Revelationism

Revelationism is currently an exceptionally decentralized faith which works in regional cells, working primarily through the theological wing of the Revelation Seekers. Because it is not officially proscribed by the Revelation Seekers, the leader of the Revelationists is not necessarily the head of that department (and currently is not), though they are often an influential voice within it. Revelationists have their own separate organization, separate from the Seekers, where they recieve donations and funds from prominent backers, and where they collect community-raised funds to sponsor spreading the gospel. Many of these lay peoples do end up entering the Revelationist organization, even if they aren't a part of the Seekers, but those who have dual membership are often the most favored because they have access to extra resources and artefacts to back up their theological arguments, as well as the support of sympathetic ears in the other departments.

There is often a divide between the ivory-tower academics who are the research and theological base of the organizaton and those who actually og out and spread the religion. Even though both sides are filled with a religious fervor in their own ways, the academics often come across as stuffy and hard to approach, prone to launching into long, theological disussions over minor points, while the barnstormers have a tendency to exaggerate or embellish a bit, sometimes getting ahead of what has officially been released and fact-checked. This sensationalist attitude is greatly looked down on by the academic core of the movement and dealt with harshly when word reaches their ears, leading to some folk offshoots of the religion when the censored member takes offense and strikes out on their own.

The Revelationists believe that the world was created by a group of gods of an unknown size, who were possibly working with a deity known as Kyvos. At some point thereafter, the gods entered a cosmic war with other deities, which may also be the time they brought in the "kyvos". After this war, however, the gods fell into conflict with Kyvos and an army of devils and demons, who sought to rule over creation. The creator gods were victorious in this war, and thereafter bound Kyvos and his demon and devil army, though the devils later escaped this binding. The gods then disappear from the record, so they were either devastated in the war and removed themselves from mortal life to heal their wounds or abandoned the world to its fate. There are various opinions as to why exactly the gods are unresponsive and what they are doing, which could create schisms in the case of no further evidence being found.

The gods the revalationsists currently believe in are:

• Kyvos: the deciever and betrayer, and evil god
• Seraphal: a wise and just god who is believed to be the main opponent of kyvos
• praelatamis: a god known for being unstable, perhaps a servant of kyvos, or even a mortal consort of nephraen, perhaps not
• yhnami: an ocean goddess associated with the naiads
• nephraen: a prominent goddess and either the leader of dryads or their creator
• an unknown god associated with magic and innovation, some say this deity made the divine libraries, and they may be male or female or both (sources don't seem to agree)

The Revelationists believe that people should try to live as closely to the "divine ideal" as possible. Although nobody is exactly sure what this divine ideal is at present, the clergy agrees that paying homage to the deities, both known and unknown, is important to confirm to them that mortals remember and honor their sacrifices. Worshippers are expected to cast away their old gods, for worshipping them is idolatry. They are commanded to seek knowledge and better themselves in the pursuit of making a better society and spreading the gospel, while also ideally obtaining new knowledge and possibly even artefacts for the organization to inspect. They are also commanded to open their homes and resources to representatives of the Revelation on their journeys, to create a nexus of worshippers, and to grow the organization through word and deed.

The Revelationists have astonishingly good ethics for an organizaed religion, possibly because they are not tied to any existing power structures. This allows them to take a hard stance against the various types of tyranny which occur across the realm and attract the poor and downtrodden. SInce the gods are considered to be largely inactive, Revelationists believe that their organization must take the place of the gods and provide support for the people. Therefore, a sizable portion of their donations go to feeding the poor, housing the homeless, and providing communities with new or restored services.

Like all religions, the Revelationists are able to tap into the magic of the world to achieve supernatural powers in a clerical sense. However, they believe that this power is not being directly granted by the gods, but rather through the faith of man. Noting that other religions can also do this feat, they postulate that the gods' residual energy is actually what prayer and supposed clerics are using to bring miracles to the mortal.

Since so much is still unknown, there are a number of sects which believe certain hypotheses about what the full truth of the religion is. More like academic or scientific camps than true sects, any one person may be a part of any of these camps so long as they do not contradict; they are as follows:

• Personalists : believe the gods all died fighting kyvos and that man is alone and must take charge of his own destiny
• Slumbrists: believe the gods are sleeping after their battle with kyvos
• apolypticists: believe the gods abandoned the world after their battle with kyvos
• Corruptists: believe kyvos aided the gods in the creation of the world and later became disillusioned
• Sinistists: believe kyvos emerged after the gods made the world, and could not create, just destroy (fringe faction believes he's just a very powerful, perhaps the first, devil)