Worshippers, Clergy, Temples | Dogma | Appearance | Relationships & History | Related Images
Cyclism is an impossibly old religion which worships Kodek, a truly ancient deity who is by definition a truly fair and just being. Kodek is the embodiment of desirable order. Everything from the very laws of chemistry to the trait of intelligent species to create civilizations is directed by Kodek. He does not ordain nor forge the ways things must be, rather his role is to ensure the continuation of established harmonic relationships between groups and forces. Many people believe Kodek to be the creator of Zo and its sphere, but he is not. Consequently, most of his followers venerate and pay homage to the being mortals see as the architect of possibility itself.
This is largely untrue, as Kodek is not the creator of Zo's sphere. Kodek is a manager. A Lord, not a king. He is primarily worshiped by mages, scientists, engineers, and scholars, though his church has a large following of many common people. Most of whom are mistaken of his nature at first, but come to understand his true nature in due time. Those who do not are permitted to worship at his alter nonetheless, for Kodek's role is still of great importance. Many of them are inspired to become academies by the clergy after being shown the wonders of the great Tapestry of Potential on which the church records all known workings of the world.
"Begone from my door. I can not help you, no matter how great your need. Rest assured if you truly needed my help you would never have sought my aid. There would have been no need, nor opertunity for such. I would have been there when you needed me. Before me lies a mountain which I must ever scale. Were I to stop for but a moment, I would fall. I am the giant upon which civilization stands. You do not want me to fall. Go to my assistants. Speak with my priests. Seek out my clerics. Beg aid of my Paladins. Leave me be. Excepting of course, if you can help me."
- Inscription on shrines of Kodek
Worshippers, Clergy, Temples
The Harmony of Cycles, better known as Cyclism, is focused primarily on education and discovery. They seek to learn all there is to learn about the workings of the world, and to teach that knowledge to others. All while providing the study stream of veneration and pledged souls necessary for their divine to sustain himself and his work. To aid his mortal followers in aiding him, Kodek created a visual aid known as the Tapestry of Potential.
The The Tapestry of Potential is a literal tapestry which resides in the church's grand temple. It is visibly incomplete and still fixed within its weaving frame, but many parts are filled in with intricately woven knotwork which is an elaborate but precise means of encoding mathematical expressions. The majority of the tapestry is incomplete, but an underlayer stretches across the entire tapestry, limiting how and where certain patterns can exist, though unfortunately these underlayers cannot show what must go atop them, they can only serve to verify a proposed solution.
Vestments
While Kodek placed no decree for such a thing, his priests have formalized their clothing choices into a uniform of sorts. The majority of the clergy dresses in simple blue grey robes over which a white collared tabard is placed. Neither of which is adorned or bears any symbol and is intended to represent neutrality while appearing simple yet distinct. Grant Priests wear a dark gray outer robe over these vestiments which includes elaborate gold embroidered embellishments the design of which are taken from select patterns from the Tapestry. This is to represent the detailed and elaborate knowledge they have amassed over their tenure, and display the grandness of the knowledge they can share without appearing too ostentatious.
Clerics of Kodek are typically female and dress in armored robes. Their designs vary from region to region but are always intricate and ceremonial in appearance though still quite functional. Their overall design is meant to be awe inspiring, regal, and angelic in appearance. This is to represent their position as protectors of harmony who are approachable and sociable by all, yet also appear strong, protective, and even fearsome to behold should they engage in combat.
Kodek's paladins dress much as knights in any order. Strictly speaking in the modern era they should wear a uniform similar to that of other soldiers. The intent of their equipment is to allow them to blend in with other warriors of the time such that no one knows if said warrior is divinely powered or not. Their purpose is to strike fear and paranoia into the minds of those who would disrupt the order people have created, or worse still, the natural order of the universe. The new tradition appears to invert this, requiring they wear old fashioned armor to draw upon the image of a warrior for justice, honor, and nobility.
Hierarchy
The Church of Koden has a simple hierarchy. All are equal brothers under Kodek until they can demonstrate a mastery of one of the Tapestry's patterns. From this point on, they are a Grand Priest, a living repository of knowledge. Grand Priests do not run the church, they are instead cared for by it. The church sees the duties of the common priests being to study, learn, and manage the day to day operations of their organization. Grand Priests, meanwhile, are to study their chosen field, safekeep its knowledge, and use that knowledge to glean more of the world's workings.
The clerics and paladins are seen as brothers, with slightly more respect as they serve to keep the order of the realm, though this respect is not any sort of official recognition, nor rak of merit. It does however, come with many perks granted by individual temples and churches simply due to the nature of people.
Temples
Temples of Kodek can be found in almost every university. They take the form of laboratories, lecture halls, and living quarters, and as such are easily mistaken for a simple institution of higher learning. The key difference is the existence of shrine rooms dedicated to Kodek, and the structure being built in a radial fashion around a central library.
These libraries are the true temple, and updating, keeping, and preserving the books is seen as a sacred task. These books contain all known workings of the world to the date they were created at worst, and to the date they were updated by carefully erasing the errors and penning corrections as if the error had never existed at best.
Aside from the Grand Temple of Kodek (located in Dap Utopsdihampèrù), no library's collection is truly complete, with each focused on a certain area of workings and understanding due to space constraints. However, all temples possess the "Core Body of Workings of the Ways", a massive encyclopedia set spanning 388 volumes that constitute a basic introduction to all known physical laws, social constructs, and other known workings. The Core Body is often used as the basis for a university's entire education system as it has been rigorously tested, corrected, and confirmed and explains things in a manner requiring a doctorate in the field one is reading at the time to appreciate and comprehend.
Rituals
Kodek expresses a fondness for the human form as it was before the Beast Blood Curse. Consequently, most of his clergy, regardless of their species undergo a process called "The Seeming". This is an arcane ritual which grants those who preform it the ability to weave their form with illusion and shapechanging to take on an original human appearance. The process is rather simple, academic, and can be preformed at one's desk due to needing very little space and materials.
Kodek does not approve of this ritual, but refuses to punish anyone for it. He sees it as "silly mortal behavior" and has expressed his belief that his aesthetic preferences as his prefrences rather than prescripts. From his perspective, he is grateful that of all possible misinterpretations of his statements, this is the one his followers decided to "have".
Aside from the Seeming, members of Cyclism meet for prayer in regular cycles based on, of all things, the orbital period of an asteroid in orbit around Zo. It reaches its periapsis every 3 days, exactly, like clockwork. The asteroid has become symbolic for the order, effectively embodying the concept of an emergent and desired order. Thus, when the asteroid is directly overhead on the day of its parapsis, a local curch will call its members to assemble, pray, and hear the lecture of the day.
Orders
Cyclism has three orders. The Scholaris Domus, the Foedere Custodes, and the Fraternitas Venatorum.
The Scholaris Domus is the majority of the clergy, who serve to be Kodek's personal scholars and assistants. They operate the church's daily affairs, assist with scholarly work, and pursue their own academic interests. The Foedere Custodes are the church's clerics, trained warriors and healers who exist to safeguard and assist the communities each church exists within. They serve as volunteer police, fire fighters, medics, and militia as needed and as permitted by local authorities. The Fraternitas Venatorum is the name given to the church's paladins, warriors empowered by Kodek himself to seek out agents of chaos and proactively as well as reactive eliminate threats to regional, social, and physical order.
The Fraternitas Venatorum is forbidden to interfere in natural evolution and changes to order, a fact many people do not understand. It is a common misbelief that each Paladin of the Cycle will happily assist a lord in crushing a rebellion. Nothing can be further from the truth. Such changes to the state of affairs are natural and desired. Rather the Venatorum exist to slay wizards who have elected to do such things as alter a physical law, or whose work endangers the bedrock upon which all other things rest.
Dogma
The goal of the Church is to help their divine finish the tapestry by discovering and documenting all patterns which can fit into it, without disrupting the harmony of the whole. At such a time, the tapestry will be a physical encoding of all possible actions within the Laws of Physics in their present form.
This assists Kodek by allowing him to check and verify that a solution which should work according to the Tapestry (and thus the written laws of the universe) is truly working in reality. If it is not, Kodek corrects the error, and all errors resulting from correcting that error. It is often said that if Kodek did not have to constantly repair the framework of reality while finishing its creation, he would have the power of an Elder God.
Appearance
Kodek takes the form of an elderly individual of the same species as anyone who looks upon him. He is male, and will have a male form even if the species does not have males. In such cases, individuals of these species understand that he is male, and appears as a male of their species would appear if they existed. This can make many people uncomfortable, but Kodek's withered, ancient, and tired form draws more sympathy than discomfort.
He is truly ancient, and appears to be in pain as he works as any elderly person who aught to be spending their days seated on their porch watching their great grandchildren play would work if they were forced to. He is diligent, slow but study, and duty bound. Kodek often laments that he could not retire, and dotes on any of his followers who manage to take some of his great burdon.
Relationships & History
Kodek is very reclusive by nature. He has little in the way of relationships with others due to a lack of time. His church on the other hand is very well known and can be found in most major cities in the world. Few individuals have any sort of disagreement with Kodek or his church as they seek only to educate and stop anyone threatening the very laws of physics, magic, or civilization themselves. Neither the church nor Kodek cares about what kind or order exists, only that it does. As their official stance on mortals creations is simply "All ways mortals choose to arrange themselves are valid." there's hardly anything objectionable to their teachings and ways.
The few groups with objections to Cyclism dislike it due to its insistence on educating anyone on any topic they have an understanding of. With no questions asked, no undue fees charged, and with no bending or warping of the truth.
As for Kodek himself, no one knows how Kodak is aside from when he is working, for he never stops. The only time he ever ceased working was to lift a Sylvin scientist aloft and spin them around with a cry of joy. This was entirely due to the scientist presenting him with an equation and paper demonstrating a "delayed-choice quantum eraser" which functioned. In effect, the paper proved certain properties of time, light, and consciousness in an iron clad document. The scientist, who remains anonymous, was immediately sent to Kodek's divine realm to live in bliss for all eternity.
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