Tekinism

The 'T-E' symbol, seeing a capital E placed facing down against a T of the Latin Alphabet, used by many followers to represent Tekin.

### Members

Circa. 30 million (2280)

**Tekinism** is an umbrella term for a series of religions, beliefs and philosophies inspired by, idolising or praising former leader of Neo-Europe, Ekrim Tekin. It prominently arose as a monotheistic religion with its origins in the late twenty-third century in the final years of Neo-Europe as a secretitive cult. It idolises Ekrim Tekin, seeing him as either a messenger from a God, or a form of God himself. While having a unique belief system, some varieties take inspiration from Abrahamic religions and a specific sect of Islam, *Tarak*, can be seen as a precursor to this system. Beyond its tolerance during Tekin's own rule, its early years are marked by heavy persecution, as attempts of De-Tekinisation were enacted.

## Origins and Precursors

### Brotherhood of Tekin

Although the Brotherhood was a front for the Fellowship of the Radiants, its philosophy represents a formula that will be used by future Tekinists.

## Theology

While Tekinism emerged as a group of different beliefs, some adjacent to previous religions, its theology was thoroughly developed by the mid-twenty-fourth century.

### Deity

The two major schools of Tekinism disagree on the role a deity plays in its belief. The first claims Tekin is the deity in human form, while the other argues Tekin was divinely ordained by Him (in the process, the God gave a large proportion of His power to Tekin, limiting His own influence).

### A Tekinite History of the World

~~Unlike older religions, there is no creation myth; instead, it is believed at some point the Tekinite deity was largely non-interventionist, until He bestowed His blessing on several families pre-civilisation. Such families are known as *Ilahi.* One of the first Ilahi is an individual known as the Tekin Prime, purported to have lived in Siberia or Manchuria over 12,000 years ago.~~

~~The *Ilahi* made a civilised, technologically advanced society in southern Siberia, before several of the families became greedy and plotted to kill the rest. A great battle ensued, seeing most of the Ilahi killed in the process. A son of the leading enemy, *Zahar*, survived, making his way to the Caspian Sea. Zahar's descendants, however, reportedly lived on (and eventually spawned, among others, Cassia Tsatsos).~~

~~Wounded, the Tekin Prime demanded his seed be spread throughout the world, instructing his surviving sons to ensure their lineage lives on. Zahar's descendants would hunt these down over the next millennia, but one line of the family lived on (eventually spawning Ekrim Tekin). The Tekin Prime died shortly after, cursing his 'once dear cousin', Zahar. The most common interpretation suggests that the Tekin Prime's 'soul' passed on through his descendants, remaining dormant through *Iyis* until reaching its ideal form in Ekrim Tekin.~~ [I am debating removing this section. It definitely requires a retooling]

### ~~Iyis~~

'Iyis' are people from history who the Tekinites have a great level of respect for, roughly equivalent to the Saints of Christianity. Being a new religion, most of these people have been anachronistically given a role in Tekinist theology.

Iyis include, but are not limited to:

* **Constantine the Great** (272-337), Roman Emperor. An Iyi largely for his role in founding Constantinople, birthplace of Tekin.
* **Saladin** (1137-1193), for his military prowess.
* Mustafa Tekin (2092-2147), for fathering the Revered One.
* **Katerina Aksoy** (2098-2199), for giving birth and being the mother to the Revered One.

### Zahars

'Zahars' are descendants of Zahar Prime, the Ilahi who betrayed the Tekin Prime millennia ago. They are villainous beings, 'sub-human' and, in some cases, seen as demonic. Unlike Iyis, as Zahar is a particular title there can only be one titular Zahar at any given time (although there can exist many descendants of Zahar), traditionally passed down from father to son, but this was rarely the case.

Zahars include:

* Cassia Tsatsos (2178-present)

## Relation to Other Religions

Theologians have categorised Tekinism as 'post-Abrahamic' due to its relations to, yet distinction from, the Abrahamic religions. Tekinism refers to followers of the Abrahamic religions as 'People of the book', a phrase originally used in Islam to refer to Jews and Muslims.