#kerubin

What is a human?

A human is a creature that has the ability to "conceptualize" things. They can create new concepts or ideas that will have a unique abok to them. Because they can essentially convert different abok types, they can also have shrines and temples for gods and worship them by converting miscellaneous abok into a god's specific abok. They live in the human realm and, through their lifetime's events, dye the thread associated with their lifespan with different abok. They populate through biological means.

What is a god?

(This description mostly applies to only sa gabi and dambana gods)

A god is a creature that is the manifestation of a concept. They do not have control over abok that is not their own. They are essentially concentrated abok in the shape of something. The more followers a god has, the more abok they have. Age and how large of a concept they control also affect how "powerful" they are.

No god is born with a purpose; they all go through the rite of passage of choosing(*1) a name after a concept they've become attached to. They also gain better control over their appearance and identity the stronger/older they are. This is why, in Volume One, Shore is referred to ambiguously as simply "the child" until he is older and named.

Gods don't really have set anatomical structures or sexual organs (as far as we know), but regardless there are still familial relations and offspring. For example, Morality and Immorality see each other as siblings, and Water is the mother of River and Sea. There is also possibly a human-like approach to gender as most gods are referred to with specific pronouns.

There are three different types of gods with different worshiping and "birth" rules that deserve their own post.

What is a kerubin?

Confession; we're not actually sure if "kerubin" is the proper word for these beings. The problem is, our copy of the Volumes is from the Philippines after Christianity had significantly influenced the culture and this of course includes the native Cykloists. The word comes from the Christian concept of a "cherub". However, to avoid confusion that there is any correlation with the Christian definition of the word, we've kept the word in its Tagalog form(*2).

A kerubin cannot usually be worshipped, nor can they create concepts or manipulate abok. They are essentially the "jack of no trades" of Cykloism. Gods hire kerubin with the purpose of assisting them with the tasks tied to hyper-specific concepts. The first kerubin we really get to meet is Treaty, who works for Writing.

Kerubin cannot have offspring or create beings. Their appearance can only be changed by their god or by humans, and the amount of abok they have is directly proportional to how widely known and respected they are, not by how worshiped they are. They essentially have no families and how well treated they are by the gods really differs. They are at best treated like a god's own child and at worst tragic puppets. Witness, a much respected and wise kerubin, is treated basically like a god.

(*1)Tragedy is the exception. She was the first and only god to be born with a specific abok she was not aware of. However, we have our own theories on her.