Pagsuki

**Paagi sa Pagsuki**, also known as “the Path of Defiance”, or simply "Pagsuki" is the religion that the Balete practice. The Balete venerate one deity that stood above the other "lesser" deities or the gods and goddesses of foreigners. They worship the concept of the endless void and the unseen force outside of time driving everything into motion, manifested as a primordial goddess known as “Kalibutan” (“All-Encompassing”), the hidden mother where everything in the universe came from. The religion itself is referred to as "Defiance" because the Balete believed that the very first of their ancestors were brought to existence near the very first Balete tree by Kalibutan into the world for the very purpose of challenging mortals into defying the natural order of the universe. Balete believed that they were given life by Kalibutan with the goal of transcending who created them, they were made to surpass Kalibutan. And the method of apotheosis involved living on Earth and undergoing the many trials of mortality.

The Balete view life as a challenge, a divine-given opportunity to take the world by the throat and use it as their trial grounds for achieving power and ascension. This heavily influences their culture of "Power declares what is virtue", as Kalibutan values strength, cunning, and self-reliance in undergoing the trials of the world and defying the normal flow of the universe, instead of their souls returning to Kalibutan (the Root), they must deny the universe' laws and transcend beyond it. The very reason why the Balete reside in inhospitable regions in the Border Realm is due to this core belief that life is a challenge to be conquered, and a hostile environment will be a better testing ground for the trial of "Defiance". Many found the Balete beliefs  to be incompatible with their own, from the other chiefdoms and kingdoms in the Ancient archipelago now known as the Philippines, to the travelers and traders from other parts of Asia and the Pacific, to the westerners like the Martyrdom, which has been one of the primary reasons why conflict erupted between the Balete and outsiders.

Although the Balete did believe in the existence of other gods, they merely acknowledge them as entities stronger than normal mortals, certainly of nature many would consider divine. However, they do not worship them. The many gods and goddesses of the ancient archipelago were viewed as entities to overcome. Christian scholars who encountered them treated the Balete as Monotheistic due to their beliefs only venerating Kalibutan as a goddess. While it is true that the religious Balete treat Kalibutan as their primordial deity, the more powerful magi strictly follow the Defiance belief and treat her as the final hurdle to overcome, and treating your “goddesses” as a hurdle to by conquered definitely raised the brows of many Martyrdom who tried studying Balete culture, and reinforced their dismissal of Balete beliefs as “Heretical Magi”.

Pagsuki also includes four integral entities that make up a core of the ideology. As Kalibutan’s trials will forever continue in the Earth, four entities became the Harriers, beings that test the resolve and strength of the Balete, and while not technically considered as beings to be worshiped, they are the figurative “enemy deities” to the Balete undertaking the Path of Defiance. While some consider them as literal enemies who reside in the Mythic Realm, others consider the Harriers as metaphors for the obstacles between a mage and ascension.

## Kalibutan

She is commonly depicted as a female manifestation of the infinite void, sometimes a woman devoid of any distinct features instead of darkness, representing her as an entity beyond the qualities of nature. Other times she is depicted as a woman of dark purple and gold, and the regal silk of the rich and powerful Balete, a depiction that shows her in a more human-like state, enforcing the fact that while she might be the origin of everything, those ambitious and cunning enough may reach her as an equal and even surpass her. In this depiction, her lower body is shown to have the motif of the ocean, representing the vast eternal ocean of the void beyond the world, and how everything came from the womb known as the void. She is depicted as having four arms, showing qualities of both creation and destruction.

She is the primordial goddess in Balete Culture, and is the manifestation of both the endless void that surrounds the universe and also how the Balete's manifestation of the Origin Point or Root believed by other magi. Instead of an aloof force of nature, however, Kalibutan is believed to be a primordial mother goddess who brought life into the universe, but instead of a gentle mother goddess, she is viewed as a harsh but fair matriarch who seeks to have her children overcome the trials within the world and even ascend above her, for Balete view existence as a whole as one big test of intelligence, strength, and resolve, and only the strongest may ascend and break free of the binds of universe and perhaps even achieve a divinity still unknown to the feeble minds of mortality. As part of the Path of Defiance's tenets of overcoming adversity in many forms, Kalibutan was said to have blessed the Balete of the methods of travelling between the Physical and the Border Realms, which resulted with the Balete's main settlements residing in different parts of the Border Zone.

## The Harriers

The Harriers, also known as "The Four Adversaries", are the primary source of challenges and obstacles on their own individual paths of defiance. The four adversaries are divine entities or ancient beings that were crystalized into the Balete culture as those who harry them from ultimately ascending.

### Bakunawa

The First Harrier and Adversary is the giant Moon-eating serpents known as the Bakunawa. They represent the dangers of nature and the inhospitable Border Realm that the Balete call their home. The Bakunawa challenges the endurance and adaptability of the Balete. The city of Bakunawa was founded according to the legend of the Balete mage known as Haliya, along with her retinue of apprentices, manifested a giant avatar of their combined magical prowess and consciousness, slaying a Bakunawa after driving it into the Border Realm. The skeleton of that titanic servant now serves as the foundation of an entire major city. The Balete claim that the goddess "Haliya" from ancient Bikol mythology is actually just based on the achievements of Haliya's clan.

### **Kantap**

Kantap, a sky and storm god from Visaya mythology, who has gone mad chasing control and power. Kantap tests the Balete for their strength and their mental fortitude. Traditionally, many spells that featured lightning are derived from his name in Balete society. Kantap also represents the chaos, or the madness of the world, and was according to folklore a deity who went mad with rage after his children attempted to betray him and went on a destructive rampage. He represents the challenge of overcoming the unpredictability of the world through the their resolve, mind and body.

### **Maguayan**

The sea god and ferryman of souls in Visaya mythology. Maguayan represents the force of momentum, eventuality, probability, and the force that breaks down everything back into its basic components and sends the soul back to Kalibutan. He is the representation of the force of inevitability that cannot be changed, although it can be delayed or accelerated, phenomena that forces all things through cycles of mortality and rebirth. As such, he is also the harbinger of the Decay, as the Balete believe that even magic is not exempt from the forces of time and change. Maguayan challenges the resolve of the Balete as the force of nature and the abstract concepts that dooms humanity to a cycle of life and death. Aging is the most common challenge tackled by Balete, as they realize that they will need a lot of time in this earth to finish the grand challenge set by Kalibutan. You cannot ascend beyond if you die of old age, after all.

### Baylohayan

The personification of human interaction and trade, Baylohayan is unique in which she was not worshipped as a goddess, but instead viewed as a manifestation of the abstract, and entity not to be venerated, but respected and a challenge to overcome. Baylohayan is depicted as a four-armed woman, who carried a golden fruit representing development, a dagger representing conflict, an orb of the void representing the unknown and deception. Her last hand is empty, and simply extended as a welcoming gesture. She is depicted as wearing the regalia of a respected warrior and a resolute expression as the Balete view interaction between one mage and another as a battle of wits. She tests the Balete by making them view interactions between themselves and outsiders as not simply "one hand", but multi-faceted. She tests their cunning by making them seek out and determine the conflict, or the development, one might find when interacting or trading with others. To ascend is to master the nuances of dealing with others, after all, as it is a key part in one's journey of defying the inevitability of everything. Conquer the minds of others first before conquering the greater forces.