#askcommunion

LINDISM:

All Lindists acknowledge divine power and immortality. That said, they still don’t approve of divines using magic. Lindists believe that divines should use their powers to commune with celestials and become priests, thus making the faith stronger.

Human divines are revered, but inhuman divines are reviled by modern Lindists. They believe that Gaia would never bless an inhuman with divine powers, therefore all inhuman divines somehow used magic and trickery to “steal” this power from her. That, or they are not really divines at all, they’re just using magic to mimic their power.

They like to cite Mankind’s Disgrace as an example. They push the narrative that he’s not a real divine (which might actually be true), but because he dabbled with “hob magic”, he’s forever cursed with powers similar to one. The House of Humanity uses Disgrace as a cautionary tale of what can happen when humans screw around with magic.

SYLVANISM:

Sylvanists consider divines to be blessed ones, directly touched by Gaia for a higher purpose. They believe that higher purpose is to defend Her, so divines should use their powers to benefit the environment. Using their powers to harm Gaia is considered heresy.

THE ONE:

Divines are believed to be the result of The One’s (Gaia's) fracture. Because its power became unstable, that power redistributed among peoples and bestowed god-like powers onto some of them. The Communion believes that divines are a bad omen. They are to be pitied and not worshiped or otherwise looked up to.

VERMISM:

There are two sects of Vermism: Indigenous Vermists and Followers of Necrom.

Indigenous: Believe that divines are cursed beings because they bypass the ascension cycle, meaning they are stuck in one form forever. Their body will never feed Gaia, and their soul will never transcend into dirt, plants, or animals. Their "blessing" of eternal life is seen as a punishment for some past sin. Divines should use their powers to perform good deeds and atone for their sins, and also defend mortal souls from predatory celestials.

Necromists: Believe that divines are higher beings because they bypass the ascension cycle. They are viewed as Gaia's blessed ones, and they were blessed as a reward for some righteous deed. Divines should use their powers to commune with celestials and aid the Grand Necromaster.

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Questions/Comments?

Lore Masterpost

It's a little of both! I imagine it starts with typical indoctrination, then as the followers develop their telepathic powers and connect with The One more and more, they genuinely begin losing their sense of self on a cognitive level. They can no longer tell where their own consciousness ends and the consciousness of The One begins. But this isn't distressing to them; in fact, it's their main goal! Individuality is a sin in this religion. Communion followers wish to let go of all independent thought and become a giant hivemind.

Abusing any type of magic can have negative consequences, and telepathy is no exception. What Communion followers experience is not new or unique to them; any telepath who spends too much time in other peoples' heads can begin losing their sense of self. They become mentally detached from their bodies, experience things like dissociation, personality changes, and even hallucinations. Advanced cases can drive themselves to total insanity.

This is why it's important to always practice magic responsibly! But some mages just don't have enough sense, or maybe they just can't resist the call of the void. Communion members abuse their powers intentionally, but in a somewhat controlled manner.

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Questions/Comments?

Lore Masterpost

The Communion was founded in the Empire of Damijana, where space is an extremely valuable commodity. Because of this, corpses are never buried here. The Damijani traditionally cremate their dead and throw their ashes off a pier into the sea, so this is the tradition that the Communion of The One has adopted as well.

The Communion has spread their influence to far away lands, many of which may not be near the ocean. In these cases, followers take their dead's ashes to the nearest body of water--whether that be a lake, river, pond, or creek.

They believe that after exposure to fire, air, water, and earth, their loved ones have fully become one with Gaia's body again.

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Questions/Comments?

Good question! The Communion believes that like all people, nymphs were once part of a great hivemind called "The One". The One is essentially a perfect utopian version of Gaia, made up of a single race of beings that all look, think, and behave exactly the same way. In this utopia, there is no separation between peoples and Gaia. They are all "one" creature.

When The One broke apart, it broke into many fragments, and that is why all peoples are so different from eachother today, because they are broken pieces of a bigger creature. The Communion believes that nymphs are fragment's of The One's ecosystem, and their departure from The One is why the environment is so unbalanced in modern times.

They believe that when all nymphs reunite with The One, nature will be in perfect harmony again.

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Questions/Comments?

The Communion of The One believes that all magic is trapped in the core of the planet. Individually they can access small pieces of magic, but they believe they won't have the power to set it free and harness its true potential until all peoples are united by telepathy (forming "The One").

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Questions/Comments?

Good question! Followers of The Communion of the One believe that all people on Gaia once shared one single mind, but worldly distractions have separated them over time. Their goal is to unite all peoples via telepathy, so that everyone on Gaia thinks and behaves the exact same way.

This religion was created by the Damijani government to strengthen its citizens loyalty to their motherland. All other religious worship is outlawed in Damijana.

The Communion believes in the Spirit of Gaia, but in a rather abstract way compared to other religions. They call the Spirit of Gaia "The One", which is a holy being made up of the consciousness of all the world's peoples. The One is weak when there is no cohesion among peoples. Only when they're all in sync again can The One rise to its full power.

As for celestials, The Communion believes that they are fragments of The One that broke off when people lost cohesion with eachother. In this religion, celestials are feared, as they're seen as corrupted, unstable pieces of a broken god. Celestials take the souls of heretics away to horrible realms, but loyal followers of The One are protected by their connection to eachother.

Divines are believed to be the result of The One's fracture. Because its power became unstable, that power redistributed among peoples and bestowed god-like powers onto some of them. The Communion believes that divines are a bad omen. They are to be pitied and not worshiped or otherwise looked up to.

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Questions/Comments?

There's really no "good" aspects of what they do in my personal opinion. Their whole existence was designed around serving the richest, most powerful Damijani officials, so they don't really spend time or resources helping the common folk.

They PRETEND they do in some cases, but they really don't. For example, they say "join The One and your life will be enriched!" when in reality, the only ones being enriched are the ones who are already rich to begin with.

It's a glorified pyramid scheme, basically. The masses at the bottom support the weight of the tiers above them, hoping to claw their way to the top someday. The Communion offers "rewards" to those who rise through the tiers, including financial stipends and legal support. But you have to bust your ass for decades, swear total loyalty, and allow yourself to be completely brainwashed to reap any of this.

Unsurprisingly, the Communion recruits a lot of drug addicts and other folks who have nothing to lose. To these people, ANYTHING is better than the position they're currently in. The Communion preys upon the lowest of society, which is why they prowl around Zareen Empire's ghettos and their own Shadow Sector a lot. By the time people get deep enough into their religion, they're too brainwashed to realize they're being taken advantage of.