Star Hearth
Prior to the Theophany, yinrih practiced a form of simple animism, where a shaman would keep the tribe's fire lit. Many of their pre-Theophany practices were carried over into the Bright Way, especially liturgical and funerary customs, as well as a set of four seasonal feasts. Shamans, now called hearthkeepers, continued serving as bringers of light and warmth to those around them, but they tended increasingly advanced fires. These fires were now placed in a fane dedicated to the Uncreated Light that revealed itself to the yinrih in the Theophany. Bonfires became sheltered hearths, which became coal- and oil-fired power plants, and then small nuclear reactors. Once the true nature of stars as sustained fusion reactions was discovered, effort was made to replicate these icons of the Light on a smaller scale for liturgical purposes. Thus was born the fusion reactor, or star hearth.
The hearth is an artificial sun held in place by powerful magnets and contained in a glass cylinder coated with an opalescent material meant to mimic the daytime sky. Pious Wayfarers (followers of the Bright Way) often "kiss" the glass of the hearth, which involves touching the wet part of the nose to the glass and quickly exhaling. One can gauge the religiosity of a community by the state of the hearth's glass. It will be spotless in more secular communities, and be covered in nose prints in more pious ones. This practice has led to the pejorative term "hearth licker" to refer to Wayfarers.
Jan 06 · 4 months ago · 👍 The_Jackal · 🤘 1
3 Comments ↓
actual literal real life piece of the suuuuun
— actual literal real life piece of the sun jpeg
📻 Anchorite [OP] · Jan 22 at 17:23:
@namark what’s the picture from? I didn’t know about it when designing the hearth. I was imagining something like the title screen of Super Metroid, a glass cylinder with Science™ gubbinz coming off the top and/or bottom.
a silly cooking show called gastronauts