Fortress cults are a form of local faith prevalent in the villages and towns of Tazak in the Stormlands. These cults ritually construct and maintain fortifications near or around their homes as a method of honoring the stone spirits that protect them.
Followers
Nearly all followers of the fortress cults can be found in Tazak or elsewhere in the broader Tazak Mountains. The faith has effectively no adherents elsewhere.
It is not atypical for followers of the fortress cults to hold other spiritual beliefs simultaneously. The creation and veneration of ancestor monoliths are common amongst them, as is the dustwalker philosophy.
Beliefs and practices
The history of the fortress cults dates back centuries, with the first of the eponymous defenses constructed in the later years of the ninth millennium. Facing an escalating series of raids by the hobgoblin tribes to the north, a number of communities nestled amongst the northern Tazak Mountains near modern Hunger Stone constructed fortifications to better defend their homes. In doing so they awakened the spirits of the stones within. When the much-feared hobgoblins arrived, the spirits summoned forth a devastating series of landslides and rockfalls, sweeping the raiding armies away and burying them under rubble. Though the spirits have rarely manifested since, they still appear at times of great threat, their very presence enough to deter most foes. From their beginnings in the north the cults and associated fortresses spread south but never outside the Tazak Mountains, for the spirits are intrinsically tied to the peaks.
The stone spirits of the fortresses have never responded to the aeon-kings of Tazak as threats, outsiders as they may be, which has contributed to the population's relative acceptance of their rulers.
Participating in the construction of one of the fortresses is amongst the most pious acts that a follower of the faith can undertake, but so too is it spiritually important to maintain and guard them - as the cults have not spread far, and the population of the Tazak Mountains is quite low, there are not many opportunities to lay the foundation stones of new defenses. Many rituals govern the addition or replacement of stones, so as to ensure the spirit within accepts and is accepted by the others they are joining.
Fortresses typically take the form of gently sloped walls that surround the core buildings of a settlement, rarely in straight lines but rather following the curves and contours of the landscape. Most incorporate watchtowers so both the cultists and the spirits can keep watchful eyes on incoming danger. A few villages paint their fortresses in distinctive patterns, using dyes made from powdered local rocks, but this is unusual. Storehouses for food and other important material are often incorporated into the walls to allow the spirits to guard that too.
Adherents of the cults whose travels cause them to spend the night outside the safety of their walls often arrange circles of small stones around their campsites, and in doing so ensuring they have some degree of protection from the spirits.