Keliosity

 

Keliosity entails the worship of the gas giant Coppelius, pictured here, as the deity Kelios.

Keliosity is a religion practiced by the native civilizations of Uingffh revolving around the worship of Uingffh's parent planet Coppelius as the god Kelios. It is the Uingffhians' largest and most popular religion, with an estimated 34.5% of sentient individuals practicing some form of Keliosity. Tabulons make up a majority of Keliostic practitioners.

Worship of Coppelius as a deity predates modern recordkeeping, but began to materialize into Keliosity roughly 10,000 years before the Uingffhian and Earth common eras. Keliosity existed as a religion of moderate influence until the 12th Century, when the rise and later expansion of the Kingdom of Kerolon allowed Keliosity to dominate Uingffhian society. Even as Uingffhian society began to modernize and Kerolon's influence began to wane, Keliosity remained prominent, especially in the Unified States of Osuwa, albeit in a more moderate form. Keliosity's popularity then significantly declined after the Sentar Presidency in the Unified States of Osuwa, which saw the use of Keliostic verses and principles as justification for various extreme right-wing policies including restrictions on the rights of LGBTQ+ people, non-tabulon sentients, the poor, the disabled, etc.

Keliosity currently contains four major denominations. Traditional Keliosity is faithful to the original form of Keliosity developed roughly 10,000 years ago. Kerolonian Keliosity is the form of Keliosity promoted by Kerolon during its first imperial conquests, when the nation imbued its artistic and intellectual characteristics into the religion. Lastly, Keliocentrism, as its name implies, is a purely monotheistic version of Keliosity that centers Kelios and denies the divinity of all other deities depicted in traditional Keliosity.

In addition to the main three, a fourth denomination briefly existed and gained prominence during the mid-21st Century during the Sentar presidency: Esoteric Keliosity. Esoteric Keliosity was a radical sect of Keliosity that advocated for the complete genocide of non-tabulon sentients and the authoritarian control of tabulons in the name of divine salvation. After Sentar's deposition and death, Morbidia, Kerolon, and Osuwa all outlawed Esoteric Keliosity, which by then had already fallen out of the populace's favor.

Keliosity is unique in how it straddles the boundary between Polytheism and Monotheism; though most variations of Keliosity contain multiple deities aside from Kelios, all of these deities are minor in importance, influence, and power compared to Kelios, who carries many traits of a monotheistic deity including transcendence and supremacy. In fact, some denominations of Keliosity deny the validity and/or existence of non-Kelios deities altogether, practicing Keliosity as a strictly monotheistic religion.

History

Origins

Worship of Coppelius has enjoyed prevalence in tabulon society since prehistory due to the prominence of Coppelius in Uingffh's sky. Such worship formalized into Keliosity, however, roughly 10,000 years ago in the Ulstonian supercontinent's Kerolon region, the region of Uingffh that always faces Coppelius and thus receives the brightest and most prominent views of the gaseous planet. Initially restricted to a few of Kerolon's many small kingdoms, Keliosity soon spread throughout the Kerolon region thanks in part to the region's lack of a dominant religion at the time. Keliostic missionaries and religious figures like Sargon Kerborigin and Solidia Nebra also proved instrumental to Keliosity's spread. Some missionaries attempted to spread Keliosity outside of Kerolon, but had limited success due to other regions like Kelargar already practicing a different major religion; some settlements beyond Kerolon carried out the prosecution and exile of Keliostics in an effort to preserve their religious purity.

Keliocentrist Movement

At some point roughly 4,000 years before the Common Era, a small group of particularly devout Keliostics began denying the divinity of the religion's minor deities and asserting Kelios as the one true god of Keliosity. This marked the birth of Keliocentrism, a new, monotheistic Keliostic denomination that only worshipped Kelios. Throughout succeeding years, Keliocentrism began to spread throughout Kerolon, with some predicting that Keliocentrism would become the new dominant form of Keliosity.

However, the Keliocentrist Movement's spread would quickly face barriers. Many of the region's small kingdoms and nations held traditions closely connected to one or more of Keliosity's minor deities and thus rejected Keliocentrism. Particularly culturally rich mini-kingdoms passed legislation restricting the rights and/or spread of Keliocentrists and Keliocentrism. The actions of these traditionalist kingdoms corresponded to a larger-scale realization of the importance of non-Kelios deities in Keliosity, halting Keliocentrism's spread. Nonetheless, Keliocentrism maintained significant cultural influence throughout later centuries and millennia, with the denomination continuing to accept new followers.

Creation and Spread of Kerolonian Keliosity

In the year 999, a trio of nobles named Otho rei Oronius, Gauss rei Keyman, and Nero rei Hadrian united the Kerolon region under the Kingdom of Kerolon, which would quickly transform into a thriving arts and cultural center under their fair rule. This led to the creation of a new form of Keliosity: Kerolonian Keliosity, which combined the intellectual and cultural emphasis of the newly-united kingdom with the doctrines and beliefs of traditional Keliosity.

The Kingdom of Kerolon's popularity caused Kerolonian Keliosity to skyrocket in popularity, quickly overtaking both Keliocentrism and traditional Keliosity as the dominant religion of the Kingdom. Kerolonian Keliosity only spread even further when the Kingdom began to enter a period of imperialism and conquest in later centuries; Kerolonian Keliostic missionaries would travel to foreign lands to convert (sometimes forcefully) natives to their religion, allowing Kerolonian Keliosity's followers to increase in number. By the Kingdom's first territorial peak in 1556, Kerolonian Keliosity had spread to over two thirds of Uingffh's population.

Modernization and Decline

As Kerolon's power and influence over Uingffh began to wane with the secessions and rebellions of Osuwa and Morbidia, so did the prominence of Keliosity. Though its changes were complex, Keliosity experienced a general decline over the proceeding centuries due to further advances in science and technology refuting many long-standing Keliostic myths. However, Keliosity's popularity remained well above its pre-Age of Imperium levels even during the faith's most difficult years.

In Kerolon, Keliosity remained a prominent facet of Kerolonian culture, with Keliostics maintaining a majority among the Kerolonian populace. However, much like how the first Kerolonians modified traditional Keliosity to fit their society's characteristics, Kerolonian Keliosity would end up changing and adapting to reflect Kerolon's progressing societal norms. WIP

Denominations

Kerolonian Keliosity

Kerolonian Keliosity is the denomination of Keliosity created by the Kingdom of Kerolon, which quick saw Kerolonian Keliosity become its dominant religion. Kerolonian Keliosity combines the traditions and doctrines of earlier forms of Keliosity with the culture of the Kerolon region; for instance, Kerolon's emphasis on the arts and culture translated into the Kerolonian Keliostic traditions of creating paintings of Kelios and sculpting models of Coppelius.

Kerolonian Keliosity notably combined the beliefs of traditional Keliostics and Keliocentrism. Kerolonian Keliosity upheld Keliocentrism's significant emphasis on Kelios as the most important and venerable figure in the religion; however, its practitioners also recognized the importance of traditional Keliosity's minor deities and affirmed their existence as non-godly mythological figures.