Owkuga

Owkuga is an Osamian based religion that originated in Gemurtrak and it's previous iterations and remains a major faith in the country and it's neighbouring nations. Owkuga has typically been refered to as an umbrella osamian faith, adopting traits, attributes, and practices from various cultures on the continent. These elements have led to Owkuga being a semi-centralized faith, possessing a universally accepted religious canon that all denominations follow alongside their personal beliefs and practices. This has led some to interpret Owkuga more as a broad collection of philosophies, rituals, and cultural practices that hold a religious disposition rather than a religion existing alongside a national culture, which is supported by Owkuga's general lack of exposure beyond the Osamian continent. Owkuga and it’s practices remain an important part of Gemurtrakian culture. Almost all houses in rural regions possess shrines and a shrine is a mandated part of all Nagsenur homes. Many Gemurtrakian public holidays have origins from the faith, many partaking in religious activities on such days. It still remains statistically the most followed religion in Gemurtrak with reportedly around up to 70% of the population stating as being active practitioners of the faith. Practitioners of Owkuga are called Owkugans.

While interpretations vary among denominations over historical events and theological philosophies in Owkuga, all accepted denominations abide by a religious canon established in the Chronicles of the grand temple which claims the existance of a never-ending war between two opposing forces, Kezik and Nyaraymi. These two forces invariably comprise everything in the universe with varying degrees of potency of each. This duality of forces is of utmost interest in the faith over it's componant and function on the human soul and the greater Katayanu; the soul of mankind, which is believed to be a soul greatly outweighed by the force of Nyarami, of chaos and change. The duty of man on its time in Katagekra, the plain of balance and the material realm, is to grow and nurture Kezik, the force of peace, order, and stability, in the soul. This process of growth is done by a process of religious rituals, as well as the enhancement of the skills of an individual and by extension, their community through the use of their proficiency.

Owkuga believes and preaches the existence of the Seskorn, various near all-powerful, near all-knowing beings who formed and shaped the current state of the world and the planes of chaos and order surrounding it. These beings are divided into three seperate groups who each have their own rituals and practices to show religious dedication as well as some which venerate multiple. The central Owkugan authority seperates these groups into either collective or local canons which determines the degree of exposure each Seskorn has within the faith, many local canons becoming their own independent sects.

Structurally, Owkuga is organized under the Knayskur, a title near synonymous with the Empress of Gemurtrak, who acts as the absolute spiritual guide within the faith and chief representative of the laity towards secular institutions. The faith is further organized under a strict hierarchy of priestesses who lead regional, local, and sect based temples, each denomination holding less authority to centralize the faith, only focusing on ensuring the basic necessities are upheld within local temples.

Origins of Owkuga are largely unknown. Many interpret the collective writings of the Chronicles of the grand temple, a series of records and written oral accounts of the deities of worship within the Grand Gadram temple which many ancient cults used as a site of worship, regarded by all of them as the highest site of religious importance. Following the collapse of the Gadram empire, the grand temple remained to be a site of veneration until it's destruction in 17 BC during the burning of [city]. Many other temples along western Osamia attempted the claim the title as the new Grand temple. It would not be until the Assertion of the Third Owkugan temple under Ardik II in 1048 as a continued process to centralise portions of society within the Northern Empire. During the second grand temple period, many external cultural forces influenced the general beliefs and philosophies that were supported by the traditional dogma of the first temple. Influences from Mitruhmoer are noted as the most influential during the period. Later texts and scriptures would show these changes that occurred. 3 post-Gadram texts are classified as definitive evolutions of the faith. These books; the Tome of 4 orders, the Kazke scriptures, and the Diviner's compendium, alongside the grand temple chronicles, are the literary culmination of Owkuga, collectively termed the tomes of the three realms. These 4 tomes have been interpreted in various ways by numerous groups and individuals which has led to the creation of multiple denominations of the faith, many of them being banned or persecuted if they did not abide by the canon declared for the upper echelons of the faith. This persecution would continue until the collapse of the central governance during colonial occupation under Salia, and would be permitted freedom of practice under the Religious liberalization act in 1876.

Etymology
The term Owkuga has roots in the term owzh amku gat, meaning The way to grow which can be linked to the earliest days of the recorded faith, mentioning on numerous occasions the way to grow and improve. The first use of the current term was found in the writings of the Tome of 4 orders, where it's simply called Owku, later returning the ga around 903 in the scripture writings of the priest Akena.

Duality of Chaos and Order
Central to Owkuga is the concept of two active forces that everything is composed of and is affected by. These forces; Kezik (attributed to meaning order, peace, silence) and Nyaraymi (meaning chaos or forced action) constantly conflict with one another, these stark differences giving way to the prospect of reality when formed together to create Katagekra (literally All from two) which Vanatas is situated on. The chaotic force of Nyaraymi is attributed to objects in constant motion, acts of sporiaty, and unexpected actions. The force of Kezik on the contrary is noted to be in stillness, expected events, and self awareness and thus calculated action. Although presented as two separate forces, almost everything has varying amounts of each force, explaining the reason for a noted phenomena. For example a river is orderly due to the flow of the water, the path of it is defined and will not change unless more chaos, the water flowing rapidly in the river in this example, overcomes the restraints of order.

along with the functions of the world surrounding us is the concept of mankind and the human soul which is defined as pure Nyaraymi, granting man the power of absolute change, capable of overcoming all boundaries of order present in the world. This human chaos and the manner of harnessing it is the key philosophy of Owkuga. Because of the pure chaos of the human soul, the loss of one's life and thus the orderly vessel we inhabit results in the souls return to the realm of Nyaraymi. What awaits is based on one's actions in life. Should the soul be disciplined and still bear marks of order on it, they shall receive a peaceful afterlife. Those who hold only chaos in their soul will be plunged into the inscrutable sea of chaos, damned for eternity. Owkuga seeks to provide the basis and actions to which someone can improve themselves and bring order into their own lives to bring a betterment of the self on Katagekra and the subsequent improvement of one's fate beyond it.

This combination of the forces is unique to Katagekra, the other two planes, realms of absolute order and chaos cannot bear a functional physical manifestation due to the action being only possible with chaos (the potential of absolute movement) and order (the restraint of a physical form). the only beings capable of existence in these planes being the greater deities.

Deities and spirits
Functionally, Owkuga is a polytheistic faith that possesses two separate but equally respected branches: Greater (Universal) deities, and Traditional (Local) deities. The Greater deities are accepted as being the 23 gods who hold near absolute power over the function of the plane of Katagekra. They are understood to be creator gods who have helped shape and maintain the existence of the plane and the world of Vanatas that inhabits it. In traditional writings they were considered the product of the leftover flesh of the twin serpents, Kezik & Nyaraymi, that melded together to create deities uniquely chaotic and orderly. The definition has shifted later down the centuries to mean the 23 gods who declared themselves the rightful defenders of Katagekra prior to what was believed to have been the foretold end times that was overturned by them. These 23 are listed in the Diviner’s compendium and have remained the canonical Greater deities since.

Below the Greater deities are the traditional deities, encompassing all other deities within the faith. The number of these deities and who they are is different depending on location or denomination of faith, some only including a singular additional deity or none at all (such as the !nullspeakers) to as many as 180 in the some schools of the !Easternplains. The deities part of the traditional grouping can range from being equivalent (but not greater) to those of the Greater group, to as minor as an important local spirit or folk hero that a people recognize. All these deities are considered canonical (to some degree) and are believed to have far more limited powers compared to those of the Greater 23, being capable of performing small miracles or minor regional changes. Many will have small home shrines to a 'family patron' regarding them more intimately than the major deities.

Unlike mankind, the deities do not hold a purely chaotic soul but instead one which displays features of both forces. This leads to the deities committing actions counteractive to their original areas of focus on the occasions they are not rightfully treated. !Deity, the goddess of fertility, harvest, and love, if not treated with the respect they believe is deserved, will warp and twist into the goddess of stillbirth, famine, and hatred, before reverting to her former self in an indistinguishable time. Appeasing the gods generally takes the form of ritual offerings, devotion to a focus of theirs, or a performance displaying skill and discipline.

Spirits are a third recognized category for small phenomena or unseen creatures that can have an effect on people or their local vicinity. There is an innumerable amount of spirits whose actions can range from kind and charitable, to malicious tricksters or even outright killers should one find themselves face to face with one. Spirits have been termed by some as the manifestation of powerful sources of Kezik or Nyaraymi on Vanatas. These manifestations can be sounds with no origin, distressing thoughts, or visions of illusory people. They can also manifest physically taking the form of human-like creatures or of intelligent animals of all kinds of appearances and intent. These minor spirits, that being benevolent or fortunate spirits, are commonly represented in shrines, both community and home shrines as people seek to obtain their favor. For spirits of misfortune, shrines may be erected at locations of their manifestation where prayers and offerings can be given to appease the malicious entities.

Structure
Owkuga is a semi-decentralized faith with only one section, that being the practice towards the 23 greater deities, having a mandated format that is upheld by the central religious authority, the head of whom is the current Empress of Gemurtrak, !Empress. The rest of the faith, that being the various schools and local faiths dotted about, have various forms of structure, symbolism, and rituals/ceremonies. All of these decentralized sections however must accept the upper structure and it's leadership, symbols, and religious practices, deterring from which will be seen as Heretical.

The faith is noted as being partially Matriarchal, having women in the roles of priestesses managing temples and heading numerous ritualistic ceremonies. The Empress herself is seen as the representative of the divine on earth, whereas the Emperor is portrayed as the primary representative of man to the gods. This role of the emperor is tied to the title as ruler of the people, unlike the role of the Empress which stays regardless of her administrative authority. This has led to any Empress who is the Head of the ruling family as deemable both as the representative of the divine on earth and the representative of mankind to the divine, a point that was reinforced following the Inheritance wars.

Men are able to hold important positions within the religious hierarchy, however they will be unable to perform some rituals, primarily being those aimed towards women such as fertility rites, coming of age ceremonies for girls, and traditional midwifery. In these events, the priest of higher authority will select a priestess below him to act with his authority in these situations, that authority being revoked following the conclusion of the rite in question.