Editing TROS in the Hammer:Setting Religion

==The Questions==
All religions ask the following questions:

* Where did it all come from?
* Whats the point of it all?
* Why does bad stuff happen?
* What happens when I die?
* How should I live my life?

Each of these questions will be answered for each religion.  

==The Way of Yesukrishna==
The Way of Yesukrishna is the religion of those that follow Yesukrishna.  It is the religion of the vast majority of the People, but can also be found among other cultures to the North and South of the Gezag.  It was also once a common religion among people to the West, including the Valongo, but has since almost dissappeared there and been replaced by the Informatio.  Followers of the Way of Yesukrishna are called Yesukrishnans.

===Where did it all come from?===
The People believe that all thought and consciousness, both human and spirit, lies on a continuum.  Humanity lies at one end of this continuum; complicated, confused, unable to see clearly.  Thought then progesses along this continuum through stages of "concentration", that is, having fewer qualities.  It also progresses through stages of "amplification", that is, having qualities that encompasses more concepts.  The qualities of spirits are an embodiment of this process; the simpler the spirit, the more concentrated that spirit is; the broader its qualities, the more amplified it is.  As an example: a Weather spirit with the qualities of create, magnify, wind, sun, rain, cloud is less concentrated than a weather spirit that has create, wind.  Both are less amplified than a spirit that has create, weather.  

The People believe that if you follow this process far enough, you enventually arrive at a spirit who is completely concentrated (it has only one quality) and completely amplified (that one quality encompasses all of thought).  This spirit, the People believe, is God, the source and center of all existence.  

At some point in the past, all thought was God; there was no thought separate from God.  But then, into the World came a new thought, a thought that was not God, from outside of time and space.  This thought is called by the People the Enemy.  The Enemy came to the World with evil and fire and destruction from heaven, and sundered all thought, so that the unity of God was shattered.  The Enemy in fact sought to wipe out God, so that only the Enemy would exist.  But the Enemy failed, and was itself shattered.  Now, both God and the Enemy are locked in a war to concentrate and amplify themselves again.  Humanity was born in this conflict; pitiful diffuse and narrow fragments of God's thoughts, corrupted and suffused with the thoughts of the Enemy.

===What's the point of it all?===  
The only rational goal of humanity, therefore, is to strive to become one again with God, and purge all elements of the Enemy away.  The Enemy stands between humanity and God.  But, sadly, we cannot, on our own, purge out the Enemies thoughts from ourselves.  We are simply too weak.

So, long, long, ago, before recorded history, God came into the World, into its own thoughts as it were, and merged with matter to become a human being.  This human being was born from a woman in a distant place called Virginia.  He was called Yesukrishna.  As Yesukrishna, God was able to experience life locked within a form of matter, and in the process create a method by which humanity could free their thoughts from the grip of the Enemy.  Yesukrishna taught many people this method, and the Enemy was furious.  The Enemy caused its agents amoung humanity, the Pharisists, the Saduccists, and the Communists, to take Yesukrishna and kill him by crucifying him on a cross.  Little did the Enemy know, however, that this was exactly as God intended; freed again from the form of matter, God was know all things again, and implanted in every human the Holy Fire, which burns there, and which gives all humans the strength, should they choose it, to purge themselves of the Enemy.

But this is still not a simple matter.  It may literally take thousands of lifetimes to fully free oneself from the Enemy and enter into full communion with God, as the spirits are.  Each life, therefore, is still a struggle.

===Why does bad stuff happen?===
The People have two answers to the problem of bad stuff, because they believe there are two different kinds.  The first is "natural suffering".  This is the kind of suffering and pain caused by the fact that humans are thought creatures trapped in matter, and therefore at the mercy of matter.  Things like tornados, floods, disease, accident, etc., are all simply the consequence of matter and its interactions.  They are not ''caused'' by anything in particular, they are just the cost of being trapped in matter.  Natural suffering simply has to be endured, but it can be alleviated by the help of the Spirits.  

"Evil" however, is something different.  "Evil" is thought which is contrary and alien to God, and is a product of the Enemy.  The principle form evil takes is disharmony.  God is one, united.  So whenever there is discord or disharmony, it is a sign that the Enemy is making its presence felt.  Yesukrishna spoke much on what is evil, and his words have been carried down to the People through the Wisdom (see below).

===What happens when I die?===
When a person dies, their shade is released back into God.  If it is sufficiently concentrated and/or amplified, it remains there, becoming a Spirit.    If not, it cannot remain with God and instead "falls back" into matter, becoming a new human being.  This new human has no memories of its previous existence due to its mingling with God.  Hence, a person may go through a number of lives before finally leaving matter behind.

As to the so-called "Ancestor Shades" that the Informatii revere, the People believe these are little more than reflections of former lives in the mind of God at best, or corruptions of the Enemy at worst.  They most certainly are NOT the actual loved ones who once walked among us.  Contact with the Shades is absolutely forbidden among the People as "Witchcraft", and is one of the few crimes punishable by death among them.

===How should I live my life?===
Yesukrishna spoke a lot on this matter, and his words have come down to the People in the form of the Wisdom; a hodgepodge of stories, anecdotes and sayings about Yesukrishna.  The basic ideas, though, are as follows:
* Harmony is a sign of God.  Therefore, each person should strive to live in harmony. Yesukrishna said "You should be to your neighbor the good neighbor you want him to be".
* Evil is those things that prevent harmony, or sow discord.
* Yesukrishna was very pragmatic regarding actual behaviour, and what was evil or good about it.  He provided many parables regarding people in various situations, which are often used by the wise ones of the People to make judgements.  For example; a person who steals food from a poor family to make a feast would be considered evil, but a person who steals food from a greedy rich family to save his own from starvation might not be.
* There were some behaviours/attitudes that Yesukrishna said ALWAYS lead to disharmony, and are therefore always evil; murder, sexual immorality, witchcraft, greed and covetousness are examples.

==Kapitalism==
Kapitalism is the religion of the Niarchs, and is pretty much unique to that culture, for historical and cultural reasons.  The religion does not offer much to non-Niarch persons.  However, there are some converts among the People, and high ranking arbeiders in the Gezag power structure will often act like they are converts when dealing with their superiors.

===Where did it all come from?===
In the time before the Sky Fire, people lived much as they do now.  However, as time went on, people turned more and more away from the true knowledge of God, called kapitalism.  God became very angry about this, and decided to destroy all human kind.  However, one group of people still pleased God with their ways; the Amerks.  God sent them some warning as to what was about to happen, and the Amerks hid themselves deep in the Earth.

Then, God sent the Sky Fire, and burned the world, making it new.  For a time after that, the world was unclaimed; in fact, humans didn't even understand the value of things.  They grubbed around, scraping up a meager existence, beating up on their neighbors, etc., with no real purpose in life.  

Then, from deep within the Earth, the Amerks returned.  These people were different from the other humans; they wielded great magics, such as chariots that would travel under their own power, and staves which could shoot fire.  But they were very weak; a horrible, disfiguring disease had taken many of them, and scarred many others (it is from this that the practice of wearing masks among the Niarch is derived).  The Amerks believed that this disease was the last weapon used against them by their God-hating enemies.  The Amerks took women and men from among the locals, the Niarch, and bred with them, and taught them many of their secrets.  More importantly, the Amerks brought the philosophy of kapitalism with them.  In time, the original Amerks all passed away, but their blood still flows in the Niarch, the Amerks' heirs.

Its important to note the position of kapitalisme on Spirits.  According to the ancient teachings of the Amerk, Spirits are products of God, placed in the World to be servants to humanity.

===What's the point of it all?===
Kapitalisme has several key points to it.
* First, all of the World was once belonged to the Amerks, and only the Amerks have the right, given by God, to own all things.  
* Second, you CAN take it with you; the Amerks spoke of a paradise built by God beyond the grave, the Persoonlijkheidopslag (a difficult word to translate into other languages, perhaps best translated into Speech as soul storage).  In the Persoonlijkheidopslag, all of the possessions and wealth you have acquired in your life in the World are yours for all eternity.
* Third, your life in the World is your ONLY OPPORTUNITY to stock your overschot (reserves, supplies, again, a difficult word to translate into Speech) in the Persoonlijkheidopslag.  What you do here provides you with all that you will have in the afterlife.
* Fourth, your WAYS of living here in the World also translate into the afterlife, the Persoonlijkheidopslag.  Therefore, it is not enough to simply amass wealth and power, because then in then in the afterlife you will have all this stuff but not know what to DO with it.  The well balanced kapitalistisch knows that both the acquisition, and the ENJOYMENT of power and wealth are equally important.  

Therefore, the goal of all Amerks (and by right of blood, the Niarch that have followed in their ways) is to amass as much personal wealth as possible, so as to be as well set up and comfortable as one can be for eternity, and to enjoy that wealth and power as much as possible to train their psyche for the afterlife.

===Why does bad stuff happen?===
To the kapitalistisch, there is no such thing as evil.  There is only circumstance, and the actions of other people.  Bad stuff happens to you because a) you just have rotten luck or b) you aren't powerful enough to keep people from doing bad things to you.

===What happens when I die?===
See above for what the Niarch believe happens when they die.  Non-Niarch, on the other hand, have no afterlife.  At death they simply cease to exist.  But see below for one possible way out of this situation for the non-Niarch.

===How should I live my life?===
As stated above, the point of existence is to both amass power and wealth, and also to enjoy it.  Only the descendants of the Amerks (the Niarch) are capable of true ownership, and only the kapitalistisch are the beneficiaries of a place in the Persoonlijkheidopslag.  

This does not mean that the are unruly and chaotic, constantly at each others throats.  Far from it.  The kapitalistische also learned another lesson from the Amerks, which was that a rising tide causes all boats to rise.  Therefore, kapitalism requires a strong government, and powerful organized institutions, to regulate the flow of resources.  Hence the rise of the Gezag.  Moreover, kapitalism also requires constant expansion; all the World should ultimately be claimed again by the kaptitalisticshe, the heirs of the Amerks.

There is simply no such thing as conversion to kapitalism.  However, there is a "lesser" form of kapitalism which is available to non-Niarchs.  Only the Niarchs themselves have the have the birthright that enables them access to Persoonlijkheidopslag, but, through service to the Niarchs, a non-Niarch can earn a place there in the service of a Niarch, either as arbeider (worker) or bezit (property).  In fact, many Niarch believe that claiming bezit is almost a charitable activity; at least as bezit the human will have SOME kind of afterlife, rather than complete destruction.

==Informatio==
Informatio (the Knowledge) is the religion based on the words of the Pastor, a prophetic figure who arose some 500 years ago in a distant land far to the West of the People, called Lacuna Niger (Black Pool) in Lingua, the language of that land.  Its adherents are called Informatii or Conhencimenti (the Knowledgeable in Lingua and in Valongon, respectively). 

The Pastor was apparently a young well-to-do philosopher in that part of the World, who, through a series of philosophical and metaphysical trials, received the Informatio, and in turn began to preach it.  It is somewhat unique, as religions go, because it is atheistic.

===Where did it all come from?===
The Informatio, as the Pastor preached it, does not really address the ultimate origin of the World.  The Pastor suggests, but does not claim it to be factual, that the World was born in an analogous way to the way a child is born, and that the World may indeed be one of many worlds, each one a different child.  The Pastor simply refuses to discuss the idea of a Parent as being outside the scope of rational discussion and hence meaningless.

===Whats the point of it all?===
The Pastor's prudentia (insight) into the reason for the world's existence was two-fold.  First, all living things evolve and change.  Second, living things evolve into higher and higher levels of complexity.  This is because the entire universe is permeated with the Instigo, the urge, to become something more.  This does not come from any God; the Pastor did not allow for anything supernatural to exist in the world.  Rather, it is a kind of constant striving to achieve bigger and better things that is written into the fabric of exisitence as deeply as the law of gravity.  The Instigo operates at all levels of life, from the smallest insect, to the largest animal, and even operates at the level of groups of individuals and society itself.  This urge to become "higher" (i.e. more complex, more efficient, more impressive) is simply a force of nature.  Humanity, then, is the highest expression of life, its best and brightest product so far.  And it is the intellect, above all else, that demonstrates this superiority.  

===Why does bad stuff happen?===
The Informatio teaches that much of what SEEMS like bad stuff really isn't.  It raises the idea of "what does not kill you, makes you stronger" to the level of a virtue.  The Pastor taught that all matter and nature is like a blacksmith's anvil and hammer.  It batters a piece of metal over and over again, but not for the purpose of destruction; rather, the battering is to mold the metal into something new and better.

The Pastor also taught that much of what we call "evil" is really just people working and living contrary to the Instigo, the drive to become "higher".  However, there is another virtue in the Informatio called veneratio (reverence), which is probably its highest virtue.  To practice veneratio is to revere those things that are "high", and especially those things (i.e. people) that are "higher" than you are.  Thus, those that rule society, if they properly demonstrate their superiority to do so, are worthy of veneratio, and provide laws and customs that order society for optimum efficiency, in harmony with the Instigo.  To go contrary to these laws is to be contrary with the instigo, and show a lack of veneratio.  Thus, submission to proper (i.e. superior) authority is considered a good thing for the most part, EXCEPT when the authorities have proven their incompetence and lack of superiority.  Also, as all of humanity is considered the pinacle of nature, respect for one's fellow humans, their wishes and needs, is considered essential to a proper understanding of veneratio.  Things such as murder, rape, theft, etc., are not viewed as "evil" so much as showing a lack of respect for both the individual and for the society as a whole.

===What happens when I die?===
The Pastor taught that death is truly the end of exisitence.  There is no real afterlife.  Sort of.

While your own individual consciousness may not exactly persist beyond death, your memory does; all of those things you did that people remember you for contribute to creating a recordatio (recollection, memory, a difficult word to translate) of yourself in the minds of others and in the fabric of nature itself.  The recordatii (what the People call shades) are what are contacted by what the People call "witchcraft", and what the Informatii call the ars memoria.  The Pastor did not teach that the recordatii were the actual spirits or souls of the dead; the Pastor repudiated such concepts as being irrational.  But they were, nevertheless, important tokens, reminders, and presences of the dead in our lives, and worthy of veneratio.

===How should I live my life?===
The Informatio has a rich ethical tradition associated with it, with an array of practical and philosophical texts to draw upon.  However, its principle virtues are:
* Ancestor reverence - the Informatii revere their ancestors and other important figures with a fervor that borders on worship.  They routinely contact the recordatii for guidance and wisdom, build shrines in which the dead can be honored, etc.
* Submission to superior authority - the Informatio teaches that superior (i.e rightful, competent authority) should be submitted to and revered.  Societies of the Pastorate tend to be well ordered places, with little room for much wide freedom of expression on matters of civil order.
* Primacy of reason - the Pastor himself taught that reason was the supreme development of nature, and that reason should guide all action.
* Competetion - the Pastor taught that competition and adversity are the fires that purify the mind and body.  Therefore, competitions of various sorts are common in the Pastorate.  Public positions are given out by competetive examination, for example, and leaders are often chosen in the same fashion.  All kinds of games and sports are also considered to be worthwhile activities, and are pursued with great passion.
* Denegration of spirits - the spirits are considered to be inferior beings in the Pastor's writings; inferior because they do not strive with the force of the Instigo.  They are not supernatural, per se, but they are unnatural, to some extent.  Spirits are used by the Informatii, but only as servants or slaves, never as friends or, worse yet, gods.  
* the Officium - The best purpose for all human kind is to press forward and progress.  The Informatio is self-evidently a new system, more progressed than any other ethical tradition or religion in the World.  The officium is therefore the obligation or duty placed on the Informatii by reason itself (and encouraged by its leaders) to export and push forward its adoption.  Therefore, the Informatii are highly evangelical, with Disciples commonly seen preaching its worth to the World.
* Rebellion and conquest - Submission to superior authority is only right and proper; submission to inferior authority is absurd.  Therefore, rebellion can be an expression of the officium, as can the conquest of a neighboring nation or culture.