The Mortuary Faith

The Mortuary Faith follows a rather unique dogma of both Death and Ancestor Worship. The Goblins, the race that follows this religion, believe that their mortal lives should be used in the service of a greater good: that of their family, their community, and their Gods. Upon their death, it is believed that a Goblin will enter the "Land of the Dead". This is not like other afterlives that the Intelligent Races believe in, as it is tiered. Depending on how you lived your life, and how you died, your Soul will go to a different part of the Land of the Dead, where it will stay for the rest of eternity.   Most Goblins will enter Tūāwhiorangi, commonly considered to be a "lower" tier of the afterlife, but still a paradise. If one has lived a life in accordance with Goblinoid values, and died in their sleep, of a health issue, or of sickness, they will enter Tūāwhiorangi. Here, all are young forever, are free of disease and starvation, and can communicate with their ancestors before them freely.   The other of the heavens is Kahukura, the final destination for those who died in battle or in any other service, or after any great service to their nation. Here, the sake flows from waterfalls, for the finest of the fallen no longer need to worry about their service, for their duty ends in death. The denizens of Kahukura are said to be fully allowed to visit their relatives and ancestors in Tūāwhiorangi, but Kahukura is off-limits to those who have not earned it.   In contrast to the "Heavens" (the collective term for Tūāwhiorangi and Kahukura), there is a hell within the Land of the Dead: Ro'e. Those who committed major sins, died while committing a crime, or committed suicide will be banished to this realm of darkness and fire. It is said that great beasts command chain gangs of these damned souls who make it so that the wind blows, the tides turn, and the seasons shift as the Gods need them to. As those who have committed suicide or who died while committing a crime are known to go to Ro'e, their families will never record their name in the ancestral scroll or add their ashes to the family urn, for their shame should not be remembered.   This, of course, is all nonsense, as the Gods cannot create an "afterlife" nor can there be one at all, as when a living being dies, their soul leaves their body for good and simply joins with the rest of the mana in the universe.

Like all religions on Ecumene, the Mortuary Faith worships the Divine Trinity, but the religion has chosen to worship specific aspects of the Trinity over others.   Yxotl is worshipped as "Yxotl the War-Father". His domain as the God of War is focused upon by the Mortuaries. The Goblins are a martial people who have until only recently been in near constant war with one another, so this domain taking primacy should come as no surprise. It is further believed that cowardice in the face of death, or even worse, suicide, angers Yxotl greatly.   Qhaxsus is worshipped as "Qhaxsus the Home-Father". His domains as the God of Love and the Home are focused upon by the Mortuaries. The Goblin race believes family to be very important, and the formation of one with the ones you love is a big step on your way to the Land of the Dead.   Oxlan is worshipped as "Oxlan the Law-Father". His domain as the God of Law is focused upon by the Mortuaries. The Goblins are a people that believe very firmly in not only the mandate of their Divinely-sanctioned Chieftain but the virtue of a well-oiled society.   Furthermore, the Mortuary Faith does not believe the Gods take a part in creating life, believing that they are simply judges of the soul, not the producers of it.

Death is inevitable. All cultures and people know this well, but it weighs heaviest on the Goblins. Their people very rarely make it past the age of 55, considered to be middle-aged by most others, and a weaker people would fall into despair because of it. The Goblins, however, have embraced it. They know that death comes swiftly, so it should be denied or feared. It simply exists, and those who run from it are fools.   Furthermore, death is not the end. The Goblins firmly believe that their ancestors who have passed on to the Heavens are not only deserving of reverence, but are able to affect the physical world. Because of this idea, the centerpiece of Goblinoid religion is not a church or temple, but a small Ancestral Shrine (like that pictured above, although the displayed example is more akin to something one would find in a middle-class Akatowaiian household). A shrine is diligently cared for by the entire family, as it serves as a vessel for communication between the Goblins and their ancestors. If a shrine is well maintained, it is thought that those beyond the grave may see fit to "speak" with those still living. Say, for instance, a young Goblin is in need of relationship advice, but those around him are unable to give the answers he seeks. To find such answers, he will kneel before his family's Ancestral Shrine and speak to it. If his ancestors see fit, they are said to give an answer, if the young man is willing to know it. The voice of the ancestors can be found in the whisper of the wind, the bubbling of a stream, or even the shatter of glass on the ground. Point being, one will know when the ancestors speak to them and what they are saying. Families that neglect their Ancestral Shrine or care for it improperly will no doubt incur the wrath of their ancestors, who will bring down misfortune upon those who live until they are given the proper reverence.   However, courting favors from those who are passed on is hardly the point of the Mortuary Faith. It is one that preaches sacrifice, not in the search for the Heavens or out of some selfish desire, but because it is the right thing to do. The Goblins revere their family that has passed and serve their family that lives because they are greater than the self. They could not be here if it were not for those who came before, and there would be none after them if they did not provide for those living, so they must give up the self in favor of the whole. Indeed, much of what the Mortuary Faith is is about serving the greater good. As a Goblin's life is fleeting, it is not only ultimately useless for it to be spent in the pursuit of one's own pleasure, but selfish and entirely disgraceful. A life served for one's self or a life served complaining about one's lot is a life that is better spent working to give their family a better life or spent in service of the glory of their country.   It is due to this that filial piety and the divine mandate of the ruling class are central to Goblinoid society. As it stands, a majority of Goblins live in farming communities, these communities being made up of various extended families who all live under the same roof. With father, uncle, and brother all living together, the role of the family's patriarch falls to the oldest male Goblin in the household. Even if he is physically unable to directly work for the family, due to his age and experience, it is understood by all that he must step up and act as the family's head. Furthermore, it is the duty of the young to respect their elders in all things, not to lie to them or to refuse their wisdom, and to bring a good name to their families through public conduct and service to the greater whole.   Because of the Goblinoid devotion to service and sacrifice, most find it completely absurd that those who rule them could be anything but holy themselves. Of course, it would be insane to imagine that those who rule are Gods or something similar, but to say that they have been chosen by the Gods to rule is not hard. After all, there is no greater service than to devote your life entirely to the business of protecting and ruling your people, a divine duty that surely comes with the backing of the Gods themselves. Prior to the Unification of the race, it was believed that each Chieftain had his own divine mandate over his Clan, but as Otikoro tore through the Archipelago, the Akatowaiians and those who came to follow his message of nationalism declared that the other Chieftains had lost their mandate and that Otikoro - the one and only Divine Chieftain - was the favored servant of the Divine. The idea of Tīkoke's sovereign being the only noble Goblin with a Divine Mandate has now become official state policy, taught to every Goblinoid child in the school system and drilled into the heads of those who found their Clans absorbed into Tīkoke, and as it stands, Otikoro is the one Goblin in the Archipelago who bears the title "Chosen of the Heavens".   Last of the Mortuary Faith's trio of primary values (following the veneration of the dead and the veneration of sacrifice) is the idea of spiritual purity. Just as death is inevitable, sin is inevitable. No Goblin is free of momentary bouts of selfishness, cowardice, or disrespect, but it is the job of all Goblins to recognize these faults and correct them. There are also several strict taboos within Goblinoid society, taboos that can stain your reputation with the Gods and with your ancestors, almost all of them being related to Ancestor Worship. Pointing at any Ancestral Shrine or speaking while walking past the shrine of another family are both taboos. If a mother gives birth to a stillborn child, her entire family is believed to have given their ancestors cause for extreme anger, and must all purify themselves. Lastly, the most major taboo is that of breaking an Ancestral Shrine. Regardless or not if it is your own, this will curse you with 27 years of misfortune (three times three times three) and will no doubt completely ruin your standing with your community. While those who break Shrines cannot purify themselves after the fact, they can be allowed into the Heavens after their death, but only if they follow the teachings of the Mortuary Faith to the letter.   While taking actual action to show submission to your family and community is paramount after sinning, the Soul itself must be washed of evils, so to speak. This is done through the use of ritual candles, which must be made from the wax of a plant. Once a candle is lit and a small bit of smoke is inhaled and then breathed out, one's sin will leave with it, and the forgiven Goblin must promise with their next breath to become better. Of course, while a candle burns brightly, it will always go out, serving as an apt reminder of mortality.

The Mortuary Faith has no temples or churches. All the Goblins need are their Ancestral Shrines, holy as they are. While they can get to be very big and very decorated, the shrine of the common Goblin is a small wooden cabinet holding a few things of importance. Of course, the aforementioned purifying candles are always found on these shrines, and the cabinets may also sport small statues or (more recently) photographs of the deceased. The most important part of an Ancestral Shrine is found in the center of the whole thing. It is a large, decorated urn that holds the collected ashes of a family's ancestors, above which is kept a scroll. This scroll is a record of everyone who has been a part of the household; a holy artifact if there ever was one.   Every morning, a Goblinoid family will dust off their Ancestral Shrine and replace the candles on it. A poorly maintained shrine is, as stated already, incredibly taboo and will no doubt offend the ancestors who are revered through it. It is also common for families to leave a small cup of sake and a small bowl of rice on a shrine's bottom shelf after breakfast to further show the ancestors that they are not forgotten. After saying the name of a dead person, no matter if they are one's ancestor or not, it is holy and incredibly respectful for one to follow their name with the phrase "Gods be pleased with them".   Goblins will never pray to their ancestors, for such a thing is not only incredibly heretical, but it is commonly believed that the ancestors should be venerated through one's actions. Indeed, despite the reverence the Goblins have for their dead, the Gods still take primacy, and the Goblins pray to the Gods just as much as those of other faiths do and for the same reasons. After all, while an ancestor may be able to guide you emotionally, only Yxotl can save you from an enemy's spear, only Qhaxsus can defend your home from harm, and only Oxlan can bless a soul with divine inspiration. The prayers of the Mortuary Faith are traditionally spoken aloud.   There is only one true holiday within the Mortuary Faith (although practitioners will celebrate the birthdays of the recently deceased, and celebrate the birth of a Goblin with extreme reverence besides), and that is the Refulgencia. Heraldsky 8th, the day of the holiday, is the day that the Gods themselves were born and is, therefore, a day of incredible and obvious holiness. On this day, the Goblins will shoot off an obscene amount of fireworks (which are actually a Goblinoid invention and the sole thing that the isolated Clans really used gunpowder for) with the purpose of filling the sky with color, just as it was on that great day. However, before the fireworks are shot off, everyone in a village must purity themselves with a ritual candle and partake in a community-wide feast.

The Mortuary Faith does not have priests or holy books, or at least none that fall in line with the Trinitist/Commonalist idea of what priests and holy books are. First and foremost, there is no clergy within the Jade Archipelago. It is the duty of all Goblins to self-regulate; they need no priest to tell them what to do. If they did, their selflessness would not be true subservience to the whole and recognition of what truly matters. Secondly, the traditions and beliefs of the Mortuary Faith are passed down orally, taught to and learned by every child in the Jade Archipelago. The Faith and its teachings are just as inherent to the Goblins as their language or their appearance, so there is no need to write any of it down.   However, be this as it all may, there is a class of Goblins that are devoted to the study of the Gods and the Faith. They are not priests or monks, though. They are scholars and artists, known to the Goblins as the "Tohunga". While they almost always have other distinguished careers, being high-ranking soldiers, practicing doctors, or even Chieftains, the Tohunga have become especially devoted to the Mortuary Faith and are keen on its study. Through meditation, prayer, and even the creation of art (mainly poetry), a Tohunga will reflect and speak on death and sacrifice, learning from the Gods and from the world itself as they do. Those who have devoted themselves in such a manner are greatly respected, and due to their knowledge, they will often be called upon by their communities or even their nation as a whole to advise on matters of religion.

The Mortuary Faith is a very simple and (ironically) individual religion, although all Goblins are devout followers of the Faith and follow all of the aforementioned traditions and rites.