Unnamed Ovinex Religion
The ovinex language of Ba'a lacks a term for the religion which most Native Ovinex share, referring to it only as "Religion." The so-called Unnamed Ovinex Religion is a contemplative religious folkway shorn of most organizational strictures and based strongly in the Native Ovinex oral traditions stretching all the way back to before The Curved Time.
Foreign Relations
The Unnamed Ovinex Religion has few non-ovinex adherents, and, in fact, it is only through the efforts of interested parties like the Elliptical Order and the neighboring Rostran Esotericist faith that the more nuanced aspects of the ancient belief system have disseminated beyond the domains of the Ovinex Island Tribes. In Ba'a, religions belonging to other cultures are simply referred to "(Culture)- or (Species)-Religion," though some (such as the Way of the Biocosm) are more difficult for the Ovinex to assign as such than others. Indeed, there are ongoing questions about whether the ovinex, being non-humanoid, can reasonably be said to have the same kind of understanding of the word 'religion' as others understand it. The terms "Triunity" and "Herdism" are foreign labels sometimes assigned to the the Native Ovinex "Religion," but these are solely based on the traits of the religion and not any official nomenclature.
Divine Origins
The Native Ovinex cannot trace the origins of their religion back to any single event, though it is believed that some form of "Religion" has existed for at least 10,000 years (i.e. all the way back to the origin of sentience under the Manifold Sky, a period also known as the end of The Curved Time).
Cosmological Views
For the ovinex, "Religion" is understood to be the spiritual recognition of an all-encompassing collective unconscious which all living things and the world as a whole share. This collective unconscious is felt by the practitioner of the unnamed religion as the overlapping unities of the three major spheres in which the individual exists: the Flock, (one's family all the way back to the "Curved Time"), the Tribe (the social group to which one remains loyal), and the Spirit (one's connection to the wondrous mysteries of nature and the cosmos).
Tenets of Faith
Followers of the Unnamed Ovinex Religion are expected to seek deep interpersonal connections with their communities in a bid to better serve the collective needs of that community. An adherent to "Religion" does not balk at fulfilling his social duties, as, for the faithful, other members of one's family or tribe are spiritual extensions of oneself. To live a happy life, the balance of Flock, Tribe, and Spirit must be maintained within the individual - otherwise, only suffering ensues. For example, ram rex are considered to be spiritually conflicted individuals because they are divorced from the Flock and Tribe while being powerful avatars of the Spirit. Similarly, Native Ovinex regard Rostrans as unhappy in part because they are seen as being tightly bound to Flock while allowing hard science to sever their sense of wonder towards the Spirit.
Worship
Worship is conducted by each individual through contemplation of nature and the unsolved mysteries of the cosmos. For example, an Ovinex sailor might lay down in his boat and stare into the night sky for an hour or more until he rekindles his sense of wonder at it. The parallels between this practice and that of clergymen in the Eyes of the Void has long been recognized by scholars of comparative religion and, in recent years, has served as a point of justification for the formation of the Elliptical Order.
Priesthood
"Religion" is spread by oral tradition, with tribal shamans practicing evocative storytelling techniques to induce the sense of oneness with the collective unconscious in the faithful. The position of shaman is often hereditary; the young are not obliged to continue the legacy should they lack the required spiritual fervor, and "hedge shamans" are sometimes elevated to fill the role within a tribe.
Type
Religious, Other
Alternative Names
Triunity, Herdism
Permeated Organizations
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