Boaterism

Boaterism (sometimes referred to as the Followers of the Boat) is a religion that believes boats are the reincarnated spirits of the dead. It originated in Enithica-Novoros, a province in the nation of Sirradra. It is one of the biggest religions in the province. Boaterism is present in Southern Cymru, most concentrated in Fjörgyien, and has a minority presence in center Sørligste.

The Boat Spirits
The Boat Spirits are the spirits of dead beings, reincarnated into Boats. The spirits of the dead ferry the newly deceased to the afterlife, where the newly deceased can either stay in the afterlife, or reincarnate as a boat. If they stay in the afterlife, they can live peacefully forever, but if they chose to reincarnate as a boat, they will be put in a boat on the mortal world. The Boat Spirits have more power than normal living beings. Now, the exception to this are the Boat Spirits that end up in Birch Boats. All of the Birch Boat Spirits are automatically banished into the mortal realm, rather than the afterlife, and are forced to sit there for all eternity, doing nothing.

Wood Types
The six types of boat symbolize different things. The Spruce boat represents Priests and Heroes, the Oak Boat represents the common people, the Acacia Boat represents the animals, the Dark Oak Boat represents monsters/mobs, the Jungle Boat represents all plants and plant life, the Cherry Boat represents the people who supported the church in the past without being a Boaterist, the Mangrove Boat represents politicians, and the Birch Boat represents criminals. Bamboo Rafts are crude, only used for temporary communication with Boat Spirits whose vessels reside far away. Usually spirits end up in the type of boat that the boats represent.

Holy Sites
The Boat tower in Fjörgyien, is regarded as a very important place for Boaterism, due to the sheer amount of boats there. The Boat tower is regarded as a symbol of restoration, as it frequently gets destroyed and rebuilt. It is the main place of worship. The portion of the Enithician River in Hierapolis is also regarded as important place for Boaterism because Harold ad Alendir, a founder of Boaterism, found an extremely large amount of treasure there. As he says, "What is the boat without the water underneath?"

Notable boats and other spirits
In Boaterism, there are no gods, only spirits. There, however, are some notable boats and spirits. One of the most notable boats is Knunkles Spud, one of the ancestors of Saunic Spud. He was believed to be one of the first people to create a boat, and was reincarnated as the spirit on the very top of the Fjörgyien boat tower. Another notable Boat is Bob the first, an evil sheep with unnatural power, who, after being set free from the cage Saunic made for it, fell into a ditch. This sheep got reincarnated as a birch boat. Another notable spirit is Timothy the Terrible, another evil sheep. When it died, instead of being in a boat, it shattered the boat that it was inside, and took the form of a giant ghostly sheep with immense power. It currently lies dormant, waiting for a chance to strike. Slid Zane Teutonicus Bab-ad Alendir is usually considered as a spruce boat, due to him creating the Boat Tower. He is highly revered among the Boaterist community.

Founding of Boaterism
The Followers began when Saunic Spud and Harold Ad Alendir noticed a type of importance in the boat tower. Saunic and Harold decided to look into this, and by doing some experiments, discovered the spirits that lived inside the boat tower. Upon further inspection, Saunic and Harold found that every single boat had spirits inside them. When they were experimenting, they both heard a voice inside their heads. The voice said "Hello, my descendant, Saunic Spud, and you, Harold Ad Alendir. I have a message for you, those who investigate. Spread the word of my letter, the source of all knowledge related to the Boats and the Spiritual Realm. Only you two will be able to read it, and I entrust you to write down almost everything this book says." After that, a book ascended down, containing everything related to the Boat Spirits, and what they wanted Saunic and Harold to spread. This spirit was Knunkles Spud.

Tower fall down
On 6/20/2023, Zelphyr Rosaê toppled down the boat tower. This has happened many times in the past, usually caused by Zelphyr Rosaê or Lachs, such as the time when the boat tower reached around one hundred blocks into the air, but this time, Saunic lurking just around the corner. After it fell down, Saunic attacked Zelphyr in revenge for the boat tower. Zelphyr was okay after this, though. Ten days later, Saunic started reconstructing the Boat Tower. After he rebuilt the boat tower, Zelphyr was fine with the Boat Tower, as it was not ridiculously tall. Around this time, the Followers hired Kinni Babs, a member of House Babs, to build a church in Vidona for the Boaterists. This is because House Babs was known for being good at building. Later, the church was completed. After the church was completed, many church services were held. There wasn't much conflict at this time. Later, Saunic got a permit to build a Boaterist church in Elmon, and built a church in Elmon.

Upwards Trend
On 8/11/2023, a lot of things happened. Saunic Spud was walking around Fjörgyien, he started a conversation with a person, and managed to get them to join Boaterism. After this, he went over to the Boaterist church in Vidona, but then some other person just showed up, so Saunic just started talking, and also managed to get him to join as well. He called both of the new followers to the Boaterist Church, along with Harold. Saunic said "Stand up. Now, say 'boat' if you want to join us and put boats above all else." The two new recruits said "Boat." Everyone in the religion then went to visit the boat tower, when suddenly, three skeleton horses appeared, along with skeletons riding them! Harold killed the Skeletons, leaving three skeleton horses. Saunic grabbed a saddle, and put in on a skeleton horse. He named the skeleton horse "Harold", after Harold, the priest. They went over to the church and locked it in the basement, before returning to Fjörgyien. After this, Saunic showed them around all the places related to Boaterism, excluding the Hierapolis section of the Enithica River. They started talking about expanding Boaterism. Eventually, they went to Babwall (formerly named Greenwall), and started planning to take over the Empty church over there. The group kind of dispersed from there, but the two new recruits were given the role of "Lower Priest" for helping. Thus ended the tale of the start of Boaterism, and their rise as a slightly respected religion.

Titles
There are titles awarded to notable people to people involved with Boaterism upon death. There are three titles, the Spruce Boat Award, the Oak Boat Person, and the Birch Boat Guy. The Spruce Boat award is given to people who did very important things for the Followers, the Oak Boat Person title goes to a person who was involved with Boaterism but didn't do anything extraordinary, and the Birch Boat Guy title goes to someone who ended up being an enemy of Boaterism.