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༻Religion༺

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In ancient times, the gods openly interacted with humanity—and as such, everyone believed in the same gods. Everyone knew the general history of the universe, that one reincarnates after they died, and all things of that nature, simply because they could ask or easily observe these facts themselves. The imprisonment of Maiden Moon led to a domino effect: in the centuries after this, Mère Terre began distancing herself from humanity, and Père Ciel did not often interact with humans even before this, leaving Lady Sun as the one god who bothered to. Over time, as the human population grew, even she started to only give her attention to those she considered “elite” enough for her. By the early 3000s S.A., Lady Sun’s interactions have become limited only to a small number of high ranking priests, and the royal families of Soléiâ and Asàshí. Even the fae have come to largely leave humans be, relagated to the realm of children's stories in the eyes of many.

The steady distancing of the gods from the lives of average people has caused the view of them to splinter. The “traditional religion” in its various forms has held steadfast; however, revealed religions have sprung up to either compete with or augment the old ways, some becoming especially popular and influential. In addition to this, agnosticism and even atheism—unthinkable in ancient times—are becoming increasingly common, especially among the wealthy and well educated that see no need to believe in anything magical, as well as others who have not interacted with gods or fae.

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~Traditional Religion~

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~Pantheism~

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A form of traditional worship that honors all the gods equally, not particularly putting any one god above the other. In ancient times, this was the most common faith among humans, aside from the specific few who became priests; however, after the imprisonment of Maiden Moon, this path grew wildly unpopular among humanity. This path remains extremely common among the fae, however, who tend to believe it is not their place to judge the gods.

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~Solism~

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A form of traditional worship that predominantly worships Lady Sun. After the other gods became distanced from humanity, this became the most popular religion, and remains extremely common in both Soléiâ and Asàshí. Solists are simultaneously some of the most moderate followers of Lady Sun, and some of the most extreme—on one hand, many people who are casually religious are Solists, simply honoring and praying to her without particularly strong opinions on the other gods. On the other hand, devout Solists tend to be extremely intolerant of those who follow the other gods due to their perceived wrongdoings against both Lady Sun and humanity. Solism tends to be the default religion in rural areas, but is still quite common in cities.

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~Lunism~

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A form of traditional worship that predominantly worships Maiden Moon. In ancient times this became the most popular path aside from pantheism, as Maiden Moon became renowned for her unusual attentiveness to followers. But of course, once she became condemned, none but the most loyal of followers continued her worship. By the early 3000s S.A., an extremely paltry number of people worship her, and often do so less out of genuine faith and more so to make a statement or to draw attention to themselves. Only a very tiny number of strange people unironically worship her.

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~Revealed Religions~

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~Léidize~

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An offshoot of Solism which began in Soléiâ that still worships Lady Sun as its primary goddess, but with an alternate theology. They are monotheistic, believing Lady Sun is the sole goddess and the creator of the universe, and that traditional beliefs mistakenly find divinity which does not exist in the Earth, Moon, and Sky. While most followers of Lady Sun have hopes of going to her heaven after death, Léidizans place a special emphasis on this, believing that one may simply enter heaven through honoring her and knowing her “true nature” and spreading this knowledge to others. While they view all other religions as mistaken, most do not exhibit blatant ire towards them, and try to convert them through other means, often charity or proselytizing. Most monasteries devoted to Lady Sun are the work of Léidizans. This religion is very common in urban areas, especially in Soléiâ, while a minority exists in Asàshí—most notably, the royal family of Asàshí are Léidizans.

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~Faìróngdaò~

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A religion originating Asàshí, Faìróngdaò completely eschews worshiping the gods as a major focus, instead focusing on self cultivation as a way to return to and become one with the Shadows. Due to the nature of the religion, it is more practiced within the confines of monasteries than by average people, but some non-monastic followers exist. Similarly to Léidize, charity and proselytizing as a means to spread their religion is common. Followers of other religions tend to view pure Faìróngdaòists as almost cultish—even so, Faìróngdaò monasteries are not uncommon, and it is something of a trend for Asàshían nobility to join monasteries later in life. While a small number of people in Soléiâ have come to live by a similar philosophy in their own life, the lack of teachers and monasteries makes this religion as a formal entity almost nonexistent in Soléiâ.

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~Shueyídaò~

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An offshoot of Faìróngdaò which combines the more mystical aspects of the religion with traditional religion. Most followers of Shueyídaò do not particularly care about returning to the Shadows and simply want to live in peace with the gods and fae like traditional paths, but view the practices of Faìróngdaò as another way to do so. Due to its relative laxity compared to Faìróngdaò, Shueyídaò is as common in Asàshí as Solism in all but the most rural of areas. A small minority of Shueyídaòists exist in Soléiâ, particularly in urban areas.