Takaliah
From Ouroboros
Takaliah (TACK-all-ee-uh), or the “Faith of the Free,” is one of the most popular religions on Terr, and is particularly influential in Qest Akdar. While Takaliah recognizes the existence of many gods (it shares roughly the same pantheon as other major religions of Terr), believers in the Faith worship primarily Tak-Ka, the god of freedom, decision, and death. Tak-Ka’s followers are divided over the significance of His domains, and while the majority of them are tolerant of and, for the most part, at peace with the other religions of Terr, there are those, such as the Practitioners of Lenkaliah (not to be confused with practitioners of magic), who radically and violently oppose differing systems of belief. See below for details.
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History
Takaliah, as one of the earliest religions, has uncertain origins, but it is generally agreed upon that it started with the teachings of Tak-Ka’s first prophet, Sammes K’tholten. Tak-Ka had been alluded to in earlier religious teachings, but Sammes’ enlightenment painted a picture of the god that had never been seen before. Tak-Ka quickly amassed a large following through teachings that stemmed from a simple principle: the freedom of choice.
Teachings
When Sammes K’tholten established himself as Tak-Ka’s prophet, he began a book that extended and further developed by his successors. That book, the Serankka, is the basis of Takaliah, and all of the prophets’ teachings can be found within. The Serankka begins with what is known as, logically enough, the First Lesson:
- Glory be to Tak-Ka, He who endowed Us
- With Freedom, for Our World by the Grace
- Of Our Other Lords is created Cruel to
- Us, this Cruelty which We have no Control
- Over, but Control over Ourselves. Hark, Remember the
- First Lesson of Our Lord Tak-Ka, that our
- Freedom is for us to Control our Path
- Through the World’s Cruelty, and not for Cruelty
- To Control Our Path through the harsh World.
- --First Lesson K'tholten
Note the importance of Tak-Ka’s followers: while Tak-Ka’s pronouns, as in most religious documents, are capitalized (He, Him, His, Himself), so are pronouns describing his followers (We, Us, Our, Ourselves). This emphasizes the importance of the individual in Takaliah, and is one of the reasons that the religion is so popular. Takaliah tells us that we are individually significant, and that our decisions are ours and nobody else’s to make, despite the difficult and often destructive nature of our environment. We must, according to the First (and most important) Lesson, retain, through the harshness of our lives, control over the one thing that we can: ourselves. As such, neither slavery nor oppressive rule is tolerated by Takalians. Societies that are greatly influenced by the religion tend to be loosely governed, or, more rarely, entirely democratic.
Followers
As our own personal decisions are the most important aspect of our lives in Takaliah, followers of the religion do not behave in any rigid, universally applicable way. Some denominations are stricter than others, but, for the most part, followers go about their lives in whatever way they wish. Usually this ideology limits the actions of the believer to those that cannot harm other people or infringe on others’ rights to freedom (slavery, for example, is intolerable to a traditional Takalian), but some, most importantly the Practitioners of Lenkaliah (which differs greatly from traditional Takaliah), have radical and dangerous interpretations of Tak-Ka’s teachings.
Takaliah’s followers use a loose caste system, which has little functional use but establishes social structure in the religion.
Prophet
The prophet, while not technically a part of this caste, is considered to speak the voice of Tak-Ka even over the Serankka, and, indeed, usually adds additional Lessons to the book. He (or she, as Tak-Ka seems to be indiscriminatory about whom He chooses to be His prophet) is powerful in the religious community not as a ruler but as a teacher, which is why he is not considered to be part of the caste.
High priest
At the top of the caste is the high priest/priestess, a single person who mostly just exists as a figurehead of Takaliah, though he or she also is seen as having a great understanding of the religion and holds the greatest influence over its followers, excluding the prophet (unless the two positions are held by the same person, as has often been the case). The high priest is chosen by the Collaborate, a council of eight prestigious priests, each of whom is chosen from the upper priesthood by the Collaborate member they are succeeding or, if this is impossible, by the remainder of the Collaborate.
Upper priest
The upper priests are those chosen to be the spiritual leaders of individual communities. Usually there is one upper priest per major city, but some cities are large enough to merit two, and some kingdoms are small enough to have one or, in some cases, none at all. Upper priests are officially chosen by the high priestess, though often he or she assigns one of her assistants to take care of this task.
Lower priest
Lower priests exist in any number under a single upper priest’s command, and are often conveniently referred to as, simply, “priests.” Priests run centers of worship both individually and in groups, and perform the majority of religious services.
Advocate
Advocates, the second-lowest position in the Takalian caste system, have just been sworn into the caste and act as little more than servants to their superiors, who are pretty much anyone else who is not an advocate. They perform all of the simplest tasks and run any errands their superiors command them to, and are promoted by lower priesthood after a number of years in the service of their masters.
Initiate
Initiates are sort of halfway in the caste, because while they are not officially part of the system – they have not been sworn in – they are still invaluable to it. Initiates are those who follow the orders of a priest before being sworn in as an advocate or contribute to the religion in some way. As such, anyone can be an initiate, though the title carries very little weight and lends minimal power, if any, to its holder.
Practices
Feel free to contribute. I’ve done too much on this already.
Symbols
The number eight
The number eight is a very important symbol to Takalians. The eight members of the Collaborate, eight words per line of the Serankka, etc. are all references to the Eight Predictions K’tholten, which lists eight prophecies that must be fulfilled before something called the “Soulreave,” the significance of which is not entirely clear, but which is a central concept in the faith of the Practitioners of Lenkaliah.
Malhex
Another key symbol in the religion is the Malhex, a six-pointed shape representative of the six predictions K’tholten which have already, according to most, come true. The Malhex isn’t much more than a graphical representation of the progress of the predictions, but is featured prominently in Takalian culture. When the last two prophecies are fulfilled, the remaining straight lines of the Malhex will split into two each, to result in an eight-sided, flower-like figure. According to the Practitioners of Lenkaliah, the last two prophecies have already been fulfilled, and their Malhex has already been altered accordingly. See the article on the Practitioners for details.
