Author Topic: Hamid Empire Factbook  (Read 2038 times)

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Offline Geo

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Hamid Empire Factbook
« on: December 29, 2022, 03:09:20 AM »
 
The Supreme Heavenly Empire
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Head of State:             Supreme Heavenly Emperor Aurelius il Hamid Geosson
Head of Government:   Grand Premier Cassius il Hamid Alpsson
Government Form:       Semi-Constitutional One-Party Monarchy
State Religion:             Grand Cataism

Offline Geo

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Re: Hamid Empire Factbook
« Reply #1 on: December 29, 2022, 03:34:48 AM »
History WIP

The Great Migration

The Yrali people originated from the North-West of Arayne, with a distinct Yralian culture first emerging in the 2nd Century. Many non-Hamidian Yralians can still be found across North-Western Arayne, though rarely in communities the size as can be found in the Hamidian Empire.

The Yralians initially worshipped a pantheon of pagan gods, revering a omnipotent but absent creator god known as Catai (Kath-ay) supported by a dozen or so lesser gods. Worship usually focused around animal sacrifices in exchange for luck or other divine boons, and the creation of bone iconography to court the favour of a god. The religion, known today as Old Cataism (Kath-ay-ism) was hardly unified, with the only common factor being the reverence of Catai. At some point in the 8th century however, a strain of Cataism began to develop, likely due to increased influence from Abrahamic faiths, that saw Catai become associated with the God of Abraham, the faith swivelling to monotheism. This strain would become known as Grand Cataism.

Grand Cataism spread amongst the Old Catai, however remained a minority. Near the middle of the 9th century, the exact date is still disputed by Grand Cataist scholars, the centre of the universe, where Catai was said to primarily reside, manifested just above the peak of Mount Hamid, the modern capital of the Hamidian Empire. Worshippers of Grand Catai were said to be able to see the mountain in their dreams, and a great migration started. Though disorganised at first, the migration gradually clumped together, and rival factions and dynasties formed amongst them. Eventually, crossing the continent, the main bulk of the migrants reached the mountain by the end of the 10th century, though most had perished amongst the way.

Offline Geo

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Re: Hamid Empire Factbook
« Reply #2 on: December 29, 2022, 03:57:37 AM »
Grand Cataism WIP

Grand Cataism revolves around the worship of the omnipotent, omniscient and omnibenevolent god Catai, who created the universe and mostly resides within the centre of the universe, around half a kilometre above the peak of Mount Hamid. He is often referred to as Grand Catai as a distinction between Old Catai worship.
Catai is commonly associated with the god of Abraham, and the Heavenly Emperor himself considers Catai to be that same God. Grand Cataists claim that their faith is in fact the original faith of Abraham, with the promised land being the prophesied centre of the universe, more specifically Mount Hamid, though they reject the notion this land was promised only to the jews.
Grand Cataists believe that upon the securing of Mount Hamid, Catai appointed the leader of the Caitists at that time as the Supreme Heavenly Emperor over Mount Hamid, and thus the rightful ruler of all the universe under Catai. The Heavenly Emperor acts as the head of the Grant Catai faith, and directs its doctrines, spread and practical worship. They are supported by a clerical hierarchy, who run the day to day services. Priests can be either men or women.
Grand Cataists are forbidden from eating pork or consuming dairy from cattle. It is thought of as unclean to consume either of those foods, and damages both the physical and spiritual wellbeing of oneself. Caffeinated drinks are looked down on, but not explicitly banned, and the displeasure towards them rises and falls over time.

The Seven tenants of the Grand Catai Faith
The Grand Catai Faith considers seven central tenants of the faith, which all have to follow.
Veracity in speech and the truthfulness of the tongue.
Protection and mutual aid to the brethren in faith.
Renunciation of all forms of former worship and false belief.
Repudiation of the devil , and all forces of evil.
Confession of Catai's unity and strength.
Acquiescence in Catai's acts no matter what they be.
Absolute submission and resignation to Catai's divine will in both secret and public.

The Nature of Grand Catai
Grand Catai is both a transcendent and immanent being, present everywhere and at the same time entirely concentrated at Mound Hamid. Catai is entirely separate from any attributes that can be ascribed to Him. He is all powerful, all knowing and all loving, not by power, knowledge or love, but because He is Catai. Catai in this way is not beyond reality or existence, but is rather the entirely of existence, being because He is, rather than because He is ascribed traits.
Catai however also exists at the same time in existence itself, concentrated at the centre of the universe, Mount Hamid, though Catai's influence is not restricted to Mount Hamid.

Life after Death, or the lack thereof
After death, ones soul is reincarnated into a new, human body. This is because the soul, a transcendent part of one's self heavily tied to Catai cannot survive without the body, its tether to the mortal world. The soul and the body, in this way, exist as two parts of a human, material and spiritual, linking humans intrinsically to Catai's nature as both a transcendent and immanent being.
Souls have genders (man and woman are the most common, but there exists a potentially endless amount of different genders) and will try to reincarnate into a body matching that gender, but will not always succeed. However, as a general rule, men will reincarnate into men and women will incarnate into women.
In addition, the number of souls that exist are finite, they cannot be divided and will continuously recycle through life and death. The only way to escape this cycle is to live several successive and pious lives, and then dying on Mount Hamid. The soul will then cease to exist, becoming part of the combined Cosmic Mind, which will eventually become Adem.

The creation of the material universe.
The Material Universe has always existed and will continue without end. However, the Practical Universe (that is the universe as man can comprehend  it) only came into existence relatively recently, and was created by Catai, with the first human, Adem, being created from mud (the name Adem literally translates to "made from the Earth").
Adem is simultaneously both the first and last human. It was Adem's loss of innocence that created the first woman, Eve, and thus the rest of humanity, his actions creating all the souls of humanity. However, as humanity gradually stops reincarnating, as more and more souls cease existence and the Cosmic Mind grows larger, Adem's soul will be the last human still walking the Earth. As Adem dies for the last time, the Cosmic Mind will be absorbed into Adem's soul, which will then return to its creator, returning all the souls of man to Catai.

The nature of evil
Evil exists not because of Catai, but because of man. Humans, whilst part of the universe and subservient to Catai have free will to act in an evil manner. What is evil or not is laid down through Divine Command Theory laid down in the Yarik (pronounced Tar-ike).

Prophets
Prophets are humans chosen by Catai to deliver a message directly to man, and is divided into three sub-categories: the prophet themselves, their followers and the witnesses of their messages. Whilst there are many lesser prophets, major prophets come in groups of 5 at a time.

Religious Symbols
Cataists generally do not use religious symbols or iconography, being limited to Star of Man.
Each point of the star represents a "limit", one of the differences that separates humans from animals.
Green: The Mind
Red: The Soul
Yellow: The Word
Blue: The Past
White: The Future
The mind generates experiences and gives consciousness. The soul embodies the mind and is responsible for transmigration and the character of oneself. The word, which is the atom of language, communicates experiences between humans and represents the platonic forms in the sensible world. The Past and Future is the ability to perceive and learn from the past and plan for the future and predict it.
« Last Edit: December 31, 2022, 02:08:22 AM by Geo »