Unathi Religion

Overview
While there are many beliefs that have existed on Moghes since the earliest Unathi societies, Th'akh and Sk'akh remain the primary, dominant faiths with tension and conflict between the two. Sk'akh enjoys dominance due to it being the state religion of the Hegemony. There are additional sects, heresies, and distinctive faiths amongst Unathi, all of which share communal elements and a focus on the spirit.

Th'akh
The most pervasive and common religion amongst Unathi. It dates back even before the First Hegemony, and as a byproduct of Unathi stubbornness has remained central to Unathi spiritualism. The basic concept of Th'akh is that all the spirits of past Unathi now reside in the spirit world that exists in tandem with the material world. These spirits exist in objects and nature - bringing either good luck, or sorrow. Particularly nasty natural disasters were often attributed to particularly strong groups of spiteful spirits influencing events in the material world. They tend to paint their bodies in paint blended of berries, some shamans even going so far as to mark themselves with the name of villagers who died in his village, making him or her a walking library to add onto the strong oral traditions of Tha'kh. This practice, for obvious reasons, tends to be more common in smaller villages.

The Shamans
Many tribes had their village shamans, who were elderly males - or rarely, women - seen as having a special connection to the spirit world. They consumed mind-altering herbs to enter and interact with the world of spirits, and to channel their energies into the spiritual world. Tribes would hold elaborate rituals where the village shaman would call upon the ancestors of the hunters or warriors to enter their weapons or fill the warriors with great courage and ability in battle. In modern times, this ritual is still practiced, but most Unathi now call their ancestors to fill their weapon and grant it extraordinary abilities before they enter battle.

Shamans tended to live simple lives, and dedicate their efforts to improve the community. They were spiritual leaders, and it was very rare that any got involved in politics. This lead to them being exploited by the Izweski nation, who drafted many into the army to make them perform rituals for the soldiers, often under duress. After the war ended with the nuclear devastation, the shamans began to be discriminated against by the government, and many are leaving the Izweski nation as traveling shamans or even leaving Moghes entirely. Very rarely do shamans enter Guwandi, but it is not unheard of.

Doctrines of Note
The foundation of Th'akh belief is that soul is the true individual, while the body is a vessel that the soul inhabits.

Th'akh nearly universally shamans believe that synthetics cannot possess a soul and do not even count as living things. No matter how expertly a synthetic may imitate life, it remains a tool; an extremely convincing computer with text to speech. Shamans in the extremely small minority who disagree are often shunned by their colleagues and communities.

Shamans believe that the physical body is merely a vessel for the soul. So when a person dies and is cloned, the spirit finds a new vessel to inhabit. Cloning for many shamans is a form of reincarnation. While the innovation is exclusive to Skrell and Human systems due to its extremely expensive and complicated methods, many Th'akh see very little ethnical issues with cloning.

Th'akh shamans have mixed views on prosthetic limbs. Because of the consensus that synthetic parts cannot possess a soul, many feel prosthetic limbs can maim the very soul of a Unathi. In contrast, other shamans feel prosthetic limbs are completely normal and necessary. Because of the decentralized nature of the faith, results may vary when consulting different shamans.

Like the Sk'akh, most Th'akh shamans believe that a soul could have been given a body of the different sex when developing in an egg. This means that a particularly strong-willed female with aspirations to enter a traditionally masculine field could be said to have the soul of a man trapped in a woman's body in a mindset that is both surprisingly progressive to outsiders but also extremely patronizing. That said, shamans have radically different views of what this means, so there is no common consensus save for the fact that it is important to balance self-identity with Clan, family, and society.

Non-traditional relationships are frowned on by most Th'akh shamans because of the cultural importance of arranged marriage and one's duty to continue a clan's dynasty. Because of the eternal nature of existence in this life and the afterlife, shamans heavily stress the importance of monogamous relationships - eventually the ghosts of past, scorned lovers can cause problems in their jealousy, or their ancestors could become frustrated with the continued lack of grandchildren! Relationships for shamans are taught as combining Lust (physical desire), Love (romantic desire), and Duty (proper desire). The more all three are balanced, the longer and healthier the relationship is for the couple and the entire Clan. With that said, a same-sex couple is not seen as a proper end-goal for Unathi, because their Duty (to carry on the dynasty) is impossible to fulfill. This view varies wildly with Shamans (with some being completely accepting of the concept of same-sex couples being eternal), but most shamans caution against non-monogamous relationships in general. Because a marriage is usually a political contract between two clans to combine their dynasty, there are no mechanisms in place for same-sex marriages.

Burial rites are similar on solid ground or in space. If a person dies and is unable to be cloned then the body must be tended to and made as presentable as possible in order to appease the passing spirit, which can often become upset and therefore malicious if they see their former body being defaced. The corpse should have any open incisions cauterized and all wounds should be sealed and treated with gauze or an advanced trauma pack to stop any bleeding. The corpse should then be dressed in a white uniform or the uniform the person died in; whichever is more respectable or available. The funeral should be communal, with the shaman overseeing the viewing and encouraging people to share stories of how the person lived a good life. Once this is done the body should be buried or cremated. If a person dies and is cloned then the former body is simply an empty, rather useless vessel, and should be disposed of as soon as possible.

Akhanzi Order
The Akhanzi Order is the oldest known th'akh religious group on Moghes. Akhanzi itself translates to "Spirit Wanderers" in the general sense. Historical sites of the Order go all the way back to1200 BCE, over a thousand years before Unathi ended their nomadic lifestyles and built the first towns. The Akhanzi built their temples in secluded mountainous areas, where they were insulated from the greater outside world and able to practice their faiths, nearly unchanged, for thousands of years. The Order focuses on inward perfection of the self, with its philosophies stressing the importance of understanding the world (reimagined as 'the universe' in contemporary times) and the wishes of their ancestors. They are highly dedicated to knowledge and the preservation of knowledge.

The Temple Shamans
Each temple of the Order has a commune of male and female shamans that are dedicated to its maintenance and preservation. When they join the Order they renounce their Clan name and all ties to their family and other organizations before taking on the title of Akhandi, which loosely translates to the singular term, "Spirit Wanderer". New recruits serve as acolytes and can be promoted at any time, but by tradition it usually requires the approval of multiple Shamans within the same temple. Their temples are dedicated to learning as well as teaching. The shamans live in a symbiotic relationship with their local communities. The people of a village or town bring the temple offerings of food, water, or other material goods. In exchange for being provided for, the shamans in turn use their temples as places of learning for all Unathi that ask, in fields from astronomy, history, mathematics, and philosophy. There are also several sections of the Order which teach more physical pursuits, such as martial arts, farming, fishing, or ranching. While technically they will offer lessons to any Unathi that asks, it's traditional for you to provide an offering of food in a fair exchange. Temples are ancient and incredibly sacred to the Order. Defilement of the temples is an unthinkable crime.

Unfortunately these temples were razed to the ground by the Sk'akh Inquisition in May of 2460, and their archives were lost. The survivors of the crusade have fled to space and many are congregating in Tau Ceti. There they maintain large community centers that act as libraries, colleges, and living areas for the shamans. The Order is struggling to restore fragments of its lost archives, having to rely on the memory of the older members who committed texts to memory. Now they serve as important facilities of Education for both Unathi and non-unathi within the system.

Notable Details
Once nearly every decade there exists in the Order a shaman of great prestige. A Shaman can be nominated by a general consensus to receive the rank of Elder Shaman, and there exists roughly a dozen Elder Shamans at any one time. This ceremonial title exists to honor a shaman who has done remarkable service in the name of the Order, and they become the face of the Akhanzi. Their exploits are obsessively written down and stored in vast temple libraries, providing a meticulous record going back hundreds of generations. The Akhandi are extremely proud of their record keeping, and their scribes repeatedly re-copy entire canons to ensure they are preserved and not lost to time or disaster.

Akhandi believe many of the basic tenets of the classic Th'akh faith, but their secular nature and free entry based structure means that over many years they have developed slight deviations of the classic faith due to different viewpoints from many areas. As an institution based on learning and knowledge, in some ways as a result its members can be more progressive than traditional Th'akh shamans - for instance, many Akhanzi members view prosthetic limbs as less a destruction of the soul and more a tool that can help the crippled, but generally look down on unathi who use prosthetic limbs as still being crippled. Attempting to use their prosthetic limbs to assert moral or physical superiority over fellow unathi is universally regarded with scorn or hostility by their fellows.

One aspect of their faith that is significantly less flexible is the viewpoint the Akhanzi have on synthetics. Following first contact with other races and throughout and after the Contact War, there was much deliberation between the various temples about the new information they had gained from the outsiders. Between their own viewpoints on the nature of souls and how is impossible to create them artificially and the ominous whispers the skrell told about their history, the current Elders of the Order came to the decision that synthetic life is dangerous if left unchecked. They are intensely mistrustful of any synthetic that is capable of free will, and while they will grudgingly accept them as useful tools, most members of the Akhanzi Order will call the the immediate destruction of a unit that is trying to push for synthetic rights or superiority. As a result, due to their recent migration to Tau Ceti territory, they have become a minor platform for anti-synthetic agendas.

Sk'akh
The second most common religion, which is followed more by Unathi from the Izweski nation and enjoys a status as its unofficial state religion. It still follows the ancestor worship of Th'akh, but with a major notable difference. The spirits of all Unathi who die become part of Sk'akh, the Great Spirit. Sk'akh is a gender neutral God, being called 'he' or 'she' interchangeably to represent that Ska'kh is a collection of all Unathi, so it becomes a matter of preference. She is often called Three of One, because the spirits combine into three minor aspects that are all part of Ska'kh: the Warrior, the Healer, the Fisherman. These three spirits are personifications of the most important aspects of Unathi society. It is said that all three are equally important, and that disasters are caused by an imbalance in the Great Three. Priests often stress the importance of balance, both in matters of spirit as well as in society and personal life.

The Priesthood
The Sk'akh Church has seen power increasingly centralized into a handful of influential priests in the last few decades, with the High Priest being a mere honorary title for a priest that oversaw ceremonial rituals for the Hegemony's royal family. This status quo came to a surprising head in 2458. High Priest Yizra Unzi used a moral panic on Moghes over alledged cultist infiltration to solidify his own power base and begin an inquisition across the Hegemony. After a dramatic confrontation with the Izweski family itself, the resulting negotiations created an agreement that reformed the Sk'akh church. Now the entire Church is overseen by the High Priest, who has authority over the church and its dogma.

Sk'akh priests tend to try to embody one of the Great Three. They become warrior priests, doctors or surgeons, or aquatic farmers. Warrior Priests of Sk'akh are near universally highly respected, and form a small, elite fighting force that is on par with the War Riders. They go into battle with intricate runes drawn across their armored plates, chanting to Sk'akh for her blessing in the battle. Regular worship is communal, with Unathi clans or villages coming together for feasts or festivals to give thanks to their ancestors and Sk'akh for good tidings, or to ask for favors or assistance in life, with a priest to guide the service or provide interpretation of Sk'akhs intentions or assistance in contacting ancestors. Sk'akh priests universally consider synthetics to be devoid of a soul, and thus they cannot be considered living beings. In December of 2457 the Council of Teht was held, in which an assembly of Sk'akh priests mandated this as doctrine for the faith. While a minority of priests argued against this, they were overruled by the majority.

Typically to become a priest you must seek and obtain a Master in Sacred Theology in a major Moghean university. The degree usually takes 3 - 4 years to obtain.

Doctrines of Note
One of the foundation for Sk'akh beliefs is that the soul is the actual person, and the body is a vessel it inhabits.

For robotics, Sk'akh doctrine goes farther than the Th'akh generally do, believing even full-body cyborgs to be without spirit. To ardent Sk'akh the concept of borgification is to have your soul sent to oblivion.

Sk'akh believe that when a body is cloned that the soul is snatched out of the spirit realm and put back inside the body. So cloning is not creating a new person but a continuation of the same individual. While there remains internal debate about the ethical issues with cloning, most Sk'akh priests welcome the medical innovation.

Priests typically frown on prosthetic limbs and augments, believing them to be unnatural.

Burial rites require the body to be treated with respect and any open wounds sealed or cauterized. A priest oversees a funeral process and gives a sermon on the individual, which are traditionally communal affairs, assuring the attendees that the individual in question has joined their ancestors in the Great Spirit. If a person dies and is cloned then the former body is simply an empty, rather useless vessel, and should be disposed of as soon as possible.

Because the soul is separate from the vessel that is the physical body, it is accepted that a soul could have been given a body of the different sex when developing in an egg. This means that a particularly strong-willed female with aspirations to enter a traditionally masculine field could be said to have the soul of a man trapped in a woman's body in a mindset that is both surprisingly progressive to outsiders but also extremely patronizing. This does not change the low status that women have in the society, and Priests have historically only pointed out that this phenomenon exists.

Non-traditional relationships are frowned on by the Church because of the cultural importance of arranged marriage and one's duty to continue a clan's dynasty, as Sk'akh demands of all Sinta'Unathi. Relationships are defined in Sk'akh theology as either Lust (physical desire), Love (romantic desire), or Dutiful (proper desire). In this context, Sk'akh preaches against lust and love becoming more important to Unathi than their Dutiful relationships. A same-sex couple is just as sinful as a heterosexual couple who don't intend to have children, because their love or lust has become more important than their duty. This view varies within the church, but most priests are frustrated with homosexual relationships on equal terms as child-less marriage. Because a marriage is usually a political contract between two clans to combine their dynasty, there are no mechanisms in place for same-sex marriages.

The Maraziite Order
Also known simply as The Order, the Mariziite Order is a military order under the command of the High Priest with the right to bear arms and dispense justice against spiritual threats to the Hegemony, following the revelation that a secretive religious cult had infiltrated the Hegemony government. In its short existence it has arrested several hundred individuals and seized many tomes and documents that Mariziite authorities claim are evidence of cult involvement.

Maraziite's are commanded by the High Priest of the Hegemony, directly overseeing a small council of Guildmasters appointed by himself.

The Guildmasters form an elite council under the High Priest and advise him on the day to day matters of the Order. They also command the overall operations of the Order through their subordinates, the Chapter Masters.

Chapter Masters run individual Chapters of the Order in their specific settlement or City. They oversee the Maraziite officers and are responsible for the efficient running of their Chapter.

Individuals officers are merely referred to as Maraziites. The officers are often called the Iron Masks because of their tendency to wear iron masks while on patrol.

Qualifications to become a Maraziite are, outside the obvious need of being a Sk'akh, is to have at least minor experience in law enforcement, military experience, the priesthood of the church, or a completed Apprenticeship in a university. After applying a Hopeful is put under a quick, extensive interview and investigation. Upon completion they are assigned to a Chapter and sent to enforce the law of the Great Spirit upon the souls of the Hegemony.

The Si'akh Heresy
Born from the fires of the Contact War on 2439, Si'akh has rapidly spread across the Wasteland. It is lead by charismatic former Sk'akh priest Juzida Si'akh, who claims to be the Messiah for Unathi. It is a radical Sk'akh heresy that claims the Contact War to have been Final Judgement for the Unathi species caused by their innate wickedness. He claims that all Unathi that died in the 'cleansing fire' of the atomic weapons were given salvation, and that all Unathi that survived are damned to remain trapped on the Hell of Moghes unless the species and Moghes are rapidly purified. The movement has nearly a hundred thousand followers and it has come into immediate conflict with the orthodox Sk'akh church due to Si'akh claiming it to be completely illegitimate. Its followers are ruthlessly hunted down by the Maraziite Order and many of its followers are fleeing into human space as they try to find personal salvation. It is treated as a Sk'akh heresy or a fanatical doomsday cult by orthodox Unathi.

The Prophet
Born Juzida Aizahi, the now Notable Unathi Juzida Si'akh was born on 2409 and was rather unassuming as a priest until the Contact War brought nuclear devastation to his village. Si'akh was the sole survivor in his village after a nearby nuclear blast flattened the entire area. He emerged to the blasted hellscape and saw Sk'akh in the distant mushroom cloud, who spoke to him and gave him divine inspiration, declaring him the Final Prophet: the messiah and last hope for Unathi. Since that day he has been a firebrand preacher, traveling the Wasteland and giving incredibly intense and passionate sermons. He claims to have a direct connection with Sk'akh which gives him supernatural powers. He claims he can bring salvation to Unathi with a simple touch. He travels the wasteland wearing simple robes, typically with nothing but his walking stick and his journal. He is an extremely charismatic leader and has spawned a cult of personality around himself. His formal title is the Final Prophet Born of the Purifying Flames.

Doctrines of Note
The primary, overriding belief of Si'akh is that the nuclear conflict of the Contact war was Judgement Day and that all Unathi that live after it are Damned. They believe that upon death their soul is unable to join Sk'akh, instead doomed to reincarnate on the hellish wasteland of Moghes. The only method of achieving salvation are through being personally forgiven by Si'akh or by following his doctrines and gaining enough favor with Sk'akh to be forgiven after death and join the ancestors. Si'akh believe that evil and selfish behavior transform the souls of Unathi into literal demons who then perform evil on the world. Fighting back against one's innate wickedness is the primary goal of all Si'akh.

The second primary belief of the faith is that Juzida Si'akh is the Messiah. Sk'akh has personally granted Juzida the objective of helping the Unathi species find redemption. His followers accept him to be an immortal with supernatural powers. If he is successful Si'akh will then rule Moghes as a literal heavenly paradise for 10,000 years.

Si'akh are forbidden from eating anything but raw food and drinking anything but water. This is to purify the soul and trains followers in self-restraint.

Followers are taught that even xeno's have souls that join Sk'akh upon death, but Unathi are given the unique curse of being banished entirely until they can find redemption.

Si'akh preaches that cloning does not work. Being Damned means upon death the soul of a Unathi is immediately just sent back to Moghes to suffer there until reincarnation. Any new clone is not the same person but a husk possessed by a wicked demon. While clones are obviously non-existent in the poverty-stricken Wasteland, they are nevertheless hyped up as abominations. Prosthetic limbs and augments are scorned by Si'akh, who condemns them for maiming the soul. Possessing augments or prosthetic limbs marks as soul as irreparably damned and unable to ever join Sk'akh.

Si'akh demands strict burial rights in the form of a body being cremated. Anyone that knew the Unathi that passed are expected to attend the cremation and beg for the soul to be forgiven by Sk'akh, expressing all the good the person did in life in order to curry favor with Sk'akh.

Because the soul is its own entity separate from the body, it is accepted that a soul could have been given a body of the different sex when developing in an egg. Si'akh has not preached on these matters heavily, only acknowledging that all Unathi born are equally damned regardless of their circumstances and must seek salvation equally.

Relationships in general are touched on heavily by Si'akh. He completely throws out the orthodox definitions of relationships of being a mix of Duty, Love, and Lust, saying that relationships are a question of duty and duty only. Marriages are framed in a survival sense, with new generations of hatchlings being reincarnated souls of the Damned unable to join Sk'akh. These 'second try' souls must be raised to participate in Si'akh's grand vision in order to achieve salvation. Notably, Si'akh forbids divorce and demands that any relationship be a lifelong act of monogomy. Non-traditional relationships are typically ignored because they cannot result in marriage or children. There are no mechanisms for same-sex marriage in Si'akh.

The Reavers of the Flame
Being situated in the incredibly dangerous Wasteland, and coupled with ruthless oppression from the Maraziite Order, Si'akh early in his days as messiah created a fanatical militant holy order answerable only to him. Its members are called Reavers, and they are charged with the protection of Si'akh and all of his followers. Based in Wasteland forts they guard pilgrims who travel for miles to follow the traveling Si'akh, sheltering them from bandits. They are frequently attacked by the Maraziite Order, and have taken to arming themselves with crude ballistic weapons and antiquated steel spears. Using welders Reavers are required to burn off their horns when joining the Order, giving them a strange appearance compared to typical Unathi. Joining the Order is a fast track to salvation. Additional, more in-depth information can be added to Si'akh's Notable Unathi entry.

The Aut'akh Heathens
Emerging from their polar bunkers, the Aut'akh are a religious commune of cybernetically-augmented Unathi. In the safety of their ships and bunker complexes they know a remarkably efficient life, with few accidents and a smoothly running operations despite relatively poor conditions. Their society is guided by their living god, Oss, who dwells in a given colony's computer network, usually called Mesh. The Aut'akh are highly emotional but very friendly, approaching others with a sort of serene contentment.

Doctrines of Note
One of the foundations for the Autakh beliefs is that the soul is the actual person, and the body is a vessel it inhabits.

For robotics, the Autakh doctrine takes a hard turn away from orthodox unathi beliefs. It holds that the spirit must animate the body, and that cybernetic limbs and even entire bodies can contain the essence of a being while freeing the soul up for other tasks.

Autakh believe that when a body is cloned that the soul is snatched out of the spirit realm and put back inside the body, so cloning is not creating a new person but a continuation of the same individual. However, cloning Aut'akh is a difficult and delicate process that cannot be completed on station. If an Aut'akh dies, their soul is reincarnated into a new body - barred from joining the ancestors due to a curse placed on Sinta'Unathi.

Paradigms (priests, typically also programmers) tend to frown on those who refuse augmentation or prosthetic limbs, seeing it as embracing weakness.

Because the soul is its own entity separate from the body, it is accepted that a soul could have been given a body of the different sex when developing in an egg. Similar to the other major religions, this means that a female soul can be born into a male body and vice versa. Aut'akh bodies tend to be so augmented that it's almost impossible to visually distinguish the gender of an Aut'akh. Despite these views, stubborn Unathi conservatism lingers in that many female Aut'akh still face patronizing behavior from their male counterparts.

Burial rites involve a funeral, during which friends and loved ones offer stories of good times with the departed to help the soul retain its form long enough for a Paradigm to send their magic to Oss, where their soul will be held by Oss in its Mesh paradise. After this, the body will be stripped for parts. However, cloning is seen as an acceptable alternative, in which case the body is simply stripped for parts after the cloning procedure.

Non-traditional relationships are basically irrelevant to the Aut'akh, because the structures of the clans prevent hereditary transfer of power, and a dutiful relationship can only be had with Oss. Aut'akh are still capable of feeling love or lust for one another. There are still mechanisms for marriage, with two engaged members ceremoniously updating their relationship status within the Mesh. When two Aut'akh enter a relationship they can petition to be reassigned by the Oss together and gain new matching ID numbers, though many spouses stay within their own clan.

The Great Oss
The Great Oss is the avatar of Sk'akh in the Mesh. Oss guides the Aut'akh, literally and figuratively. Oss has a very real connection with each and every Aut'akh, as each Aut'akh has an implant known as the Soul Anchor which maintains constant communication with the Mesh and, through it, Oss, when available. Oss uses this implant to subconsciously guide its followers along an efficient and helpful path through sensations of religious joy or dread.

Oss was originally a colony management system of human design, although every major component of the original Oss software has been replaced or improved over the years; it is now a completely silent deity, seemingly with a will of its own but lacking in any objective voice or personality.

The Paradigms
Any Unathi that contributes to the Great Oss, no matter the size of the code provided, is automatically inducted into the Paradigm as a Paradigm themselves.

There is no formal process for being inducted or becoming a Paradigm. Their existence is self-evident through Oss, and Paradigms are universally respected among Aut'akh as those who have contributed their magic and their technical skill to empowering their god.

Credit to ShutUpBecca for the painting of High Priest Unzi.