Voluptarianism

Orthodox Voluptarianism is a pluralistically-derived, panentheistic and monistic religion with a scholarly system of polity, which prior to the Dissolution of the Theologate, had a Theolog, the equivalent of a head priest, as the chief scholar of the faith. The faith is guided by a series of tenants swearing the faith's adherants to a militaristic and near-sacrificial commitment to achieving equality amongst all peoples, regardless of demographics. Pantentheistic meaning a system wherein Divinity or the equivalent of a God is believed to be both transcendent of and immanent within the world - a form of nondualistic monotheism. Monistic meaning a system wherein Ultimate Reality is believed to be the unpersonified essence underlying (or encompassing) all life - in essence, Voluptarians would argue that Voluptarian gods and goddesses have only a provisional reality and are, ultimately, illusory/unreal.

It no longer has a system of polity, nor a head of faith. Its organizers participate in freelance priesthood.

History of Development
Voluptarianism originated out of the development of theological theses written and compiled by Pidge of Burgamere, who prior to the creation of Voluptarianism, was a pious follower of Festianity. The schism with Festians arose in witnessing the lack of action followers of such a faith had to the prominence of inequality still apparent in Rathnir.

"'My beloved sibling Festians, while holding true to the mentality of self-love and indulgence, hold such above the important action of working to serve and develop the general welfare. They sustain themselves while seeing the horrid state of those who simply cannot indulge themselves as they do. This must change.'""-Pidge of Burgamere, 'Thesis in Protest of the Desecration of Festianite Theology'"After a period of meditation, reflection, and contemplation, Pidge arrived at his conclusions, compiled them, and proclaimed them in front of an audience of colleagues, comrades, and fellow theologians, and established the Voluptarian Temple, of which after a period of council with those who agreed with his theories, known as the Primos Voluptaria nominated Pidge to spearhead the growth of the newfounded faith as its head scholar, or Theolog, a position he holds no longer, after relenquishing it during an event known as the Dissolution of the Theologate.

Follower-Deity Relationship
The Orthodox Pantheon of the Voluptarian Temple, or the Volupti, is panentheistic and monistic, yet encompasses a wide set of deities who can have both a personal and non-personal relationship with a follower of the faith. These deities all share a similar concept - to act as the incarnate manifest of, representations of, and servers of human desires for pleasure, happiness, satisfaction, and hedonistic reverence for the beauty of life. Some traits of these deities are used as reasoning These deities within the Orthodox Pantheon are listed as follows:

Hedon
Hedon is the primary deity of Voluptarianism, the incarnation of carnal indulgence, alcohol, cheese, cannabis, and festivities, and often acts as representation of the whole pantheon in-being. He is represented as a muscular humanoid, normally in a white toga lined with Tyrian purple, bearing wine in a chalice in one hand, and alpine pipe in the other, covered in gold jewellery and crowned with a laurel wreath.

When this deity is dissatisfied, it is said that his blessings of good tidings are annulled, often leading to periods of societal, or personal depression, or the failure of a brewed alcohol, prepared dairy product, or a grown hemp or cannabis product.

Amoron
Amoron is the deity of love and fertility, and as such represents the desire for, sustenance of, and pursuit of romance, and further advances. They are genderfluid, and as such can assume any pronoun of reference, and take the form of an inccubus or succubus, or a variation or combination of such qualities here and thereof. They are robed in a toga, and noted for their dark brown skin, and seen holding a swept-hilt rapier in hand.

When this deity is dissatisfied, it is said that their blessings of love and the hope for such are annulled, often leading to periods of social or romantic hermitude, or feelings of solitude or involuntary celibacy. Their dissatisfaction is also said to be the cause for breakups or divorces as well as a trigger for maladies such as the dysfunction of certain organs used in the production of one's issue, or low drive to do so.

Aphron
Aphron is the deity of agricultural fertility, the boons of the sea, worldly equilibrium, and sustinance. She is known for her long flowing hair that reaches past the floor, coloured from a fiery red to a shining gold, and is often seen in a green dress, armed with a trident.

When this deity is dissatisfied, it is said that their blessings of sustainable ecology are annulled, often leading to periods of famine and starvation, as well as the occurrences of natural disasters such as droughts, blizzards, crop-ravaging hail, wildfires, and more.

Athodesius
Athodesius is the deity of the hunt, struggle and conflict and the resolution thereof, as well as the spoils-of-war and law. He is known as the "Judge of the Ethereal Plane", which often connotes to Judge of the Universe, in a sense, as the panentheistic-monistic qualities of the Volupti forward such a concept as being illusory. He is the decider of the tide of war, although not its sparker. He leaves such to the people to do such amongst themselves, himself acting only as a judge in the valour and worthiness of each side. He is noted for being clad in gilded Greco-Roman armour. Armed with a gladius, depicted lined with blood during and after times of war, and a buckler shield, known to having been undefeated in battle, however often not being as vain as to purposely allow his opponent to die, but rather being generous in his offers of mercy, and peace.

When his judgement shines negatively upon those conflicted with each other, the recipients of his ruling often see their demise or failure in their pursuit, be it war, squabble, argument, or tussle. He is known to be a giver of fare judgements...that is, when he is in the mood to deliver such... When not...disaster awaits those unfortunate to receive such a judgement.

Tenants
Voluptarianism is guided by a series of tenants that each Voluptarian adheres to by heart, mind, body, and soul. These guide the core of the methodology as to the spreading of the faith, and the way in which it should be applied to the lives of its followers. These tenants are detailed as follows:

I: Prime and Central Tenant
The struggle for justice is an ongoing and necessary pursuit that should prevail over laws and institutions. Your life and being must in essence be wholefully committed to preserving, spreading, and fighting for justice and equality amongst all peoples that it can reach; such must be done in an unyielding militarism, with little to no honour or respect to those that exploit the vulnerable or lesser, those who slave, rape or molest, commit acts of abuse against the weak or vulnerable, especially children, or establish themselves or perform actions that yield the common person from accessing the boons of life and freedoms all man deserves.

II
One should strive to act with compassion and empathy toward all creatures in accordance with reason.

III
One’s body is inviolable, subject to one’s own will alone.

IV
The freedoms of others should be respected, including the freedom to offend. To willfully and unjustly encroach upon the freedoms of another is to forgo one's own.

V
Beliefs should conform to one's best scientific understanding of the world. One should take care never to distort scientific facts to fit one's beliefs.

VI
People are fallible. If one makes a mistake, one should do one's best to rectify it and resolve any harm that might have been caused.

VII
One must stop at nothing to save a life be it needs to be saved and be they have done nothing to unjustly, unrighteously, and unnecessarily take the lives of others and regret or develop from it not.

VIII
Every tenet is a guiding principle designed to inspire nobility in action and thought. The spirit of compassion, wisdom, and justice should always prevail over the written or spoken word.

The Dissolution of the Theologate
At the 21st of August 2021 State of the Union Conference of the United Burgamerian Socialist Republic, Pidge of Burgamere, then Theolog of the Voluptarian Temple, announced his renouncing of the Theologate, and his abandonment of the Voluptarian Religion, in order to organize the Cult of Reason, a newly developing faith, organized amongst himself and other collegiate theologians, that produced a more streamlined and ideologically simplistic religion, and way of thought. With the renouncement of Pidge of Burgamere's claimancy to the Theologate, the position was effectively annulled, and the Orthodox Voluptarian system of polity now dissolved, with followers of the faith persisting, having developed a freelance system of priesthood.

Regardless of the dissolution of the Theologate, Pidge of Burgamere, its creator, pledges to transfer every single tenant of Voluptarianism over to the Cult of Reason, as ideas at the core of its foundation.

Heterodox Voluptarianism
As with the scholarly, and infinitely developing nature of Voluptarian thought, deities are sometimes formulated and inducted into the Voluptarian Pantheon, but not necessarily the Volupti over time, as the Volupti connote only the original deities within the Orthodox Pantheon of the Voluptarian Temple. Deities outside this pantheon of Volupti as concluded to by the First Theolog, are considered unorthodox, and as such, are more incorporated as individualized figments of thought, or coordinated in small groups of Heterodox Voluptarian Cults. Currently, some Voluptarians follow unorthodox interpretations of Voluptarian thought, and as such their presence is moderate, but still present, and respected by those who followed the Theologate when it existed.