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 seclusionary 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 improbing one's self as a whole.

Nahuali, though, has an effect on man's physical interperetation 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 unethicality in the time of hardships brought on by the winds. The Four Winds, individual conscious, but bodiless 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 incouraged 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 existancd 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 chilren 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 reffered 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.