Momaqui

Momaqui, meaning "Kindred of the Wind" in the native Salamandrine
tongue, is a deeply philosophical religion with a unique stance on
creation, mortality, and ethics. Sadly, the harsh desert climate and
exclusionary behaviors of the Salamandrine prevents the religion from
spreading beyond the borders of Arestoneiam's desert. The Momaqua,
followers of the religion, make up the vast majority of the sparse
population of desert-dwellers, but zero followers live outside the
desert.

## History

The religion is an ancient one that has been passed down by strong
tradition and word of mouth for generations after generations. With
time, the stories and beliefs have almost certainly evolved, though the
Salamandrine's lack of a written language keeps scholars from uncovering
 the original versioj of Momaqui. The followers of this religion are
well aware of this factor; their entire religion balances on the idea of
 constant change. This acceptance of change makes sense and is almost
inevitable in a windy environment in which landscapes and sand dunes
shift constantly.

## Belief

Momaqua believe primarily in an essence or energy that ebbs and flows
 through all creature, plants, objects, and even concepts. This energy,
known as Nahuali, is a unifying presence that binds all things as
equals, whereas any means of differentiating an item from Nahuali is of
human creation. Everything is of nahuali. Nahuali is. Momaqua believe
that all things are identical, bit that the energy is formed by the
contrast between polar ends of Nahuali, which are superimposed as both
opposite and identical things. Many religions see juxtaposition between
order and disorder, or life and death, but Momaqui claims order and
disorder to not be mutually exclusive, for death nourishes soil to
provide life, or provides food for more life, but life spawns death and
is fueled by the death of other creatures. Thus, there is neither order
nor disorder. Nahuali is abstract, ethereal, and metaphysical, but
property, ownership, right, wrong, and physicality are nonexistent.
Nahuali is the essence of being, and in Mimaqua, existence cannot
conclude, even after death, for the endless whirlwind of superposition
can never cease. Therefore, if everything is one in being-ness, then one
 cannot wish to harm another, but even if one did, it would be of no
difference, for death and life are not inherently different.
Nevertheless, morality and honor are promoted as prized and sacred, for
they are seen as means of promoting Nahuali and improving one's self as a
 whole.

Nahuali, though, has an effect on man's physical interpretation
of the world, creating the Great Winds. While Nahuali is the most sacred
 concept in Momaqui, it is not worshiped. the fluctuations of this
movement and being-ness created movement, then the winds, which are
deemed extensions of Nahuali in God-like forms as to interact with
mankind. The winds bring hardship, famine, sandstorms, locusts, and
chaos, and when one is greedy and claims ownership over something as
opposed to acknowledging it as a portion of the everything that is
Nahuali, it becomes easier for one to slip out of a state of morality
into one of unethical in the time of hardships brought on by the
winds. The Four Winds, individual conscious, but corporeal deities
governed in a hive-minded manner by the White Eye (the sun), are seen as
 harbingers of adversity, which is welcomed as a filter through which
only the most ethical pass. This ideology promotes abstinence from
luxury, as well as encouraged go, not requiring fasting, reverent
silence, celibacy, and meditation.

In the Beginning, only Nahuali existed, one with itself, as it
always is. Yet its nature and mere existence required fluctuation,
creating the winds and the White Eye as extensions of itself, but also
forming the endless planes of sand to contrast and ballance the winds.
From deep beneath the sands came Yohua, or The Desert Worms, perfect
tubes of life and death existing in superposition in a paradoxical
manner, so perfect in design that, though not pure essence as were the
winds, they became holy and sacred entities of equal power, capable of
wreaking instant havoc, further testing a man's character and harming
those without ethics or who own luxuries. The children of the worms,
further extensions of the being-ness that is Nahuali, were all other
creatures of the desert. Nahuali is everything and everything-ness, and
death and life are identical, so it is completely indifferent to the
ratio of life or death. Yet Nahuali is self-balancing, self-quantifying,
 and self-replenishing, so when death exceeds the point in which life
can continue balanced, the white eye weeps, its tears of the sky feeding
 the desert with rich, pure water from the heavens and restoring
balance.

## Rituals

Momaqua find rituals to be rather ridiculous, for there is no point
in pleasing the deities when adversity comes as a test for quantity of
character, not as punishment for lack thereof. But the Salamandrien
commonly practice dances, ceremonies, and festivals to thank the winds
and the worms, as well as to have fun. The religion itself doesn't
require rituals, but the Salamandrine, the sole followers of the
religion, tend to continue with ancient racial traditions, which blend
with religion.

## Organization

Unlike conventional religions, Momaqui discourages power and rank, as
 they lead to corruption and slipping of character. Each tribe does have
 a chief, yet he or she serves the will of the tribe, merely acting as
the face. Chiefs of tribes are the most commonly tested, as they must be
 the most reverent, loyal, and willing to serve. A Ba'aqr (pronounced
"Baquer"), commonly referred to as a "Shaman" or a "Medicine Man," is
seen as the spiritual link from a tribe to the Nahuali. He or she is
typically the oldest and wisest member of the tribe, not ruling as a
religious tyrant, rather a wise leader sharing knowledge from
experience.