The Dualists
There are two deities, Atrion and Heptros. This is obvious.
Some say they are playing a game, others say they are fighting, but all agree that there will one day come a time that either Atrion or Heptros wins, and the world as we know it will come to an end.
Atrion is order, control, structure. His symbols are the crystal, the gear, the orrery. If Atrion wins the great game, the universe will be cold, silent, and still. All creation will be transformed into an endless, beautiful pattern, stretching across the whole of reality.
Heptros is chaos, entropy, spontaneity. Her symbols are scribbles, fire, and rust. If Heptros wins the battle, the universe will be a never ending explosion of creation and destruction, with no permanence or solidity. All will be subsumed into a fluid, writhing mass of endless variation and change.
Neither of these outcomes are especially desirable.
The world must remain balanced. There must be a certain amount of chaos in the world, lest Atrion win, but at the same time there must be some stability, lest Heptros be victorious. Thus, the best way to live one’s life is to be tempered and moderate in all things, weighing options equally and choosing the middle ground.
Total solar eclipses are an especially holy time, as one can see evidence of the great struggle in the very heavens above.
The Necrotheists and the Refinists are a danger to the harmony which is necessary to avoid total disaster. The Necrotheists are clearly being misled by Heptros, and the so-called “God” of the Refinists is certainly Atrion in disguise. Neither must be allowed to become too powerful, or else all is lost.
The Necrotheists
God is dead. This is obvious.
She died to make this world, Her body forming the very ground beneath our feet. All life was born from Her corpse, writhing up from the rot of divinity like maggots out of a carcass. In this way, we are God’s children.
Death is not the end. Corpses rot, are eaten, are transformed into new matter. The dead become the soil in which we grow our crops, the very food we eat born from previous deaths. In this way, those who have died live on forever in new forms, new bodies. God is no different.
When we make art, literature, music, we are engaging in the same act of creation that God did to create us. We each contain a spark of divinity, and this is why we have such a capacity for self-sacrifice, for did not God give Her own life to bring about ours? Death, rot, age, these are not things to fear; we are we all walking evidence of the beauty of decay.
Those whose mothers die in childbirth are especially sacred, as their births mimic the very creation of the cosmos itself.
The Dualists worry far too much, is it not enough to appreciate the fact that we are here? We are each a fragment of God, and we don’t need to worry about some grand balancing act. All that matters is we take care of each other, and continue to bring about beauty into the world.
The Refinists, meanwhile, clearly they are delusional, desperately clinging to the hope of some parental figure taking care of them. They look for signs of the divine will in visions and dreams, when if they want to know what God wants they should simply look within themselves.
The Refinists
God hasn’t finished making the world yet. This is obvious.
Why would a perfect being allow there to be such suffering in the world? The answer is simple; the universe clearly isn’t finished yet. He is working on completing it, but things keep getting in the way. The only reason we haven’t gotten a perfect world yet is because some people simply refuse to follow the divine plan. A perfect designer can only do so much with imperfect tools. If we do as we are told, the world can be so beautiful.
You can see His messages in dreams, in patterns, in visions. He will tell us what we must do to finish the world, to bring about Paradise on Earth. But it is very important that we get it right. Let the priests interpret the signs, only they can be trusted to do so correctly.
The cosmos is like a great, partially completed machine, and we are cogs within it. We must do precisely as instructed, or else we may damage the mechanism. Those who do well will be rewarded when the world is created, those who go against His will shall be cast off to be replaced with those who can do what they are supposed to.
Look for signs of God’s will around you in the unfinished world, tell the priests your dreams. There is still much work to be done before Paradise is ready, but if you do your part you shall be well rewarded.
Those who hear voices are especially sacred, for they are able to hear fragments of the voice of God.
The Dualists are interpreting the signs incorrectly. They are actively trying to stop the creation of Paradise, and have invented their so-called “Heptros” as an excuse to avoid listening to the real God.
And as for the Necrotheists, they are heretics in the most terrible way, a bunch of deicidal necrophiliacs. How can they claim that God is dead when you can see signs of His presence everywhere?
The Prophet
All agree that she showed the masses which faith is correct. However, all disagree on which faith that is.
She was born during a total solar eclipse, and her mother died giving birth to her. As long as she could remember, she had heard a voice in her head urging her to show the truth to the world.
She traveled all across the world, gathering followers from each of the three faiths, searching for a way to find out who is right. She listened to Refinist priests deciphering the language of rushing winds. She attended the raucous and happy funerals of the Necrotheists. She discussed matters of ethics and morality with esteemed Dualist philosophers.
But in the end she still did not know who was right.
All who she encountered agreed that there was something holy about her, her very being emanated divine wisdom, and she was well-versed in all matters of theology. They went to her for guidance, but she insisted that she did not yet know.
One day, during her wanderings, she met an old woman on the road. The prophet was friendly with all people, and talked with the woman of her quest to find the truth. The woman listened patiently, and finally told the prophet the story of a cave in a secret valley, and how in that cave was a pool of clear, still water that would show any who gazed into its waters the true nature of the universe. The prophet asked the old woman to take her there, and she agreed.
The prophet and the old woman went alone to the cave, leaving her followers to make camp. They were gone for three days and three nights, and the prophet’s followers feared that she would never return, until finally the prophet arrived back at the camp, weary and tired. The old woman was nowhere to be found, and the prophet would not say where she had gone.
Her followers asked her what she saw in the pool, but the prophet simply shook her head. She said she would tell them when they reached Mercolem, the oldest and grandest city in the world. Her followers agreed to wait, and they continued on towards the city.
When they reached Mercolem, word spread quickly, and all gathered from near and far to hear what the prophet had seen. Refinists, Necrotheists, Dualists, all were certain that within days their beliefs would be vindicated beyond the shadow of a doubt. She was showered with gifts and prayers, and even the lord of the city insisted that she stay within his palace. The day at which the revelation would be shared was set, and all waited with baited breath.
The crowds gathered, packed tightly so that all would be able to see the prophet, to hear her words. They stood before the great tower from which she would tell her grand truth, which would unify the world under one faith.
They waited patiently, until the clanging of bells announced that the time had finally come. All watched as the prophet stepped out onto the ramparts of the tower. There was a vast cheer, followed quickly by silence in anticipation of what was to be said.
What happens next is a matter of some theological debate, but all agree on one thing:
The prophet did not live long enough to tell her secret.
The Dualists and the Necrotheists believe she committed suicide, though there is some disagreement as to the method. The Necrotheists believe she hung herself, while the Dualists think she simply jumped off the tower.
The Refinists believe she was murdered, and variably blame either the Dualists or the Necrotheists for this. Those who believe the Dualists did it believe she was pushed, those who believe the Necrotheists did it think she was strangled.
Either way, everyone who witnessed the death went home reassured that their faith was the correct one.
The Necrotheists are vindicated because the prophet’s death is proof of the self-sacrificial nature humanity acquired from God. This is obvious.
The Dualists are satisfied because it is clear that the prophet killed herself to ensure that nobody knows the right answer. If all interfaith conflict was removed, obviously Atrion would win and the world would come to an end. This is obvious.
The Refinists know that they are correct because this is proof that the only reason we don’t have Paradise on Earth is because of non-believers meddling with things. If she were allowed to have given her sermon, everyone would know that the Refinists are right, and soon after that the Great Work would have been finished and Paradise would be created. Some Necrotheist or Dualist assassinated her in order to prevent this. This is obvious.
Nobody else has ever found the secret cave that the old woman led the prophet to. Nobody else has ever gazed into the still, placid waters and learned the true nature of the universe.
In all likelihood, nobody ever will.
This too, of course, is obvious.
