KaiserMelech
SWRP Writer
- Joined
- Nov 30, 2017
- Messages
- 48
- Reaction score
- 23
Category: Personal Lore
Body:
Human dilatrism is an archaic religion that, while old, is still somewhat fringe among the faiths of the galaxy. The origins of the religion are more myth than anything else at this point. The founder of the religion is a quasi-historical figure who is claimed to have lived on the human homeworld of Coruscant thousands of years before the foundation of The Republic. The founder has no given name in the religion, and is simply referred to as "The Prophet."
Human Dilatrism has an dual-layer belief system. All believers pray to a single, universal creator god of all humanity. In the Coruscanti, and therefore oldest tradition, this god is known as Rishon, although the name has changed over time in most communities. In addition to Rishon, a second god of a vast and often expanding pantheon is worshiped by the faithful. This second god is often viewed as a sort of national god, and is unique to individual families, tribes, nations, or planets, and often takes on a form relevant to the location. Agricultural people may worship a god that provides rain, while militaristic societies may worship a warrior god who aids people in battle. While other secondary gods in addition to one's own are widely believed to exist, worshiping more than just your people's god is an extreme cultural taboo. Depending on location and deity, worship styles are highly variable. Advanced societies usually engage in simple prayer in designated temples, while more backwater worlds are known to continue animal sacrifices. Each individual deity has their own prophet, or line of prophets, and direct descendants of these people hold not only great spiritual authority, but often immense political power as well.
The religion accepts converts, but does not actively dispatch missionaries, meaning that natural family growth is the main form of demographic expansion. The splitting and colonization of new worlds by the faithful over the centuries and millenia has caused the faith to spread from Coruscant to significant communities across the Core Worlds, Colonies, and Inner Rim. While holy texts do make vague references towards an afterlife, there is no unified canonical description of judgement or salvation, further weakening appeals for converts. There are at least 3 recorded cases of mass conversions of populations to Human Dilatrism, including one case of forced conversion after a planetary civil war led to the emergence of an expansionist theocracy.
Human dilatrism is often viewed highly negatively by much of the galaxy. Human Dilatrism is, as the name suggests, also a human based, and often humanity-supremacist faith. Except for human-derived near human species, no aliens are allowed into the faith, and would immediately be put off by the humanocentric language. The religion devoutly believes that humans are the only divinely-inspired species. While other species are admitted to be intelligent, and the clergy continually preach against religious-based discrimination, non-humans are still derogatorily viewed as nothing more than evolved animals. The religion carries an incredibly vocal anti-force philosophy. As both the Jedi and exile faiths deny the existence of the gods in the first place, relations were poor from the beginning, and non-force sensitive followers of force-based religions are negatively though of as pagans. The idea of the force is vehemently rejected as it contradicts and supersedes the described abilities of deities, and the force has officially been declared to be nothing more than lies spread by demons and devils, with force users being nothing more than evil sorcerers. Attempting to give more validity and understanding to this extreme anti-force dogma, prominent individuals have attempted to apply logical arguments to the religion's beliefs. Religious sage Philo Demetrius of Alderaan wrote that since gravity and physics were installed by the creator god, and by using an invisible mental power, rather than machinery or physical force, to move objects shows that force users are not just internally corrupted, but the embodied enemies of the gods. Another intellectual, Josephus Mattias of Coruscant, took a species-based approach towards the evils of the force. Since the force was both not present in the vast majority of humans, and was prevalent in many non-human species, it could not be an intentional creation by the gods, and instead had to have been imparted through demonic possession. Jedi prevalence for war and civil conflict helped to solidify this view in many scholars.
Intent: I really wanted to introduce a religion that not only did not believe in the force, but was openly hostile to it. At least one, and possibly two of my characters will subscribe to this religion, and I think it will be fun to see how it shapes their interpersonal relationships with jedi, exiles, and non-human species. On discord, there were people talking about religious fundamentalist movements, and I think that this faith does give a lot of leeway for a person to give a character background to being militantly anti-force or anti-alien.
Body:
Human dilatrism is an archaic religion that, while old, is still somewhat fringe among the faiths of the galaxy. The origins of the religion are more myth than anything else at this point. The founder of the religion is a quasi-historical figure who is claimed to have lived on the human homeworld of Coruscant thousands of years before the foundation of The Republic. The founder has no given name in the religion, and is simply referred to as "The Prophet."
Human Dilatrism has an dual-layer belief system. All believers pray to a single, universal creator god of all humanity. In the Coruscanti, and therefore oldest tradition, this god is known as Rishon, although the name has changed over time in most communities. In addition to Rishon, a second god of a vast and often expanding pantheon is worshiped by the faithful. This second god is often viewed as a sort of national god, and is unique to individual families, tribes, nations, or planets, and often takes on a form relevant to the location. Agricultural people may worship a god that provides rain, while militaristic societies may worship a warrior god who aids people in battle. While other secondary gods in addition to one's own are widely believed to exist, worshiping more than just your people's god is an extreme cultural taboo. Depending on location and deity, worship styles are highly variable. Advanced societies usually engage in simple prayer in designated temples, while more backwater worlds are known to continue animal sacrifices. Each individual deity has their own prophet, or line of prophets, and direct descendants of these people hold not only great spiritual authority, but often immense political power as well.
The religion accepts converts, but does not actively dispatch missionaries, meaning that natural family growth is the main form of demographic expansion. The splitting and colonization of new worlds by the faithful over the centuries and millenia has caused the faith to spread from Coruscant to significant communities across the Core Worlds, Colonies, and Inner Rim. While holy texts do make vague references towards an afterlife, there is no unified canonical description of judgement or salvation, further weakening appeals for converts. There are at least 3 recorded cases of mass conversions of populations to Human Dilatrism, including one case of forced conversion after a planetary civil war led to the emergence of an expansionist theocracy.
Human dilatrism is often viewed highly negatively by much of the galaxy. Human Dilatrism is, as the name suggests, also a human based, and often humanity-supremacist faith. Except for human-derived near human species, no aliens are allowed into the faith, and would immediately be put off by the humanocentric language. The religion devoutly believes that humans are the only divinely-inspired species. While other species are admitted to be intelligent, and the clergy continually preach against religious-based discrimination, non-humans are still derogatorily viewed as nothing more than evolved animals. The religion carries an incredibly vocal anti-force philosophy. As both the Jedi and exile faiths deny the existence of the gods in the first place, relations were poor from the beginning, and non-force sensitive followers of force-based religions are negatively though of as pagans. The idea of the force is vehemently rejected as it contradicts and supersedes the described abilities of deities, and the force has officially been declared to be nothing more than lies spread by demons and devils, with force users being nothing more than evil sorcerers. Attempting to give more validity and understanding to this extreme anti-force dogma, prominent individuals have attempted to apply logical arguments to the religion's beliefs. Religious sage Philo Demetrius of Alderaan wrote that since gravity and physics were installed by the creator god, and by using an invisible mental power, rather than machinery or physical force, to move objects shows that force users are not just internally corrupted, but the embodied enemies of the gods. Another intellectual, Josephus Mattias of Coruscant, took a species-based approach towards the evils of the force. Since the force was both not present in the vast majority of humans, and was prevalent in many non-human species, it could not be an intentional creation by the gods, and instead had to have been imparted through demonic possession. Jedi prevalence for war and civil conflict helped to solidify this view in many scholars.
Intent: I really wanted to introduce a religion that not only did not believe in the force, but was openly hostile to it. At least one, and possibly two of my characters will subscribe to this religion, and I think it will be fun to see how it shapes their interpersonal relationships with jedi, exiles, and non-human species. On discord, there were people talking about religious fundamentalist movements, and I think that this faith does give a lot of leeway for a person to give a character background to being militantly anti-force or anti-alien.
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