Amrunism

 

Overview

  Amrunism is the religion dedicated to the worship of the goddess of love, compassion, charity and dedication. Adopted by the Muri gnomes after they escaped the Chika and the Kurai by following a ray of light to the surface and, in contrast to the Kurai in their pursiut, surviving the great burning. The Great Burning is the name for the day the the Muri fought the Kurai at the chasm of the Underground and won due to the extreme heat. Most gnomes survived with severe burns because they already spent several weeks at the surface and had grown more resistant to the sun, while the Kurai were firstly exposed to the scorching rays of Amrun.    

Yonbubunakaranaru-do

  The central tenets are often reffered to as The Fourfolded Path. Amrunjin, those who practice Amrunism, strive to be liberated from their impure existence, given them by Kurami, by following these principles. They believe that life is a sequence of suffering, pain, illness and death.   By reaching enlightenment they escape these agonies and become pure after their death and join Amrun as part of her life giving force that nurtures all living beings on the surface. In consequence breaking their cycle of rebirth.    

Institutions

  The spiritual leaders are the monks and abbots that offer services at temples and shrines dedicated to the journy to enlightenment of their followers. The Ichimon is the first monk and interpret of Amruns words and is chosen by her through The Trail Of The Goddess. It takes place at the top of the temple tower of the castle of the Order of the Guarding Sun, the spot where the first battle on the surface took place and Amrun was declared the savior of the Muri. To complete the ritual participants, mostly high ranking abbots, have to meditate naked without water or food. The sole monk who survives the ritual is declared the new Ichimon. Only he can perform the most important rituals.   In the early ages after the surfacing, before the Kokushi became the most powerful class on the continent, only the Ichimon could appoint the abbots of the largest and most powerful temples. But today the power of the Ichimon is fractured and temples mostly appoint their successors and get the first monks ceremoniously approve their choice.   The primary Temples of a school of thought has many smaller temples and temple cities under them with in turn have even smaller temples or shrines on a local level. The primary temples supply those below it with relics to use in the rituals or sometimes funds while at the same time proclaiming a sort of code of conduct. Because the connections are pretty loose primary temples have no idea how many temples or shrines actually are in their spehere of influence. They know about two or three layers below them but especially the dimension of the lower layers are unknown to them. Those temples or shrines below a corresponding temple or temple city usually pay most of the donations they recieve as tribute to them.   Because of the formation of feudal power structures, due to fast growing of power the Kokushi, the most powerful temples have their own fief-like domains separate from the Kokushi class. They have similar legal privilages like them but not build around a noble family but a temple. Often temple cities are fortified because skirmishes with other temples or Kokushi clans are all to common. Altough Kokushi often face severe consequences if they attack a temple without a good reason. With most temples having their own armies smaller clans refrain from attacking temples. Those amries mostly consist of townspeople, mercenaries, monks and sometimes even large numbers of peasants.    

Schools of thought

  Due to the loss of the Ichimons controll over the temples and the growing of autonomy of the latter there even evolved several schools of thought. The two most influential are the Tarada-do and the Ikoko-do.   The Tarada-do is the more conservative of them and leans strongly on the interpretations of Ichomon Tochma, the leader who saw the ray of Amrun and leading the Muri to the surface. Bakujin are considered as evil by this school of thought because they violate the tenets by hunting animals and pursuing other bloody occupations. Woman are considered as more impure than men and therefore are seen as unable to reach enlightenment.   Ikoko-do is a more recently evolved and more liberal interpretation of Amruns techings coined by the abbot Ryuan. The most visible difference to Tarada-do is that they are inclined to ignore the orders of Ichimons and believe that even bakujin and women can reach enlightenment. Adherants of this school put less importance to doctrines and rituals than the Tarada-do and have a strong followership among artisans, merchants and lower rank Kokushi. Despite that fact, the overwhelming majority of the monks and abbots of this school are male of noble ascent or former merchants. Many temples and shrines were constructed along busy trade routes and some wealthy merchants even paid wholy for the construction of these temples.    

Position of woman in Amrunism

  Althought woman are not legally forbidden to become a nun, monks or abbots the number of female spiritual leaders are quite rare because they are considered more impure than men. The reason for this argument is the fact that only woman have to get through the pains of pregnancy and carry the risk to die at birth. The menstruation is judged as sign of inferior material that was used to create woman, because they loose blood regularly. In the Tarada school of thought woman first have to be reborn as men before they can reach enlightenment.   The Ikoko-do however states that everyone can reach absolution, woman included. Although they don't view woman as equal to men, so even in the more liberal school of though woman are seldom more than simple nuns. But woman that subscribe to this school often find employ by merchants or transporteurs to help with logistics.    

Sexuality in Amrunism

  Amrujin of all schools of thought view sex as a practice of love to another person aswell as to life itself. There is no prohibition of sex outside the marriage. That often leads to men having concubines additional to their wifes. Powerful lords often send their their daughters or sons to learn the art of live in a brothel which are not restricted to red light districts but are as common as bath houses in larger cities.   Monks, nuns and abbots don't swear an oath of celibacy but monks often abandon their children, especially when they are born a daughter, and the mother because they have no means of caring for them. Some bring their sons into the care of a temple or shrine to be trained to be a monk one day.   In rare cases monks abandon the temple they serve in to provide for their new family.    

Homosexuality in Amrunism

  Same sex relations are neither sanctioned nor forbidden. In fact the Muri argue that love is love and that there is no difference between same sex relationships or heterosexual marriages. Abbots often even encourage sexual bonds between their fellow monks, because it intensifies the power of Amrun.   Despite all that higher ranked abbots and especially the Kokushi encurage and engage in marriages between men and women because they come with higher political benefits.