Aeternalism is a decentralized panentheist religion based on the Lux Aeterna, Thaumaturgy and the Noosphere. Most sects of Aeternalism are rooted in the teachings of Sydiah, a powerful magus and ruler of Sedrua. The religion and its variants are most widely practiced in Aylathiya, representing over a fifth of its inhabitants. It is most common in territories once controlled by the ancient empire of Sedrua and is least common in places such as Sagittarium and Eos where other religions have taken hold.
There are over 113 billion followers of Aeternalism, divided into numerous sects and branching religions. All Aeternalists believe in the concept of "Providence," a deific figure that represents the entirety of the Cosmos, including previous emanations of the universe. The Lux Aeterna is seen as a divine realm from which meaning, peace, and an afterlife can be derived. Many sects disagree on what "divinity" means, with some going as far as atheism and others incorporating a great deal of spiritualism into their belief system.
Sydiah and the Cabal of Amaranth Truth first posited Aeternalism in 5500. As Sydiah taught her children her beliefs, it soon became the state religion of Sedrua. Mass adoption of the religion followed and with it came a great amount of power for Sydiah. As she became both an absolute monarch and a divine being, her task of ruling Sedrua became much easier. With time, Aeternalism greatly increased in complexity, though it stood as a uniform faith with hardly any deviations. Even as Sedrua contacted and uplifted lesser powers, Aeternalism's central doctrine remained unchanged for as long as Sydiah lived. It would eventually fracture, however, as the Wane of Reality plunged Sedrua into chaos.
The religion remains popular and has only grown in popularity after the Angelic Awakening, the return of many of the figures considered sacred to its practitioners. Classical Aeternalism, however, is nearly extinct as Aylathiya's Ignominy greatly damaged the divine status of Zaphenim, once believed to be the most sacred being in the universe.
Beliefs
As fractured as Aeternalism is, there are a handful of tenets that are non-negotiable in the religion. To forsake these tenets is to undermine the coherence of the religion altogether. In other words, these handful of beliefs are the basis for which the entire philosophy is built. There is a great deal of debate about interpretations and a large number who reject these beliefs but still identify as "Aeternalists." This makes Aeternalism a difficult religion to distinguish from adjacent faiths.
Divinity & the Cosmos
A central tenet in the faith is the divinity of the cosmos or panentheism. The cosmos is believed to be inherently beautiful, intelligent, creative, and rational. The all-pervading force that guides the universe through its path, known as "Providence" is the Aeternalist god and the source of all divinity. It includes the laws of physics, what shaped those laws, and what preceded and will exist after the universe. Another word for Providence is "Nature."
The universe, its structure, happens to resemble that of a sentient being. All intelligent beings have a mind made up of noospheric energy. This creates a dualistic being, equal parts spirit and matter. The basic argument is that the universe itself, with its physical and noospheric components, is remarkably similar to intelligent beings. Thus, Providence can be thought of as Cosmoria's mind, and Nature can be thought of as Cosmoria's body. These words are synonyms because, like the mind and body, neither has total control over the other.
From this belief, the central thesis of Aeternalism, all others can be derived. Intelligence, in living organisms, not Spirits, never spontaneously forms. Or, put simply, it has never been observed to. The next tenet solves intelligence's mysterious origin. Like cells, minds only come from other minds. Therefore, Cosmoria came from a previous iteration of itself. A cyclical existence is proposed in which every event leads to its cause, every particle is responsible for the circumstances that lead to its creation. This solves the dilemma of the origin of Cosmoria by proposing that it simply always was.
Sydiah's general stance was that true philosophical nothingness could not exist. Her reasoning was that true nothingness would preclude "potential" from itself. Without the potential for the nothingness to disappear, it never would. She cites the very existence of the universe as evidence for this claim. This is a theme amongst Aeternalist philosophy, making rigorously defensible claims if and only if all of the priors are true. Contributing to Aeternalism's diversity is disagreement on the priors, on the truths of reality, and then deriving new arguments from these different truths.
Enlightenment
Enlightenment is the notion of entering a state of alignment with Providence. To align oneself with Providence is to accept one's place in the universe, to understand that one is a microscopic emanation of the cosmos, a manifestation of its creativity. This alone leads to an array of concepts that ultimately, in aggregate, mean "Enlightenment." While opinions vary, this usually means practicing Thaumaturgy, in particular its Classical variant. Wisdom is highly valued under Aeternalism and is viewed as an inherent good.
As one gains wisdom, in particular Thaumic abilities, it is believed that their pylon would grow in strength. The Pylon is a part of the soul that allows for one to practice Classical Thaumaturgy. It is a well-established scientific phenomenon that, at the time of Aeternalism's founding, was only a vague notion amongst certain schools of thought. A strong pylon is believed to be the source of an afterlife, one in which one can fully unite with the universe free of a physical form. As opposed to simple spiritual and physical annihilation, an enlightened individual can live on. Enlightenment means their spirit follows Providence's will and their atoms follow Nature's will.
In Aeternalism, one's purpose in life is to reach this state of enlightenment. Those who have yet to achieve these states are referred to as "Mortal" people in the context of Aeternalism. While not meant to be insulting, devout Aeternalists generally associate the majority of the population with children.
Origins of Major Sects
Classical Aeternalism
Classical Aeternalism traces most of its content to the direct teachings of Sydiah. She described the Cosmos as an inherently beautiful place and aimed to bless Aylathiya by not only allowing them to see the beauty but to also cultivate beautiful souls. In the years following the birth of Sydiah's Architects, she instructed each one of them in the tenets of Aeternalism. The creation of the Bahattes gave Aeternalism a new medium to travel through, spreading the faith far across the stars. It rapidly grew as Sedrua did, growing over hundreds of years.
It would be Aeternalism that contributed to the ancient conflict between Sedrua and the United Provinces. Being an atheist nation, The U.P. greatly discouraged any type of faith, believing that they, the Arkhosians, were Aylathiya's supreme beings. Their sister nation, the Arkhosian Order, discouraged religion even more than the U.P., perceiving Aeternalists as the lowest form of people. The following period of war and subjugation caused Aeternalism to shine brighter than ever as it stood unchallenged.
As Sedrua expanded, Sydiah created the idea of "divine beings." She elevated herself, and a selection of legendary Humans from history, to a status beyond simple enlightenment. They were the Angels, people whose spirits returned from perpetual bliss, from the enlightened state after death, to help others achieve this state. Sydiah taught that this feat is normally impossible, making their shear willpower worthy of worship. Belief in the angels separates Classical Aeternalism from the other sects.
Novel Aeternalism
Novel Aeternalism, despite the name, is the second oldest sect of the religion. While much of it is still based on Sydiah's teachings, a large fraction of it is also based on scientific ideals. Novel Aeternalism rejects literal divinity and instead teaches that wisdom is an inherent good because it leads to a metaphorical divinity. In other words, practicing thaumaturgy is viewed as freeing and enlightening, but not necessarily metaphysically significant. They rejected an afterlife after it became clear that minds usually fade away after one's death.
Novel Aeternalism came to be after the Wane of Reality—a power struggle and disaster fueled by Sydiah's Death—during and after which many people viewed Sydiah's teachings as flawed. To remedy the chaos, some of Sedrua's remaining leaders, such as Vurilia Jutopati, forwarded the idea of Novel Aeternalism. Billions converted to this new faith which promoted focusing on cultivating resilience by accepting Providence's will, regardless of what it was. The fundamental thesis was that the universe was as good as it possibly could be, therefore rejoice. Suffering was thought to be caused by failure to understand this.
A protracted religious civil war ensued after, though it was relatively toned down in comparison to the Wane of Reality. Several thousand years passed with occasional reforms in Novel Aeternalism, though the two sects remained uncomfortable next to one another. The foundation of Novel Aeternalism contributed a great deal to Aeternalism's modern diversity. For a time, Novel Aeternalism surpassed Classical, even after the Sedruan Coup and attempted re-enforcement of the old faith.
Arcane Aeternalism
Arcane Aeternalism was founded by scattered groups of traditionalists and Architects. Unlike Novel Aeternalism, Arcane Aeternalism's faith believes the Cosmos is a powerful and wrathful god. During the collapse of Sedrua, many perceived the chaos as punishment for Sedrua's hubris. At first, Arcane Aeternalism closely followed Novel Aeternalism, though it branched after several centuries of separation. Upon divergence, Arcane Aeternalism became one of the most popular monotheistic sects, due to its more rigid belief system.
Arcane Aeternalism has led a very quiet history. As the two primary branches of Aeternalism battled for dominance, Arcane Aeternalism remained on the sidelines, practicing in secret or deep within rural areas. Despite being quite small compared to other sects, many ideas from Arcane Aeternalism are popular and have been greatly influential in Martial Space whose original pagan belief system went well with its ideas.
Branch Religions
Ibaradism
Ibaradism is a branch of religion founded by one of Sydiah's architects, Titania Herschel. The religion after Titania defected from Sedrua; she abandoned Aeternalism to discover her truth about reality. She concluded that the physical universe was inherently evil, a pathetic state of affairs in which suffering was guaranteed. She sought liberty from the universe and came across an obscure Atlin philosophy describing a deity called "Ibarados." The deity is said to have created most of reality and has many similar attributes to the Aeternalist conception of Providence—creative and inherently good. The religion posits that this universe is the creation of an evil entity known as "Kokos," an evil deity consumed by vice who wanted to create something better than Ibarados had. It takes a great deal of influence from Arcane Aeternalism and shares minor similarities with Alecisism, a Human religion most practiced in Azurullya.
Martial Civil Religion
Martial Civil Religion is the state ideology of the Greater Martial Consilium and represents the fusion between Human paganism, known as Rubedism, Ibaradism, and Aeternalism. It arose organically before being adopted as state doctrine. Their primary belief is that Providence is rational, indifferent, and emotionless. They believe that in its creativity, it created a chaotic universe inhabited by dangerous entities known as Overlords. They believe in a single patron deity, Mars, who represents not just freedom from the Overlords, but is in and of itself the nation. A heavily nationalist belief system, the religion believes that achieving inner peace, fulfillment, and enlightenment comes through service. In short, they believe that divinity is held collectively and serving others is the same as worship.