Dînadan:
Random idea I had for a fluff piece that once more ballooned out beyond the original idea.
An Account of the Most Sacred Order of Midwives of Hashut: Their Origins and Their Perview
Blessed be Hashut in his Dark Glory, for it is by His Grace alone that our race stands in dominion above all others; as He delivered us screaming and raging from destruction, birthing our race anew, so to is it by His Grace that Zharrlings are delivered from their mothers’ wombs screaming and raging so that they too may praise Him and bring the Lesser Races under our dominion. It is now that our study of our glorious culture must turn to the Most Sacred Order of the Midwives of Hashut, they who bring all Dawi Zharr into this dark world.
Before the Dark Times before His coming, we were one with our faithless kin in the west, Hashut curse them and may their bones never know the kiss of the Pyre. In that time, foolishly did we worship the Ancestor Gods, may Hashut desecrate their temples, Grungni, Valaya, Grimnir and others. In those days it was the priestesses of Valaya, goddess of healing and protection who drew forth beardlings into the world. And so it was for untold years, but then the Dark Times fell upon us and we were forsaken. Even Valaya, adoptive mother of dwarfkind turned her back on us.
Beset by Chaos, our twelve greatest Lords cried out, beseaching the Ancestors for aid; thrice each did they call for Grimnir the Warrior to slay their foes, but no answer came; thrice each they cried out to Grungni the Smith to forge a shield for our race, but no answer came; thrice each they cried out to Valaya the Proector to gather us to her motherly bosom, but no answer came; twice more each cried out, begging the Ancestors as a whole, but no answer came; one last time the Twelve cried out, cursing the traitorous Ancestors, swearing fealty to any who could save us and give us our Vengeance.
It was then He came, the Dark Father, and as detailed earlier in this treatise it was then the Twelve were raised up and He did declare them His Sons and that we were all His Children. It was then that She came to us. As a father is nothing without a mother to compliment his parentage, so too is there a Dark Mother to compliment the Dark Father. None of mortal birth know the truth behind the Dark Mother, whether She be a daemon of our Father, a Lesser Goddess or even an aspect of Him. Whichever truth it may be, She came to us and as the Father raised up twelve Sons, so to did the Mother raise up twelve Daughters, the brides of the Sons. She dissolved the union betwixt Son and Daughter and did declare that their duty was now to the Father solely, and no longer to their husbands.
As His wife She did command them to go forth and take up the charge forsaken by Valaya, for they were now the Midwives of Hashut. But where Valaya drew forth beardlings gently and peacefully, the Dark Mother bade they be torn forth kicking and screaming so that they could glory Hashut from their first breath; where Valaya was kind and nurturing, the Dark Mother bade that the rod be not spared; where Valaya guided Her charges until they were ready to pass into adulthood, the Dark Mother bade that each child of Hashut should be pushed to excell and that those not ready are not worthy of His blessing.
And so it came to pass that those priestesses of Valaya who remained among our ancestors forsook their vows and pledged anew to the Dark Mother and so too were anointed Midwives of Hashut and went forth to administer their duties.
And still the Midwives administer their duties and there is none of our race who has not been brought forth from their mother by one of the Midwives, not even the bastards begat on the captured dams of our western kin, may grobi enslave them all. As the Mother disolved the marriages of the Daughters, so to are all dams that live to the Age of Venerability, that age at which they can no longer bare children for our Father, divorced from their husbands. Henceforth these crones swear an oath of chastity that only the Father Himself can break and pledge themselves to bringing forth more zharrlings into the world.
A Midwife’s duty does not end at the birthing chamber; it is under her advice and guidance that dams raise their newborns and at any time a mother may seek their council in raising her zharrlings. But as the Dark Mother submits to the Dark Father, so to do the Midwives bow to the authority of the Prophets in matters of education; it is in the birthing chamber alone that the Midwives reign supreme.
To be a Midwife of Hashut is to sacrifice all sense of self, for they know no station and all wear gilded masks fashioned into the likeness of a cow, so best to emulate the Dark Mother. When a crone becomes a Midwife, she gives up her name and titles, and is excised from her clan for they have no bearing on rank and for all intents she is dead to her clan. Thus it is that a lowborn may rise above the daughter of the noblest houses, for to the Midwives age and experience are the only ranks they recognise.
-Excerpt from the Treatise of Zharr, penned by the scribe Grâzkuk Inkhand of Clan Emberhoof under instruction of Khnûnn Frosthorn, Ninth Prophet of Zharr-Naggrund, 29 Cycle, FA
