Short answers, pulled from the story.
Assianism, also called Uatsdin, is a polytheistic, ethnic and folk religion derived from the traditional narratives of the Ossetians of the Caucasus, believed to be a continuation of the ancient Scythian religion. The Nart sagas are central to it, and it is present chiefly in North Ossetia-Alania, but also in South Ossetia and Ukraine.
It began to be consciously reorganized as an ethnic religion during the 1980s, when nationalist intellectuals gave it the formal name Ætsæg Din. In 2010 the linguist Tamerlan Kambolov coined the alternative name Uatsdin, which is now the most common term for the faith in Ossetian.
Assianism is practiced chiefly in North Ossetia-Alania within Russia, and is also present in South Ossetia and Ukraine. According to the 2012 Arena Atlas, 29.4% of North Ossetia's population were adherents of the Ossetian Pagan religion, while the religion's own authorities claim a figure above 55% among ethnic Ossetians.
Uastyrdzhi is the chief deity among Assianism's lesser gods, said to be the only one able to reach the supreme God, Xwytsau, directly. His name derives from Saint George, and he is worshipped as the god of contracts and war, said to have saved the Ossetian hero Khetag from his pursuers.
Adherents of Assianism object to the term Paganism because it carries strong derogatory connotations in the Ossetian language and has long been used by Christians and Muslims to ridicule traditional Ossetian beliefs and practices.
Assianism's rituals center on a feast called fyng or kuvyn, held in honour of a deity and led by a 'holy man', or dzuary læg, who offers a toast called kuyvd. The ceremony includes cheese cakes called ualibakh, sacrificed herbivorous animals such as bulls, rams, goats or lambs, and libations of beer or strong liquor.