The physical world that we see is not all that there is. All around us, there are non-physical things, and non-physical aspects to the physical objects we see. And there are degrees of non-physicality, with some things so ethereal that even other non-physical objects do not interact with them. This hidden reality is known as tehnehs (linguistically related to tahs, "sacred/hidden path", and ahno, "place").
Tehnehs is a layer over physical reality, with its own rules. In Earth mythology, it is similar to the Celtic summerlands, Shinto spirit world, Australian dreamtime and so on.
Although we can not see tehnehs under normal conditions, we can impact it and vice versa. Changing the physical landscape also changes the tehnehs landscape, and entities in the tehnehs (known as shro) can affect physical entities (for example, making a person ill, or sweetening the water of a spring). Some shro can also manifest forms in the physical realm and have a more serious impact.
As humanity imposes its will on the physical environment, they usually destroy the habitat of the shro dwelling there, which results in a considerable depopulation of the shro in that region. While a few shro have adapted to this, there is insufficient resources to support very many. As a result, the tehnehs environment becomes more poor, and the amount of "magical activity" lessens.
In the deepest wilderness, on the other hand, the tehnehs is brimming over with shro in a rich environment, and the tehnehs is strong enough to often be visible (and have occasional physical effects) in the physical environment.
Shro is a *very* broad term for spirits, wild creatures, the wilderness itself, and powerful local gods. The people of Dihrtemit have a fairly antagonistic relationship with shro - the people need farmland, and the shro need virgin wilderness. However, they do recognize that some shro are "good", such as the hearth-spirit of a family's House, the Dihrtemit itself (the great stone at the center of the region is also a shro), and the "tame shro" that resides in each domesticated animal of the home.
When the body dies, the tokehn (tehnehs self, or spirit) of the person enters the very deep tehnehs, where it joins with its ancestors. The ancestral realm is built and strengthened by the worship and faith of the descendants, and so it is up to each generation to provide that. The body itself is burned, and the remaining bones interred within the earth, so that the tokehn is not bound to the shallow tehnehs by its fondness for life. These ancestors remember their descendants as well, and sometimes assist in important matters for the truly faithful. While it may be tempting to ask if tokehn and shro are the same thing, they are vastly different within this belief system.
This story is told, with some slight variations, throughout most of the bowl region.
Long ago, the world was young and wild. Wilderness covered everything as far as they eye could see, and shro were everywhere. It was a chaotic, violent world then, with life and death practically a daily cycle. There were wise shro even then, however, and some of them saw that the constant creation and destruction was unstable, and within the scope of their brief lives, hatched a plan which became manifest even as they thought of it, things were so chaotic then.
From this thought were birthed the giants, who were born and grew tremendously in violent spurts of organic shaping. The idea was this: that there should be those who are too big to kill quickly, to slow down the life cycle by their presence. And so the giants did.
As the giants lived, new things came into existence around them to fit into their new, longer life cycle. Traditions and the concept of death by old age were important ones, and permanent places and paths were another.
As the world slowed down, and things of permanence came into being, the world grew cooler as well, and many giants began dying of cold. They were too large to survive the winter of the world, when food was scarce. As the cold continued, giants began to be born smaller and smaller, until eventually they became our ancestors, living more by wits than by strength.
One particularly clever ancestor had watched the ants, among the tiniest creatures of all, and noticed that they rebuilt a small area to accomodate themselves, and harvested the plants of the region. From this seed came the idea of homes and farming.
Rather than worship local gods, powerful shro and similar entities, the people of Dihrtemit generally worship their ancestors. This is both to continue to provide a pleasant afterlife and for the assistance of the ancestors in hard times. Ancestor worship is fairly simple and personal, and telling stories of the ancestors is the most common outward form of worship. Some families also build a small shrine within their House, for small agricultural ceremonies or sacrifices during the year. At the same time, ancestors are a common part of daily life for most people - they call upon them in times of stress, remark on how similar a living descendant is, bless their babies in the name of one or two ancestors, and so on. Truly ancient ancestors are somewhat forgotten, but are still supported by the more recent ancestors. True evil is punished by having their name forgotten by the next generation, so that while their deeds will be remembered as an example of evil, there will be no memory to support them in the afterlife.
There is not a formalized structure for interacting with the sacred. People fight shro in the physical world, largely unaware of how or why things function in the tehnehs. They worship and pray to ancestors on a personal level (and indeed, the idea of supporting the lifestyle of a person in the community to do your worshipping for you might be abhorrent), and deal with tame shro with a body of simple folklore. Shro gods are defeated by heroes of great personal strength and will, who are supported by their ancestors and the community, not the invocations of a holy person.
Heroes and important people are seen during their life as "strong ancestor material", people who will be well-remembered and powerful in the afterlife. All babies must be blessed by someone who will watch over the child during the child's life, and the more heroic and important people are often asked for this favor, in the hopes that they will provide some ancestral guidance as well (even if they are not actually a member of that family). Heroes are also seen as somewhat larger than life. The ancestors guide them (even if subtly), and they can achieve things mere mortals can not.
Midwinter is celebrated with a modest feast, winter meads and close family parties, and occasionally snowball fights and athletic games in the snow. Fifteen days after Midwinter, Dihrden ("stone day") is celebrated; originally, this was a celebration of defeating the northern aggressors, but with annexation by Morranaval shifted in recent generations to celebrating the founding of Dihrtemit.
Midsummer is celebrated with the whole local community, with dancing late into the night, feasting, flowing beer and snuggling couples. The first day of Summer is also celebrated (more modestly) with hard beers in the field after planting and "girl dancing" in the House after cleaning.
Most families also have days of remembrance for particularly special ancestors; those who founded a House, defeated a shro god, saved the family in times of hardship, and so on. Most families have 4-8 of these in a year, and they are typically celebrated with a modest feast, words of wisdom from the House matriarch, and the telling of stories.
Finally, certain ages are special days. A child is blessed at birth by a respected person who will watch over the child in life; this is more a passing of life energy than any strict personal requirements, and an agreement to watch over the child from the afterlife as well. At birth, an ancestor or two is also asked to bless the child, with much the same meaning.
A person's sixth Winter is also celebrated as passing into youth; from this point, the youth takes on some chore responsibilities (although most are helping with chores earlier than that). A person's fifteenth Winter is celebrated as passing into adulthood; from this point, the adult has full responsibilities and rights.
Marriage is, in many ways, a business and familial contract (which is usually intended for children as well). It is celebrated with a feast, dancing, and small familial traditions (ranging from "get the guy drunk before the wedding" to "spread flower chains around the House").
Occasionally, rare individuals have a strong bond to the natural world and shro. Most stories of these people end in tragedy, and children are encouraged not to pursue any natural inclinations for the wilderness. Some few have retained their community roots, however, and become powerful forces against the shro gods who would destroy their people (tahkshuhr, "weapon/bane to shro").
Hu is a word meaning "special things". It refers to anything mysterious or awe-inspiring, but is more specifically used to refer to those *acts* which are magical. Shro are not hu, but they perform acts which are hu. Medicine (the use of special properties of mysterious plants) is also hu, as are eclipses. Tahkshuhr (rare individuals with a strong bond to the natural world) can often perform acts which are hu.
Wihstehn: Those who speak with and control shro are called wihstehn by the desert nomads. There is no equivalent among the Dihrtemit people - the very idea is simply too dangerous.
Strengthened Aura: In the east, this is called "faito". People have a tehnehs aura which interacts with and is affected by the tehnehs and its entities, but this is usually so weak that it does not carry any real significance. With practice, however, the tehnehs self, the tokehn, can be strengthened to greater power. The techniques for this were imported from the east, and are rarely found in the southerner regions. These people can strike without touching and induce sickness, sleep and death in others by messing with their tehnehs aura.
Binding: There is no word for what the old man does. Some of what he does is wihstehn and other things, but he has also created a weapon of his own tehnehs aura which can be used to literally bind down a shro into permanent servitude, and has developed his own tehnehs abilities to mimic those of the shro. He is, in some senses, a shro in human flesh.
Ahrjahr: Ahrjahr is a rare soul, someone driven to magic by an intense craving for power and security that he himself owns completely, rather than that afforded by having friends and a strong community. This drive has pushed him to sacrificing much of himself and his relationships in the pursuit of any form of personal power, and he has found it in the various, fascinating forms of hu. Ahrjahr has pursued and studied magic under many teachers, and brought them together into his own methodology.
The Old Man: A kindred soul to Arhjahr, but much older and even less sociable, the old man no longer even has a name, for he feels no need for such things. The old man has an incredibly powerful tehnehs aura, and has made a life's study of shro and their abilities. He mimics the things they do, and binds them into tehnehs "egg shells" to do his bidding when they can do something better than he can by himself. He is a vicious, amoral old bastard to whom the lives of people are as useless as those of shro. He respects a few things: the desire to learn regardless of the cost, strong will and the ability to get things done. Everything else is "Pah!".