#zurda

Ubisi is deadly bored most of the time, so she's always hungry for things that either spark her interest (elaborate dancing rituals in the temples, anyone?) or give her power (like extreme emotions of pain, desire, anger, love, joy or sadness). As she is not an all-powerful goddess, she is the mistress of trade. Offer her something, get something she thinks is of equal value. She also needs people to actually believe in her, not just practice the rituals to exhibit any power at all. Transfering between this realm and her home also consumes a lot of power for her, so she needs something to make it easier. such as a zurda, a mirror with frames put on fire / drenched in milk / blood, or a person that has been Traced, using the Trace as a portal (this leaves the poor human "pistachio'd" as my co-players called it - there's only a burnt, dry shell left behind, with a crach where the Trace used to be. She used that technique 3 times in the past 50 years, killing 2 High Priestesses and 1 believer).

She barely ever kills her believers, but enjoys inflicting pain to her favourite ones when she is jealous, needs energy or their behavior is unsatisfactory. Apart from being able to hurt some through their Trace, she is also knowns to sporadically send Red Sickness, which results with dizziness, fever, rapidly developing patches of red skin and at final stage scarring and weird spores emerging from them, effectively killing the person. If the person manages to repent and fix their behavior in time, they are usually spared, she does it purely for the show.

She also enjoys having a good opponent, so if someone wants to outsmart her (like Setia), beat her up (like Sydney) or just obliterate her (like Life that one time) - she will gladly pick up the gauntlet and diss the oponent with irony and sarcasm to rub in their lack of chances. This is always where it is interesting for her, and she also adores infusing the Vermillion soldiers with bravery and strength to see a show. The only being she really lost to so far is Life, who herself is a much more powerful goddess, and absolutely tossed her around by the head like a ragdoll. Which earned Life a top respected and admired position in Ubisi's soul and heart.

After queen Marehtua sacrificed her uterus to the Goddess, she came up with tens of uses for it, and finally created a demi-god boy later called Eodum. After she deemed the experiment of creating life successful, she completely lost interest in him, so although he survived he really has social issues.

Some rules in her cult:

Only women can be priestesses and acolytes in her Temples. The High Priestess is the top position, mostly for life, picked by the priestesses among themselves. Current one is Agat. Her predecessor, Miko, served as a portal through the Trace on her face (ouch).

Most of the rituals involve symbols like zurdas, milk, blood, fire. Apart from Cleansing which can be performed one-on-one like a catholic confession or purification in shinto, most of them involve groups, moving in theatrical, sometimes bordering erotic manner.

Believers of Ubisi usually have their personal zurda, which is decorative oval stand, with a red-and-white stone on top. The stone is supposed to be the symbol of triumphant womanhood with the two life-giving liquids: milk and blood (also the menstrual blood), and the oval stand upon which it rests - the cycle of nature, including ovulation, day and night, seasons, life and death. Some anthropologists and tourists claim it really is a simplified shape of a vagina, but both priestesses and Ubisi deny this. Zurda should be displayed at one's window (like Menoras are in winter by the Jewish community) and taken to the temples. If you go abroad, it should also be packed, to remind you about your link to your community at home. Sometimes it is buried in the ground, with the stone protruding above, to perform certain prayers and rituals.

Males are deemed worse forms of being both in Vermillion as such, and in the cult, hence out of the whole population of slaves/servants (who are est. to be 5-7% in Vermillion), around 90% is male.

Sex is strongly advised in this religion, provided it is consensual and safe. Marriages, however, are monogamic and living in bigger groups is frowned upon. Ubisi doesn't care for the genders of people involved, and if they want to open their relationship, it's fine even in wedlock, but only in bed, not in everyday life.

Ubisi never stated this explicitely, but she doesn't care about type of addiction. Alcohol, cigarettes and drugs are permitted, but banned by law for people under the age of 16 in Vermillion, with the total ban on synthetic drugs for everyone.

Ubisi likes things like hot baths, and esthetically pleasing items. Her temples are often surrounded by well-kept gardens and have stained class domes or fragments of the ceiling.

The education on her is provided at first by parents and then in discussion groups with the local acolytes and priestesses at the temple grounds. They take form of room-wide debates where teens can add any challenging question about the doctrine. As all topics are treates seriously, and teens are treated as partners in this discussion, most young people enjoy those meetings and form many friendships there or organize additional activities after, like watching films, practicing sports, doing artistic stuff, or just playing online games together.