High-Level Summary
Here’s what you need to know about the Immaculate Philosophy in order to play your character as someone who practices it:
- The Dragon-Blooded are in charge. This is natural and good.
- There are 5 mythical figures of virtue who everyone should strive to emulate.
- Practitioners shouldn’t worship gods directly; leave that to the monks.
- There are these things called Anathema that try to stray people from the Path. It is the sacred duty of all Princes of the Earth to make sure that doesn’t happen.
Core Beliefs
The Elemental Dragons birthed Creation from their very own souls, their own Essence. Thus, all human beings are shards of the Dragons’ divine energy. This energy naturally seeks to reunite with its source by cultivating perfection and enlightenment. A transcendant individual, when they die, reunites with the Elemental Dragons.
The best way to cultivate merit is through fulfilling one’s place in the Perfected Hierarchy. Every human being is born with a natural station and a specific sacred duty. Farmers are meant to farm, soldiers to war, and Dragon-Blooded, as the most enlightened and the closest to the Dragons, to rule over society in wisdom and mercy.
By living in accordance with one’s sacred duty, an individual is able to accumulate merit and advance along the path to enlightenment with their next reincarnation. Eventually, they are reborn as a Dragon-Blooded, and then, they have the potential to transcend mortality and reunite with the Dragons.
The Immaculate Dragons
The Immaculate Dragons are the five ancient saint-heroes of yore which were responsible for writing the Immaculate Texts and bringing enlightened wisdom to humanity. These soldier-messiahs lead humanity in revolution against the decadent gold and silver devil-kings of the Realm Before. They are sacred and powerful figures which all Immaculates strive to emulate, in order to progress along the path to enlightenment.
Anathema
Anathema is a label which describes anything that poses an existential threat to the liberation and well-being of humanity as a whole. It is a term which incorporates everything from the dream-hungry raksha hiding in Wyld pockets and the borders of the world, to rogue gods that prey on humans and demand illegal worship, to the gold and silver devil-kings of the Realm Before.
In general, the category of Anathema is the category of wicked things used to scare children to bed at night, or to label the dangerous and wicked creatures that lurk beyond respectable society.
History of the Immaculate Order
In the Realm Before, the devil-kings demanded worship from mortals, and cavorted with greedy gods to extort prayer and exultation from all human beings of the world. Their honeyed words promised liberation and freedom, but this honey only turned to sour vinegar when time came to taste of it.
The Five Immaculate Dragons were born into this world, and rejected its cruelty and the decadent ways of the Anathema Princes. They lead a glorious revolution to overthrow the social order, and liberated humanity from its bondage. After this holy war, the Dragons wandered the world spreading the Immaculate Word as the true religion of Creation.
During the Shogunate, after the war but before the Empress ascended the throne, the Immaculate Order carried on spreading the word of the Immaculate Dragons. The religion first converted the Blessed Isle, and then from there spread to the Inner Sea, and then further still.
When the Empress ascended to the throne, she made the Immaculate Order the official religious body of her new empire. She found the first Mouth of Peace, and gradually consolidated the religious order under the office of the Mouth of Peace. Today, all of the Blessed Isle is Immaculate, and lead by the Order.
A Brief Glance at Immaculate Practice
Immaculacy can be divided into many branches, but the largest and most important branch is the Immaculate Philosophy, the branch recognized by the Scarlet Empress as the state religion of her Realm.
The Immaculate Philosophy can be divided into many different lineages, defined as a set of practices and beliefs which share a recognized canon, share rituals originating from the same sacred manuals, and recognize the same historical lineage of its priests. On the Blessed Isle, the most widespread lineage is the Rainbow Gate of Wisdom lineage. The second-most prominent is the Earth and Heaven Harmonious Orthodox lineage, mostly practiced by the Tepet territories.
This section will present a brief overview of some practices of the Rainbow Gate of Wisdom lineage and some of its non-practical traditions.
Some Daily Routines
Physical Wellness
The Order teaches that spiritual and physical wellness are deeply connected to one another. Because of this, they encourage all followers to take a few moments every day to stretch and practice a sacred form. These physical routines have been carefully designed over centuries to promote good health and increase the cultivation of positive energy in the body.
For Dynasts, these routines are focused on genuine martial practice, serving as a reminder that all Dragon-Blooded are warriors in some capacity. Many of these sacred forms focus on the use of weaponry and serve as a practical grounding in the techniques that the Legions use to drill their soldiers and the Order uses to teach martial arts. These routines also encourage free Essence flows through the body.
For peasants, these routines are simpler and focused on breath. The breath is a powerful manifestation of the soul and good breathing improves your spiritual energy. Monks often suggest certain sacred forms to perform in the morning, with the goal of aligning the body’s energy to the work of the day.
A Daily Routine of a Prince of the Earth: Morning Exercises
Cathak Wren wakes up in the morning and starts her day with her morning exercises. She performs several katas with her sword, moving through three of the sacred forms. After that, she practices with shield, through three other sacred forms. She spars with her partner and then refreshes herself.
A Daily Routine of a Peasant: Morning Exercises
Morningflower wakes up in the morning with her family. She, her sister, and their mother take a few moments to stretch and move through the sacred form that the monk gave them – he said it would bring them more energy during the day. It also helps Mother and her old joints, so she insists on doing them daily.
Household Shrines
Almost all Immaculate households maintain a household (or family) shrine. This sacred space is a focus of spiritual energy and an anchor point for meditation practices.
A household shrine is composed of many parts, but the most major are the lineage stone, the cultivation bowl, the incense dish, the noisemakers, and the offering tray. Family shrines are usually strictly forbidden from featuring conography of any kind, although Dynastic shrines – often consecrated as a temple by a monk of the Order – frequently feature iconography of the Five Immaculate Dragons.
The lineage stone represents Earth and the connection between the practitioner and all of their ancestors and fellow practitioners. In many shrines, the lineage stone is a smooth, round stone polished to a glistening sheen and carved with the characters for “rainbow gate,” “wisdom,” “virtue,” or other such positive sentiments. In temples and more luxurious households, the lineage stones are often slabs carved with many records tracing the family’s spiritual heritage through generations, the important dates of the calendar, and more.
The cultivation bowl represents Water and the practitioner’s soul. The bowl is usually a small metal bowl with a pleasant pattern, although in the shrines of wealthier families with larger shrines, it is often a very big bowl with a pleasant pattern. The water in the cultivation bowl is infused with positive energy from meditations performed at the shrine, and is used for a variety of purposes during meditations and in cleaning the shrine.
The incense dish represents Fire, unsurprisingly. Burning incense is often used as a concentration aid during meditations and as part of infusing the whole space with the shrine’s energy. Many shrines have candles and lanterns as part of their arrangement, but they must always feature a dish for receiving incense.
The noisemakers represent Air and the outside world. These might be chimes, bells, a drum, or any other small and convenient noisemaker. During meditations, the practitioner uses the noisemaker to set a rhythm for their chants and to signal the beginning and end of verses. This not only builds a clear pattern focus for your energy, but also transfers the energy of the shrine to the outside world, sharing the good fortune with all.
The offering tray represents Wood and is usually a flat slab of wood used to present offerings at the shrine. Offerings fulfill a variety of purposes. On days for which there is no calendrical worship, the offering serves as a reminder of abandoning attachment to physical goods. On days when the calendar specifies worship, the offering is dedicated to the god receiving that day’s worship. Offerings usually include fruits and vegetables, a convenient representation of Wood nature.
The duty of tending to the household shrine is traditionally assigned to the oldest child of the youngest generation living in the house, as long as they are old enough to perform their duties respectfully. The tedium of this chore is often a bonding point for children from pious families.
A Daily Routine of a Prince of the Earth: Maintaing the Household Shrine
As the oldest child of the youngest generation still living at the compound, it is Cathak Wren’s duty to maintain the family shrine. On this compound, the shrine is a sizeable pagoda near the entrance to the gardens.
Cathak Wren gathers up her servants and heads to the shrine. The lineage tablet stands at the rear of the shrine, up against the far wall. The floor is rattan mats arranged in lucky patterns. The space is spotless.
First, she makes her way to the cultivation bowl, a huge brass basin to the left of the lineage tablet. The household servants have made sure that the bowl is full of fresh water. Cathak Wren performs a standing meditation to cultivate positive energy, and releases it into the water. Now prepared, she washes her hands, making sure not to drip back into the basin, and the servants do the same.
The next step is to prepare the lineage tablet. It is a huge black marble tablet, taller than she is, with silver engravings tracing the heritage of her family’s spirituality back to Master Rain. She and the servants use the prepared water to clean the stone so that it shines.
She then lights the coiling incense snake to the right of the lineage stone, making sure to arrange the incense dish beneath to catch the ashes. Today’s incense was prepared in the far-off satrapy of Astragal and smells sweet and fresh.
She consults the open calendar scroll on the table in front of the shrine, and notes the gods being revered today. She cross-references their names with the offering notes in the sacred manuals, and has the servants gather up the required fruits and vegetables. She arranges them carefully on the offering tray in accordance with the specified geometries and sets the tray on the protrusion before the lineage stone.
She has now prepared the shrine and is ready for the morning meditation.
A Daily Routine of a Peasant: Maintaining the Household Shrine
As the oldest child of the youngest generation still living in her home, it is Morningflower’s duty to maintain the family shrine. It is located in the corner of the kitchen, standing on a little table with a mat on the floor in front of it. She removes the cat from sleeping on the mat and brushes it clean.
Morningflower starts by taking the cultivation bowl and filling it with water from the pitcher she keeps under the shrine. The bowl is actually a drinking cup that her father acquired in the big city before he passed away; they make sure that no one’s lips have ever touched it. She rushes through a standing meditation.
Her family’s lineage stone is a pretty gray riverstone that has been handed down in her mother’s family for many generations. It was originally shaped and blessed by Abbot Cherry herself, the old old Dragon-Blood who tends the central shrine in the big city. It is an ancient relic touched directly by a Prince of the Earth and one of the most valuable things her family owns. She dips her fingers into the cultivation bowl and sprinkles a couple drops of water onto the lineage stone.
She takes a stick of incense and lights it in the hearthfire, cupping her hand beneath to catch the ash. This incense was made by the local incense-maker, and smells a little off; it might be getting old. She places it in the little circular incense stone.
Lastly, she grabs an apple from her family’s meager pantry and a small scoop of rice. She puts the apple on the offering board and arranges the rice in a little pile next to it. Mother gets very annoyed if the offerings don’t look pretty.
Meditation and Chants
The Immaculate orthodoxy reserves prayer as a thing directed at gods during their scheduled worship. In the personal practice, the emphasis is not on prayer, but rather on meditation for personal achievement.
Meditation takes many forms, the most common being sitting meditation and standing meditation. The goal of these meditations is to cultivate positive energy, free the mind from misconceptions, and exercise the soul in the way one would exercise the body. Regular meditation is essential to spiritual wellness.
Sitting meditation is performed with the legs crossed, and the hands folded in the lap. Many mudras are available for the hands to encourage certain kinds of energy within the body; unless instructed by a monk, few devotees use these specialized signs. Many simply fold their hands. Seated meditations require a clean seat; meditating in squalor is harmful because of the negative energy that unclean environments produce.
Standing meditation can be performed on one’s feet anywhere that one desires. The hands are pressed firmly to the solar plexus, again either simply folded over one another or in a specific mudra if the practitioner desires a more specific kind of energy.
While meditating, the practitioner focuses on her breath and her thoughts. The goal is to focus the mind singularly on duty and wisdom, and to avoid stray thoughts. The breath is the manifestation of the soul into the world, so it is vital that the meditating Immaculate concentrates on her breathing, on mindfulness of her place in the universe, and on the flow of Essence within her body.
Having cultivated positive energy within the body, one may either store it within themselves, disperse it into the ambient environment, or direct it to a specific target. Dispersing energy to the environment is done with wide gestures and sharp exhalation of breath. Positive energy can be directed through the fingertips, as one does when preparing a cultivation bowl.
Chanting is also an important part of Immaculate practice. Countless chants and mantras are recorded in the Immaculate Texts and sacred manuals, each with a different purpose. These chants are often reminders of duty and good behavior, reminders of specific teachings, or other reminders of important aspects of the Immaculate Philosophy.
Chants are musical and liberating, often accompanied in temples by the beating of drums, ringing of bells, clapping of hands, and other sources of sound. Chants are also very physical, involving bowing, rotating to face specific directions, prostrations, raising hands in mudras, and other involvements. Where meditation is about personal energy, chants are about communal energy.
The line between prayer on the one hand and meditation and chanting on the other is often unclear, especially to more casual Immaculates. Although prayer to the Dragons is not condoned, many Immaculates do so freely as part of chanting and meditating, often in a way that they themselves would not even really consider “prayer.” As with all things in spirituality, these things are personal, complicated, and subject to interpretation.
A Daily Routine of a Prince of the Earth: Morning Meditations and Chants
Cathak Wren and her retinue of servants grab their cushions from the bin on the righthand wall. Each cushion is a small personal square that will keep their knees from getting sore on the floor. Cathak Wren takes her place in front of the lineage stone; she is the only Prince currently in the shrine, so she has the front half of the space to herself. The servants arrange themselves into neat rows in the rear half of the shrine. One of them takes her place at the drum in the back left corner.
Cathak Wren signals for the chants to begin by ringing the bell hanging beside the lineage stone. The drummer beats out a simple rhythm to signal every few syllables, so that all of the servants are in sync. They begin facing the north, toward the lineage stone.
Everyone takes a bow, bending at the waist on their feet. When the drummer hits the third beat, they stand back up. In time with the rhythm, Cathak Wren calls out the first line of the chant. The servants reply with the second and third line. She replies with the fourth and fifth. Then, they all make five prostrations: they descend to their knees on the cushion in front of them, hands in prayer position. In time with the drums, they press their foreheads to the floor with hands outstretched, hold for one beat, and rise on the third, returning the hands to prayer position. They repeat this for five total prostrations before they rise to their feet.
Cathak Wren rings the bell, signalling the end of the prayer. The group now turns to face east and repeats: striking the bell, a bow, a chant, and five prostrations. They complete this for south and west.
At the end, Cathak Wren faces toward the center of the shrine, and the servants arrange themselves in a semicircle around the center point, still within their rear half. A final ring of the bell, bow, chant, and set of five prostrations closes the ritual by facing the center.
All present take a seat on their cushions for a few moments of seated meditation. Cathak Wren is the first to leave. As a Prince of the Earth, when she stands, so do the rest. She faces the semicircle of servants and releases her positive energy to them, then departs for her daily affairs. Many servants follow; a few settle back onto their rears for more meditations.
A Daily Routine of a Peasant: Morning Meditations and Chants
In the corner of the kitchen, Morningflower stands before her family shrine and is eager to be finished. Mother is watching, however, so she must be mindful.
Her family shrine’s noisemaker is a small wooden block. She strikes it to mark the opening of the chants. She turns to face North, the lineage stone at her left due to the arrangement of the kitchen.
She bows from the waist, returns to standing, and recites five syllables for her chant. She repeats this for east, south, and west, ignoring the cat which is pressing his head against her leg. For the center, she stares at her feet and recites the five syllables, then directs her energy toward the shrine. The cat stares up at her quizzically and leaps up onto the windowsill, then out the window. She strikes the wood block again to mark the end of the chants.
Mother’s joints have been causing her paint recently, so Morningflower asks the Dragons to send good health and good fortune. She extinguishes the incense and bows to her mother, who nods sternly and exits the room.
The Devotional Act of Living Your Life
A unique benefit of the Immaculate Philosophy is that the simple act of existing happily in your station can be a devotional act. After all, there is nothing more meritorious than living your life according to your position in the Perfected Hierarchy.
For this reason, Dragon-Blooded can accumulate merit in their day simply by being wise, just, and compassionate rulers. Farmers can accumulate merit by farming. Potters can accumulate merit by spinning clay.
The Order encourages everyone to go about their day with mindfulness, taking moments here and there to pause and really internalize the act they are doing. This kind of momentary on-the-fly meditation helps to ground the soul in its proper place. They teach that striving to live your life the best you can and being happy with what you have are, themselves, acts of devotion.
In addition to this ad-hoc meditation, practitioners are encouraged to take time out of their day to meditate. All practitioners are encouraged to attend their household shrine or some other sacred space for a few minutes every day, using that time to meditate or chant the mantras. Practitioners are also encouraged to chant when they feel the desire, especially in connection to powerful emotions; the act of focusing on the chant should suppress those strong feelings and lead to a more clear-headed judgement.
Conclusion
Daily practice in the Rainbow Gate lineage is focused on cultivating physical and spiritual wellness through ritual behavior. The family shrine is a focal point, and not only provides a sacred space for clear-headed meditation, but also acts as a reminder of daily practice. Plus, the ritual of maintaining it is a good disciplinary tool for the kids!
Meditation and chanting are the focus of daily practice. Used in conjunction, they promote spiritual energy and focus the mind on its position within the Perfected Hierarchy.
The degree to which these practices are observed is, of course, subject to very strong personal variation. Most Immaculates don’t attend to the full course of their practices, because they don’t have the time, or because they are tired, or any of the other excuses that humans use to avoid their responsibilities. For many practitioners, the Philosophy is a somewhat distant thing, and they are content to merely live their lives in accordance with their station and sometimes go to the temple for advice or service. They trust that monks and spiritual leaders will direct them on the right course.
Temples and Services
The Immaculate house of worship is called the temple. Where the family shrine is the focus of spirituality for the individual, the temple is the focus of spirituality for the community. Temples serve not only as places to hold ceremonies and lectures, but also as centers for community activity.
Immaculate faithful are called to attend temples regularly and frequently. The temple is the beating heart of the local Immaculate community, and the main place in which the faithful are able to interact formally with the monks. Monks often leave the temple grounds to invest themselves in the community, so it is not the only place to encounter them, but all threads of faith lead back to the temple.
Monks are the formal clergy of the Immaculate Order, those who have given up their material life in order to pursue a spiritual one. For many Immaculates, the presence of monks is ubiquitous. If a temple is nearby, then there are monks there, who offer frequent wisdom, insight, and suggestions for moral life. Even in the most remote villages, monks sometimes come to visit, bringing wisdom and advice.
The Order is devoted to ensuring that every devout Immaculate, no matter their far-flung location, has access, even if only occasionally, to the wisdom of the Order and guidance on their spiritual affairs. All monks are empowered to make decisions based on the Texts and offer advice on personal affairs. When a community loses a monk to death or her retirement to a monastery, there is great sadness, for the community has not only lost a leader, but also a close friend and confidant – sometimes of many generations.
Immaculate Temples
Immaculate temples are designed in accordance with principles of sacred geometry and geomancy. They are laid out in a shape that concentrates positive energy at the focal point, where the innermost sanctum is arranged. Symmetry is a major focus of the temple, representing harmony and stability.
Very small temples, such as the consecrated household shrines found on many Dynastic compounds, are not bound by these designs, and usually consist only of what would be the central building in a larger temple. Monks out in the world are sometimes called upon for use of a temple when none is available; in these cases, they can construct an on-the-fly sanctified temple by simply drawing a square in the dirt and inscribing a circle within it.
Parts of a Temple
The temple is composed of two subdivisions: the outer temple and the inner temple. The design of the inner temple is fairly standardized and fixed, while the design of the outer temple can vary wildly.
The Inner Temple
The inner temple is a standardized layout based on Pasiap’s Sacred Geometry: the circle inscribed within the square. In this mystical plan, the square represents Creation, and the interior circle represents the sacred temple space. The square, which is usually the outer wall, is always aligned so that the four corners each point in a cardinal direction.
A typical inner temple is designed with a large circular ambulatory, surrounding a central interior circle. This circle houses a square building, arranged with corners facing the centers of the sides of the outer wall; each face thus points in a cardinal direction, with a wide window looking out over the shrine in that corner.
Each corner of the inner temple is home to a shrine representing one of the Immaculate Dragons: Mela to the north, Sextes Jylis to the east, Hesiesh to the south, and Daana’d to the west. The shrine to Pasiap is housed within the central building. Thus, every temple has five major shrines housed within the inner temple.
The four directional shrines are often very grand, and usually free-standing buildings surrounded by gardens within their wedge. In small temples, these shrines may be housed within gazebos, but sprawling temples will construct entire buildings. One popular shape is Pasiap’s Cudgel:
The cudgel features a large entry room for meditation and reflection, and an elevated interior room where the shrine itself is housed.
The shapes of the buildings within the inner temple is variable, as long as it remains symmetrical. Some larger temples enclose the inner temple entirely, with arcing glass allowing sunlight into the ambulatory; most temples, however, leave the inner temple exposed to the air.
The Outer Temple
The outer temple is all parts of the temple that surround the walls of the inner temple. For small temples, there may be very little of the outer temple, simply a manicured ground and some buildings for the monks to live inside of. In large temples, the outer temple may have another set of walls or even two, and the space can be home to dozens of buildings, spectacular gardens, and towering minarets.
Monks make their homes within the outer temple, as well as carry out most of their non-faithful business here. The outer temple usually features public buildings like schoolrooms, meditation halls, and clinics. The outer temple is meant to be extremely accessible to the community, to provide a place in which the community can gather and interact with their spiritual leaders.
It is traditional, even in sparsely-populated areas, to feature a special gate, the “Rainbow Gate”, which is only permitted to be used by the Dragon-Blooded. The Rainbow Gate features a direct path to the inner temple via the “Stormcloud Gate”; this allows the Princes of the Earth to go about their business unimpeded. In many temples, the rainbow gate and stormcloud gate are the most intricately decorated gates in the facility.
Uses of the Temple
In addition to providing a sacred space for formal services, the temple is also a meeting place and hub of the community. Monks encourage frequent visits to the temple, and all holidays and celebrations are held within the temple.
The temple watches over all stages of life and has ceremonies for all occasions. Throughout the Blessed Isle, children are not named until they are brought to the temple and have their name recited by a monk in a naming ceremony – until that point, they are simply “boy” or “girl.” Marriages are usually performed at the local temple, as well as celebrations of birth and mourning of the dead. The temple is home to the local House of the Dead, usually in the outer temple or outside the temple entirely and accessed by a path, which houses the cremated remains of the dead and serves as a place of remembrance for the deceased.
The monks at the temple are responsible for basic education, so the temple often has chambers set aside for schooling and childcare. The monks are often the most qualified people to act as physicians, so many temples include a House of the Ailing where the monks can tend to the wounded, offer herbal treatments, and ease suffering.
Monks are outside of politics and expert maintainers of old texts, so local governments often shelter their records within the local temple. Sometimes local workers even trust the temple to handle the accounting of loans, leaving valuable collateral to the temple, where it is secured within the walls and will not be absconded with during the process of settlement.
In conclusion, the temple provides for all aspects of life. The local temple is often a vital organ of local public life, a place where all ranks of the community come and go. The monks serve as a social glue that spans boundaries of class and status, an impartial outside force that offers wisdom and guidance.
Services
Immaculate services are focused primarily on chanting, meditation, and group involvement. The goal of a service is to instill moral lessons that can be applied to daily life and to guide the faithful toward accumulating merit by filling their station.
Temples host regularly-scheduled services throughout the week, and larger temples throughout the day. Monks encourage the community to attend as many services as they are able, in order to interact with other members of the community and receive regular guidance on their lives.
Immaculate services are lead by the monks in the central building of the inner temple, with space reserved at the front for the Dragon-Blooded and mortals in the rest of the space. In small temples that know they are unlikely to receive attendance by living saints, the place of honor is usually small and ceremonial.
A Typical Service
A typical service in the Rainbow Gate of Wisdom lineage follows a predictable pattern. Once the crowd is assembled, a bell is rung or drum is beat to call the service to begin. The assembled stand while the presiding monks take their place at the front of the assembly. They lead the crowd in several chants, and then five prostrations toward each of the five shrines of the inner temple.
Following prostrations, the monks gather the crowd to be seated, and the presiding monk takes her place at the front of the assembly on a raised platform. The monks make their way among the assembled, offering water from a sacred vessel with which to wash the hands and face. Once the water has been distributed, the presiding monk begins a recitation of the day’s sutras. In most temples, the monk reads from an oversized copy of the Immaculate Texts, with pages several feet across, placed on sacred blankets. Normally, only the page currently being read is exposed; the other page is covered by a blanket until it is read.
All Immaculate chants and recitations are set to music. Monks assembled at the rear of the temple play drums, flutes, and other instruments to set the tone of the ceremony. This allows those in attendance to hum, clap, or vocalize along with the recitation, even if they do not know the words.
Following the recitation, the monks lead the congregation in making offerings to each of the Five Elemental Dragons. These offerings are carried among the congregation, every attendant bowing before the offering as it passes, and then placed at the window corresponding to each of the shrines. Mela is always first, offered perfumes, feathers, sweet-scented oils, a fan, a lantern, etc. Then Sextes Jylis, offered flowers, leafy branches, fresh fruit and vegetables, etc.; Hesiesh, offered burning incense, bells, pots of tea, etc.; and Daana’d, offered sacred water, seashells, a mirror, seaweed, etc. Lastly, the monks offer bread, coins, salt, and milk to Pasiap at the center. The exact offerings for the day vary, and are determined based on complicated schedules within the sacred manuals. During all of this, the crowd chants for transformation of the mundane into the divine and gratitude for the teachings of the Immaculate Dragons.
After offerings are made, the presiding monk offers a homily on the recitation for the day. This homily is up to the presiding monk, so it can be rambling and detailed or short and concise depending on the monk. The homily is intended for the community at large; individual practitioners can seek private sessions with the monks to discuss their specific situation, and its solutions based on the Texts, in more detail.
The final phase of the service is the worship of the gods prescribed for that day by the local calendar. The monks lead the crowd to the exterior shrine in the outer temple, which is reserved for this function. There, they assemble an offering tray appropriate to the god being revered, and lead the congregation in many rote prayers personalized for the deity being revered. After the prayers are said, the monks specify which good should be offered at home the next day as part of the worship. The service is then complete.
Special Services
Special services take place for atypical circumstances like funerals, namings, marriages, and so forth. The exact form that these special services take depends on the local tradition and the circumstances of the event. Most of these special celebrations take place in the outer temple, at a place of importance.
Namegiving ceremonies bestow a formal name onto the child, and are joyous celebrations for the whole community. Namegivings are typically held one year and one day after the child is born; until that point, the child is nameless, which helps keep malicious spirits from stealing them away. By the time the namegiving comes around, the monks have already consulted with the parents and helped to choose an auspicious name. There is a great big celebration with music and dancing and food, and the baby is named after a monk whispers the baby’s name in each ear five times, covering the other ear with a flower, fan, smooth stone, mirror, or bell, depending on the child’s protective element. Then, the child is introduced to the Dragons by taking them to the inner temple for the first time and touring the five shrines and reciting protective chants.
Marriages are highly dependent on local tradition, but are usually orchestrated by a monk. Most marriages involve tying two cords around the entwined hands of the participants; the cords are a braid of five twines colored for the elements, and represents the ties that bond the couple in marriage. Once the cording is complete, the spouses wear the cords as necklaces for five days.
Funerals are usually private affairs, and involve making a final chant over the body and a vigil held by the family at the temple. During the vigil, mourners can come by to chant over the deceased or seek counsel from the monks. Once the vigil is complete, the body is disposed of. Most funerals end in cremation on a pyre; devotees of a specific Dragon may choose an alternative. Some devotees of Pasiap are mummified; the costs of mummifying and maintaining a mummified tomb fall to the family, so this is rather rare. Devotees of Daana’d are buried at sea or sunk into lakes. Devotees of Sextes Jylis are buried and have trees or flowers planted over their corpse. Lastly, rarest of all, some devotees of Mela opt for a sky burial, allowing their bodies to be picked clean by birds in special towers far from settlements.
Physical Attendance of Gods
The Immaculate Philosophy is practiced not only by humans, but also by spirits of many kinds who have been converted. Such gods and spirits are not denied access to the temple, and are permitted to chant, meditate, and pray like any other practitioner during service – but are handled with extra care.
Gods who choose to attend service are kept segregated from mortal practitioners for the sake of the souls of both. Spirits are pushed to the far left and far right of the mortal practitioners, and separated physically; they are expected to move as the crowd moves, unlike mortal practitioners who can rotate in place when the direction of worship changes. This ensures that worship is never directed at the spirits. Larger temples, or temples with regular attendance by spirits, have balcony platforms reserved for spirits in attendance, which allow them a greater degree of freedom of movement than being on the floor with mortals.
Gods and spirits are also allowed personal religious guidance just like mortals, and can request assistance on matters of faith from the monks. Pastoral care of gods and spirits is a complicated and messy affair with lots of detailed and nuanced questions, so it is usually performed by ranking monks. In the same way as mortals come to cherish their monks, gods and spirits also often come to view the elder monks at their local temple as friends – in turn, these pious gods tend to be easier to deal with, which creates a reinforcing cycle of amicable understanding in the best circumstances.
Gods At Their Own Worship
Sometimes, gods like to attend their own days of worship in person to observe or take part in the service. The monks have a special procedure for these days.
The presiding monk will always be an elder, and wears special robes to reflect the circumstance. The service has a greater emphasis on text readings and the homily usually involves a lecture on the proper relationship between mortals and gods. If at all possible, a Prince of the Earth is made to attend, or – ideally – to preside, if the temple is lucky enough to merit a Prince among its monks.
The presiding monk leads the congregation to the worship shrine as usual, but carries with her a coiled whip (ideally for a Prince, a sacred direlash held by the temple) and a sword. The monk whips at the air and beckons the god to come forth. The presiding monk recites a catechism with the god outlining the position of gods and their relationship to mortals. Then, the god offers the sword to the monk, who accepts it and allows the god to enter their shrine.
Having prepared and contextualized the act of worship, the assembly is now permitted to directly worship the god in attendance, under the strict supervision of the monks. This direct, physical worship is highly desireable by gods and spirits, who bear the humiliation of the ritual for the high of worship in person.
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