Austrism

Austre was the deity of the Idrian people on Nalthis. He was often called "God of Colors".

In the Warbreaker, Austre is usually referred to with a male pronoun. Before the Manywar and the exile of the Royal family, people of Hallandren also used to worship him.

The name of the corresponding religion was Austrism.

Teachings

According to the Austrism, Austre commands the Returned to come back to life, and gives Breaths to the humans.

The fundamental tenets of the religion are called the Five Visions. These were the visions had by Vo, the First Returned, before he died.

One of the Visions includes the following line:

“I saw men who placed themselves above others, and I saw them cast down”

—A quote from one of Vo's Five Visions

The Visions teach virtues of humility, sacrifice and seeing another's problems before your own. They teach that no man man should try to put oneself above the others, and that Austre regards all people equally.

Acting ostentatiously, rejecting people because of their sins and flaunting one's talents were seen as sins.

Austrin teachings also said there was nothing wrong with feelings, but drawing attention to yourself with them was wrong.

Austrism, as practiced by Idrians considers Breaths to be intimately linked to the human souls. For that reason Austre followers consider holding the Breaths of others to be a sin, and using them to Awaken to be an even greater sin. However, Vasher has stated that such intolerance toward Awakening only emerged after the Manywar.

Quotes

“Flowers ain’t evil, assuming they’re left where Austre put them. We shouldn’t use Austre’s beauty to make ourselves more important.”

—Mab to Siri

“In the distance, she could see the plateau that held the Court of Gods, the most profane place beneath Austre’s colorful eyes.”

—Vivenna travelling in T'Telir

Notes

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