Estas

  

Estas
Co-creator deity, Mother of Humanity, Goddess of life, love, family, animals, music, friendship, children, happiness, joy, peace, hope, fertility, sex, health, and medicine
Member of the Northern Pantheon
Estas as the Goddess of Life
Other names	Azure Goddess, Queen of the North, Heart of Ai
Written name	(Ancient Korati) (Stylized Kai) (Standard Kai)
Affiliation	The Four Goddesses
Symbols	Bowtie, knot, tassel
Adherents	Cult of Estas (Estasians)
Mount	Cattle
Gender	Female

Estas (Kai: ) is one of the principal deities in Ramvokism and the first of the Four Goddesses in the religious tradition. She is the mother god of humanity and viewed as the goddess of life, and functions as the goddess of several other roles. She is associated with love, family, animals, music, friendship, children, happiness, joy, peace, hope, fertility, sex, health, and medicine. Ramvokist teachings of the humility and compassion of Estas place a central role for the goddess. She is the principal deity of devotion in the Cult of Estas, or Estasism, and is one of the most worshipped and revered divinities in all Ramvokist traditions. In wider Northwestern Aichan traditions, she is known as E in TBD and Esadas in TBD.

She is often portrayed as a young maiden with apricot-colored, short hair with blue eyes. Worship and veneration towards Estas is deemed essential to maintain balance in the world, as the absence of Estas would mean the absence of life, and consequently, death. Within the multi-axis model (which rates the four goddesses according to their disposition and energy along two axes), Estas is emotional and extroverted. She is compatible with Sonder, complimentary to Rinakesh, and is resistant towards Ando due to the nature of her attributes in comparison to theirs.

Among her attributes, Estas embodies a universalist approach towards life, accepting and embracing all, whilst denying her own self and self-interests. Although she is nominally passive and pacifist, her humanistic and interpersonal outlook generates empathy and indirect action out of compassion and concern. Her element is water, reflective of its cooling, soothing effect and its importance to life and vitality, as well as its physical properties (fluid and free-flowing). Although her disposition is emotional and her energy is extroverted, her self-denial and selflessness can manifest into the rational quality of contained and the introverted quality of being reserved if antagonized or neglected by believers. She is also prayed to in times of distress, and is said to comfort the souls suffering from depression and suicidal thoughts. A prominent vujut bushin of Estas is Eyasi, who appeared as a young woman who fell in love with a mortal man, before hanging herself due to her fear that she was too burdensome to him. The icon of the hanging Eyasi is commonly prayed and meditated upon as a form of remorse and reflection by believers for the intrinsic suffering nature of Estas.

Her role in the creation of the world is dealt with heavily in the Benyi's creation myth, Divine Order, which places her as the preeminent force behind forming and creating the world as God willed it. Among her contributions to the world, the oceans are the result of her tears of joy upon seeing the first signs of life, the birds, who flew across the empty world, which allowed for the division between sea and land. All vegetation and other animals sprung forth from her works, and she provided them nourishment in order to propagate the different species existing on the planet.

She is the patron goddess of the Kuzenewa Region in Kaishuri, where the de facto seat and center of the Cult of Estas is based in the Kuzenawan city of Mujedushika. In addition, she is often the secondary goddess of choice for practitioners devoted to the other goddesses, particularly followers of Sonder have generally chosen Estas as their second goddess in order of devotion. Estas was the paramount goddess during the Chen dynasty and the Southern Lushu dynasty of the Kaishuri and the TBD in TBD. She is the Queen of the Northern Pantheon, an Estasicentric view of the Four Goddesses and Lesser Gods of Ramvokism.

Name, epithets, and titles

The name "Estas" originates from the ancient Korati word, ešhtasmi, which is an adjective which can mean "light", "bright", or "shining". Ešhtasmi itself is the Old Korati derivation of *Esyashimet, the name of the Proto-Kai-Meridian goddess of fertility. The earliest attested forms of the Kai name are the Vulgar Kai Esktami and Esktasi. The name of Estas is one of the most revered names in Ramvokism and is sometimes rendered as "Estas-rama" (literally "Lady Estas") by devotees, especially those of Estasist affiliation. In Kai, the name of the goddess is (Estas) in the nominative. It is inflected as (Estasani) in vocative; as (Estasashan) in accusative; (Estasbe) or (Estasajan) in genitive; and (Estašu) in dative.

In Ramvokism

The main titles of Estas which are accepted by all cults of Ramvokism are Mother God (Ummäi-rama, ), Holy-Bearer (Gosharu-guyishisa-rama, ), and Holy of Holies (Gosharuajan-gosharunim, .

Estas is also known by various other names and titles, including those that reflect her attributes or qualities such as E "life", Umma "mother", Kuramida "protector", and Rasijäh "milk of God". Certain names and titles derive from Old Korati vocabulary such as Shafuyori (from the Old Korati word: šafeyerim "sweet honey cake").

Iconography

Estas is depicted in a diverse number of forms and representations, but with some common features. She is a popular figure in Kai art and her appearances vary drastically depending on the region. She is most commonly depicted as being a fair-skinned, young woman or adolescent girl. Her most notable feature is her azure blue eyes, as well as her apricot-colored hair. Certain texts describe her skin as being "white as snow" while her eyes are as "blue as the sea". The eyes of Estas are revered and depicted as a blue variant of the Eye of Ai, the eye of the Supreme God Ai.

Theology

Estas is traditionally ordered as the first of the Four Goddesses. She is said to be the first creation of Ai and the progenitor of all humanity. Ramvokists believe that Estas created the world and was given authority to create the laws and order of the universe by Ai. It is believed that all life and energy emanates from Estas. As such, it is believed that the sky, sun, and moon are contained by Estas. Estas is often depicted as a motherly or nurturing being whose arms are shown outstretched, symbolizing her openness.

The Eye of Estas is said to be the "window" to the Eyes of Ai. Followers of the Cult of Estas often adorn themselves with amulets depicting the Eye of Estas to ward off evil spirits and to sustain life force. The symbol is commonly found in hospitals, medical wards, gardens, schools, nurseries, and homes to provide comfort and protection to believers.

According to the Ramvokist multi-axis model, Estas' outward attributes are emotional and extroverted. Of the Four Goddesses, under the with-to-against principle, Estas is compatible with Sonder, complimentary to Rinakesh, and resistant against Ando.

Vujut bushin of Estas

In Ramvokism, vujut bushin (literally "flesh spirit") is the material personification or incarnation of a deity. Each of the Four Goddesses including Estas have vujut bushin. In Ramvokist mythology, Estas became incarnated as a vujut bushin to intervene in human history in order to defend the good and defeat the evil. The most well-known vujut bushin of Estas are: Vashan, Emori, Sanada, and Paburim. There are seven vujut bushin of Estas who are viewed as the canonical major appearances of the goddess, and all seven are highly revered and venerated in Ramvokism, especially within the Cult of Estas.