Religion and Philosophy

[Peregrin]

RELIGION IN THE HRUKAN OLIGARCHY

The inhabitans of the Cradle System are no strangers to religion. The Progenitors' existence in the distant past was marked by vast wars between rivalling religions. The end of the First Dark Age of Industry caused this to escalate further as many now-forgotten nations collapsed into theocracies and then barbarism, the latter either in spite of or because of religion.

With the coming of the Nerakk Empire, the Progenitor-Descendants adopted many of the creeds of their new Nerakk masters. When the Nerakk left the Cradle System and the Hrukan Oligarchy emerged, much effort was done towards creating a new distinct Hruka culture, as independent and different as possible from those of the Nerakk. Whether that has succeeded or not is up to debate, but in the field of theology it has meant that the dominant Hruka religions are the ones which came into being shortly after the eruption of the Great Two-Front War which crippled the Nerakk Empire.

The current religious currents of Hruka society have much in common, and ironically the shared tenets only serve to highlight the different schisms. This makes Hrukan religion extremely confusing since noone is completely sure exactly what means what and a great deal of them never openly question their own definitions or motivations. To add to the mess which the Hruka religions resemble to an outsider, the many movements have many sub-schools and sub-movements which intertwine with each other in a truly strange web. Individual thinkers and/or groups of thinkers have connections and relations to other groups which have splintered off from movements whose ideologies are all but completely alien to the thinkers mentioned first in this sentence, and tiny disagreements have caused almost violent schisms which never have been forgiven.

Add to this that the "spiritual landscape" of the Hruka is perhaps that where things are the least black/white and you have something very difficult to comprehend. Even the highest thinkers of the Hruka do not know exactly whether their proclaimed enemies just misunderstood tiny details or disagree with them vehemently on all points.

To begin with, Hruka religions are not as much religions as they are philosophies with adherents with practically religious loyalty to their respective schools. The overall effect in their society, though, is much like that of religion. Whereas the religions we know usually are built upon the assumed existence of deities, the only thing that all Hruka religions agree on are the complete and assured existence of any sort of goddesses or gods. What they then build upon is the consequence of the non-existence of gods.

The two major schools of thought and their many sub-groups are:


Seih-Avinlak teaches that since gods do not exist, we mortals must strive to produce gods of some sort. Exactly how is the source of the internal schisms within this school.

• Seih-Avinlak rhekra Hruk Eg-Hra takes this literally and attempts to make gods of mortals through means relating to natural science, as the Hruk Eg-Hra find that all which cannot be measured and weighted do not exist. These are often found disagreeing on exact what the definition of godhood is, producing further schisms within this. The Hruk Eg-Hra Nukar-Vhul have been conducting expensive, but well-funded, experiments in genetic engineering (both mechanical and selective breeding) to produce increasingly intelligent and physically strong prodigal Hruka - as such, they count among them the brightest minds of the Hruka. The Hruk Eg-Hra Kahok-Sa are infamous for their other approach to becoming gods as they upload their minds to mechanical bodies and modify their computerized minds. Despite their few numbers, they are amongst the most influental and powerful of the Hruka sects. Mention must also be given to the Hruk Eg-Hra Svankar-Hrai-Katak, who basically want to produce their gods by crossbreeding with Faeries taking Hruka forms, something which has not happened yet.
• Seih-Avinlak rhekra Hruk Gir-Sa-Hra believes that the bit about becoming gods is a metaphor for striving higher and producing a society of such splendour that all else pale in comparison. Much of this movement overlaps with Hnur-Avinkor, but parts of it considers itself a wholly different beast such as Hruk Gir-Sa-Hra Sak-Vhul-Knar who define the divine mindset as considering oneself of godly importance next to others - in other words, Hruk Gir-Sa-Hra Sak-Vhul-Knar is that everyone should only apply any sort of morals to oneself and not respect anyone else. Hruk Gir-Sa-Hra Sak-Vhul-Knar overlaps at times with Hruk Eg-Hra, but it is not known to which an extent as Sak-Vhul-Knar thinkers usually solve their arguments with knifefights rather than actual discussions. This particular submovement is nonetheless popular amongst the most ruthless and scheming of the Hruka nobility. Other Gir-Sa-Hra sects include Hruk Gir-Sa-Hra Avak-Nath-Svahok, who believe in lifestyles planned in great detail through mathemathical calculations in order to produce perfection, Hruk Gir-Sa-Hra Nukar-Ji-Sa who recommend that the Hruka nobility should strive towards only produce children of prodigal intelligence (though they have no hopes of producing literally god-like people) and the strange mysticism practised by Hruk Gir-Sa-Hra Eg-Avin-Kha and its splinter group Hruk Gir-Sa-Hra Eg-Avin-Sikul which places great importance upon psychic powers. Hruk Gir-Sa-Hra Eg-Avin-Kha shows some inspiration from Veglyr religion, and as such it is a new subschool since few Veglyr ever receive permission to even set foot upon Dragim, and in those cases only ambassadors and Cosmic Fleet officers on political visits.

Hnur-Avinkor are of the belief that the non-existence of deities means that mortals must do away with both hopes of godhood as well as any concept vaguely related to it. It has argued that they are not as much a religion as an anti-Seih-Avinlak movement but even those within Hruk-Avinkor disagree about that.

• Hnur-Avinkor rhekhra Hruk Sik-Vuharak-Re is similar to a mirror image of Hruk Eg-Hra in that they give no attention to that which cannot be measured or weighed. Most of them are very hostile to the very concept of art as distinct from decoration, and the Hruk Sik-Vuharak-Re Kel-Reh-Sua-Nak sub-movement even refused to believe in the existence of extradimensionals until one of their adherents witnessed with his own eyes Hadariel's meeting with the Hrukan Oligarchy's highest governing council. The major philosophical schism within Hruk Sik-Vuharak-Re is on the relationship between logic and emotion - the Hruk Sik-Vuharak-Re Hnakka-Suln subschool teaches the abandonment of all emotions, the Hruk Sik-Vuharak-Re Sil-Saruun find the differences between logic and emotions nonexistent (for which they are often considered an outlaw movement by the Hnakka-Suln) and the Hruk Sik-Vuharak-Re Sil-Siak-Arhi who advocate a balance between logic and emotion similar to that symbolized by the yin-yang. A growing group within these, however, the Hruk Sik-Vuharak-Re Kel-Vahish operate with a trichotomy between logic, emotion and a form of affect which they call Vahish.
  
• Hnur-Avinkor rhekhra Hruk Gvi-Hrennak-Sha believes that godlike entities can exist but do not and should not. What it means to prevent deities from existing, though, is unclear. The Gvi-Hrennak-Sha Hnur-Hrai use this as an excuse for taking an extremely hostile stance towards extradimensionals, both Faeries and Mala'akim, something which in practice amounts to violently attacking adherents to Hruk Eg-Hra Svankar-Hrai-Katak, extreme paranoia (even by Hrukan standards) about who actually is a Hruka and who actually is a Faerie and picketing the occassional negotiation with an extradimensional. The much bigger Gvi-Hrennak-Sha Hnur-Khas-Nukar movement and its many ideological subschisms, though, want extensive laws regulating genetic engineering, computer development and a ban on mind-uploading. A few of these even argue in favour of a technological regression. Finally, the Hruk Gvi-Hrennak-Sha Gir-Kaiv-Rihx movement, which borders on actually being of the Hruk Sik-Vuharak-Re persuasion, interpretate "godhood" as allegorical and warn against megalomania and associated states of mind. They have attracted much ire for calling for an end to the legendary isolationism which the Hrukan Oligarchy has maintained forever.

[Peregrin]

The Way

This pantheistic religion definitely originated among the Veglyr, among whom its various sub-sects count most of their followers - but it has also spread to other Descendant species, most notably the Jardra, where the Behelni Path sect is a growing power factor in the spinward edge of the Post-National Empire of Greater Avarnam. Though it claims to be an universal religion which has existed ever since the emergence of organic life and, in some sects, the beginning of the universe itself, its most likely beginning is a concerted effort to reconstruct some rather obscure Progenitor religions immediately after the end of the Iziruan Independence War. Its rise to ascendancy as opposed to that of the other Iziruan Reconstructionist Religions (eg. The Almighty's Throne, an incredibly vague monotheistic religion which still enjoys a small following), however, is a thornier matter to explain.

Most of the exact details vary wildly on which sect you ask. The extreme cultural decentralization of the Veglyr, even on systemic and planetary, means that the Way has several thousand sects, lovingly referred to as Paths. The biggest Paths are those of a missionary nature, such as the Behelni Path, whereas other such as the Zazunakalwanzeh Path are rather esoteric and more akin to secret societies than actual religions. The defining traits of the Way are basically those which all Paths have in common, most notably its view of consciousness - and these are the beliefs which will mostly be described in this article. However, the great ideological diversity within the Way will eventually necessitate going into the details of several Paths.

The Way's central premise is that a sapient being (be that a Descendant or not, again this depends on the Path)'s ability of reality depends entirely on the individual's view of its own existence. According to the Way, intelligence is a curse and a blessing at once - and the Way always emphasizes overcoming the limitations which the evolutionary trait of intelligence brought with its increase in capabilities for understanding. This curse of intelligence is that unlike the instinct-following animals, the intelligent ones in itself only lives within the circle of itself. Everything the intelligent being immediately senses is clouded by its own self-interest and cannot therefore truly exist outside itself. In other words - people are born into a solipsistic state of being (that is, in themselves they only exist within their own mind) and must escape this by constantly expanding their criteria for what constitutes genuine existence.

Most Paths view the Way's centre, the matter of conscious being, in terms of many circles or layers of existence. The first step towards true existence within the universe is to aknowledge how more much the individual lives when viewing itself as a member of a group first and foremost, an individual second. The next step, the next circle is usually that of viewing itself as one of many intelligent or even just sentient lifeforms rather than just one particular group. This is usually where the follower of the Way loses any serious need for self-validation and confirmation of existence, because that being now understands that it only exists as far as it exists as part of a community that encompasses all intelligent life. The greater circles of being are then: Being as one particular manifestation of the forces of nature among countless such phenomena, hence why many Paths are curiously amoral, viewing the ideas of sharply contrasting and divided good and bad, rather than generosity and cruelty as expressed by the same primordial forces, as absurd; all of this universe - very much including those which are not affected by the same natural forces or even laws of physics as the others due to Areinakka Fields and such parts of existence; and ultimately everything to ever exist in every universe ever. Such views of reality are somewhat easier to understand for psychics who have developed their powers of empathy to the point of sensing the psionic signatures of all matter has.

Now, this whole "total being" thing is not as easy as it immediately sounds. A major part of the Way is that in order to understand yourself as part of all sentient life, you must go through intense suffering because of how many lifeforms share the ability to feel pain. To go through this, some paths (eg. Ogashianavek) practice ritual self-mutilation, whereas the Manizha Path has turned into a martyr-like heroic warrior mysticism seeking out traumatic battle experiences and engaging in ritualistic knife-fighting (and other intense, painful martial arts) in order to advance into greater spheres of consciousness and being. Most Manizha followers volunteer into the elite marine branches of the Veglyr Cosmic Fleet (which statistically is dominated by people of the Manizha Path)... or become space pirates. To further understand oneself as part of all life, not just sentient life, many Paths require near-death experiences often achieved in solemn ceremonies by the use of various extremely dangerous hallucinogenic drugs, often designed specifically for such rituals. As such, a great deal of Veglyr do not view accidental ritual suicide as shocking or even unusual. Some, like the Ainyumo Path, even extend this to intentional ritual suicide as death automatically leads to entry into the dimension of being where consciousness and/or the active functions of life stop being important. The rather small but notorious Agakaro Path, though, has its own spin on it in the form of adherents replacing more and more of themselves with cyborg parts in order to move beyond existence of organic life and into existence just as matter.

Though between a third and fourth of Veglyr do not follow the Way, it certainly has had a major role in shaping an overwhelming majority of Veglyr cultures. First, in terms of local communities and the Cosmic Fleet itself, being in a particularly advanced or inclusive "circle of being" is usually seen as a requirement for being a capable leader, to the point that those who do not follow the Way (or even the wrong Path in the wrong place) often face a significant amount of discrimination. Second, while still using the scientific method, the frame of reference carrying the Cosmic Fleet's official seal of approval understands it within a holistic context - though Veglyr think eidetically/visually to a far greater extent than homo sapiens (or most other Descendants, for that matter), they are somewhat predisposed towards that already.

Other than the whole militarism and ritual self-mutilation practised by some dominant Paths, there are further "dark sides" to the Way and its established dominance among the Veglyr and growing popularity among the other Descendants. (save for the Hruka, most of whom consider themselves above such kind of foreign influence) The first is that the view of non-Way followers as essentially either mentally/spiritually retarded or incredibly naïve has led to a marked militancy among Veglyr atheists and those non-Way believers who do not wish to modify their religions to bear a greater resemblance to the Way, to the point that areas of space such as the Inanomalamn Rim are extremely unstable. That particular example, the Inanomalam Rim is populated mostly by atheists who have come to view especially the Manizha Path (which dominated the Veglyr Cosmic Fleet and therefore the military government of the Descendant Confederacy) as vicious oppressors whom they owe nothing but righteous resentment. The result is that the Inanomalam Rim is a rather lawless region where Cosmic Fleet forces are frequently assaulted on sight by atheist space pirates.

The officially unclaimed fringe worlds of hitherto-explored space is home to not only exile Veglyr (that is, those who have fled there for not adhering to the Way), but ironically also by a symptom of another dark side of the Way: The Drunes, the cultic worshippers of the erratic faerie Slough Feg. The reverence for suffering in all of the way and the act of dying among certain Paths make these natural converts to the bloodily violent, sometimes cannibalistic worship led by the extradimensional Horned God. Though the emphasis upon euphoric sensory experience and constant ecstacy as front and center rather than just another step towards being as an integral part of all existence does not compute with most parts, however, none can deny that the crossover appeal is definitely there. The Veglyr Cosmic Fleet's protectorate is fortunately barely saved from large-scale many-front religious wars (can anyone imagine how big an army Slough Feg could possibly be able to muster if he rallied all Drune packs that exist in all galaxies, in all universes?) from the widespread nature of more accepting and less "religious-supremacist" Paths at least aiming to separate politics and spirituality, even though those are frowned upon by equally powerful Paths.

In short, is somewhat a paradox how such a scientific-minded civilization as the Veglyr can also be dominated to such an extent by a religion, a balance resting only upon the ability to combine esoteric pantheism and the scientific worldview which the biggest Paths probably arrived at through sheer necessity. Perhaps that is why the Way went on to become the dominant religion among the Veglyr and in the future perhaps the Descendant Confederacy period?

[Peregrin]

THE BLACKROBED

The Blackrobed are one of the most infamous secret societies in the Descendant Confederacy, not only because of the secrecy surrounding them but also because of their abilities.

What is known to them is that it consists entirely of Veglyr and is centered upon the tenth planet of the Vega system, Zeneryt, though it has cells elsewhere in the Confederacy. The society of the Blackrobed is notorious for its isolationism and secludedness from the outside, and it actually appears to be mostly apathethic towards outside matters as long as they are left alone. Neither do they maintain the most vague resemblance of the slightest interest in astropolitical matters.

It also appears that the Blackrobed themselves either live in mandatory celibacy or exclusively recruit from people who already are asexual.

They dress entirely in long, flowing hooded black robes and derive their names therefrom. Through they apparently have a complex hierarchy whose exact structure is incredibly confusing to outsiders with its myriad of different titles and sub-orders, there is no difference between individual members' robes.

As remarkable as their uniforms are their buildings - huge, monolithic rectangular blocks of grey stone with no windows elsewhere than on the roofs.

Blackrobed are known to display impressive psychic powers on par with the best psychic specialists of the Veglyr Cosmic Host, sometimes even surpassing those. Their close-combat skills, when an occassion to display them arises, have shown to be uniformly very impressive, especially considering that they fight wearing long flowing robes. Those foolish enough to provoke the Blackrobed into combat have often, in those cases they survived, remarked that "it was as if the Blackrobed bent the space-time continuum around themselves in order to strike first".

Some of their fighting techniques also include a wide range of knives of different sizes. The knife-fighting techniques of the Blackrobed are complex and vast, and include knife-throwing, almost fencing-like duelling methods involving the sword-like longer knives, styles perfected to fit different combinations of knives as well as some techniques incorporating the potent telekinetics of the Blackrobed into knife-fighting. They use conventional ranged weapons only sparingly and display no particular wizardry towards using this, and for this reason the Blackrobed are no match for Cosmic Host troops, nor are they specially interested in warfare.

Exactly what the purpose of the Blackrobed is, who they are and what they do is a mystery as noone has ever left the order. This mystery, or more accurately the speculations it gives rise to, in addition to the Blackrobed's infamous reluctance towards answering the rumours about them, is the source of much of the hostility towards the Blackrobed. Some believe that the Blackrobed are in league with the Mala'akim and within their vast grey temples have dimensional gates which allows them to venture to the home universe of the Mala'akim. Those who believe this often point to the religious undertones to the Blackrobed, and the fact that some Mala'akim have spoken loudly but ambiguously about the "great plan" they have for the future of the Descendants. (see also document: The Great Plan)