The Nazars

In a remote place, among the mountain range that embraces Omani, the Nazars are created in a cluster of monasteries run by spiritual Belig, called the Monks of Sakin. In their center, there is a Kutlay, blessed with the ability to channel the moon’s power to give Nazars their unique power.

THE MONKS OF SAKIN

The Belig who live here are deeply spiritual and have detached themselves from the materialistic nature of their family. They have taken on new ones, based on honor, compassion and seclusion. Some of their doctrines are as follows:

The wounded must be taken care of, no matter their heritage or previous atrocities.
A member of another family must not be approached or engaged in any other way, unless the doctrine demands it. If it does, a monk is to cover their face upon initiating contact.
Violent conflict must not be initiated, and may only be taken up in defense.
The Cave of Angels is strictly forbidden to anyone but full-fledged monks.
Any substances that may cloud the mind are to be obtained from.
Paid labor is forbidden.

The monasteries are led by the three oldest and wisest monks of the community, who will oversee the education of young monks, the creation of Nazars and pass on the word of the Kutlay to the other Monks of Sakin.

THE MONK'S EDUCATION

A monk’s education ist vast and extensive, lasts exactly 30 cycles, and is split into two segments, which are taught simultaneously.

The first segment, called the Practical Arts by the monks, include extended schooling on topics like:

growing and harvesting crops
creating fibers and clothes
homebuilding and carpenting
mining and smithing

The second segment, the Spiritual Arts, are the following points put together:

Swordfight and dance
Prayer and Ritual routines
Astronomy and weather prediction
Medicine and health studies
Literature and writing
Crafting Nazars

A Monk’s education begins at only 3 cycles old. With 13, after going through cycles of diligent spiritual and physical training, the Fledglings receive their first promotion to become a Savasci, a warrior that protects the monasteries, and therefore joins the ranks of those fighters. Raising up in said ranks as their education goes on, starting from 23 cycles that education becomes more and more spiritual, until, with 33, they have finally completely their training and can call themselves Monks of Sakin. They lay down their Savasci weapons, can create their own Nazars and pray with the other full-fledged monks in the Cave of the Angels.

The Savasci’s masks

Living secluded and secretively, the warriors of Sakin are forbidden from showing their faces to Uçalım outside of the monasteries. For this purpose, each Savasci, monks between the ages of 13 and 33, will have a mask as a crucial part of their armor, which will be used to cover their faces before engaging in any kind of contact with strangers.

(Note: The Trait “Lower Half Mask” is free for all Belig Monks.)

THE CREATION OF NAZARS

Once each month, when the moon Gun shines the brightest, the Monks of Sakin will bring their newly crafted, yet powerless Nazars into a sacred cave (the Cave of Angels) onto an ornated, spiritual pedestal (the Moon Pedestal), which is illuminated by the moonlight coming in from an opening in the ceiling. There, the creators of those Nazars will be left for an entire month to silently pray, with no breaks, food or water to interrupt their meditation. Previous to this, they undergo a number of spiritual tasks, like a purifying bath to survive the following month. This month of meditation can only be done by taking breaks of several months in-between, therefore making the creation of Nazars quite slow, which is the reason for their rarity.

After that month, by the time Gun once more shines brightly, those monks then take their Nazars, and offer them to the Kutlay of Sakin residing in the most ornate part of the monasteries, where, once more, it would take an entire month until that Kutlay has put their blessing onto the Nazars with the help of Gun’s powers. From then on, the Nazars have the ability to make their wearers vanish from their trackers’ eyes, borrowing the moon’s powers to vanish from sight. If an Uçalım owns a Nazar, they are immune to Afet’s Illusions and being tracked by an Atabey as well as being seen with an Atabey's third eye.

The Nazar Trade

The Monks of Sakin do not take any money for payment, as they are forbidden by their doctrines to do so. Instead, they trade their Nazars for medicine and other goods that they may not be able to procure themselves. Only designated monks trade solely with other Belig, as the concept of money is foreign to the monks of Sakin.

The Kutlay of Sakin

The Kutlay of Sakinis a Belig blessed by the angels who is able to give Nazars their unique powers. Each generation, a new Kutlay of Sakin is born into their family, a lineage that has been held up for thousands of cycles. That newborn Kutlay is then educated and trained in the art of Nazars by the previous one, until they will take the Kutlay’s place upon their death.

THE MINES OF SAKIN

The reason why this particular part of the mountains has been chosen by the monks is the ore that grows nowhere else in Cihan except for Sakin. This mysterious ore is yet another important part of creating a Nazar, and only Monks who have completed their training are permitted to mine it. It is said that, if anyone but a Monk of Sakin tries to mine the ore, it loses its powers, turning into stone and dust the moment it is removed from its place.

The monk’s monthly rituals of praying in the Cave or Angels are performed to give the mountain back some of the power that has been taken from it by mining the ore, allowing the mountain to restore it’s limited ore deposits.

POLITICAL STATUS

The monasteries have a very good relation to the Great Accountant, and for each new accountant, a new, designated Nazar is created. While this tradition has held on until today, the remaining contact between the monks and the outside world has been cut off almost completely by now. As they shut themselves off more and more in the past, the financial support they have gotten from the Great Accountant also diminished over time, which led to their current complete self-reliance and their detachment from money.

This means that Taarih, the Afet’s Sultan, Devrim’s Royal Family and similar, everchanging power structures are also completely unknown to them.

UNSETTLING DEVELOPMENTS

The lineage of the Kutlay of Sakin, which has been there for thousands of cycles, seems to have come to and end; No Kutlay heir has been born in the monastery, and the current Kutlay of Sakin has fallen terribly ill.

After months of research, another branch of the Kutlay’s family has been found, exiled hundreds of years ago for a crime that no books or notes have marked down. In hopes that this family branch may contain the heir that the monasteries seek after, troops of Savasci are now being sent out, for the first time getting in contact with the outside world in search of the new Kutlay of Sakin, the last hope for the legacy of the monks.

The Search

The Savasci of Sakin have one lead, the place the lost family has been exiled to: Imran. From there, they will continue their research, in hopes to find the new spiritual leader of their monastery.

THE NAZARS​