Time of Pyres
The Time of Pyres was a period of violent religious upheaval in the Ikorbân Valley during the later Third Age, marked by the suppression of the ancient cult of Írmu Who Weeps and the rise of the Barkhûshim devoted to Barkhûsh, He-Who-Sees-All. The name derives from the burning of Írmu’s shrines and the execution of her adherents by fire, remembered in later tradition as a time of persecution and forced conversion.[1]
Background
Before the coming of the Empire of Ordâkh, the Ikorbâni had long preserved the worship of Írmu alongside local traditions and the Shârate's royal cult. Írmu’s shrines in the marshes and rivers of the valley remained central to communal identity, even amid the political turmoil of the Madâr that fractured the Shârate of Hamât.[2]
The spread of Barkhûsh’s worship preceded Ordâkh’s conquest, carried northward by merchants and proselytizers from the southern empire. By the reign of Taldûmu, the last Shâr of Hamât, the Barkhûshim had gained significant influence within the valley, presenting themselves as allies against the disunity caused by the Realm-cleaving.[3]
Persecution
The Dubarâkh scrolls describe the Time of Pyres as a turning point:
“Now is the Time of Pyres, when Barkhûshim have gained such power that the people turn openly on those who still practice the rites of Írmu Who Weeps within much of Hamât. They ransack the temples and burn the Faithful.”[1]
Írmu’s groves and marsh-altars were desecrated, her priests and attendants driven underground, and whole communities forced to renounce the Weeping Lady in favor of shrines to Barkhûsh. The campaign combined both popular zeal and imperial authority, as Ordâkhai governors sanctioned the suppression of “idol-worship” and directed the seizure of sacred lands.
Public burnings of Írmu’s faithful gave the era its name. The smoke of the pyres darkened the skies of Ambarûl, while the Ikorbâni lamentations of this period describe the rivers as “choked with ash and tears.”
Aftermath
By the end of the Time of Pyres, the worship of Írmu had been almost entirely extinguished in Hamât and Erêsh, surviving only in scattered family rites and secret gatherings in Ambarûl. The Barkhûshim emerged as the dominant faith of the valley, bound closely to the power of the Ordâkhai and enduring long after their conquests.
Yet Írmu’s memory was never wholly erased. Later chroniclers and poets invoked her as a symbol of loss and resilience, and her name endured in oaths, place-names, and laments of the Ikorbâni people. The persecution itself became a defining trauma, remembered as the moment when the old unity of the valley was broken by fire and fear.
Legacy
The Time of Pyres remains central to Ikorbâni historical memory. For many, it represents both the tragedy of forced submission to foreign power and the persistence of a native identity that endured despite centuries of suppression. In modern Ambarûl, Írmu’s cult has not returned openly, but the Time of Pyres is recalled in festivals of mourning and in the hidden prayers of those who still whisper to the Weeping Lady.