Religions and Faiths

Anyone with a comprehensive mind has thought of deep questions in their life. Many have come up with varieties of theories across space and time, and perhaps have had some sort of transcendent revelation to them or witness to some great event of wonder or terror, sometimes both at once. Though explanations and supposed records of enlightenment have popped up across history, it is those beliefs that are close to the heart and soul and serve to thoroughly explain the world, or those that are enforced with either open oppression or secret manipulation, that have stood the test of time. The following are the known Religious institutions and Spiritual faiths on the Great Orb Spherus Magna.

## Grunkharism

Otherwise spelled as Gruncharism or Grunkarism, this belief is the most wide-spread of all Spherus Magna spiritualities, and at it's core it teaches of a monotheistic sentient force of great power that both lies outside of the universe and transcends it and, this unnamed being/force named **Grunkhar** by the people of Spherus Magna. Nature is the work of this entity, Grunchar means Potter, and thus is often titled The Primordial Potter. The name has had some linguistic morphings across history in accordance to evolving languages, but they can all be traced back to a common source. Many prophets have had popped up throughout the ages with revelations of enlightenment and those that correspond with each other and pass the legitimization of insightful scholars are added to a canon. Due to both lack of communication via distance and difference of interpretation, there are many forms of Gruncharism. Its influence is vast and due to their always being a central force behind the scenes of most faiths of Spherus Magna, it is thought by its adherents to be the source of all spiritual lores, but obviously other faiths will object to this. The physical direct agents of Grunchar are thought to be the immortal liquid spirit Avhagnu collectives of the, and are the opposites and eternal enemies to the Khargnu collectives, enemies of creation and truth; however, the Avhagnu, though fulfilling their duty, can be mean-spirited and coy while doing their job and do not fully represent their master. The faith most hostile to Grunkharism is Khargnism, the religion of shadow.

## Khrahagnism

The religion of shadow, Khrahagnism or Khargnism gains its name from the dark fluid spirits called Khrahagnu or Khargnu, these collective entities later being dubbed Natural Antidermis by the Great Beings. Battling their counterparts the Avhagnu, the fluid spirits of light, in the everlasting Eternal War, Khargnu is the natural byproduct of one of two outcomes of primal sentience, that is, rebellion. Rejecting Grunkhar and all that the being is, the collectives of Khrahagnu seek to destroy everything they can that is from Grunchar since that being cannot be destroyed and is beyond their grasp. They do this by corruption and destruction. On Spherus Magna, this has been done for many many thousands of years by lying to sentient mortals and making them join them in there mission by making them have zealous hatred towards all of creation, or twisting the words of prophets so that it on-surface looks correct but causes more harm, or other means. In the time prior to the Great Beings, there was great conflict across west Bara Magna and Bota Magna as the adherents of Light and Shadow spilled much precious life-blood in Greani's Rebellion and the Nealite Crusades conducted by the heirs of **Greani Ateir**; from these, Khargnu collectives were purged (mostly) in a great circumference around Neala. But outside of the reach of the old Nealite Crusades, the collectives of liquid darkness still exists and corrupt locals. The only ones to openly worship this darkness in Neala are half of the Skrall and their old Jijanta masters. As the night sky is not as lit up as it was described in far-long ancient times, it is thought by some scholars that much of the universe is in control of these malevolent masses, and some fear that a storm may be over Solis Magna's horizon. It is this theory of an interstellar shadow domination that makes people rethink the wording of the ancient ***Epic of Ekimu***, that describes a 'black sea' from where the undead made their homeland. The Kult of Makuta is a recent spin-off of Khrahagnism that secretly grows with each year.

* **The Kult of Makuta** - Referenced as **Makutine** [mah-koo-tee-nay] in local Nealite linguistic corruption, the Kult of Makuta is a relatively new religion to Spherus Magna, and is actually not native ot the planet. It was created by the Makuta named Teridax after he usurped the title and place of Great Spirit of Ao from the original Great Spirit Mata Nui. Seeing himself as no longer just a Makuta, Teridax styled himself as Makuta Nui Teridax, and like the antidermis he was made of was based off of, styled himself as a liberator against tyranny. To enforce his own brand of it, Teridax introduced a new version of the spirituality of the matoran with emphasis on Teridax being a liberator, Mata Nui's exile as being just, and the purging of Mata Nui's remaining loyalists. Three-fourths of Ao pledged allegiance to the Makuta Nui, though in secret half of those converts had submitted out of fear. The ever-loyal matoran Ahkmou was assigned as the Turaga of Metru Nui and head of the Makuta Kult. After the death of Makuta Teridax at the hands of Mata Nui in the great Battle of Bara Magna, those false-converts rejoiced and abandoned the kult, and many more loyal adherents abandoned it after the loss of their god. However, the Kult has survived in secret, their turaga Ahkmou turning himself into a shadow matoran and the members of the higher echelons doing the same, and continue to work to corrupt and destroy the enemies of Makuta Teridax. The fruition of plans to do this resulted in the great blood-letting known as the Nealite Civil War, or better known as the Ateirnite or New Atero Civil War. Since then, their enemies are much weaker and the Kult grows more powerful. They have members from not only Ao but also Spherus Magna as well and seek to ally themselves with the native Khargnists from far away lands and hopefully one day resurrect Makuta Teridax.

## Kults of Mythology

This is an umbrella name for the multitude of kults that celebrate heroes and legends or beings of power as gods in the form of great veneration, oft times to the point of worship. Temples for such gods dot the map and are acceptive of each other. The subjects of worship are often the Great Beings or the Element Lords, together forming the **Elder Kult**, but many despise both for the Core War and the Shattering that happened afterwards, both referenced as the Ruining of Paradise in post-Shattering civilizations. As such, the Kult of Heroes serves as a counterpart to the Elder Kult. Splinters from the Elder Kult have popped up, venerating specific gods while some temples still have the presence of the idols of other gods off to the side of their subject deity. Here are the most popular cults in the Kults of Mythology:

* **The Kult of Heroes** - An umbrella name for numerous cults that either give near-worship veneration or outright worship of notable individuals throughout history, from the likes of Greani Ateir all the way to Mata Nui. They are very flexible in their beliefs so long as their subject of admiration receives as such; though in isolation for long periods of time some of these cults have resulted in the myriad of characters in the figure's life-story help develop them into full-fledged mythologies of gods and whatnot, the real history sometimes lost in the fluff that has been added over the course of centuries, even millennia. They are proud of themselves and the aristocracies will not easily abandon their traditions even if the common-folk do.

* **The Kult of Tahedin** - This cult is far spread but in isolated pockets, which is strange. They worship the Great Being Tahedin, but the ways and reasons is different per location. The largest concentration is in south Bota Magna where the vorox place him as the head of a pantheon of Great Beings and Element Lords (with only their own Element Lord of Sand ever getting any tribute besides Tahedin). The other is an ethnic nomadic group of agori in Neala that worship this foreign god with no outsiders allowed in participation.

* **Sisters of the Skrall** (disbanded) - A cult based around the worship of the Great Being Agnonce. It was largely followed by the female skrall of Bara Magna, who for millennia were separate from the males except for yearly mating rituals. They were all expelled because they had developed psychic powers, which they had given credit to Agnonce, and were viewed as being cursed. It was later found by Sahmad that it was not Agnonce who had gifted the female clan, but rather the celestial monster Annona, who had merely used them, they giving up 15 of their children every 10 years as sacrifices into a cave to keep their powers. Annona's hunger grew insatiable, ready to go out into the planet and torment the inhabitants like before the Rise of the Great Beings, and so in the presence of Sahmad she summoned most of the Sisters of the Skrall and consumed their minds, then using their corpses as puppets to show how easy it was to control and consume them (and others in her aims) after all this time and then used them to mess with former-slaver. Those handful of members away from the area found their powers had disappeared, and so having felt abandoned by their subject deity the cult was abandoned. With the exile of Tuma and the disbanding of the Sisters of the Skrall, the factions of the War of the Warlords individually granted their own statuses on these former cultists, using them as healers or other positions if accepted. With the unification of the Bara Magna Skrall under Stronius, the former cultists were reluctantly allowed to be part of the kingdom, but are viewed as witches and their presence only tolerated.

## Matoran Religion

The Matoran of Ao have for millennia given respect to their Great spirit Mata Nui, but they never worshiped him, only gave veneration. The Matoran who arrived on the island of Mata-Nui, named after the Great spirit in his honor by the former-Toa Metru, who then became Turaga, were guided by their Turaga and became spiritually attached to Mata Nui in the face of the torment brought upon them by the fallen 'brother' of Mata Nui, The Makuta (named Teridax unbeknownst to them and was but one of many). They would pray to Mata Nui, leave food offerings in places deemed holy, which only further annoyed the ever-jealous Makuta.

## Irreligious Mentality

It is said that in the hardest of times, the light of the divines has one of two affects on people's hearts: Their hearts like wax melt before the sun, or like clay hardens up. Some people go for the latter, and so they either become agnostic of the divines, completely secular in that they do not think of such matters as being important, or they grow antagonistic and harbor a disdain or even open hatred towards anything divine or religious. The latter is often times the door that leads to the worship of the Krahagnu collectives, but even then some may not go for that and harbor hate for them too.