Immaculacy
Immaculacy is the state religion of the Realm and the one true understanding of faith and self in Creation. The Realm’s spiritual life is administered by the Immaculate Order, the body attached to the state which comprises the monks and laity who recognize the Mouth of Peace as spiritual authority.
High-Level Summary
Here’s what you need to know about the Immaculate Philosophy in order to play your character as someone who practices it:
- The Dragon-Blooded are in charge. This is natural and good.
- There are 5 mythical figures of virtue who everyone should strive to emulate.
- Practitioners shouldn’t worship gods directly; leave that to the monks.
- There are these things called Anathema that try to stray people from the Path. It is the sacred duty of all Princes of the Earth to make sure that doesn’t happen.
Core Beliefs
The Elemental Dragons birthed Creation from their very own souls, their own Essence. Thus, all human beings are shards of the Dragons’ divine energy. This energy naturally seeks to reunite with its source by cultivating perfection and enlightenment. A transcendant individual, when they die, reunites with the Elemental Dragons.
The best way to cultivate merit is through fulfilling one’s place in the Perfected Hierarchy. Every human being is born with a natural station and a specific sacred duty. Farmers are meant to farm, soldiers to war, and Dragon-Blooded, as the most enlightened and the closest to the Dragons, to rule over society in wisdom and mercy.
By living in accordance with one’s sacred duty, an individual is able to accumulate merit and advance along the path to enlightenment with their next reincarnation. Eventually, they are reborn as a Dragon-Blooded, and then, they have the potential to transcend mortality and reunite with the Dragons.
The Immaculate Dragons
The Immaculate Dragons are the five ancient saint-heroes of yore which were responsible for writing the Immaculate Texts and bringing enlightened wisdom to humanity. These soldier-messiahs lead humanity in revolution against the decadent gold and silver devil-kings of the Realm Before. They are sacred and powerful figures which all Immaculates strive to emulate, in order to progress along the path to enlightenment.
Anathema
Anathema is a label which describes anything that poses an existential threat to the liberation and well-being of humanity as a whole. It is a term which incorporates everything from the dream-hungry raksha hiding in Wyld pockets and the borders of the world, to rogue gods that prey on humans and demand illegal worship, to the gold and silver devil-kings of the Realm Before.
In general, the category of Anathema is the category of wicked things used to scare children to bed at night, or to label the dangerous and wicked creatures that lurk beyond respectable society.
History of Immaculacy
In the Realm Before, the devil-kings demanded worship from mortals, and cavorted with greedy gods to extort prayer and exultation from all human beings of the world. Their honeyed words promised liberation and freedom, but this honey only turned to sour vinegar when time came to taste of it.
The Five Immaculate Dragons were born into this world, and rejected its cruelty and the decadent ways of the Anathema Princes. They lead a glorious revolution to overthrow the social order, and liberated humanity from its bondage. After this holy war, the Dragons wandered the world spreading the Immaculate Word as the true religion of Creation.
During the Shogunate, after the war but before the Empress ascended the throne, the Immaculate Order carried on spreading the word of the Immaculate Dragons. The religion first converted the Blessed Isle, and then from there spread to the Inner Sea, and then further still.
When the Empress ascended to the throne, she made the Immaculate Order the official religious body of her new empire. She found the first Mouth of Peace, and gradually consolidated the religious order under the office of the Mouth of Peace. Today, all of the Blessed Isle is Immaculate, and lead by the Order.