Concisus Numinism/Beliefs

Beliefs

Summary

For those who may find the entire beliefs page somewhat daunting, this summary outlines the basic beliefs and dogmas within Concisus Numinis.

The basic idea that runs throughout the entire church is that all of "reality" (which includes fairly ethereal things, like spirits, gods and ideas, as well as the more mundane earth we know personally) is fragments of our patron deity, The Shattered God. Humanity's duty is to unite these fragments into one whole. Humanity itself is a fragment of god, and so Numinites are devoted to uniting humanity through conquest or quill.

God was shattered after an eternal war against an evil force, after evil invented time as its weapon and used it to defeat God, which was forced to fragment itself in order to avoid death. Many fragments have the ability to regenerate themselves, from the mundane things like life itself to ideas and philosophies which are passed down the generations, avoiding time's embrace.

Concisus Numinites have a fixation on order, as well as on an absolute sense of morality. Anything that is evil is actively corrupting the shards of God and so must be destroyed; anything chaotic is preventing the reformation of god and thus also must be defeated. The abominations all represent aspects of evil's corruption of earth; monsters represent the corruption of nature, undead the corruption of man, and daimons the corruption of the higher planes.

Numinites also believe that the faith and its divine purpose is the reason for all life, and thus must be thought of as the motivator for all activities, from fighting to farming to politics, all must be done in service of God's reformation. We also embrace an aspect of reality known as the "duality". This dogma states that men must live a complete life, understanding both the brutal and merciful sides of nature, mankind, and the heavens.

The Origins of Reality

In the beginning, there was no time. There was only Good and there was Evil locked in eternal war. All other Gods - from Sartan to Katrina to the pagan spirits - did not exist. Neither did that which we hold as virtuous; patience as a concept did not exist, nor did valor nor justice. They all were one being of Good, whose name has been lost to the void, who now we dub The Shattered God.

These two forces were locked in eternal conflict, until Evil, in it's deviousness, did invent Time, the eater of all things. Evil then triumphed over Good, and would have found complete victory if our God did not then sacrifice itself. It shattered itself into manifold pieces. These pieces form all of our reality; from the soil beneath us, to our own material bodies, to our immortal thoughts and virtues and philosophies to the Gods and spirits above. Once, all were one being of immaculate purity.

Life begets life, and though an individual may die, his kin carry on; they will carry on his worship, they will carry on his virtue, and so our God did circumvent time.

The end goal of all life is to unify all the shards of God, though many fail to recognize it. Through acting virtuously in many facets we seek both to unify the virtues and pay tribute to divinity; through worship of the gods we unify the lesser spirits, and through worship of God do we unify those lesser gods into truth. Through philosophy and discourse do we elevate ourselves and contribute to the higher planes.

There rest infinite planes: highest rest the manifold gods, below them the spirits, below them yet the false gods. Mixed among the spirits are those things of human construction; our virtues, our ideologies, our philosophies. Though men may die, their contributions to the higher planes are immortal and they live on there through virtuous life.

Below even those false idols lie mankind, who are the sole conduit from the material realm to the spiritual.

All men may live virtuously and all men may be holy. A farmer ploughs that a nobleman may think; he serves as the mechanism through which soil, a lesser shard, is made into ideas and worship, shards of an infinitely greater magnitude. An artist turns that which is basic into that which is beautiful. A soldier does unify all mankind into a civilization, the greatest Order thus invented for mankind's structuring. The crusader does spread the faith through the edge of the blade, unifying us all, and the missionary goes where the crusader does not and he does the same.

The Essence of the World

All that exists, apart from the corruption, is a shard of the Shattered God. From the soil in the earth to the gods above, all are of the same thing, just of different sizes and complexity.

Once all things are merged and are made most complex, The Shattered God will be whole again, and the end times will be upon us.

Mankind is unique in that we alone exist as the transitive force between the strictly material and the divine; that is to say that we are made, ultimately, of dirt, but our minds have a divine nature to them. In essence, mankind turns crops into the purely ethereal: into order, worship, philosophy, even the gods above. Thus, the godly purpose of man is simple: to take the base and the unsophisticated and to create the complex and the divine from them.

Worship

Ultimately, while we acknowledge the existence of many gods, we also state that they should not exist - all should be one in the Shattered God. By worshiping one or many gods within the pantheon, we pay tribute to the divine and make them stronger, but we also serve to divide the heavens and do great damage in that fashion. Thus, we worship in three ways:

We worship the manifold gods, we worship the dual aspects, and we worship the Shattered God itself.

One must give great caution about worshiping gods. First, a god must be entirely pure - it cannot in any way have any traits that represent Evil, as this means the god is either a false idol (it does not, in truth, exist, but our worship brings it some small level of strength), or an agent of corruption or chaos in disguise. In addition, we must be sure not to strengthen one god, or one set of gods, unduly. Many of the gods above do not recognize the existence of the Shattered God, and would play their strength against weaker gods, achieving dominance and weakening the heavens themselves to corruption.

Virtue

We also seek to merge and strengthen virtue, as well. By holding a virtue in our heart and exhibiting it upon the world, we strengthen that virtue in the heavens. In addition, holding many virtues (especially ones that lie on both sides of the Duality) helps in merging those ideals into one, and in recombining the left and right of the Duality.

Virtues exist in the divine realm, as real as any God. There, they are not merely concepts, but beings and constructs that influence the world directly, and which influence the gods above.

One must establish what, exactly, is virtuous. Patience, bravery, selflesness, piety, zealotry, peace, justice, mercy, vengeance, temperance, high thought, order, gregariousness, intellect, loyalty, all these are deemed virtuous in the eyes of God. We are left with a paradox, however. How can a man be both zealous and intellectual? Just and merciful? Temperate yet vengeful?

The answer is: he cannot, but he must try. Once, these traits were unified and could all be held in tandem, and it is through embracing this hypocricy by means of doubled thought that we unify those virtues.

Thus, the Holy Synagogue does recognize two realities held in tandem: we must be hard men, men who are just to a fault, men who crusade against the infidels and who spill the blood of thousands in the name of their liege.

But those selfsame men must hold religious discourse with the heathen; he must be as resolved on the field of battle as he is on his parchment. Those men must punish as it is deserved, but must also punish less than is deserved. Those men should weep for every drop of blood spilled and should use war as only a last recourse, but he must also recognize a just cause for war and rush to his allies if they, also, do.

This hypocrisy we name the Duality, and all holy men must embrace it. We are a faith of zealots, but we are a faith, too, of intellectuals. We are a faith that strikes down the heathen with the hands while the mouth converses with him. Any man of the Synagogue who attempts to deny this fact, to sway the faith either to the right or left and who does not embrace the duality is to be named heretic and stoned until dead.

Order and Philosophy

Philosophy also takes a stand in the heavens above, standing beside virtue but below the gods. By living an intellectual, fulfilling life, we immortalize ourselves through ideology. While a man dies, his ideology lives on through others - a most concrete afterlife. Ideologies unite mankind but also strengthen the heavens above, acting as a fabric through which the gods and virtues are granted meaning and, thus, strength.

So, too, must mankind be united. By nature, we are fracticious and divided; we form our own tribes and nations, our independant faiths and cultures, and try to remain separate from one another. Through the assimilation of cultures and tribes, we unite mankind into Civilization. Through the assimilation of civilizations, we form empires. Through the assimilation of empires we form eternal hegemony, and this is the most holy form of governance yet invented. When all mankind stands under one banner, one culture, and One True Faith, we will truly be unified. The Shattered God is made up not only of other gods, but of mankind, as well, and we will only ascend once we are unified in all ways.

Any man who thus states that politics and faith do not intertwine is very much mistaken: only through politics can mankind be united. Politicians who abuse the faith for personal interests will be crusaded against and have his nation cut down. Politicians who fight in the interest of the faith and of global unity are as holy as any priest or paladin, and will be rewarded in this life and the next.

The Duality

The Duality is the primary split of reality. It is a dividing line between all creation, including both the heavens and the earth, as well as all within them. The Duality is the most-worshiped higher being, as it is more concrete than the Shattered God itself but tends towards less danger than the Manifold Gods. At the moment time was created, the Duality was formed, though many more pieces were shattered off both sides, time.

Two two sides of the Duality are the left and right. The left represents the peaceful, thoughtful elements of creation: Virtues like mercy, humility, and patience. The left side of the Duality also represents the monk or librarian, the gods of peace and meditation, and the peaceful, healing side of nature; the growth of grass, the washing tides, the weeping dove. This side of the Duality is often called the Aspect of the Monk. Counterbalancing the left is the right: Within it are the frightening, awe-inspiring and destructive elements of creation: virtues like justice, pride, and temperance, gods such as Sartan, and the destructive side of nature; the volcano, the charging bull, the fearsome storm. The right side of the Duality is often called the Aspect of the Paladin, or Crusader.

Neither side is more good or more holy than the other- indeed, the Synagogue recognizes them as opposed but identical. Only when all of creation embraces both sides of the Duality simultaneously will we find victory over evil. Holy men do not align with one side of the duality, but take virtues and worship gods and live life according to both. The most holy men are capable of doubled thought - they can worship gods who are directly opposed, they can hold both justice and mercy (the most opposed virtues) in their hearts simultaneously and, what's more, they will understand but embrace the implicit hypocrisy in that action.

The Duality of the Manifold Gods

The Manifold Gods are the third highest in the grand celestial hierarchy, standing below both the Shattered God and the Duality. Within the Manifold Gods, however, there also is a hierarchy - one that must be maintained, as many gods would vie for supremacy.

The highest of the Manifold Gods are the omnibenevolent and omnipotent gods, representing the left and right of the duality. These are gods who represent much of one side of the duality, or even many virtues and traits from both. They are also gods of absolute power and purity and are as close to the Shattered God as possible, while still having enough unique aspects to their existence that they are not yet fully merged.

Below them are hundreds of gods. Usually when one names a "Manifold God", they are referring to the gods in this category of the divine. Gods who are not all-powerful or who have neglected virtues or who do not value order sufficiently are classed in this category.

Still below the Manifold Gods are the pagan spirits. Often these are spirits with little to no power, who represent one aspect of creation - a spirit of vengeance, a spirit of zealotry, a spirit of books. These are not large enough entities to be worth our worship and should be largely ignored.

Below these are the "false idols" - gods who have no intrinsic power but are given some by worship. These are gods who have simply been invented at best, agents of chaos at worst. We do not worship these gods and we root out any worshipers of these gods with extreme prejudice. They are shards given order, but they are given order in a way that does not fit with the Shattered God. They are not the Truth. Consider them to be a puzzle piece that simply cannot fit into the greater whole; we must eliminate them and replace them with something that does.

Gilbert's revelation revealed the least about this plane of existence, as his capacity for revelation was limited and only the important ideas could be communicated in one sweep. Nonetheless, we was revealed the existence of two Manifold Gods to which he had already been made familiar through familial relations: Katrina of Aethris Pyrism on the left, and Sartan of Sartanism and the Church of Ibladesh on the right. Both, however, are not considered "strong" gods and are classed as fairly low Manifold Gods. He also learned that the vast majority of gods do not, in fact, exist - most of what your ancestors or compatriots worship are in fact false idols. Only after extremely stringent analysis will we allow a new god into our pantheon, both if it is entirely new or one that has been previously worshiped by another faith.

The Manifold Gods, just as the virtues and other ethereal concepts and the physical world itself, are divided among right and left. We do not allow the singular worship, thus, of a god. One may either worship no gods above, instead choosing to pray to the Duality or The Shattered God itself, or one may choose to worship pairs of Manifold Gods - ones on other sides of the duality, and usually ones who have directly contradictory traits. Worship of only one god or worship of an unbalanced nature will be considered heresy against the Duality and punished with great, furious anger.

The different between virtues and Manifold Gods is often confused: Manifold Gods are more powerful and often are comprised of virtues. One would ask, then, why we pay our respects to virtue and not entirely to the Manifold Gods. The answer to that is quite simple: Manifold Gods and concepts, though they exist within the same realm, are fundamentally different. The only way to unite the two of them into one concept is to pay respects to both. Furthermore, we cannot worship virtues, but we cannot live as gods. They are entirely different avenues to paying respect to the divine realm and we cannot neglect either.

The Duality of the Virtues

The virtues are where the Duality is made most evident. Perhaps this is because the Shattering may have first occurred with the Virtues, though that is an example of deep theological discussion that is out of the scope of this summary.

Some virtues are directly opposed; justice and mercy being a preeminent example of this. Other virtues are more like two sides of the same coin, one trait put into different contexts. Virtues listed towards the top are the most opposed, while virtues towards the bottom are most unified.

That mercy and justice are opposed is a tautology. One cannot grant a man clemency while also finding justice for the men he has harmed; one cannot be merciful while stoning a man to death for heresy.

Humility and pride are also very much opposed, though both are considered to be great virtues worthy of the gods. This is also a tautological contradiction.

To love peace and to be brave are also somewhat contradictory, though somewhat easier to maintain in the heart than the former examples. One must ride a fine line here: do not lust for blood or wage war without just cause, but do not attempt to dissuade yourself unduly from battle.

Piety and Zealotry are virtues that are more similar than different, though the two virtues that come the most often into conflict. Piety is a more intellectual form of worship, involving theological discussion and argument and literary research, even amongst the heathen. We must not ever neglect this aspect of life, but we must also recognize that there is a time for swords and crusades and brutality. Often, these times coincide: speak to the heathen's lord while you strike the heathen down. The peasantry are converted with swords, but nobles tend to be much more resolute and must be convinced with more than blades.

Loyalty is a strange virtue in that it lies on both sides of the Duality. Loyalty to your realm, to your liege, to your blade and to your oaths rests upon the right, while loyalty to your morals, sense of right and faith lies largely on the left. It is an important aspect of all men to keep this virtue in balance.

We do not recognize the inherent value of independence: independence is a form of chaos and should only be endorsed if escaping a much greater evil.

Finally, gregariousness and curtness are two opposed virtues whose duality can be overcome through sheer force of character. To speak well and to convince others of your cause is a great thing, but there is also a value to not using flowery language to sidestep an issue and to communicating precisely.

Moderation and Resolution are some of the most similar virtues that are still opposed; if ever two virtues could be called two sides of the same coin, it would be these. Moderation is the antithesis of gluttony, it is patience and understanding, and it is a virtue very much praised among monks. However, moderation is also an intellectual weakness and must be balanced with resolve less a man be thrown off course. The Resolute, however, may be more drawn to physical temptation, but will have a firmness to their beliefs that cannot be swayed.

The Duality of Philosophy

Philosophies are often directly in contradiction, but that, as always, does not mean we should not believe in both. Am I to help my fellow man, or teach him how to sustain himself? Is it best to spread the faith through discussion or crusade? Is it best to create or to protect?

The answer to all of these: Both. Neither. This is the Duality.

Like virtue or worship, to philosophize and to educate is both an ends and a means. It is an ends in that it contributes to the higher planes, helping to create the fabric of the divine that the divine entities exist within. It is arguably more important than worship. Through education we give meaning to virtue and worship, though without those two, philosophy is nothing. It is a means in that through ideology, we find another immortality: the spirit of a man lives on through his ideas. It is also a means in that higher ideas bind together man and create unity - often more than the sword, and often more than flags and banners. Swords convert men, but it is ideas that sustain them.

The Duality of Man

Mankind exists along both sides of the duality. Indeed, we are one of the most important tools towards the recreation of the Shattered God because we act as a bridge - of the physical to the ethereal, but also between the right and left of the duality. We farm, we build towns and choose to sail with the tides, not against them. We are also capable of great wrath - we are the greatest hunters of the land, our battlefields are gory and full of destructive force, and we are capable of great vengeance upon our fellow man. The universe is much larger us, but we are unique in that we can act as the glue within creation.

Thus, do not criticize your fellow man for less glorious acts, like artistry - that is an aspect of creation that he chooses to represent and he fulfills an important function for reality. But so too do not criticize the warrior for his zealotry, for his bravery, for he too is necessary. Instead, criticize the self - look inwards and decide what side of the duality you are neglecting, and develop yourself to reach the divine.

However, do not simply exhibit virtue for virtue's sake. All virtue is a conduit towards order: the artisan spreads his culture that he might unify mankind. The warrior seeks to be rid of political borders, the crusader protects the True Faith and the priest units mankind under one purpose. Virtue is both and end and a means.

Ultimately, there is one good: order. Men take the base and they create the complex. We turn towns into empires with the blade, we turn pastels into paintings with the brush. It is all the same.

Through unification of civilization, we become as the gods. Until all Earth is under one divine dominion, there will be no lasting peace and there will be no ascension and the Shattered God will remain shattered.

The Nature of Evil

There is true Evil, or the Corruption, that which corrupts and seeks only to destroy. There is also Chaos, which forms up Shards of Reality in such a way that they cannot be unified with the whole. Evil is contemptible; chaos is pitiful, for it is not done with malicious intent.

Evil

Evil is the force that seeks to destroy the world. It is greed, it is malevolence, it is corruption. Evil, however, cannot act directly upon the world. It can only corrupt, turn a shard against the others and thus wreak havoc on the holy world.

There exist three material corruptions: the monsters, the undead, and the daimons, each more nefarious than the next.

Monsters represent the corruption of the natural order. They are purely physical: they are wild, ravenous beasts that know only destruction. They must be destroyed.

The undead represent the corruption of mankind, in both the physical and divine sense. They corrupt our bodies so that we might destroy the physical world akin to the monsters, but their corrupted minds strengthen Sin and transcend, both aiding the daimons and corrupting the heavens. They must be destroyed.

The daimons are the rarest form of corruption, but also the most dangerous. They are the corruption of ideals, of virtue, of the gods themselves. They are sin incorporated. Whenever a man's virtues are turned to sin, he strengthens the daimons. Whenever a man abandons his civilization and turns to chaos, he strengthens the daimons. Whenever a man abandons or corrupts his principles, he strengthens the daimons. This is why we strike down heretics with brutality, why we strike down the greedy, the indulgent, the malevolent. This is why we forbid immodesty, whoring, and why we prohibit the consumption of alcohol.

Sin is both a source and symptom of evil. Sin does not exist independently: it is the corrupted form of virtue, and it is the lifeblood of daimonkind. Gluttony is corrupted temperance, malevolence is corrupted kindness, greed is corrupted selflessness. This is why sin is so tragic: it is only with the existence of virtue in a man's heart that he might be made sinful. This is why we weep as we strike into their hearts and put them to death. This is why we torture heretics and agents of chaos, but not sinners.

Agents of Chaos

Agents of chaos may simply be misguided, or they may be corrupted. It is at the discretion of the holy synod to determine this. The corrupted must be purged at any cost. The misguided should be converted and lectured, but killed if they resist.

They come in many forms. There are anarchists, who come to break apart the order of society. There are heretics, who come to break down the fabric of the faith - both ours and other's. To be a heretic is to be worse than a heathen. There are pagans, who worship one-dimensionally and do not acknowledge higher faith. There are heathens, who do not acknowledge The Shattered God and thus create divine chaos, but who nonetheless unify mankind under the banner of faith. There are atheists, who are the worst of the agents of chaos, who come to either believe in nothing or who possess no strength of faith and thus cannot think to merge their faith with their other aspects of life - in their wars, in their politics, in their justice.

Divine Justice

Justice is a virtue, but also our greatest weapon.

Justice is both the vanquishing of evil and of chaos. Those who act against order and against the faith are guilty. We also define Evil and Chaos primarily as that which weakens the faith. Thus, the faith is the only stem for morality. No crime can be made if it strengthens the Shattered God, and nothing that weakens the Shattered God is good. We do not acknowledge the existence of overzealotry.

Any arbiter of justice who subscribes to the faith but does not involve the faith as the sole source of justice and morality is a heretic and will be put to death, for he is purposefully corrupting justice.

The Afterlife

Every man has several different afterlives.

For each man, save those so unfortunate that they are corrupted by the undead, their bodies decay into the earth to be reborn again in the majesty of nature. Thus, the physical nature of man is reborn.

Men may be considered to exist both within and without the divine and the physical. Thus, there is the afterlife devoid of either. Men live on in the deeds they accomplish - in their descendants, in their ideas that spread, in the faith they have aided and the banners they have called, in the history they leave. A man is never truly dead until his name is whispered for the last time.

A man's soul is a fragment of his combined worship, philosophy, and virtue. Those who have been an ideal Numinian in life will find their soul shard being added onto another thing - a god they worshiped, a virtue they exemplified, a philosophy they died in the name of.

The heathen will face two possible outcomes. Should they have worshiped a false idol, their shard will be cast away from reality, as it cannot fit into a perfect whole. Those who worshiped a true Manifold God, however, may have their immortal soul find a place in the heavens, though it is greatly doubtful unless they lived an exceedingly virtuous life. Even then, much of their shard will be discarded.

No matter their faith, heretics, nonbelievers and sinners will face eternal damnation. Those who lack the strength of will to allow their faith to influence their life in a meaningful way are devoid of a soul entirely, instead acting as mere machines who set out to fulfill personal ambitions. These are worse even than sinners, for they represent a corruption even deeper than Evil. Heretics will weaken the heavens as they weakened the faith, and will be cast out. Sinners have had the great misfortune of being lured into temptation, and unless they were blessed on their death beds, they, too, will be damned forever, their very souls being stolen by Evil and used in the lifeblood of imps or horrors or other such daimonic things. We greatly pity their damnation, for it is the worst of all.

Occasionally, a man is made a saint in the afterlife. Often martyrs, though the occasional hero also achieves sainthood. These are men of noble birth who died on the field of battle defending the faith, after having contributed to the faith on a philosophical level and having eliminated great sin and chaos from the world. These are men who have embraced the entire duality, and they exist both within and between the two, their souls acting as the glue between them. Saints retain their individuality after death for some centuries, during which they may cast miracles, though they are eventually absorbed into the greater whole as the Duality continues to come together.