%
6	Kanstreyava	79,614	1.01%
7	Derensti	23,980	0.30%
8	Stravanik Islands	1,990	0.03%

As can be seen in the above graph, Surventelism is strongest in its homeland of the Ankyandya Bay region, extending north and east from there into the Southern Astreyava and Kanstreyava Sectors respectively. Major communities also exist in the dense urban centers of Adiakav and Illani. Derensti and the Stravanik Islands Sectors also include some small communities, as a result of Populist government resettlement campaigns to those sparsely populated regions.

Historically, the Ya'and have refrained from proselytizing their faith, even among the other tribes of the Ankyandya Bay region. The culture has been relatively isolationist, and with Ankyandya's mountainous geography to the north, it was easy for the Ya'and to remain undisturbed by more expansionist powers in the region, until the arrival of Vakiadian explorers. Today, many Ya'and Surventelists now occupy prominent positions at every level of Ankyandya's government and society. The city of Ankyandya, specially administered by the Sectors of both East and West Ankyandya, was founded in 1628 near Ya'and land, and has since grown into one of the three largest cities in the country.

Surventelists today occupy every stretch of life in Vakiadia. The modern history of the religion and the Ya'and people is inexorably linked to the history of Vakiadian expansion into southern Xiliki, and especially with the history of the city of Ankyandya. After some decades of mistreatment and discontent, the Populist government in 1749 began a reorganization of society to elevate Sulvakya and Indigenous quality of life and involvement in the sociopolitical process, a move that is today regarded as their greatest achievement. For the Ya'and, this involved an expansion of city boundaries of Ankyandya, the dominant frontier city in the region, across Ankyandya Bay, to integrate the High Vakiadian and Indigenous population centers into one city in the region. This, coupled with changes in educational systems and government structure, effectively integrated the Ya'and people into Vakiadian life.

As a result of this, today Ya'and, and by extension, Surventelists, make up a large portion of not only the city and Sectors of Ankyandya but also its government and social functions. The faith has remained non-evangelist throughout its history with High Vakiadian people, although non-Ya'and who wish to convert are accepted today. It is not an easy process to convert, as in addition to having attended ritual functions for over one year one must also have the approval of a local Surventelist priest, who must vouch not only for the convert's conviction but also for their personal morality. 92.1% of Surventelists today are Ya'and Indigenous, while 7.1% are Sulvakya originating from Ya'and. The remaining 0.8% are High Vakiadian converts.