Polyarchism

There are a number of consortia of affiliated temples who focus on the same sub-pantheon but no overall organisation of all Polyarchists. The most prominent consortium is the Pentarchist Communion of Vekirai who worship an exclusive pantheon of five deities with various names but who are generally called the Joyful God, the Wrathful God, the Sorrowful God, the Peaceful God and the Silent God. The Vekirati Communion is widespread throughout the Empire of Nangkap but has little reach beyond the Empire's borders.    The five deities of the Vekirati Communion are also included in many other Polyarchist pantheons such as the Ancient Voyage, a confederacy of temples with its central council based in Bi'tsng'ot Delta. The Ancient Voyage subscribes to the worship of a pentarchy made up of the polynomial gods the Joyful God, the Sorrowful God, the Silent God, the Peaceful God and the Sleeping God. The synod of the Ancient Voyage prohibits the worship of the Wrathful God, even for appeasement although they accept his existence.   Such are the differences between the different unions. Most take five deities and are broadly called 'Pentarchy' while some take more gods and few take fewer. Some of the unions are described as 'exclusive' meaning that they assert the non-existence of all gods but their pantheon. Others are inclusive (henotheistic), believing the gods outside their pantheon to exist but not to warrant worship. The existence of the Silent God is attested by all the unions and independent temples. The Joyful God and Sorrowful God are the most widespread after the Silent God.

Arguably, the Polyarchist religion seems to have descended from an obscure ancient Amalorian cult which survived in Bi'tsng'ot Delta and some of the surrounding settlements. This cult thought of the Amalorian pantheon as a number of 'godheads' or avatars of one creator god, rather than as man separate beings. The cult became prominent in Bi'tsng'ot after Queen Ama'ota'ai declared it the state religion.   The Polyarchist clergy trace their own religion to the legendary leader of the slave rebellion against the Ancient Amalorian Empire, the handmaid Daralena. Texts written shortly after the fall of Amalor tell that God came to her with many forms and voices and guided her in her uprising against her Imperial overlords. Many Polyarchist temples revere Daralena as a saint.   At the time of the rise of the Irao Dynasty, the religion had only very few followers in Vekirai but among them were a number of wealthy merchant families with ties to Bi'tsng'ot Delta who sponsored the building of temples in the city. Amongst these wealthy families was the Irao family who would become the first kings of Vekirai in the following years. The Irao Kings never declared an official state religion but their public support for Pentarchism, political favouritism shown towards fellow Pentarchists and their patronage of the Pentarchist Communion of Vekirai led to the religion's proliferation in their lands. Pentarchism remains dominant in Vekirai, Bi'tsng'ot and in much of Nangkap.   Since the rise of Nangkap, Polyarchism, and Pentarchism in particular, has spread rapidly around the empire along trade routes. The various temple unions have pursued a policy of fairly aggressive expansion with some frontier towns having multiple small temples of different sects competing for worshippers.    Although the movement can arguably be traced back to the fall of the Amalorian Empire around 1100 years ago, it is deeply divided. This is partly to due with its rapid spread throughout Nangkap and beyond. New Polyarchist sects which incorporate older regional traditions into the Polyarchist framework have sprung up across North-East M'dia and contributed to numerous theological divisions.

The most common creation myth of the Polyarchist sects begins with a single creator or many creators acting as one. The Creator constructs the world from the primordial void using his mystical tools. In some sects the tools are building tools such as a hammer, nails, a ruler and a compass. In many other sects the tools are musical instruments such as a lute or lyre. Having built the world, the Creator begins to experience his creation. The Creator feels many things including both the desire to create and to destroy. In this turmoil, the Creator becomes fragmented.   The following deities exist in some pantheons.   From the Creator's joy emerged the Joyful God who celebrates continuously the beauty and awe of creation. The Joyful God is prayed to for protection, happiness and prosperity.   In the void, the Creator became envious of the world he had built and from him was born the Wrathful God who brought death and destruction to the world. The Wrathful God is prayed to for appeasement and protection from harm.   The Creator saw death and suffering and became saddened by this. His great misery became the Sorrowful God. The Sorrowful God weeps eternally for the suffering of her people. She is the most compassionate god and feels the pain of all living things as they suffer and die. She is prayed to for the alleviation of pain and for safety and charity.   When the Creator paused to rest the Peaceful God was formed. The Peaceful God waits and considers all things. The Peaceful God in his stillness gives safety, security and protection to his worshippers.   Some sects describe the Peaceful God going into a deep sleep and become the Restful or Sleeping God who brings peace of mind and stillness to his worshippers. In some branches, the Sleeping God becomes the Dreaming God who is associated with prophecy.   The Creator's wisdom is the Thoughtful God who is a patron of scholars and students while the creators passion is the Loving God who oversees marriages in some sects.   The Dancing God is worshipped in very few temples (most notably a large temple in the town of Hamingatsen south of Vekirai). In the Hamingatsen sect, the Creator created the world by dancing rhythmically and playing celestial music. The Hamingatsen sect believe that the dance continues in the form of the Dancing God who continues to create all things which are new.   The only god worshipped universally by Polyarchists is the Silent God who represents the yearning of all things to return to the void. The Silent God is thought to be destined to one day unite the gods again and to then destroy the world. The Silent God oversees funeral rites and is prayed to to postpone the apocalypse and the deaths of loved ones.    The story of Saint Daralena is also important in many Polyarchist sects. Daralena, a handmaiden to a noble during the time of the Amalorian Empire, is said to have been visited by God (or by the gods) who appeared to her in many forms and guided her to lead the slave rebellion against her Amalorian overlords who had displeased God in their use of magic to try to overthrow him. In some traditions, Daralena never died, and was instead taken into the Heavenly realm of God which she maintains until the time comes for the fragments of God to reform at the end of the world.

The most common view of cosmology amongst polyarchists is that the Creator is all-powerful and eternal and that it is His intrinsic nature to create and destroy. In many ways, the world itself is seen as part of the Creator and the diversity of the world is due to the diversity of the Creator's feeling.   In the Hamingatsen sect, the Creator begins the world by dancing. In Bi'tsng'ot Delta, the common wisdom states that the Creator pulled the world up from the bottom of a primordial ocean using a divine anchor or harpoon. The Vekirati Temple favours an artisan creator who fashions the world with precise and complex tools.   Some sects believe the Creator was always many beings and that there was no fragmentation. These are called the Aschismists while those who believe in the fracturing of the Creator are Schismists.   It is commonly held that all people hold in them a part of the Creator which is their soul and is associated with the fracturing of the creator soon after the world was created and which returns to the Creator when they die with parts of their soul going to each part of the Creator to be reunited when the Creator is reformed to destroy the world.   Each god sets different examples to be followed. In the afterlife, the person's soul spends most time with the gods they serve most closely. For example, the Sorrowful God is please by those who alleviate suffering in the world and so those who do so spend time in her paradise, protected by her from all sadness.   The Polyarchists generally recognise a distinction between the physical world and the spirit world. The spirit world was once the heavenly realm of the creator but when the creator fractured at the beginning of the world, the spirit world was thrown into turmoil, resulting in its present dangerous state. Demons, as the Polyarchists see it, are a result of this chaos, and seek to expedite the destruction of the creation. At the heart of the spirit world is the Gleaming Citadel of the Creator where (in some sects) Saint Daralena awaits the reformation of the Creator and the return of all souls to his grace and glory.

Each god has their own tenets. The details of Polyarchist morality varies greatly by sect however. Some are listed below:   The Joyful God asks his worshipper to respect their fathers and to celebrate their achievements and victories in his name, always seeking to find joy in everything   The Sorrowful God asks her worshipper to alleviate suffering in the world. The Sorrowful God asks all to respect their mothers and ancestors.   The Peaceful God asks his worshipper to maintain balance and justice and a calm mind.   The Wrathful God should be respected but avoided, unlike the other gods. The other gods are pleased by those who avoid the temptation of the Wrathful God.   The Silent God should be revered and respected. The Silent God represents the inevitable end of all things and discourages worshippers from fear or jealousy.

Polyarchist morality varies greatly between sects. A number of common features of Polyarchist moral philosophy are listed below.

• Polyarchist sects generally believe in an afterlife. In most traditions, the soul (the fragment of the Creator within each living thing) is divided between the godheads who reside in the spirit world. When the Creator reforms, the soul will reform too and reunite with the Creator. In many traditions, the souls of sinners face an afterlife in constant wrath or emptiness in the realm of the Wrathful God or the Silent God.
• Most sects are strictly opposed to magic. The Vekirati Communion, although officially opposed by magic, is quiet on this issue so as not to upset the Vekirati Sages. This prohibition comes from the cosmological idea that magic is the tool of the Creator and that it is improper for mortals to try to steal that power.
• Polyarchist sects have a complicated and varied opinion on gender. The Vekirati Communion is essentially patriarchal, an idea that is derived from the idea in that sect that the Joyful God, a male godhead, is the leader of the pantheon of godheads. The Bi'tsng'ot Delta sect however is matriarchal, mostly because of the great importance they place on Saint Daralena. 
• The sects are divided also on sex. In some sects, the fatherly role of the Joyful God and the motherly role of the Sorrowful God are used as justification that the priests of those godheads should seek to be fathers and mothers themselves. Other sects focus instead on the single devotion of Saint Daralena to God to explain the importance of celibacy.
• The largest sects are all strictly opposed to homosexuality which they see as a corruption of the creators natural order.
• The Polyarchist sects are broadly agreed that all people should return to the proper worship of the Creator and evangelise widely. The vast majority of Polyarchists are Espirion though there have been limited attempts to spread Polyarchism to people of other races.
• Many Polyarchist groups have moral codes based on reverence and hierarchy, usually with the priesthood at the top of the social hierarchy.

Below are outlined briefly details of the four largest polyarchist sects.

The Bi'tsng'ot Delta Tradition

Called the 'Ancient Voyage', the followers of the Bi'tsng'ot Delta Tradition believe in 5 godheads primarily: the Joyful God, the Sorrowful God, the Peaceful God, the Silent God and the Sleeping God. They worship the four former godheads. The Sleeping God is the godhead who will awake at the end of the world to remake it. They believe that the Creator pulled the world out of the sea with a great anchor in the beginning, before the Creator fractured into the godheads. They are an inclusive sect, they believe that there exist other, minor godheads, less worthy of reverence but equally real. The Ancient Voyage is the oldest polyarchist sect. They are an schismist sect, believing that the Creator became fragmented after the creation. The sect is led by a council of priests called the Voyagers' Synod based in Bi'tsng'ot Delta.   In particular, the Ancient Voyage believe in the existence of the antagonistic Wrathful God who they do not pray to in order to avoid encouraging his presence. Where the Ancient Voyage co-exists with the Vekirati Communion, a great deal of tension arises due to the worship of the Wrathful God amongst the Vekirati temples.   Saint Daralena is extremely important in the Bi'tsng'ot Delta tradition. She is said to reside in the Golden Citadel of the Creator where she mediates between the godheads and mortals. The priesthood of the Ancient Voyage is dominated by women who try to follow the example of Daralena.  

The Vekirati Sect

The Communion of Vekirai is a Pentarchist sect. They are an exclusive sect who believe solely in the five deities: the Joyful God, the Sorrowful God, the Wrathful God, the Silent God and the Peaceful God. They are a schismist sect, believing that the Creator became fragmented after the creation. They are the largest sect in Nangkap, governed from the High Temple in Vekirai called the Temple of the Five.   The Vekirati sect, officially the Pentarchist Communion of Vekirai, is renowned for its particularly ornate temples and complex, esoteric rituals.   Saint Daralena is revered in the Vekirati Sect to a lesser degree than in the Bi'tsng'ot Delta Sect. For the Vekirati Communion, although she waits in the Golden Citadel, Saint Daralena is not divine in her own right.   

The Hamingatsen Sect

The Hamingatsen Sect is a small but significant sect. They are a Hexarchist, inclusive, aschismist sect. That is, they believe in six deities primarily but recognise other minor deities. They believe that there was no schism; the Creator was always multifarious. They worship the following six gods: the Dancing God, the Joyful God, the Sorrowful God, the Silent God, the Peaceful God and the Wrathful God. The Hamingatsen sect is loosely organised around the High Temple in Hamingatsen although this is more out of respect than out of any sort of hierarchical relationship.  

The A'ot Sect

The A'ot Temple is the official state religion of the Kingdom of A'ot. The sect is very different from the sects of neighbouring Nangkap. It's an aschismist tradition in which the Thoughtful God dreams up the universe as the Dreaming God. The Dreaming God imagines parents to look after his universe, the Joyful God and the Sorrowful God as well as the Silent God to tend to the death of mortals and a Peaceful God to teach morality to the people. The Sleeping God is the aspect which will one day awake, thus destroying the world. The A'ot sect is strictly hierarchical and exclusive. The High Priest is based in Ostadun and is arguably the most powerful person in the Kingdom, perhaps even more powerful than the King himself.   The Ostadun temple accepts Saint Daralena as a prophetess but not as divine. In the A'ot tradition, Saint Daralena was murdered by priests of the Amalorian gods as she journeyed to the west to preach the Polyarchist faith.