Enlightment

Early Draft Excerpt from Religions of Illumire by Zxas Reas Awrid Trasul

"Stemming from a foundation of ritual Divinism remaining from the lost continent of Mosian and a local belief in the Dreaming God of Ulu, a regional diety of the Southern Badlands, Enlightenment is a belief pursued by many on the southern continent of Saelsvyr. Although the religion began in the southern reaches of the continent as it spread it developed two unique branches, which scismed in the years after 682 when missionaries separated from the church of the south began to develop unique theological theories interpreting a prophecy provided by Hice the Novus in 655. This prophecy declared a manifestation of the Holy Light in mortal form which would become a prevailing belief that the prophecy had been fulfilled by the “Savior upon Ganai”. This belief was held by those living north of the Great Barrier after 687 and continues to be followed as the predominant religion of the North. The southern branch of Divinism pursued a unique model of religious piety forged by the bloody and damaging wars of 1221, known colloquially as the Wizard Wars. These wars led to a general public disdain for arcane power due to its impercise usage and the dangerous aftermath of its use in military practice. In order to combat the use of the Arcane, the creation of new mandates from the Emperor and the Holy Church of Light which provided a new doctrine outlawing the use of Arcane power and mystic arts. Many historians of non-Kaldonian allegiance consider the creation of the doctrine to have a been a socio-political one instead of true doctrine inspired by some outerplanar or divine force. This being said, the banning of the Arcane has not only shaped the history of the Southern Badlands but has also shaped the role of Enlightment. Before the creation of the doctrine outlawing magic, the Church of Lights role was one of unity and healing. The priests of the church were primarily doctors and guides to the powerful warlords of the area, providing religious guidance. After the transition to anti-arcane sentiments the religion itself became a military force of sorts, depending on the training and enrollment of soldier-priests known as Magi-Venadi, servants of both the empire and the church. Outside of Kaldun, the mandates by the emperor which also impactful. Other nations followed the doctrine to varying degrees, some mandating that the arcane be restricted to use by the ordained only and others outlawing certain disciplines of the craft.

The two halves of Enlightenment hold a couple of united beliefs, centering around a belief stemming from its Divinism foundations. The nomos of the religion sees the presence of an omnipresent and all knowing deity of light who created the world with their (her) hand. The tenants of the church focus on the path to enlightenment through honorable and holy living. The power of the light is seen as an equally purifying and purging one, only those who have been cleaned by the Hand of Light will enter the gates of Heaven, and those who turn away to the Shadows will be forced to dwell there. This literary trend of Lights versus the Shadows is seen throughout Enlightenment thinking and is considered a possible theological brother to Dualism. Though the core premise of the religion stems from the Account of Creation, the text is not considered the predominant scripture and is seen as a precursor to the Prophecies of the Novus and the Laws of the Light which were authored by several unknown priests of the religion sometime after the rise of the Church of Light. These two scriptures, seen as separate but equal parts to a whole, describe the future progression of the Church as declared by Enlightenment prophets and the laws by which the citizens of the Church must abide by to be purified by the Hand of Light. As is described by the theologian, Argos Veritas, in his premiere work Golden is the Light, the use of anatomical descriptions of the Light is seen as a descent from the Patheonistic descriptions of Areluma, the Creation Goddess of Light. These details are seen in many Churches which display the Hands of Light blessing the holy and casting the sinful into darkness. This symbolism also finds its way into the death rituals, as the the dead are almost always buried facing towards the rising sun signifying the purifying and banishing of darkness, with their hands covering their face so as to not be destroyed by the purging power of the Holy Light. All of these rituals as well as daily considerations for proper conduct are outlined in the Laws of Light.

Fascinatingly in the year 686 around the same time of the first schism of the Enlightenment belief another separation happened. Wessier, a nation which actively participates in necromancy, joined the Church of Light in a move towards military and political consolidation. Though primarily seen as a political strategy, the move fundamentally changed the way the Church of Light had to address their own beliefs and seemed to force the church into a 3rd separate mindset that aligned directly with the southern belief system although with some distinct moral differences. Wesseirian morality (now sometimes used as an insult to describe those with little to no moral continuity) described a state of being that utilized the writings of Marc Caroline, primarily The Mortal Lining. While it would be far too complicated to integrate the entirety of his philosophical musing into this analysis, a summary of its effects on Enlightenment can be summarized as such:

The mortal coil in which dwells all enlightened beings is named Illumire a word which comes from the phrase “out of light”. This description is not one of coincidental poetry but a teleological description of the world. All beings dwelling in this place are descendants of those who have come out of light but now live in the darkness. All the world is consumed by these shadows but it is the enlightened that remain oriented towards that light, though they live in umbral reaches. We live in a Mortal Lining, a state of moralistic suspension. The world has no orientation which would naturally derive a base instinct to do moral acts, but similarly, mortals do not have an orientation towards doing immoral acts. This is a place between the Holiness of the Past and the Shadows of the Future, we are held in suspension between these two voids. Yet we do not strive just to survive, we move to live in enlightenment, to live moral lives to achieve the promises that have been made. And so to survive the shadows must be embraced so the light may be achieved in our time.

These writings would influence Wesseirian preaching within the country and allowed it to mature into a national mindset. While other nations have seen the theological practices of the Wesseir branch as borderline heretical although little to no effort seems to have been made by the greater church to influence or squelch the fires of moral relativity that dominate the nations psyche. "