Avishraa Reloaded

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====== Great Illumination ======
The **Great Illumination** is the second-largest, and fastest-growing, of the three main denominations of the faith known as the [[mythology:Path of Radiance:]]. Though concentrated in the southeastern [[geography:sekhaa:region:Brightness]], it is an enthusiastically proselytizing church and has many missions established outside its core areas.

===== Belief =====
==== Deities ====
As with the other denominations of the Path of Radiance, the Great Illumination is monotheistic, worshipping the goddess [[mythology:path_of_radiance:Lalidh]], Lamp of Creation, from whom all things emanate. Her eternal foe and opposite - not considered a deity in usual sense, and not to be worshipped or admired, but operating at a similar level of being - is [[mythology:path_of_radiance:Vom]], the Primal Darkness, the personification of negation, absence, and emptiness.

==== Mythology ====
In the beginning, Lalidh was alone, the only source of light and point of reference in an endless Void. She sat in its center in contemplation, undisturbed. But because, far from Her, the light dimmed beyond the ability to see, there was darkness at the edges of the Void, and with time it came alive with jealousy and hunger, deprived of that which it could not have and would never be. This awareness was Vom, the Primal Darkness, and it pushed at the edges of the light.

To contend with Vom's influence, Lalidh made countless vessels that She filled with Her light, and set them amidst the Void as the celestial lights. Among these were the two great lights: [[universe:mikurmiya:kastun|Habren]], the passive, that soothes and aids; and [[universe:mikurmiya:|Ferlen]], that burns and defends. While these lights forced Vom back, in its cunning it ever sough to slip between them, navigating the mazes of dimness between the stars, demanding Lalidh's unceasing vigilance in acting against it.

Seeking to return to Her repose, Lalidh made the world of Avishraa beneath the light of Habren and Ferlen, and filled it with living beings that would yearn toward the light and remember it, to act as her agents against the encroachment of Vom and warn against its dangers. 

To this extent, the Illuminators hold broadly the same view as the other Lightbringer denominations. But here they depart from it, in that the other churches hold that, the world having forgotten the purpose for which Lalidh made it, She appointed the [[geopolitical:queendom_of_light_unobstructed:Radiant Queen|Radiant Queens]] and their successors to the task of restoring that awareness. The Illuminators, by contrast, make the argument that it is unlikely - knowing what is known of history and of Vom's corruption - that the Radiant Queens were the first to have to rededicate the world to Lalidh and Her light, nor would they be the last, and nor were they especially appointed to do so, being merely the last of those to recognize a truth evident in all creation.

==== Cosmology ====
Lalidh is the ultimate source of all things and sits at the heart of creation in contemplation, Her light illuminating all things. The celestial lights are reflections of Her radiance: Habren, Ferlen, and the stars, which watch over countless other worlds. The lights to be found on [[universe:mikurmiya:Avishraa]], such as fires, the glow of lava, and bioluminescence, are yet other manifestations, albeit mundane and imperfect. (It is held that physical matter and its properties exists as a kind of housing or host for Lalidh's light, whether physical or metaphorical; but because it does not itself shine, it is susceptible to being influenced by darkness.)

Beneath and behind creation lies the darkness, representing that which Lalidh has not touched with Her light, and which hates it yet hungers for it. Lalidh's act of creation was intended as setting in motion the process of banishing the darkness and bringing light - in both the literal and metaphorical sense - to all corners of existence, and the Path of Radiance, at its core, is about reminding the world of the knowledge of this purpose and rousing it to action against the darkness.

(The above formulation is more or less shared by all the Lightbringer denominations. It is notable that the Lightbringers are among the Avishraan religions that have taken most easily to the ideas of [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heliocentrism|heliocentrism]] and of [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exoplanet#Early_speculations|worlds beyond Avishraa]], albeit still for reasons more to do with theology than with scientific observation.)

==== Tenets of faith ====
The tenets of the faith are broadly summarized by the Creed of Pakhwe, which the council held there in 77 Cloud adopted as a standard for their communion.

  - **The [[mythology:path_of_radiance:lalidh|Lamp of Creation]] was in the beginning and shall be after and is in all places; from Her comes Light and all that follows from it.** A statement of monotheism: Lalidh is the one supreme deity.
  - **The Light is Life, and Life is Love, and Love is the Light; and of these things and of all things the Lamp of Creation is the source and the mother.** This sets the tone of the teachings of the Great Illumination, which, far more than the other denominations of the Path of Radiance, places value on love and acceptance.
  - **The foe of the Lamp of Creation is Vom; Vom is darkness, is emptiness, is hunger, is disdain and contempt; Vom is what is not and remains ever unfulfilled.** Defines the antithesis of the faith. Darkness is not merely a lack of light, but a state of deprivation of all good qualities, for which it yearns but cannot achieve except by a fundamental transformation.
  - **The Lamp of Creation has made us and all that is as a rebuke to Vom and to banish it from creation and to fill the Void; our purpose is the Light.** It is not enough to be a passive participant; to follow the Path of Radiance is to actively combat Vom and all it represents, until darkness is utterly banished.
  - **The Light shines in all of us and through all of us; it is not conveyed to us by one in a single bright beam, but comes from us in a thousand colors.** A sociopolitical statement, placing emphasis on the immanence of the Light. People do not receive the Light from on high; it is already in them, in one of many different forms. The purpose of the church, therefore, is not to bring the believer out of darkness in a defined way, but to help them - and to help them help each other - to bring out the Light that is theirs in the way that is most appropriate to the situation.
  - **The understanding and propagation of the Light of every being is the Path of Radiance, from which Vom seeks ever to turn us and on which we ever seek to remain.** An affirmation of the faith, and commitment to it, as the only true means of salvation.

While the Illuminators hold that it is possible to fall into irredeemable darkness, this is a rare and serious charge. There is currently disagreement within the communion over whether [[chosen:|witches]] are among those who cannot be saved, with the [[ethnicity:abethine:ǣdyihozhis|Ǣdyihòzhis]]-influenced churches increasingly pushing for their equal treatment.

Illuminator belief places far more importance upon the current life than what comes after. It is generally held that meticulously treading the Path of Illumination is synonymous with an ideal mortal existence, and that the brighter one's light shines in life the more seamless the shedding of its mortal shell will eventually be, but the only "benefit" of death will be the ability to leave behind such concerns as hunger, illness, or pain. The extinguishing of one's own light, by contrast, condemns one to oblivion at death; joining to Vom in life leave nothing after death.

===== Practice =====
==== Ethics ====
The message of the Great Illumination is that Lalidh's light and love is to be found within all beings. Vom may cause them to forget or abandon it, but likewise anyone may remind themselves of it - or allow themselves to be reminded of it - and allow it to shine forth. The Illuminator churches, therefore, tend to place emphasis on forgiveness, redemption, and mutual assistance; sins may be committed, but the role of the church is, preferably, to create the conditions where sin is lessened rather than to punish the sinner.

That said, there is a difference between sins that may be redressed and those that may not; the latter are considered signs that the sinner has willfully turned away from the light and cannot be reconciled with it. Among these are murder aggravated by hatred or jealousy; rape and sexual coercion; and, generally speaking, any pattern of acts demonstrating an eagerness to make use of other's difficulties or torment. Depending upon the specific church, the specific sin, and the willingness of the authorities to cooperate, the punishment for these will be excommunication and either banishment or execution - the preferred methods being either exposure to the desert sun or [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_by_burning|immolation]].

The Illuminator worldview tends to carry an undercurrent of egalitarianism. While Illuminators as a whole are not fundamentally in favor of what we would call democracy - and, indeed, would alarm many civil governments were they to adopt such a notion - they do tend to believe that the holding and use of authority must be justified by its responsiveness to the concerns and needs of the people. Put a different way, most Illuminators are less concerned with the form of government rather than [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enlightened_absolutism|the attitude and manner with which its power is used]].

==== Worship ====


==== Aesthetics ====


===== Organization =====
The member churches of the Great Illumination are autocephalous: they choose their own leaders, generally known as Flamekeepers and generally by election by and from the Brights, and for the most part are free to fine-tune their teachings and practices without interference.

Each church is intended to serve a particular area or group. Those with a territorial base usually serve an important settlement and its hinterlands, corresponding to the relevant political boundaries, though there are also churches responsible for wide swathes of land where adherents are spread thinly (such as the Eastern Church, which covers nearly all of [[geography:sekhaa:region:Karrod]] except for the territories of [[geopolitical:Ǣdyihòzh:]]). Community-focused churches tend to be smaller in membership and to serve the less sedentary populations of the faithful: migratory males, [[xtauh:]] bands, and so on. It is the responsibility of each church to ensure that [[mythology:path_of_radiance:bright|Brights]], priestly teachers, are trained and assigned in such a way that spiritual guidance is available for those places and people who need it, to organize missions within its scope, and to direct community assistance to those most in need.

On a higher level, the Great Illumination is less of an overarching church than it is a communion of churches. To be eligible for recognition, a church must:
  - **Profess and teach the Creed of Pakhwe to the best of its understanding.** This, quite intentionally, does not define specific interpretations, but gives a standard by which to judge aspiring members. Since the Creed is compatible with many subcurrents of Lightbringer theology, this permits segments of other Lightbringer denominations to join the Great Illumination.
  - **Hold no allegiance to any other church.** By contrast, this requires aspiring churches, if currently subject to one of the Radiant Ones, to renounce them. The communion does not want the old hierarchies to be reintroduced to it.
  - **Have a defined area or group for whose people it is solely responsible.** This is intended to make it clear who a church does and does not serve. A church will not be in communion if it attempts to infringe on another church's remit, nor will it be if it attempts to cast too broad a net; it must be defined and, as far as is practical, it must be local.

Membership in the communion, disputes between churches, and large-scale doctrinal issues may be decided by a communion-wide council. The  council is presided over and advised by the [[mythology:path_of_radiance:great_illumination:panchromat]], who serves as moral head of the communion; in the absence of a decision by the council, the Panchromat may offer opinions on various matters, which are not binding but may be used as informed guidance.

===== Political intrigue and influence =====
The Illuminator churches have a complicated relationship with civil authority. On the one hand, their parishioners frequently have strong views about the harshness and fairness of the law, and are apt to become restless when not pleased with their government; but on the other, the decentralized nature of the churches means that, unlike the other Lightbringer churches, there is no outside spiritual sovereign attempting to interfere in local temporal affairs.

By and large, many local governments have found it expedient, if their rulers are not themselves already adherents of the Great Illumination, to give their resident churches a certain amount of official toleration and possibly even some lip service to their principles, particularly if they feel the need to weaken the power of any [[mythology:path_of_radiance:lamp_of_the_heart:|Lamplighter]] or [[mythology:path_of_radiance:true_light:]] churches in their domains - or to improve their standing with ordinary believers. This has proven to be the case especially on the coast, where Illuminator adherence is strongest and where Illuminators play an outsized role in maritime traffic with Karrod and the Abethine cities.

===== History =====
The 60s and 70s [[history:cloud_era:|Cloud]] saw the beginnings a new movement in the established Lightbringer churches, the [[mythology:path_of_radiance:true_light:]] and the [[mythology:path_of_radiance:lamp_of_the_heart:]]. Declining adherence to the faith, stagnation in the church hierarchies, increasing commercial and philosophical contact with the [[ethnicity:abethine:|Abethines]], an influx of new, poor colonists from south of the mountains - and the inability of the churches to engage with them - all sparked a desire for renewal.

The new undercurrents in the faith were antihierarchical, universalist, and intensely evangelical. The mission of the church, it had always been said, was to bring [[mythology:path_of_radiance:lalidh]]'s light to all the world; why then did the [[mythology:path_of_radiance:radiant_one|Radiant Ones]] disdain the [[xtauh:]] and the [[mythology:imperial_religion:|Imperials]], poisoning them against the faith? The everyday Lamplighters struggled to support themselves and others while their leaders supported themselves in luxury; what example did this set? The True Light hid away from the celestial lights among their books; was this not to draw closer to hated [[mythology:path_of_radiance:vom]]?

Throughout the mid-70s Cloud, the movement, calling itself the Great Illumination, gained increasing momentum and was subject to increasing censure by the religious authorities. Among its members was a disaffected adherent of the Lamp of the Heart, [[person:varedh_scintillating-glory|Varedh Scintillating-Glory]], whose unusually jewel-like scales and eloquent and impassioned denunciation of the churches attracted enormous attention, raising her to a status of leadership among the Illuminated. In 77 Cloud, Scintillating-Glory crossed a new, and for the churches intolerable, line by entirely denouncing their authority:

<blockquote>We were told that the Radiant Ones were the lens through which Lalidh's light shone onto the world; we were told that their [[mythology:path_of_radiance:bright|Brights]] reflected it into dark places. And what has happened? They claim to hoard the Light for themselves! Is that Lalidh's command? The Light belongs to the world! The Light shines through us all! The Radiant Ones, in coveting the Light, have themselves fallen to darkness! <cite>the Sermon at Kulet</cite></blockquote>

The leadership of the local church of the Lamp of the Heart had encouraged its supporters to attend the sermon, and upon hearing their church denounced, interrupted the proceedings. In the midst of the ensuing riot, Scintillating-Glory was captured and beaten severely before being rescued by a mob of Illuminator supporters. The duchess of Kulet, blaming the Illuminators for the riot, banished them from the city; they, and Scintillating-Glory, reestablished themselves in Pakhwe, on the coast of the [[geography:sekhaa:marine:Windward Sea]], where many other Illuminators lived.

Upon her recovery, Scintillating-Glory, now a heroine of the movement, called a meeting of prominent Illuminator figures in Pakhwe regarding the establishment of a new church, officially breaking away from the old ones. There was talk of proclaiming her Radiant One, but more decentralizing elements of the movement saw no attraction in doing so, and Scintillating-Glory herself largely agreed with them.
<blockquote>I am no scion of ancient royalty, and I am no self-proclaimed queen. In accepting the old forms, we risk accepting the old mistakes with them. For a new church we should seek a new way, and let that which we argued against fall away into the Void. <cite>Scintillating-Glory, at the Council of Pakhwe</cite></blockquote>

Instead, the church structure that emerged from the council was far more collegial and decentralized than the old ones. Scintillating-Glory, over her own misgivings, was proclaimed [[mythology:path_of_radiance:great_illumination:panchromat]]: not an authoritarian head of an unchallenged hierarchy, but a presiding officer, a counselor, and a mediator over an association of autocephalous churches under the banner of the Great Illumination.

In its home range, the Illuminators have since diligently worked to convert other Lightbringers and adherents of other faiths, while it has used its close proximity to the ports of call for the Abethine shipping routes to attempt to export its faith across the Windward Sea.

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