Izanian religion

The **Izanian religion** has variously been described as either animist, gnostic, or something else entirely.

## Overview

### Cosmogony

Izanians believe the world to be separated in two realms, or planes of existence : the {High Plane} is abstract, absolute and immanent, and hosts the {Forms} (analogous to Platonic forms), while the {Low Plane}, concrete and ever-changing, is filled with the {Reflections}, mere incarnations of the {Forms}, and is the one humankind inhabits.

Two supreme beings rule over the universe : Izan, the One who Is, and {the One who Makes}, in perpetual conflict with each other. The former is the creator of the {Forms}, giving them meaning, while the latter incarnates them, necessarily imperfectly, into the physical {Reflections}. These two beings are accompanied by three kinds of lesser gods/spirits : the {High Spirits} and {Low Spirits}, inhabiting respectively the two planes of existence, as well as the {Wanderers}. The latter, originally {High Spirits} banned by Izan, wander between the two planes, and are sent by {The One who Makes} to capture the {Forms} for him to incarnate them.

## Izanian creation myth

### The Dragon myth

In the early days of creation, before man and the beasts that walk the Earth and before even the Union between [The Maker] and [The Master]. [The One who Makes], taking pride in his skills of construction and forging he decided to creature a perfect being, to preside over the young world, after much thought he chose the form of a great serpentine beast and gathered the finest metals to forge his masterpiece, forging scales from copper, claws from arsenic and eyes of gold and platinum set with 1,000 of the most perfect jewels in creation. Upon completion he contemplated how to animate it, eventually an idea came to him, he would forge a new material to breath life into his masterpiece, [water]. For a time the peace held, but taking after his creator in arrogance in pride, held himself in a higher regard than the things around him and viewed them as mere toys for his entertainment. As this mindset took hold chaos reigned and all of creation descended into flames and turmoil, [The Maker] and [The Master] both tried separately to end this madness and restore order to the universe, but they both failed time and time again. Eventually the two gods gre tired of failure and conspired to work together, pooling their skills and knowledge to forge the perfect blade to slay this [titan], when the beast came to finally usurp them they were ready and stabbed it's wicked heart, killing the beast of the area that would become the Andes. Through the ages the dragon became encased in rock and the water that gave it life began to seep out from the wound, which is now [Lake Titicaca], into creation, pooling and flowing, bringing plant life to the world.

### The creation of Man

Mankind itself has a special place in this cosmogony : human beings were the original incarnations of Izan themself, imperfectly created by {The One who Makes}. The most worthy of them succeeded in reaching the {High Plane} - believed to be physically located on top of ours, and reached from the top of the highest mountains. They were later sent back on the {Low Plane} by Izan to help their kin to ascend, but with a twist : this time, they were incarnated by Izan themself, as Harsurja, or Alpacas.

## Nonstandard denominations

A recent heretical belief, preached by the clergy of a major Izanian city-state - subsequently expelled from the Alpaca clan -, denies the primacy of Izan over the One who Makes. This belief teaches the equality and balance between the two, and thus considers the man - created by the One who Makes in the image of Izan - as the perfect, balanced being, and the Wanderers as the keepers of balance between the two planes.

## Religious practices

Traditional ceremonies in Izanian culture are often closely tied to the religion itself, serving both a social and a religious role.

### Mountain pilgrimage

A coming of age ritual for Izanian people is to climb to a mountaintop shrine situated on one of the highest peaks, accompanied by an alpaca.

### Lake ceremonies

Lake Titicaca, the wound in the dragon's heart in Izanian mythology, is believed to still host its blood since millenia, and is thus home to a collection of legends and ceremonies.

The most well-known of them are having to religiously wash the fish from the lake before eating, not entering the lake if you have any cuts as to mix blood with the creature-blood, and not using the water to thoroughly wash yourself as it will make you impure and "curse you with the substance of evil", among other various superstitions.