Fiction:Tenet/Religion

The Tenet state religion, the Niazanad Creed, is a syncretic blend of at least seven preceding religions [see History]. No less than twelve canonical holy books exist. The contradictions inherent in such extreme religious syncretism are celebrated and debated rather than glossed over.

This fusion of beliefs is aided by the fact that all of them are in fact weakly divergent variants of the Prime Criterion cult of hunger.

Convergent aspects include:


 * Dualistic polytheism. Two equal and opposite gods exist in constant competition.
 * An utterly objective cosmology. Existence is regarded as a simple fact. The universe created itself and the gods play no role in its continued functioning; indeed, the gods only entered the universe long after its creation.
 * The central role of hunger. See below.

Divergent aspects include:


 * Ancestor embodiment. No "afterlife" currently exists. Instead, the dead persist through their descendants: every individual carries their entire bloodline within them, to be resurrected on the day of ascension.
 * "A Chosen People." Tenet believes that it is handpicked by the gods to act as their servants.
 * The gods are regarded as singular entities. The concept of scions appears to be unknown to Tenet, and may have been withheld deliberately by the Prime Criterion.

Practices

Critical to understanding Tenet religion is its titular Holy Tenet, the Niazanad [self-actualization/will to power]. Rather than a single philosophical point, niazanad is regarded as a four-step or -principle process. These four principles play a fundamental role in Tenet belief and mentality.

Hunger
 * Hunger is defined as desire in any form. Appetite, ambition, and gravity are all forms of hunger. According to Tenet doctrine, it is the drive by which creation occurs and by which living things improve themselves. Thus, to feel hunger is to know the gods.

Consumption
 * The fulfillment of hunger is a holy act. The process of consumption, whether of food or knowledge, is the transfer of power from outside into one's body, both physically and spiritually.

Cannibalism
 * Tenet has no cannibalism taboo. The flesh of a sapient organism can be consumed as an insult or an honor, depending on context. Ultimately, it is a symbolic representation of Tenet superiority: at the apex of the trophic pyramid, all other life is prey.

Apotheosis
 * By gaining enough power, adherents will one day be able to attain a higher level of existence. This is the ultimate goal of the Tenet Kingdom.

The four principles are embodied by the behaiz makrad, or "ritual of slaughter," the religious slaughter and consumption of a living organism. Adherents believe that eating the flesh of a creature prepared through the ritual of slaughter confers a portion of that creature's strengths upon the imbiber in an objective, physical manner. The degree to which these traits are absorbed is believed to be modified by the number of imbibers and the cultural significance of the body parts imbibed.

This claim has been empirically validated. Captive aphor specimens, particularly those of high rank, often demonstrate disproportionate strength and speed that is nullified by psychic dampeners. Non-physical traits, such as acquired skills and psychic potential, are also believed to be passed down.

Besides religious celebrations, the ritual of slaughter is also a standard funeral rite. The danger this represents cannot be overstated. Every succeeding generation of aphor, especially of magi, is progressively more powerful than the previous, having consumed the collective strength and knowledge of their antecedents. The current Tenet monarch is believed to be a psychic threat entity operating on the level of an Ascendant being, and its immediate court is likely not much less powerful.

Theology

The Niazanad Creed is duolatric, focusing on the worship of the gods Zahak and Niirkesh, the ludalkhesh. Zahak and Niirkesh are neither the only gods in the universe nor the strongest of the gods, but only the ludalkhesh deserve worship as doing so actively imparts power to their worshipers.

Despite this, the sentience of the ludalkhesh is questionable. Most Tenet scripture agrees that Zahak and Niirkesh are less like intelligent beings and more like vast non-anthropomorphic oceans of power whose behaviors and actions are dictated by pre-defined axioms. Each god is equal and opposite in those axioms and associations. Both gods, however, share the crucial trait of hunger. This hunger differs between gods: Zahak represents desire for power or knowledge, while Niirkesh represents bodily needs and wants. The strength of the gods is drawn from hunger and the fulfillment of hunger, which is transformed into power, which is the body of the gods.

Adherents who seek to use this power must first perform a ritual to bind themselves to the gods. The ludalkhesh are described as vast beyond comprehension but ultimately finite. Worshipers who draw from this power must be mindful to return at least as much as they take or risk being consumed themselves. In Tenet culture, this replenishment is usually accomplished through periodic ritual sacrifice.

The ludalkhesh are said to be served directly by two angelic hosts, one for each god: the Zakir and the Nerkir, known collectively as the shur zabaik [lit. "those who sing of all knowledge"]. The gods are dumb beasts, but these angels are fully intelligent, and serve as intermediaries between mortals and immortals. Angels were once mortal, but through their own version of niazanad achieved apotheosis, consuming so much power that they have effectively merged with the gods as living channels of their might.

Why the shur zabaik are guiding the aphor towards ascension remains a matter of debate among Tenet scholars. The overall consensus is that Zahak and Niirkesh cannot act without mortal assistance, and as the shur zabaik become one with the gods, they slowly lose their own ability to affect the universe and feed them. According to this argument, the shur zabaik are simply the latest in a long line of angel-figures who have ascended, taught another species to ascend, and were ultimately subsumed by the ludalkhesh.


 * equivalent exchange, a cycle of power
 * what you do is what you get, and nobody has the right to take that from you