Aktarash Religions

An ideology group composing of beliefs that together all agree that life requires the gain of a form of knowledge and all are believed to have been formally started by Taska Aktash with the formation of the Canon of the Word. It is the major religious group of Shanos and most parts of Koraktos. Major religions within this group are Dulanian, and Imperial Aktarash. They host a common mythology that features nature beings and a worship of nature. Significant creatures believed are the Shifters, the Treemen, Whisperclaws, and Skullmen. Most adherents believe that each person lives on eternal in their own reality, we seeing their dead body in our reality once they die, thus their spirit is believed to exist in a different reality that only the deceased person can see, sometimes believed to be a reincarnated form. It is believed that each person perceives themselves living immortal with all those around them dying. They were inspired by various folk religions at the time that gained a formal definition during the formation of the Aktash Empire under the Canon of the Word. After that point various groups split off and spread their ideologies to the natives of Shanos, Shean, and Seemor. All religions in this group share the idea that there was no creation of the universe, rather it has existed for eternity, but matter being formed in a time long ago. They believe the universe has been eternal in the word and the first thing formed was light for the word to spread. They believe that the nature beings had part in the formation of the current universe, including cosmic beings that care little or nothing for humanity. Some religions in this group put a heavy emphasis on personality types, ideals, dream symbols, stories, and imagination. Over time some religions have mixed with Intolian Religion Group religions due to its spread to Shanos.

Maktash
See Maktash Religion.

A religion in the Imperial Aktash religion group that primarily features the divinity of representatives of cultural leaders and the belief that everything that has form has a spirit. It was formally developed by Makta with the forming of the Maktankta Empire after the fall of the Aktash Empire. It features a moral code mainly built on a system of honor and worship to the gods. It establishes a system of organizing the temples of the religion similar to the method of Aktash religion consisting of an organizing of birth names of the people from the local areas, as well as their citizenship to their birth location. It also formally establishes a system of tribes and their tribal deities. Its believers worship a transcendent force of energy called the “Great Energy” which is the source of all knowledge. When they learn about something they seek to record it and preserve their knowledge, forcing its believers to develop an organized writing system to do so. They believe in nature spirits that exist in creatures, plants, forces of nature, tribes, and objects such as crystals, as well as fire. It is a branch from the common religious ancestor of the Aktash Religion Group. Its main difference from those religions in the early times was the belief in that the more knowledge a form could attain the more divine it was, which was conflicting with the other religions at the time which stated that all forms were equals in divinity, which is present in modern Fevadulan. People of this religion recognize the emperor but also obey the word of the High Priest of Montia.

Gaterash
See Gaterash Religion.

A religion in the Imperial Aktash family of religions based on Maktash with the main belief in a philosopher as an emperor, who is to be selected by a democratic means, and that this emperor is the patron deity of the Shanian Culture Group. They also believe in even higher levels of imperial status which would be patrons over more culture groups. Along with other Imperial Aktash religions, they believe a list of moral laws, which was set by Bramda Gaterakt with the foundation of his empire. It is considered by some to be a national cult. It features a belief in a meaning of life consisting of seeking knowledge, a basic moral code of giving more that what received and taking less than what taken, and a code of honor of donation knowledge. Its followers believe that a gain in knowledge is a lack of uncertainty, and that knowledge is a transcendent element of the universe that was discovered my logic. They believe that giving knowledge means bringing them into a more stable state of being. They believe that all concepts are a spirit and there is a spiritual and material component to everything, that spirits are grounded in reality and follow the laws of reality. They believe that something is real when it is logically consistent, and that if it is not then it cannot manifest itself in reality. They believe that if it can be known then it exists, and that if it cannot be known then it does not exist. They believe that only concepts are real, and that the actual thing it represents does not exist nor does it matter. It is said in their belief that reality is similar to that what we perceive is the waves of the ocean, and not the water itself, and that we may learn about the what from the change of the laws in which the waves work, but if the laws of physics stay the same we will never see the water that is knowledge. People of this religion obey the emperor and the priest chosen as one of the Three Books Holders in the The Gaterakt Empire Priest Branch.

Konash
See Konash Religion.

A religion of the Aktarash Religion Group found mainly in Shanos that believes that good works lead to divinity and that the only way to reach full knowledge and power is doing these good works. They do not have a policy of forgiveness and punish people who do not do good works. They do not like alcohol or drugs along with war. They have been known to have cults that eliminate people who are drunks and similar. They believe that sacrifice of one’s body and resources to the gods and man leads to good deeds done back to them of equal power. They are known to donate bread to the poor outside of the government and take in poor people, giving them shelter. But people that use their help must follow their strict rules of temperance and generosity. They often harm themselves for their perceived inability to do the greatest good.

Pantheon
A group of spirits in the Aktarashian Religion Group mythology and Sea Nomadism mythology that each guard a group of roles in civilization, professions, skills, and of forces of nature that are perceived as breakdowns of the eternal truth. Whoever dedicates themselves to their sphere they guard receives their guardianship and guidance. Some of the gods are symbolic ancestors to the different castes of both the Koraktos and Sea Nomad cultures. All the gods were born from other gods by means of budding or spawning, such as with corals and sponges. These gods have archetypal personalities and are the basis for the cultures of the people who have traditions revolving around these deities. There are two major trees of the pantheon, the “Seekers” and the “Destroyers”. The pantheon says that no lifeform has a Destroyer archetype and are considered anti-personalities. The Father of all personalities has the archetypal personality of the Seeker and spawned the Stoics and the Epicureans who battle over reason and the other with emotions in the search for knowledge. These two spawned their own two. The Stoic spawned the Priests and the Judges while the Epicurean spawned the Warriors and the Peasants. These form the four castes of the Lardalan-based societies. There is the belief of the Aktarashian Religion Group religions that a person receives the blessing of one of these deities when they reach the age of self-realization, reliability, and reason and are able to understand the point of offering to another and make sacrifices.

The Surprising One is a spirit of lightning, electricity, reflexes, base reactions, and surprise.

The Protector is a spirit of mountains, walls, fighting instinct, righteous wars, and martial pacifists.

The Smith is a spirit of fires, heat, smithing, cooking, purging, self-improvement, and removing falsehoods.

Fevadulan
Also known as Aktash-Labipta or Gold-Green Aktarash. A religious ideology in the Aktarashian Religion Group common to Montish. Its beliefs include that there is an immaterial entity called The Word, plant and water worship, and a maintenance of a theocratic government. They have a mythology of creatures that inhabit the world. They recognize the Head Priest of Montia as both their high king and their high priest and see him or her as the final say in the beliefs of the faith. They have an organized structure of priests that make up the government of Montia. They worship animals and plants that most idealize their species, such as the “Tree King” and the “Jet-Spear King”.