Yikes. Note to self, do not write anything anywhere when it's 4AM. I ain't even gonna try to salvage that mess of a post.
@Double Capybara
Meh. I believe shamanism was first mentioned by myself in the djinni CS, and that it's been established through even characters like Susa. Note that previously it would have been very limited in scope and self-taught, whereas what Ventus gave to the Rukbans and Y'Qar is much more powerful. If someone is genuinely curious and I end up with a bit more time than I have at present, then I can elaborate on the differences.
I can't seem to find that CS, maybe you forgot to add it to your CHAR post?
Anyway, I perfectly understand that what Y'Qar and the Rakbans got probably the most powerful of all the mentioned shamanisms and religions. The mesathalassan tradition I spent some khookies on, for example, is mostly based herbalism, hunting rituals and dream interpretations, there is no superpower involved and it is, in fact, mostly based on "wrong assumptions", even after the creation of Ilunabar's second holy site, which had a facility entirely based on shamanic dreams, it is still pretty mundane.
But, my whole point in that mess of a post was to just avoid listing the CS for what you created as just Shamanism, just to avoid confusion with all the other non-Ventus inspired uses of the word shamanism.
@Double Capybara
I belive witch-doctor refers generally to the healers and spiritual guides in Africa, whereas shamans are more of an Altaic and Native American thing (it's actually amazing how similar these two distinct shaman types are with regards to their manner of dress!)
Yeah, the term has its own origin, but also a widespread use due to western generalization. It is more strongly associated with native american and central asian/siberian beliefs along with some more organized religions in east asia (Although whether Japan is within the Altaic root or not is up to lot of discussions). But in general, it is used very widely used, nowadays it is also a term used to describe much of Africa's beliefs as well as a lot of ancient belief systems in general, including Europe.
That neolithic religion based on a central wise man figure look seems to be the base which most of us players used so far in the RP, with a very widespread use.
I thought about calling the Hain shamans from the jungles of Mesathalassa "Pajés", but that was scrapped when I went against using Tupi culture as an inspiration. At the time using generic terms also seemed better, but now, I think I will just make it so as the belief systems centralize, some new, unique terms, are born to substitute the generic use of the word Shaman.
Speaking of which, this reminds me I need to finish a certain post that has been half-done for 5 months now.
