Mysticism:
Roughly 80% of the people of Kassara are mystics. Nearly everyone goes through a catechism for the religion at an early age.
Mystics are expected to pray at shrines and keep ‘jigo jisho’, but probably only 30% of the followers actually do.
-The prayer shrines are abundant wherever there is civilization. They are pools of water with a shrine maiden present, who is an ‘awakened’ water elemental.
-Jigo jisho is a personal journal mystics keep of their spiritual progression.
Mystics believe in what cannot be seen; they are adherent that some things in life cannot be explained with empirical data alone. Mystics and scientists work together regularly to attempt to explain the true nature of Lura. The fact that apparitions are a commonality is definitely a huge factor contributing to why the religion has gained so many followers.
The ideology of the five rings is embraced by mystics. They believe in the ‘convergience’, which is the idea that all realities intersect at the third ring. They believe they cannot communicate with the Light of Creation directly (which they believe is a manifestation of the fifth ring), and must worship through intermediary gods and goddesses instead.
However, most mystics aren’t entirely convinced the awakened really have powers. It is easy to be skeptical since awakeneds are so rare, and some people are worried their religion is using parlour tricks to keep their followers in line.
None-the-less, the wards to keep evil spirits away seem to work.
In the end, their quest is to achieve fifth rings. They wish to reach space, so they embrace flight. They wish to achieve divinity, so they embrace projection. They wish to achieve enlightenment, so they embrace and respect the Meiallin and all of the awakened mystics.
(This was meant to be an overview; it didn’t begin to cover the full scope of mystic tradition and rites.)
Sabbayism:
A long time ago, a man named Sabbaya came along and revived an ancient religion, claiming jigo jishi was a selfish endeavor. He also felt people should be able to address the Light of Creation in prayer directly.
As Sabbayism grew, its existence threatened the established pantheistic beliefs and hierarchical order by worshipping the Light of Creation as their only king. The Northern Alliance lead a widespread persecution against the religion, forcing the survivors into hiding.
The Northern Alliance was fairly certain they had quashed all Sabbayists.
With Joun’s queen unthreatened by what they felt was a non-existent king and the Sabbayists harboring hatred for the Northern Alliance, the last remaining city that has not destroyed their churches and tolerates their presence is Joun, where they allowed the immigration to help bolster their economic and military growth in hopes it will one day allow them to take down the great city Aydomar and the entire Northern Alliance. Not all of the people of Joun agreed with the queen’s decision. It could mean war with the Northern Alliance, which could throw all of Kassara into a state of chaos.
PS-> Totally off-topic, but does anybody know of any good Celtic music? I really like to write to the stuff. :)
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Your Mysticism sounds a lot like Paganism meets Buddhism, but I doubt either would be offended. I like the balance in this religious endeavour.
However the Sabbayism cultists (hehe) I’d be staying away from. Not to piss on the idea of a ‘One True’ being (Christ, Muhammed etc), but I always feel more comfortable with the notion of self, and taking one’s own path as opposed to following blindly in the footsteps of another – and creating armies in their name.
As always, you’re descriptions are impressive. I’m always intrigued by the way you lay everything out and make it sound so realistic – and plausible.
Keep it up, Cir’
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Comment by RG Sanders — August 4, 2008 @ 10:48 pm
As far as Sabbayism goes, all that matters with them right now is they were persecuted and are now causing controversy in Joun. ;) Part of the ideology of the five rings is that the fifth ring itself is very much like ‘God’ and ‘Heaven’ since it is the ‘ideal’, so that’s kind of a tough nut to crack. Sorry if it doesn’t float your boat, but figure for any given world, for every religion there would realistically be a counter-religion.
I should also probably mention mystics believe in the Summerland :)
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Comment by cirellio — August 4, 2008 @ 11:24 pm
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Comment by aeronwy — August 5, 2008 @ 1:42 am
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Comment by cirellio — August 5, 2008 @ 7:08 am
Lisa Gerrard doesn’t sing Danny Boy, pff ;) But it is a bit ‘epic’. She did Elysium for Gladiator for example. Not quite as bouncy as fiddles and drums.
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Comment by RG Sanders — August 5, 2008 @ 1:15 pm
I didn’t mean to imply Lisa Gerrard sang Danny Boy. LOL, I guess I didn’t seperate the thoughts with enough punctuation. Where’s my editors?! heheh.
I remember liking the music to Gladiator a lot so I’ll give Elysuim a try.
Heck. I remember liking the whole movie a lot. You’re making me want to watch it again.
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Comment by cirellio — August 5, 2008 @ 3:40 pm
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Comment by Alex Moore — August 6, 2008 @ 11:46 am
“So, if someone doesn’t purchase a ‘warding’ for protection do evil spirits appear?”
Wardings aren’t sold. Just about everybody knows how to cast a circle of protection-sprinkle sea salt in a clockwise circle, think about your deity, and declare your intentions.
Spirits are commonplace and usually don’t bother people. But it’s in the best interest of a mystic to ward their homes and places they sleep because evil spirits show an active interest in them. Awakeneds, in particular, are at risk of becoming possessed or being killed, especially in their sleep or while they are projecting themselves. But they are trained to shield themselves from such attacks early on.
Most everybody else casts wards reactively. For instance, if someone is having an unusual amount of bad dreams or suspects a spirit is bothering them, they might consider casting a ward.
How do these spirits figure into the religions?
Lura’s irregular electro-magnetism provides spirits with plenty of energy to manifest. People are less afraid of what they can explain, so they turned to the ideology of the five rings and other ‘pseudo-science’. It makes them feel more comfortable and in control in a haunted world.
plot? or are they simply a background item?
Kassara is heavily inundated in Mysticism. So it is an important sub-culture that will be present throughout the books. In that way, it provides background.
But I’ll say the main character is awakened during the books, but he certainly isn’t particularly powerful with the energies. It does help him with some of his inner and outer struggles.
I’ll also say there’s no evil wizard or superking waiting in a black castle for the main character to zap magicks at, either. :)
The bottom line is: Mysticism helps the characters on several occasions and is an important puzzle-piece to the final act.
The other religions are mainly there for conflict. It’s political turmoil in-a-can. Differing beliefs are also a powerful way to have character conflict, and are certainly potent catalysts for wars.
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Comment by cirellio — August 6, 2008 @ 2:00 pm