Herlucc
Herlucc is one of Pavala's longest continuous religions, it was the religion of Succlythia and continues to have a strong legacy in its descendant nations and cultures, and those that were affected by them. As it formed as a religion, it was deeply philosophical and many religious leaders led fierce and long debates - oftentimes spanning generations. Some claim that it spurred the creation and development of Succlythian geometry and mathematics, and was part of the reason such fine engineering could propagate throughout the empire in the absence of a native writing system.
Herlucc is the idea that humans are the only creatures that can discriminate good from bad, and that they have a responsibility to balance their life so that they can re-enter kanea. Kanea is the natural state of existence; it is the consciousness and fabric of reality that permeates the universe. Human consciousness is a disturbance in the kanea. When a human lives their life, they are trying to achieve a balance between good and bad. When humans die, their spirit attempts to re-enter the kanea. If the spirit is close enough to being neutral in morals (e.g. not too good nor bad), then the spirit merges once more with the kanea. If the spirit is too good, or too bad, then it is rejected from the kanea and must live another life on Pavala.
Beliefs
Kanea
Kanea is the natural fabric of the universe, the unaltered state of existence that has existed since time immemorial - it is the very consciousness and substantiality of the universe itself, permeated infinitely throughout temporal and spatial dimensions and onto itself. It has no beginning, and it will have no end - not in time nor space nor any other conceivable dimension. It is eternally neutral but not unchanging, it is forever in equilibrium with itself.
The Human: A Rift in the Kanea
When the Human emerged, their very existence was a disturbance within the Kanea - their own consciousness had the ability to be detached and in opposition to the cosmic consciousness of the Kanea. Bestowed with the ability to forge their own path aware of the consequences of the decisions they make, assessing whether their outcome is 'good' or 'bad', the eternal equilibrium of the Kanea could no longer permeate into the Human body and mind. Thus, the development of the Human's free will and moral judgment divorced themself from the very universe whose dust they were made of. This burdened them to have to live their life eternally seeking balance, so their mind and spirit can achieve a status as close as possible to the Kanea, and that they may become part of the Kanea once again when they die. If their spirit is too good or too bad, they will be born again and must live another life on Pavala.
The Fundamental Duality of the Universe
The Fundamental Duality of the Universe states that not only does the Kanea manifests itself as a duality of good and bad, but that all phenomena within the universe exhibit a degree of classifiable duality. There are a wide number of such dualities, but many are subsumed under broader categories. Searching for the simplest and most universal set of such dualities ('Serpah') has been one of the great philosophical debates of the Herlucc religion for centuries. The individual component of a Serpah is a 'Depah', and its opposite is its 'Kadepah'. Many symbols, called <name> were constructed to represent these Serpah, and they functioned as a form of proto-writing for many, being used as mnemonic devices. The symbols that were constructed are as follows, (note that although a Serpah does not have a symnol does not make it an invalid Serpah, and that some symbols have been considered redundant by some, as they are seen as being already encompassed by another):
- Clean, Dirty
- Healthy, Sick
- Poison/Spoiled Food, Medicine/Good Food
- Danger, Safety
- Big, Small
- High, Low
- Line, Rift
- House, Public Building
- Place, Void
- Night/Dark, Day/Bright
- Go, Come
- Use/Attack, Avoid/Defend
- Right, Left
- Odd, Even
- Male, Female
- Human Consciousness, Kanea
The Paradigm of Serklet
Though the Serpah are dual in nature, this does not mean that a phenomenon is restricted solely to just one category, it may be part of two or more Serpah. This is referred to as 'The Paradigm of Serklet', Serklet literally translating as two-four. It is through this process that fewer individual Serpah may exist and still cover all phenomena. A phenomenon may exist under the Line-Rift Serpah and Big-Small Serpah, as Line-Big, Line-Small, Rift-Big, Rift-Small, thus giving four meanings from two Serpah. These can theoretically be infinitely chained.
Choice and Judgment
All organisms have choice, but only the Human has moral judgment, and this impacts Human choice.
Divine Numbers
Many numbers have immense spiritual significance within Herlucc.
1
One (De) is considered a spiritual number as it is whole, yet still further divisible. It is considered representative of Kanea itself, and within itself contains the question of one or many?
2
Two (Ser) is a very important number as it is central to the concepts of duality of the entire religion.
3
Three (Pok) is considered representative of the Human - inherently unnatural and the only able to distinguish between the dualities.
4
Four (Klet) is important for 2 x 2 = 4, 2^2 = 4, 2 + 2 = 4, And the Paradigm of Serklet
8
Eight (Yok) is considered important as the Succlythians used a Base-8 system. It is further considered sacred as it is 2^3.
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Considered a "constellation of numbers" the Fibonacci sequence links together several of Herlucc's sacred numbers elegantly, so this further pattern was extended and considered divine as well - representative of the Human place within the universe itself, with the 5 representing the 5 fingers of the Human hand.
1 - there was one universe
2 - within it existed a cosmic duality
3 - the Human was a disturbance on this reality
5 - with their five fingers, the Human could alter their fate
8 - with their eight numerals, they created a number system and civilisation
The numbers past this have less specific significance, although they are widely considered auspicious and the birthday you turn that age is considered blessed, as are anniversaries of most kinds. Additionally, further folk or region specific significances are often assigned to the continuing numbers, although none have as much presence as the first 5.
0
The remarkably early invention/discovery of 0 by the Succlythians in <year> is widely celebrated within both the Herlucc religion and broader Succlythian society.
The Divinity of the Circle
Similarly to the numeral one, the circle is considered divine as it has one side yet infinite, it is a whole contained within itself, and forever continuous - no end, no beginning; just as Kanea. For this reason, it is taken as the representative of the concept of Kanea, and features heavily in iconography of the religion. The practice of circle geometry is considered holy, and is taught from a young age.
What is Good and What is Bad
A large amount of things within the religion are canonically considered 'bad' or even 'sinful'. These are often even simple everyday things. This makes it hard to be good. The reasons for this stem from desire for social harmony, and the strive for a more realistic 'neutrality', rather than 'goodness' from humans, as doctrine stipulates that this 'goodness' from humans could have undesired consequences, and deeply disturb the universal fabric itself.
Despite most actions being 'bad', it is wrong to think of this as binary, as context is extremely important within the religion. Almost all actions reside somewhere on a spectrum of 'good' to 'bad', and views differ widely. Such differing views resulted in the early establishment of the Succlythian's justice system.
Murder
Murder is generally thought to be bad. The human choice to murder inherently upsets the predestined path of which one were to die. Human murder is considered acceptable in limited circumstances, such as in defence against sexual assault. Murder to non-human organisms has been highly debated, and a key reason for vegetarianism's large presence within adherents. Murdering an animal has no effect on whether the animal (re)enters Kanea, as all non-human organisms are believed to, regardless of their lives. Animal slaughter does, however, affect the balance of good and bad within the human, generally shifting it towards the bad. It is considered good, however, if it relieves the suffering of the animal or the benefit provided by its slaughter is sufficient to neutralise the 'badness'.
Assault
Assault, besides sexual assault, is a complicated and oftentimes controversial field within Herlucc.
Sexual Assault and Rape
Sexual assault is universally considered bad within the religion, with almost zero exceptions. This is in part due to the belief that it upsets the <humours> of the victim. If the assault is severe, the perpetrator may be executed - often publicly. The executioner does not generally disturb their balance, as the execution of a rapist is commonly considered a neutral action.
Intimidation
bad and cowardly generally
Treachery & Lying
bad unless the ends justify the means
Greed
- communism
Waste
yeah but the waste eaters need to eat
Charity
Charity is sometimes thought of as insulting. However, it is more often thought as a way to repent for badness. As a wide variety of everyday actions within Herlucc are categorised by the religion as more 'bad' than 'good', charity can generally be seen as a way to achieve neutrality. There is much nuance to it, however, as intent matters just as much, if not more, than impact with charity within the religion. If one's intent when doing charity is simply to repent for themselves, rather than bring balance, their actions are rendered null, or even negative, and do not improve one's stride to neutrality.
Yielding
Yielding refers to concepts that fall under lust and gluttony in western christian perspective, as well as not 'standing up'.
Ambition
Pride & drive
Justice
The religion's doctrine of Good versus Bad led to the early establishment of the Succlythian Justice System, first originating in the Herlucc temples. Many temples had additional wings built for a court, and new temples were often built around them.
Dietary Laws
Vegetarianism is somewhat common, and consumption of meat overall is often sparse.
Ritual Bloodletting & Balance of the <Humours>
A method to balance good and bad. Somewhat controversial. Related to medicine practice