Atonaki

**Atonaki** is the primary religion of the Onshians. It is centred around the worship of four main divine entities; the two "true gods" of Amari and Hanzo, and the two "deified mortals" of Kashita and Matiro. The faith is split into three opposed and utterly irreconcilable sects; the Kashitites (who worship Amari, Hanzo and Kashita), the Matirites (who worship Amari, Hanzo and Matiro) and the Kanidites (who worship all four). It should be noted that though the Kashitites and Matirites do not worship their rival deity, they do not doubt or deny their existence or deified status.

Although Atonaki has its roots in an oral tradition which has been traced back since before the Annihilation, all three sects of the religion refer to the Makatisha for their religious teaching, a book containing the codified oral traditions of the Atonakians. The word Makatisha literally translates as "compilation" in Onshian, referring to its nature as a collection of numerous books detailing the oral traditions of the faithful. Of course, each sect has a different idea as to which books are in the legitimate canon of the Makatisha.

The Matirite and Kashitite branches dominated Onshi and were in fierce conflict with each other until Reishu Eshikana Kaniko, a student of the Suzhao monks of Heguo, spread the Kanidite message and united Onshi behind him against the invading Nesarians and then the Cosmovores, becoming a martyr against the latter. Kanidism steadily grew until it reached about three-quarters of the Atonako population by the 3rd century AD, remaining more or less at this proportion ever since. The Imperial state actively took a role in sponsoring Kanidite priests and temples, believing it to be a necessary step for maintaining peace and order in their most valuable territory.

## Etymology

The name of the religion, *Atonaki*, approximately translates as "worshipping our gods"; it is comprised of the components *ato* ("worship") and *anaki* (which can be translated as "our gods" or "the gods of our nation"). An adherent of Atonaki is known as Atonako, though the far more common English term is Atonakian. In Onshian, Matirism is known as Matirato (*Matiro-ato*, "Matiro worship"), Kashitism is known as Kashitato or Kashato (*Kashita-ato*, "Kashita worship"), and Kanidism is known as *Kanida* (*Kani-ada*, "harmonious truth").

## Mutually Agreed Principles

There are a few basic principles which all three sects of Atonaki agree upon.

### Amari and Hanzo

While Kashita and Matiro are the most prominent gods, according to Atonakian belief they are not actually the strongest; the two most powerful deities in existence are Amari, the creator goddess, and Hanzo, her husband. All intelligent creatures are referred to as the "Children of Amari", for it is she who created them - which does imply that her husband Hanzo is her own son, but he has never been referred to in this manner, and Atonakians have various excuses for why their union is not incestuous.

The Heguomins use the same name for Amari, but refer to Hanzo as Huanzhao, and identify him with the Titan known as Huanzhao the Celestial Dragon.

Amari is the most powerful being in existence, but most Atonakians do not regard her as truly omnipotent - if she were, she would not be stuck within the so-called "Infinite Sleep", a slumber that Amari collapsed into after creating the universe and imbuing her essence into all living things. Atonakians believe that Amari's essence is necessary for a creature to actually live (or, by some definitions, necessary for a creature to have a soul), and the act of spreading her essence to all her creations left Amari with only the slightest trace of essence for herself. Since the comatose goddess cannot fend for herself, her loving husband Hanzo eternally watches over her, protecting her from malevolent forces.

Amari is believed to be wholly benevolent and actually incapable of malice, as evil thoughts are incompatible with her nature. Hanzo, on the other hand, is capable of evil thoughts and deeds, but he is nonetheless righteous and kind, and slow to anger. Some Atonakians believe this actually makes Hanzo more virtuous, for Amari is incapable of evil, whereas Hanzo must actively ward off temptation for eternity.

### Minor Spirits

All three sects of Atonaki believe in the existence of minor spirits, who are immaterial divine or semi-divine beings beyond the "true gods" of Amari and Hanzo. Unlike the benevolent Amari and the kind Hanzo, these minor spirits are devious and fickle; they have little love for mortals, and some actively seek to harm them. Whereas the love of Amari and Hanzo towards mortals is unconditional, the minor spirits must be appeased to work with mortals, and those spirits with malevolence in their hearts must be fended off. Many secular scholars have suggested that the malevolent spirits are a mythologised interpretation of Dread Titans or Dreadfolk.

### Physical Appearance

All three sects agree on the physical appearance of the Matiro and Kashita, though the Kashitites - somewhat unsurprisingly - give a much more explicit description of their goddess, whereas the Matirites depict her in more vague terms. Both are described with words in the Makatisha, though there is no single agreed-upon artistic depiction of the two. Amari and Hanzo are not described anywhere, so more liberties tend to be taken with artistic depictions. The Kanidites - especially the Heguomins - tend to have the most cohesive tradition of depicting the two true gods, depicting Amari as a beautiful winged woman made of light and Hanzo as a giant dragon, undoubtedly modelled after the Titan of the same name.

In the Makatisha, Matiro is described as a man with a man with a handsome face and a strong, muscular build, standing tall and with straight, fairly long dark brown hair. His eyes were brown when he was a mortal, but after his deification they now glow with a golden light. Matirites tend to depict Matiro as an older man with partially or fully grey hair, whereas both Kashitites and Kanidites tend to depict him as young, no older than thirty.

Kashita's description makes it clear that she is a Dark Elf, and her supernatural beauty is stressed multiple times. Much like her kin, she is hermaphroditic, possesses horns, a tail, claws and magical wings, as well as pale purple skin and softly sparkling violet eyes. Her hair is described as wavy, black and very long, and she is described as being "tall", although in all likelihood she was of average height for her kind. In artistic depictions, Matirites always depict her merely as a black shadow, showing no details besides her outline; this is to avoid showing the indecent manner of dress that Kashitites always depict her as wearing. Kanidites do depict Kashita normally, but always show her dressed modestly, even when depicting her at a time before her repentance and reformation.

### Makatisha

All three sects agree upon the first three books in the canon of the Makatisha, which describe the creation of the universe by Amari and the process of Kashita being appointed as Amari's prophet, as well as the first malevolent acts by the spirits who grew jealous of Amari's new creation. However, the sects all sharply diverge after this point, with the following books telling markedly different stories.

## Matirites

The Matirites are defined by their worship of Matiro and their hatred of Kashita.

### Story

Matirites believe that Kashita was initially entrusted to be the chosen deified prophetess of Amari, appointed as the guardian of the world, but she quickly abandoned her duties and instead used her power only for her own twisted pleasure. Matiro arose as the leader of the resistance against her sadistic cruelties and abominable perversions, and the force of his action and the will of his followers was so thunderous that Amari was briefly awoken from her Infinite Sleep. Seeing that Kashita had abandoned the divine teachings and had allied herself with evil spirits to protect her power, Amari imbued great power into Matiro, elevating him to the level of a god so that he could challenge the wayward prophetess. Kashita was eventually successfully banished from the Earth, but she would forever continue to trick mortals and lead them astray for her own sick entertainment.

### Judgement and Morality

Matirites believe that Matiro is the keeper of the heavenly realm of Paradise, allowing the righteous to join him after their earthly demise. Matirites envision Paradise as a land of pleasant green rolling hills, warm sunsets and pink cherry blossoms, a perfected state of nature free of cruelty or perversion.

Matiro is a firm but fair god who judges whether a soul is worthy of Paradise by weighing their merits against their sins on a set of scales. He then examines each sin and whether there was a process of repentance and penance for each one, deducting the sin from the scales if the penance was adequate. If a soul's merits outweigh their sins, they are allowed into Paradise, but if their sins outweigh their merits - which Matirites believe is the case for almost all souls - they must undergo a harsh, often painful penance to purge themselves of sin before they can be allowed into Paradise. Souls who refuse to undergo this penance, either because they hate Matiro or because their penance is so great that they are too terrified to undergo it, are abandoned and left to the whims of the malevolent spirits, likely to be devoured.

The moral code of Matirism is exceedingly puritan and legalistic. They preach that any infraction requires serious penance, and that all pious Matirites should regularly undergo an additional penance for sins they committed in ignorance. They are particularly strict on matters of lust and gluttony, warning against indulgence in food or the flesh and teaching that the only righteous manner of sexual intercourse is a loving union between man and wife with the intent to produce a child - in other words, sex that is both unitive and procreative. Amongst the many acts which Matirites condemn as sins are premarital sex, adultery, homosexual acts, interspecies relations, cross-dressing, deviation from traditional gender roles, abortion, the consumption of alcohol, cannabis or other drugs, and many more besides.

## Kashitites

The Kashitites are defined by their worship of Kashita and their hatred of Matiro.

### Story

Unlike the Matirites, who believe that Kashita abandoned her divine mission, Kashitites believe that Matiro was the one who opposed the will of Amari and that Kashita never deviated from Mother Amari's commands. They believe Matiro arrogantly proclaimed himself the "true voice of Amari" merely in an attempt to win power and fame, and allied himself with malevolent spirits to elevate himself to godhood. Though Matiro was banished from the Earth, he would forever continue to lead mortals astray, never abandoning his insane ambition to challenge Amari.

### Judgement and Morality

Kashitites believe that Kashita is the keeper of the heavenly realm of Paradise, allowing all those who will embrace her into this domain. Kashitites envision Paradise as a joyous, bustling city, clean and at peace, with all its citizens loving one another.

Kashita is not seen as a legalistic judge who weighs merits against sins, but simply asks whether a soul will embrace her or not, regardless of its prior deeds; any crime against her is forgiven in an instant. Those souls which reject Kashita are not abandoned to the spirits, but are imprisoned within the bedrock of the city of Paradise, free to hear and see the festivities above. Kashitites believe that all souls will, eventually, tire of their wretched isolation and humbly ask Kashita for forgiveness, which she happily grants.

In almost every way, the moral code of Kashitism is the polar opposite of Matirism. Where the Matirites restrain themselves, the Kashitites explore all the sensations Amari gave to them. In fact, they believe it is an insult to Amari to not indulge in all the delights of the world - though they also warn against indulgence to the point of harm, as harming oneself is also an insult to Amari. They openly consume intoxicating substances, particularly alcohol, and feast on all manner of foods. Most abhorrent to the Matirites is the Kashitite attitude to what the Matirites label as "lust"; they have a more libertine view of marriage, thinking little of premarital sex and taking no issue with concubinage. They do still encourage marriage, but do not see it as the exclusive union of two individuals as the Matirites do. Most Kashitites also take no issue with homosexual acts, however they do take issue with *only* performing homosexual acts to the exclusion of heterosexual ones, and preach that all their followers should bear children to spread the love of Kashita, the only exception being those who are physically incapable of doing so.

Kashitism is almost extinct in the modern day, and is the smallest of the three sects by a substantial margin, however historically its numbers easily equalled those of the Matirites. The discussion of the historical Kashitite community is generally controversial and produces heated debate, mainly concerning the topic of just how extreme the libertine hedonism of the Kashitites actually was. Most historical sources about Kashitites come from Matirites, who were prone to exaggerating reports of Kashitite debauchery, or even completely fabricating events; it was not infrequent for Matirites to falsely describe relatively mundane violent acts (such as a robbery gone wrong or a fight between gangs) as being Kashitite "murder parties".

Scholarship on the topic since the turn of the 18th century has largely forced even strongly anti-Kashitite historians to concede that the radical extremes of Kashitite behaviour were only present within the city of Onshi itself, and even then were only a minority of the Kashitites present there. Outside of the city of Onshi, especially in rural areas, most Kashitites formed the so-called "silent majority" who were moderate in their beliefs and actions. This silent majority was monogamous, mostly strictly heterosexual and consumed alcohol in moderation, rarely indulging in other drugs, and was in all likelihood just as shocked as the Matirites by the unrestrained and sometimes violent hedonism of the extremist city-dwellers.

## Kanidites

The Kanidites are defined by their worship of both Matiro and Kashita, and their belief that the sects of Matirism and Kashitism were invented by arrogant demagogues to seize political power, and could not be further from the "actual" truth. Kanidism is no different to the Heguomin traditional religion of *Shinjiao*, and Kanidites have high respect for the Suzhao monks for maintaining the unadulterated true religion, whereas the other two sects are generally dismissive of the monks.

### Story

The basic principle of Kanidism is no different to Matirism, in that they believe Kashita was appointed by Amari to be the guardian of the world but ended up losing her way as greed and lust overtook her. Matiro did not rise as a mighty challenger to her, but in fact became her slave as Kashita went to the land of Onshitama to collect new playthings to viciously toy with. Matiro, a devoted servant of Amari, did not wish Kashita misfortune despite her misdeeds, and earnestly tried to guide her back to the correct path. Kashita was greatly taken aback by the unusual behaviour of Matiro, for all other mortals were either terrified of her or slavishly worshipped her, whereas he seemed to have genuine concern for her and gently spoke out against her actions not out of hate, but because he wanted to save her soul. This slowly but surely began to change Kashita's mind, and she came to realise just how hollow her soul was and how fruitless all her attempts to fill it with perverse pleasure were.

As the "real" Kashita began to break through the persona of the sadistic hedonite, Matiro soon could not deny that he was in love with her. Kashita bitterly wept as the darkness was lifted from her soul and she understood what she had done, and Matiro came to embrace and comfort her. The force of the raw emotion of Kashita's sorrow and Matiro's love woke Amari ever so briefly from her sleep. Amari was greatly pleased with Matiro, and bestowed upon him godhood both as a reward and so that he could accompany Kashita into eternity. The two wedded as man and wife, and Kashita set right her wrongdoings and compensated all those she had harmed before ascending into Paradise with her husband.

The story of Kashita and Matiro in Kanidite tradition is so radically different from the other two sects that it remains as the strongest barrier to conversion for the other two sects, with one 21st-century Matirite scholar describing it as "odious fanfiction". However, Kanidites respond that the oldest Kanidite texts, as preserved by the Suzhao monks, can be reliably dated to be substantially older than the oldest Matirite or Kashitite texts.

The Kanidite argument is that since their version definitively came first, the burden is not on the Kanidites to prove the truthfulness of their version and disprove the other two versions, but instead the burden lies on the Kashitites and Matirites to prove their own versions and disprove the Kanidite version - something the Kanidites believe they are incapable of doing. Of course, the counter-argument then becomes that absence of evidence is not evidence of absence - that is, the absence of Matirite or Kashitite texts older than the Kanidite texts is not automatic proof that the Kanidite version came first - but this counter-argument proved to not be strong enough to stop the eventual mass conversion of Onshitama to Kanidism, making it the most populous religion of the country by a wide margin.

### Judgement and Morality

Kanidites believe that Kashita and Matiro maintain the heavenly realm of Paradise together. Kanidites envision Paradise as a great Celestial City of marble and jade, surrounded by pleasant meadows and forests with a mild climate. Their manner of judging who is allowed into Paradise is essentially a synthesis of Matirite legalism and Kashitite forgiveness. Kanidites believe that even a single sin makes a soul unworthy of Paradise, but Kashita's loving nature ensures that any soul can be forgiven as long as they truly repent.

Whereas the system of judgement is more alike Kashitism than Matirism, the moral code of Kanidism is more alike Matirism. Their basic moral principles are the same as the Matirites; they see marriage as a sacred exclusive bond between man and wife and believe any sexual conduct outside of marriage to be a sin (though they do not believe that sexual acts *must* be procreative to be permissible), they uphold traditional gender roles, they abhor abortion, and so on. They are more tolerant on other matters, such as alcohol, but still preach against over-indulgence.

The main area in which Kanidism deviates from Matirism is the penance for committing sins; much like Christianity, Kanidites practice confession, and believe that confessing one's sins to a priest, repenting of them and making restitution to any victims affected by your sins results in instant and permanent forgiveness. Kanidites place a high value on humility and forgiveness, unlike the Matirites who do tend to genuinely believe themselves to be better than others (especially Kashitites) because of their faith, who frequently preach about the multitude of sins that cannot and must not be forgiven, and who proudly speak of their "pious hatred" of the enemies of Matiro.

Kanidites believe Matirites to overall have a better grasp on Amari's moral code than Kashitites, but they believe the Matirites to be devoid of the most important and crucial divine qualities of forgiveness and love, which the Kashitites do uphold - albeit in a mutated and perverted form. The Kashitites are guilty merely of self-serving lustful indulgence, whereas the Matirites are guilty of pride, wrath and hate, which the Kanidites believe to be far more egregious sins.

Many historians have argued that the morality of Kanidism won more followers than any argument about the validity of historical texts. The "middle road" of Kanidite morality greatly appealed to the silent majority of moderates on both sides of the Matirite-Kashitite conflict, who were growing weary and terrified of the increasing extremist preaching and religious violence taking place in Onshi itself. Onshians sought harmony and unity, especially in the wake of the apocalyptic War for the World, and the moral teachings of Kanidism were acceptable to both Matirite and Kashitite moderates.