Major Religions of the Valley
Name: Ophitism
Deity: The Logos / The Force
of Enlightenment
Symbol: A Burning Flame,
called the Luminous.
Dogma: All forms of conflict
come from various forms of ignorance. Adherents of Ophitism are
exhorted to increase their knowledge of the world as well as their
knowledge of the life of other people. Morality is based upon the
harm principal and capability of consent, leading most members to be
vegetarians. They are rarely vegan since they see the care and
protection of an animal as a fair trade for anything that it produces
as long as said production does not bring about harm to the animal. A
person is only capable of consent if they are capable of certain
levels of cognition. A person is generally considered to be able to
consent when they reach at least 60 seasons of age.
Clergy: The clergy is open
to all individuals that are of at least the age of reason. They tend
to be scholars, focusing on any number of fields of study. Many of
the clergy have founded, and still manage, numerous libraries across
the valley.
Worship Sites: Libraries
tend to be the most frequent sites of worship and enlightenment. The
rituals of worship tend to be simple, with a focus on periods of self
improvement and education.
Period of Worship: Worship
takes place after dusk. Worship begins with the lighting of
ceremonial candles, signifying the destruction of the darkness
(ignorance) and the spread of light (enlightenment/education).
Services then include periods of meditation and education on a number
of subjects.
Name: Unity of Creation or
Unifiers
Deity: The Triune Pantheon –
Brigit (All-Mother), Cernunnos (All-Father), and Dryghten (The Prime
Mover/Creator)
Symbol: Three Interlocking
Triangles or Circles, called the Unity.
Dogma: The three deities are
considered to be more akin to forces of nature, rather than
anthropomorphic beings. Names are given to them to ease the
understanding of adherents. Brigit embodies the concepts of
nurturing, healing, and growth. Cernunnos embodies the concepts of
change (not to be confused with growth), destruction/reduction, and
death. Dryghten embodies creation and does not have a particular
gender assigned to it. The purpose of denying a gender is to
underline the concept of creation being equally shared between men
and women.
Clergy: Clergy members tend
to devote themselves to a particular aspect. There are no regulations
as to what genders may worship and devote themselves to. Men can just
as easily devote themselves to Brigit as to Cernunnos, just as women
can just as often be devoted to Cernunnos. Devotion to Dryghten is
common across genders. Those devoted to Brigit are referred to as
'Mother' no matter their gender, while those devoted to Cernunnos are
referred to as 'Father' despite the gender of the devotee. Any
devotee of Dryghten is referred to as 'Creator'.
Worship Sites: Worship sites
can vary widely depending on the the presiding devotee. Those devoted
to Brigit tend to hold services in or near crop fields or streams.
Those devoted to Cernunnos tend to hold their services in graveyards
and other places associated with death. Dryghten devotees tend to
hold services in places of associated with fertility and birth.
Period of Worship: Dawn for
Dryghten, Noon for Brigit, and Dusk for Cernunnos.
Name: The Path to Ascension
Deity: None though they have
a number of Sattvas (Saints) they revere, not to be confused with
worship.
Symbol: A Broken Wheel,
called the Liberator
Dogma: While other divine
beings may be worthy of reverence based upon their actions, namely
actions that benefit others, they are not worthy of worship. All
sapient beings are equal in stature when compared to the universe,
when one sapient being worships another they are demeaning
themselves. By learning to capture the innate mystery of the self
through meditation one can ascend and become one with all creation.
The Sattvas (Saints) are those who will occasionally reconstitute
themselves after ascension to assist others in their journey of
ascensions. The path to ascension is the recognition that there is
very little that separates one individual from another, requiring
that all those along the path show respect to all sentient creatures
(sentient in this case meaning beings that are capable of feeling
sensations, thus every living thing that is not a plant).
Clergy: All those who have
learned to harness the mystery of the self and who are on the final
step of the path before ascension (i.e. clerics who are able to cast
divine spells). These individuals can be from any group of
individuals of any age.
Worship Sites: Can be any
site where one can meditate with the fewest number of distractions.
Period of Worship: Any time
that is conducive for the initiate to concentrate on their
meditations.
Name: Trneau
Deity: Trneau Eilf
Symbol: A bare tree whose
roots and branches look the same, presenting the same imagine no
matter which side is up, called the Reflection.
Dogma: All things are
aspects of Trneau Eilf, the ultimate being. There are two sects of
Trneau: Way of Power and Way of Mercy. The Way of Power promotes the
acquisition of personal power through the recognition that you are,
at least in part, the ultimate being Trneau Eilf. Through such
recognition the adherent justifies their rise to power, and any
injuries they may cause, by the rationalization that they are merely
hurting themselves. According to the Way of Power, reality is merely
an illusion, thus any action is permissible as long as it does not
bring harm to the recognizer. The Way of Mercy holds that we are all
the same being, thus one must act mercifully to all other beings
which in turn benefits the self. The Way of Mercy still holds that
all reality is an illusion, however, most individuals within reality
are unable to recognize their pain as being illusory, thus the pain
being a real thing to the one experiencing it. The goal of the Way of
Mercy is to spread the understanding that everyone is the same being
and all things are illusory. Adherents of the Way of Mercy seek to
reduce the pain in the world, holding that it is incredibly difficult
to understand the illusory nature of reality while suffering from
pain.
Clergy: The Way of Power
attracts clergy from the business moguls of society. The Way of Mercy
attracts those from the more philanthropic parts of society.
Worship Sites: Sites of the
Way of Power tend to be places where opulence and wealth have been
gathered. Sites of the Way of Mercy tend to be places where the needy
and infirm may be tended to.
Period of Worship: The Way
of Power tend to worship at noon, when the sun is at the height of
its power. The Way of Mercy tend to worship at night when the needy
and infirm feel the most alone.
No comments:
Post a Comment