One of the oldest religions in human history. At the time of its original conception, Indagahor was a mystical faith, lacking gods, spirits, or any sort of supernatural trappings beyond an individual's search for Enlightenment. Over time, of course, it acquired more of the trappings of organized religion -- a priesthood, an extensive monastic structure, and state sponsorship. It is now the dominant religion of the eastern end of the known world, though recently it has begun to lose ground to the more evangelical religions of the west.
History[]
Founding[]
Originally founded in the lands of the Arta Xorti people, Indagahor was a minor, national faith. Contact with the Opulensi people to the south resulted in the first few converts, as the Opulensi discarded their old, somewhat nondescript polytheistic faith for the more spiritually satisfying Indagahor.
For a long time after that, Indagahor was confined to these two peoples. Both nations colonized and expanded across the sea, so the religion grew with them, but it was a slow increase -- far less impressive than the great conversions that evangelical faiths to the west were procuring. They also won a few converts in Hamakua, but far from the majority of the people.
Later Developments[]
Around 100 SR, King Charitas of Epichirisi attempted to grow an emperor-worshiping cult in Indagahor, but this ran completely contrary to nearly every principle of the religion, and so infuriated the mystics (as well as the general populace) that he let the matter quietly die.
Somewhat later, the religion finally began to evolve when wayfaring Opulensi merchants converted a few of the locals in Hanakahi and Jipha. Quite suddenly, the religion began to expand into the west, sweeping aside local polytheisms and even challenging the established faith of Iralliam. The Zyeshu in particular took to the new religion with gusto, finding it quite compatible with their old mysticism; they added a number of elements to Indagahor, including wandering priests, monasteries on the edge of civilization, and so on.
These new ideas spread fairly quickly back to the states in the east, where the rising Opulensi Empire gladly sponsored monasteries and priests.
Reform[]
The religion was further enlivened by the work of the monk Arasos, who became the first to really make theological progress on the religion's great questions since its founding. His work and students spread the new ideas through the Opulensi and Leunan Empires, and it seemed like this infusion of life might be able to stave off the increasingly dangerous penetration of western religion.
Arasos remained the pinnacle of Indagahor philosophy, unrivaled until the mid-5th century, with the teachings of the Jiphan monk Jitanu. Originally a mere amiph under the tutelage of others, Jitanu rose to prominence initially as an outstanding sculptor before becoming known for his religious work as well. Jitanu's vision of Indagahor was a far more populist, complex idea of the religion, one where comfort and happiness did not preclude enlightenment, but were instead essential elements in its seeking. Jitanu concerned himself more with how deeds were done and what their intent was, rather than with what the deeds were.
Basic Theology[]
The roots of Indagahor were quite simple. Following ancient tradition, every person meditated at dawn every second day. This meditation was continued until one found Iehor, or enlightenment. If one found Iehor one was ready to die, though, conveniently, suicide reversed enlightenment. Many who found Iehor therefore took up dangerous occupations, such as exploration or military service. There was no organised priesthood, however there were special places where meditation was acknowledged to be enhanced. Some of those who found Iehor spread word of how they achieved it.
Naturally, this ran into some problems later on.
The most pressing theological questions, of course, were centered around the idea of Enlightenment -- questions most eloquently voiced by Arasos. Enlightenment, he wrote around 460 SR, is a slippery thing. One may believe that he has found one essential truth or another, but in reality be grasping at the air, unaware that his own spiritual awakening was a false one, and that he will discover this in short order.
He then went on to question how one could even hold any faith in the idea of enlightenment at all – presumably one would have just as much confidence in a false enlightenment as one would in the truth. In the search for truth, he wrote, there is neither freedom from suffering nor enlightenment. Truth can lead us to pain, and it needn't eliminate ignorance; indeed it can live alongside ignorance. And yet the truth is a necessary precursor for enlightenment in most philosophies...
More pragmatically, pre-Arasos theologians continually questioned how the Opulensi cultural "obsession" with wealth fit into the idea of Enlightenment -- and therefore, whether the Opulensi as a people were doomed to darkness.
All this changed with the emergence of Jitanu, an amiph who taught that any number of professions or activities, properly practiced, might craft the world and lead us towards enlightenment, and that the condemnation of wealth was counterproductive to our journey as a people -- after all, without time to think, who could study religion?
Daharai Revival[]
Despite the efforts of Arasos, Jitanu, and their successors, by 540 SR it seemed that in many respects Indagahor was consigned to a fate of slow decline and inevitable extinction. The faith was bleeding adherents across the Nakalani to the rapid encroachment of evangelical Aitahism into its traditional territories, and its only remaining champions - the Daharai Order - had been abandoned and persecuted by their former sponsor, the Opulensi Empire.
But with the excision of the Daharai, the Empire could no longer maintain effective control over its diverse and expansive colonies and territories, which one by one were seized by the Empire's many enemies. From this Imperial Opulens could not recover, and it was the Daharai who emerged victorious, though at the cost of the supremacy of Spitos on the Nakalani.
Their dominion substantially reduced, the Daharai were left to question their own fall from grace, and it was that many within the Daharai Order returned to their theological roots, and considered the future of their faith. Among these men was Sadar, a simple monastic Brother. Expounding on the failings of the the faith and the measures that it must embrace to revitalize itself in a series of lectures known as The Positions, his teachings were quickly sponsored by several influential Hierarchs in the Red Chamber, and subsequently adopted as canonical by the Second Council of Epichirisi, a contentious month-long gathering of the Conclave of Masters.
The measures canonized by this Conclave were as follows:
I. The bodies of men are imperfect, fallible, and weak. Such a vessel cannot contain the glory that is Iehor.
II. It is the soul of man that is eternal, and only that which is eternal may bear the light of Iehor. In death there is singular Harmony. A life lived by the Precepts of Indagahor is the key that unlocks the ultimate truth found in Harmony, which is Iehor. It is with Enlightenment that mortal chains are broken, and by this breaking does the soul come unto the Eternal Dominion.
III. Our Three Great Precepts are Mindfulness, Righteousness, and Illumination, and it is the last of these that is the greatest, for it is in Illumination that we find the purest expression of our Faith.
Evondi'ja Arriyma[]
Is a sect of Indagahor whose adherents believe in the teachings of Arryima and are almost exclusively Rihnit. The Evondi'ja Arriyma (Followers of Arriyma) believe in all the Non-Evondi'ja Arriyma Indagahor Primary Religious Cannon and Beliefs. They've also openly embraced "The Positions" established by Sadar a monk within the Darahai Monistic Order.
Evondi'ja Arriyma Indagahor is distinct in several ways. First and most importantly followers of Evondi'ja Arriyma also believe in an additional book, Raova Yoaba (Natural Laws). Arriyma wrote the book, Raova Yoaba after reflecting on her life.
- We can’t understand the supernatural, supernatural we haven’t understood, and can never understand the supernatural
- We can’t know how many gods there are.
- We do know one thing. The divine are not good or evil.
- Understand divine by observing our world.
- Our world can be understood by sight, hearing, smell, kusa, and logic.
- You use the senses to observe the behavior of people, nature, and animals.
- Faith with skepticism biggest virtue while blindness from arrogance and naiveté biggest vices.
Aside from the official cannon set by Raova Yoaba there are also some more minor yet still important differences between Evondi'ja Arriyma and other Indagahor Sects. Followers of Evondi'ja Arriyma don't view humans as being particularly special but hold most other animals in high regard.