what was her prayer?

hornsent warriors but make them ASSYRIAN

Assyrian art reference photos:

miami > missed connections

Balawat Gates

the names “Balawat” and “Belurat” are so similar, I’m convinced there’s no way it’s a coincidence! but in addition to the similar names, the gates are adorned with bronze bands detailing scenes of military campaigns that are pretty visually similar to the metal gates of hornsent settlements:

Bird and Lion-headed warriors

These figures were taken from King Ashurnasirpal II’s palace at Nimrud and King Ashurbanipal’s palace at Nineveh. They’re regarded as supernatural spirits who would protect and purify the palace, preventing evil forces from entering.

This is essentially the same role that the Divine Beast and Bird warriors had — they’re sacred animal-headed warriors who ritually channel divine power in order to defend Enir-Ilim from outsiders.

Sacred Tree

The guardian spirits of Assyrian palaces are often depicted alongside a “tree of life” motif. The idea of a sacred spiraled tree is pretty important to hornsent culture as well, and features on stone tablets around Belurat.

Lion Hunt

These reliefs are from King Ashurbanipal’s palace at Nineveh and depict the royal lion hunt, understood as a ritual act that represented the king’s role as a protector, vanquishing forces of danger.

Divine beast heads appear to be actual lion heads that have been turned into theatrical costume heads for the ritual lion dance… I wouldn’t be surprised if there was a similar hornsent tradition of ritually hunting lions to use for the lion dance and to commune with the divine beasts of the heavens. In any case, the importance of the lion in Assyrian culture seems like a pretty likely influence on the hornsent’s culture!